Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

"Could it be that I actually have a cousin?" His already not-so-bright mind completely shut down.

"I...I...you...you..." he stammered.

As the scales and bluish-gray color on the other person's face faded, Sosuke felt like he had a real nightmare: Damn it, why did I have to encounter a monster that looked exactly like me in this godforsaken place full of mutated animals in the deep mountains and forests? And that monster even had the captain's face on its head!

The monster stopped in front of him. What was that look in its eyes? Pity? Sympathy? Would that kind of thing appear on the captain's face? Sosuke tried to back away, but the monster was quick and had already grabbed the edge of his hood.

"Get away!" the hoarse voice shouted.

Samuel felt like he had caught a cat with its fur standing on end. He understood the other's resistance; being infected with the alien beast factor wasn't something as fulfilling as "gaining power"—they would become neither human nor ghost, their will would be slowly eroded, and their subconscious closeness to family and friends would actually harm them.

When he was referred to as "Sun," he broke into a house that had reportedly been attacked. The infected person happened to be in the living room and said to him, "Good evening." (Monthly fee group 694936135)

There was nothing unusual outside, but inside the walls were splattered with blood. The bodies that had clearly been eaten were neatly laid out, all dressed, but the people who had tended to them were not very good at it, and the clothes were wrinkled and barely fit.

"Xun" calmed his breathing, the muzzle of the gun still pointed at the forehead of the seemingly calm infected person, the soft orange light shining on the gun barrel.

The infected man ignored the gun threatening him and mumbled, "It's much easier now that you're here." Xun saw him tear off his last remaining claw and spit it aside, so that his hands were empty and he could no longer hurt anyone.

It's fortunate to retain your sanity after infection, but the greatest misfortune is to intermittently regain it.

Xun had once wondered why, among so many excellent companions, only he had been able to remain rational, ultimately seeing them off one by one. Now, he no longer hesitated, only feeling grateful that those infected with his alien beast factor seemed to have inherited this trait.

If one knows how to resist their current self, then one must still retain the heart that belongs to humanity.

"Don't be afraid." He pulled down the other person's hood and examined him closely for a while. During this time, the other person kept trying to escape, but was held down and couldn't run away at all.

Relieved that he wasn't seriously injured, Samuel ruffled his messy hair and said, "Return to the team."

"Yes!" It was a conditioned reflex etched into his DNA. Sosuke froze for half a second, struggling as he repeatedly cried out, "No, no, no! Sosuke is dead! He died a heroic death! I'm his monster friend! I'm here to deliver his last words! Don't get me wrong, I'm not Sosuke!"

"I didn't say you were Sōsuke."

“I…” Sosuke blinked, deflated like a punctured balloon.

"It's just a change of appearance, like you'll become an old man in a few decades. Don't you plan to accept yourself with wrinkles?" Samuel completely shed his "great monster" form. He believed that Aiba Yu would be more acceptable to the other party, and when he reached out his hand again, it was a human hand.

Sosuke stared blankly for a long time, tracing the hand upwards, from the air force uniform...

Badges, until I saw countless faces, especially during training, that I absolutely did not want to see.

It is said that familiar things can calm people down, but Sosuke felt like he was turning into a volcano, with magma churning inside, bulging and bursting out as something even hotter when it came to the outside world.

"Here." Aiba Yu rummaged in his pocket for a while, then pulled out a neatly folded white object and handed it to him.

Sosuke didn't see clearly, and just pushed it back while muttering, "I don't need the tissue, I didn't cry."

"This is a bandage."

"..."

"Take it and wipe it clean," Aiba Yu said again.

The hand that had been pushed out grabbed the bandage, then immediately withdrew it. Sosuke lowered his head and said in a muffled voice, "Why do you always carry bandages with you?"

"experience."

"Then why didn't you bring any paper?"

"If the skin is too hard, it will be rubbed through," Aiba Yu thought to himself, but replied aloud, "...I'll bring it next time."

