Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

“The situation with the Naga is still unclear. I just want to know who did the body modification to him,” Kosuke Kubota said. “At least I’m sure my team couldn’t have fused 70% of his body’s tissues with metal and enhanced his physique with mechanical and electronic structures without killing him. This is a completely different research approach from the ‘Talent Project’. I don’t think it was done by Earthlings.”

"Is there even a question? We didn't find the bodies of any former air force members in the Bering Sea air disaster, so their records were all 'missing' until three years later when they were changed to 'dead'!"

Yuuki Tsukishiro slammed the important classified document on the table in anger. The loud thud echoed through the laboratory like a sudden clap of thunder, startling the students: "I dare say, they were definitely taken away and modified by aliens, and then released, just to guard that mechanical dinosaur! He's practically a 'part' of the mechanical dinosaur. Do you know what that means? A living person turned into a mechanical component!"

"He can see, but he can't hear! He can't speak either! Those damn aliens turned his inner ear into a mess just to fit a chip that doesn't even know what it's for! I can't even imagine his pain... Maybe he can't feel pain at all. The helmet restricts his movement by limiting nerve signals. Have you ever seen a puppet show? Our good boy, he's only 20 years old! He's been turned into a puppet!"

“He should be 23 years old now,” Kubota Kosuke corrected him, meeting Tsukishiro Yuuki’s “You actually care about such trivial details” look, and said, “The K17 area work station was established in 2005. I think we can submit an important intelligence report to the Inspection Office and thoroughly investigate all the personnel at the beginning of the work station's establishment... There must be aliens among them.”

“No need for you to tell me,” Yuki Tsukishiro took out her phone and dialed a familiar name: “Let the professionals handle the professional tasks. We’ll collect as much biological data as possible, and leave the rest to Sato and the others.”

……

universe.

Samuel was unaware that former air force members had been transformed into "living parts," otherwise he certainly wouldn't have been able to speak to the Naga calmly.

But the Naga took this for granted, just as they believed that the "sacrifice" of a planet was justified as long as it could eliminate potential dangers.

Their historically small population and massive maintenance plans dictate that they must constantly seek like-minded individuals. However, those who become advocates of the Naga's ideals will inevitably talk about "sacrifice" and put it into practice.

Over time, like-minded people became increasingly rare, and even the Naga themselves were fortunate enough to survive—which, in turn, made the Naga even more convinced that they were "order."

The spokesperson is the "God of the Universe".

Gods are destined to be few and far between. They are powerful and steadfast, compassionate yet cruel. Their actions and thoughts are undoubtedly based on the height of the entire universe, maintaining the greatest possible peace through long-term methods that are destined to be misunderstood by people of their time.

If Samuel knew about the modifications made to the former air force members and questioned the Naga about it, the Naga would certainly give this answer:

“We will remember every sacrificer who died for order. If the ‘God of the Universe’ comes to twilight, the figures of the sacrificers will be sung by the lives he saved, just like you. The age of giants has passed, and only the ruins of R'lyeh remain of the ancient humans—but don’t you still remember them, tomb keeper?”

Chapter 127 Goblin and Bardbu

The neutron bombs were properly recovered by the Naga.

Samuel wasn't unwilling to destroy it, but he wasn't sure if the Naga had other means, such as remotely detonating the remaining neutron bombs installed on Earth if they were forced into a corner.

Moreover, detonating it at this location is not a good idea. If a gamma-ray burst is directed at Earth, even such a tiny "neutron star" would have incalculable consequences.

Life can be incredibly resilient; even the most ordinary person can unleash unexpected energy within the limits of their physical capabilities. Yet life can also be incredibly fragile; even a brief burst of gamma rays from a star hundreds of light-years away before its death, if it were to sweep across Earth, would be enough to obliterate all life "illuminated" within 50 seconds.

Samuel wasn't so arrogant as to believe that the Meta-Field could withstand an astronomical explosion.

The Naga retrieved their important weapons, seemingly regarding Samuel as a potential partner. They first thanked the tomb guardians for their understanding and support, then discussed the matter, saying, "We understand how much you value this planet. Sending Marubonaiza was indeed a last resort, to eliminate Gatan..."

“Humans can overcome darkness without sacrificing their home planet,” Samuel interrupted him. “I’m returning the neutron bomb to you not to support your plans, but so you can dispose of it further away. You’d better take back all the Maru-Nezas that are still on Earth.”

“Please forgive us for refusing,” the Naga said. “Humans have not yet truly set foot in the universe. I don’t think anyone would place their hopes on defeating the Dark Ruler on them. Can you guarantee that Gatanothor will be defeated? If the humans fail, just like 30 million years ago, this time there will be no R’lyeh to seal it away.”

The Naga warned, “No one can bear the consequences of Gatanothor’s rampage if it finds the solar system boring and wants to go somewhere else—Grave Keeper, the day Earthlings fail will mean your ultimate failure as well, unless you abandon them and run away.”

The Naga were right. Faced with an unknown enemy, Samuel couldn't possibly make a guarantee that there would be no problem. This had nothing to do with "confidence".

