Chapter 416: NO．179：It

NO. 179: Even in the fire rescue scene, he still looks handsome, right?

Star Alliance Year 612, July 13.

July isn't particularly special—no traditional holidays, and newer ones aren't widely observed either.

Of course, the main point is…

—still no statutory holidays!

For office workers, days without time off are hard to make feel special.

Many students feel the same way.

But right now, it's also summer vacation for most students.

Adults in education-related professions can also enjoy this joy, and trainers who embody both office worker and teacher roles can also experience the precious long break before summer training.

But this clearly has nothing to do with a certain demon who is both a trainer and a mercenary.

"But I just remembered…"

The 'Wooden Yin' with a cast on the hospital bed suddenly spoke.

"This time, it doesn't seem like a commission."

He suddenly realized.

He hadn't even fulfilled the 'mercenary' label properly.

"Huh? Wasn't it the same last month too?"

Although for Oumu, everything feels like a distant story, for Xin Tiaoxi, the fierce battle at Heaven's Gate City and that brutal battlefield are still just a month ago.

On June 13, Oumu had also leaned against the bed, propping himself up with a dazed expression.

Like a child who lost their marbles.

Glass marbles are naturally cheap items.

But they're also treasures to children.

Just like those cards printed with monsters, aliens, or even Ultraman designs, which were once the goals kids chased after.

At the kind-eyed shopkeeper's counter, crumpled bills and coins were shoved in to buy those cheap, pirated card packs. Kids eagerly awaited the images inside, while also hoping to pull that disc floating mid-air.

Even if it was just a single episode, or misprinted content—those discs would get used up after a few plays anyway.

Seriously, what does it mean when you pull an Ultraman card pack and get a disc that plays Iron Kid at home?

Oumu still remembers that feeling of confusion—it was a crueler deception than Ultraman Gaia.

Especially after seeing the protagonists exhaust themselves working hard, only to be thrown into a cage by some sudden dragonfly monster and forced to fight, with the final prize being fake fragments…

Even at six years old, young Oumu never thought he understood everything.

But staring at the frozen screen, he truly felt the emptiness of life.

That emptiness is just like now.

"There are— the Two-World Safety Bureau and Police Station of Heaven's Gate City have issued emergency alerts. I signed up as a mercenary then, fulfilling the contract's service terms."

He stared at the screen ahead of the hospital bed, showing an ad for the Gate Derby dirt track, his voice thick with sleepy drowsiness.

As a trainer, this G1 race in the first half of July is indeed worth noting, but it never really entered Oumu's awareness.

That's only natural—after all, the prize money is average, and it's restricted to Central Horse Girls within the top seven, making this local G1 barely worth mentioning. To those involved, it could never compare to the countless lost cards.

That's the kind of power even adults would flock to.

It's practically an adult's card (x).

The Moon Chariot symbolizes over a decade of savings—even if he endured burning pain and internal injuries, silently dragging the secret key into that massive explosion, he could only salvage less than one-tenth of the stock.

And all of it was still impure.

The energy was originally mixed with secret key impurities, then extracted again by the secret key—most of it amounted to nothing but waste.

The solidified cards are distorted line art, looking mutated, and could easily be considered relatives of Godzilla under Western settings.

After filtering out the cards with the most bizarre and absurd line art, what remains is this stock.

Still not normal—so abnormal he himself wouldn't want to use them, after all, traces of the Moon Chariot symbol might still linger.

Dirty, can't use it. jpg

But all together, there are thirteen— a very religious number.

Though it represents an ominous religious number, that certain demon clearly doesn't fear it.

He just feels it's a waste—clearly, the Moon Chariot symbol's fusion method could actually be saved (referring to the cards).

He's already torn apart by self-conflict and self-collapse, which shows the fusion level is low—needs some disintegration-related skills, like many Ultramen have—well, I'm not an Ultraman myself.

This person just became even more discouraged.

"Huh? Really?! Then if that's the case… why not ask the Symbolist to top you up? After all, you did save their lives, right?"

