Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

Earth's rambling words sounded just like a child being taken on a school field trip by their parents: "The universe is so dangerous! There are monsters and evil aliens. If they forget to go home, you have to remind them!"

“By the way…” Earth’s voice suddenly paused: “Why do you also say ‘them’? There are human children who fought alongside you. You always prefer to say ‘we’.”

Uranus lowered his head, his milky-white eyes sweeping across the barren mountains and dried-up seas, across the cracked earth, until he reached the distant "Black Sea"—a vast area where the soil was parched and blackened. Normal recovery had failed; excessive radioactivity had killed dozens of passionate young people, and the area had become a forbidden zone for life, later known as the "Land Black Sea."

Uranus tried to save them; the giant of light liked young people who were full of energy and enthusiasm and loved to do noble things.

He could control the direction of every gust of wind, filling the young man with the power of light to keep him alive, but he couldn't stop the collapse at the cellular level.

The young people developed symptoms of radiation sickness; the skin, with its fastest metabolism, was the first to die. Their beautiful flesh peeled away, and they said, "Thank you," through throats oozing pus, blood, and tissue fluid.

Uranus, who had taken human form and befriended them, knew that they had left unsaid half a sentence about "liberation".

Of course, of course, this is merely a necessary growing pain in the development of civilization. Uranus had read the books the human beings studied and some of their thoughts on human society, and the human beings would occasionally exchange ideas with him.

Uranus was not a lofty god who arbitrarily judged the right and wrong of other life forms using his own set of logic.

Because he is not a god, he will be sad.

As the human beings aged, their hair turned white, and they reflected on their lives with him, he felt a touch of melancholy, but mostly, he felt blessings for his former companions. And then the human beings truly "aged."

Uranus would secretly place a bouquet of flowers at the grave after the memorial service.

Wildflowers that can be seen everywhere on the mountain where he often stays.

Human beings often meet him for the first time there.

Even then, Uranus still held onto hope, believing that under his protection, generations of humanity would eventually step into the long-dreamed-of galaxy and head towards the glorious sea.

Now he has succeeded. The last human migration is complete, and from here to the ends of the earth, the species that once dominated this planet have completely disappeared.

Uranus looked around sadly.

Earth said, "It's alright, I'm happy as long as the children are doing well."

After He finished speaking, the all-encompassing sky could no longer contain the silt that had accumulated in His heart for so long.

They fell softly, like snow burying dried blood.

The giant, revered as a guardian deity by Earthlings, did not accompany them to the universe. He remained seated in the same spot, where the wildflowers had long since disappeared from the cliff.

Earth could occasionally speak to him, but over time, the frequency of these conversations decreased.

Occasionally, Earthlings would return. Uranus forgot how many years had passed, but in any case, those who returned all had curious eyes and regarded "going home" as "traveling".

Later, someone said, "We've gotten ourselves into trouble," "The aliens are here to cause trouble, why hasn't Lord Uranus appeared?"

Why didn't it appear?

A blue giant sat alone on a barren mountain, its clear light disappearing into the murky sand and dust.

……

The book says our Earth is beautiful, but I think... I think it would be even more beautiful if you were here.

Hitomi Onodera said softly, "It's fake. The textbooks didn't tell us that Earth is already doomed. It's worse than the planet with the worst resources. We've made enemies everywhere, always thinking we won't lose, but Lord Uranus doesn't want to talk to us anymore. These letters, and these books..."

"It's all just a placebo for penitents to deceive themselves."

Chapter 108 Things Worthy of Treasure

“That’s not a placebo,” Kinoshita Kei said.

Hitomi Onodera turned to look at him. The other person was probably looking at her sincerely as well. His face was covered by a black plastic bag, and you could only tell the direction he was facing through the slit in the eye opening.

The two narrow slits were facing her, and then he said, "We've reached the elevator shaft, but there's definitely no elevator. If there is, it's either crammed with bombs or a room full of muscular thugs ready to smash my head in."

Hitomi Onodera nodded: "So, you mean we're stuck?"

"How could this be? When escaping with a girl, you absolutely cannot say 'this is a dead end'." Kinoshita Kei began to regret that he had used a garbage bag as a disguise, making him look extremely unprofessional. Even if he had just put on a takeout box and pretended to be a carefree big shot who didn't care about disguises, the effect would probably have been better than this.

