Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

"The students' parents are making a scene in the office, and the news has spread for dozens of blocks. How come no one knows?"

"Huh? Didn't they say they went missing off-campus? What does that have to do with the school? They're all delinquents. What if they mess with someone they shouldn't and cause trouble?"

"No, I heard there was also a top student. As for why they went to the school, it seems they asked the school to mobilize people to look for their child."

“We can’t control them normally, letting our own unruly kids bully other people’s children, but now that something’s happened, they know to make a fuss.”

"Hey, I've got some new information. A friend of mine works at a hospital, and he's admitted a student from their school!"

"Don't keep me in suspense if you only say half of what you mean and then go outside to get bitten by a dog!"

……

Similar discussions weren't limited to one place; besides missing students, there were also some inexplicable gas explosions. A fire escape route nearly crushed was reportedly caused by resonance, with experts analyzing the images with great detail, while comments kept being deleted and then reappearing: "The zombies ate your brains," "Walnut kernel expert," "Let's make money together."

The "Fantasy Paradise" forum attributed all these unusual events to the Banib monster.

Genrai Jinzō discovered photos and a few seconds of video that had been circulating from an unknown source.

The long-legged spider-like creature was visible through layers of bushes. It looked like a surveillance camera, pointing directly in the direction it had passed. The spider moved extremely fast, and half of the photo was just a blur, with only its outline clearly visible.

The video was from another suburban sewage treatment plant. A spherical object rolled across the screen, the image shaking violently, and you could vaguely see the intact road surface being crushed into a street of gravel.

Several task communications were issued internally by TLT, requiring the investigation of the source of the information.

There's a 80% chance it won't be found.

Barnibu's information has spread like a virus along the internet. It lives in newspaper articles and urban legends during casual conversations, and in nursery rhymes that children hum when they have nothing to do.

Some of them were released by the Tibetans, while others came from who-knows-where.

Things are spiraling out of control. The only good news is that people are genuinely accepting the existence of monsters. Sales of hero toys by small vendors have doubled, and people are talking about Barney, as well as giants and superheroes from comic books.

Jun Sakuma received a phone call from Rei Chiki.

The latter stood on the quiet park path, his voice lowered, yet each word still carried far in the serene environment:

"They are students, and the students have turned into alien beasts."

The so-called "fireball" was a misunderstanding by the survivors. It was more of an overly intense ball of light that enveloped Takuma and the student who was grabbing his collar.

The latter turned into carbon powder, while the former turned into a monster resembling a tall spider.

The tall spider bit the nearest person. It was his friend who had accompanied him to the appointment. After tearing off his friend's arm, the tall spider seemed to recognize him, so it abandoned him and began chasing after the others who had scattered like birds and beasts, using its awkward four legs.

His friends thought that a monster that spewed "fireballs" burned Takuma and another student to death, and had no idea that Takuma had turned into a monster.

The anomaly that Samuel had noticed was also explained.

“No wonder I always felt its skeletal structure was strange…” Samuel’s voice was somewhat low, and Jun Sakuma could sense the suppressed anger in it: “It’s like a person whose bones have been forcibly compressed or stretched.”

Its appearance is exactly like that of a mutant beast, but its skeletal structure...

Yet it is remarkably similar to humans, especially the four legs of the tall spider. When it pokes into the ground, there are six small pits, which are actually five mutated fingers and the palms and heels that serve as the main fulcrums.

"How did that student come into contact with the alien beast?" Jun Himeya stood behind, also looking at the TLT records, and pondered for a long time without figuring it out: "He lives and attends a school in a densely populated area. Apart from the park being far away, his movements... the park was the first time he had been there recently."

Jun Sakuma had a clue: "So the next step is to create a population profile. The thing that caused them to become monsters must have some kind of transmission medium. It couldn't have been blown by the wind... Find all the missing people. Since one of them turned into a monster, there must be some commonalities!"

……

In the park, Chishu Rei put the phone back.

He saw the student transform into a monster, its body, shrouded in blue light, forcibly twisted, its limbs stretched out, its fingers turning into sharp claws, its head as if it had been flattened, its nasal bridge gone, leaving only a flat face, and its eyes expanded to occupy a third of its area, with glass-bead-like eyeballs floating and rolling inside vesicles.

Those present couldn't see anything clearly, but Qian Shulian could imprint everything into her mind as if watching in slow motion.

"Go to hell!"

These were the last words spoken by the student named Takuma, who had transformed into a monster.

Qian Shulian seemed preoccupied.

He stood there for a long time, said "Rest in peace" to the air, and then started to walk back.

The streetlights were dim, casting his shadow long.

Why say "rest in peace"?

It was a girl's voice, and a long shadow appeared at her feet. Chishu Rei followed the shadow and saw a girl with short hair wearing a brown scarf, a short skirt, and tall boots.

He was so engrossed in replaying the Alien Beast incident that he didn't notice anyone approaching?!

“I saw a butterfly die, and I told it to rest in peace.” Qian Shulian quickly found a reason.

The girl stared at him intently, then suddenly said, "My name is Matsunaga Hazuki. What's yours?"

"Ah? Lian, Qian Shu Lian."

Then he heard the girl laugh: "Finally I know your name! I wanted to say hello to you this afternoon, but you ran away."

In the afternoon? At that time, Chishu Rei was working at the amusement park. She figured the white-clad cleaners' work hours should be almost over, so she went to the park to investigate after closing time.