「……」

"Little girl, don't bother with him—he's always like this," "Morrison, why did you…?" "No end in sight!"

Because he's an electronic vampire, so he wears a manga-style red hash mark on his head, visually expressing the fury under Blessing Hall's filial piety.

It's hard to say it's not intentional youth, but he just keeps staring at the screen's ad, then when Morrison is about to point and comment, he suddenly turns his head toward the hospital room door.

Seeing this, Xin Tiaoxi imitates him and turns her head too.

At this moment, only Morrison is still trying to climb the moral high ground, then gets startled by the knocking and turns his head.

"Please come in." Oumu speaks.

Indeed, it was intentional—his expression upon speaking is much clearer now. Looking at the Burgundian pushing the door and Qianming peeking from beside, he suddenly feels speechless.

But he still says in that weary voice: "You didn't come to the wrong room—this is the only patient here."

Although under the Symbol Family's highest-funded treatment, his condition is already discharge-ready, but he's still indeed a patient.

Compared to the darkness guided by cards, the physical burden is why he needs to lie in bed.

As a monster, he could still rely on the monster's own vitality to maintain a delicate balance, but once he reverted from transformation...

He was rolling on the ground.

Although it was pain-induced convulsions rather than Neymar-style rolling.

Even though he had now received complete treatment, he still carried obvious fatigue.

This made it unnecessary for him to rush back.

Nor should he rush back, after all, Suzi and Chazuo had already called.

The two horse girls with rather yin-like schedules, upon waking up and hearing that the trainer had been hospitalized again, each reacted in their own distinctive way, yet both expressed the intention to come visit.

This indeed made it difficult for him to disengage, although he truly still needed to stay here to meet some people.

For instance, Qianming, the representative standing beside the wave at this very moment.

At first glance it seemed unrelated to this matter, but...

"If you want me to guess how the Desert Heroine came about, there's really no need."

Looking at that formal attire, utterly out of place with the seasonal temperature, the brown-haired horse girl, Aomo could easily speculate that her route into the Boundary Gate area was not mainstream, and the most likely option was also some kind of digital passage spanning large urban areas.

Just how to put it?

Though somewhat surprised she could travel all the way to Hongying District, and also somewhat stunned by the sharpness of her fitted black suit, alas... when their eyes met, the 'mysterious' feeling among the azure youths could pull him back to reality.

After all, calling it mysterious is somewhat gilding the lily; in reality, it's just some pretense of divine trickery.

The expression on her entire face made Aomo instantly feel that she was plotting something.

As for the Desert Heroine he mentioned, namely the one who issued the first support in the digital world—that volunteer who shouted 'EX——calibur' in a faintly excited tone.

That black-deer-haired horse girl, who had styled her hair in those awful side braids and simultaneously in a 'crown braid,' he recognized at first glance.

Because she too was a horse girl from Central Treisen, and although her lineage lay in the Jidong area, upon closer inspection it could still be traced to Hongying District.

Just as her name suggests.

The title Desert Heroine is actually just a translation; the actual name is 'ZennoRobRoy,' with RobRoy being the hero 'Rob Roy' from ancient legend in Hongying District, whose name, when directly translated, ought to have been: Rob Roy from the Desert.

Not exactly a girl's name, but horse girl names often are like that.

Aomo also still recalled from his organized intelligence that the Desert Heroine would indeed spend her long vacation at her hometown in Hongying District.

After all, her innate skill was, under the witness of the Three Goddesses, to draw that sword hidden in the book, which shares considerable lineage with the Broken Steel Sword, and thus has maintained constant contact with the Hongying District royal household.

And now...

Recalling how she stood beside Grele, both with proper decorum, greeting at the bedside.

Then recalling Lady Morgan's dismissive attitude toward him, Aomo could not help but guess...

The Desert Heroine's connection to that land is likely even deeper.

As for Lady Morgan's displayed disdain...

After Aomo, who thought his performance was not bad, carefully considered...

He still had to admit, the final wrap-up really was a bit poor.