Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

"Personnel staff are always busy. Hello, I'm Ryoya Nakai from the Astronomy Research Group." The man was slightly overweight, around thirty years old, and very enthusiastically grabbed Kinoshita Kei's hand. He took out a small envelope from his pocket and handed it to him. Kinoshita Kei opened it in front of him and saw an ID card inside.

“Be careful not to lose this card. In this base, from dealing with monster crises to going out for walks, eating, and sleeping, you can't do without it,” Nakai Ryoya patted his pocket again, pulling out a thin little booklet: “It marks the locations of living facilities, and…”

"Don't go near those classified areas unless absolutely necessary. Was Jun-suke joking that if you got close, your head would be blown to bits?"

"He said he was going to be blown to smithereens by a sniper cannon." Kinoshita nodded, glancing at the suddenly open space inside, which resembled an underground plaza.

Yu Aiba and Pito also came along. Pito was fine; he could wander around without attracting the machine's attention. In his own words, "I can be counted on one hand in billions of years. This is basic operation."

Having learned from his experience of being discovered and bombarded at the Ariel base, Aiba Yu concealed his energy fluctuations extremely well. He observed the scanning machines at the Geo base for a while as he passed the entrance, and finally chose to sneak in from the side while Abe Shunsuke went to the side door.

Kinoshita Kei looked at the suddenly empty underground plaza, unable to discern anything, only noticing that there seemed to be fewer people. Aiba Yu, standing beside him, telepathically transmitted, "Sixteen firing points, behind the wall."

"Holy crap, this is heavily guarded?" Kinoshita Kei blurted out.

Nakai Ryoya assumed he was just marveling at the inspection he had just undergone and that he had noticed something about this underground plaza. He explained, "The inspection we did at the entrance, as well as the security system at the entrances and exits, would be a waste if they were only for 'secrecy.' Their hypothetical enemy is actually aliens."

"An alien?" The corridor was narrow and dark. Without Aiba Yu's reminder, Kinoshita Kei noticed the obvious partitions. If an enemy broke in, the people in the base would raise steel walls, and the guards would hold their positions, blocking the enemy layer by layer.

After navigating the maze-like outer defenses, voices gradually drifted in from within. They reached the source of the light, and a bright, open space opened up before them.

"This is……"

Kinoshita Kei found himself standing about three stories high, with a large equipment maintenance workshop below him.

The bright white lights illuminated every corner, and the cold, metallic sheen of the equipment was both austere and beautiful, like a dragon lying still in slumber. Its meticulously crafted coating, applied according to strict standards, resembled smooth, glossy scales, reflecting the silhouettes of people dressed in orange.

Kinoshita Kei both recognized and didn't recognize those devices. He recognized them because he could tell they were parts of a deep-space telescope; he didn't recognize them because the people in orange clothes were trying to attach instruments to the side of it, which were sophisticated and complex, unlike any he knew of.

They were like worker ants. It might seem inappropriate to describe people as ants, but in Kinoshita Kei's mind at that moment, there was a group of ants, each doing their own job, completing their own seemingly insignificant tasks little by little, yet becoming true pioneers at the forefront of exploration in a field that no one had ever ventured into before.

“Welcome to Geo.” Ryoya Nakai’s voice was ordinary, but to Kei Kinoshita, every word carried a strange power.

He said, "Welcome to the vanguard of humanity's fight against the Root Destruction Entity. You are now a member, Kinoshita Kei."

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Ship of Doomsday

Kinoshita Kei thought he had escaped Professor Fukui's clutches, but he never expected that there was another Fukui in front of him...

Professor Fukui's real name is Takeshi Fukui. He has a twin brother named Makoto Fukui, who is currently the head of the Astronomical Research Group of the 6th Squadron directly under Geo Base.

Twins, the kind that look exactly like a copy and paste. Kinoshita Kei's pupils and brain both trembled; he seemed to understand why he had passed the test while lying at home slacking off.

