Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

"Never mind, never mind." Kinoshita Kei went to the bathroom, soaked a towel, and applied it to his face.

Tomorrow he'll say goodbye to his vacation and go back to the Geo base to report for duty. He had planned to brag to his fellow countryman about how "Uranus responded to me," "I saw his light," and "I am a man as swift as the wind." But his fellow countryman ran off with the monster and hasn't been seen since. He's itching to find someone to brag to, just waiting for his fellow countryman to show up so he can have a good talk with him.

"Oh, right," Kinoshita Kei said warily, "You're not allowed to turn into a salted fish and contaminate my blankets again, nor are you allowed to be scared silly by the snowdrift!"

"How could a planet like Success be scared out of its wits by a fat cat?"

Kinoshita Kei didn't quite believe what this guy with a criminal record was saying: "That's for the best."

……

People showed unexpected optimism in the face of the monster disaster.

"Since the office building is gone, I'll just work from home for now," Hiroshi Hirakawa said, grinning at the camera while sitting on his hospital bed, flashing a peace sign with his hand. "I survived the 'meteorite' monster! Thanks to Mr. Gondo for saving me!"

"Mr. Gondo?" Reiko Yoshii held the microphone closer. "Is this Mr. Gondo from XIG?"

Hiroshi Hirakawa answered with a strong voice, clearly recovering well. His wife and children were by his bedside, one peeling fruit and the other holding a fruit plate. Kei Kinoshita noticed that the mother had taken good care of herself; her hair was smooth and black, neatly tied up, and her clothes were no longer the casual cotton pajamas she had thrown on, but instead a light-colored thin sweater with a cardigan. She was completely different from the anxious woman she had been in the cold wind on the bridge that day.

Hiroshi Hirakawa replied, "Of course it was Mr. Gondo. Although I was half-conscious at the time, I heard someone call that name, and I will remember it for the rest of my life! Thank you, Mr. Gondo!"

Regardless of how Matsuo Renji mocked his boss, Kinoshita Kei almost choked on his lunch when he heard this interview.

On TV, Hiroshi Hirakawa was still giving his remarks: "I heard that Gaia solved the 'meteorite' in the end? Well, I have to thank Gaia-san! To be honest, it was so hot near the 'meteorite' that I thought I might die from dehydration or heatstroke before I passed out, but then I suddenly felt a cool breeze."

Reiko Yoshii is a highly skilled journalist; she knows when to play the perfect straight man: "So, what kind of cool breeze was it? Did Gaia do something?"

"I'm not so sure about that. I only know that Kondo-san was with me at the time. Maybe it was my psychological influence, but when the rescue came, it was like a timely rain after a long drought," Hiroshi Hirakawa said with emotion. "Really, thank you, Kondo-san!"

"That wind is me, it's me!" Kinoshita Kei muttered softly.

“It could also be Samuel,” Pito said, sitting in the empty seat next to him. “Have you forgotten that you suddenly felt cool while digging?”

Kinoshita Kei buried his head in his food and ate. Several days later, he reunited with the canteen at the Geo base, but he couldn't taste the food. After making a name for himself, he had no one to brag to, which made the young man, who was still in the excitement phase, feel very uncomfortable.

Whether it was Pito, his fellow countryman, or the rescued Hiroshi Hirakawa, Kinoshita Kei desperately wanted recognition. Pito praised him lightly, but Uranus didn't respond during training, which made him uneasy again: perhaps Pito was telling the truth, and Uranus knew that Earth's consciousness couldn't really hurt him, so he ignored Pito's attack.

But Kinoshita Kei started scaring himself again—maybe you haven't done enough. Look, you've only saved a few people, and you're already so happy you're out of your mind. You know that a hero shouldn't be satisfied with boasting, but you're still eagerly anticipating hearing Hirakawa Hiroshi praise you on TV.

Hiroshi Hirakawa desperately thanks "Mr. Gondo," leaving Kei Kinoshita both amused and disappointed.

Thinking this, the television interview was coming to an end.

"Ah, you're asking about the giants and monsters in the suburbs? I did see the reports after I woke up... Although I'm grateful to the silver giant, well, how should I put it?" Hiroshi Hirakawa's smile faded, and he answered more slowly, as if he was trying to choose his words carefully.

"As expected, I still find it more terrifying."

Hiroshi Hirakawa's answer echoed in the noisy cafeteria.

Kinoshita Kei stopped chewing, looked up in surprise at the screen hanging on the side wall.

“There were similar cases in the reports of the monster attack in Chiba Prefecture, right? The giant’s behavior of protecting the monster,” Hiroshi Hirakawa expressed his doubts: “There is no doubt that the monsters hurt people, but the giant helped both the monsters and humans—I don’t quite understand why he did that. Maybe there is some reason we don’t know?”

"But until I figured out the reason, I still felt a bit scared. Who knows if he might do it for some reason we don't know?"

What if they turn around and use it against humans?

