Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

"Damn it! You son of a bitch Earth! Your rebellious son is beating up another kid again. When are you going to get some delinquents reformed?" Kinoshita Kei, his eyes glazed with sleep, read the late-night news: "There's a werewolf and a metal lump next to him, how does he still have the mind to fight with Gaia?"

“He’s not a delinquent, he’s just,” the muscular man said, gnawing on a spicy fish, his fingers, smeared with chili oil, gesturing a short distance between them, “just that his method of protecting me is a little off.”

It must have been banned, because the footage only showed giants and monsters, and the XIG members and their small planes were nowhere to be seen. Even if they were accidentally seen, the director blurred them out at lightning speed.

Kinoshita Kei watched as the red one tried to stop the blue one from beating up the gas wolf. The blue one wanted to unleash a beam of light and crush the red wolf along with it. Then, a metal lump that had fallen from somewhere appeared and started causing trouble. The scene was like something out of the Jin-Sui region. All Kinoshita Kei wanted was a bowl of millet porridge.

Gaia was the one who had the foresight to move the battlefield to the open waterside first. Kinoshita Kei could still sit back and relax, eating a late-night snack and watching the live stream. If they had fought like that in the building complex, he wouldn't care if it was a childhood memory. He would have swiped his ID card and rushed to the Ariel base to find Takayama Gamu, ordering him to contact Fujimiya the King of Pretends and give him a three-part rant about Aihara Ryu's qualities.

If they dare to make a move, that would be even more exciting. The monster hasn't come yet, let's have a showdown between the three of them: the sky, the earth, and the ocean. I guarantee that the salty Earth will cry and crawl into the arms of its fellow countrymen.

"When will Uranus give me a transformation device...?" Two monsters and two giants, a perfectly good 2v2 battle has been turned into a chaotic melee with everyone involved being a traitor. Kinoshita Kei watched with a chill down his spine: "If this continues, something bad will happen sooner or later. Earth is doomed!"

"Snapped!"

Why did you knock on me?!

Kinoshita Kei covered his head, and the muscular man withdrew his rolling pin-thick hand: "How can you talk like that, you troublesome brat?"

"Crack!"

This time the sound came from the television, drawing the attention of both Kinoshita Kei and Pito. The screen suddenly brightened as sparks flew from Agul's breastplate. The metal lump was holding something that looked like a dagger or a sword, and it grazed past him. Agul retaliated with his lightsaber, forcing it back. He no longer cared about fighting Gaia; he was panting heavily as he stared at the metal figure that had launched a sneak attack.

"Hiss—" Kinoshita Kei gasped, "It looks pretty heavy. I didn't see it clearly. Did it hit the timer?"

The metallic lifeform, having landed a successful blow, didn't linger. It retreated a few steps, also looking...

Suddenly, Agul's body began to pulsate like flowing water, as if it were melting and then solidifying and shaping metal. It took Agul as its target and transformed into his appearance. By the time Kinoshita Kei recovered from the nausea of ​​his bulging body, the scene had transformed into two Aguls.

This move successfully drew the attention of the real Agul, allowing Gaia to concentrate on stopping the gas wolf's actions and creating an opportunity for her teammates to administer the potion to it.

What happened next was unclear to others, but it was obvious to Kinoshita Kei, who claimed to have watched countless films—the main characters would stop fighting amongst themselves, and the villains would continue to beat them up.

The news footage continued to stream from the scene, and Kinoshita Kei suddenly stood up, casually wiped the red oil off his hands from eating spicy fish, and walked out the door.

"Where are you going? Didn't you say you'd go to sleep after watching the news?" Pito shouted from behind him. "Gaia and Agul will be fine. Even if there are some minor setbacks, that wolf and the metal man won't be able to defeat them."

“There’s something hidden in some unknown space above us!” Kinoshita Kei opened the door, and the unchanging white light from the corridor shone in, blending with the warm yellow light in the room. “I’m not going to sleep. I’m going to try to find that thing’s location more precisely—even if it’s spread all over the Japanese islands, it should have a head, or rather, a core. If I look more carefully, maybe I can find some clues.”