"GUARD Geo Base directly commands six squadrons, as well as an additional biological research lab and equipment research lab. Our Sixth Squadron is divided into two groups: the Geological Research Group and the Astronomical Research Group. Take a look at your number." The speaker was Fukui Makoto, whose face was almost identical to his twin brother's, but he wasn't wearing glasses, so his sharp eyes were unobstructed, sending a chill down Kinoshita Kei's spine. He seemed to see Professor Fukui reprimanding him face to face, and he dared not disobey, so he quickly took out his identification card, the card number being his personal identification number.

“G106020098005.” Kinoshita Kei blinked. The light in Fukui Makoto’s office was a bit glaring, just like his eyes.

“G stands for Geo Base. Similarly, those starting with A are from Aerial Base; 106 represents the Sixth Squadron directly under you; 02 is the Second Group of the Sixth Squadron, which is the Geological Research Group; 0098 is the last two digits of your joining year; 005 is the order of the group members. Remember this number; you will use it often in the future,” Fukui explained to him while casually signing some unimportant circulating documents. “The mechanisms within Geo Base are much more rigorous than those in university. My brother rarely recommends his students to me; you are one of the few who are the fourth.”

"The fourth one..." Kinoshita Kei wondered if there was a "senior" in the astronomy research group.

As if he had overheard his thoughts, Fukui Makoto stopped writing and looked at him with a half-smile: "The first one couldn't take the hardship and went back. The second one was expelled for violating safety regulations and confidentiality rules while operating equipment. He couldn't accept the blow and went home for psychological treatment. The third one left the astronomy field to play the game of making money in finance... The students that your brother is willing to recommend must have great potential, but he has never been good at evaluating students' mental qualities. I hope you can persevere for a long time."

Kinoshita Kei was infuriated by his attitude. Even if he was the head of the research group and a prominent figure in the industry, he couldn't just speak with such subjective assumptions.

The comment "I hope you can persevere longer" is as if he would definitely end up like the senior students before him.

"Why did you approve my application?" Kinoshita Kei didn't understand. If he didn't think highly of the candidate's mental qualities, why did he bring him in?

“Because the real ‘test’ begins the moment we receive the application emails. In the past few days, we have received a total of thirty-four applications from all over the world, including many talented young people, but I have only approved your application.” Fukui Makoto refilled his teacup and filled the guest porcelain cup, then pushed the exquisite little thing to Kinoshita Kei.

The latter was confused by his attitude. He subconsciously took the porcelain cup but didn't drink from it, his mind only focused on getting an answer: "You mean, only my copy was approved?"

“This is GUARD,” Fukui Makoto said. “It stands for Geocentric Universal Alliance against the Radical Destruction. On your way here, you should have seen the guards from the entrance to the base, whether they are visible sentries or hidden bunkers.”

"This base is hidden beneath Tokyo Bay. Everything is designed according to the principle that 'all life on the Earth's surface will be wiped out by the causal destruction.' It is powered by a nuclear fusion reactor and retains a complete ecosystem inside, as well as a small breeding bank. We also have a larger global seed bank in the Arctic Ocean, with six storage rooms, each covering 1,000 square meters. When operating at full capacity, it can store 9 million samples, with each sample containing about 500 seeds. If 'destruction' comes, the Geo base and its branch banks deployed around the world will be the last hope, or even the final monument—those backup warehouses of life on Earth, which we call 'doomsday ships.'"

Fukui Makoto's tone was very flat, dry like a lazy teacher reading a PowerPoint presentation, but after he finished speaking simply, Kinoshita Kei was speechless for a long time.

What's going on? This is just a tokusatsu drama world, isn't it? No matter how powerful the monsters are, they'll still be defeated by Ultraman, right? In the finale, there's always a bug-level monster that appears, like a tidal wave crashing down on earth, or the world going dark when it appears—those are just minor incidents. So what? No matter how powerful they are, like blowing up the defense base or beating the protagonist to a pulp, they'll still be defeated by the Ultraman in the end, won't they? With all sorts of buffs like the power of bonds, the light of the Earth, the light of humanity, and the will of the universe, even the strongest monster will be wiped out in one burst.