"Like the Blue Giant, the Silver Giant has too many uncertainties. Although I am grateful to him, this part is a bit too much. Can you cut it out and not broadcast it?" Hiroshi Hirakawa said, "I think Gaia is more friendly and reliable."

Chapter Seventy-Three: The Unfinished Assimilation

"Woo-quack~?"

"I don't have any sugar on my face. If you stick your tongue out, I'll throw you down."

"Woo..."

"It's no use whining." The person who spoke freed one hand, grabbed the grimy thing off his shoulder, and threw it behind him without even looking at it.

A dull whistling sound filled the air as the seventy-meter-tall behemoth caught a ball falling in a parabolic trajectory with the flat surface of its sickle-like claws. The ball rolled several times upon impact and flipped onto its forearms.

After the Gobu juvenile settled down, it turned around with a "whoosh." Xiangye You glared at it, and the latter immediately gave up the idea of ​​jumping back. It covered its face with its paws and whimpered as it snuggled into its boss's arms.

Hearing the rustling sound of the Gobu larvae heading towards the "mountain," Aiba Yu breathed a sigh of relief and continued with a troublesome task:

The unstable areas affected by the spatial channel will be "stitched together".

The person who created the passage and shattered it into turbulent currents clearly wouldn't care about the cleanup. If Aiba Yu hadn't reinforced this space, the turbulent currents would likely reappear before long, and this Gobu hatchery would probably become a burial ground.

Although they are alien beings, Aiba Yu doesn't think they can be left unattended. These Gobu are very similar to life on Earth in primitive times. They have little intelligence and have not developed any civilization. They simply follow their biological instincts and pass on their knowledge from generation to generation. Occasionally, they undergo minor mutations and achieve lucky evolution, slowly developing to the present day, with their footprints spreading across half the planet.

The other half is Bats' territory. After solidifying the passage to the Gobu Hatchery, Aiba Yu still needs to go to Bats' side to take a look, as there is another passage connecting to Earth there.

"Grunt—Ooh?"

A slight tug came from near my feet, as if my trouser leg was being pulled.

Aiba Yu looked down and saw a Gobu larva tugging at his trouser leg, with several other Gobu chicks crouching behind it, hissing and cawing as if cheering on the bolder one. They had only recently hatched, and their skins hadn't yet hardened under the blue sun with enough calcium.

To be honest, Aiba Yu hadn't quite figured out who was who yet. He only remembered a few particularly lively ones who would come up to him even after being glared at, sniffing around like huskies, and suddenly sticking out their rough tongues to lick him. Aiba Yu would then have to clean his clothes with a dark face, and occasionally he would have the thought, "I don't want this uniform anymore."

Then he would try to convince himself:

You can't stay here forever. The enemy can open a passage from another place at any time to send Gob to Earth. You haven't reinforced the space on the entire planet's surface in a short time. Once you've patched up the leaks here, you'll have to go back to Earth. The enemy's target is always Earth.

In other words, since we can't solve the problem of the enemy deploying Gobu, we should take advantage of the fact that the new Gobu are all here to get to know them better and make them less afraid of the sudden change in environment. At least they can calm down immediately after we appear—just like when you suddenly arrive in an unfamiliar place, your heart races, but when you turn a corner and find your friend waiting there, you immediately feel at ease.

So, although Aiba Yu was bothered by so many little creatures and their constant chatter was a bit annoying, he didn't habitually find a secluded spot to rest. Occasionally, he would use light particles to set off "fireworks" for them, outlining the contours of human buildings, so that if they were accidentally taken to Earth, they wouldn't be as nervous as Gobu was before.

...But I can't stand having saliva on my clothes!

The consequence of being too close and easy to talk to is that even when working, some Gobu dares to rub against you!

The one pulling at his trouser leg is one of the most energetic!

When Aiba Yu glanced down at it, it seemed even happier, croaking loudly that made one wonder about its breed. It then pounced on him, grabbing his clothes and climbing up.

"It's okay, it's okay," Aiba Yu reassured herself. "It's just getting used to me. There's plenty of sunlight and the temperature is just right here. Getting to work is important, so I need to concentrate. Just treat it as exercise..."

"Aww!" The rough-looking Gobu larva raised its head and opened its mouth to bite down again: "Gnaw!"

Construction failed, and the project collapsed.

"Don't you dare use my clothes to gnaw on!!!"

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu?"

"It's no use whining!"

……

[The "outsiders" are so kind to them; do we receive such treatment?]

Of course not! Putting aside whether giants helped us or not, Earth was kind to us when we were powerful, but the moment a change of dynasty occurred, it turned its back on us!

Aiba Yu paused in his actions of weaving silver threads to solidify the space: "You are already dead, ancient creatures."

We're still alive! Otherwise, who's talking here?

"I'm also wondering why you're still alive. You're not highly intelligent beings, yet you tried to communicate with Pito and even harbored resentment. Are you really just those ancient creatures from the fossils?"

Gob was still using him as a tool to grind his teeth, and even started scratching him with his claws. Only Aiba Yu had thick skin; an ordinary person would have been scratched to pieces. But Aiba Yu had no mind to care about them anymore. He focused his energy on completing the spatial construction while immersing himself in a resentful dialogue with those ancient creatures that should have been "assimilated" long ago.