He said to the "air" beside him, "Pito, check if they've blocked the top, right?"

Onodera Hitomi watched as he conversed with the void: "Alright, let's go this way then!"

"Not feeling well? Don't scare me, maybe something serious has happened outside that could affect you!"

The Geo base is located on the seabed of Tokyo Bay, with its land-based exits often reaching depths of nearly a thousand meters. When the base was being built, many workers thought they were working for some kind of mining company.

During the period of secrecy, GUARD had to have its subsidiary register a mining license, which finally silenced those who doubted the company's qualifications, allowing the project to continue. Even so, many applicants still said, "I don't want to work in a coal mine!"

Currently, the elevator shaft where Kinoshita Kei and Onodera Hitomi are is not a real mine, but its depth is not far off.

“This is the ‘way out’,” Kinoshita Kei said to the air. He squatted down and moved in front of Onodera Hitomi, gesturing for her to come up: “Come on, let’s climb up.”

"Climb up?!" Hitomi Onodera looked up and, through the occasional glimpses of space revealed by the storm, saw the dark well opening outside.

This is a man-made abyss, and they are at the bottom of it.

The coffee shop owner's grandson said to his regular customer, "Don't just stand there, come on up."

The conversation was like meeting a customer on the street who was exhausted from walking and giving her a ride on her electric scooter out of friendship. The customer was grateful and decided to patronize the coffee shop more often.

Kinoshita Kei did indeed give her a ride on his electric scooter. On Uranus's anniversary, Onodera Hitomi said something he couldn't reveal, but when someone has been lonely for a long time, they always want to find an outlet to vent their feelings.

She said it was "a friend's birthday," but in reality, she had only seen Uranus in books and documentaries. Let alone a "friend," the other person might not even know that she existed, highlighting her wishful thinking.

At the time, she didn't think too much about it. She just felt that the anniversary celebration after more than ten years was finally not so simple, and she finally shared the lantern with others.

"You...you should take a break if you're tired?" Seeing that the elevator shaft seemed to have no end in sight, Hitomi Onodera felt uneasy, thinking that bringing her along would drag her teammates down with her.

"Why don't you leave me here?" she said, hugging her machine. "I've already told you everything. 'Dark Green,' I've been stripped of my authority and can't help you. If you want to go up... of course, it's easiest for you to climb up alone."

Kinoshita Kei shook his arm, signaling her to hurry up and not hesitate: "Are you going to stay here and wait to be taken away and locked up on some underground floor? Or are you going to the biological research department where you'll be...

Using you as a guinea pig for blood tests? Don't worry, you're a customer of my Kinoshita Cafe, so I'll just...carry you to afternoon tea?

"It sounds like a forced sale." Hitomi Onodera couldn't help but laugh.

"The management of the Geo base is very strict. If I can't find customers for takeout, I have no choice but to take the customers to find takeout." Kinoshita Kei is a master at making up excuses, as easy and smooth as when he fabricates leave slips.

Hitomi Onodera finally let go of her burdens. She looked up at the seemingly endless elevator shaft, just like when she first rode a shuttle as a child and looked out the window at space.

When she was little, she thought space was terrifying, yet it was also the most vast and boundless. But as she grew up, she realized that what is truly terrifying, yet vast and boundless, is the human mind.

Unfortunately, there are too few vast and expansive places, and too many that inspire fear.

"Do you know why I made you read that letter?" Kinoshita Kei shoved his fingers into the steel wall with a clang, and the storm once again determined that the wall had struck first, cutting the steel like a spoon stirring tofu pudding.

Hitomi Onodera shook her head. She didn't know how Kei Kinoshita knew about the letter. She thought the letter should have been gathering dust in the school's warehouse and destroyed along with countless pieces of waste paper. No one except herself remembered what was in it.

“You have a good teacher.” Kinoshita Kei began to climb up little by little.

Even with someone on his back, Kinoshita Kei didn't feel tired at all—he felt as light as a feather, and the person behind him, Onodera Hitomi, wasn't the same Onodera Hitomi who had drunk too much sugary coffee and gained weight.

