Starting from the destruction of the Land of Light

The heavy, airtight alloy door slid open silently.

Commander-in-Chief Tatsuta Kaigo appeared at the door, the gold insignia on his epaulets reflecting a cold, hard light in the dim light.

He didn't speak immediately; his sharp, tiger-like eyes slowly swept over everyone present.

Everyone subconsciously straightened their backs.

"Commander-in-Chief," Wang Kui broke the silence first.

"Hmm." Longtian nodded slightly and walked steadily to the huge tactical sand table. His gaze shifted from the shocking frozen image to Wang Kui, who looked remorseful, and Chen Mo and Yang Tianyu, whose expressions were complicated.

"Sit." Longtian's voice was not loud, but it carried a hint of authority, and everyone sat down as instructed.

The command room was silent, with only the faint hum of the equipment.

Longtian's gaze swept over the crowd again, finally settling on Wang Kui's face. "Losing isn't scary."

His voice was deep and clear, echoing in the quiet room.

"On the battlefield, victory and defeat are common occurrences for soldiers. What is terrible is not knowing why you lost, and making the same mistake twice in the same place."

His gaze swept over Wang Kui and Yan Su, the two captains at the level of captain and deputy captain, one by one.

"This battle with Barton came at a heavy price. Two of our warriors of light were seriously injured, and Watcher II was in grave danger. I hope this battle will be etched in your memory and teach you a real lesson."

Long Tian spoke softly, but every word struck like a hammer blow to everyone's heart. Wang Kui clenched his fists silently on his knees, while Chen Mo and Yang Tianyu lowered their heads in self-reproach.

"Wang Kui," Long Tian called out.

"Here!" Wang Kui immediately stood up straight.

"As the pilot of Watcher One, the squadron leader, and Chu Huai's direct commander," Long Tian said calmly, yet with immense pressure. "Leaving aside Chu Huai's personal actions, didn't you prepare the necessary coordination beforehand?"

"The monster files aren't a secret. You all got in through exams. Weren't you mentally prepared for a monster like Barton before the battle?"

"I could pick any young man off the street and he'd know to watch out for Patton's beak when fighting it. What did you guys do during the fight? And more importantly—"

"In the face of extreme chaos on the battlefield, as the highest-ranking commander on the front lines, did you clearly prioritize preserving maximum combat strength? Did you provide timely and effective fire support after Chu Huai transformed? Did you consider the greatest risks when pursuing Patton?"

The barrage of questions left Wang Kui struggling to keep up; his lips were pressed tightly together, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Commander Longtian was right; in the chaos of the time, he indeed failed to achieve a perfect balance between protecting Chu Huai's safety and coordinating combat.

"I... made a mistake in command! The responsibility lies with me!" Wang Kui's voice trembled slightly, but it conveyed more of an admission of wrongdoing and a sense of responsibility.

Longtian gave him a deep look, waved his hand to signal him to sit down, and then turned his gaze to Chen Mo and Yang Tianyu: "Watcher number two, Chen Mo, Yang Tianyu."

The two immediately stood up: "Here!"

"Faced with Patton's high-speed dive attack, the early warning reaction was delayed by 0.7 seconds, the evasive maneuver was poorly chosen, and the vertical climb instead of using the terrain to evade at extremely low altitude put itself in the most unfavorable bullseye position."

Tatsuta's voice was stern.

"If it weren't for Ultraman Phyllis's last-minute self-sacrifice to save you, you would have already turned to ashes along with Watcher 2. You can recite the technical manual by heart, but your ability to adapt to the situation is completely below expectations. Go back and copy Chapter 3 of the evasion manual, all the contingency plans for dealing with high-speed point target attacks, ten times. Combine this with the video of this battle and write a 10,000-word reflection."

"Yes!" Chen Mo and Yang Tianyu, their faces flushed and covered in cold sweat, loudly responded.

The harsh criticism came to an end, but the atmosphere in the command room did not ease; instead, it became even more tense.

Because everyone knows that what we're about to discuss is the most bizarre, powerful, and unsettling element of this battle.

Tang Yu promptly pulled up all the video clips of Black King's appearance and the captured energy data map.

On the screen, the gray-black behemoth silently appeared amidst the dust of Phyllis's fall, crushing Barton's wings with absolute dominance and ultimately killing him with a heat ray. The scene made everyone who saw it feel immense pressure.