But why do these people really seem like the world is about to end? Building a space base isn't enough; they also have to go underwater and dig an iron-shelled fortress underground, and then dig countless smaller branch fortresses, filling each one with "backup" items, like sailors preparing life rafts before the fiercest storm. No one tells them that someone will tear through the clouds for them, so they silently prepare everything meticulously, making contingency plans for all the possibilities when the ship capsizes, signing and sealing their documents, and each writing their will.

Like a tragic fool.

Kinoshita Kei should have laughed it off—why was the scriptwriter taking it so seriously? But he couldn't laugh. He felt like a tiger was crouching in his chest, restlessly circling and sharpening its claws as Fukui Makoto calmly narrated, wanting to roar out in fury.

Fukui Makoto added fuel to the fire: "We are an astronomical research group, but we are also the Earth Defense Force. How many research units have you seen whose superior organization is called a 'squadron'? I don't care if you are a student or not. Once you enter here, you are half a soldier. We conduct research, but everything serves to fight against 'Destruction'. In the face of this great goal, all personal pursuits must be put aside. Therefore, my evaluation criteria first screen out people who treat this place as a 'good place to publish papers with ample funding'. Your application was well written. 'Want to see the most cutting-edge technology of mankind' is true, but not utilitarian. So I didn't put your application in the shredder during the first screening."

"As for ultimately choosing you..." Kinoshita Kei stayed in his office for almost thirty minutes before Fukui Makoto showed his first genuine smile: "Giving up your escape tools to others is a valuable quality. We fight against 'Destruction' to protect human civilization. If you don't have the heart to save others, it's best not to enter this door."

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Dreams and Reality

"Human...civilization..."

The grand topic suddenly presented to him made Kinoshita Kei's heart tremble. He turned his head uncomfortably under Fukui Makoto's less sharp gaze and looked at the "scenery" outside the office: the first equipment maintenance workshop he saw when he arrived, where "worker ants" were busy working.

The underground base of Geo has no distinction between day and night. The staff works in three shifts and the lights are on 24 hours a day. The hurried footsteps, stacks of data documents, and gleaming maintenance tools make up the entirety of the "worker ants".

To the onlookers, their tireless efforts are nothing compared to the miracles that Ultraman can conjure with a simple gesture. All that effort you put into building those fighter jets and such is just appetizers for the monsters, isn't it? In the end, it still comes down to Ultraman's beam to deliver the final blow against the monsters.

Just imagine, a fighter jet takes off. Even disregarding the manpower and resources spent manufacturing it, the maintenance alone requires a maintenance team of about ten people. This includes coordination and dispatch, ordnance inspection and loading, airframe inspection and maintenance, and maintenance and refueling of core components like the engine. No matter how long the flight, even if it's only two or three minutes, this entire process must be followed.

They walked very carefully—then the fighter jet was ripped into the ground by a monster's claw, and all their efforts were in vain.

For the characters in the story, this is the reality they face: the enemy is powerful, and the monsters that easily destroy a city are merely biological weapons they casually send out. They deploy monsters through sudden spatial distortions, and humanity currently has no similar means of retaliation, leaving them only to passively endure the attacks and do their utmost to minimize losses. It's like being trapped in an unknown cave, surrounded by layers of rock, groping for a way to survive in despairing darkness, with only a plastic spoon in hand.

Kinoshita Kei stared silently at the "worker ants" crawling up and down.

Fukui Makoto noticed his reaction, opened a drawer, took out a small box, and opened it in front of Kinoshita Kei. Inside was a palm-sized communicator.

“You can store your phone and use it when you get back to the ground. This is an internal communication device, assigned to official personnel, with a built-in contact list for each department,” Fukui Makoto handed him the communicator. “You gave two strangers a chance to escape, and I’m willing to give you a chance too.”

