We asked you to make tokusatsu films, and you actually became Ultraman?

As the fireball exploded, the tentacles on Menglanga's back reached out to grab it.

The black tentacles formed from the nameless spirit tablets, like a group of venomous snakes that had smelled blood, lashed out at the fallen Sirius from all directions, their sharp wooden tips slicing through the air with a sharp "whoosh" sound.

Sirius rolled several times on the ground to avoid the first few tentacles' strikes. Just as one of the tentacles was about to hit his face, he suddenly flew up while lying down.

It glided horizontally with its back down, enveloped in blue light, like a silver cannonball, sliding for more than ten meters before springing up and barely dodging the attack.

The blue ghost fire clinging to his chest slowly dissipated under the glow of his body, leaving only a faint mark on his breastplate.

Without pausing, Sirius crossed his arms in front of his chest, assuming a charging pose as if a timer was flashing.

Seemingly sensing danger, Meng Langa suddenly stopped moving.

The smiling mask on its lantern head was slightly distorted, and the eerie blue soul fire inside flickered violently.

The next second, its head flew off, the smiling mask on the front suddenly cracked open, revealing a black hole on the back that looked like it was crying, and a dense array of sharp wooden spikes that looked like teeth. The spikes opened and closed with a "click-clack" sound as it bit at Sirius.

This terrifying scene certainly startled Sirius, as the image was indeed too bizarre.

Despite his fright, he did not stop charging up his power.

Just as the lantern head was about to bite the arm, a powerful timer flash suddenly erupted.

A blinding blue-white light, carrying pure starlight, burst forth like a small sun that suddenly exploded, illuminating all the surrounding darkness and turning the night sky into daylight.

The lantern head flying at the very front melted directly under the intense light, and the ghostly blue soul fire struggled to shrink and extinguish like an ice cube thrown into boiling water, turning into ashes and dissipating in just two seconds.

Meng Langa's body couldn't withstand the blow either; his body dissolved and collapsed piece by piece in the intense light.

Sirius decisively increased his energy output, continuously injecting energy into his body, attempting to completely annihilate Menglanga with this attack.

But at that moment, the small red river lantern on Meng Langa's chest lit up again.

The red light, like a tiny spark amidst the dazzling white light, shone with unwavering determination, refusing to be extinguished no matter how the white light washed over it.

Sirius's gaze fell on the red light, and he saw the smiling face of an old man within it.

It's Uncle Wu...

Under the glow of red light, the constantly dissolving Menglanga began to recombine.

The scattered ashes seemed to be drawn back to the red lantern on the chest by an invisible hand. The sacrificial paper was re-piled up, the wood chips were re-bonded, and the body was repaired and regenerated at a speed visible to the naked eye.

No matter how much energy Sirius increased, the red light continued to regenerate, like an indestructible heart supporting the regeneration of the entire body.

Sirius could feel his energy being consumed rapidly. Timer Flash was a high-energy-consuming skill, and its continuous release was a huge burden on him.

With its core support, Menglanga regenerates infinitely, and if this continues, it will be the first to give out.

No, this can't go on.

If this continues, I might not be able to kill the monster even if I run out of energy.

With that in mind, Sirius decisively stopped the timer from flashing.

The light faded, and the surroundings were plunged back into the darkness of night.

He was panting heavily, but his gaze was solemn as he determined that the red light was the core of Menglanjia.

He thought of the river lanterns that the old woman in the mountains had mentioned.

That red river lantern was the one Uncle Wu never released.

The old man had been tending the columbarium for over thirty years. Every year on the Ghost Festival, he would release a river lantern for his daughter and light and clean the ashes of the unclaimed ashes in the columbarium. But he couldn't release the last lantern before he died on the eve of the demolition.

So, is it this river lantern that keeps this monster regenerating?

Is this what they call obsession?

Before Sirius could continue thinking, Menglanga had fully recovered.

Except for the lantern-shaped head, which was only half restored, the body has been fully recovered.

It roared at Sirius again, the roar carrying a sharp sound like paper being torn apart. Ghostly blue flames kept emerging from all parts of its body, one after another, and the tentacles on its back grew wildly again, like a black forest sweeping over him.

Looking at the overwhelming will-o'-the-wisps and tentacles, Sirius was truly at a loss for what to do.

The will-o'-the-wisp can transform into his flame attacks, his tentacles can regenerate if severed, his body can heal if pierced, and even his powerful attacks like the Timer Flash cannot be completely destroyed because of the existence of his core.

He could only rely on Mach movement to weave through the gaps and dodge.

Before he could organize a counterattack, a mirror suddenly appeared in front of him.

The mirror appeared out of thin air, its surface smooth as water, its frame in the style of a worn wooden plaque, exactly like the memorial tablet on Meng Lanjia's back.

Sirius didn't react in time, and before he could stop his dodge, he found himself staring directly into his reflection in the mirror.

In that instant of eye contact, Sirius's vision blurred.

The unfinished buildings around him twisted, spun, and melted away. A cold sensation surged from all directions, like countless hands pulling at his body and dragging him into the mirror.

When he could see his surroundings again, he was no longer next to the unfinished building.

He arrived at a columbarium...

In the dimly lit room, rows of wooden urn shelves were neatly arranged, filled with urns of various sizes and memorial tablets, and the air was filled with the smell of incense ash and old paper.

The overhead light bulbs flickered dimly, enveloping the entire space in a sickly yellow light, and the names on countless memorial tablets appeared and disappeared in the light.

Deep inside the columbarium, an old man in an old cotton-padded coat was squatting on the ground, holding bamboo strips and red paper in his hands, carefully making a red river lantern with his head down.

His movements were slow and meticulous; he had to adjust the angle of each bamboo strip repeatedly and carefully paste each piece of red paper onto the paper.

Beside him was a black and white photograph of a little girl with pigtails and a sweet smile.

The old man didn't look up, but simply said in a hoarse, gentle voice:

"You're here! Wait a little longer, the lamps will be finished soon."

[Two chapters totaling 4800 words are given to everyone directly. Rounding up, it should be 6000 words, which counts as three chapters, so this is considered an extra chapter.]

Finally, thank you everyone for your support and patience. Love you all, meow Ciallo～(∠・ω＜)⌒☆】