Chapter 10: The Law of Sweet Surrender

Look at that—this is what true professionalism looks like.

Commander Ishimuro was now absolutely certain that having me, Yume, join XIG had been the right decision all along.

With the confirmation of an enemy attack, Ishimuro turned to Tadashi Teisei beside him for input.

Currently, the fighter jets’ operational range only reached the Atlantic Ocean. The location of the metallic lifeform was evidently beyond that limit. However, the large transport plane, Peace Carrier, could handle such situations perfectly.

Ishimuro and Tadashi finalized the operation plan: they would use the Peace Carrier to transport the Lightning Team’s fighter jets to the Indian Ocean.

As XIG was about to mobilize, I immediately stepped forward and said, “Wait! Please let me go with you!”

“If necessary, I can help!”

Tadashi glanced at me, momentarily uncertain, and looked to Commander Ishimuro for guidance.

Seeing Ishimuro nod slightly, Tadashi finally agreed to let me join them. “Alright, we set out at once!”

“Yes, sir!” My excitement was palpable.

After standing at attention and saluting Ishimuro and Chiba, I hurried after Tadashi, quickly leaving the command room.

Once the Peace Carrier had taken off with the Lightning Team aboard, Chiba patted Ishimuro on the shoulder, motioning him to the window. “Commander, what do you intend to do about that kid, Yume? If it’s a matter of scientific analysis, he should be sent to the Geo Base.”

Ishimuro understood this, his gaze following the departing Peace Carrier. “The problem is, if we can’t even figure out what’s attacking the Earth, how can we continue to fight?”

Regarding the Root Destruction Summoner, Ishimuro and the others still lacked combat experience. Humanity could not afford to lose any battle; knowing the enemy and oneself was essential.

“You’re right,” Chiba admitted thoughtfully. His real concern was that Yume was still a student.

Ishimuro, meanwhile, recalled the circumstances when Gaia first appeared.

“The Quantum Light Computer can only predict fundamental destruction, and Yume, as a member of the Star of Alchemy, has joined XIG.”

“His presence must have significance.”

Ishimuro, uncertain but convinced, was not especially worried about Yume’s safety.

At the same time, at Tokyo TV—

The traitor responsible for the Quantum Light Computer had not yet been exposed. Fujimiya, fully trusting in what he had created, was obsessed with the idea of eradicating most of humanity to save the Earth.

He had been thoroughly misled.

Noticing the TV station was reporting on Ultraman, Fujimiya played the role of a stalker, tailing Reiko Yoshii and her colleagues with ghostlike stealth into the news department.

When Reiko Yoshii finished her broadcast and headed backstage to the restroom, Fujimiya silently approached her like a wraith. He made no sound as he came up behind her and suddenly spoke: “Ultraman? That’s a pretty good name.”

The sudden, unfamiliar voice made Reiko Yoshii jump in fright. Frozen in place, she caught a glimpse of someone behind her reflected in the tiles on the wall. “Who’s there?!”

“Don’t turn around!” Fujimiya instantly sensed her intention and barked a command.

Perhaps it was his tone; Reiko dared not move, her action to turn around halted, resorting instead to a furtive glance from the corner of her eye.

Fujimiya didn’t care. Glancing coldly at the visibly nervous Reiko, he said, “I’ve always wanted to tell the media to broadcast Ultraman’s gallantry to the world, so that all of humanity knows…”

He stopped abruptly mid-sentence.

Reiko waited for a long time, hearing nothing further. She cautiously turned, only to find that he had vanished without a trace.

“What was that about? That scared me half to death.”

Patting her flat chest in relief, Reiko was left bewildered by the encounter. She couldn’t make sense of the stranger’s actions.

As for why Fujimiya left so abruptly—it was because he had just detected Gaia’s location.

It was as though he had installed a tracker on Yume; he could locate Gaia at any time.

As for Yume’s attempts to find Agul, there was never any response.

Elsewhere—

Jo Zhe was still watching the news broadcast, seated on a bench at the roadside.

Honestly, watching Ultraman in real life was a completely different experience.

He wondered how they filmed it—the camera was practically up in Gaia’s face.

So far, Gaia had only fought two monsters.

The first, Gobu from the M91 Nebula, had been teleported to Earth by the Root Destruction Summoner through a space-time tunnel—a vanguard battle weapon.

The second monster was just unlucky.

Native to Earth, the monster Giru had been dormant deep underground until awakened by Gobu’s presence.

Originally, it had emerged to deal with Gobu, but, “late for work,” missed its chance.

Yume, clueless about all this, inadvertently led to Giru being taken out by Gaia’s energy strand in a rather anticlimactic fashion.

No wonder Gaia was called the rebel of the earth.

Jo Zhe was thoroughly enjoying himself when Noah finished his conversation with Earth.

It seemed the two had reached some unknown agreement.

“I’m back.”

Noah’s voice echoed in Jo Zhe’s mind, invigorating him at once. He asked eagerly, “So, is it the Radiance of the Earth, or the Radiance of the Sea?”

Failure was never an option. As long as Earth wasn’t stupid, it would surely accept the offered power.

The radiance was indeed secured, but Noah sidestepped the topic and instead adopted a weighty, earnest tone: “Jojo, there’s something you need to prepare yourself for.”

“What?” Jo Zhe’s expression froze at these words, not quite understanding what the old trickster meant.

For some reason, an ominous feeling crept up inside him.

The old mystic was silent for a while, as if embarrassed, but finally forced out the words: “I found you a mother.”

“???”

Time seemed to stop; Jo Zhe’s mind was filled with question marks.

“Huh? Wait, hold on a second!”

“What do you mean, you found me a mother?!”

When he finally grasped the situation, he was utterly at a loss.

“Exactly what it sounds like,” Noah offered no further explanation, simply transferred the acquired radiance into Jo Zhe’s body.

In the next instant, Jo Zhe’s consciousness wavered.

The scene before him shifted and spun, and he found himself in a sky thick with white clouds.

Thunder rumbled; the silhouette of a giant appeared in the sky, then vanished just as swiftly.

When Jo Zhe came to, he was back in reality.

But what had just happened was no illusion.

A strange sensation on his wrist made him glance down.

A silver-white wristband was clasped there, set with a red Y-shaped energy core.

“A transformation device?!”

Recalling the giant he had just seen, Jo Zhe finally understood Noah’s meaning—a smile broke across his face.

So the “mother” he had found was this Earth.

Well, if turning into Ultraman was part of the deal, that was negotiable.

A fortune-teller had once told him he had a weak stomach and would have to live off others.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the desert, the Lightning Team and the metallic lifeform…