Ultraman Any Key: Qiming

Chapter 559, 555. Iidai Ryu: A monster called Obik?
"No wonder the villagers here are sometimes irritable and easily angered, and sometimes they are apathetic and without desire. It turns out that this 'incarnation of the sun' is manipulating them."

Saijo Nagi's face darkened, clearly angered by the Sun Beast's manipulation of human emotions.

Qi Ming: "There should be a [Star Gate] opened by the main body of the Sun Beast nearby. It's a spatial passage."

"The incarnation of the sun came from the interstellar gate, and the negative energy it collected here was also transmitted back to its original body through this gate."

Saijo Nagi: "So you're saying that as long as we destroy that interstellar gate, the suns of other star systems won't be able to cause trouble on Earth, right?"

Qi Ming nodded, took out the PDI communicator, and called to everyone, asking them to carefully search for the location of the [Stargate].

He then contacted Torregia at headquarters and asked him to go to the Banderas system to investigate thoroughly.

And so, the members of the Victory Team began searching for the location of the Stargate.

Meanwhile, the nearby villagers were acting like robots, sometimes panning for gold, sometimes just sitting around doing nothing, and had absolutely no interaction with the Victory Team members.

An hour later, night fell.

After pounding his back in the mountains from the intense search, he spotted a buckwheat noodle stall on a quiet street ahead and decided to rest there and have a bowl of noodles to replenish his strength.

Opening the curtain, a bald boss was busy at work—it was Obik.

After learning the whole story, Obik plans to thwart the Victory Team's search operation, allowing the embodiment of the sun to render the humans here devoid of desire.

He believed that this way, humans would stop undertaking large-scale construction projects to transform the countryside, and the old villages would return.

After ordering a bowl of noodles from Obik, Yamanaka sat lazily in front of the noodle stall and waited.

Obik asked, "Does this member of the Victory Team know anything about Obik?"

In the mountains: "I don't know, what is that?"

Obik: "A monster of the dark that appears at night and 'plays' with humans."

He emphasized the word "play" very much.

Yamanaka: "What? A monster? We, the GUTS team, believe in science. How could monsters possibly exist in this world... Wait, I think I have actually seen a monster before."

His expression turned serious, clearly indicating that his right brain had won over his left brain.

Obik asked with interest, "Oh? You've seen a monster? What kind of monster was it?"

In the mountains: "It's called Sukuna-ki, it's fifty meters tall, and it can fight Ultraman for a while. Is this Obik you're talking about as powerful as Sukuna-ki?"

Obik, who was scooping noodles, fell silent for a moment.

He then subtly changed the subject:

"Sukuna Oni... um... anyway, these two yokai are unlikely to meet, so there's no point in talking about it."

"Speaking of which, do you want to see Obik?"

The mountain dweller said lazily, "No interest. We're busy dealing with other guys right now, we don't have time to bother with this nonsense. How much longer until the noodles are ready?"

Obik gritted his teeth inwardly.

How dare you call me some kind of nonsense! Let me show you the power of darkness!

The next moment, a strange voice suddenly rang in his ears as he was resting with his eyes closed in the mountains: "Play with me, play with Obik."

He suddenly opened his eyes and found that his boss had vanished.

"Hey, boss, where have you been? My noodles haven't arrived yet!" After calling out for a while without getting a response, Shan Zhong had no choice but to open the pot and scoop out the noodles himself.

As soon as the pot lid was opened, a dark shadow emerged from it, enveloping the mountain and pulling it inside.

In the original Ultraman ...

In the original series, the young man was so frightened that his hair turned white, while in the mountains, after regaining consciousness, he looked around and immediately reported the situation.

"Everyone, can you hear me? I think I'm being attacked!"

"I was eating noodles just now, and the owner was a weird old man who kept saying something about Obik, and then he suddenly disappeared."

"I opened the pot lid that was making strange noises, and a black plastic bag wrapped around me pulled me into the pot. Now, when I wake up, I find myself lying next to a dry well."

"I know this sounds a bit surreal, but I'm perfectly lucid right now, and you have to believe me!"

Qi Ming understood that Obik was causing trouble.

Qi Ming: "Brother Jing Tian and Jing Long, how about I leave this guy to you?"

Iida Iryu: "Should we take it down?"

Qi Ming: "No need. Obik is not some evil monster, and he did not kill any of the mountain team members."

