Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

He remembered that the Muzhen Star people 30 million years ago were all arrogant and disdainful of everyone. If conditions allowed, they would even target monsters or giants to play a "hunting game" instead of imprisoning creatures far inferior to themselves like they do now.

They considered themselves to be at the top of the food chain, the superior beings among cosmic beings, with only the vast cosmos as far as their eyes could see, and only those astronomical units could be their equal.

But now their "ambition" has been worn down too much. In previous years, this group would never say things like "boring" or "meaningless". They would only ignore things they were not interested in and pilot their spaceships to chase after prey worth the challenge, like tireless hunters.

“The apocalypse destroyed Muzhen.” Samuel noticed this sentence. Was the change in the Muzhen aliens due to the “apocalypse” he mentioned? Like people who have lost their property and are wandering around, they are falling deeper and deeper into a predictable fall.

The explosion swept across the seabed, pushing the water in all directions and creating white crests on the surface. Ice floes were lifted high on top of the white waves, capsizing and drifting like small boats.

outside world.

A black shadow emerged from the void, identified its direction, and flew towards the location of TPC-1.

……

After attending the long celebration ceremony, Director Sawai returned to the cabin. He couldn't stay there to rest, as they still had to go back to receive a face-to-face report from the Information Department.

Everyone in the Information Department was extremely guarded about intelligence, as silent as underground intelligence agents in a secret service. Tetsuji Yoshioka liked this style very much, but it was tough on the other departments—the Information Department claimed it was classified, and they didn't give any discounts whatsoever. They wouldn't even allow people to listen to online reports on the plane, and they would just keep asking, "Director, when are you coming back?"

Staff Officer Nanbara, the most high-profile accompanying person, was already fast asleep under a blanket after being bombarded with endless chatter from the South American branch's high-ranking members, his precious glasses neatly tucked away in their case. Before boarding, Sawai retrieved his "classified materials" from the crew, glancing around to make sure Aiba Yu hadn't made any discoveries.

It has weight; the cardboard box felt like it contained a solid brick, and a person could probably fit inside.

"What's the situation?" he asked in a low voice. "Have the aliens reappeared?"

No reply.

He held the cardboard box, his fervent curiosity growing stronger like seedlings after the rain. Old people are often knowledgeable, especially someone like him who rarely gets curious, but once he does—like middle-aged and elderly friends who discover "fishing is really fun," "raising turtles is also great," or "square dancing is a good idea"—their enthusiasm is overwhelming, pushing away fatigue and engulfing them completely.

“It’ll get stuffy staying here for too long,” he said, peering into the gaps in the cardboard box. He could only vaguely see a black thing huddled in the corner. “Nan Yuan told me he saw a ‘Melba’ flying very fast. Was that you?”

He knew how to keep his distance. What if the other person was as tired and sleepy as Nan Yuan? So he just held onto his suitcase and suppressed his curiosity until the flight of more than ten hours ended, when they were quietly woken up by the flight attendant.

……

phase

When Ye You woke up, she found that the box had been opened at some point.

Sunlight streamed through the windowpane onto my head, but not a drop fell on my body—because I was covered with a "small blanket," probably a brand-new towel.

A sticky note was placed on the towel.

The shrunken "big monster" emerged from under the towel and stuck its head out to look at the writing on it.

That was the director's handwriting, written carefully stroke by stroke. Xiangye You stared at it for a long time, and then saw the director's face between the lines—a kind face, like one that was coaxing a child.

“You can tell others that you’re on a secret mission or in a meeting, and Nanbara will vouch for it,” the note read. “There’s ice in the fridge, and milk or concentrated honey tea in the second cabinet from the left, but I think the ‘friendly Earth monsters’ might not have enough to drink or eat. If they don’t have enough for their cafeteria meal cards, they can come to me; they always give them too much.”

He's just like an old man who keeps nagging, "Is the money enough? If not, Grandpa has some." I don't know what he's thinking. In order to maintain a normal "earthly age," Aiba Yu has changed his appearance according to his age since joining TPC. Now, no matter how you look at him, he doesn't look like a young man.

But Director Sawai always looked at him as if he were a grandson several generations younger than himself.

When he was reporting on matters, Director Sawai would suddenly ask, "Are you hungry?" It seemed that in his logic, a large size must be accompanied by an abyss's appetite, and the food in the human canteen would definitely not be enough. He even asked, "Are you going out to find food in the middle of the night?"

