Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

"'Friendly Earth Monster'—I suddenly feel that's not a good title. You're Aiba, just Aiba," Sato glanced away, nonchalantly adding, "And finding out that you weren't there for your friend during their most difficult time... saying 'sorry' wouldn't be so bad, would it?"

"Your mushy talk makes me want to vomit."

"Then why don't you throw up and show me?"

Aiba Yu turned and walked away, while Sato quickly stepped forward, chattering incessantly: "I've done a lot for you these past few days, you're practically half of my Yoshioka Commander now, I'll give you at least five barbecues!"

"You'll end up with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar sooner or later, and besides, who invites you to dinner right after an apology?" Aiba Yu glanced at the time again; Dr. Tsukishiro had told him that the first batch of samples should be ready soon and would be put into testing.

“A good mood can cure any illness,” Sato spouted nonsense, his only concern being the other person’s wallet: “Or you shouldn’t compete with my team for the budget at the department meeting.”

"So, you're asking for five meals?"

“The price has gone up. It’s now ten meals, with a 30% discount for friends, so it’s seven meals.” Sato held up his finger to indicate the number.

"……make a deal."

Chapter 170 Lucky Gift

Aiba Yu and Sato haggled for a while until they stepped into the Life Science Research Center building, where the pervasive smell of disinfectant finally made them stop.

Yuuki Tsukishiro's laboratory is underground, in a high-risk area. From the main gate to the laboratory entrance, one must pass through eleven gates and undergo ubiquitous security checks. At each checkpoint, Sato's eyes would glance at Yuu Aiba, until Yuu Aiba couldn't help but ask a question.

“I’m just curious why you weren’t detected,” Sato said. “Either our machines are useless, or your disguise skills are too good… which also proves that our machines are useless.”

"Do you remember what year this building was built?" Aiba Yu asked.

"In the third year since the headquarters was established, the project, which was originally scheduled to be completed along with the main building, was delayed because the standards for the laboratories were raised..."

"It was my suggestion."

The director, deeply shocked by the fact that a wall supposedly capable of withstanding a million-ton TNT explosion was shattered with a single claw, proposed at the conference to reconsider the life science research center's plan and gave new construction standards.

This practice was criticized as a "vanity project to show off to other countries" in the rumors of the time, but now the public opinion has changed, and the underground structure of the Life Science Research Center has become the safest place under the rumored monster.

Sato choked for a moment, a pang of sadness rising in his heart, and said softly, "So you have a back door?"

Aiba Yu didn't say anything, but pulled a ribbon from his collar, with a metal nameplate hanging from the end of the ribbon.

The nameplate was engraved with unfamiliar characters, none of which Sato recognized, but he guessed that three of the symbols resembled the number "001". He noticed the circuit board-like pattern on the casing and the mostly dark brown surface—as if it had been burned.

“The key is unique, with special metallic composition and properties; you won’t find another one like it in the entire universe,” Aiba Yu noticed his gaze and turned the nameplate up, its dark brown side facing upwards. “It was indeed burned.”

"It can still be used even if it's broken?"

Aiba Yu shook his head: "It existed before the security system was built."

Sato cursed the damned air force idiots in his heart for how many special privileges they had, and said aloud, "Then don't lose it. It shouldn't only be effective in the security system here, right?"

Aiba Yu put the plaque back, the cool touch pressed against his chest, but he didn't feel cold. This old plaque, sealed away in the GUYS Memorial Hall and not on public display, had now found a new purpose, and Aiba Yu felt he must be happy.

……

Many years ago, in another universe.

After ten thousand years of construction, each city

An air of "science fiction" seeped out from the cracks in the metal walls.

The same is true for Tokyo.

The clouds were rather thick today, which made the advertisements projected onto the glass curtain walls even clearer, and people hurried past under the gaze of the men and women on the screens. Aiba Yu mingled in the crowd, trying to find any familiar signs in the city—but even the concrete pavement was gone. Thanks to the even more impressive underground structures, the entire street had been recast with ore from some alien planet, and the name of that planet was etched into a corner of each brick.

Aiba Yu only understood the pronunciation, but didn't know what it meant when translated. He walked closer to the glass curtain wall, when he was stopped by a semi-transparent hand.

“@＃￥D%……E$@!” The owner of that hand babbled, speaking in a mix of Japanese, English, and Sanskrit, with a Russian-like tongue-twisting tone and a lively manner reminiscent of Madagascar.

Aiba stood there for a while, then his voice, which had been silent for a long time, translated: "He's introducing you to a space food, 'Interstellar Drift, a must-have for stockpiling'... You can ignore it and just walk through; it's just an interactive projection from an advertising company."

