Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

Tokyo, KCB Television Headquarters.

"You want me to go to XIG's press conference?!" Reiko Yoshii held the schedule in her hand, her eyes full of doubt. "I remember the previous work plan was to have me collect interview materials from citizens about the monster attack incident."

She glanced down at the process sheet again, confirming the words on it: "Interview with XIG regarding the use of weapons of mass destruction? Uh..."

"Did you get this information from a 'reliable' source?" she asked in a low voice.

The editor-in-chief tidied up the scattered loose pages and said, "Don't ask that. How can we send you to cover news if we don't have some connections? Ask a few pointed questions, and we can interview citizens about their opinions on this issue after the press conference."

Reiko Yoshii sighed with relief: "In the end, the work plan is still pretty much the same."

The editor-in-chief slammed the folder shut and encouraged, "Keep up the good work. XIG's press conferences always get a lot of attention. How well you do depends on how much material you get. When the time comes, have Tian Duan draft a first draft for me."

……

Ariel Base.

“Yes, this is XIG.” Inside the command center, Akio Ishimuro paced back and forth in front of the spacious glass window, with the sea of ​​clouds surging around him, just like his current state of mind.

“My dream? I approved the leave. Even during working hours, as an analyst, it is perfectly permissible for him to contact Alchemy Star.” Apart from his voice and footsteps, the command room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Georgie took a bite of the popsicle. The crisp chocolate coating and the crunchy ice cream brought a wonderful stimulation and satisfaction to her mouth. For this reason, she resisted the urge to freeze her brain and said, "A commanding tone... a call from the superior's superior?"

Atsuko Sasaki's attention was focused on the topic of the phone conversation. For some reason, she felt very unhappy today, as if her doll Lilith had run away with someone in her dream.

“I dreamt,” she said, “that I might have gotten into trouble again and been reported to the higher-ups?”

Akio Ishimuro walked past another glass window, his long shadow sweeping across the white control panel: "I am indeed a member of XIG, but Alchemy Star's affairs are not under XIG's jurisdiction... Expulsion?"

His steps suddenly stopped, and the others who heard the word "expulsion" also widened their eyes in astonishment and held their breath in unison.

"He didn't violate any of XIG's rules. Are you asking me to dismiss a team member who didn't violate any rules because of Alchemy Star's decision?" His voice suddenly rose, and as he turned around, he saw two stunned operators.

“I am undoubtedly an excellent analyst; he has the intuition to sense danger,” Akio Ishimuro lowered his voice and quickly walked away. “At least we should wait for him to come back… Yes.”

Seiichiro Tsutsumi was calmer than the younger operator. After Akio Ishimuro hung up the phone, he asked, "Is it about the framework agreement?"

Clearly, XIG, as the GUARD's elite force, had already received the news when the Alchemy Star's resolution was delivered to the GUARD.

Akio Ishimuro nodded, pondered for a moment, and said to Atsuko Sasaki, who had already started dialing numbers, "He should already be prepared. There's no need to bother him with things that aren't confirmed yet during his vacation."

"...A vacation?" Atsuko Sasaki's fingers froze, and a whole row of periods appeared on the screen.

“XIG’s duty is to deal with abnormal events. There are no relevant warnings now, so he has the right to continue his leave. I approved ten days. As for the framework agreement, no, the underground penetrating bomb…” Akio Ishimuro looked at his staff officer, Tatsumi Chiba: “The underground penetrating bomb is a weapon of mass destruction. It involves the right to survival of residents in various countries. I roughly know why some people are pushing for its use.”

"Because of the abnormal heat source that awakened him by the blue giant?" Although Chiba Tatsumi was not very good at scientific research, he was quite good at analyzing pros and cons—he deduced the commander's thoughts from Ishimuro Akio's tendency to "protect" Takayama Gamu.

Coincidentally, he, being cautious, held the same position, so he went along with it: "It has only been a few days since the subterranean monster was awakened, and weapons of mass destruction, especially the type of subterranean penetrating bomb that affects the earth's crust, only have the authority to bypass the approval process when there is a clear monster target that endangers human safety."

“The young people are working, so we'll lend a hand,” Akio Ishimuro said, gazing at the horizon of the white sea of ​​clouds, a direction leading to the North American continent. He figured Takayama Gamu was still negotiating at Alchemy Star headquarters. He ordered, “In the name of XIG, request a review from GUARD regarding the plan to use underground penetrating bombs to strike the location of the anomalous heat source warning. Also, contact Geo Base, and Falcon Team’s Fighter and Hercules.”

Please expedite the replenishment and maintenance of the team's equipment. Also, there will be a routine press conference in two days.

"As is customary, please leave the matter of public opinion and propaganda to me," said Chiba Tatsumi.