This girl followed him the whole way? How could he not have noticed?

"I couldn't catch up with you, and I really didn't want to go back, so I came to this park and found that it was cordoned off." Matsunaga Hazuki's smile puzzled Chiju Rei. She was like a senior student who had finally solved a scientific research problem, happy and relieved.

"I remember your voice."

The girl, whose memory should have been erased but instead deeply etched everything that happened that day into her mind, said, "Father has your picture. He's observing you. You saved me from the Banib monster... So, Father is investigating the Banib monster. You call them 'monsters.' Can you tell me?"

"I want to know what I actually saw."

Chapter 120 Reversed Pentagram

“We all have the R7 factor in our bodies, the only difference is the concentration. In other words... the R7 factor is like an antibody against the alien beast factor. TLT selects people with high antibody levels to join as front-line warriors in the fight against the alien beast.”

Japan Branch Third Base, Freedom Fortress.

Due to the deployment of support to the Fourth Base and the frequent attacks by small alien beasts, most of the personnel were either sent to the Fourth Base or patrolling and searching for traces of small alien beasts.

As usual, Kira Zeyu spoke with the members of Night Raid Team A via projector in the control room: "The Cleaners extracted human tissue samples from the scene. After analysis, their R7 factor was found to be at the level of ordinary people, or even low. Such people are more likely to be infected by the alien beast factor and undergo mutation."

"Then why didn't the same thing happen to other survivors who were attacked by alien beasts before?"

Bai Ying looked at Komon Kazuki, who had raised the question: "This is what we need to investigate."

He tapped the table, and a holographic projection of the entire metropolitan area unfolded on it. Rows of high-rise buildings and bustling roads stretched out, and the vibrancy gradually diminished as one moved outwards. Several red dots flashed, all surrounding the relatively sparsely populated areas outside the central district.

"Currently, it has been confirmed that three people have transformed into small alien beasts: a high school student, a sewage treatment plant employee, and a restaurant waiter."

Three of the six red dots have disappeared, while the images of people are reflected in the other three locations in the city.

Kazuki Komon focused his gaze on the figure near the school. Above the figure was the student's information, including a photo, name, and time of death.

Kira Sawa explained, "This is their movement trajectory before the incident."

One student stayed at the school and then took a bus to the park; another stayed at the sewage treatment plant, only moving between the administrative office and his duty room; and the third, after leaving the cafeteria, slowly walked along the river until he reached the suburbs.

Above each image, their respective action times jumped, scattered across the evening of the day before yesterday, noon the day before that, and the early morning of yesterday.

The images of the three little figures and the red dot slowly approached each other until they overlapped.

"Om-"

The red dot flashed off.

A spider-like creature crushed the tree-lined path; a fleshy ball crashed into the administration building; and winged insects swarmed into a riverside restaurant.

Next came information on other missing persons: troubled students with whom he had conflicts, managers with whom he had several arguments, and restaurant owners and employees with whom he had no connection whatsoever.

Kira Sawa noticed the doubts everyone had about the last case, and he shared CIC's analysis: "He was unhappy with the customer's bad review and complained to his restaurant owner before leaving. Both restaurants have Japanese-style decor, so it's possible that he was hallucinating."

At the same time, Bao Lücao saw an active username through forum administrator privileges.

"'Takuma and his friends'... Hey! Sakuma, come take a look at this account called Takuma!"

……

"Ants are always in a hurry, and 'good people' always have clever words."

A disheartened person stands by the river, feeling the wind blowing, watching the dark clouds gather, the night pitch black, silently reciting the eerie poems they've heard before.

He particularly liked this sentence, as it perfectly described his own experience of being laid off and not receiving his last month and a half's salary, with the other party endlessly delaying payment, and his pleas going unanswered while he was exhausted by the HR department.

The other party has an entire department of people trying to fob me off. I either have to find another job before my meager savings run out, or I have to spend money on lawyers and fight them in court.

He knew exactly what to choose, but after being rejected by five companies in a row, he didn't know whether he should leave the city to make a living.

Tunnel collapses, natural gas pipeline explosions, building collapses, minor earthquakes, chemical leaks… accidents happened frequently, and their factory was one of the unfortunate victims. Although the company managed to survive, in order to cut costs, more than half of its employees were laid off.

The boss revealed his true colors at a critical moment, withholding the wages of departing employees and using them for other purposes until the funds could be replenished.

If the boss could speak reasonably, he wouldn't be unable to understand. After all, they had worked together for many years and there was still a sense of camaraderie. But at least let him lose some living expenses—he wouldn't be able to afford instant noodles after paying his rent tomorrow.

The landlord used to be an easy-going person, but ever since his son went missing in an accident, he has become a grumpy and gloomy old man. If you dare to ask him if you can pay the rent late, he will throw all the tenants' belongings into the hallway that very night.

"Alas, the children of ants are still ants, living in the mud generation after generation."

"...Go find Barnibu, he will shatter injustice, for there are no benevolent spirits in this world."

As if by some strange twist of fate, he dipped his finger in some mineral water and drew a crooked inverted pentagram on the chair.

"Tsk, it doesn't look right." The inverted pentagram was not as easy to draw as the upright one, and there was a mistake in one place. He drew the lines that were supposed to radiate downwards as parallel lines.

I have received your wish.

"Huh?" He suddenly looked up and looked around, but saw nothing.