No responsible person would make a promise to "definitely defeat the opponent" and ask others to abandon their final preparations when there are uncertainties.

All they would say was, "I will fight with all my might, either defeat it or it will trample over my dead body."

Samuel did not answer the Naga's question directly. He stood silently in front of the spaceship, blocking their path to Earth. After a moment of stalemate, the Naga sighed, "Why do you trust such a weak race and refuse to support us?"

“I am an Earthling,” Samuel said. He repeated this sentence many times, but the aliens always felt that he had been living with Earthlings for too long, which had caused confusion in his self-identity.

"You have a lot of confidence in them?" the Naga asked.

“As long as humanity does not give up, it will not be up to other races to decide their fate.” This has nothing to do with confidence; Samuel knew the regret of having no choice, so he was always willing to hold onto some “opportunities to choose.”

The Naga's response was much slower, and shadows began to move back and forth inside the spaceship.

The Pioneer Research Station on Mars observed the spaceships of Samuel and the Naga. They were pioneers in the Mars colonization program, and in the future, Mars colonization and a series of activities centered on space exploration would be officially named the "New Horizons Project."

The Pioneer Research Station has only five permanent staff members, huddled in a cramped living area. It hasn't even been developed into the artificial ecological park often seen in science fiction novels. Therefore, they must complete their research tasks and board the return capsule before their food reserves run out.

Until the next batch of astronauts arrives, this research station will be as desolate as the red sand sea outside.

But now the place is unusually lively: the person in charge of external field observation has discovered two "uninvited guests". He has naturally heard the news from inside TPC and is quite familiar with Samuel, so he recognized him immediately.

He glanced at the screen for a moment, then ran out and waved to Samuel while clinging to the metal edge of the transparent cabin.

Waving at that distance is like an ant nodding at you from a hundred meters away.

When a colleague asked him what he was doing, he joked, "I'm greeting the 'friendly Earth monster.' Maybe he'll be in a good mood and give us a ride back. If we save some fuel, the next group can stay a little longer."

Samuel didn't notice him; all his attention was focused on the Naga.

After a long silence, the Naga finally made their decision: "Humans have yet to leave the solar system, and we predict that the probability of Gatanothor being defeated by them is..."

"Zero, but your reasoning is also valid. Without violating the greater order, every race should have the opportunity to determine its own destiny."

“Opportunities are earned,” Samuel could almost guess what the Naga would say next: “Your terms?”

"TPC's Magus propulsion system is about to be officially tested. This is a research project that marks two stages of civilization: 'planet' and 'stellar field.' Successful development means that Earthlings will have the power to step into the universe," the Naga said. "It also means attracting 'attention'—badb will awaken Gobnu."

Bardob, a female war goddess in Irish folklore, often appears as a black raven. Her sharp cry can awaken the warriors' fighting spirit, hence the Irish call the battlefield "the land of Bardob." Gobniu, derived from the same language as Bardob, is the goddess of forging and technology.

But why would aliens name themselves after Earthling legends?

"After the age of giants passed, a new race filled the void of 'superiority'. They regarded the power to enter the universe as taboo and built 'limiters' on planets with potential everywhere... Until their extinction, we have not completely cleared away the weapons they buried."

The Naga said, “In our civilization, they are called ‘Makanik,’ while on Earth, humans observed the early construction of the ‘limiter’ and thus named it after a deity… Just as you said, there is a condition for us to temporarily put aside our plans to use neutron bombs.”

“Defeat Gobnew and remove the ‘limiter’,” Samuel replied.

"Yes, defeating it proves that Earthlings do indeed have the potential to become a true 'cosmic civilization.' If they can't even do that, then their victory over the Dark Ruler is nothing but a pipe dream."

The Naga laughed a few times, which sounded extremely eerie to Samuel, like a robotic, programmed expression of pleasure, devoid of any trace of life.

“Goblin is just the simplest trial. In order to speak with you, we exposed our spaceship... Now we need to lure 'Badbu' himself.”

Chapter 128 Former Captain (3K)

"Captain Sato, we have received a coded message from the Information Department."

The clerk's call startled the man who was dozing off with his feet propped up on the table. Sato Takuma jolted awake, grabbed the receiver, and yelled, "Can we trust anything from the Information Department these days? What line are you using to contact me?"

"The investigation team's newly established dedicated line should have been relayed to the information department's command center by me making a call to the logistics department..." The clerk was yelled at, but remained extremely calm: "Captain, are you still half asleep?"

Sato then noticed the caller ID and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming it was a private line call. He glanced at his watch and clicked his tongue, saying, "Three hours. So, what's the secret message?"

"To be precise, you only slept for two and a half hours from yesterday to today. The Medical Bureau warned that staying up late can easily lead to arteriosclerosis, and you should rest more—I mean rest that doesn't involve lying on a table or using a chair as a bed, which is very harmful to your lumbar spine," the clerk replied. "The information department sent back images from the Mars research station and manuscripts copied by various departments. It's very unlikely that they would tamper with the Police Bureau."