"It has lived near this village for a long time, longing for the tranquility of the past, for the countryside before it was transformed by modern civilization."

"When he saw his familiar hometown being gradually developed into a modern city, he was very sad. Doing these things was a lonely soul's resistance against the tide of the times."

"So go and talk to him, tell him not to be stubborn about the past, not to give up on himself, and to move forward with the new era."

....................................

Having won over the mountain team, Obik was feeling quite pleased with himself.

Heh heh, these victorious players are nothing special, their vigilance is too low.

Look at me, I'll scare you all out of your wits.

Seeing another person approaching, he smiled, preparing to give him a big scare just like he had done in the mountains earlier.

With a "whoosh," the curtain was lifted, and Jing Tianjinglong, wearing sunglasses, walked over.

The moment Obik saw him, his heart skipped a beat.

What's wrong with this person? His demeanor is a bit off.

The other victorious team members were carrying guns, why was he carrying a knife?

Why does my heart tremble inexplicably when I see him?

"I am Iida Kojuro Iryu, and you must be the yokai Obik from this area," Iida Iryu said directly, leaving Obik's mind blank.

He intended to scare people, but he ended up being the one who was scared.

Ida Iryu?

That Jing Tianjinglong who goes everywhere slaying demons and monsters?
Didn't he die a thousand years ago?

When he was still active, this village hadn't even been built yet!

Is he lying...? No, that sharp, knife-like aura...

"Follow me." With that, Jing Tianjinglong walked straight outside, and Obik followed obediently.

"You... are you really that Ida Iryu? I've long admired your name."

"Actually, I admire what you did. The monsters you killed did terrible things and ruined the reputation of us monsters. There are actually some very well-behaved monsters."

As Obik walked and talked, he was clearly intimidated by the words "Iidai Ryu".

Jingtian Jinglong did not answer, and led Obik to the top of the mountain.

Looking down from here, the entire village below is laid out before you.

It was 8 PM. The eyeball that the sun beast had just transformed into absorbed energy for a while, and all the villagers were once again turned into motionless walking corpses.

Having no desire to eat or go home for entertainment, I stood in the fields like a heartless wooden puppet.

There were no lights on in the houses, it was pitch black, and no villagers made a sound, it was completely silent.

"I ask you, is this the village you remember?" Jing Tianjinglong asked.

Looking at the pitch-black village, Obik nodded excitedly: "That's right, this is the village we used to live in. The old village is back!"

Iida Ryu: "Really?"

Seeing that Ida Ryu had no intention of harming him, Obik started talking:
"That's right, this is what the village used to be like at night."

“That used to be the village’s lookout tower. There was a clear stream there, and on the other side of the stream was a lotus pond. The village is back!”

Iida Iryu: "Take another look?" Obik was stunned. He was now certain that Iida Iryu had no intention of killing him: "I don't quite understand what you mean."

Jing Tianjinglong then said, "If you need a village with a lookout tower, a clear stream, and a lotus pond, it's actually very simple."

"As a great demon, with your abilities, building a village like this in a remote and isolated mountain wilderness shouldn't be difficult, right?"

"But is this really the village in your heart? Don't you feel like something's missing?"

Upon hearing this, Obik's heart stirred.

He stared at the village for a while longer, and then he understood a little.

“I remember now, the village now is not exactly the same as it used to be.”

Obik's gaze drifted into the distance, as if piercing through time and space, returning to that summer night from his memory.

“After dinner, the villagers would bring out bamboo chairs and straw mats and gather in twos and threes outside to cool off.”

"Adults chatted while fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans, and children chased fireflies and played in the threshing ground..."

"The darkness of that time was lively and full of life."

His tone lowered, as if he had realized something.

The villagers have been turned into diodes by the Sun Beast, either bloodthirsty and frenzied in battle, or drained of all desire and reduced to wooden figures.

People are the most important part of a village.

The village has changed; it's no longer the same village.

The next moment, the villagers, who had just looked like they had lost their souls and had been staring blankly at each other, suddenly stood up and started fighting over the gold.

Strange, too strange.

The village shouldn't be like this.

Upon seeing this, Obik's hands unconsciously clenched.

..........................................

Meanwhile, the Sun Beast also realized that Qi Ming and his group wanted to deal with it.

It first warned the victories to leave the area via telepathy.

After warnings proved ineffective, it began manipulating the minds of some villagers, inducing them to kill members of the Victory Team, just as it had done to Seven in the original series.

"Kill them, kill them!"