“I’m afraid you’ll fall asleep at your desk before you find any clues,” Pito scratched his head, then suddenly remembered that his hands were oily, so he changed his hooked finger into a raised orchid finger: “Staying up late is bad for your health!”

Kinoshita Kei's eyes lit up upon hearing His words, and he turned around excitedly, saying, "When I'm about to lose health, Uranus will protect me, so when I burn mana... will Uranus come to me in my dreams? Like an angel sister, giving loving care to a weary hero."

Pito opened his mouth, unsure of what to say. He glanced at Gaia and Agul, who had finally quieted down on TV, and then at Kinoshita Kei, who was full of mischief and trying to get Uranus to say something. A feeling of exhaustion washed over him.

The kid, full of anticipation and planning to work himself to exhaustion so he could dream of meeting the giant, walked away. Pito picked up another piece of spicy dried fish, eating without tasting it: "Even though he's doing good things, working hard all night... I always feel like he's going down the wrong path. Ah, my foreign aid! My foreign aid! Please come back soon..."

……

Astronomy Research Group Studio.

"Pfft—" Nakai Ryo also sprayed his herbal tea all over himself: "Weren't you going to rest? What are you doing back here when I'm on shift tonight?"

"I suddenly feel incredibly energetic!" Kinoshita Kei blinked his dark circles, and Nakai Ryoya couldn't help but feel that he was about to attain immortality.

"Come on, with me here, I can monitor anything that falls from the sky," Nakai Ryoya stood up and tried to push him back. "No matter how urgent the work is, you can't not sleep. You stayed up all night yesterday."

Kinoshita Kei gripped the doorframe, determined not to retreat: "I want to work harder to find the location of what's causing the spatial distortion. And also, isn't it controlling people's minds with radio waves? Our communications will be in danger. Thinking about this keeps me up at night!"

“Why should someone in charge of astronomical observations worry about communications? You can report the problems you discover to your superiors and have them assign someone to handle them…” Nakai Ryoya interrupted halfway through his sentence: “Bullshit, what report are you going to submit? Go back to sleep! Even if you can’t sleep, you have to lie down!”

The two were pushing and shoving each other at the door. The geological research group next door heard the noise and poked their heads out to see what was happening. They couldn't help but laugh when they saw the scene: "Great job, newbie! Hey Nakai, he wants to work overtime, why don't you just hand in your work and leave? There's such a good thing in the world that someone will cover your night shift."

"Get out!" Nakai Ryo glared at him, grabbed Kinoshita Kei and pulled him inside, asking, "What have you discovered that keeps you tossing and turning at night? Tell me, and I'll write a report."

Kinoshita Kei darted in like a rabbit as soon as he entered the room, quickly turning on the equipment and continuing the work he had done last time, which covered all of Japan. Under Nakai Ryo's extremely disapproving gaze, he said, "We've discovered that radio waves have too many applications. If the enemy realizes that there are other ways to transmit data besides telephones, then our situation will be very dangerous... So I think at the very least, we need to ensure the safety of our combat troops through quantum communication."

Kinoshita Kei was talking about things beyond their job scope, and Nakai Ryoya listened with a blank face as he rambled on, "When in doubt, quantum mechanics."

“Or switch to another communication method, but it’s best to stop using radio altogether,” Kinoshita Kei said. “Before we get the results, confirm its precise range, and pinpoint it, we recommend reporting to higher command to take measures to ensure that frontline combat units are not affected by enemy-controlled radio.”

Chapter Ninety-One: Divergence

Tokyo, once a city that maintained the vitality of one of the world's leading metropolises even at night, is now losing its vibrancy due to news reports of sleepwalking and rumors of a "zombie virus" circulating among its citizens.

Gaia and the blue giant defeated two monsters, but putting aside the worrying fact that they were fighting again, the citizens' expectation that these monsters were the source of the strange illness remained unverified.

