Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

The population is small... Genrai Shinzo remembered that the villa of Baolucao was located in a remote suburb.

Jun Sakuma comforted him, "The outskirts of Tokyo are not the same as ordinary outskirts. The alien beasts shouldn't be able to invade here so quickly. In fact, if they come, they'll just walk right into our trap, saving me the trouble of looking for them."

Genrai Shinzo nodded and urged him to quickly scroll down to see the TLT's follow-up response plan.

Sakuma Atsumasa, his throat dry from explaining, readily scrolled down the page, letting the inquisitive reporter see for himself.

He habitually picked up the cup to drink water, forgetting that Samuel was still leaning against it.

Samuel was fast asleep, nestled against a warm porcelain cup. It wasn't very cozy, but the temperature was just right. Suddenly, the heat source behind him was sucked away, and the back of his head slammed onto the table. The surrounding air suddenly cooled down several degrees.

He sat up groggily, and Jun Sakuma whispered "I'm sorry," shoving the porcelain cup back to his side and refilling it with hot water.

"Hmm..." Samuel hadn't been feeling very energetic lately. The porcelain cup grew even warmer, and he snuggled against it comfortably before continuing his drowsy act.

Sakuma Jun thought for a moment whether he should bring his home nest over... But that would consume Samuel's energy to go back and hide from surveillance. He should ask Horokusa if he had the budget. Before that, he should see if Nanatsu had any extra cushions or something. Wouldn't a porcelain cup be uncomfortable?

Shinzo Negi noticed his movements, but he couldn't see Samuel. Junichi Sakuma's series of reactions made it seem like he was interacting with a ghost.

This gave Genlai a goosebump.

"Who are you... talking to?" he asked in a low voice, probing slightly.

Junichi Sakuma didn't react immediately, assuming he was afraid of disturbing Samuel's sleep, so he whispered back like a thief, "With Ultraman, he's asleep."

"?" Genlai Shenzang's face was blank.

Sakuma Jun then realized that he hadn't introduced Samuel to them yet, so he quickly lowered his voice and started rambling on.

……

On the other side, under Baolu Cao's guidance, Huali diligently studied the first lesson of "Elementary School Mathematics (Revised)".

“日元有1、5、10、50、100、500六种面额，”他“哗啦啦”地将零钱口袋倒扣在桌上，闪亮亮的硬币灯光下直晃眼睛：“来花梨，你应该学了加减乘除？来帮忙算账吧。”

"Oh!" This is what Huali likes. The teacher only likes to write equations on the blackboard with chalk, and this method feels very novel to her.

Baolu Cao opened her account book. She hadn't had time to record the accounts from the previous two days because of a new person joining, so she decided to let Huali do it. Anyway, it was just some small, miscellaneous items.

“Hmm… three sets of toiletries,” he handed the receipt that Qixia had brought back to Huali, which had the shopkeeper’s scribbles on it: “You are responsible for adding up the numbers on this. If you don’t know the formula, just use these coins to count them.”

Issuing a receipt instead of an invoice saves a few dollars, Bao Lücao knew the accounts perfectly well.

"Great! Great!" Karin loves this new gadget!

The little girl happily started calculating the money while holding the receipt. Occasionally, she would ask Bao Lücao for help with words she didn't recognize, which could be considered as a refresher course in Chinese language.

After Sakuma Jun and Negoro Jinzo finished explaining the whole story, when they came to call Karin to go to sleep, they found her holding a handful of coins in one hand, half-squatting on the stool, her whole body almost buried in the pile of coins in front of her.

He's like a money-grubber whose eyes are blinded by greed.

"Karin, what are you doing!"

The old father is heartbroken! My daughter has been corrupted by money!

"Huh?" Huali was startled by his sudden heart-wrenching outburst, and as a result, she lost her balance and fell onto the table, messing up the pile of coins she had just arranged. She almost burst into tears on the spot: "Ahhh, it's all Daddy's fault! I can't figure it out again!"

Bao Lucao turned around when he heard the noise and saw his old father's eyes blazing with fury.

"Um..." he said, sounding a little unsure, "I teach her arithmetic."

"Is arithmetic just about calculating money?"

