Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

“Even monsters learn faster than you,” he said to the corpse.

The shadow of the little Raichuran star silently gazed at the person who would no longer answer her.

She still clutched her beloved toy, the sphere containing the Nemesis Nebula. Just as her father had said, there were many things she didn't understand; she only knew that the adults missed their homeland, and thus exhausted the wisdom of her young mind to create the shape of this nebula inside the glass sphere.

"Dad, you confiscated the starry sky ball I made last time. I'm asking you again, do you like it this time?" she asked.

"Go play by yourself," she thought her father would definitely answer.

"You forgot? The last time I gave it to you was on your birthday. I made it especially for you. I forgot to tell you. Did you forget your own birthday?"

She racked her brains, which weren't quite up to par, and thought that her father would answer her: "Reijuran doesn't have a tradition of celebrating birthdays. Let's not learn the dregs of other civilizations."

"Oh, I'll keep it for myself then," she shook the glass marble, sending wisps of stardust flying out of the nebula inside. "You stinky daddy! Even if you ask me for it, I won't give it to you!"

No one answered.

She hesitated for a moment, then said softly, "...If you come to apologize, it's not that I can't give it to you."

……

Delta Space Station.

Despite appearing calm on the surface, Nanase Makoto, who was actually sweating profusely after being kidnapped, finally managed to connect to the GUTS team. When Rena, the daughter he had been longing for, appeared on the screen, he was overwhelmed with emotion and couldn't find the words to say.

Lina seemed unsure of what to say either. The two stared at each other blankly across the electronic screen for a long while until Zongfang coughed behind them, snapping Lina out of her daze as if she'd been electrocuted.

"that……"

"you……"

They both spoke at the same time, then stopped at the same time, waiting for the other to continue.

Silence fell again, until Lina finally chuckled: "Just say what you want to say. It's rare for us to keep in touch. When are you going home next time you have your day off?"

Nanase Makoto thought about the lipstick he hadn't given away yet, and now he finally had a chance to see Rena accept it. He couldn't help but show a silly, fatherly smile that would never belong to the stationmaster of Delta Force.

On the deck.

One of the Reicuran aliens' ships was destroyed by the Basil Cannon, and another ship that Aiba Yu had smashed was being recovered by the mechanical arm. The group of Reicuran aliens inside were naturally surrounded by guards who already knew about their abilities, and what awaited them was shackles and a guardhouse.

"Hey, what do you guys want?" a Reiculan alien shouted. He was just a peaceful technician who was being dug out from under a table by a group of muscular men with guns, like digging out a yam.

"According to Chapter 14 of the 'Regulations on the Management of Special Life Forms,' concerning the regulations on the management of extraterrestrials, you violated paragraphs 3, 5, and 6, which state that 'extraterrestrials entering or leaving the jurisdiction of Earth's space stations and applying for docking must provide a temporary stay permit; those without permits must apply for one promptly,' and 'extraterrestrials obstructing official duties will be dealt with accordingly.'"

The same penalties apply as those under the Public Security Administration Punishment Law; those with egregious circumstances will be deported…

"Where did I get this document? What kind of nonsense is this 'regulation'? I've never heard of it! What do your Earthling laws have to do with us?"

“We’ll follow the laws of whichever planet we’re on. You don’t even understand that, yet you dare to run around the universe? The regulations were only recently issued, so it’s normal that you haven’t heard of them yet. Now that you have,” the guard replied. “In short, you’ve obstructed official business and are involved in crimes against humanity. You’re being detained now. If you have any objections, you can apply for a review through your home planet’s foreign affairs department.”

"My home planet?!" The Reicuran alien had a lot to say, but in the end, he could only utter three words: "You fucking bastard!"

As is widely known, the malevolent aliens of Reicuran originate from Reicuran, the fourth planet in the Nemesis Nebula. How far away they are from Earth is perhaps unknown even to this small group of Reicuran who have lost contact with their home planet for many years, but it is certain that no one from their home planet will send anyone to request a review.

The guards had no idea how the Reicuran aliens emitted light waves with their bare hands. All they could do was find some sturdy ropes, the kind used to tie up spaceships—the kind that's tough and durable—and tie them to the Reicuran aliens until their arms were immobile. Then they fastened them with specially made alloy bracelets, pointed the Basil Cannon at them, and starved them for three days and two nights to ensure that these aliens wouldn't grow as big as monsters. That would be a sure thing!

Then they were lined up like crabs and stuffed into the guardhouse. The rest were handed over to the extraterrestrial life negotiation team or the life science research center. Whether it was the former or the latter depended on which regulation the bigwigs at TPC headquarters chose to apply to this group of Reicuran aliens who were a sure thing to invade Earth.

Unfortunately, they couldn't find the "train" that ran over the wall where the Reicuran aliens who had kidnapped the stationmaster had run over.