He's not a whale that spends all day swallowing krill in the ocean with its mouth open!

The "old monster" who couldn't figure out his age shuddered and decided to slip away as soon as possible.

He spread his wings, ready to fly out of the reserved window, but then turned back, thought for a moment, and picked up the note. The decorative turtle tank next door, which had been moved to the bay window to bask in the sun, was reflected in the shimmering water. A half-asleep turtle lay on the edge of the tank watching him, and when it saw him fly up, it raised its head as if to greet him.

Aiba Yu didn't want to greet the turtle; he just wanted to go back to his office, curl up, and take another nap.

Although the self-destruction of the Wood-Pure Starman did not bring any catastrophic consequences, he felt that some of the scales on his body were loosening... He hoped that they would heal soon, as he did not want to become bald!

The tortoise was still sticking its head out to look at him.

"Thud." The turtle stretched its neck even longer.

The black thing that had just flown away turned back and used its legs and claws to pick up the scales that had fallen on the windowsill.

Chapter Sixty-Four: Polar Life

Sōsuke Fujisawa never imagined that he would one day be troubled by cleaning issues.

He was thrilled when he bought it, but annoyed when it got dirty! He stared at the fingerprints he had pressed onto the tiered "skirt" of the teru teru bozu doll and felt a headache coming on.

"Oh, so you don't know how to wash it after it gets dirty?" The shopkeeper chuckled. "Very few people know how to wash it. Usually, you just buy a new one. Do you want to buy a few more to keep on hand?"

“Sincerity brings results!” Fujisawa Sousuke said earnestly, “Ralph told me that one should be single-minded.”

Before the boss could speak, the sales assistant laughed first: "We're just a supermarket. We don't handle after-sales service unless it's a quality issue. If you can't wash it yourself, try going to a dry cleaner?"

“Yes! Dry cleaners can…” Fujisawa Sousuke was interrupted by a sudden loud noise from the television before he could finish speaking.

The boss chuckled, unfazed, but the sales assistant was startled: "Really, don't let customers watch monster movies in the audience!"

Upon hearing this, Fujisawa Sousuke leaned over. The supermarket's television was embedded under the counter. The owner liked to sit in the counter and watch TV to pass the time. Recently, there had been a lot of monster incidents, which had supported a large number of talk shows.

Although many of the guests' opinions were the same old ones, the boss was happy to keep repeating them. Fujisawa Sousuke was the fifth guest to be startled by the explosions coming from the TV—but what did it matter, since this was the only supermarket in this area of ​​the base.

The topic of this interview is "The Shadow of the Mysteriously Appearing and Disappearing Monster." The host and experts are discussing images taken by citizens in the new development zone.

In fact, this was exactly what the Victory Team had been investigating. They circled around the new development area without any results, only hearing rumors from residents that "ghostly voices are often heard near an abandoned factory."

The reporters on the show clearly put in a lot of effort. One of the elderly men they interviewed was speaking earnestly into the microphone: "Once, I went out to play cards and came back a little late. I heard a ghostly wailing sound right there."

His finger pointed to a factory building with a rusty roof.

"Boom!" The television started setting off firecrackers again.

The program cut to footage taken by two citizens who were fishing in the wild. Fujisawa Sousuke leaned over the counter and looked out. In the boundless night, amidst the vast black water, a green light accompanied by a loud bang illuminated a small patch of sky, and the shadow of a monster stood on the water.

Two seconds later, another green light appeared, and the monster's shadow vanished. Fujisawa Sosuke didn't notice anything amiss, but the boss let out a satisfied sigh. The host and professionals began analyzing the footage frame by frame, while Fujisawa Sosuke listlessly shrank back inside.

“Listening to their analysis is less interesting than waiting for the GUTS investigation report,” Fujisawa Sousuke muttered under his breath. “I just hope they can act quickly, damn monster.”

The boss's eyes remained glued to the television. The sales assistant, having vaguely heard his words, asked, "What?"

"It's nothing," Fujisawa Sousuke said, stopping himself from speaking.

Are you worried about your doll?

The sales assistant, who had a small canine tooth when she smiled, said, "If you can't find a dry cleaner, I can recommend one. Just wait a moment."

She handed him a note with both hands, and Fujisawa Sousuke quickly took it and thanked her: "399 Miyamoto Road..."

