Chapter 123: 119 Tokyo's Temperature Rises

“My child, come back quickly, try your best to escape!”

“Stop lingering—return to me at once!”

“Dad, I miss you. Come back and play soccer with me again!”

One after another, these heartfelt calls awakened the astronauts’ consciousness within Gajardon.

They reached out, struggling to break free.

They wanted to return to their homes… only by surviving could they remain with their families forever!

Zhong Baiyou’s transformation seemed promising to Qi Ming—he could sense three distinct anomalies manifesting within Gajardon’s chaotic body.

These were the three astronauts!

“Gather!” Qi Ming roared, pushing Zhong Baiyou’s soul-absorbing ability and his own superpower to their absolute limits.

Before everyone’s eyes, the souls and bodies of the three astronauts departed from within Gajardon!

With Shinymi’s prior example, Qi Ming had grown familiar with Zhong Baiyou; he skipped any extra steps, directly pushing the astronauts’ souls back into their bodies and using telekinesis to slowly lower them to the ground.

Seeing this, the Victory Team erupted in cheers!

“We did it!”

“Qi Ming’s operation succeeded completely!”

“Hey, where’s Qi Ming?”

This time, everyone noticed Qi Ming had been silent for too long.

Shosei Dan was in the cockpit of Victory Flyer II, unable to use a pre-recorded voice to fake Qi Ming’s presence—he could only cough and say that Team Member Qi Ming was occupied with something important.

Unable to even fabricate a decent lie without rehearsal—that’s Captain Shosei Dan.

Emi: “...”

It felt suspicious.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!” On the other side, Gajardon erupted in sparks after losing the three astronauts.

It was unharmed, still obeying its instinct to consume energy, and continued its assault on Zhong Baiyou.

“I saved everyone, but dealing with a fully intact Gajardon is a real pain,” Qi Ming thought.

In the original plot, after the three astronauts regained consciousness, they seized Gajardon’s energy, turning it into an empty shell and giving Ultraman Tiga the chance to defeat it.

Here, the three astronauts chose to escape their prison, leaving Gajardon fully intact.

“No problem—it can’t reach me anyway. Just keep scraping,” Qi Ming thought after evading Gajardon’s charge once more with teleportation.

Thus began an extraordinarily long stalemate.

Though Gajardon couldn’t touch Zhong Baiyou, who could teleport, Qi Ming had no effective way to harm Gajardon either.

Its armor was too tough—no attack could penetrate it. Destroying it with Zhong Baiyou’s output alone would take forever.

Fortunately, after ten minutes, the Defense Force’s heavy reinforcements arrived, employing their “human wave” tactic.

Dozens of planes and tanks, alongside TPC’s Victory Flyer, unleashed continuous bombardment upon Gajardon.

The latter showed no intention to flee or retaliate, relentlessly chasing Zhong Baiyou.

“Shh!” As Nami Nishijo fired the trigger, the fifth Texas Beam shot out.

Gajardon’s battered body shuddered and finally collapsed.

It was over—the marathon battle, lasting over an hour, had ended.

Luckily, Qi Ming had transformed into a monster; had he been Ultraman Tiga or Seven, he’d have been dead long ago.

Qi Ming also felt a sense of relief—though in this battle, as the “T-position,” he hadn’t needed to attack, only to use teleportation to keep Gajardon contained in a safe location like walking a dog.

But teleporting nonstop for over an hour—even if Qi Ming’s stamina held, Zhong Baiyou’s body, constructed by the Arbitrary Key, was nearly drained of energy.

“It was exhausting, but worth it—Shinymi is safe, and the astronauts are rescued,” Qi Ming thought with satisfaction.

A blue light emerged from Gajardon’s completely destroyed body and entered the Arbitrary Key.

[Access/Convert].

Though it had high attack and defense, this creature, resembling a Sphera composite beast, was utterly repulsive to Qi Ming.

Moreover, Gajardon lacked ranged attacks, making it an easy target—Qi Ming chose to convert it.

The main screen of the Arbitrary Key changed:

Star grant: 5.

Amplification: 9/10.

The next moment, the tanks and planes that had just bombarded Gajardon all turned their barrels toward Zhong Baiyou.

Qi Ming: “?”

My turn, huh.

So cautious—they’ve had me playing along for an hour and now they’re going to cut the cord.

I’m not becoming Kishima Jun—I’m out.

The next instant, he de-transformed; Zhong Baiyou’s body vanished on the spot, leaving everyone bewildered.

Kishida: “It just disappeared into thin air—did he teleport far away?”

Emi: “It’s just like Ultraman.”

Nami Nishijo: “Activate surveillance satellites and radar—find it at all costs!”

But this was destined to yield nothing.

…………………………

Though Zhong Baiyou’s second appearance raised suspicion, the outcome of this incident was positive.

Beyond Qi Ming and Emi, the rest of the Victory Team gathered at a distance, watching the emotional reunion between the three astronauts—who had narrowly escaped death—and their families, feeling the unique meaning and weight of their mission.

“I thought I’d never see you again.”

“Mom, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize—just don’t do such dangerous work again.”

“That might not be possible… someone has to explore new worlds.”

At this moment, Qi Ming had already reset his state, skillfully concealing his exhaustion.

He strolled over casually, holding a bag of chips, acting as if nothing had happened.

Yamada, speaking normally: “We thought you’d vanished—we fought for an hour straight, couldn’t afford to slack off for a second. That was exhausting. You didn’t sneak off to sleep somewhere, did you?”

Qi Ming yawned: “If I ever really disappear one day, don’t be too surprised.”

Kishida: “Team Member Qi Ming, what happened earlier? Why didn’t you respond at all?”

Throughout this long battle, Shosei Dan had remained in Victory Flyer II, unable to play any pre-recorded voice to confuse the others.

Nami Nishijo also interrogated: “Where did you go? What were you doing?”

Shosei Dan couldn’t help but sweat for Qi Ming—but Qi Ming remained calm: “In that situation, I couldn’t help at all, so I prayed.”

Nami Nishijo: “Prayed?”

Qi Ming: “Yes. I sincerely hoped that for the next half a month—at least a week—no more trouble would come knocking.”

Qi Ming’s prayer seemed to have some effect.

For the next seven days, nothing happened at all, allowing his Star grant to rise smoothly to 7 points.

But as soon as seven days passed…

On this day, Qi Ming arrived at the Victory Team command room and found Emi staring intently at the data on the large screen.

“Tokyo’s Region C temperature has risen too fast these past few days—it’s almost winter, so why is it still forty degrees?”

“This must be an anomaly. I suspect the Victory Team will soon receive a cabinet order to deploy.”

Rising temperature?

Qi Ming rubbed his chin, lost in thought.

(End of Chapter)