Entertainment: You're asked to make a graduation project, but you're asked to film Ultrama

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

The countdown on the streaming platform reached zero on time, and episode 40 of "Ultraman Mebius" premiered as scheduled.

As the opening theme played, the episode's title appeared in the center of the screen—"A Paradise for One."

[Episode 40 is here on time!]

Wow, it's gotten so many episodes! I binged 20 episodes in one go!

[We're almost in post-production! By the way, which of the senior actors who were making guest appearances haven't shown up yet?]

【The dream cat is so cute~~】

[A paradise for one? Is this episode about loneliness?]

The main feature screen lights up at this moment.

In the dark depths of the mountains and dense forests, a meteorite the size of a football fell from the sky, creating a large crater in the ground.

The meteorite's core rapidly extended a tentacle, which wrapped around the surrounding trees and frantically absorbed nutrients from the vegetation, assimilating them.

Under its rapid growth, it quickly expanded into the cosmic plant monster Solicula, which is tens of meters tall.

In extremely dreamlike close-up shots.

White, demonic flowers bloomed on the monster's body.

After it fell to the ground, it transformed into a human figure wearing a white trench coat!

【Still the core of dreams~~】

[It's quite beautiful.]

[This plant monster at the start is really creepy.]

[A petal falling and instantly transforming into a human shape? A guaranteed childhood nightmare.]

[Zijera?]

[It reminds me of Biollon.]

[Speaking of which, the old thief always seems to put plant-type monsters in the last few episodes before the finale.]

The scene then cuts to a city street.

Late at night, a young woman was walking alone, wiping away tears, her expression full of grievance.

A man wearing a white trench coat walked towards them, and the two passed each other.

The woman noticed that the footsteps behind her had suddenly stopped. She turned around in confusion, but there was no one there.

When she turned around again, the man in white was already standing in front of her!

A sudden close-up shot sent a shiver down the spines of all the viewers.

A demonic flower bloomed on the face of the white-clad man opposite!

A pungent yellow powder gushed out.

The woman's nerves were instantly paralyzed, and then she was silently dragged into the shadows by the vines extended by the man in white.

[This is terrifying!]

[Does she specifically target lonely and heartbroken people?]

Plants vs. Humans!

Why did I think of "Charlie IX: The Scarecrow Country"...?

It's you! The Bitter Gourd King!

[If this were during the Showa era, it would probably be another childhood trauma!]

The next morning, Future, who rarely gets a day off, walked the streets and lined up to buy pineapple buns.

"On my day off, I really don't know what to do."

The future smells of fragrance:

"That pineapple bun shop that's been getting rave reviews lately..."

At that moment, the four female students in front of him caught his attention. Three stylishly dressed girls were surrounding their companion, Naoko.

One of them gave the order:

"I told Naoko, go buy some, and the rest of us will wait for you on that bench over there."

Naoko lowered her head and whispered:

"Okay, then give me the money."

The other party replied perfunctorily:

"I'm sorry, I'll pay you back later. Please pay for it in advance."

Naoko looked troubled: "I still haven't paid for the karaoke last time..."

The other two immediately retorted, displeased, "We didn't say we wouldn't give it to you! Naoko's so stingy!"

"We're friends, right? Can't you lend me some money?"

[What a pair of fake besties.]

[Borrowing money under the guise of friendship and not repaying it, treating honest people like ATMs?]

[Regarding ghg.]

[I'm guessing they have an app called xhs on their phones.]

Standing at the back, Future couldn't stand it any longer and stepped forward to interrupt seriously: "Isn't that ridiculous?"

"I believe friends don't exist to buy things for you or lend you money!"

The three girls turned around, their faces full of disdain: "Who is this guy?"

"This has nothing to do with you!"

"How disgusting! She herself said it was fine, so why are you talking nonsense?"

"Are you a psychopath? Let's run!"

They looked at them with disdain and then quickly ran away.

Unexpectedly, Naoko showed no gratitude. Instead, she lowered her head and whispered to Mirai, "It has nothing to do with you..."

Naoko ran off after her, while Mirai stood there, stunned, unable to understand why she would compromise.

[Ultraman's persuasion.]

Honestly, if a handsome guy like that really approached me in real life, I'd be screaming for his contact information.

[Dream Boy is still a good boy, if it were Ace instead...]

[Beidou: You shrew! (Ultraman slaps)]

The simple future is filled with doubt.

Why did that girl seem so lonely when she was with her friends?

The pineapple bun vendor stepped forward and remarked:

"You're right, bro. She must be very unhappy being with that kind of friend."

"But that girl probably hates being alone even more; she might be afraid."

"Would you be afraid of being alone?" Mirai asked, puzzled.

"Of course I'm scared," the boss sighed.

"People are all afraid of becoming alone."

Indeed, many people are willing to suffer in bad circles in order to escape loneliness.

Humans are social animals after all, and they always want to fit in, so they smooth out their rough edges.