"no next time!"

Aiba Yu nodded seriously: "Yes, you won't cry."

Sōsuke felt even more frustrated: "You're making fun of me!"

"If anyone dares to laugh at you, you can eat them up."

"Captain!!!" The lizard head made a ridiculous, mournful face, and Sosuke almost wailed, "Don't joke like that!"

“Okay,” Aiba Yu said solemnly, “Leaving the team without permission for more than half a month in total should be punished with expulsion according to the regulations.”

The wailing stopped abruptly, the lizard's head was stiffened, and its already red eyes were immediately covered with a layer of mist.

“But I remember Fujisawa Sousuke submitted an application, asking for annual leave to go home and for a secret mission. Let me think…” Aiba Yu made the final decision: “A secret mission is simpler and doesn’t require too much explanation.”

"Captain!" The last word rose sharply.

"But Commander Yoshioka has already read out the report on Fujisawa Sousuke's disappearance at the conference."

"what……"

Amidst Sousuke's rollercoaster of emotions, Aiba Yu finally said, "It's alright, let Commander Yoshioka read another new report."

"We just need to kill Sato, who made a mistake in the investigation and gave a random conclusion of 'missing.'"

Chapter 159 The Search

"Hmph!" Zuo, who was being talked about, sniffed. Whether it was his sixth sense or not, he looked around and his ominous premonition grew stronger.

He was certain they were trapped in some strange space-time or illusion. Because from a certain point in time, the occasional sounds of giants battling in the distance disappeared, and at the same time, the gradually weakening fire, as if it had found new fuel, reversed its decline and became more stable than a well-supplied gas stove.

"This place is truly eerie," he exclaimed, as several deep, dark shadows appeared within the crimson curtain of fire.

The Victory team noticed the shadows, and Munakata called everyone back to the car. Sato greatly appreciated his decision—if the shadows were indeed strange-looking animals, then he could step on the gas and send their souls to heaven.

Inside the rear compartment, the Victory Team members and the ground guard members sat facing each other again.

Through the narrow surveillance slit, they could see outside and launch an attack. But Captain Sato's frenzied driving skills rendered their superb marksmanship useless; they could only fire a few shots randomly in a general direction, and Captain Sato would easily turn their bursts of fire into sweeping fire.

Shinjo glanced at the mutated monster for a while, then felt like he was about to throw up from the constant jolting of the car. He turned around and said, "I might be a little carsick. Horii, you take over?"

Horii raised his face, which also looked unwell, and Shinjo noticed that his hand holding the PDI was trembling. Horii said, "Let the guards go. I don't have much firearms training, and... I feel really uncomfortable."

Cab.

Compared to the back of the car, the view here is much wider. Zongfang could feel some excitement at the beginning when the car started speeding up, but now he is becoming increasingly pale. Sato glanced at the monster between the "high-tech light shield" crashing into it and exclaimed in surprise, "You get carsick sitting in the front?"

"No, it's not a motion sickness problem..." Zongfang replied reluctantly.

"Bang!" A muffled sound came from in front of the car, and another thing, no one knew what it was, flew out. Zong Fang touched his forehead, his hand was wet with sweat: "I was probably too close to them."

"Too close?" The light shield flashed, and the monsters couldn't even get within two meters of the car. Sato himself couldn't even see what those things looked like. With the engine roaring, they were like fleeting shooting stars, like wild cats and tree shadows darting past the car window on the road.

With each impact, Munakata felt his heart being squeezed by a hand. He wasn't sure if his teammates had experienced the same thing, but the suffocation and dizziness he felt earlier were getting worse. It was before they got separated from Daigo, when the kimono-clad woman turned into an alien and chased them relentlessly through the dense forest. Horii was the first to fall. Everyone thought he had tripped, but when they stopped to help him up, the others also fell one after another.

Zongfang still doesn't understand the reason, but now it seems that it may be related to these mutated monsters.