"GUARD's duty is to protect the lives and property of citizens," Akio Ishimuro said calmly, as if he were rehearsing press conference lines with his staff: "Especially regarding weapons of mass destruction, apart from monster attacks, we will never bypass the proper procedures and decide to use them without the approval of the Standing Committee of the Agreement countries."

……

The tense atmosphere gradually dissipated. Georgie threw away the popsicle stick she had finished eating and asked Sasaki Atsuko in a low voice, "What were they saying? I didn't quite understand."

The latter was still staring at his communication screen, the contact still displayed under the name "Gaoshan Womeng", but he didn't press the confirm button for a long time.

"They're saying they 'disagree with the use of underground penetrating bombs and want to protect my dream,'" Atsuko Sasaki said.

"Huh?" Georgie leaned over and glanced at Seiichiro Tsutsumi, who was writing a report not far away. Her voice was almost a whisper: "All I know is that they don't seem to be planning to fire me, Yume."

“Requesting a reconsideration is delaying the launch, urging the maintenance of fighter jets and armored vehicles, and delaying the maintenance and manufacturing of the underground penetrating missile, because the manpower at Geo base is limited,” Atsuko Sasaki finally looked away and explained to Georgie, “Those words at the routine press conference…”

"Following the procedure that Staff Officer Chiba mentioned, it would take months, but the threat of the subterranean monsters only became known in the last few days. Even if we trace it back to the abnormal heat source warning, it would definitely not exceed a month... In other words, they may have bypassed the normal procedures to obtain approval, or even decided on the use of the subterranean penetrating bombs without authorization."

Georgie struggled to understand the intricacies of the situation: "If Chief of Staff Chiba says those things at the press conference, and if the underground penetrating missile is launched soon, it will be announcing to the public that 'GUARD may have violated regulations.' At that point, there will definitely be a thorough and extremely troublesome investigation. Is this also a way to delay the plan?"

Atsuko Sasaki nodded: "That's right. Although we don't know who is behind this mess... it was a penetrating bomb from underground. That's incredibly careless."

Chapter 134 About a Helpful Colleague

Due to the Alchemy Star operation, countless people at GUARD spent the night at their desks, and the Geo base was no exception.

Kinoshita Kei is observing everything below through a narrow grid.

Describing him as "observant" might be an overestimation of his eyesight; Uranus was far more adept at "listening."

He lay prone inside the narrow ventilation duct, which was completely empty, not even a rat. The cleaning staff at the base never imagined that a living person could be squeezed in there.

"Hey, radish, here's cabbage. I'm right on top of the geological research group next door. Honey, come tell me what they're up to!" Kinoshita Kei muttered to himself, imagining himself as a 007 agent who would climb into ventilation ducts and then suddenly appear out of nowhere to deliver justice.

A wisp of wind, which he named "Radish," blew out along the fine mesh, and when it circled back, it brought him movements in his blind spot.

The geological research team is responsible for assessing the geological conditions and providing early warning of earthquake range before the launch of the underground penetrating missile. They need to choose an appropriate entry point, scientifically plan the missile's path into the ground, and minimize the damage area.

"Reduce my ass!"

The crisp sound of hard plastic hitting the floor sounded like the speaker throwing down a pen: "If we go down, we'll have to drill into the bedrock. If we can drill down and kill the monster, it'll be at least a shallow earthquake. Considering the smallest tonnage and body density of the monster discovered so far, killing it would be about the same as conducting a medium-yield nuclear test."

"How do we minimize the damage? Give me a few years to enclose the surrounding soil with a concrete coffin tens of meters thick, and it can blow it up however it wants?"

The man slapped his forehead repeatedly: "How did a monster grow out of this perfectly good field?"

Kinoshita Kei covered his mouth, trying hard not to laugh, but even so, his trembling shoulders and back still brushed against the inner wall of the pipe several times. He quickly directed the airflow to speed up and make a whistling sound to cover it up. The geological research team looked up and thought that the central air conditioning had suddenly become "enthusiastic".

Normally they would definitely complain a bit, but now no one has the mind to pay attention to such a small matter. The bricklayers of the geological research group are not only caught in the mental vortex of "monsters growing in the ground", but also in the suffocating problem of "how to reduce the damage from a nuclear explosion in a short period of time".

“My suggestion is…” someone gave up thinking: “Just don’t drop penetrating rounds.”

