What does it mean that the group members have given me back the light?

If the Yapools really do appear in Kiana's world, then he will have no reason to stand idly by.

……

……

Honkai Impact 3rd, Changkong City, ME Corporation Headquarters.

"Grey Snake, what brings you here today?"

The blonde woman in Russian military uniform crossed her arms, her tone cold, and her long, alluring eyes were filled with displeasure as she faced the shadow before her.

Cocolia actually disliked the person in front of her from the very beginning... or rather... this venomous snake.

"What? You don't welcome me?"

Before her, a figure wearing a black hoodie with sparse green lines on the fabric slowly emerged from the shadows.

The shadowy figure wore a pale mask that revealed only the right eye. Where the left eye should have been, two black daggers were crossed. Its voice was hoarse and low, grating like metal rubbing against metal, yet it carried a hint of laughter.

"We just finished a collaboration, are you really that heartless?"

Cocolia clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction, but what the other party said was indeed the truth.

The other person was damp, treacherous, and embodied all the characteristics of a snake. She already disliked him, and in their interactions over the past few days, this feeling of disgust had inexplicably intensified.

If it weren't for the fact that the technology it possessed was somewhat useful...

"Please take a seat."

Cocolia suppressed her emotions and asked calmly, "Do you need tea or wine?"

She is flexible and adaptable, which is her survival strategy that has led her to where she is today.

"No need for any of that."

Gray Snake stood still: "I'm only here to urge the delivery process."

"Express delivery?"

Cocolia's brows furrowed involuntarily whenever delivery was mentioned.

"That's easy for you to say. Emperor-level Honkai Beasts are beings that require a huge amount of manpower and resources to capture. I can only provide you with one at most. A hundred? How could I possibly capture them for you so easily in a short time?"

The gray snake's mask turned slightly, its right eye, the only part visible, gleaming with a cold light in the dim light.

“ME Corporation and Anti-Entropy’s resources and capabilities should be far more than this. I believe... you just need a little motivation.”

It took a step forward, lowering its voice even further: "After all, you wouldn't want our previous cooperation to be known by certain people who shouldn't know, would you?"

Cocolia's fingertips tightened slightly, and her arm under the sleeve of her military uniform tensed for a moment. She understood the threat in her words, of course.

"Are you threatening me?"

"Just a reminder."

The gray snake chuckled softly, a sound like rusty gears grinding against each other:

"We are all serving a greater goal, aren't we? A mere hundred Honkai Beasts are just a matter of time for you."

"Two months."

Cocolia remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking.

"It will take me two months to ensure that I do not attract the attention of Destiny and Anti-Entropy."

Her gaze was sharp as a knife, and her tone left no room for argument: "If you want quality, not scrap metal, don't expect such an absurd three-day deadline."

His right eye, hidden beneath the gray snake mask, narrowed slightly. A silent contest filled the air. After a moment, he let out a low, mechanical laugh.

"Okay, two months then."

Success...

The gray serpent—or rather, the Yapool lurking beneath this body—sneered silently in its heart.

This greedy and arrogant woman indeed fell step by step into its carefully woven net.

Hmph, I will quietly gather my strength on this planet... Ultraman Ace... Ultraman Mebius... I will come back to find you...

A cold and twisted hatred suddenly rose in Yapool's heart, and he thought venomously.

The memory of plotting to revive the Dark Emperor, possessing Ace Killer, and dying once again at the hands of Ultraman Ace under the Merriam Ray is still vivid in its mind. In that war, it was fortunate enough to retain a part of its resentment. While escaping through interdimensional space, it unexpectedly and successfully revived on this planet.

This blue planet is also named Earth, but unlike the previous Earth, there is no light, no defense force, and none of the troublesome Ultra Brothers.

How wonderful, all the Yapool people see here is... disordered energy called Honkai energy, excellent super beast bodies called Honkai Beasts... and a group of foolish humans indulging in desires.