……

When Kinoshita Kei came out of Fukui Makoto's office, he seemed a little dazed. Nakai Ryo, seeing this, took another mint from his wide pocket, handed it to him, and patted him on the shoulder: "The cafeteria will allocate a fixed amount to your card every month. You can pay for whatever you eat, and you can use the extra to buy daily necessities at the base supermarket. I suggest you stock up on some mints and other things to keep you alert, you'll need them when you work night shifts."

Kinoshita Kei mechanically accepted the candy, thanked him, but his thoughts were still wandering in that office.

Nakai Ryoya chuckled and called him back to his senses: "Team Leader Fukui always says random things, leaving the newbies dumbfounded, just like that guy Shunsuke, he likes to scare the newbies. Okay... he must have said something about 'human civilization' or 'the end of the world' to you, right?"

"How did you know?" Kinoshita Kei snapped out of his daze upon hearing the key words. He saw Nakai Ryoya's somewhat round cheeks puff out even more with his smile. He chuckled, "Team Leader Fukui told you half the story and left the other half untold. He must have praised you for giving up your car to someone else, but tell me, out of more than thirty candidates, isn't there really no one with exceptional talent who would make people look at you differently and be reluctant to let you go?"

Kinoshita nodded: "Being able to get connections is already a screening process in itself."

“Yes, without connections to academia, how could we have recommendation letters from professors? But, there really aren’t any so-called ‘brilliant’ top talents who come here,” Nakai Ryoya explained in a low voice, under Kinoshita Kei’s questioning gaze:

“We have a military-style base overhead, and while we have ample research funding, we also face many restrictions. This is no secret in the industry. The real experts hate this situation where they have to depend on others for the research they want to do. Furthermore, they have their own laboratories and familiar observatories, so they don’t have to worry about funding much either. It’s much more comfortable to have excellent students by their side as assistants. Why would they come here? So, most of the students who submit applications are those who are not highly regarded, but who can see their potential in a different environment… Ah, I’m not targeting you, I’m just telling you the current situation.”

Kinoshita Kei had a calm mindset. Wasn't "not being valued" the situation he encountered most often when he was still Mu Xiajing? It had always been like this. Even if he accidentally got a good opportunity, it was probably not because he was so hardworking or outstanding, but because a series of objective factors finally made good luck favor him.

“Actually, we’ve sent invitations to some already well-known and outstanding talents…” Nakai Ryo sighed, peeled a mint and popped it into his mouth: “They don’t want to come.”

"Isn't it to fight against the Root of Destruction? Don't they know that?"

"I know, but doesn't that mean they're still exploring the frontiers for human progress even though they didn't join GUARD? How many people from Alchemy Star have joined us? Except for that Takayama Gamu recently. Research is done anywhere, so of course they'd choose a comfortable place, one without any top-down organization pressuring them or outsiders interfering. Their relationship with us is that we can discuss cooperation, but joining... is basically out of the question."

"In other words... my application was approved. What happened that day was just one factor. The most important thing is that my competitors were not many truly capable people. We were all on the same level, so naturally Team Leader Fukui started to focus on things like character and mentality," Kinoshita Kei was quite insightful about this kind of thing: "Since there are so many restrictions here, why did you join GUARD in the first place?"

Ryo Nakai also slowed down a bit: "Well... I have a dream, which is that everyone can put aside their differences and give their all for a goal. GUARD is an organization with such a goal, but after joining, I found that we only have the same general goal. Although everyone in the base works very hard, the people outside who play a decisive role are not moving in the same direction."

"GUARD is ultimately a united organization. Each country has its own ideas, and it's already quite an achievement that we've managed to come to this point. If the whole world were to fully commit, our Ariel base would have far more than just those three fighter combat units. What I'm looking forward to is something like 'the unity of all humanity'—"

He crunched the mint loudly: "It's still just at the stage of 'feeling threatened and having no choice but to do it'."