"Alright." Tatsuta's voice broke the silence, drawing everyone's attention back. "Now we face the biggest mystery left over from this battle—this."

He pointed to the terrifying, massive gray-black shadow on the screen. "Bodyguard Monster, King Black."

All eyes immediately focused on them.

"Tang Yu, summarize and analyze," Long Tian said.

"Yes." Tang Yu immediately started operating the system, and the huge screen was divided into multiple images: details of Black King's form, an estimate of the force that tore apart Barton's wings, an analysis of the surface defense energy, and most importantly—the spatial energy disturbance map when it appeared and disappeared.

"Target codename 'Black King'."

Tang Yu's voice was crisp and clear.

"Its form is similar to that of its kin who fought against Ultraman Jack back then. Based on the damage it caused to Barton, its basic physical strength is conservatively estimated to be more than twice that of Barton at its peak. Its speed and reaction are slightly slower, but its instantaneous explosive power is astonishing."

She switched the scene to show King Black enduring Barton's lava fireballs and claw attacks.

"The gray-black skin covering its body showed strong defensive characteristics. Patton's lava attack had a peak energy close to that of our strongest ship's main gun, but after hitting the target, it instantly decayed by more than 95%, leaving only shallow burn marks and lava adhering to its bone armor surface. It is unknown whether it has undergone corresponding training."

A collective gasp filled the command room.

What level of defense is this?

"The most crucial aspect is how it appears and disappears."

Tang Yu's expression turned extremely serious as she pulled up a complex and distorted energy diagram.

"When it appears, the curvature of space fluctuates briefly and violently, accompanied by a brief and unexplainable 'spatial fold' phenomenon. The same thing happens when it disappears. We cannot even track where it goes. This spatial manipulation technique, or ability, is far beyond our current understanding."

"There's one more thing," Wang Kui added in a low voice after taking a deep breath. "It's experienced and intelligent in battle, but we can't rule out the possibility that it's being controlled by someone behind the scenes."

His words resonated with many, and Chen Mo and Yang Tianyu nodded in agreement.

"What's its stance? What's its purpose?" Chu Huai couldn't help but ask. "It killed Barton, so...it helped us?"

"Help?" Yan Su frowned.

"Don't be fooled by appearances. Its target is clear—Patton. Its process of eliminating Patton is ruthless and efficient, like clearing out garbage."

"As for us? In its eyes, we might not even be considered pebbles on the roadside. What is its logic? Who is controlling it? Who will be its target next time it appears? Will it be us or something else? If its goal is to destroy a city, what can we use to stop it? We have no idea about any of these things."

"Yan Su's words make sense," Long Tian said, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "However, we can't let others lead us by the nose."

"King Black's sudden appearance was certainly strange, but it did eliminate a threat. Before dealing with King Black, don't forget our initial objective."

"Little Tang." Longtian gestured to Tang Yu, who immediately understood.

Then, a strange wavelength appeared on the big screen.

Tatsuta continued, "This is a fluctuation that the data team intercepted earlier. After research, we found that the recent frequent appearances of monsters are all due to this fluctuation. It seems that someone is deliberately attracting monsters to appear."

Upon hearing this, apart from Wang Kui and a few others who knew the situation, the other detectives all widened their eyes in surprise.

"Suck, attract monsters!?"

"Can something like this be accomplished with just a fluctuation?"

"The universe is so vast, anything is possible." Ryuta didn't seem to care about their surprise. "I've already had Xiao Tang set up a detection system for this fluctuation. Next time a monster is attracted out, you need to find the source of the fluctuation immediately."

"But, Commander-in-Chief..." Yan Su raised his head. "If this fluctuation was caused by someone with ulterior motives, then we probably won't be able to find them so easily."

"I know, so this matter must be carried out in secret. If the monster appears, Watchmen One and Two must be dispatched without alerting the enemy."

"clear."

The meeting ended, but the heavy pressure felt like a real weight on everyone's shoulders.

The agents packed their things silently. Chu Huai took one last look at the cold figure of Black King on the screen, picked up his own helmet from the table, and silently turned to leave. He needed to practice more.

Longtian quickly organized the documents and turned to look at Wang Kui.

"Captain Wang, come with me for a moment."

...