Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

The buzzing stopped, and Sosuke remained silent.

“…I’m sorry,” the girl regretted her harsh words, “What I meant was…if you persevere and your condition stabilizes, you will definitely have a chance to get out, and then you might be able to run into her.”

Paradia encouraged, "Then you can bring her back, and we will do our best to heal her."

Chapter 115 The Wandering Spirit

The girl who called herself Paradia spoke softly, and perhaps because the temperature in the Lion's Nose Forest was too comfortable, Sosuke became drowsy after chatting for a short while.

The outermost ring of the Lion's Nose Tree Sea is a winding mountain road. Once inside, the road suddenly transforms into a river. If anyone is lucky enough to survive, a group of "fish" mutated into demons by various genetic drugs will devour them.

If the visitor is truly lucky enough to break through the demonic fish's barrier and reach the dock, then the veritable "sea of ​​trees" will confine him to a spatial labyrinth. Unless he is incredibly lucky again and accidentally stumbles out of the layered, distorted space, he will surely either go mad or starve to death inside.

As time went on, the riverbeds within the demon realm became filled with the bones of humans and animals, and fish with fangs and sharp teeth nested in the eye sockets of skulls. Scattered throughout the forest, the soil contained decaying corpses, and a group of strangely large ants, calling themselves a faction, rustled and gnawed at the bones down to the marrow, while giant spiders the size of washbasins and birds of prey as tall as humans watched intently.

And Sōsuke couldn't see any of these things.

Looking outwards from the inside, the Lion's Nose Forest is serene and picturesque; you'll never see the bones at the bottom of the river or in the forest. Moreover, the river is as clear as jade, its ripples carrying a warm, refreshing breeze.

Sōsuke fell asleep.

In his dream, he was surrounded by sunny skies and lush greenery, with tender grass weaving a soft cushion behind his head.

The girl who called herself Paradia scolded softly, and the poisonous insects that had been swimming in from all directions suddenly retreated. The giant bird that was perched on the treetop let out an angry cry and flapped its wings and flew away—its wings stirred up a torrent, and in Sosuke's dream, the wind swirled and flowers fell.

"number twelve."

Footsteps sounded crisp and clear behind the two. The newcomer stopped two meters away from "Paladia," his black robe billowing open to reveal a beige linen dress underneath, identical to "Paladia's" attire.

"Number Thirteen," Paradia said, "Did you need something from me?"

“It’s not me looking for you, it’s ‘Father’ who asked me to remind you that you talked to him too much just now,” Number Thirteen replied.

She sighed, pulled back the hood that had been covering her head, revealing a face identical to Paradia's: "You don't need to explain the mechanism of the drug to him. The Naga are researching in the same direction as us. Once everything proves true for him, it will be hard for him not to suspect us."

Number Twelve raised his head, his face expressionless and lifeless, a stark contrast to when he spoke to Sosuke: “Precisely because it is the same, we should tell him that he will only think it is the Naga people’s ‘achievement’ and that we did our best but it didn’t work.”

"...Whatever, you always have a reason," Number Twelve's attitude was always terrible, and Number Thirteen was used to it. Her gaze shifted from Number Twelve to Sosuke, and she said, "You'd better be careful, don't say too much unnecessary..."

If you want, and if 'Father' gets angry, I'll be implicated—I understand, 'Paladia' is willing to be close to the 'Great Demon,' but even more willing to be close to Soruka…”

Number Thirteen paused, then lowered his voice further: "He possesses the power of a 'Great Demon' and the aura of Solka. I understand your closeness to him, but 'Father' won't understand. He will only replace him with the next batch of 'Paradia'."

"Fine, let's change it!" Number Twelve suddenly sat up straight, clenching her fists, speaking with the ferocity of a baring hound—a ferocious expression that the real Paradia had never displayed before.

Despite their different experiences and circumstances, even though they share the same genes, have identical faces, and occasionally share the same memories in the middle of the night, Number Twelve and Number Thirteen are easily distinguishable from their mother, Paradia, due to their distinct temperaments.

"Let him replace us, and quickly use the next batch of 'Paladia'. Maybe the next batch will be obedient and smart, and we can trick more excellent test subjects! The test subjects will not only be willing to be guinea pigs, but will also be willing to do anything for us as bodyguards!"

Number Twelve cursed, "I've had enough of living! Who wants to pretend to be someone else all the time? I feel disgusted just hearing the name Paradia now!"

“But now that you’re dead, you’ll forever be ‘Paladia’s twelfth clone,’” Number Thirteen said. “You encouraged him… to call him Sosuke, right? You encouraged Sosuke to persevere because maybe he’d have a chance to see his friends and loved ones again. So now I’m encouraging you because if you persevere, one day you’ll get your own name.”

"Getting a name is easy, isn't it? I can come up with one right now if you want it." Number Twelve retorted, but then lowered his head again.