“This is called… teaching flexibly based on real-life situations,” Baoluca felt his mind, which had been somewhat dulled after his memories were refreshed, suddenly become unusually sharp, especially as the other person’s expression became more and more frightening: “We all experienced the teaching method of just listing numbers when we were young, it was very boring, right? Karin is a smart and curious child, and I discovered this trait in her, so I specially arranged for her to do simple accounting calculations, that is practical teaching.”

He spoke with such conviction that Jun Sakuma's expression softened slightly.

"And look how happy Karin is, isn't she?" Horakusa delivered a powerful blow.

Karin has started arranging the coins again because she really can't do the math with equations; multiplication has completely shattered her intelligence. She decided to lay out the money for the three sets of toiletries separately and count them slowly by addition.

"I'm not happy," Huali said with a sour face, "Dad, you don't..."

"They suddenly started yelling at me! I was almost done setting up my third set!"

"I'm sorry, Huali." The old father's apology was quick and smooth.

“Hmph, Dad, don’t talk about Uncle Baolucao,” she looked up from behind the pile of coins, her gaze passing over the shadows of money. For some reason, Sakuma Jun could detect a hint of disdain: “Dad has just joined the newspaper and is still in his internship period. His salary is pitifully low.”

Huali, tell Dad, who told you that internship pay is low?!

“We live in Uncle Baoluca’s house, and we’re currently eating on Uncle Baoluca’s money… In other words, he’s supporting us.”

Jun Sakuma was speechless.

No one expected that after working for half their lives, they would suddenly lose their jobs, not even daring to touch their bank cards, and would have to live under someone else's roof, supported by others.

Most importantly, my daughter knows it perfectly well!

...It's all TLT's fault!

Sakuma Jun walked away silently, and Horokusa saw a weary shadow behind him.

This strengthened his resolve to work hard and earn money before starting a family.

Look at this! This is what life is like for a middle-aged man without financial support!

Bao Lucao quickly agreed to the client's shooting request, who had just been pondering the terms. He wanted a colorful Gothic style that was sweet, sexy and languid, and fresh and carefree seasonal fashion!

As long as the client pays enough, he can guarantee that Lü Cao can produce any effect!

Chapter Seventy-Nine: Keep Moving Forward

After a brief period of disappointment, Jun Sakuma woke up refreshed.

Samuel received a small blanket from Qixia and is now curled up in a pile of fluff, fast asleep. It's estimated that even if Huali were to come and overturn the nest, she wouldn't be able to stop him.

Confirming that he wouldn't be outside the scope of his contact with Samuel, Jun Sakuma tiptoed downstairs, where Junpei and Nanatsu were already putting on their shoes and getting ready to go out.

"Karin?" He saw the little girl also excitedly holding Nana's hand, her newly braided updo was so fancy that even Sakuma Jun's aesthetic sense could tell it was a very skillful technique.

She was also wearing Nana's hat and sunglasses, looking like a fashionable little devil. Jun Sakuma almost didn't recognize her at first glance—it's likely that the TLT team, which was already short-staffed, would have had a hard time seeing through her disguise.

“We’re going to buy a folding cabinet, and she wants to go out and take a look too,” Runping said, then leaned closer to the little girl: “Should we still give the bookkeeping to you? That’s what your teacher, Baolu Cao, instructed us to do.”

The rosewood chicks nod like they're pecking at rice.

It's a good thing that he's willing to do the math. Sakuma Jun agreed, and Karin jumped for joy.

The three went out, while the others who stayed behind continued working on the second story—in fact, the second story had already been completed thanks to Shinzo Negi's all-night efforts, and the group was finalizing the third story based on the Arakunai attack.

“We should keep ‘Light and Darkness’ as the main title,” Genra Jinzo said, rubbing his chin. He hadn’t groomed himself lately, and short stubble had sprouted. Nanatsu had told him several times that he needed to shave properly that night. “The first story is ‘Shadow of the Hot Spring Town.’ Should we continue to use the location as the title?”

“Arakunai attacked more than one place, so I think we should call it… ‘Hunting Under the Night’.” Jun Sakuma’s answer made the newspaper editor’s eyes light up.

“‘Hunting,’” Genrai Jinzo typed the key word, then continued, “This can be written as something in two directions. For the alien beasts, it is hunting humans, and for the Night Raid Team, it is also hunting alien beasts. So, should we downplay the casualties a bit? This is a ‘fantasy story’ based on reality, so we need to consider the readers’ acceptance.”