“You look terrible,” Sato said. “Would you like to rest in the back?”

"No need, it'll probably be fine in a bit." Zongfang took out his PDI to contact his teammates, but as soon as his elbow got a little closer to Sato, a blinding flash of light startled both of them.

“What is this…” Sato looked down at his buttons. Munakata turned his sleeve over, staring blankly.

Stare at the charred marks on it.

……

"Wait, stop talking now." Aiba Yu raised his hand to stop Sosuke's rambling.

The captain's face suddenly darkened, and Sosuke, unable to stop himself from rambling on, said, "You told me to tell you about Paradia Twelve and Thirteen, and the more the better..."

“Paladia, if it really is her.” Aiba Yu clenched his fists, his gaze shifting to a spot in the forest. The firelight reflected in his eyes, flickering, and Sousuke suddenly felt a chill.

“Sato is in danger,” Aiba Yu said. “Come with me.”

"Huh? We were just talking about Paradia, how come she's become Sato again? Sato... is that the Sato I know? The Army Baka from the Ground Guard?!"

Sōsuke blurted out the nickname he was using behind his back, but immediately realized something was wrong and quickly covered his mouth with his paw.

But this time, Aiba Yu didn't glare at him with a knife-like look or casually throw out a "copy the regulations" remark. He first ran forward two steps, then looked back at Sosuke who was left behind. He paused for a moment, and when Sosuke caught up, he reached out and grabbed Sosuke by the back of his collar—like a kitten being pinched by the scruff of its neck by a big cat, Sosuke was lifted into the air.

"Captain, if you're so awesome, why have you been keeping it a secret? This skill would save the ground crew so much trouble. We wouldn't even need a shuttle bus to carry the equipment. Beta can carry me, and you can carry Beta." Sosuke muttered to himself, clutching his mouth tightly with his claws as he looked down at the charred forest flying beneath his feet.

He looked very carefully, hoping to find Paradia and Amui, who had disappeared somewhere.

Although the two met in Kirieloid territory, and based on the words of their "kind," the Kirieloids were far from being as selfless as they claimed, and perhaps the so-called "treatment" was also questionable.

Sosuke had considered those "quack doctors" before.

Paradia, number twelve, and Amui, number eight, are different. They are both clones and seem to have no ill intentions. Whenever Paradia, number twelve, tells him "I'll take you to get treatment," her eyes always dart away. But when Sosuke occasionally talks about life outside, her eyes stop darting around and look at him with shining eyes.

He rarely encounters someone so incapable of lying.

Even Aya Kamimura, who pretended to be "working overtime on experiments," could secretly prepare small gifts for him without batting an eye.

Amui, number eight, rarely speaks, and when he does, it's usually to offer reminders. The first thing Sosuke said to him was "thank you," because Amui reminded him that the corner of his hood had been torn.

If the Kirieloids are doomed, these two shouldn't have to perish with them, right? Sosuke thought to himself. He remembered how Paradia Twelve and Paradia Thirteen argued; perhaps that was her true nature, different from the "paradia as she should be" he had imitated.

The captain pulled him along at breakneck speed, and the charcoal forest retreated rapidly. He began to feel that his collar was a little tight.

"Where are we going?" He wondered how long he would be hanging there. "After helping the ground guards... Sato, could you go find Paradia?"

“I want to too,” Aiba Yu said.

A "former friend" who may just have the same name as someone else, and a living person whose protective device has sounded an alarm—everyone knows how to choose—even though every cell is shouting, "Go find her."

"arrive."

Sosuke looked left and right, and all he saw were bare, carbonized trees and equally dull, bare soil.

Aiba Yu clenched his fist and suddenly slammed it down into the void. Amidst the shattering sound like glass breaking, Sosuke saw his pupils contract for a moment.

Blue particles drifted out from the shattered transparent barrier.

The scattered dots are quite beautiful.