The decaying scent from the depths of the forest and the fishy smell from the river wafted on the wind. Number Twelve never liked to stay by the river for too long—the sincere Paradia had a likable affability and eyes that could see through the fog.

But Sosuke was sleeping so soundly that Number Twelve "saw" him in his dream that the sky was clear and the grass was green, and his comrades in the air force uniforms were lying on their backs sunbathing just like him. The captain did not blame them for being lazy, but instead mingled with the team and took a break together. The girl in the wheelchair leaned forward slightly and broke off a blade of grass and dangled it at the tip of Sosuke's nose.

Outside, what was dangling from Sosuke's nose was also a grass stem, but it was bluish-black in color, its roots firmly embedded in the deep rock layers, and its net-like roots leaning towards the river, constantly drawing nutrients from the bones.

Dreams are illusions, visible but intangible. Number Twelve watched for a while, and when she saw the air force crew all shouting that they were hungry, the captain conjured up a large green cake. Sosuke and his teammates rose up in rebellion, desperately shoving the cake down the captain's throat.

"Birthday cake should be eaten by oneself!" Sosuke was in his element on his turf, while the captain was severely weakened and powerless. It was just a pity that Sosuke had never seen the captain's face turn green after being hit with wasabi, so the scene in his dream gradually became blurry.

Number Twelve muttered blankly to himself, "When is our 'birthday'?"

"It's in the lab report," thought Number Thirteen. She swallowed this seemingly jarring answer and chose to remain silent.

Lion's Nose Tree Sea, known as the "Rainbow Wonderland" and the "Fairy Forest," is devoid of fairies, and its perpetually gloomy sky never displays rainbows.

But on the 12th, they appeared in Sosuke's dream.

The aircraft, piloted by the air force, soared through the clear blue sky after the rain, passing through the "bridge" of the rainbow, with seven colors of light spreading from the front of the canopy all the way to the last bit of the tail.

Sosuke was still driving the β, and sitting in front was the captain he often talked about. Aiba Yu turned his head and opened his mouth as if to say something—suddenly a beam of light slashed down from the sky, instantly cutting the scene in two.

Sosuke's mind went blank for a moment. He sat in the remaining half of the cabin with his head down, the Bering Sea in winter below.

Chapter 116 Formation

The police department is known for its swift and decisive actions, and the formation of the special investigation team was extremely rapid.

After being reinstated, Sato Takuma immediately became the executive captain of the special investigation team—his deputy captain was Yoshioka Tetsuji, and the captain was Sawai Soichiro, who was only nominally in charge.

Thus, the special investigation team gained extremely high authority. Simply by displaying their work badges, no department within TPC had the authority to refuse their release. In fact, very few department heads would refuse release, because this team publicly claimed to be…

"A training course for senior TPC executives? Great!"

For the first time, Ralph smiled at the deer of the ground guard: "Does this mean the organization has finally recognized my talent and is going to give me a chance to advance?"

Sato Takuma nodded with a smile: "That's right, your captain is also a teacher in the advanced training program... This training is specially designed to deal with alien and monster incidents. The members are selected from TPC's pool of young executives. Study hard and strive to graduate smoothly to ensure a bright future! Congratulations!"

“What else is there to say? The captain will definitely agree,” Ralph said. “You just need to give me half a day to get the paperwork done.”

Sato pulled a piece of paper from the folder and handed it to him: "No need to run around anymore, it's all taken care of."

Ralph was stunned at first, but after reading the words on the paper, he beamed with delight: "The captain really cares about his subordinates! The formalities were already completed and he was just waiting for my approval? I'm really... I'll hand over my work to Herbert right away!"

They poached people from all over the place under the guise of training courses for senior cadres.

When someone encounters "sugar-coated bullets" from within TPC, who wouldn't want to? And the department to which the employee belongs is also happy that their unit has produced a future senior executive. Except for a few positions that are truly impossible to leave, there are few arguments about not letting the person go.

Ralph was one of the people who, upon receiving the notification, rushed to the meeting point with great enthusiasm.

By the time they realized something was wrong, it was too late.

"Does holding a refresher course really turn the venue into... this mess?" Ralph tugged at the sleeve of the person next to him, who was also from the North American branch, making him practically a fellow countryman of Ralph. Although TPC is an organization established by all of humanity, people's innate sense of "sticking together" is undeniable. When a group of people who don't know each other very well get together, their first reaction is naturally to look for similar people or those with some connection.

Ralph huddled with the Western-looking people, and before they could even exchange names, the meeting hall doors were already closed, and even the heavy inner doors were shut. The creaking sound of the machinery breaking in was painful to the ears.

Confiscating communication devices and closing the gates early are nothing; it's not like they haven't held classified meetings before.

But it was really strange that the venue had to be shielded, the Victory Team's detection devices placed in the four corners had to be turned on, and there were things that looked like cameras but were clearly more than just cameras scanning around overhead.

