Ultraman: It turns out this is the easy mode.

"Instructor, save me!!!" Shinjo's screams pierced the silence of the shrine, his tearful cries for help almost tearing the air apart.

He had just been entangled in mud on his ankle when he caught a glimpse of the head of the windlass swaying under the lantern. He was so frightened that he scrambled to his feet, tearing most of his coat in the process.

"Shinjo?" Choi Myeong's voice came from outside the door, calm as if responding to a routine greeting. He peeked into the shrine and saw Shinjo being dragged into the darkness by Temebozu's sleeve, but there was no worry on his face. Instead, he nodded at the shadows in the courtyard.

"Thank you for your help, please continue." Cui Ming's tone was filled with unquestionable certainty. "With this guy's guts, if he encounters an alien who can disguise himself as a monster, he'll definitely be fooled. In that case, not only will he lose his life, but he'll also drag his teammates down with him." He knew all too well how cunning the alien enemies were—before, an alien had disguised himself as a Rokuro-no-Shou (a type of alien creature) and lured a small team into a trap, and in the end, only two of them escaped.

A soft chuckle came from the shadows, and the sound drifted to the doorway. Its translucent body was still trembling, but it grinned and replied, "Hehehe, don't worry, leave it to us! We guarantee that after training him, his courage will be a whole size bigger!" As soon as it finished speaking, it suddenly bared its teeth in Xincheng's direction, scaring Xincheng, who had just gotten up, back down.

Tu Bi, standing nearby, chimed in with a muffled voice: "That's right! Last time, those brainwave monsters disguised themselves as us and caused chaos, forcing humans to search for us everywhere. We haven't settled that score yet! Let's train this kid first, so we can deal with those alien bumpkins together in the future!" As it spoke, it moved to the side, revealing the little monk hiding behind it. The little guy was holding a tattered lantern, ready to throw it at the foot of the new city at any time.

For the yokai anyway, scaring people is a pastime they never tire of—Aoandon had been complaining that "it's been so long since I've encountered humans who are so easily frightened," so now they can use this as an excuse to have some fun. As for the humans' lives or deaths? As long as they don't get in the way of fighting aliens, helping out occasionally is fine.

After all, compared to these humans who cry at the slightest fear, those alien bumpkins who blow up mountains and destroy forests at the drop of a hat are truly hateful. Last time, an alien spaceship crashed and burned down most of a century-old forest, almost leaving the tengu living there homeless. Since then, the monsters have reached a tacit agreement with Cui Ming: they can tolerate the minor squabbles of humans, but the alien scum must be beaten to death.

"No, don't come any closer!" Xincheng cried out in fear as Zhenzhen and the little monk Xiuyin approached. But then he heard a splash of water behind him. Turning around, he saw Xiaodouxi splashing a basin full of beans at his feet, the green bean juice splattering all over his trousers. Further away on the roof beam, Gouchang was licking his paws, his eyes full of mockery.

Choi Myung leaned against the car door, listening to the screams echoing from the shrine, and expressionlessly glanced at his watch. He had made a promise with the yokai—to not truly scare them into psychological trauma, but also to make Shinjo fully understand that "running away is also a skill." After all, the next time they encountered aliens disguised as yokai, no one would show them the same "mercy" as these yokai.

Inside the shrine, the young monk Sodeki suddenly pointed at Shinjo and shouted, "Look! He actually dared to stand up!" Shinjo then realized that he had somehow managed to stand up, his legs still trembling, but he was no longer sprawled on the ground like before. Not far away, Tsuchikabe quietly gave an "OK" sign and shook his head at Choimee outside the door.

On the drive home, Xincheng slumped in the passenger seat, his eyes vacant, staring blankly at the roof, his face expressionless, as if half his soul had been ripped away, or as if he had undergone a "soul-shaking" experience—except this "shaking" was brought on by fear. His hair was a mess, his jacket was stained with mud from the muddy fields and spilled bean juice from washing beans, and his trousers were wrinkled with several scratches from being pulled by cotton wool. But he didn't care about any of that, remaining in the same position, and even the occasional bumps from Cui Ming's driving couldn't make his eyes waver in the slightest.

However, the effect was indeed quite good. At least now, he no longer trembled all over at the mention of "monsters" like before. Although he was still listless, he looked much better than when he was crying and begging for help in the shrine. Probably.

Anyway, the person came out of the shrine intact, without "fainting" or "collapsed to the ground," and was even able to climb into the passenger seat by himself—the person is probably fine, I guess.

Cui Ming glanced at the absent-minded Xin Cheng beside him, a rare faint smile curving his lips, his tone carrying a hint of satisfaction: "Not bad, it seems to have worked well. Next time we encounter a similar situation, at least we won't be too exhausted to even run."

Shinjo didn't respond, still staring at the roof of the car, as if he hadn't heard Choi Myung's words. His mind was still replaying the scenes from the shrine—the icy fingers, the eerie smile of the Rokurokubi, the dark shadow pressing down on him by the Nurikabe. Every scene left him with lingering fear, and he didn't even have the strength to speak, let alone respond to Choi Myung.

Cui Ming didn't mind and continued to focus on driving. He knew that Xin Cheng needed time to process what had just happened. This kind of "growth through fear" was a bit cruel, but the effect was often the most direct. At least in the future, if he encountered enemies disguised as monsters, Xin Cheng wouldn't panic as easily as before. He might even be able to save his life with the "escape skills he honed in monster hordes."

The car drove back to the base entrance. Cui Ming stopped the car and turned to look at Xin Cheng, who was still in a daze: "We're here. Get out of the car."

Xincheng paused for a few seconds before slowly turning his head. His gaze finally became focused. He looked at Cui Ming, opened his mouth, and only managed a weak "hmm" after a long while. Then he slowly pushed open the car door and walked unsteadily into the base, looking like a wounded soldier who had just returned from the battlefield.

The GUTS members passing by couldn't help but peek curiously at him, except for Asuka and Rin, who seemed unfazed—after all, they were already familiar with Choi Myung's methods of "training courage." Asuka, watching Shinjo's retreating figure, couldn't help but ask Choi Myung, "You didn't really scare him silly, did you?"

Cui Ming shrugged. "Don't worry, he just needs some time to recover. Once he's calmed down, he'll know this won't do him any harm." With that, he got out of the car and headed towards the command center—he still had intelligence about the aliens to process, and didn't have much time to focus on Shinjo's "psychological recovery." (End of Chapter)