Chapter 49: 49 The Eternal Core

Qi Ming and Gubaba walked through the abandoned factory littered with corpses, observing for any Crow-Men who hadn't yet breathed their last while conversing.

At this moment, Gubaba was like a subordinate accompanying a high-ranking leader down for an inspection; he was walking on eggshells, not daring to even breathe loudly.

He kept telling himself that the terrifyingly strong human beside him was not his enemy, and there was no life-or-death conflict between them.

"In the universe, there is a legend of unknown origin regarding this planet."

"According to the legend, this planet is the 'Singularity' of this universe."

"A certain power, with what you call 'Earth' as its center, created this universe of ours."

"And that powerful force might still be on Earth. If someone could obtain it, they would possess the power to destroy and reshape dimensions at will."

After hearing this, Qi Ming fell into deep thought.

This description sounded far too much like the Eternal Core from *Ultraman Trigger*.

This thing could indeed grant dimensional-level power, but it was extremely unstable; villains used it with ease, while heroes faced a heap of restrictions and side effects when using it.

Wait!

Amidst the surge of his thoughts, Qi Ming's body trembled violently.

An extremely astonishing, yet very reasonable, conjecture formed in his mind.

He had once heard a theory—that the Eternal Core, after browsing the memories of Mitsukuni Shizuma, created the universe of *Trigger*.

Then, what if the Eternal Core had browsed the memories of a die-hard Ultraman fan with a worldview similar to *The Final Odyssey*, and used that to open up a universe...

Was this "star-studded," "hodgepodge" universe born in just such a way?

If this conjecture were true, then the inner heart of the person the Eternal Core observed must have been incredibly dark, which was why this world was "crawling with vermin" on the surface.

Shan Zhong, He Zhi, Tu Qiao You, Aihara Ryu, Hirukawa... did that person have necrophilia?

Qi Ming: "So, all kinds of aliens coming to Earth to invade—is it because they want to occupy this planet to make it easier to find this 'power to restart the universe'?"

Gubaba: "Not all races believe in this. I heard that in the past, aliens with friendly intentions passed through here, but they were annihilated by you all as soon as they tried to say hello."

He was talking about the time Tu Qiao You ordered fire to be opened, wiping out the V99 fleet.

No wonder only the most vicious invading aliens came; friendly aliens considered this place impossible to communicate with, a lawless land.

"Whoosh..." Just then, a roaring sound came from afar; Qi Ming could tell it was the sound of the Victory Feiyan's wings slicing through the air.

The Victory Team, delayed for a short while by Counselor Quan Teng, was finally arriving.

Gubaba also knew he had to leave, and as he parted, he told Qi Ming a "big secret."

"It wasn't just me who came to Earth from Planet Stendel; another race also sent people here. Their goal is the same as mine: to conscript soldiers."

Qi Ming: "The 'Reidel' who are suited to operate under the light, right? I know."

Gubaba: "!"

How did he know that!

Qi Ming understood the other's thoughts: "As long as I am here for one day, no alien will be able to take Earthlings away as slaves. But where is he?"

The TPC had access to cameras all over Japan, but there was absolutely no sign of Reidel.

Gubaba: "Six days ago, one night, he had a conflict with me. After driving me away, he never appeared again."

Seeing that Qi Ming understood his meaning, he left Earth with peace of mind, no longer willing to chew on this hard bone of an Earth guarded by Qi Ming, and prepared to go bully the Crow-Men instead.

Watching his departing back, Qi Ming couldn't help but reveal a strange smile.

…………………………

"Is this hell? It's too terrifying."

The members of the Victory Team who had disembarked from the plane were shocked by the scene before them.

The abandoned factory had been torn into a ruin, and amidst the devastation, the corpses of the Crow-Men were scattered in disarray, their expressions in death extremely gruesome.

"They're all dead..." Even Moroboshi Dan was shocked.

Emi: "Was this done by Member Qi Ming?"

Shan Zhong: "Besides him, who else would have such cruel methods?"

They didn't know about Nova and just assumed Qi Ming had killed all the aliens by himself.

If this were in the past, no one would believe a human could do such a thing single-handedly.

Breaking into a dragon's den and tiger's lair gathered with multiple cruel aliens, and killing them all—is this something a human can do?

But Qi Ming had been challenging the impossible time and time again during this period, raising their "cognitive threshold" and making them gradually numb, starting to accept the impossible.

"Bang..." Just then, footsteps emerged from ahead.

"Watch out!" Xin Tiao Qian shouted, and Shan Zhong and the others immediately assumed a shooting stance.

"No need to be nervous, it's already over." Qi Ming's voice came out.

He was seen walking out very steadily, carrying five boxes that looked quite heavy in each hand.

"Member Qi Ming." Emi put away her gun.

"Sorry, I was delayed for a while, I'm late." Moroboshi Dan stepped forward, leaning on his cane.

"No matter, it's already fine." Qi Ming subconsciously glanced at Xin Tiao Qian.

If the Victory Team had arrived on time to join the battle, Xin Tiao Qian would probably have opened fire on him, who had turned into Nova, without distinguishing right from wrong.

Xin Tiao Qian: "Those aliens?"

Qi Ming put down the boxes: "Some are dead, some fled. The people who were shrunk are all in here, including the Umeda siblings you care about."

He also took out a shrinking ray gun and gave it to Ban Tian Yu Yi, telling him to find a way to analyze it and turn these people back.

In *Ultraman Jack*, Ban Tian Yu Yi would always come up with some inventions; his ecological niche in this Victory Team corresponded to Horii.

"Alright." Ban Tian Yu Yi took it subconsciously, his eyes carrying a trace of awe.

This guy really had solved, all by himself in such a short time, the aliens that had been giving them such a headache for so many days.

"This is simply a superman." Shan Zhong muttered in a low voice, incidentally speaking his true thoughts.

"You guys handle the rest, I'm going over there to rest for a bit."

Qi Ming let them clean up the battlefield while he ran to the side, wanting to figure out what was going on with the missing bit of Star-Gift.

Even Shan Zhong, who always loved to nitpick, wouldn't say he was slacking off in this situation.

Qi Ming found a hidden spot, fiddled with it for a good while, and recalled his experiences over these days, arriving at a conjecture.

"Could it be that the Ultraman Key can only hold a maximum of ten points of Star-Gift, and once it reaches the limit, it won't increase anymore?"

Verifying this conjecture was actually very simple.

Qi Ming checked the time on his watch; it was exactly 8:30 PM.

He had converted the life energy of the dead aliens into Star-Gift three minutes ago, at 8:27 PM.

He was now performing "Star Gathering"; if it only increased by one point of Star-Gift at 8:30 PM three days later, that would mean the Key was currently in an overflow state.

"Come on! I hope to draw a powerful existence capable of traveling through time and space!"

Thinking of this, Qi Ming pressed the button and began his second "Star Gathering."

(End of chapter)