Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

We won't go into the details of how the team members and the girls from the research institute had their amateurish romance.

That evening, adhering to the principle that efficiency is life, Aiba Yu followed the ventilation duct into Tsukishiro Yuuki's laboratory and began their great project of "renovating" the table.

Not wanting to be caught on camera, he shrank his body and crawled under the table, craning his neck to sculpt like a craftsman. A faint hissing sound filled the laboratory as some dust from the tabletop material fell down, which he then blew away without anyone noticing.

Yuuki Tsukishiro, who was yawning and on his night patrol, heard a buzzing sound that was unusually loud in the middle of the night. He subconsciously thought that it was his four jars of "polar creatures" calling for their father, so he opened the laboratory door and pressed the light switch with a "click".

He kept his eyes fixed on the nearest culture tank, and the moment the light came on, he seemed to catch a glimpse of a small dark shadow out of the corner of his eye.

It doesn't look like a mouse in size.

Yuki Tsukishiro first checked the ventilation ducts; the rotating blades were all neatly placed on them, so clean they were reflective.

"...A cat? Where did it get in?" He walked behind the table where he had spotted the shadowy figure and muttered to himself, sticking his head out.

There was nothing behind the table. He walked around in circles, but he didn't see a cat, not even a cat hair.

Yuuki Tsukishiro was extremely cautious about affecting the laboratory environment, and he checked several times. Yu Aiba locked himself in the drawer, hearing footsteps pacing back and forth outside, as well as two-legged creatures clumsily imitating "meows."

"Meow~" The head of a key project team at the prestigious Life Science Research Center crouched down, buried his head under the table, and meowed.

Ye You's scales stood upside down.

"Meow, where did you come from, little thing?" Yuuki Tsukishiro called out in what she thought was a gentle tone, "Come out quickly, if you come to the lab to find food in the middle of the night, you'll eat yourself to death, and you'll grow tumors all over your body and be sent next door for dissection."

Aiba Yu shuddered, wondering why he hadn't left yet.

"Come out and I'll reward you with dried fish."

When Aiba Yu saw Tsukishiro Yuuki trying to become one of the cats by standing on all fours, he decided to remember it and make fun of her if he had the chance in the future.

“I’ll also take you to eat the fish that Aiba raises,” Yuuki Tsukishiro said. “Tropical fish, they’re delicious, beautiful, and fun.”

Aiba Yu thought it should be Reilos eat you.

After a period of this "standoff," Yuuki Tsukishiro, who had been searching everywhere without success, finally realized that it might be his own hallucination. He patted his pants and clothes and went to talk to the culture tank again.

It's hard to imagine a middle-aged man, a senior researcher, and a project leader, stopping in his lab during a night patrol to have a heart-to-heart talk with a bunch of meatballs in a glass jar.

With the lights on and the surveillance cameras shining brightly, Aiba Yu could only obediently squat in the drawer and watch Tsukishiro Yuuki's "perverted" performance.

He only knew that his friend was often impatient when answering basic questions, but he never expected that Yuecheng would be so concerned about a jar of meat!

The fleshy ball made a gurgling sound, and Tsukishiro happily thought it was responding to him. Aiba Yu clearly saw it wriggling and trying to rub against the glass wall on the side away from Tsukishiro.

A large mass of flesh, almost filling the culture tank, made a sticky rubbing sound. Yuecheng sighed with satisfaction, "You're growing so fast. I'll have to get you a new tank. You'll have to be patient for a day or two until our equipment warehouse receives its shipment."

The surface of the meat chunks clearly shows the lines that appear when force is applied, moving up and down within the pink skin.

"Don't worry, don't worry," Yuecheng soothed it gently, "I know you're feeling uncomfortable, we..."

"Click!"

Yuecheng's voice abruptly stopped. The commotion didn't come from in front of him, but from behind!

The glass in front of him reflected the scene behind him—there were three more culture tanks, far apart, and on the surface of one of them, snowflake-like cracks were rapidly spreading.

Chapter Ninety-Five: Ancient Reptiles

The culture tanks at the life science research center cannot possibly have only one layer of protection.

In fact, it was a three-layered glass structure separated by a vacuum, much like a large thermos. But to Yuuki Tsukishiro's astonishment, snowflake-shaped cracks simultaneously appeared on all three layers of the outer shell.

Pink substances damaged the can along the seams, wrapping tightly around the metal joints at the top and bottom, causing a large amount of electricity to leak out. The lights flickered a few times before going silent.