"Dear 'trainees,' effective immediately, all your original communication devices will be discontinued. New devices will be distributed after this meeting. All calls to your registered numbers will be forwarded to the new devices. In addition, every call you make will be recorded." Sato Takuma's words caused a murmur of whispers and buzzing among the attendees.

"Hey!" Ralf's fellow Californian raised his hand and said, "Recording the whole thing? You want to hear me and my girlfriend whispering sweet nothings?"

“If you need help, we can even provide you with emotional advice; I’m a professional in psychology,” Sato said without changing his expression. “The question-and-answer session isn’t over yet, so please hold off on your questions for a moment. After I finish reading the rules, the next one…”

"Are you sure this kind of discipline is for training senior cadres and not for some kind of intelligence agency?" someone asked.

"Is this some kind of advanced intelligence training course?" Ralph whispered to his fellow Californian, "Is there a KGB agent tucked under Captain Sato's uniform?"

"..."

Meeting room partitions.

Tetsuji Yoshioka and Yu Aiba were both seated on the second floor. Yoshioka was staring at the monitor screen, while Aiba was staring at the wall—in fact, he was using his silvery eyes to penetrate the steel-framed brick wall and carefully scan each of the "training students" in the venue.

The GUTS team placed energy jammers at the four corners to mask the fluctuations generated when Aiba Yu was operating his energy at full power, preventing the aliens lurking inside TPC from detecting the activity. Inside the venue, Aiba Yu was personally checking everyone; if someone was identified as an alien, a waiting interrogation room member would take them away under the pretext that "your superior is looking for you outside."

"How is it?" Tetsuji Yoshioka asked after a long wait, "Have any suspicious individuals been identified?"

Aiba Yu shook his head: "The people that Sato screened all had clean resumes, and there was no sign of an alien in disguise."

Upon hearing this, Tetsuji Yoshioka felt slightly relieved. He picked up the phone and said to Sato, who was currently arguing with his students who were possessed by a hundred thousand questions, "We can begin now."

"Understood." Sato put down the confidentiality agreement in his hand. Thus, the dry "recitation" part ended, and the so-called "Senior Cadre Training Class" was officially unveiled to all those who had been selected.

……

Two days later.

Even though the initial excitement had long passed, Ralph still felt incredibly excited when he recalled his first "purge meeting."

“There’s nothing more exciting or more valuable to me than this!” he exclaimed. “I haven’t touched my beloved old buddies in the air force for so long that I feel like they’ve forgotten me.”

The "old buddy" he mentioned was a gun, a rushed product from the equipment development center. Its core technology came from the shrinking ray gun of the Crow people. Although its functions were not as powerful as the original, it was more stable. The production of the Hyper gun was not high, and conventional bullets were not enough to pose a threat to aliens, so the shrinking ray gun was the most useful option.

The researchers at the equipment development center sacrificed capture range in exchange for high production capacity and ease of maintenance; the only requirement was that the user's marksmanship be accurate.

The original ray gun wielded by the Crow Man could turn the bushes in front of Sosuke, which could hide people, into short clumps of grass with just a few shots. The knock-off from the Equipment Development Center, however, was only effective against targets that were continuously hit; if it was fired indiscriminately, nothing would happen.

But Ralph doesn't care!

Pressing a button on an airplane to fire the cannon and tear the enemy apart feels completely different from holding a gun and pulling the trigger or smashing someone with the butt of your gun!

"Back in my day, my marksmanship was phenomenal. I only need a short period of rehabilitation to regain my former peak!" Relf said confidently. "Also, Captain Sato, why is the shooting instructor still from the ground guard? I remember you said my captain was here too?"

“Him…” Sato shifted his gaze slightly, pointing to the open space next to Ralf, where there was a faint shadowy figure: “Isn’t he right next to you?”

Ralf, without looking to the side, said, "I'm all alone. Captain Sato, your jokes aren't funny at all."

Chapter 117 The So-Called Perfect Integration

Sato was certainly not making a lame joke.

The location he pointed to

Yes, Aiba Yu was indeed standing there, but few people could see him—he was suppressing his energy fluctuations and maintaining his concealment, because for a long time to come, they would be lingering in front of the aliens.

If the "tomb keeper" were to leave the base brazenly under the watchful eyes of countless people and run around the streets with the special investigation team, it would be difficult not to alert the enemy.

Thus, the following scene unfolded: Sato Takuma, whose outline could be seen, pointed and gestured, while Ralf, seeing that his idiotic nature had been exposed again, wanted to play with him whenever he had nothing to do.

Sato didn't have much of an intention to explain. He still had a bunch of hotheads to manage. Ralf, who only questioned things but still said "yes, sir" when it came to execution, was incredibly obedient. After receiving the new weapon from the equipment development center, many people were eager to use it to test the aliens' capabilities. Sato had to quickly bring their arrogant tails down.