Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

“Kanade was still in the dormitory before. When I went to the cafeteria, I saw him run out of the main gate,” Kobayashi Keita knew the captain would ask, so he found out the situation in advance: “The gatekeeper said he went to ‘find someone’.”

“Go find Yu? We should at least report to our superiors first!” Hasegawa Hayato said. “Let’s start training. When they come back, we should reiterate the rescue team’s rules a few times.”

Estend was walking through a deserted forest.

He didn't even have time to change out of his rescue team uniform; he was wondering what had happened, worried about Samuel's condition, and angry at Samuel's "breach of contract."

God knows how he got through last night.

They thoroughly searched GUYS's communications, and relentlessly checked surveillance footage everywhere. They even hacked a satellite and strained their dry eyes to examine remote sensing images, all in an effort to find the missing guy.

Samuel didn't send a single communication until the next morning, when Estend's terminal received an automatic positioning signal from the control system on his body.

He was in the forester's cabin.

What was he going there for? Estend was completely baffled.

The cabin was already in sight. They hadn't returned here since joining the rescue team, even though it was located on the outskirts of the city where the rescue team was stationed, at the foot of a mountain.

"What happened? Where did you go?" Estend asked as he approached the door, pushing it open.

Looking down, he saw Samuel huddled in his usual spot, on that low stool, covered in grass clippings and fallen leaves.

Estend rushed over and found Samuel panting heavily, with an eerie purple tinge reflecting off the asphalt-like black markings on the lower part of his neck, and his body temperature was abnormally high; he could feel the heat just by getting close.

Estend activated the micro-terminal, only to see Samuel raise his head and look at him with a somewhat unfocused gaze: "You've come."

Then he noticed that Samuel's tightly clenched fist relaxed, as if he had finally returned home, and he handed himself over to the wall behind him with peace of mind, closing his eyes: "Just let me rest for a while."

Samuel fell into a deep sleep, while Estend, worried about the control system that had clearly become abnormal, hurriedly searched for relevant information on the terminal: "How could the teacher's system become like this? I've never seen this before, I wonder if it will have any bad effects on Samuel... No, I should check his physical condition first."

Eistend ripped off the nameplate hanging around his neck, stuck it into the terminal's scanning selection box, entered a special page, typed in a few more strings of characters, and the page refreshed into a complex and intricate report.

"Low energy storage, high photoparticle activity, other data... are all within the normal threshold?"

Estend rubbed his eyes, then glanced at Samuel's body, which still bore the distinct deep purple markings, and wondered again if he had been in human form for too long and had developed the nearsightedness that was common among them: "This color seems a little lighter?"

Eistend refreshed the self-check report several more times, and now even the energy storage situation began to improve. Apart from the persistently high activity of light particles, Samuel's condition was rapidly recovering.

“You really are…” Estend’s heart finally settled down. He plopped down on the dusty ground and answered Hasegawa Hayato’s call.

After taking leave from the captain by saying that "Yu has a fever and I can only take care of him at home," he glanced at the dusty bedding, then at Samuel, whose breathing had calmed down and who was obviously sleeping well. He sighed and began to remove the dusty duvet cover and sheets, intending to move the guy, who was like a dead pig at the moment, to the bed that was barely clean.

If Fant were present, he would definitely be focused on the activity level of the light particles, but Eistend doesn't care about this data—even though the fact that this data is higher than Fant's means "instability".

When Fos-001 left Suffer's training ground, its light particle activity was 47.63% higher than the standard value verified at the research institute.

Following the Pasifica out-of-control incident, in order to maintain the stability of the bio-weapon, Fang summarized his experience and added restrictions to Samuel—the activity of light particles must not exceed 34.57% of the normal value. This was a number he carefully calculated, which could maintain stability while allowing Samuel to maintain a high level of combat effectiveness.

Once this number breaks through the limit, it means that he may have the ability to break through control. The enhancement brought to him by the activity of light particles is all-encompassing: including his thinking ability.

If it were raised to a certain level, breaking the limitations of brainwashing might not be impossible. The entire research institute was extremely anxious about this data, while Estend desperately wanted it to be as high as possible.

He even pointed out that one day Samuel, like Fos-001, would suddenly gain planetary energy, his light particle activity would skyrocket, and he would remember everything perfectly, then dash off to a place the Yapools couldn't find or catch, never to return. In that case, the so-called control system they imposed on him would become a pile of junk, leaving them only to stare at a few useless access plates.

"33.01%" was a figure that would have made Fang Te so nervous that he would have shoved him into a specially constructed monitoring room, but Estend was completely unconcerned, propping his head up against the bedside and calmly watching the figure gradually decline at an extremely slow pace.

It is indeed declining. Perhaps Samuel's condition is similar to that of Fos-001 when he first used clean energy to test the light on Sofer. Due to the rare energy depletion, his body experienced a brief increase in the activity of light particles as a protective measure to support his rapid recovery. Once his condition returns to normal, this value will also fall back below the warning threshold.

If only Earth were like Soffer, Eistard thought, with reliable equipment there, he would have plenty of ways to help Samuel maintain the activity of light particles.

However, when this value reaches a certain level, will Fos-001 return? When he returns, how will he view himself as a weapon developer who assisted his teacher?

Like in Pasifica, they should have blasted it over without hesitation.

Does it involve the melting and flow of light?

“Wait a minute,” Estend’s eyes, still wandering in thought, finally changed. He stared at the string of numbers, wanting to confirm but not daring to, to the point that his expression looked rather strange: “The downward trend… has slowed down…”

…………

Several hours ago, on the seabed of the Pacific Ocean near Japan.

With a body of deep blue and a garment of silver radiance, the stream of light mixed with black smoke turned the last two-tailed monster into a deep-sea firework. The silver-black giant staggered forward two steps and fell into the soft sand and mud of the seabed.

