Chapter 438: NO.21: Not Like a Fake

NO. 21: Not Like a Fake

It actually took three and a half hours.

Because Aomo overlooked the other party's group's case, they were not gathered in one place, making it impossible to catch them all at once.

The Dark Ring, corresponding to the Light Ring, is roughly considered an O50-series antique, possessing the trait of automatically seeking the most evil person in the universe.

But unfortunately, being the most evil does not mean being the strongest, nor does it mean being the smartest.

Evil itself is merely evil, just as the holder of the Dark Ring in the Orb movie, the space witch thief Mulumuna Wu, is more suited to be a monster tamer—or, say, a Pokémon master—rather than focusing on combat itself.

With the ability to turn anything into a gemstone, using the Dark Ring to enhance its effect to capture giant creatures, thereby gaining control over them.

The Dark Ring is exactly able to grant evil people the power they lack, further amplifying their own evil.

But the limit of this amplification obviously depends on the individual—so that space witch thief still needs to rely on a team to make up for her own shortcomings.

The attackers of the Clock Tower are the same.

When Aomo and Kai, each using their own way of 'capturing' the concept of darkness, found the holder of the Dark Ring, they had to admit that this matter was not over.

But even so, investigating the other members of the whole team is merely a matter for Morgan, Chaldea, and even the Clock Tower.

What Aomo and Kai care about is also just the Dark Ring.

When the most evil one was defeated and the Dark Ring tried to flee again, that was when Kai stepped in.

Or rather, it was when Kai, wielding the technology of the Land of Light, took action.

——

"You really can get hold of this thing?"

She reached out her hand toward the Dark Ring on the shelf, and Shinjou Akane turned her head to look at Aomo: "You're not going to stop me?"

The demon shook his head.

"It is completely covered by a layer of light membrane, affecting no one and unable to be affected by anyone."

"That's not even as good as an ordinary plastic toy!" Akane, picking up the ring, complained, and also pressed the blue button on the right.

Indeed, it's worse—a plastic toy at least lights up and makes a sound when pressed, but the Dark Ring that Akane pressed the button on remained completely still.

Like a toy with its batteries removed.

"You mean, if it were me from the Dujuan Tai era, could I also be chosen by it?"

"..." Aomo, who hadn't expected this person to be bold enough to ask such a question, froze for a moment.

He then still shook his head.

"I don't know." He gave a high-quality answer.

"Cursing others as evil—saying that is easy, but quantifying the attribute of evil for comparison, even I don't understand."

"Or rather, one simply doesn't know how this thing judges what is 'evil' in the first place."

Ailisuzhi stepped down from the stairway entrance, suddenly joined the conversation, and then greeted Aomo with his gaze:

"Miss Shunchuan, after sobering up, hurriedly ran back, looking very busy."

"She has a pile of unfinished work, and her drunk time probably exceeded the rest she allotted herself." Based on understanding and personal experience, Aomo could fully comprehend her reaction.

When one is busy day and night, any scrap of rest time squeezed out becomes especially precious, so it's no wonder that when they first met, the other person showed such great temper and loss of composure.

Wasting the rest time of the overtime worker is no longer just a matter of time versus money—you are wasting her life!

"So busy?"

"Yet she's still willing to help you deal with public opinion these days—looks like you're quite to her liking, Guinea Pig."

"I naturally cherish this friendship, and perhaps this is also the assistance of the council secretary to a trainee who has suffered greatly from unexpected misfortune."

"Well, whatever," said the brown-haired horse girl, annoyed, looking at the Dark Ring still being pinched by the pink-haired JK and constantly waved, "Let's continue talking about that thing—Chazuo and Bourbon are quite concerned, and I didn't expect to have to calm them down."

That statement is actually correct.

Generally speaking, it's Chazuo who calms the enthusiastic Suzi and such.

But now Suzi has put up an electronic 'no-entry' fence, in the name of research, to stop them from coming down.

Although nobody really knows the details, after all, Aomo suddenly summoned everyone to tidy up and prepare to return to the Boundary Gate area.

Suddenly they said Nishizaki Trainer would accompany the special flight for pick‑up and drop‑off, but midway the flight was hijacked by a combination of monsters and aliens—then apparently a prepared trainer turned the tables and killed them.

This development was like a roller coaster for the three horse girls and one human; after landing they didn't go home together, but instead went with Nishizaki Trainer to see Miss Shunchuan.

But even if the four girls were completely clueless, the Dark Ring was still conspicuous.

Aomo made no effort to hide this 'spoil', and Chazuo and Bourbon, both Ultraman evaluation meeting‑attending horse girls, naturally showed this concern.

But the originally enthusiastic Suzi now looks listless; the light in her eyes is nowhere near as fervent as when Aomo allowed her to collect some monster and alien corpses.