That's right, no one saw clearly what was the thing that saved the stationmaster. All they knew was that a monster shot off from the ground like a rocket and hurtled straight at the space station. Then the monster disappeared, and the glowing "train" rammed the Reicuran aliens into their own spaceship.

Immediately afterward, Ligadron and the giant followed. Ligadron was injured, or perhaps he was having a mental breakdown, and together with the two shadows, he carried the corpse of the Reicuran alien and let himself fall to the ground, where he was now burned into a fiery meteor.

After confirming the space station was safe, the giant gave the dazed ground crew a thumbs-up. The crew returned the thumbs-up, earning a nod from the giant in return. They now unanimously decided to make the double affirmation of a thumbs-up and a nod the highest form of courtesy on the space station.

As for that "train"—no, a blackened, smoky "train" that might be a person or something else entirely—nobody knows where it went. The space station crew was quite disappointed. Apparently, some people saw it had a tail and suspected it was some kind of legendary monster or spirit. Some crew members even started betting on whether the life form belonged to Eastern legends or Western mythology, with the loser paying the other party to go out for maintenance for a week.

The "monster" they were talking about had landed on a deserted island in the South Pacific.

The sea breeze here is wonderful, and a shooting star is streaking across the sky. The crimson air is enveloped in a deep blue hue as it passes through the sun-drenched sea.

Aiba Yu took off his coat and sat down on the ground. The air force uniform was not very breathable, making the round-neck shirt underneath sweaty. The nameplate, half charred and half silver, was also stained with a glistening color. He took a good look and decided to rinse it with seawater and then wipe it clean with alcohol when he got back.

The thought of having to evade satellite surveillance and swim all the way... made Aiba Yu feel suffocated.

He relaxed his shoulders and chose to lie back on the beach for a while. The medical bureau's special plane from TPC headquarters should have arrived at the place where Feiyan-1 was placed. Hopefully, Xincheng can recover soon. The wound on his head has been "stitched up," and he won't have to have his head shaved.

As for Flying Swallow No. 1... hopefully there's still hope? Even salvaging some parts would be good.

Thinking of this, Aiba Yu couldn't help but recall the old faces of the General Staff. The Reichuran aliens were the first wave of aliens that Earthlings had formally contacted, negotiated with, and taken measures against. The "Regulations" would probably also receive the first batch of supplementary opinions—the General Staff would definitely come to "recruit men" again.

"I don't want to go back." Aiba Yu just wanted to find a secluded place to get a good night's sleep.

Just then, the phone rang with a beeping sound; it was a text message notification.

Aiba Yu spaced out for a moment before sighing and taking his phone out of his pocket. Fujisawa Sosuke's message was flashing on the screen. The reason he gave for leaving was "meeting" again. Fujisawa Sosuke had learned his lesson and, not wanting to disturb the big shots' discussion, had sent a text message to scout out the way first.

The text message was just like the man himself; the words alone were enough to make you feel annoyed: "Captain, Captain! Did you get captured by the General Staff again? The whole team has unanimously decided to hold a grand celebration for the defeat of Gadron and the fact that the entire Victory Team returned the space station unharmed! Celebrate! We need funding! Captain, what do you think…?"

"..." Aiba Yu decided to head back first. Sending messages from the South Pacific would be impossible without being tracked down, wouldn't it? He wasn't going to be that stupid.

By the time they arrived at the headquarters, it was already after dinner. As soon as Fujisawa Sousuke saw him, he shouted, "Captain, have you eaten? Good heavens, are the General Staff inhuman? Don't they even provide meals?"

“Leave the other departments out of the schedule,” Aiba Yu said. “So, tell me, how do you want to celebrate?”

Fujisawa Sousuke raised one fist high and shouted, "Buy a birthday cake!" His teammates, whose expressions changed drastically, glared at him angrily. If Aiba Yu hadn't been there, he had no doubt that this rookie would have been ganged up on.

"Watch your mouth!"

Yota Watanabe glared at him.

Ralph kicked his leg. Herbert stared at him, a look of exasperation on his face.

"Birthday?" Aiba Yu thought for a while before realizing that he had filled in the information card randomly. These idiots actually took it seriously?

Under the murderous gazes of his teammates, Fujisawa Sousuke timidly lowered his hand. He felt he had messed up again... The captain's information that he had finally managed to get his hands on, the date and reason for the celebration that he had finally decided on, and the surprise he had finally agreed on that he had ruined all of this with his mouth that kept slipping out.

The fewer opportunities you have to build connections, the greater the chance you'll be of making mistakes and getting punished in the future!

He heard the captain laughing. Laugh all you want, he's just a rookie who can't even keep up with the tower's data and has to be retrained.

"Do you have wasabi-flavored cakes?" the captain asked.

