Ultraman: It turns out this is the easy mode.

When Rokubungi Gendo was in trouble, the SEELE organization also began to take action.

They sent assassins to kill Cui Ming.

These assassins were elites recruited from around the world, including retired special forces soldiers, professional assassins, and even a few superhumans recruited from a mysterious organization. They were well-equipped, highly trained, and each was prepared to die, intending to infiltrate NERV headquarters tonight and take the life of the acting commander. Unbeknownst to them, Cui Ming had already received word of their plans.

Choi Myung knew assassins were coming, so he would hand them over to Saeko Busujima to deal with.

Saeko Busujima was polishing her beloved knife, her gaze as tender as if caressing a lover's skin, but the curve of her lips betrayed a bloodthirsty excitement. She loved killing people, especially live targets like this, allowing her to unleash her blade to its fullest extent without breaking the rules.

Right now, Cui Ming is training.

Deep underground in the training room of NERV headquarters, a deafening clang of metal clashing echoed. The sound was as heavy as a warhammer striking an anvil, each blow causing the walls to tremble slightly and dust to fall from the cracks in the ceiling.

The only problem is that the way they exercise is a bit scary.

Cui Ming used steel coils for training.
He was shirtless, revealing his scarred body, each hand gripping a several-ton steel coil—the kind used in industry, thicker than tank armor. His arm muscles were taut, veins bulging like dragons, as he used the two coils of steel like dumbbells, performing bicep curls. Each lift produced a piercing shriek from the friction between the coils, sending sparks flying; each lowering caused the ground to groan under the weight, spiderweb-like cracks appearing in the concrete.

Sweat dripped down his resolute chin, rising as white steam onto the steel coils. Penetrating wounds, corrosive wounds, burns—all the scars were engorged and red from the strenuous activity, like menacing mouths breathing. But Cui Ming remained expressionless, his eyes eerily calm, as if he were holding not tons of steel, but two wads of cotton.

The staff on duty in the monitoring room swallowed hard as they watched the man on the screen using a steel coil as a dumbbell, exchanging shocked glances—they only knew that the acting commander was strong, but they never expected him to be this strong to such an inhuman degree.

Actually, people are starting to understand why Cui Ming has stopped acting in many things, but no one dares to cause him trouble.

Regarding Cui Ming's behavior of using steel coils as training equipment
The monitors in the control room fell silent as they watched the man on the screen, who could lift tons of steel coils overhead without flinching and even do squats. They finally understood why this acting commander dared to flirt with Asuka in front of everyone, why he dared to blatantly push Gendo Ikari to the front lines as bait, and why he dared to slam his fist on the table in the conference room at the representative of SEELE—he wasn't being arrogant; he was stating the facts.

In the face of this monster who can crush an Apostle's core with one hand and wield a steel coil like a dumbbell, all unspoken rules, political correctness, and workplace etiquette are a joke.

Cui Ming claims to be a human being, and no one dares to deny it!

One of the staff members swallowed hard and muttered under his breath, "He says he's human. So he is human. Anyone who disagrees is questioning biology. Anyone who disagrees is asking for trouble."

The other nodded quickly, his eyes filled with piety as if he were worshipping a god: "Yes, yes, Mr. Cui Ming said that a person is a person, and we firmly agree with this view and will never waver."

At least it's good that this monster who can lift steel coils thinks he's human.

Otherwise, who knows what might happen?
Watching Cui Ming casually toss the steel coil to the ground, creating a deep crater, and then nonchalantly wipe his sweat with a towel, they all shuddered involuntarily. What if this guy suddenly stopped recognizing himself as human, thinking he was a god, a demon, or some other higher being? How could they possibly live like that? Right now, at least he still had some sense of reason, knew how to protect civilians, and was willing to sit in his office signing and approving documents—that was good enough, excellent enough, perfect enough.

“As long as he thinks he’s human,” the older duty officer wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and concluded, “we’re all safe. Let him be a commander, let him have a harem, let him play with steel coils like ping-pong balls, it’s all fine, all fine. Just don’t provoke him, just don’t let him feel like he’s not human.” On the screen, Cui Ming seemed to sense something, turned his head and smiled slightly at the monitoring camera, revealing a set of white teeth.

Everyone in the monitoring room instantly stood at attention, bowing and scraping in unison at the screen, as if he could see them.

"Hello, Mr. Choi Myung! Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Choi Myung! If you say someone is a person, then they are a person!"

Meanwhile, the assassin had arrived.

Dressed in black night-clothes and wearing night-vision goggles, carrying silenced pistols and alloy daggers, they slid down one after another through the ventilation ducts, their movements as light as cats, landing silently. The lead assassin gestured, and the five men formed a fan shape, stealthily advancing towards the training room. They knew Cui Ming was their target; the acting commander should be in the deepest room right now.

But when he saw Choi Myung holding up the steel coil...

The lead assassin peeked through the crack in the door and froze on the spot. What did he see? A shirtless man was lifting two rolls of steel, each weighing several tons, above his head. The muscles in his arms were taut like iron blocks, and the veins bulged like dragons. The steel seemed weightless in his hands, being lifted and lowered with ease, each drop creating spiderweb-like cracks in the ground.

The assassin's lips began to twitch, his eyes behind the night vision goggles widened, and the gun in his hand suddenly felt incredibly heavy.

The assassin thought they should leave; this thing was clearly not human!
"Boss, should we go again?" The assassin leaned in and asked in a low voice, but when he saw what was happening through the crack in the door, his voice caught in his throat. "Holy crap... what's that?! What's he holding up?!"

“Steel coils. The industrial kind,” the lead assassin swallowed, his voice hoarse as if he’d been walking in the desert for three days. “One coil weighs at least five tons. He’s just playing around with it.”

They are killers! They kill people!
Another assassin removed his night vision goggles, rubbed his eyes, put them back on, and saw the same image: Cui Ming remained unfazed, even continuing to do squats, the steel coil flying up and down in his hands. The assassin's conviction began to crumble. He remembered what the instructors in the training camp had said: "Remember, you are killing people, flesh and blood, humans with weaknesses, not monsters."

But what's that inside the door now?!

“We are assassins, not butchers,” one of the assassins said, trembling. “It’s against our ethics not to kill non-human life forms.”

They can't kill this guy holding a steel coil!
The leader of the assassins took a deep breath and made the wisest decision of his life. He slowly retreated, raised his hands, and made a "retreat" gesture. The five men, just as they had come, silently crawled back along the ventilation duct, their movements faster and more frantic than when they arrived.

"Hurry, hurry!" the lead assassin cried, trembling as he crawled. "Go back and tell SEELE we can't take this mission. Even if they offer more money, it's no use. This is fucking suicide!"

"No amount of money, not even a mountain of gold, would make us come," the assassin behind said, his voice trembling with tears. "If that thing finds us, one punch from it and we're turned into mincemeat, and the taste of steel coils at that."

They arrived empty-handed and left terrified, not even managing to touch Cui Ming's clothes before being scared out of their wits by the two rolls of steel flying up and down. Inside the training room, Cui Ming put down the steel rolls, wiped his sweat, glanced at the ventilation ducts, and a slight smile played on his lips, as if he already knew someone had come and gone. (End of Chapter)