Ultraman: It turns out this is the easy mode.

That day, Wu Zhi understood one thing—his father still loved him. Why did he say that? Because at least he was still alive. After all, he had been whipped with a feather duster for so long, and although the pain was excruciating, he had at least survived.

Seeing that Wu Zhi had been lying on the ground motionless for a long time, only groaning weakly, his father finally stopped.

Wu Zhi peeked out and saw his father turn to leave. He quickly held his breath and pretended to be dead, thinking that this might help him escape the rest of the punishment.

Before he could finish his act, his father sneered, "Oh? Playing dead? You wicked brat, you're resorting to such tricks to avoid punishment?" He then lightly kicked his butt. "Get up and come home with me right now. You're forbidden from eating snacks for a month. You'll be replanting vegetables in the garden every day until you've made up for all the lost vegetables!"

Upon hearing that he wouldn't be beaten again, Wu Zhi immediately sprang to his feet, grimacing and clutching his backside as he replied, "I know, Dad! I'll go replant right now!" Although the days ahead were destined to be difficult, he felt a strange sense of relief as he touched his still-sore back—at least the beating hadn't been in vain. It not only taught him not to raise monsters recklessly, but also confirmed that his father hadn't really intended to kill him.

However, just as Wu Zhigang breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the storm had passed, his father suddenly turned around, stared at him sharply, and raised the feather duster in his hand again.

"You were faking it! You thought you could get away with that little bit of pain? Today I'm going to teach you a lesson you won't forget!" The father's tone was filled with unquestionable authority, and the feather duster drew a sharp arc in the air.

"Daddy, no!!!" Wu Zhi's screams pierced the air above the farmland once again, this time filled with despair as he begged for mercy.

What happened after that was something even Cui Ming and the others couldn't bear to look at closely. When Wu Zhi reappeared in everyone's sight, it was already half a month later—he had taken a three-month leave of absence. The homeroom teacher was worried and went to visit him at home. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Wu Zhi lying on the bed, his face contorted in pain, wrapped in bandages like a mummy.

The teacher looked at the bandages covering almost every part of his body, then glanced at Wu Zhi's father beside him, who was secretly peeling an apple for his son while looking at him with a disappointed expression. The teacher could only sigh helplessly. He thought to himself: "It's a miracle this kid is alive. He's really angered his father this time. This lesson is certainly 'serious' enough; he'll probably never forget the consequences of raising such a monster."

Customs vary around the world; some are rich in cultural charm and worthy of praise, while others are outdated and considered bad habits. However, given cultural differences and historical accumulation, this is perfectly normal.

Choi Myung's family has a rather unique composition, with many members being Japanese, and even including figures from Japanese yokai and urban legends. Therefore, on the eve of the Lunar New Year, the family always maintains the tradition of scattering beans—it is said that this can ward off evil spirits and bring good fortune in the new year.

Of course, Cui Ming always felt that this custom was quite dangerous. While chopping meat filling to make dumplings, he muttered to himself, "Aren't you sure that scattering those beans on the ground won't make people slip and fall? What if someone falls and gets seriously injured? Aren't you afraid that an elderly person will lie on the ground and refuse to get up, making you pay millions in compensation?"

"Actually, we don't seem to need to scatter beans like that in our house," Asuka said suddenly, leaning against the kitchen doorway with her arms crossed.

"Why?" Cui Ming paused, then looked up at her.

“Because when you’re home, Cui, I feel like ghosts wouldn’t dare to come in.” Asuka said, laughing first. “You see, when you’re out on missions, those urban legend monsters don’t dare to cause trouble. According to you, it’s because you’ve killed too many and accumulated a lot of malevolent energy.”

She turned to look at Ruya sitting on the living room sofa: "Yes, Ruya should have the right to speak, right? You monsters are most sensitive to this kind of aura."

Ruya nodded slightly, her long, black hair swaying gently with the movement: "That's right, Cui does indeed possess a killing intent that is very effective against us demons, but it seems to be most effective against insects and the like?"

"Oh, maybe it's because I killed the most bugs." Cui Ming shrugged as if suddenly realizing something, and continued to chop minced meat. "After all, in the EDF world, the most common enemies are bugs. If you don't kill hundreds or thousands every day, you can't keep up with the hatching speed of the enemy. I guess the evil energy has already developed a special attack on bugs."