Chapter Twenty-Eight: My Self-Cognition

The staff dormitory is adjacent to the ecological park.

That's rare underground, where you can see what life is like.

A place brimming with life. Kinoshita Kei's window wasn't actually positioned directly facing the ecological park, but even from this slightly off-center angle, the view of this paradise of greenery and flowers was enough to leave him in awe.

"This is in the rock strata under the seabed!" Kinoshita Kei's eyesight was already able to see the "dew" that had just been sprinkled on the branches and leaves in the distance.

The ecological park was managed by members of the biological research lab who had been repeatedly warned not to approach. Their research focused on artificial ecosystems, and this department was far more welcoming than their colleagues. Their largest experimental field, this ecological park, was completely transparent and open to the public; they even had a cobblestone path built around it, making it one of the few scenic spots in this underground fortress. Many people, when their eyes were becoming dazzled by the steel workshops, would come here for a stroll and clear their minds.

The dormitory area was built near the ecological park with the intention of not making employees feel too depressed. This plan has created a group of the "happiest" people.

It's often said that happiness is relative. Compared to the miserable lives of other departments, the researchers in charge of the artificial ecosystem are at least a whole atmosphere above others in terms of visual enjoyment. Nakai Ryo also spoke of them with undisguised envy: "Outside, these flowers and plants are so ordinary that we don't even bother to stop and take a look. But here, they're highly sought after. We can only look, while they're inside every day. Tsk tsk, we can't compare."

"There's nothing to envy."

Kinoshita Kei only stayed there for a day. In his eyes, the ecological park had become a top-level national forest park. He was enviously sighing that the researchers had caught up with good positions when he suddenly heard the ghost fellow villager say, "There are monster limbs down there."

"What the hell? They're using monsters as compost?!" Kinoshita Kei exclaimed in shock. "You really saw that?...No! You won't be detected using your energy, will you?"

Aiba Yu glanced at him: "The dormitory area is not well guarded, so this level of deployment is not a problem. Besides... I saw it very clearly. It's not burying monsters, but their monster research department is located right below the ecological park."

Aiba Yu has seen many monsters that can be resurrected with just a small piece of tissue. If the monster research department goes too far, the first place to be destroyed will probably be the ecological park.

"What monster are they studying? That charred jellyfish? Wasn't it burned to ashes...?"

Aiba Yu carefully examined the label on the specimen: "It's metal... a life form."

Kinoshita Kei, of course, was unaware of these details. After surveying his surroundings, he decided to take out his personal belongings and tidy up the room: "They're probably fighting monsters somewhere else. It's normal for them to be running all over the world. It's impossible for monsters to be harassing Tokyo every day; the infrastructure department would go crazy first... Salted Fish King, stop it!"

Pito had already climbed onto Kinoshita Kei's brand-new, soft blanket without anyone noticing, and while splashing around, he exclaimed, "It's really great, Kei! The springs are of very good quality. Look how high I can jump!"

Kinoshita Kei didn't care what the salted fish was babbling about; he was only worried that his blankets would be subjected to a baptism of saltwater before he even got to sleep on them for a day, and he could hear the springs creaking and groaning! He picked up the salted fish, threw it on the table, and pounced on it to check the extent of the damage.

"Thankfully, not much got on it...and the springs are still okay," Kinoshita Kei breathed a sigh of relief. "King of Salted Fish, this place isn't like home. If I break something on the first day, my initial image will be ruined! This is a rare opportunity, so I have to cherish it and not embarrass myself!"

"I've never seen you so nervous before, except when answering questions in front of your professor." Salty Fish rolled over on the table.

Kinoshita Kei looked at Aiba Yu with a puzzled expression, and the latter translated, "You're too nervous."

"How can I not be nervous? You must have heard what Team Leader Fukui said," Kinoshita Kei said, opening his suitcase and taking things out one by one. Aiba Yu helped him move the books out and arrange them neatly. He thanked him and said, "..."