"The 'most evil person in the universe'—a boring woman who wants to turn everything into gemstones, a twisted fellow who has done various big and small evil deeds but does nothing but kill—"

Although she never watched the original beginning, she had heard Aomo summarize the content and had also seen her in the Orb movie, and clearly looked down on it.

"Is that the extent of evil in that universe?"

"It's not just murder either—Jia Gu La in the novel has also been involved in other cases, with too many people and things implicated." Aomo tried to stop Suzi's cloud‑spectator behavior.

"To the point that his and Kai's conflict is known throughout the universe."

Moreover, that non‑illusion demon's ultimate goal during that period was actually: "The world is bound to be destroyed anyway, so I might as well step on the gas."

"Do you really think he's the most evil?" Suzi retorted.

"I think he's still far from being perverted and twisted enough," Aomo frankly said, "in this regard he doesn't even measure up to the original mosquito virus."

The electronic mosquito virus does no damage, but it makes a mosquito wing‑flap sound in the headset equipment every once in a while.

Left and right channels flexibly switch, even reproducing stereo sound of mosquitoes flying in and out—although it causes no actual loss, the widespread mental fatigue among victims indirectly leads to massive losses.

Its deeds also 'inspired' electronic virus creators; later came a screen‑targeting and deep‑immersion device cockroach virus, along with mouse and snake‑type fright viruses—Aomo thinks the makers of these viruses are even more evil than Jia Gu La.

Especially since it was widely registered via the creative workshops of many games.

Likewise, those who mess around with strange coffee additives, or who like to throw together things like stir‑fried tomato‑chili, shredded potato‑ginger, and the like, are in Aomo's eyes undeniably evil.

But if one says Jia Gu La is not evil, that's certainly not the case; before the timeline of Ultraman TV, Jia Gu La during his wandering period could be considered quite thoroughly evil.

Just when discussing the concept of 'the most evil in the universe,' one can't help but imagine what the true ultimate evil would be like.

Clearly there is no answer, yet one still feels that Jia Gu La and Mulu Nawu are completely insufficient.

So what's the use of having such a weird judgment ability?

Suzi, who had already walked up to Qian's side, leaned in to look at that ring, then turned back to look at Aomo: 'That Ultraman would actually be willing to hand it over to you?'

After all, in this state it doesn't matter who holds it; rather, those Ultramen must have long been aiming for the dark ring," Aomo said, pointing to the faintly shimmering film on the dark ring, "otherwise there wouldn't be this coating.

The City of Heaven's Gate has a permanently open heavenly gate leading to the O50 star system world; relying on that, the Ultraman ring can assign missions to Kai Fa, and the dark ring can also reach here.

At the same time, this is also why Kai comes to see me whenever he has free time.

You're using me as bait for the dark ring, huh?" Suzi said, somewhat surprised, "You don't even think— the evildoers in this world would only get…… huh? Does he know the evil‑judgment standard of the dark ring?

She noticed the key point.

Eh? What would that standard be?" Xin Tiao Qian, who had put the dark ring back on the shelf, asked, "Could it be fame? Xiao She seems about to break into the top ten of the annual dark‑system selection.

I don't know! This isn't the point, ladies!

Aomo, who didn't want to hear this topic, walked over, lifted his hand to push aside the stand holding the dark ring, then freed his left hand.

Mei Fei La's card helped him display the image and text above on a light screen.

The point is the upcoming technique—how much of it you can take in.

There are only three days; after three days the dark ring won't disappear, but the Clock Tower side might encounter unexpected changes.

At the same time, after three days we should also sign up; the debut competition in the first half of August, signing up a week ahead is safest, and we also need to keep your and Chazuo's and Bo Pang's participation status.

Before that, can we make use of this thing and the secret‑key structure, borrowing Xi Ka Li's idea, to build that kind of energy‑recovery screening device like Sai Lei Bu Luo's, and get it done?

Oh!" Qian raised both hands and responded loudly; such a cute reaction clearly showed high enthusiasm.

By contrast, Ailisuzhi, who had been staring at the screen, showed undisguised turmoil in her eyes, already having perceived the complexity of the technology.

I'm not very confident, and I'm also curious why you have this kind of data—was it also given by that Ultraman?

Yeah, it seems Xi Ka Li's technology has always been open‑source.

Huh? Really? I thought that was just a rumor.

If I open‑source the technology, open the lab, and withdraw the Andulu guard unit, then evil space people and monsters will be able to break in and loot," Aomo said expressionlessly, even lowering his voice to create a hoarse tone.

Then those evil space people and monsters will gleefully stir up trouble and go berserk, destroyed by the misfortune they themselves provoked……

Saying this, he even transformed into a demon, gloomily edging between the two, pulling their heads close and whispering in their ears:

I call it the evil self‑destruction game.

??

... Don't look at me like that; you two won't believe me, will you?

After releasing his hands and returning to his human form, Aomo instead felt ill at ease under the two's astonished gazes.

I just made it up, and I don't know why he opened it either.