"Anyway, no matter how the route is planned, there will be an earthquake," someone said, taking their hands off the keyboard and gazing at the stars. "I suggest using conventional bombs to drill holes in the ground and level the way to the monster's lair. This will create a 'bowl' on the surface, allowing ground troops to stand guard on the outside of the 'bowl.' When the monster comes out, we can unleash a concentrated barrage of fire and beat it up. Because the project will proceed slowly, there will be time for both evacuation and the construction of an earthquake-resistant outer shell. It won't be big, just a hundred or two hundred miles around. If any citizens question it, we can either claim it's a diamond oil well or announce that we're building an ecologically livable artificial lake."

"It sounds a lot like blasting a hole in the Himalayas," the team leader said, pacing around and clapping his hands to try and rouse his slumbering team members. "Stop daydreaming! Use your brains!"

"Hey, we've received an urgent order from above! We can't submit a blank paper, and we can't make things up!"

A group member gazing at the starry sky murmured, "Not handing in a blank paper doesn't necessarily bring happiness, but handing in a blank paper is truly joyful. It's a weapon of mass destruction that's prohibited by the convention... People from Alchemy Star have a paper to back them up."

"Can you compare to them? They publish in Nature as easily as calling Uncle Wang next door to buy groceries and ask him to bring back a bottle of vinegar. They publish articles by the pound, and even when they use them to wipe their butts, they complain there's too much toilet paper. Before they can finish wiping, the paper gets eaten by bugs," the team leader said, exasperated. "This is a discussion! A work discussion! A brainstorming session! Get moving!"

Kinoshita Kei beckoned with his finger, making their keyboards "spin" before their brains could even process it.

When the team members who had given up thinking saw the keyboard mysteriously dent and bounce back up, and a string of legitimate instructions appeared on the screen, they shoved their brains, which had been wandering off to clear their heads, back into their shells.

He first opened his mouth blankly, countless words stuck in his throat, shooting up from the soles of his feet to the top of his head along the trembling hairs, finally unleashing a powerful roar like a pressure cooker hissing with steam in all directions:

"Oh my god, it's a ghost—!!!"

All the oddly shaped people slumped in their chairs like liquid were jolted awake by his roar. They first craned their necks to look at the veteran, muscular miner who was pressed against the wall behind him, cowering and looking pitiful, with a voice as loud as thunder.

Then, turning the view to his screen, the keyboard was clattering away, like an invisible hand playing the piano, and a row of command characters appeared on the screen—it seemed familiar.

The eerie keyboard sounds grew louder and louder, spreading from the person screaming to those around them.

When the people who were deep in thought came to their senses, they discovered that their keyboards had somehow developed their own ideas!

Someone finally remembered what this string of command characters meant!

He jumped up with a bang, energetically opened the server rack, dragged out the thing with flashing indicator lights, and yelled, "Unplug the keyboard! This is the formatting command!!!"

Those who were quick did the same thing, while those who were slow hesitated for a moment before kicking the computer and causing a blue screen—the slowest of them stared at the hard drive that had started formatting, feeling utterly helpless.

"Aaaaah!" The man who yelled first angrily unplugged the power cord just as the formatting progress bar was loading.

A tiny spark appeared the moment the plug left the power strip.

Kinoshita Kei captured it.

Like fireflies in the night, they have found a home of love.

Without needing to draw on too much energy, Kinoshita Kei provided the "firefly" with warm oxygen and heat generated by the instantaneous pressurization, ensuring that it could feel the warmth and affection of spring when it returned home.

The fireflies lived up to expectations, igniting beautiful sparks.

He plunged headfirst into what he called his "home"—the power strip.

Orange-red flames and black smoke billowed up, and the flames, as if possessed, rapidly climbed along the power lines and swiftly and accurately darted into the main unit's air vent.

At that moment, no one's brain could keep up with its speed. The flames outpaced bioelectricity, using the computer case as an oven, the hard drive as a pancake, the motherboard as a crispy crust, the memory sticks as dried bean curd, the thick power cables to make it chewy, and the baked silicone grease as a accompaniment—this is the specialty of a fire-damaged computer room, a must-try.

The black smoke woke up the alarm.

As everyone was crouching down in the standard posture, searching for a fire extinguisher, our good friend from the astronomy research group next door burst in.

Geology and astronomy, often helping each other out, have forged a revolutionary friendship through countless overtime hours.

Nakai Ryo led the charge, with Kinoshita Kei bringing up the rear. They charged in, each carrying a fire extinguisher in their hands, yelling as they fought their way in.

Kinoshita Kei, this kind-hearted young man, stood out, shouting:

"The data is backed up at base anyway, saving lives is the priority!"

Chapter 135 Joy

afterwards.

Astronomy Research Group Studio.

People gathered together amidst the smoke, the aroma of barbecued hard drives still lingering in their nostrils.

They had just rushed out of the geological research group's territory, and while the logistics staff were cleaning up the charcoal pile, the loudspeaker on the wall was crackling and whirring.

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