The moment the Yapool saw this planet, they decided to settle here and use the world's resources to transform the Honkai Beasts into a more powerful and obedient army of super beasts.

When that time comes, it will surely make a comeback, return to its original universe, and crush those damned Ultraman brothers one by one!

"...What? He was killed?"

Upon receiving an urgent communication, Cocolia frowned and suddenly looked at the Yapool beside her with displeasure.

"What happened?"

The Yabo man smiled and asked what had happened.

If Ultraman Ace hadn't been so ruthless back then, leaving it with less than a tenth of its remaining cosmic monsters and resources, it would never have lowered itself to disguise itself as such a low-quality mechanical life form and cooperate with a narrow-minded and arrogant carbon-based life form like Cocolia.

However, the advantage of working with this kind of person is that she is smart enough, but her intelligence is limited.

In this way, every trouble she encounters becomes an opportunity to advance her plans.

Cocolia's voice was clearly displeased: "The first Honkai Beast you created was killed by the little girl from the Kaslana family."

"Please calm down, Ms. Cocolia."

The Yabo people let out a low, hoarse laugh, as if they didn't care at all:

"That prototype was a poorly made product hastily modified for demonstration purposes. Its strength was limited, so it's normal that it was defeated. The important thing is that we verified the feasibility of the technical approach, isn't it?"

It truly didn't care. After its crushing defeat, it had very few remaining cosmic monsters and resources, each one incredibly precious. How could it possibly waste them on such a scam to defraud investors?

"Feasibility? I don't see any feasibility in what I see, only a piece of scrap metal that can be easily dismantled!"

Cocolia snorted and quickly tapped the control panel a few times:

"You see for yourself how that little brat took care of your masterpiece!"

The real-time monitoring footage is projected onto the main screen.

In the scene, a white-haired girl stands with her hands on her hips in front of the corpse of a Honkai Beast, saying something triumphantly. Yapool's gaze sweeps over her casually, but freezes abruptly when he catches sight of the black-haired boy beside her—

The right eye, the only eye visible beneath the mask, suddenly widened, and for the first time, the cold, electronic tone of his voice fluctuated violently, even carrying an undisguised look of horror:

"……impossible!"

-----------------

-----------------

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Chapter 42 Duck: Me? Go and take down Ultraman?

"Suddenly Arashi 巻きrise こり~"

"巻きriseこり~"

"Sudden flames blowing on the wind~"

"Blow on the wind~"

humming a tune that only she could hear, Raiden Mei didn't linger in the classroom after school.

She slung her backpack over her shoulder and walked out of the gates of Qianyu Academy alone.

She was surrounded by students busy with club activities, laughing and making noise. However, as she passed by, the noise would subtly subside. Gazes, whether overt or covert, would fall upon her, carrying curiosity, pity, and even a hint of barely perceptible contempt. The setting sun cast a long shadow of her alone, and amidst the hurried footsteps of the bustling crowd, her solitary silhouette stood out starkly, as if she were isolated from all the youthful clamor.

Although her life has been completely turned upside down since the news of her father Raiden Ryoma being imprisoned for embezzlement was widely reported by major media outlets.

She was no longer the "Thunder Queen" who was the center of attention in the academy. The genius halo of the "Unrestricted Mastery of the Hokushin Ittō-ryū" had also faded. The bigwigs of ME Club who used to fawn over her now didn't even want to call her "niece" anymore.

At first, she was indeed at a loss.

However, Raiden Mei is now able to ignore the existence of these gazes.

This change in mindset came after watching all the tokusatsu series, including "Ultraman," "Ultra Seven," "Ultraman Returns," "Ultraman Ace," "Ultraman Taro," and the first few episodes of "Ultraman Leo," with a junior classmate named Kiana.

She quickly returned to the apartment she shared with the other two, but Kiana and Bronya were not back. Raiden Mei, who was used to their late returns, simply put down her schoolbag, tied on her apron, and went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

"What's the truth? It's the same~"

"He's the end of the world, sue him~~"

The water was rushing as she washed the vegetables, and unconsciously continued to hum the opening theme of "Ultraman Leo." She had recently become particularly fond of this Ultraman with his lion-like golden eyes.

