Chapter 546

“Beta Wand?”

Shinjou Aki jolted: “You’re not going to blow up Qi Ming next, after nearly blowing yourself up last time?”

Blow up?

At those words, Qi Ming remembered.

In the opening of the Ultraman X movie—“Here Comes Our Ultraman”—Dr. Gelman, while telling two researchers the legend of the Origin Giant Ultraman, pulled out a Beta Wand he had built himself.

He confidently declared, “I’ve finished crafting the Beta Device that can summon the Origin Giant Ultraman—when I was a child, that’s how the Light Giant transformed,” then swung the Beta Wand violently…

And blew up his own lab.

So, is Dr. Gelman making another one?

Dr. Gelman, embarrassed by Shinjou Aki dredging up his past, waved his hands: “I’ve improved this one—it won’t explode even if it fails.”

Qi Ming thought for a moment, took the Beta Wand, and swung it upward.

“Wait, don’t transform in my room, no!” Shinjou Aki, face pale with terror, dove under the covers for cover.

After a long pause, nothing happened.

Shinjou Aki poked her head out from under the covers: “Huh? Didn’t explode?”

Dr. Gelman: “Can’t you have a little faith in me?”

Shinjou Aki turned to Qi Ming and saw faint glimmers of light emanating from the Beta Wand he had swung—then they vanished quickly.

No explosion, but no transformation either.

“I definitely felt a warm glow just then—that’s the sensation you get right before transformation—but it stopped abruptly,” Qi Ming mused. “It seems… something’s missing.”

Dr. Gelman: “A missing condition?”

He said he would leave the Beta Wand with Qi Ming and asked him to keep an eye out, to find a way forward.

Over the next two days, Dr. Gelman studied the Ultraman Any Key in meticulous detail, racking his brain but finding no answers.

“The Star Cluster portion I handled definitely replicates consciousness too—how could this happen…”

He believed the problem lay elsewhere.

Shinjou Aki had packed her bags: “We’ll have to ask other developers of the Any Key—maybe we can catch that ‘most troublesome thing’ along the way.”

Qi Ming: “The most troublesome thing?”

Shinjou Aki: “That red ball from the Gaia movie.”

In her view, the red ball from the Gaia movie “Supertime Battle” and “Ark” had an absurdly high upper limit.

If someone like Shin Fukuyuki—or someone even more evil—used it to make a wish, it might unleash a disaster requiring a “Mystic Four Ultramen” level to oppose.

Dr. Gelman said his pursuit of it had been intermittent—it seemed to be deliberately avoiding him.

Shinjou Aki said: “But we can’t just leave it alone—if a super-villain like Tregear gets hold of it, it’ll be disastrous.”

Dr. Gelman pulled out his “Door of Anywhere” again; the two stepped inside to begin their journey—to find other Any Key developers and track down the red ball.

Before leaving, Shinjou Aki patted Qi Ming’s shoulder with reluctance: “While I’m gone, take care of yourself.”

Qi Ming thought: “You took the Eternal Core fragment for me, you left me the Dyna Zeon blueprints—whether you’re here or not hardly matters anymore.”

Shinjou Aki: “So cold-hearted!”

The teleportation gate opened, and the two stepped inside.

“Let’s find that guy who calls himself a ‘god-talented’ one first—have you been in touch with him lately?”

“He’s apparently in another timeline’s Japan, in a place called ‘Snake Clan Eight Families,’ seeking game design inspiration—and messing with everyone…”

Qi Ming watched them depart; after they vanished, he stood for a long while, calmed his thoughts, then softly said:

“Safe travels. Come back soon.”

……………………………

On the night Shinjou Aki left, three “visitors” arrived on Earth in the form of two purple spheres and one red sphere.

At night, in the dense forest of Oilfield Mountain.

The red sphere descended, and a man with eye-shadow-like markings, dressed in a uniform, stepped out.

If Qi Ming were here, he would instantly recognize him—the Dais Star Man from Episode 7 of Ultraman Dyna, “A Friend in the Box.”

He held a firearm, seemingly searching for something.

Soon, he spotted his target.

In a dirt pit, inside a transparent box, lay a small creature covered in blue-purple fur, appearing harmless.

It was the vicious monster [Gabisu].

“Shhh!” The next moment, the Dais Star Man fired directly, obliterating the box and the Gabisu inside.

“One more…” After eliminating the target, the Dais Star Man murmured, feeling the task was difficult.

There was one more Gabisu.

The two Gabisu had once ravaged Dais Star, committing unspeakable crimes—his own daughter died in that disaster.

After immense sacrifice, all Dais Star citizens captured them and imprisoned them in special cosmic cages, compressing them from seventy meters down to eight centimeters.

He had been aboard a spaceship, intending to exile both Gabisu into a black hole.

But they used their last strength to escape the ship and landed on this planet.

That was troublesome.

The Gabisu, now utterly drained of power, were extremely weak—his laser gun could erase them easily.

But if he didn’t quickly find the other Gabisu, the cage material sealing it would lose effectiveness from mixing with this planet’s air.

Commonly called “oxidation.”

At that point, the freed Gabisu would rapidly revert to its seventy-meter monstrous form.

Once that happened, this planet would face a terrifying catastrophe.

He must find the other Gabisu and destroy it—before then!

“Boom.” Suddenly, rocks nearby collapsed, and a glowing red object emerged from the mountain.

“Is this a mechanical artifact of this planet?” Seeing no immediate threat, the Dais Star Man held his ground.

His priority now was recovering the Gabisu.

………………………………

The next morning.

Little Wu rode his bicycle, preparing to represent the “Ultraman Faith” and deliver “love” to Oilfield Mountain.

Earlier, coordination had been made: a teacher from a TPC-affiliated orphanage would bring the children on a spring outing to this area.

He would bring a large bag full of Ultraman toys to surprise them.

But…

Was it really spring? Why was it so hot?

He hadn’t ridden far when a wave of heat slammed into him.

The sunlight was blindingly white; the wind carried scorching dryness, clinging sticky to his skin.

Leaves by the roadside curled and wilted from the sun; every pedal stroke felt like struggling through a steamer.

“It’s still spring—this heat can’t be real. It’s just psychological.”

Holding that thought, Little Wu, drenched in sweat, pedaled hard for half an hour—then collapsed from heatstroke.

Watching the overturned bicycle and unconscious Little Wu, Meflas was speechless.

Little Wu, Little Wu—even an Ultraman as radiant as the sun can’t shine into every corner.

The Ultraman you worship won’t know you’ve collapsed in this remote wilderness, won’t come to save you, won’t take you to Ultraman Star for doing good.

In the end, only this old friend of mine can help you.

He was about to reveal himself to assist—when suddenly, the sound of an engine approached from afar.