Having grown up in the Land of Light, Xiaomeng finds it difficult to comprehend the social friction inherent in human society.

In the future, he strolls down the street with a pineapple bun in his hand, pondering his boss's words.

Around the corner, Naoko walked towards us alone, clearly unable to integrate into the group she had just been in.

Seeing the future, Naoko stopped abruptly, stepped forward, and bowed deeply:

"I'm sorry about earlier."

"Wait a minute!"

Before the future could even speak, Naoko ran away in shame.

Just as they were about to pursue the future, Ultraman suddenly issued a warning.

Cries for help came from a nearby alley: "No! Stop! Run!"

He rushed into the alley and saw a woman being cornered by a man in white.

In the future, he lunged forward and pinned the opponent to the ground!

"Okay! Who is it!"

When he pulled down the hood, he was shocked to discover that the other person's face was actually a hideous giant demon flower!

The strange creature suddenly sprayed out yellow pollen, and the strong paralyzing substance blurred the future's vision and made its limbs weak.

But relying on his fighting instincts, he unleashed the Mebium aura on his left wrist, and a sharp Mebium slash, a hand blade of light, struck and injured the monster's leg!

The strange man staggered away, and in the future, he also fell into a coma after inhaling the poison powder.

[Even after being poisoned, he still managed to counter with a Mebium Slash—so cool!]

[Suddenly realized, isn't this vegetative state person wearing the same suit as Dyna Gakira?]

[By the way, why is this pollen able to knock out Mirai, Ultraman's human form? Is it that potent?]

The strange man's leg was injured; this seems like foreshadowing.

When he woke up in the future, he was already lying in the medical room of the Asian headquarters base, with his teammates surrounding his bed.

Aihara Ryu pressed him down: "It's better to lie flat."

"There are no particular symptoms, but you inhaled a substance that paralyzes nerves."

"Who did this?"

Future rubs his head:

"It's a flower, a person whose face is covered in blooming flowers."

Aihara Ryu was taken aback: "What did you say?"

Mari pondered, "Could it be a plant monster? Could it really exist?"

George the Dove asked, "What's that plant monster you're talking about?"

Marina explained, "I heard it from my brothers, it's what you call an urban legend, it seems like his story has been circulating everywhere for the past two or three weeks."

Tang Zheping added:

"I've heard that too. They say he's like someone who turned directly from a flower into a human, and if you see him and don't run away immediately, you'll be kidnapped or something."

Kinoko frowned:

"So you're saying this is definitely an urban legend?"

Captain Shosui walked in, his expression serious:

"It seems that we cannot generalize from this alone."

Seeing the captain come in, Mirai wanted to get out of bed.

"No need to get up."

"In fact, recently, the number of missing persons seems to have increased dramatically in major cities."

"Although most cases were treated as missing persons, the current surge is quite unusual."

Urban legends in tokusatsu (special effects) films are usually based on actual events.

They look a bit like the Illidans from Ultraman Tiga.

[The pineapple bread one?]

Wow, the future starts with buying pineapple buns, is this really a tribute?!

As night fell, the residential area became exceptionally quiet.

After Naoko finished throwing out the trash, her phone rang with a call from her mother.

"Hello, Mom... Yes, I just got back."

"Are you coming home late again today?"

"I see. There must be patients with very serious conditions."

"I'm fine, I've been eating well... Well, there's nothing I can do for the patients."

My mother, a surgeon, has another operation tonight.

After hanging up the phone, the empty streets made Naoko feel incredibly lonely.

Just then, a figure in white staggered past under the streetlight, with fluid seeping from his calves, indicating a serious injury.

Kind-hearted Naoko quickly stepped forward:

"Excuse me, you don't seem to be feeling well, are you alright?"

"Could you be injured?"

"Please let me take a look..."

When I saw the wound on the white-clad man's foot.

"Such a serious injury!"

"This is not an injury that can be ignored, please wait a moment."

Naoko ran home to get a first-aid kit and carefully bandaged the man in white: "I think he's probably alright now, but it would be best to see a doctor as soon as possible."

Without uttering a word, the man in white dragged his bandaged leg into the night.

[The White Zetsu is injured.]

[It's amazing that this person in a vegetative state can actually develop a human face.]

[Zigera: I wouldn't mind if this tree dated me.]

[Naoko is too kind-hearted; who would have thought she was saving the monster who attacked the future during the day?]

Why not arrest this girl?

Inside the command center of the Asian headquarters.

Tang Zheping retrieved the lab report:

"Analysis of the silver powder adhering to the future clothing revealed that it was plant pollen from a certain place."

"This guy is clearly from outer space!"

"The basis for this is that the substance in pollen called soliculasilicon, which does not exist on Earth!"

Toriyama, the aide, scratched his head: "Why is that name, Soli-shi, so hard to pronounce?"

Secretary Maru earnestly corrected, "It's Solicura! Solicura!"

Toriyama waves:

"Enough with the chit-chat! Anyway, those guys are plant monsters from outer space, right?"