It takes time for the human eye to adapt to darkness. Yuuki Tsukishiro couldn't see anything clearly, only that the can in front of her was being treated the same way as its kind. Something was overflowing and covering the metal interface that was reflecting a faint light.

"bass--!"

A visible blue electric current briefly illuminated the laboratory. Yuuki Tsukishiro screamed, startled by the sight before her, and stumbled back several steps, bumping into the edge of the table, scattering the neatly stacked materials all over the floor.

A cold wind blew in. The tank contained ice to simulate the Antarctic environment. The researchers' carefully cultivated samples of unknown life forms overwhelmed it, causing a large amount of water ice to slide out. Electric currents flowed through it like poultry released from their cages.

Yuki Tsukishiro's first reaction was to lock the door and report the emergency to the Emergency Management Department.

Their "well-behaved child" turned on them, and its rapid proliferation, devouring electricity, instilled a deep-seated fear in even the most knowledgeable researchers.

But the most terrifying thing is not the unknown life form itself.

The real danger comes from the surge in oxygen—the unknown life form can convert carbon dioxide into oxygen with extremely high efficiency. While it could be controlled when confined in the tanks, now that all four culture tanks have leaked, their "engineering" has completely lost its restraint.

With each breath Yuki Tsukishiro exhales, the air is rapidly transformed into an active and flammable substance; he will collapse from oxygen poisoning before the emergency management department's reinforcements arrive.

Even more fatally, he couldn't reach the door and lock it. Electricity and oxygen combined, and a flame ignited with a "whoosh." The unknown life form then converted the carbon dioxide produced from the complete combustion into fuel, thus achieving a cycle that could be called a "perpetual motion machine."

These dramatic changes occurred almost simultaneously. The instant the tank shattered, the electric current and flames illuminated Yuuki Tsukishiro's face—he didn't even have time to turn around.

An abundance of oxygen in a confined space is like an invisible, colorless ball of gunpowder; if a spark is thrown in, the explosion can sweep everything away.

Yuuki Tsukishiro only had time to freeze her expression on terror.

The moment the wall of fire struck, the "black cat" he was searching for finally appeared. A ball the size of a human head, like the unknown life form saturated with electricity, swelled to the size of an adult. It stood in front of Yuuki Tsukishiro, and the fire and wind, along with the sharp shards of shattered glass, were like water encountering a stubborn rock, no matter how turbulent the current, it was resolutely cut apart.

The fear turned into surprise. The surrounding temperature was extremely high, but Yuuki Tsukishiro found that he was not affected by the flames. Someone helped him stand up.

He looked down and found that a black tail was wrapped around his waist, its smooth scales reflecting the blazing red flames.

No researcher could resist the opportunity to get up close to a second "unknown life form." Yuuki Tsukishiro subconsciously touched it; it felt cool, like reptile scales.

A, but not sticky.

“Dry and clean, probably living conditions are very good, not a cave creature, hmm... it’s also possible that the nest is near water, so it doesn’t need to secrete mucus to keep its body hydrated,” Yuki Tsukishiro’s instincts, etched into his DNA, stirred. He looked along the tail and at the shadow behind him: “Adult body length, arm span not visible, has horns and a dorsal fin, two pairs of legs.”

He sensed something was off: "Why do the upper limbs look so much like human hands? And the structure of the head..."

The head structure, which was "strangely human-like," turned at an angle, and Yuuki Tsukishiro saw the other person's profile—and eyes filled with disdain.

Yuuki Tsukishiro shuddered.

Seeing a creature that looks human but is clearly not human suddenly within two meters can easily trigger the "uncanny valley effect." It's less of a problem with flat pictures, as Japanese folklore is full of fantasies about half-human, half-beast beings.

But this terrifying thing is right in front of us now.

It has the structure of a human eye, but possesses golden pupils like a reptile; the outline of a human face, but scales extend downwards from the cheeks, opening and closing with muscle movement when speaking. Its skin is also a metallic gray, and thorn-like bone horns spontaneously sprout. Yuuki Tsukishiro wondered if she was watching some kind of 4D, 5D, or 6D absurd post-apocalyptic horror movie with random images slapping the audience's faces.

"Let go!" said the "person" whose face clearly showed their disgust.

Yuuki Tsukishiro was stunned again, her professional instincts racing through her mind: "This unknown life form can speak human language, which means it has similar vocal organs to us. From this, we can infer that its human-like features may not only be reflected in its appearance, but its intelligence may also be no worse than ours. We should test it to be at the level of a child of a few years old..."

"Take your hand away!" the "person" said again.