Although the picture quality of this film is just as bad as the previous Ultraman series, she feels that she is very similar to that Ultraman.

Just like the injustice her father suffered, the decline of her family, and the gossip of others... Ultraman Leo also lost his homeland and suffered repeated setbacks in his battles with aliens. Even so, no matter how badly he was wounded, he never gave up his belief in protecting his second home, Earth.

Yes... this is the trial that fate has given me.

Raiden Mei silently recited in her heart, her eyes seeming to harbor a roaring lion:

Just like Ultraman Leo struggling to survive in battles against powerful enemies, and falling down and getting up again and again during Seven's rigorous training—all of this I have experienced is just a required course before becoming a 'King'!

The blade struck the cutting board with a rhythmic, soft sound. The kitchen knife in her hand inadvertently reflected her profile. Raiden Mei slightly raised her chin at the blurry reflection on the blade, a golden light, as if that of a lion, flashing in her eyes.

“Those fools will never understand... True strength is always born from the deepest darkness.”

Raiden Mei muttered to herself, her tone carrying a hint of passionate energy she herself was unaware of:

"The day I take everything back, you will understand that your current isolation and contempt are nothing but the feeble barking of hyenas before a sleeping lion!"

As she spoke, her emotions surged, and her right hand unconsciously rose in a loose fist, as if she were truly grasping that burning lion's eye. Then, she assumed a starting stance, took a deep breath, and whispered:

"thunder……"

Just as she swung her arm—

The apartment door clicked open.

"Mei-senpai! I'm back! And I brought..." Kiana's energetic shout came to an abrupt halt.

Raiden Mei froze instantly, standing there motionless, a blush quickly creeping up to the tips of her ears.

But the next second, she forced herself to calm down.

It's alright. It's just that Kiana would be fine if she saw it. That always energetic junior would just laugh and joke around at most, and might even come over with her eyes shining and ask, "Was Mei-senpai transforming just now? That was amazing!"

She tried to maintain a calm demeanor, casually lowering her arm as she turned to greet Kiana in her usual tone, "Kiana, what's wrong with you today...?"

The words stuck in my throat.

She turned her head and found that, in addition to a white-haired girl with wide-open eyes, there was also a strange black-haired boy standing at the door. He was slightly wide-eyed, obviously having seen her transformation.

The air suddenly became so quiet that only the dripping sound of the kitchen faucet could be heard.

……

……

A moment of silence enveloped the living room. Gu Nuo and Kiana stared at Raiden Mei's tightly closed door, exchanging glances for a long time.

"Uh, is your friend... alright?" Gu Nuo asked hesitantly, breaking the unbearable silence.

"I... I think everything should be alright..." Kiana's tone was also somewhat uncertain, and her voice unconsciously lowered a few decibels.

After all, this kind of scene is truly the pinnacle of social embarrassment. If it were them, and they were caught in the act of posing and transforming while shouting cheesy lines like "armor combination" or "moon prism power," they would probably be so embarrassed that they would dig a three-bedroom apartment out of their toes on the spot.

The two tacitly agreed not to continue the topic. The best way to ease the awkwardness was to let the other person have some time to calm down, and besides, business was more important at the moment.

"Ugh, I can't find it at all..."

Kiana slumped her shoulders in dejection, her voice weak and listless.

Not only Nono, she also just called Joseph, who has the Hermit Purple Stand ability.

Even after the other party smashed ten instant cameras worth 30,000 yen each, they still couldn't locate the Yapool people.

While muttering "Is it a problem with the camera?", old man Joseph waved his Hermit Wisteria vines, but still to no avail. In the end, he could only shrug and show his helplessness.

The awkward thing is that they have no way of knowing whether the Yapools don't exist in this world at all, or whether the Yapools have retreated into another dimension and hidden away.