"Seriously, it's one thing for the silver giant to protect the monsters, but now even Gaia is doing it? Is this kind of thing contagious?"

In a late-night bar, a group of young people gathered to discuss the images playing on the television. They had originally come to celebrate one of them becoming single again, but their conversation drifted off into a wide-ranging discussion, eventually drawing their attention to the television hanging on the wall as a backdrop.

they

Just as the blue giant was about to destroy the werewolf, Gaia stood between them several times. He didn't kill the werewolf, but only attacked it in ways that restricted its movement, until the werewolf suddenly vaporized, and the smoke was drawn into the gas tank and carried by Gaia into space.

Those who knew it was a monster attack, but those who didn't would have thought it was a friend or relative visiting from afar, and the giant politely escorted him a thousand miles away.

"Then the blue one started fighting with him again. The blue one didn't care about Gaia or whether there were any buildings around. You can understand that they always have conflicts, but couldn't they have reached a consensus before coming out?" One of them swirled his wine glass, and fine bubbles rose out, just like his indignant mood at this moment: "It's like Earth is a highway, where all sorts of random creatures come and go, and anyone who doesn't like us can step on our houses."

“Hey, don’t you understand? We have no way to deal with these large creatures right now. Every monster that comes out has a variety of habits. The geniuses from GUARD and Alchemy Star will have to study them for a while before they can figure out how to deal with them,” another person took his glass and filled it to the brim. White foam rose from the middle to the rim of the glass. “With all this back and forth and the delays, how much we lose depends on luck.”

The first person to speak took the wine glass back: "I think, even if we know how to deal with it, what can we do? The blue one has a strange temper; it wouldn't be surprising if he directly attacks humans one day. The silver one can't distinguish between humans and monsters; who knows if he'll join forces with the blue one to fight us if the monster he's protecting clashes with humans. Gaia seems the friendliest, but they are giants after all. It's always easier to talk to one's own kind. If he's persuaded, what can we do?"

After saying that, he took a big gulp of water.

The man sitting next to him, who was rolling dice, raised his eyelids slightly and said, "It's because we're weak. We have no strong means to interfere with what monsters and giants do, and we can only be slaughtered by them."

Then he laughed again, the dice cup rattling, the hard plastic dice clinking inside: "It's not worth drinking yourself into a stupor over something like this. Come on, guess high or low."

“Big,” the man drinking alone said, “being strong yourself is the only true principle. We relied on the power of giants to defeat monsters before, which was too pathetic.”

“Little one,” said the man rolling the dice, “this is a matter for important people to think about. Little people shouldn’t worry about it. They should worry about not getting infected with ‘sleepwalking’ and becoming like a walking corpse.”

Outside the bar, a man in black slowly walked by, leaning against the wall.

He moved with some difficulty, and almost stumbled and fell when he passed over the uneven paving stones.

The concerns of people in the bar about "sleepwalking" are not unfounded, as the number of cases has been increasing in the past two days, and the situation is showing signs of getting out of control. Other cities and counties have also begun to report cases, and some patients have exhibited aggressive behavior. For some unknown reason, they like to grab a beeping phone and force it on others, saying "Your phone." If someone tries to run away, the patient will chase after them, as terrifying as a zombie preying on a living person.

On the contrary, Tokyo, where the incident occurred, remained relatively calm. Although there were many patients, no injuries were reported.

Renlong knocked out today's eleventh sleepwalker who was wandering the streets with a folding fan.

Not all patients' families are like Ritsuko was with Atsuko, able to keep them properly locked up in their rooms. Some patients would always escape, leading to rumors among the public that "zombies were roaming around."

"I'm tired." Renlong stretched and sniffed, catching the smell wafting from the bar.

Someone threw up from drinking.

Renlong walked away from the air, which was now tainted with the smell, with disgust.