Here it comes!

Human arrogance! Just because we are lower beings doesn't mean we can't communicate or harbor resentment?! Don't try to apply your evolutionary theories to us...

"Who gave you this?" Aiba Yu ignored their anger and slowly recalled the anomalies he had discovered over the past few days:

First, there's the impact of these "resentments" on oneself. Although they are numerous, their source is ultimately just a collection of fossilized plants and animals, and it's hard to say whether they have any independent consciousness.

Aiba Yu absorbed almost all of the negative memories of the alien beasts held by humans in the River of Oblivion without any impact on his behavior. However, after absorbing the resentment of these ancient creatures, he began to behave abnormally, wanting to fight Pito, who was the consciousness of Earth, all the time. Only he managed to restrain his impulses, and the fights turned into stealing Pito's snacks, at most banging Pito's head on the table or wiping the floor.

Then there's the speed of "assimilation," a trait he acquired from the moment his body was human, which can be said to be engraved in his very being, and has helped him survive many near-death experiences. Whether the speed of "assimilation" is fast or slow, Aiba Yu is all too familiar with it.

Dealing with this "resentment" is too slow now. After all these days, it's still managing to retain its thoughts, arguing with him in his mind!

Aiba Yu carefully recalled the circumstances of when he contained them. It was the "Celestial Realm" machine that absorbed them, and in his haste, he stuffed the "Celestial Realm" into the Meta Domain. After shattering the mechanical structure, these "resentments" overflowed. He couldn't let them out, so he had no choice but to use himself as a container. Anyway, he would complete the "assimilation" in a while. At most, he would have strange nightmares for a few days. As the saying goes, "practice makes perfect," and this little bit of effort wouldn't shake his mind.

"Is it a problem with the 'celestial realm'?"

The "resentment of ancient creatures" was still clamoring in my mind, its sound almost as loud as ten thousand Gobu pounding on an eggshell, making my brain want to run away from home.

“According to the information relayed by Pito, the ‘Celestial Realm’ comes from another universe,” Aiba Yu forced himself to concentrate and asked the voice in his head, “Are you ‘ancient beings’ of Earth, or were you given something else by the ‘Celestial Realm’?”

Chapter Seventy-Four: Farewell to Renlong

Aiba Yu was working overtime in the M91 Nebula, dealing with terrifying monster cubs, while Kinoshita Kei was happily slacking off at the Geo base. Apart from being brutally beaten by Pito, his days were pretty good—the base's supermarket had received a new shipment, supposedly recommended by a chef from Suzhou who worked at the canteen, and cold-cooked rabbit was on the shelves.

Damn it, who knows why someone who makes sweet pastries every day would wholeheartedly recommend Sichuan spicy food? Kinoshita Kei guessed it was because he could make the sweet stuff himself. Anyway, Kinoshita Kei and Pito were both very happy with it.

I won't even comment on why an Earth-like being like you is so happy eating bunnies. Bunnies are so cute, why not order some mild or non-spicy ones?

Not only was Nakai Ryo recommended this product to him, but he also fell in love with spicy fish, licking the red oil and exclaiming that he was indeed a member of my astronomical research group! The geological research group believed that they would die of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar sooner or later, but Fukui, the group leader who was elegantly forking a rabbit with a fork, retorted with a nonchalant remark, "But you still haven't figured out why there are eyeballs in the mountains."

The geological research team replied arrogantly, "We've decided to embrace metaphysics... Go back and compile your report." Team leader Fukui sneered and poured himself a third glass of water.

hot.

Unable to resist making a sarcastic remark about the group leader not eating spicy food, Kinoshita Kei was stunned into a daze by the cold stare of death. Her mind was filled with thoughts like "I'm going to get into trouble tomorrow" and "Why can't I control my mouth?" She staggered back to her dormitory and unexpectedly received a phone call from her grandmother.

"Xiao Jing, I received a call from an insurance company today."

Kinoshita Kei then realized why his grandmother, who always adhered to the idea of ​​"not disturbing your work" and would only call if there was an emergency, had come to find him: "Wasn't the monster accident insurance we bought for our employees last time incorrect?"

“No, they recommended a new product,” Kinoshita Maho adjusted her reading glasses and read aloud word by word under the light: “Due to the increase in monster disasters, our company is launching the ‘Monster Disaster Property Insurance - Golden Fortune’ product. Low investment, high return, one insurance policy, lifelong peace of mind. For details on rates and terms, please refer to the brochure.”

Then came a long string of dizzying insurance premiums and compensation rules. Kinoshita Maho read them carefully, and Kinoshita Kei listened patiently. He knew that his grandmother actually wanted to call him, but she was stubbornly holding onto the feeling of "not wanting to disturb him," and every day she refrained from dialing his number. Now that she had the chance to speak, she didn't know what to say, and just held onto the insurance policy and read the advertisement to him.