The Hydra special-ops squad leader prepared the syringe and got ready to inject Li Hua with the truth serum.
Li Hua, however, looked at the syringe in the squad leader's hand and spoke with a serious, composed expression:
"From a theoretical standpoint, so-called truth serums are essentially sedative drugs. After being administered, they act on the central nervous system, suppressing activity in the cerebral cortex and putting a person into a state similar to light sleep."
"The main effect of this type of drug, in the end, is to dull a person's reactions and drastically reduce their ability to think. At the same time, the body enters an extremely relaxed state, and one's alertness—or defensiveness—toward questioning is greatly reduced.
"In that state, if someone is asked questions whose answers they would normally be unwilling to reveal, it becomes possible for the truth to slip out."
"So what exactly are you trying to say?" one of the Hydra agents asked, sounding impressed yet confused.
Li Hua glanced at the stunned Hydra agent and continued:
"In other words, from a medical and theoretical perspective, so-called truth serums do not actually possess the ability to force someone to tell the truth. They merely suppress brain activity, making it easier for a person to blurt out whatever thoughts are in their mind.
"But there's another issue at the same time. When the brain is suppressed like this, it can also produce many hallucinations—much like dreaming during sleep—so the information obtained is not absolutely reliable."
The Hydra squad leader gave Li Hua a strange look and said impatiently, "I don't care about your complicated theories. All I know is that this syringe works.
"And after we get the information we want from your mouth, we'll verify it anyway.
"So don't think that rattling off a bunch of medical theory is going to make me give up on using this on you."
Li Hua felt a sharp pain in his arm as the squad leader directly injected the serum into his body.
A moment later, Li Hua felt his head grow slightly hazy, a woozy, drowsy sensation washing over him.
"Now tell me—who gave you the game cartridges and the driver?" the Hydra squad leader asked immediately, seeing Li Hua's unfocused eyes.
"Game cartridge? ... Bugster virus!"
Li Hua murmured unconsciously upon hearing the question.
But the moment the Bugster virus came to mind, something suddenly jolted in his consciousness. His heart tightened, and as his will solidified, a strange power inexplicably surged forth from the void, instantly dispelling the effects of the "truth serum" on his body.
He became completely clear-headed in an instant.
"Sorry, but I can't tell people with malicious intentions like yours anything," Li Hua said, staring calmly at the Hydra squad leader with bright, lucid eyes.
"What's going on—did the drug fail?!" Seeing Li Hua so clear-minded, the squad leader couldn't help but feel puzzled.
"Maybe the dosage wasn't enough?" another Hydra agent guessed. "Different people have different resistances to drugs.
"Maybe because he's a doctor and regularly deals with various medications, he's developed considerable resistance to this kind of injection?"
"In that case, increase the dosage!"
The Hydra agents injected an even larger dose of the drug into Li Hua's body.
However—
"How is this possible?! You're completely unaffected by the drug?!" Seeing Li Hua still fully conscious, eyes clear and steady, the Hydra squad leader was utterly shocked.
The dosage they had used was already far beyond what an ordinary person could withstand—five to six times the normal amount. By all logic, Li Hua should have been unconscious or even in mortal danger.
Yet he looked completely fine. This was no longer something that could be explained by drug resistance alone.
Li Hua, however, had no intention of answering their questions. Instead, his gaze turned thoughtful as it settled on the game cartridge not far away.
After a moment, he seemed to come to a realization and smiled faintly, letting out a quiet sigh.
"So that's how it is… I think I understand now."
"You understand what?" The Hydra squad leader suddenly felt a vague sense of unease. His right hand moved to his weapon as he asked.
Li Hua swept his gaze across the Hydra agents and suddenly chuckled.
"The initial base game cartridge that made me Kamen Rider Brave… just as he said, it's been subtly changing my body, to the point that it has, in a sense, fused with me.
"It's just that I'd been subconsciously avoiding acknowledging this fact. In truth, as long as I respond to its call…"
He did not say Dan Kuroto's name, referring to him only as "he."
As Li Hua's eyes sharpened, the Taddle Quest game cartridge suddenly reacted as if sensing something. It began to glow, trembled, and floated up into the air, releasing a strange wave of energy.
Seeing this utterly unscientific scene, the surrounding Hydra agents froze, momentarily at a loss.
Should they attack? Or rush in and grab it?
They hesitated.
In that brief moment of hesitation, the game cartridge transformed into a beam of light and instantly plunged into Li Hua's body.
As the cartridge entered him, glowing patterns immediately appeared across Li Hua's body. With ease, he snapped the handcuffs and leg restraints binding him and stood up.
"Open fire!"
Realizing that Li Hua now possessed extraordinary power, the Hydra squad leader issued the order without hesitation.
But the bullets fired at Li Hua's limbs by the Hydra agents couldn't harm him at all— they couldn't even reach his body.
The bullets were stopped inches away by an invisible force, completely stripped of all their power.
"How is this possible?!"
Watching this scene that completely overturned their understanding of reality, the Hydra agents were horrified. Their fingers unconsciously eased off the triggers.
Li Hua, meanwhile, paid them no attention. His figure flashed like a fleeting afterimage as he instantly arrived beside the player driver and the Level 50 game cartridge that the Hydra agents had confiscated.
"Perhaps it's only in this state that I can truly wield the power of the Level 50 game cartridge," Li Hua murmured to himself as he picked up the driver and cartridge.
Having reached this conclusion, he didn't hesitate. He put on the player driver and moved to insert the game cartridge into its slot.
"Gachan! Dual Up! Tadoru meguru RPG! Taddle Fantasy~!"
Seeing this, the Hydra squad leader frantically fired at Li Hua, trying to stop him from transforming.
But it was, obviously, a futile effort.
Mere rifle bullets were utterly incapable of stopping Li Hua from using the power of the Level 50 game cartridge to transform into a Kamen Rider.
(End of Chapter)