That's absolutely true. The most widely circulated and crucial intelligence in the universe right now is—never use insect-type creatures to surround Storm One!
Because if you actually do that, it's like giving Storm One a berserk buff.

Not only are they not afraid, but they become even more courageous and powerful, their strength skyrocketing. Just imagine, these already formidable fighters encounter insect enemies they're best at dealing with—they're like fish in water, killing without batting an eye when they're really into it. Are you scared yet?

For this, all the enemies in the universe should thank the Yapool. When the Yapool announced with great fanfare that they would broadcast the execution of Storm One live, they even specially gathered a large group of insect-type cosmic creatures as henchmen, intending to establish their authority. In the end, however, they showed the entire universe just how terrifying Storm One was in his passionate state.

The scene was nothing short of a one-sided massacre. Storm One charged in and out of the Zerg swarm seven times, unleashing a barrage of weapons, turning what was supposed to be a live execution into a Zerg-killing spectacle. The Yapools not only failed to achieve their goal but also became the laughingstock of the entire universe, while also giving other enemies a free lesson—never provoke Storm One with Zerg.

So now, when Yapool is mentioned in the universe, many enemies will sincerely shout, "Thank you! Yapool!!!" After all, if it weren't for his suicidal live stream, people might not have realized that the bugs are not a threat to Storm One at all, but rather "rage fuel".

Today, Cui Ming and the eight-foot woman patrolled the streets together. To be honest, when these two walked on the street, passersby couldn't help but walk around them, and the air was filled with a tense atmosphere.

The eight-foot-tall woman herself is the kind of being that exudes an eerie aura. Her disproportionately tall body is wrapped in a kimono, and her long black hair covers most of her face, revealing only a pale chin. When she walks on the road, the hem of her skirt almost drags on the ground, and every step she takes exudes an indescribable sinister feeling. Just looking at her makes people's spines turn cold.

And what about Cui Ming?
As Storm One, his intimidating aura honed from years of battle was enough to intimidate anyone, coupled with his notoriously short temper. Rumors circulated that randomly executing spies was commonplace for him, and even a sudden glance from him carried a sense of oppression, making people instinctively want to stay away. As the two walked side-by-side on the sidewalk, the surrounding noise seemed to subside considerably. An ice cream vendor's hand trembled, nearly dropping his cone; a child chasing a ball saw them and instantly shrank back into his mother's arms, too afraid to utter a sound; even a stray cat sunbathing on the street darted into an alley.

The eight-foot-tall woman said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "They seem really afraid of you." Cui Ming glanced at the silent passersby beside him and shrugged indifferently, "It's better than being afraid of you. At least I won't be standing outside someone's window in the middle of the night." The eight-foot-tall woman gave a soft "heh" and didn't say anything more, but the passersby clearly felt even colder—this combination was practically a "walking horror movie," capable of making people instantly forget their shopping interest, leaving them with only the thought of "getting away as quickly as possible."

However, the eight-foot-tall woman didn't care about the stares of passersby. After all, her husband's yang energy was so abundant that it was a "top-notch tonic" for a demon like her. She even needed to "enjoy" it only once in a while, otherwise she would easily feel bloated due to the excess yang energy.

In fact, Cui Ming quite enjoyed working with the eight-foot-tall woman. Despite her usual eerie and sinister aura, she was exceptionally reliable when carrying out missions. Her innate, bizarre abilities were practically investigative marvels—she could silently move through all sorts of gaps, sense unusual auras that ordinary people couldn't detect, and even transmit information through shadows.

Whenever a patrol encounters a tricky mission, such as finding a hidden spy hideout or tracking alien creatures, the eight-foot-tall woman can always use these abilities to investigate everywhere, like a mobile "anomaly detector," helping Cui Ming quickly locate the target.

"There's an energy fluctuation in the third alley to the east, like a surveillance device disguised as a trash can." The eight-foot-tall woman tilted her head slightly, her long hair falling down to cover her profile, her voice drifting lightly to Cui Ming's ears. Cui Ming immediately looked in that direction and, sure enough, found a suspiciously shaped trash can in an inconspicuous corner.

He gave the eight-foot-tall woman a "received" gesture, secretly rejoicing: having a partner with built-in detection skills was so convenient, saving him a lot of trouble with the investigation. As for the fearful looks from passersby? They were utterly insignificant compared to efficiently completing the mission.