Fujisawa Sousuke felt like he'd been put on pause. His teammates around him exchanged glances, and finally, Ralf mouthed "cool": "The captain's hobbies are just unusual. If you like it, that's fine. Our cafeteria chef can make anything!"

Chapter 49 The Origin of Civilization

Daigo stopped in front of the door and sorted out his chaotic thoughts.

The door to the air force captain's office.

He needed to confirm whether the monster who told him "you should read the 'Illustrated Compendium of Ancient Creatures'" was Aiba Yu. He worried that he might be being too rash, as this was a serious matter, and he wondered how he could make amends if he had mistaken the person for someone else.

That morning, Shinjo, who had only suffered minor injuries after an examination, returned to the team. He was initially relieved that Mayumi hadn't shaved off his hair under the guise of treatment to stitch up his wounds. Later, he muttered, "I clearly remember hitting my head and feeling dizzy."

Lina laughed at him, "If you're so eager to shave your head, I can help you."

Shinjo waved his hands repeatedly, then suddenly shouted, "I remember now! A monster! A monster saved me!"

The others surrounded Shinjo, asking him all sorts of questions. Daigo couldn't sit still any longer and ran out. Thinking about yesterday's events, he unknowingly walked to the air force base.

He didn't know whether he should knock on the door or not.

"Please come in." The sudden voice from inside the door startled him.

He hesitated before reaching for the handle, but the door opened on its own before he could do so, revealing Aiba Yu standing behind it.

“You stood at the door for one minute and seventeen seconds,” he said. “What is it?”

"Ah, um..." Daigo didn't know how to ask. Should he ask directly, "Are you a monster?", "How do monsters turn into humans?", or "Would you eat the base?"? No matter how he phrased it, he felt it would be offensive, and Daigo hesitated.

Aiba Yu had already gone back behind the desk, gathered the documents spread out on the table, opened the drawer, took out a paper cup, and pushed it over.

Daigo followed closely inside, and Aiba Yu said, "The 'Illustrated Guide to Ancient Creatures' in the library is a version compiled by the TPC Life Science Research Center. It is not publicly available. In addition to well-known ancient creatures, it also contains information on signs of ancient civilizations... including aliens who visited Earth back then."

"Ancient times...visiting Earth?" Daigo glanced back at the gate, confirming that it was tightly closed.

"Yu Lian only cared about letting you accept the power, but didn't tell you anything about the most important thing. Are you getting senile... Tea or coffee? Ralf took the green tea, so there's only black tea left."

"Thank you," Daigo said somewhat awkwardly. He dragged a chair over and sat down, rubbing the empty paper cup. "Plain water is fine."

Aiba Yu glanced at him: "I remember you brought orange juice for the GUTS team in the cafeteria, and there's some left... just a moment."

Daigo wanted to ask him how he knew even this, but when the words were on the tip of his tongue, he felt that this was not the time to talk about trivial matters, so he said, "You mean, in the ancient times, aliens came to Earth, the Reicuran aliens?"

"It wasn't just Reijuran, but also the Kirieloids, Naga, and the like. Back then, Earth was a planet where humans, monsters, Ultra Warriors, and aliens coexisted. Later, civilization was destroyed, mainly because of another force that was dormant in the South Pacific."

The information Aiba Yu gave Daigo made him uneasy: "Sleeping? Does that mean it will wake up? An ancient civilization that can coexist with aliens and invent time machines, even they..."

“It’s already awake,” Aiba Yu’s tone sounded like he was saying “the water’s boiling.” “The appearance of Golza means that its followers have received the ‘decree’.”

Daigo's palms were already slightly sweaty.

He always felt that Golza's appearance and the resurgence of giants were like turning on some unknown switch, and that the days of following the rules were gone forever. What awaited them was an era filled with giant creatures and aliens with bizarre characteristics.

Aiba Yu handed him a glass of juice, then poured himself a cup of black tea and blew on it, asking, "In which year did the dinosaurs go extinct?"

Daigo had looked through the summary of "Illustrated Guide to Ancient Creatures" when he got home yesterday, and quickly replied, "It's from the Cretaceous period."

"The Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event occurred 6500 million years ago, when a meteorite destroyed the dinosaur dynasty, burying many species including mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, and ammonites. Then mammals rose to prominence... In a sense, they are the common ancestors of ancient humans and modern humans."

Daigo felt that what he had learned had been overturned: "But, according to evolutionary theory... if there really were ancient humans 30 million years ago, isn't this progress a bit too fast?"

"Yes, it is indeed too fast for natural evolution, but..."

"If there's targeted breeding, it's not a problem," Aiba Yu said. "The meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs still has remnants from many years ago. An ancient civilization detected substances there that couldn't possibly exist without artificial synthesis, suspecting that the extinction of the previous generation was also related to 'targeted breeding.'"