"Why am I out again?" He looked up at the bright moon with melancholy. He had originally planned to rest in the Dacheng Hall and wait for the giant to deal with the monster before returning underground to see how deep the tunnel the human engineering team had dug, so that he could think about moving.

Hearing an unusual noise on the street, he acted impulsively and, before he came to his senses, had already knocked out a sleepwalker who was trying to chase after someone to answer a phone call.

The air near the bar wasn't fresh, which not only failed to tempt Renlong to drink, but also made him want to get away as quickly as possible.

The man in black, who was slowly walking while leaning against the wall, finally couldn't hold on any longer. The thud as he fell to the ground brought Renlong back to his senses. After confirming the man's aura, he paused for a moment, then walked over and squatted down beside him. His moon-white clothes touched the ground, but not a speck of dust was on them.

“Hmm… you seem to be a bit older than the kid who gained Gaia’s power. I hope you can have a drink,” Renlong said, shaking his folding fan. The smell of the bar wafted into his nose again. He frowned. “No, tea is more suitable today.”

……

When Fujimiya Hiroya woke up, he found himself in a Japanese-style house.

Extremely spacious, with sliding doors that open wide, the first thing you see is a stone courtyard covered with fine white sand. Sunlight shines on it as if it has been coated with wax. Perhaps describing it as a house would be a bit stingy, but describing this place as a palace would not be an exaggeration at all.

A person wearing a crested hakama with a haori casually draped over their shoulder is sitting nearby, with a small stove and a folding fan in front of them, boiling water and brewing tea.

“Agul,” the other person said, surprising everyone by casually uttering a name that Fujimiya Hiroshi had never told anyone else, “You woke up earlier than I expected. The tea isn’t ready yet. Do you have the patience to wait?”

"Who are you?" Fujimiya Hiroya tried to get up, but suddenly felt dizzy and saw golden specks of light flashing before his eyes, spinning and dancing like fireflies on a summer night.

Seeing that he was forcibly sitting up and about to leave after lifting the covers, Renlong couldn't help but say, "You'd better not go out until the spread of 'sleepwalking' completely stops."

After trying twice, the other person finally stood up and said in a dismissive tone, "It's none of your business."

Renlong brewed the tea with boiling water, and the steaming cup quickly subsided in his hand. He handed the bone china cup to the man in black: "At least have a cup of tea before you leave? You are the first guest in a hundred years."

Fujimiya Hiroya walked around him and continued walking out. When he stepped into the stone garden, the scenery around him suddenly changed, and he found that there were more people in front of him!

Turning around again, there was no white-clad man or tea, only an elderly man with gray hair and beard sitting behind a table with a fortune-telling container. Tourists came up one after another to shake their fortune sticks or have them interpreted.

"Your face is dark; you're in for a bad day." The voice he had just heard suddenly came again. Fujimiya Hiroya looked around but couldn't find him.

“If you don’t want to stay here, at least don’t wander around,” the man said. “Be careful if you see anything beyond reality.”

Chapter Ninety-Two Going Against Each Other

"My dream? Why am I up so early?"

Ariel Base, fighter jet hangar.

Ground staff in orange and red uniforms are performing routine maintenance and upkeep on the aircraft.

XIG didn't finish their work until almost dawn last night. Logically, they should have met the team members at the cafeteria at noon, but unexpectedly, they saw Takayama Gamu wandering around in the hangar this morning.

"Yes, I forgot to close the curtains..." Takayama Gamu seemed to be in good spirits: "How's the EX model?"

Upon hearing this, the ground crew checked the records: "EX is in good condition. He's a great young man, just like you. He didn't suffer any damage during the operation. We've cleaned the fuel lines, and everything else can be left as is."

"Hey," the ground crew suddenly realized, "another mission?"

In the dormitory area, most of the XIG team members who went out last night had just woken up.

The wings swept across a corner of the sky outside the window, and the excellent sound insulation blocked out the roar of the engines.

"EX?" Kajio Katsumi yawned, and two seconds later, her sleepy eyes suddenly opened!