As for why patrols are starting now, it's mainly based on Cui Ming's years of combat experience. He believes that during festivals associated with ghosts and monsters, nine times out of ten, some hapless monster will appear and cause trouble. After all, human activity is frequent during festivals, and the atmosphere is special; some alien creatures always see this as a good opportunity for destruction.

And this time, Cui Ming guessed correctly again.

An alien named Onibamba, a being from the planet Kisaragi, is lurking in the shadows of the city. Its appearance is very similar to the "oni" (demon) in Japanese folklore, with a blue face and fangs, a burly figure, and wearing tattered armor. Just standing there, it exudes a fierce aura.

Onibamba learned through interstellar intelligence that Japan has a tradition of scattering ghost beans at the beginning of the Spring Equinox, which humans believe can drive away ghosts. In its view, this is blatant oppression of all "ghost-like creatures," especially since it is an alien who resembles a legendary ghost, and feels particularly offended.

"Why should humans use beans to drive us away? Today we'll show them that real 'ghosts' are not to be trifled with!" Onibamba clenched its spiked fists, its crimson eyes flashing with rage. It had been secretly observing for a long time, figuring out the main venue for the bean-scattering activity. This time, it came to cause a big stir during the Spring Equinox bean-scattering ceremony, making humans pay the price for this "discriminatory custom."

Cui Ming and the eight-foot woman continued their patrol along the street. Suddenly, Cui Ming stopped and frowned slightly. "Something seems off up ahead. The aura is mixed, like there's some energy that doesn't belong here gathering." The eight-foot woman also turned her head, her long hair casting her gaze towards the distant square. "Hmm, there's a violent resentment, very similar to the ghostly aura in legends, but with an even stronger stench of cosmic creatures."

It seems that this holiday trouble has come knocking on our door.

Onibamba initially planned to conceal itself. Possessing considerable transformation abilities, it instantly transformed into a hunched old woman, leaning on a cane and blending into the crowd preparing for the bean-throwing activity, secretly observing its opportunity. It planned to reveal its true form when the ceremony began and the crowd was at its densest, thus creating the greatest chaos.

But when it caught a glimpse of Cui Ming approaching from the corner of its eye and sensed the chilling aura emanating from his footsteps, it froze.

The next second, without saying a word, Onibamba turned around and squeezed into the gap in the crowd, almost using all his strength to run away decisively!
Nigelludayu!
"Holy crap! Where did this killing god come from?!" it roared in its mind, cold sweat instantly breaking out on its back, and even the old woman form it was maintaining almost collapsed due to excessive shock.

"The intelligence from space is seriously flawed!" Onibamba muttered to himself as he stumbled away, cursing the guy who provided the information. "Those Storm One killers are even more outrageous than the intelligence reports! That murderous aura is like they just crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood, it's making it hard for me to breathe! The intelligence was far too conservative!!!"

It originally thought that the human custom of scattering beans was a provocation to the "ghost-like creatures" and planned to teach these insignificant humans a lesson. However, after sensing the murderous aura on Cui Ming that could make even monsters tremble, all its arrogance vanished instantly.

All talk of standing up for their "fellow demons" and settling scores with humans became a joke in the face of absolute power. Onibamba now had only one thought: run, run as far as possible, and whatever he did, avoid being noticed by that killing god!

Run! Damn it, run!!! Onibamba roared at her legs in her mind, but her legs, now transformed into those of an old woman, felt as heavy as lead, and every step was incredibly difficult.

This is a matter of life and death!!! Dead Leg! Run! It could clearly feel that cold killing intent chasing after it like a tide. With each step closer, its heart pounded faster and its breathing became rapid.

The cane clattered on the ground, but it couldn't lift her heavy steps. The surrounding crowd was still excitedly discussing the bean-scattering ceremony; no one noticed the panicked expression on the "old woman's" face, and no one knew that a terrifying alien was hiding inside her.

"Hurry! Run faster!" Onibamba felt as if the murderous aura was about to pierce its back. Veins bulged beneath its transformed old woman skin, and the energy maintaining its form fluctuated violently. It could even imagine how terrifying Storm One's merciless attack would be once it discovered it. (End of Chapter)