"Teacher?!" Hitomi Onodera leaned forward, almost touching the edge of the trash bag, staring intently at the plastic bag as if a flower was carved inside.

“Yes, that must have been your teacher, right? He came down from the spaceship, wearing a spacesuit, carrying a bunch of letters written by children, and almost read them off his throat on Mount Uranus. He bowed to Uranus at the end… Didn’t you say the teacher made you write the letters? Was that a male teacher? He was quite old. I noticed he had heavy eye bags and a mole near his eyebrow.”

Hitomi Onodera became increasingly agitated: "You mean—!"

“Yes, that letter reached Uranus’s ears,” Kinoshita Kei licked his lips, which were dry from being in the storm and smoke for so long, and continued to move upwards in a muffled voice: “Your teacher didn’t make you submit a presentation project, he really did go and act as a messenger. I don’t know anything else, I only know that… Uranus was very happy.”

“Onodera,” Kinoshita Kei said, half regretfully and half with emotion, “You said ‘deceptive textbooks.’ It’s really sad that the world has become like that, but… maybe they wrote those books just to preserve a less cruel dream for children.”

"Although it's a dream, and although it's true that I'm deceiving you, your teacher isn't deceiving you."

Hitomi Onodera gave a vague reply and then fell silent.

"Um, once we're out, where do you want to go? If there are still places in Tokyo we haven't seen, I can be your guide," Kinoshita Kei noticed the person behind him was downcast. "How about we go to Akihabara? There are so many amazing manga there, especially... ah, no, we can go to Kabukicho... no, we can go, go to..."

“Meguro River,” Hitomi Onodera said softly, “I’ve done my research. In spring, the cherry blossoms on both sides of the Meguro River bloom at the same time, and they say it’s ‘like an endless cloud.’ If the time is right, and I’m still here…”

"What are you saying? How could someone this big get lost?" Kinoshita Kei said.

Hitomi Onodera nodded, but didn't reply.

The two remained silent for a while, with only the sound of wind blades moving through the wall and Kinoshita Kei's labored breathing.

Just as Kinoshita Kei was contemplating whether to ram his head into the elevator suspended in the well or dig it through with his bare hands, he heard the "plop" sound of water droplets falling on a plastic bag.

A slightly cool sensation traveled from my neck to my back through the garbage bag.

"This thing is so thin, even three layers are waterproof. I'm afraid my identity has already been exposed by the surveillance cameras," Kinoshita Kei muttered to himself.

"I'll assume you're excited because you're about to escape." Kinoshita Kei wasn't good at saying tender things that could instantly soothe a crying girl, and he couldn't guess why Onodera Hitomi was crying.

"Yes, I'm excited." Onodera Hitomi cooperated perfectly, but Kinoshita Kei felt bad and sighed, "What's wrong?"

“The teacher was too strict; we played many pranks on him when we were little. Uranus knew about that letter after all; I didn’t write all those words for nothing. You mentioned him; you’re from here, right? Does that mean…” Her heavy nasal tone made her words difficult to understand, and she choked up as she said, “Does that mean Lord Uranus is still here? He’s right here? He hasn’t abandoned us!”

Kinoshita Kei freed one hand and forcefully pulled her onto his back: "Don't just keep wiping your nose, hey, don't get your snot on me, you know..."

“Uranus is still alive. I told you, your letter was of great importance to him. After your teacher read it, he stood up, like every swordsman who has temporarily lost his will but then rekindled his ideals—”

"He found something worth cherishing."

Chapter 109 When Undercurrents Are Raging

"Uranus, are you still leaving?"

“Yes, they’ve set their sights on the ‘past.’ If they succeed, humanity will be completely wiped out. I don’t know if aliens are involved,” the blue giant clenched his fist. “At least the children are innocent, and so is that teacher…”

Uranus said, "I made a mistake, perhaps because I left my human body too much."

For a long time, I've been generalizing about humanity. How can I use dregs to represent everything? Young heroes die, and new heroes will rise.

"Humans are complex beings." The voice of the earth was much weaker than in its earlier heyday. Uranus wanted to hear more from it, but he did not want it to expend its energy communicating with him.