Everything quieted down, with only the ocean currents moving slowly beneath the surface.

The giant didn't know how long he had slept. Once he regained some consciousness, he struggled to get up.

He wants to go back.

Despite his still-aching head, blurred vision, and dizziness, he knew he had to go back.

The silvery-black light rose to the surface, confirmed its direction, and then plunged back into the sea, swimming towards its destination.

But the further he swam, the less clear-headed he became, until finally, all he remembered was "going back."

As for where to go back to?

As dawn broke, a family living in a suburban villa drew back the curtains, and a small head appeared behind the window.

The window faces the green mountains, and the children of this family like to face the sea of ​​trees swaying in the morning breeze and see if there is any sunrise.

There was no sunrise today, but there was a faint shooting star.

The sun's radiance was slowly unfolding, and if the child hadn't looked closely, he wouldn't have noticed the shooting star that followed the moon's fall.

"I want to win today's club competition!" the child wished upon the "shooting star."

The dim "shooting star" plunged into the back of the green hills and fell into the dense forest where few people ventured.

The silvery-black light clusters coalesced into a humanoid phantom. The phantom solidified extremely slowly, barely managing to take on the appearance of an Earthling before rolling back onto the ground, crushing the fragile fallen leaves with a soft, rustling sound.

Samuel leaned against a tree to stand up; the familiar wooden house was not far ahead.

Perhaps he considered this place "home"? So much so that he returned here in a daze.

When Samuel woke up, he found himself lying on a half-rotten iron bed frame. The grass clippings and leaves on his clothes had been cleaned off. Turning his head, he saw a pair of bloodshot eyes staring at him.

“Good recovery.” Estend was almost staring at the black markings returning to normal, and almost staring at him waking up. The floating screen on the micro-terminal emitted a cold light, faithfully providing Estend with Samuel’s current status data.

Thankfully, apart from the slightly high activity of light particles, all the data remained within the normal threshold.

Although he would have to explain the reason to Professor Fangte again when the communication is reopened next time, he could easily attribute this drop back below the red line to the special nature of Earth's environment—what's wrong with having high light particle activity on a planet valued by the Land of Light?

Make sure to reassure the teacher that Samuel is doing well, still his obedient and excellent work, and everything is normal.

“I’ve postponed your vacation,” Estend said. “What happened yesterday?”

Samuel's memory of yesterday's deep-sea adventure was a bit hazy. He tried hard to recall, but could only remember the gist: "I encountered a group of two-tailed monsters on the seabed. After defeating them, I hibernated for a while because I was short of energy. When my energy recovered, I came back."

“A pack of two-tailed monsters…no wonder,” Estend finally smiled. “Next time you encounter an emergency, remember to contact me immediately, or I’ll have to look for you everywhere.”

And maybe I can even be of help.

Samuel nodded.

Estend told him to lie down and rest: "I told the captain you had a fever, and he agreed that you can come back to the team after you've recovered. You can rest a little longer, don't push yourself."

Samuel's head was still a little fuzzy. He responded and let himself drift off to sleep.

Chapter Thirty-Six: We Were Punished Together

When night falls and starlight pours down from the distant shore, if there happens to be fog and dew, you will once again see the shadows of stars falling to the ground; that will be the moment we reunite.

"Wow, Vice Captain Lin, what are you looking at?"

The image of the person staring intently at the screen seemed to be electrified; the screen flashed, and the previously delicate, girlish page transformed into a serious news background.

Sugiyama Mao opened her bright eyes and said happily, "So you're reading 'Star Clock: The Magic of Dreams and Love' too! It's a simple story, but Ms. Sachii writes it in a romantic and novel way. I've been following it up to the tenth chapter!"

Keita Kobayashi stiffly raised his head, only to find that everyone in the lounge was staring at him.

There was silence.

There were only muffled laughs and the sound of the table shaking.

Yu Nayuan Kong clutched the local scenery picture book tightly, buried his head in it, and lay on the table, his entire back and shoulders visibly trembling, with suppressed laughter emanating from him.

Keita Kobayashi glanced at Mao Sugiyama, who was completely oblivious, coughed, and realized that she had exposed his secret with just one sentence. He resigned himself and said, "A hobby! Is that not allowed?"

"Hahahaha—!" Yu Nayuan Kong couldn't even hold onto the book anymore, trying to stop his wildly grinning mouth with one hand while flipping the book upside down to the side with the other: "Hobbies, pfft, it's nothing, I just, pfft hahaha, I didn't expect you, hobbies are quite, pfft, quite..."

Special.

He finished speaking with difficulty.

Keita Kobayashi's face visibly darkened.

The female protagonist, Yangzi, in the book is so captivating! I've already read the latest chapter, and Keita Kobayashi also wants to praise the website's dreamy bubble-themed background. After seeing the rescue team's consistently serious theme, isn't it great to change things up?

During rest periods, it is permissible to develop small hobbies.

Hayato Hasegawa's eye twitched slightly.

"Star Clock: The Magic of Dreams and Love," a book with a young girl's title, hangs high on the bestseller list, and online novel platforms are advertising it vigorously: "Miss Xingyi's latest masterpiece! The most popular romantic story among women! Awaken your fluttering girlish heart!"

Girly heart.

Keita Kobayashi, a 182cm tall hero of the rescue team, is the disciple he has painstakingly trained. He can both challenge opponents and defend his position.

Is this book really that good?

At that moment, the door to the lounge opened, and Estend and Samuel stood in the doorway.

"Captain, we're back to report for duty!" Estend said, "Yu's illness is cured."

“Oh, that’s great…” Sugiyama Mao said with a smile.