“I thought you had already left,” Aiba Yu said.

"AI's task is to meet customer needs, and I cannot leave my post before that," the voice replied. "The place you are looking for is at the next intersection. Turn left, walk 300 meters, and then turn right. You should see it there."

Without his reminder, Aiba Yu had already discovered the place long ago.

Surrounded by countless floating skyscrapers, airships, and railcars, that building, which could easily be described as "outdated," is truly unique.

That's the GUYS memorial hall, with the Phoenix Nest restored to scale. The research institute and other buildings that were originally in the suburbs have also been "moved" here, forming a complex of buildings—the only place that Aiba Yu can recognize.

“I understand how you feel, and I know you don’t want to see my image… but are you really leaving?” the AI ​​said. “We have an underlying agreement. This city is open to you. You can go wherever you want until you get tired of it.”

"Underlying protocol?"

"Something that was written into the personality at the beginning of its creation," the AI ​​replied. "There is a similar agreement in the memorial hall, or more accurately, a 'will,' which has never been released to the public and is known only to the current AI administrator of the memorial hall."

The clouds finally reached their breaking point, and a drop of water fell. Aiba Yu stopped in his tracks, as if stopped by that raindrop: "You're going to tell me?"

Umbrellas opened one after another, and the sudden rain did not dampen the bustling crowd. The advertising projection, as if humanely shielding its head with its hand, retreated back into the wall to take shelter from the rain.

The crowd flowed endlessly like water, while Aiba Yu stood rooted to the spot, like a stone in water, a tree in the rain. But the stone and the tree felt so out of place in this futuristic city, and a deep sense of repulsion rose within Aiba Yu. This repulsion stemmed from unfamiliarity, from distance, and from the immense power of time.

AI said, "Of course I'll tell you. The will says, 'If the person who calls Aiba Yuu back is in the mood to visit this place, give him this plaque as a gift for the lucky visitor—if it's still here.'"

……

“It won’t get lost,” Aiba Yu pressed the tag through his clothes: “It’s a souvenir for a lucky tourist, one of a kind in the entire universe.”

"You don't have to emphasize its uniqueness." Sato thought to himself that the director and his team had given him too many backdoors, and that it was really difficult for him to secure the budget. He might as well grab a few more barbecue meals as a consolation.

He sighed and changed the subject: "Why did you call me to Yuecheng? Is it because they have another mole who stole something and ran away, and they need to investigate? Tango Yuji, Sanada Ryosuke, they say things don't happen more than three times, so is there going to be a third one?"

"No, it's Yuecheng who's become curious about you."

A towering question mark slowly rose in Sato's mind: "Curious about my brilliant mind?"

A few minutes later, Yuuki Tsukishiro's personal answer made Sato want to escape this awful place immediately.

"I'm curious why you didn't get infected even though you entered the Demon Realm!" Yuuki Tsukishiro and his assistants surrounded him like a pack of wolves encircling a little rabbit: "Don't be shy, if you're a brother, let me have a blood sample before you leave!"

"My teammates weren't infected either!" Sato struggled desperately, slowly backing away, only to have Aiba Yu press down on his shoulder.

"Bullshit!" Yuecheng scoffed. "We've done the blood tests. Their infection was just too mild. It's probably related to being in the closed rear compartment the whole time, but you don't have that kind of environment in the cockpit, do you?"

As if receiving a command, the assistants pulled Sato toward the laboratory while asking all at once, "Do you have a headache? Do you have any cold symptoms? Do you feel any stiffness in your fingers or other joints?"

Sato recognized one of the men as someone from the medical department. The man replied, "Yeah, I'm from the internal medicine department. They transferred me here because they were short-staffed. Don't try to get on my good side. Drawing a blood sample won't kill you."

Sato turned around and saw his good brother, who had tricked him into the wolf's den, whispering to Tsukishiro.

“Lina is in the best condition, Shinjo is in a more serious condition… To find the mechanism of action of that gene, I need more samples,” the Big Bad Wolf was plotting to find more little rabbits, no, guinea pigs: “Ideally, members who participated in the exploration of the Demon Realm. You have to help me get Commander Yoshioka to cooperate with the ground guard. Ah, are you familiar with the Victory Team?”

"It's alright, isn't it?" Aiba Yu rubbed his chin. "I didn't have much interaction with Captain Iruma."

They were mostly in meetings.

“Then I’ll go myself,” Yuecheng said, taking out his notebook and making a few marks. “Daigo is also a good case study for comparison.”