"We also sell clothes; this is a store we frequent."

……

Air Force, Captain's Office.

Unbeknownst to Fujisawa Sousuke, his captain was also watching what he considered "trash programs," just like the supermarket owner.

The supermarket owner was watching a monster-themed interview, while Aiba Yu was watching a clip from another TV station—they had focused on Titans to compete with the station next door.

Competition drives progress. The two TV stations spared no effort to win viewership. One invited experts from the Life Science Research Center to conduct interviews, while the other contacted researchers from the Space Development Center. One repeatedly played monster clips, while the other collected all the footage of giants appearing and made a compilation.

The compilation contains many shots taken by ordinary citizens. TPC would not store these worthless shots, so Aiba Yu had a TV on one side and a computer on the other, both frozen on Tiga's figure.

"Hesitating for 0.2 seconds disrupted the rhythm of the next step." Aiba Yu likes to repeatedly play TV programs with the same scenes; anyone who doesn't know him might think he's a deep-seated obsession with Attack on Titan.

He was slowly wrapping bandages around himself, occasionally pausing to jot down a few brief notes. They were all things like "hitting the wrong spot," "judging too late," and "being able to get close and seize the initiative but retreating."

The shortcomings are listed on the left, while a few words of praise are written sporadically on the right.

He planned to find the highlights produced by the TV station online, download them, and then hand them over to Daigo along with these notes. He didn't care what kind of expression Daigo would make; he just wanted to ask him if he had finished reading "Ancient Biological Illustrated Guide" and "An Introduction to Human Mechanics."

Given how busy the winning team is, they most likely didn't finish watching it.

Otherwise, how could Tiga on TV have so many strange and awkward ways of exerting force? It's just that he has good physical fitness and can get lucky... It seems that Munakata and Shinjo's fighting lessons have been delayed a lot because of the monster incident.

"Clap."

Aiba Yuu's hand trembled as she rolled the bandage. She looked down with heartache, and a dark, glossy scale lay on the ground, looking incredibly cute.

He hesitated for a moment, then dialed a number.

"Huh? What do you do if your goldfish loses its scales?" came an impatient reply from the other end of the phone: "Flush it down the drain! What else do you do?"

“No,” Aiba Yu said calmly, “it’s very important, the goldfish.”

"So you've finally figured it out and girls are giving you goldfish to keep as pets?"

"...I suddenly realized that I should raise them myself. The director raises turtles, and I raise goldfish."

A loud click of surprise came from the other end: "You're still young, don't pick up old men's hobbies! I'm very busy with experiments here, tackling the challenges of polar life, and then I get a call asking me about raising goldfish?"

Aiba Yu thought for a moment: "It's like... a polar goldfish."

"I don't believe your nonsense!" A distant background voice came from the other end of the phone, probably his researcher calling him: "Dr. Yuecheng! The next phase of the experiment is ready, are you still resting?"

"I'm answering questions from helpful friends!" Dr. Yuecheng shouted into the phone, then turned back to the other end: "Scale loss is usually caused by high water temperature, parasites, or being bitten by other fish in a fight. If you don't flush it down the drain, change the water, isolate the fish in a separate tank, and get medication from a veterinary hospital."

“Fighting with other fish.” Aiba Yu took it personally.

"Replace the tank with a single-cylinder separator! Let the scales grow back on their own; if they don't, flush them down the drain!"

Dr. Tsukishiro's attitude was rude, but Aiba Yu was used to it: "Is there any other way besides flushing down the drain?"

“Big brother…brother, you’re my dad! Let it float as a specimen, I suggest soaking it in formalin, it won’t rot,” Dr. Tsukishiro hurriedly pushed open the door with the phone in hand. Aiba Yu heard the suddenly clear conversation and guessed that he had entered the laboratory: “The competition at the Life Science Research Center is fierce. Researching polar life doesn’t sound as impressive as the research on giant statues and monsters next door, and the funding is also less, you know what I mean?”

"To get by, I have to throw myself into my work and be completely focused, all because of you! Now my head is full of bald goldfish!" Dr. Yuecheng said hurriedly, "That's it, don't call me again for a month, I'm going into seclusion!"

Aiba Yu put down the phone, a thunderbolt flashing through his mind: "Alopecia areata..."

Chapter Sixty-Five: Investigation of the Newly Developed Zone