“Do you mean to focus more on the hunting itself in the story?” Jun Sakuma thought for a moment, the string of death numbers he had seen flashing through his mind, and answered involuntarily in a low voice: “If it is not suitable to be included in the main text, I think we can add the victims’ experiences as an ‘extra chapter’ at the end.”

“Some things, even knowing they are cruel, we still have to write about them. Avoiding the important and focusing on the trivial is a kind of disrespect to them.”

"..."

Photographers Jun Himeya and Kusa Horo, who are clueless about wordplay, are huddled together discussing which of the scattered photos of Arakuno they've collected online can be used. After all, none of them were on site at the time, and the photos uploaded by netizens are all shaky like they have Parkinson's disease; they need to be edited before they can be published. They also have to consider copyright issues and payment, which is going to drive them crazy with finances.

They discussed things little by little until noon, when they realized they were hungry and that was how much time had passed.

Logically, people traveling should bring their own food...

"Didn't Qi Xia and the others go out to buy a folding cabinet? Why haven't they come back yet?"

……

"Didn't Huali go with you to see the freshly cut tuna? Why did you come back alone?"

Qi Xia was panting heavily as she dragged a large bag of materials. Runping came up and took it from her, and she was finally able to catch her breath.

"I was teaching her to recognize the parts of a fish, and halfway through, she just disappeared. I thought she was bored and came to find you..." Runping became more and more flustered as he spoke: "She's not here with you? Could she have gotten lost!?"

"No, no, no, something's not right, something's not right." Qi Xia took out her phone, her keen senses allowing her to perceive something different.

Although Huali loves to play and wants to see everything, she is not a child who doesn't know what's important. If she wants to go to other places, she will definitely tell her guardian and will never run off on her own without saying a word.

Have you seen any strange people?

"Qi Xia thought of human traffickers and asked Runping while waiting for the call to be connected."

“There’s no strange person here, everyone’s watching the swordplay,” Runping blurted out, then suddenly paused: “Ah! There’s someone who’s not watching the swordplay, he’s been looking around. I thought he was blocking my view, so I squeezed past him to the front row!”

The call connected, and Jun Sakuma's voice came from the other end.

"Huali has disappeared from the market. Runping has spotted some strange people. You'd better come and take a look. Don't hang up yet." After quickly giving the instructions, Qixia looked at the somewhat incoherent guy in front of her and waited for him to continue.

“The man had white hair, and I thought he was an old man, but then again, maybe not. Now that I think about it... he wasn't hunched over, and there was no dry skin on his neck,” he leaned closer to the phone. “Mr. Sakuma, are you listening? I don’t know if he’s from TLT, but since I lost Karin, I’ll look for it here!”

After saying that, Runping moved the unassembled folding cabinets with difficulty and carried them all to the roadside: "I'm going to find Huali, you... transport them back?" Runping was a little unsure of himself because they were obviously too heavy for Qixia.

Qi Xia directed him to move the materials directly into a shop, then approached the owner and whispered a few words to him. She also paid a small storage fee, and the owner readily agreed to the pretty woman's request, patting his chest and declaring, "Not a single sawdust will be missing before you return!" He then pushed the storage fee back, with a can of lychee soda on top of it.

Runping was stunned. Qixia raised her head and swept her fluffy, slightly curly hair behind her ear. Despite her casual attire, she exuded the aura of someone on a catwalk.

She glanced at Runping, signaling the clueless intern photographer to hurry up and follow. In Runping's somewhat dazed mind, four words flashed through his mind: "alluring gaze and seductive demeanor."

On the other side, Junko Sakuma, who had just received the call, was flying away.

When Nanatsu said that Karin was "missing", he subconsciously thought that TLT had done something to Karin. He quickly turned on his computer to check if Hirata Shintaro had alerted him to any new developments. Then he went into the TLT database to retrieve the action information of the Cleaners and Memory Police.

When Runping said he saw the white-haired person, Samuel silently slipped back into Sakuma Jun's consciousness space. Before the human host could react, he dragged him away and transformed into a fleeting shooting star, rushing towards the market.