Chapter 171 The Poisonous Monster (4k)

"...You mean you're saying that the quarantine period for them at the Life Sciences Research Center is uncertain?"

"Yes, to be frank, Dr. Tsukishiro hasn't found a proper and effective solution yet. Although he's been working tirelessly through the night to develop it, Daigo, you and Norizumi have a heavy workload. Be prepared that the commanders won't be around for the next mission."

"Understood, understood, Captain."

Megumi's words were like a sharp knife, easily shattering Daigo's joy at returning to the base. He had originally planned to meet up with his teammates and then go find Aiba Yu to tell him that Solka had woken up, and that Solka and he would definitely have a lot to talk about.

But now his mind was buzzing, the news that Captain Juji had just told him echoing in all directions: Munakata, Rena, Shinjo, and Horii had been quarantined because they had been infected by the alien beast factor.

Because her deputy was in the hospital, all the team's internal and external affairs fell on Megumi's shoulders. She left in a hurry, but she didn't forget to leave behind the information that Daigo might need. Daigo was stunned for a while before he remembered that the data left by the captain was still on the table.

He fumbled for the computer's USB port—something he should have known easily—but Soruka kept reassuring him in a low voice, "Calm down. Since your captain didn't mention anything worse, it means things aren't so bad."

Daigo gave a vague reply. The data page unfolded on the screen. It was from the Life Science Research Center, where Yuuki Tsukishiro's assistant gave a lengthy account of the team members' condition and infection status, followed by research progress and areas where the Hopeful Victory Team could cooperate.

After eliminating a whole string of technical terms, the "old fossil" Soruka finally got a rough idea of ​​what the so-called "alien factor" is.

"You call these mutated creatures 'Alien Beasts'?" Soruka said thoughtfully. "Then we really need to find Samuel quickly."

"Does he have a way to stop it?"

"I don't know if it can be stopped, but I just feel... if the alien beast factor was deliberately spread, he's in trouble."

"Let's go now!" Staring at the data won't do any good anyway; the alien beast factor won't have a change of heart and commit suicide on the spot. Daigo immediately got up and went out, saying, "The air force should be training at this time. Let's go straight to the training ground."

Soruka guessed he was probably even more confused than the people at the Life Sciences Research Center, so much so that he rushed off at the slightest hint of something—if Samuel really had a way to suppress the infection, why would he leave the Victory Team members in quarantine while the researchers were left to burn their hair?

Daigo desperately needs support right now—support from a companion who knows everything about monsters, aliens, and Tiga. The captain, who looks a lot like Yuzare, told him to prepare for the worst. Solka could hear his heartbeat, and ever since those words were spoken, he hadn't calmed down.

“Your biotechnology is so advanced now, and you have enough samples for research, so I believe you will soon have a drug to inhibit it,” Soruka comforted him. “We were unlucky back then, we had no way to do anything.”

Daigo was stunned. The civilization that invented the time machine was saying that their current biotechnology was advanced? The people at the Equipment Development Center still hadn't been able to figure out how the time machine worked!

"Ancient civilizations...don't research biotechnology?" That's the only explanation, Daigo thought.

“It’s not that we don’t want to study it, it’s that we simply don’t know where to start,” Soruka said. “When I first met you, didn’t you say that the origin of modern humans is only a few million years old, and that it’s definitely not the same as the ancient civilization?”

"Hmm, perhaps our research is insufficient..."

“No,” Soruka stopped his wavering: “You were right before. According to the normal evolutionary laws of life on this planet, you are the ‘natives.’ The ancient civilization was conceived prematurely, like a premature baby. Its life form and technological level were all achieved overnight with the support of external forces, whether overt or covert.”

At this point, Soruka suddenly chuckled. It was hard to tell whether it was a sigh of reminiscing or a knowing smile; Daigo didn't detect any joy in it.

"Can you imagine spaceships, space shuttles, and villages that still believe in witchcraft existing on the same land? The ancient civilization has R'lyeh, the Earth Guard Corps, and countless ignorant villages scattered like stars in the sky... The people in them will never set foot in a city in their entire lives. They don't know what's on the other side of the mountain, and they have never left a radius of thirty miles. They fear the existence they cannot understand and regard giants and monsters as the manifestation of the will of the gods."

A fractured world—that's the word that immediately came to Daigo's mind.

Just like when I'm too busy to keep up, I always feel a sense of shared experience when talking to Lina about "eating cup noodles." But in some remote and impoverished places, this might be a delicacy that someone can only afford to eat on their birthday.