"The question is, what is the connection between those guys and the people who have disappeared? Teppei, is there no way to find them?"

Tang Zheping smiled confidently:

"There is a way."

"Analysis of the silver soliculatum compound shows that it has the property of reflecting radio waves of a certain frequency. This property can be used to locate their lair!"

Everyone's eyes lit up: "As expected of Teppei!"

Tang Zheping pinpointed the coordinates: "Those guys' hideout is in the Mori Mountains of Hatano City!"

Captain Sakaki gave the order: "Alright, strike first! GUYS Sally, go!"

Everyone stood at attention: "GIG!"

[Zheping's technical support is divine; he reverse-engineered the radio waves and locked onto the lair!]

[Everyone mobilized, ready to raid the monster's lair!]

Are we going to some remote mountain forest next?

The following afternoon.

Naoko was walking down the street, about to go up and greet the three girls from yesterday, when she overheard whispers.

"What did you buy recently?"

I recently bought a wallet.

"It was so cute that I bought it immediately without even realizing it."

"My savings are in crisis again this month."

"Me too, I can't go to the convenience store after school anymore."

"Don't worry, just let Naoko pay, okay?"

"Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

"It's alright, her mother is a doctor, that girl's purse must be bulging."

"Exactly, otherwise there's no point in being with that silly girl."

"We're friends, right? If I say that, she'll definitely pay."

"That's true."

The cruel words shattered Naoko's last illusions; she realized that the person she had treated with all her heart only saw her as an ATM.

Naoko ran to a bench and cried helplessly.

At this moment, the man in white took off his hood and walked to her side:

"It's you. Is your injury healed?"

"It's all better now."

Are you lonely?

Naoko choked back tears and asked, "Why are you asking this all of a sudden?"

"When people are lonely, tears will well up in their eyes."

Why are you lonely?

"I'm all alone... I've always been alone," Naoko cried.

The man in white extended his hand: "Come with me, I'll take you to a place where you'll never feel lonely."

"A place where you'll never feel lonely?"

"There are many friends there, friends who are like family, who will never betray you and will always be with you."

"Don't worry, it's paradise."

Driven by an intense longing for companionship, Naoko followed him into the mountains without any suspicion.

[Ilud: I know this well!]

[Um, would a normal person believe such nonsense? Nobody's that stupid, right?]

When you're alone, you'll know that feeling. Don't think it's too unreal; often, what seems unreal might actually be real. After all, even when people live alone, they're not truly alone. So, what seems fake is actually quite possible.

Naoko is so pitiful. When reality has hurt her to the extreme, the allure of this paradise is too fatal.

How great is it to play alone? I personally don't think so, after all, even in the highest settings of a game, you still have friends.

GUYS fighter jets arrive at Moriyama.

Aihara Ryu searches the woods: "Hey Teppei, is it really here?"

Tang Zheping responded, "The location shown by the sensor is correct."

The group searched their surroundings: "It just looks like a forest, nothing else seems strange."

George the Dove gripped his pistol tightly: "But I have this uneasy feeling, like someone is watching me."

Inside the base, Kinoko looked at the radar: "Teppei, what are these little dots?"

Tang Zheping asked in confusion, "Huh? What is it?"

The radar detected the same signal in areas other than where the plant reaction was concentrated!

……

Immediately, the group split up to search.

While searching alone in the future, he happened to see Naoko following the man in white into the valley, and quietly followed him.

As they passed through the dense forest, the man in white stopped and whispered to Naoko:

"Humans are such inconvenient creatures."

"Because there is a sense of division and disunity between people, it will inevitably give rise to that feeling of loneliness."

"But you won't experience that feeling of loneliness again. Alright, we've arrived. This is... Paradise."

Naoko was stunned by what she saw.

Thick vines entwined around the towering ancient tree, and the missing citizens were all connected and assimilated to the tree trunk by the branches, their expressions blank but with strange, ecstatic smiles on their faces!

The man in white sneered:

"Everyone looks so happy, doesn't they?"

"Because I no longer have to worry, and I no longer have to feel lonely."

"This isn't a scary thing at all."

"Humans have a fragmented heart, which is why they feel lonely."

"Therefore, we can all share one heart. Okay, you can become their partner too!"

Naoko backed away in terror.

"Get away from that girl!"

In the future, he will draw his gun and rush out of the bushes!

The man in white, however, was prepared, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his lips:

"I noticed you followed me here a while ago."

In an instant, several thick black vines burst from the ground, tightly binding the future's limbs and body, forcibly lifting him off the ground!

The white-clad figure's head transformed into a demonic flower, revealing the true form of the Sorichura aliens. The assimilated puppets simultaneously stretched out their hands and cried out:

"Come...this is paradise...you are no longer alone, for we all share one heart..."

In the future, struggling desperately amidst the vines, it screams at the top of its lungs:

"Run! If you get caught, you'll be assimilated!"

"You will lose your soul, and you will become unable to even feel loneliness!"