Chương 12: You're trying to kill me to cover it up, aren't you?

Yang Chen snorted coldly: "This is a top-level alliance meeting, not a place for you to joke around!"

"Of course I'm not joking."

Suddenly, Su Miaoyin changed the subject. She abandoned her previous languid posture, leaned forward slightly, and looked at Yang Chen with great interest through her beautifully made-up eyes, her gaze becoming incredibly sharp.

"I'm just a little curious." Su Miaoyin's red lips parted slightly, her voice clear yet piercing, "Elder Yang is in such a hurry to skip the investigation and trial procedures, directly requesting the issuance of the highest-level kill order... Could it be that he's trying to silence us?"

Upon hearing this, the air in the entire conference room seemed to freeze instantly.

The other council members and elders, who had remained silent, exchanged glances and lowered their heads, none daring to interrupt. They knew that these two powerful figures were about to begin their usual exchange.

Upon hearing this, Yang Chen reacted like a tiger whose tail had been stepped on, angrily standing up from his chair.

"Su Miaoyin! What do you mean! Explain yourself clearly!"

Yang Chen pointed at the photo on the screen and shouted, "Can't you see for yourself?! That kid's transformed appearance is covered in black mist, radiating that nauseating destructive energy. He's clearly a corrupted knight who can't withstand the power of awakening!"

"Is there anything wrong with me suggesting an extermination mission to deal with an out-of-control, corrupted knight? It's perfectly in accordance with the Alliance's security regulations!"

Yang Chen was panting heavily, seemingly realizing that his reaction had been a bit too extreme. He suppressed his anger, paused, and then glanced sharply at the others present.

"I admit that I did have some selfish motives in this matter as a father."

Yang Chen decided to be blunt, "That kid beat my son so badly, he shattered my son's sternum, and he's still unconscious in the intensive care unit. He even cruelly killed my son's friend, the Kamen Rider Kalis's alter ego!"

"Given such an extremely dangerous thug, I feel that issuing a mission to eliminate him is not excessive at all!"

At this point, a greedy glint flashed in Yang Chen's eyes. He placed his hands on the table, his tone becoming extremely seductive: "Besides, don't you all understand the value involved?"

"If we kill him, we'll not only eliminate a threat, but more importantly, we can legitimately obtain his unknown driver for in-depth anatomical research! A belt that can instantly grant an ordinary person the power to kill a trained knight—if our alliance could control it, what an enormous fortune and power that would be!"

Yang Chen used "for the benefit of the alliance" as a cover to try to rationalize his own selfish motives.

Faced with Yang Chen's high-sounding words, Su Miaoyin just chuckled, her voice still so light and cheerful, as if she hadn't been affected at all by Yang Chen's anger and the empty promises he made.

"Elder Yang's words were truly righteous and awe-inspiring; I was almost moved to tears."

Su Miaoyin tapped her slender fingers lightly on the table and said slowly, "However, my intelligence network seems to have picked up some rather unusual voices."

Su Miaoyin stared into Yang Chen's eyes and said, word by word, "How come I heard that the reason that boy went on a rampage to kill your son wasn't because he had turned evil and lost control, but because... your good son, in the battle to eliminate the alien beasts, in order to save himself trouble, carelessly unleashed a wide-range destructive skill, directly killing that boy's family member?"

This statement was like a bombshell, causing an uproar in the conference room.

The other high-ranking members gasped in shock. While there were precedents of knights accidentally injuring civilians within the alliance, if this led to the knight awakening and seeking revenge, the nature of the matter would be entirely different. This wouldn't be a simple case of a corrupted knight attacking, but a serious case of malicious revenge resulting from a member's misconduct.

Yang Chen's expression changed instantly.

His heart skipped a beat. He knew his son's character all too well. Yang Yiming had been spoiled rotten since childhood, arrogant and domineering, utterly disregarding the lives of ordinary people. Given Yang Yiming's personality, he was absolutely capable of doing what Su Miaoyin described!

However, in this conference room, before the highest levels of the alliance, he absolutely could not admit it!

"You're talking nonsense!"

Yang Chen hurriedly retorted loudly, trying to hide his inner panic, and shouted sternly, "What evidence do you have! Just based on a few hearsay rumors, you dare to say that my son accidentally injured his family?"

"There was a ferocious mutant beast in the cake shop at the time, and it was the mutant beast that caused the explosion! Don't try to pin the heinous things the mutant beast did on my son!"

Yang Chen grew increasingly confident as he spoke. Pointing to the conference table, he declared righteously, "Su Miaoyin, I'm warning you, you can't just eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. My son, Yiming, is still lying in a hospital bed covered in injuries. He's a hero who was injured protecting the city!"

"If we don't take this attack on Kamen Rider ZZZ seriously, and instead instead listen to rumors and investigate the victim, what do you think will happen to those lower-level Awakened Ones who risk their lives every day fighting monsters? How dissatisfied will they be!"

Yang Chen once again invoked the banner of "grassroots sentiment" to suppress Su Miaoyin.

Su Miaoyin sneered. She wanted to say something more, to continue to expose Yang Chen's hypocritical mask.

Just then.

"Bang!"

The heavy solid wood door of the conference room was suddenly and violently kicked open from the outside.

Everyone in the conference room stopped arguing, frowning and showing extreme displeasure. How could the highest meeting of the Knights' Alliance tolerate outsiders barging in at will?

The one who barged in was one of Yang Chen's trusted men. He was covered in sweat, his face was deathly pale, and he was evenly breathing.

"You unruly brat! What are you doing barging in here!" Yang Chen felt he had lost face in front of his arch-enemy and angrily rebuked him.

The man completely disregarded Yang Chen's anger; his voice trembled, almost crying, as he shouted at Yang Chen:

"Elder Yang! Something terrible has happened! Young Master... your son... he's dead!"

boom!

These words struck Yang Chen like a bolt from the blue.

Everyone in the conference room was stunned and froze in their seats, thinking they had misheard.

We were just debating how to convict the murderer, and in the blink of an eye, Yang Yiming, who was receiving top-level treatment in the hospital, died.

Yang Chen's eyes instantly turned bloodshot, and his mind went blank.

Without a second thought, ignoring everyone else in the meeting room, he pushed aside the chair blocking his way and charged out of the meeting room like a raging rhinoceros, his eyes red.

Watching Yang Chen's hurried departure, the others in the conference room finally came to their senses and immediately began whispering among themselves, creating an unusually strange atmosphere.

Su Miaoyin remained seated, staring at the open door, a complex expression flashing in her eyes. She shook her head, offering no further sarcastic remarks or continuing the previous argument.

Because if Yang Yiming really dies, then the seriousness of this matter will be directly escalated.

At this moment, the bespectacled man standing next to the screen cleared his throat, interrupting the discussion.

"Everyone."

The bespectacled man pushed up his glasses, his gaze turning cold and resolute.

"Regardless of the hidden reasons, Yang Yiming's death under our close protection is a fact. That Kamen Rider ZZZ truly slapped our Kamen Rider Alliance in the face with the loudest possible sound."

"Since Elder Yang is not here, let's vote directly. I propose that we proceed with the plan Elder Yang Chen just mentioned. Immediately issue the highest-level annihilation order for the entire alliance, and mobilize all forces to hunt down Kamen Rider ZZZ."