"A Mars research station? Did they discover a place where they can grow vegetables or soak in hot springs?" Sato said, "Is this something you should contact me about directly?"

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. After the captain secretly assigned him to the special investigation team and he had to take on some of the responsibilities of the deputy team leader, the clerk became much more composed than before. At least he no longer felt anxious and uneasy when the captain asked him a few questions.

“If we really find that we can grow vegetables or soak in hot springs, it would be worth reporting to you in person,” the clerk replied. “They observed ‘Samuel’ and an alien spaceship, which were stationed near Mars’ orbit. Just like the South American branch’s experience in the South Pacific, ‘Samuel’ appeared briefly and then disappeared into thin air.”

Did the mechanical dinosaur investigating K17 chase him into space? Sato was first surprised that he appeared tens of millions of kilometers away, and then he became worried—maybe he had discovered another suspicious alien and got into a fight. There's no outside help in space. What if he gets injured, hungry, or tired? The Mars research station doesn't have a canteen chef at the TPC headquarters who can cook cabbages with fancy designs!

"Samuel and the alien's ship faced off for a while... in short, there were no friendly gestures, and then the ship disappeared, becoming transparent from the edges, so it's estimated that the ship hid rather than flying away immediately," the clerk continued, oblivious to the captain's distraction on the other end of the phone:

"Two minutes later, they observed another spaceship, or rather, something that looked like an island, flying from the direction of Jupiter's orbit. Samuel disappeared with it."

……

Mars orbit.

The Naga ships hadn't actually gone far. They watched as the "Badbu" mothership spotted them, and after they activated their stealth mode, they saw the "Badbu" continue its pursuit from where they had appeared. Then, they were intercepted by Samuel and disappeared together.

Mars' orbit returned to silence, the research station lost its target for observation, and the person clinging to the porthole lowered their hand in disappointment.

“You forgot about Tiga. The condition should be expanded to include, ‘Tiga is not allowed to participate in the battle against Goblin,’” a Naga said to the man standing by the window with his hands behind his back. “And Samuel is taking advantage of the situation.”

The person by the window nodded: "Yes"

"Badob and Goblin are both trials and opportunities for development. Every civilization that defeats them, as long as it can assimilate their technology from the ruins, benefits from it, including us."

“But you only restricted Samuel from dealing with Gobnew, you didn’t mention Badbu,” the Naga reminded him. “So he went to find Badbu, if he takes the samples to TPC…”

The person by the window remained silent for a moment, then turned around.

If Fujisawa Sousuke were there, he would definitely exclaim in astonishment, "Captain Takemoto!"

He underwent the same mechanization as Artur Nilsson, except that his brain remained intact. It was crucial, as it carried the will of the Naga leader who should have died.

“Sometimes I feel that we really have too little contact with other civilizations, and we’re both principled and arrogant,” Captain Takemoto said. “Didn’t the tomb keeper’s words resonate with you at all?”

"Do you mean he insists on being human, or...?"

"As long as humanity doesn't give up, it's not up to other races to decide their fate," Captain Takemoto pointed to his face. "In order to gain the possibility of communicating with the power of the Titans, of all the test subjects, only one succeeded. When I woke up, I thought I was in hell, but I never thought I would return to the human world. I clearly remember entrusting you with the duties of the leader, so why did you pull me back from hell?"

"Because you are irreplaceable."

"So 'Takemoto Kazuki' can be replaced, is that right?" the Naga leader said. "Don't tell me things like 'it's different.' To you, I am an important guide, and to 'Takemoto Kazuki's' team members, he is also a unique captain... I believe he himself would not want to 'sacrifice' like this, would he?"

The carefully groomed successor met his eyes, and in the successor's eyes, the leader suddenly seemed like a different person—he had indeed changed his appearance because he was using the body of an Earthling named "Takemoto Kazuki," but the successor felt that his inner self had also changed.

The resolute leader softened, asking questions he would never have uttered before. Between the important guide of the "God of the Universe" and a pilot from a weak civilization yet to venture into space, wasn't the leader far more important?

"Because we need samples with ultra-ancient genes, because your aging body needs fresh living subjects, and because this Earthling just happens to be..."

“So, we’ve caught the disease of arrogance,” Captain Takemoto said. “I often have dreams where there are old men with the surname Takemoto, who are his parents, and a helipad, with groups of team members running from afar. They’ve all been ‘dispatched’ out now, haven’t they?”

The heir stammered, "Their experiment failed because of low compatibility, but the gene concentration was still good, and the activation... was very successful! And Maru-san Natsumi just happened to need a caregiver."

"Don't forget, Bardb's target is us. Whether Samuel can get Bardb's sample or not is another matter, but at least he has solved a long-standing problem for us."

“Yes,” the heir hesitated for a moment, then said, “But you should at least not forget that Tiga is still on Earth.”

“As for Tiga…” Captain Takemoto turned around and looked out the porthole. From this angle, he could see the Earth, about the size of a ping-pong ball, half hidden in shadow and half illuminated by the sun, glowing faintly on the terminator.