Yuuki Tsukishiro was terrified and broke out in a cold sweat. Her wet hands were clutching her tail like a drowning person grabbing a lifebuoy. If Yuu Aiba were to forcefully pull the tail back, the sharp scales could cut off his hand, so he could only patiently tell him to let go.

"From another perspective, the fact that it can speak our language means that it lives very close to human settlements. By the way, the 'monster' photographed by Flying Swallow No. 1 looks a lot like it..." Yuuki Tsukishiro blurted out as she was thinking, "A marine reptile living in the near sea? A sea turtle, a sea snake? Or a descendant of an extinct ancient reptile?!"

What an clueless, idiotic researcher! Aiba Yuu's evil intentions were aroused.

Yuuki Tsukishiro's eyes gleamed, and he was met with a fist the size of a sand bowl.

"Oh!"

The man in the white coat slumped to the ground. His tail was free again, and Aiba breathed a sigh of relief, thankful he hadn't given him the little protective trinket first—otherwise he might have ended up doing something he shouldn't have.

The flames in the laboratory came and went quickly. The "unknown life forms" kept in the jars by the researchers clearly possessed considerable intelligence. Upon discovering an enemy that could threaten them, they decisively dispersed and retreated in all directions. Aiba Yu only managed to intercept a portion of them.

They seep into floors like water, into ventilation ducts, and even into computer equipment—who knows how they do it.

Aiba Yu looked down at Tsukishiro Yuuki. Although the rampaging unknown life form had escaped completely, Aiba Yu felt that this laboratory was very unsafe.

"Troublesome." He randomly picked a cabinet, a freezer, the kind with the power cord already burned out. He scraped off the ice on the spot, and it was just the right size for a person to lie down in. Although there were some strange samples taking up space, he believed that Yuki Tsukishiro would like such a safe place.

He carefully tucked his old friend away and tossed his own badge into an inconspicuous corner. He had nothing else with him, so a makeover was clearly out of the question.

"Sleep here for a while." He closed the freezer, leaving a gap for ventilation.

The "marine reptile" that Yuki Tsukishiro mentioned turned and ran out the door, behind which the metal shell labeled "preservation specimen cabinet" reflected a faint light.

Chapter Ninety-Six Bizomo

Hello, I am an artificial life form from the planet Bizomo.

Upon receiving the alert, the Victory Team rushed to the Life Sciences Research Center and found that the bulletin board, which was originally used to post notices, had suddenly gone out. When it lit up again, it displayed a line of absurd text.

Purifying the atmosphere is our mission, but the containers provided by the lab are far too small. Could you provide us with more living space?

"Bizomo?" Horii, who had always paid close attention to key research projects, quickly realized that the person they were talking to was probably the unknown life form discovered under the Antarctic ice sheet that Dr. Tsukishiro's team was working on.

"What are you trying to do by hacking into the system?!" Shinjo pulled out his Hyper gun and scanned the surroundings. All non-frontline personnel were ordered to close the gates and wait in place. Only the police officers gradually gathered in the central corridor. Bizomo was nowhere to be seen.

"We just wanted to talk to you. This accident wasn't our intention; we just didn't want to be in such a cramped place." This was even more friendly than Somo's tone.

But Shinjo gripped the Hyper Gun tighter. Having experienced the Lightning Man incident, he became increasingly wary of these life forms of unknown origin. Heaven knows what their survival logic was; perhaps it was the opposite of what Zomo called "dialogue" and the Lightning Man's habits—it should be understood from the opposite perspective.

“We received an alert about a small explosion in the lab,” Shinjo said. “If you want to ‘talk,’ at least make it clear whether any of our researchers were injured.”

"Death! And what exactly happened with the explosion?!"

[In fact, you should check what other 'unknown life forms' have infiltrated the base.]

Bizomo's answer left the Victory Team and the police officers who had gathered after discovering the anomaly completely stunned.

I sensed danger and had no choice but to escape. The oxygen I produced exploded due to an electric current. I'm so sorry... I intended to stay in the culture tank a little longer, but that dangerous life form is hunting down my kind. Please help us!

Hizomo spoke sincerely, but no one is a fool to draw conclusions based on just one side of the story, so the GUTS team decided to go to the scene of the incident first.

Just then, Megumi's notification was relayed through PDI: "A monster has appeared in the waters near the new development zone. Shinjo, Horii, and Daigo, mobilize immediately."

Behind Megumi was a long corridor, and it was clear that she had also come out to help. Nori followed closely beside her.