They traveled through time at the same time, but the villainous scientist

Chapter 269 Memory Reading Device
The center of the huge circular conference table
The holographic projection is playing the entire process of this operation on a loop.

Dr. Mizuno has just finished his report, in which he explained as objectively as possible the existence, aggregation principle, and almost unsolvable symbiotic contradiction between the Lightning People and human electromagnetic waves.

What are your thoughts on the Lightning Man?

After listening, Director Sawai took a deep breath and slowly scanned everyone present.

His face, which always carried a gentle smile, was now clouded with gloom.

"Then you still need to ask?"

Director Yoshioka, a hawk, slammed his hand on the table, shattering the silence of the conference room like a drawn blade.

"The Lightning Men pose a real threat to humanity!"
We cannot give up using electromagnetic waves, that would be tantamount to setting civilization back two hundred years!
Unless the Lightning Man can leave the ionosphere on his own, there will be many more Gazorts appearing in the future!

He stood up, placed his hands on the table, leaned forward, and his eyes were as sharp as an eagle's.

"Gazort's mere presence is a huge problem; the strong magnetic field around its body is practically a giant, mobile EMP!"

What would be the consequences if it appeared over Tokyo, New York, or any megacity?
Financial institutions shut down, transportation paralyzed, communications disrupted... the entire social order could collapse in an instant!
The damage it caused was far more terrifying than that caused by monsters that only use brute force to demolish buildings!

His words were powerful and resonant, each one striking a chord in everyone's hearts.

"And can anyone tell me how many lightning people are in the ionosphere?"

One billion? Ten billion? How many more Gazorts will appear in the future?
What should we do if next time, multiple Gazorts appear simultaneously in different parts of the world?
There are only two giants!

Upon hearing Jigang's question, even Staff Officer Nanbara, a dove who had always advocated for peaceful coexistence, couldn't help but nod.

In a sense, Director Yoshioka's words were not alarmist; this monster, capable of fundamentally dismantling modern civilization, is indeed more threatening than any other monster.

"Therefore, I suggest we strike first!"

Seeing this, Director Yoshioka looked directly at Director Sawai and gave his well-considered conclusion.
"While they haven't fully transformed into monsters and we still have the upper hand, let's wipe them out completely!"

The word "annihilate" sent a shiver down Dr. Mizuno's spine.

But he ultimately did not utter a word of rebuttal.

From the Lightning Man's perspective, they are innocent; turning into monsters was not their intention.

But he is human, and he must look at the issue from a human perspective.

"I disagree with Director Yoshioka's opinion."

In the heavy atmosphere that the resolution was about to be tacitly accepted, a voice rang out.

All eyes immediately turned to him, for the person who had spoken was none other than Masaki Keigo.

"Oh?"

Director Yoshioka raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected that the one who opposed him would be Masaki Keigo.

After all, judging from his previous actions, this kid should agree with his ideas, right?
"Kid, what are you trying to say?"

"I just feel that Director Yoshioka's plan is a bit too hasty."

This is more of a fear-based stress response than a rational strategic judgment.

Masaki Keigo met Yoshioka's sharp gaze and answered.

"Ha~ Do you want to wait until a bunch of Gazorts fall from the sky and turn our city into a pile of scrap metal before you start talking about your 'rationality'?"

Yoshioka let out a cold laugh.

Fear stems from the unknown.

Masaki Keigo ignored his sarcasm and instead raised his hand to lightly tap the interface.

The holographic projection in the center of the conference room switched instantly, freezing on the scene where Impat released a soft light, decomposing and purifying Gazot.

"Everyone, please take a look..."

"When the giant dealt with Gazort, he did not choose to destroy him completely, but instead released a special beam of light. The effect of this beam of light was to reverse the process of energy transition, forcibly converting the berserk electromagnetic energy in Gazort's body, and returning him to the original stable form of the Lightning Man."

He paused, giving everyone time to process the information, before continuing:

"If we can analyze and reproduce this light, create a large-scale purifying force field generator, and periodically irradiate the ionosphere, theoretically, we should be able to solve the problem of the Lightning Man's aggregation and mutation into Gazort."

These words immediately eased the tense atmosphere in the meeting room.

"Dr. Masaki, are you confident?"

Sawai took a deep breath and pressed for an answer.

"Have."

Masaki Keigo nodded, his answer firm and resolute.

Although it was a beam of light that he could release by utilizing the properties of the Giant of Light, for him, now that he knew the final conclusion and phenomenon, it was not an insurmountable challenge to reverse-engineer the scientific principles and technological path to achieve this phenomenon.

"But... this is only a stopgap measure that does not address the root cause."

According to TPC's long-term plan, after the space elevator is built, high-power directional microwave transmission will be used throughout the ionosphere to meet the orbital energy supply requirements.

By then, the effectiveness of this plan will be greatly reduced…

As he spoke, Masaki Keigo looked at Dr. Mizuno beside him.

"So, we still have some time before this space elevator is put into use."

We can use this time to truly understand the Lightning People, a race we know almost nothing about.

It won't be too late to make a final judgment then.

"

The Lightning Men are not enemies that fell from the sky; they are the 'effect,' while we are the 'cause.' They are like the neglected and forgotten costs of our own development.

We are proud of our wisdom and creativity, but with each step forward, the shadow we cast behind us grows longer and longer.

If today, we choose the simplest and most brutal method—elimination—to solve this problem that we created ourselves.

This is tantamount to admitting our own incompetence and arrogance.

This is tantamount to declaring to the future that the ultimate means for human civilization to resolve its conflicts is destruction.

So, when we encounter more "Lightning Men" in the future because of us, will we do the same thing again?

These words plunged the entire conference room into a long silence.

Chief Yoshioka's sharp gaze gradually became complicated. He finally sat down slowly and stopped talking.

He may still stick to his position, but Masaki Keigo's proposal gave him an unavoidable way out—even if the path of coexistence ultimately fails, the time spent on research would be enough for them to develop more targeted and efficient weapons.

Ultimately, the entire staff voted and unanimously approved Masaki Keigo's proposal.

TPC will significantly increase funding and equipment investment in Dr. Mizuno's research on Lightning Man.

Inside the operations room, Horii, who had just experienced a defeat, had his eyes rekindled with fire upon hearing the news.

In order to wash away his shame and to grasp that last glimmer of hope for peace, he vowed to develop a next-generation system that could truly enable interspecies communication before that could happen.

A crisis that threatened the fate of two species has thus come to a temporary end.

After the meeting, Masaki Keigo, who had led all of this to this point, returned to his research base located underground in Kumamoto City.

Inside the research institute, a strangely shaped, enormous device stands quietly in the center.

This is an ancient gene-reading device designed based on the Animus from the Assassin's Creed world...

(End of this chapter)