But with Qi Ming around, the villagers wielding shovels and pickaxes were no match for him. He easily took them down and knocked them unconscious.

"Found it." Qi Ming, who had been using [Insight] the whole time, spotted the target in the mountains and forests.

“I’ve seen you. Hiding won’t help. Show yourself,” Qi Ming said.

The next moment, something strange happened in the forest. A magic circle appeared out of thin air, and then a strange face appeared in the magic circle.

It was one of the forms that the sun beast had taken, and he spoke up.

"Just like the solar system inhabited by humans, the Banderas system also has many planets, inhabited by many different kinds of life."

"After burning for hundreds of billions of years, it is difficult for me to continue to bring light."

"But the Earth gave me hope."

"Earth is the dirtiest planet in the universe. Earthlings are obsessed with killing each other. Your hearts are filled with desire and hatred. You are infamous throughout the universe."

"Nowhere else can you collect more negative energy than on Earth."

“Negative energy that is completely useless to you, or even the best thing to do, can reignite my passion.”

"It would be such a pity if the Banderas system were to perish here. There are many noble beings and advanced civilizations here."

"Please, the Banderas universe desperately needs your help."

"Use your desires to make me burn brightly once more."

"If I succeed, I promise that the future of the earth will be forever peaceful."

Everyone was surprised to hear this.

Saijo Nagi's gaze remained icy. This guy actually dared to belittle humans like that.

Qi Ming felt that this sun had a bit of a cosmic country bumpkin vibe.

You, a mere sun, claim that you can ensure eternal peace for the Earth's future?

Do you know that a heavyweight athlete is coming to Earth soon?

What is the sun compared to him? He can solve everything with a single thought.

Therefore, the claim that it is infamous in the universe is merely the prejudice of this solar beast and is not credible.

Feng Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said that it seemed like a win-win situation.

Keeping this sun active will help life in the Banderas system, reduce negative energy on Earth, and make society more harmonious.

After Feng Yuan finished speaking, he added, "But the premise is that you can't let people kill each other anymore, that would be too much."

Jugglus Juggler: "Not necessarily. Positive and negative energy are both important to humans, or even any intelligent being. The lack of one will break the balance, and the world could become very bad."

Carmilla: "Without desire, there is no ambition."

"If I hadn't had that desire for the power of the Eternal Core, I wouldn't have come to Earth, and I wouldn't have met Qi Ming. Desire is a good thing."

Qi Ming: "Carmilla is absolutely right. Human desires are the inextinguishable engine of civilization."

"The desire for food and clothing gave rise to agriculture, the pursuit of wealth opened up sea routes, the yearning for power ignited the Industrial Revolution, and the exploration of the unknown propelled us into the stars..."

"It is both the curse of greed and the ladder of progress, driving humanity to constantly tear apart old boundaries and shape new worlds."

Hui Mei nodded. As expected of Qi Ming's team member, she was much better than Carmila, who only knew how to use foul language.

Huimei said, "And while being calm and peaceful is indeed a good state, if a person loses all emotions and desires, can they still be considered human?"

Saijo Nagi stared at the avatar of the Sun Beast: "I disagree with you stealing human emotions; this is an invasion of the mind."

Sun Beast: "I thought I could communicate well with humans. I was so stupid."

"Come on, attack me! The lives of the Banderas system will perish because of you. If you have the heart to kill them, then come on."

Qi Ming frowned: "Still resorting to moral blackmail... You're getting more and more annoying."

"No, the Banderas system is devoid of life." The next moment, Toregia descended from the sky, transforming back into his human form before everyone's eyes.

He had just gone to the Banderas system for a careful observation, as requested by Qi Ming.

Sun Beast: "You're talking nonsense!"

Torregia looked at it: "Banderas, you should know yourself that you are no longer as bright and fiery as you used to be."

"For you, it's just a small change. But for the planets in the Banderas system, it's the greatest catastrophe in history."

"I discovered they went to another galaxy, which means they abandoned you."

The sun beast roared, its voice filled with resentment:

"My aging has burdened my people."

"I must burn again, and then my people will surely return!"

"As long as I burn again, new life will surely be born. I want to burn, I want to burn!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than another voice rang out from the side.

"Burn your head off! I will never allow you to do evil to the villagers! I will defeat you!"

Then, Jing Tianjinglong and Obik walked out from the side, the latter staring intently at the Sun Beast.

(End of this chapter)