Chapter 73: 71 The Fisherman Never Returns Empty-Handed

This was a bustling coastline, where the shore was packed with anglers as far as the eye could see.

Nearby, an older woman was loudly hawking:

“These are for customers who came home empty-handed—buy them all, we’ve got every kind of fish.”

“Dried fish are available too, but don’t claim you caught them yourself.”

“Go home and boast to your kids about your skill—come buy now.”

An older man shook his head at the crowd gathered around the woman, asking prices: “You came all this way to fish, yet you buy fish? I can’t stand it.”

He walked over to a boy wearing a black hat and joined him in fishing.

“Got one!” Ten minutes later, the boy’s float twitched—he yanked the rod in excitement, only to hook a black boot.

Seeing the boy’s dejected look, the man advised: “Even expensive bait won’t guarantee a catch. I crush shells from this area to use as bait.”

“Got one!” As soon as he finished speaking, the man jerked his rod and pulled up a small fish.

At that moment, the boy’s rod dipped again.

Seeing him struggle to reel it in, the helpful man stepped forward: “This summer, the number of people fishing here is several times higher than usual—the seabed is littered with broken fishing lines, thick as spiderwebs.”

The boy asked: “Why?”

The man scratched his head: “The ocean research institute here apparently invented a sonar device that draws fish schools in. More fish means more anglers—what have you caught so far?”

The boy glanced awkwardly at his empty basket: “Nothing…”

The man comforted him: “At your age, you won’t catch big fish.”

The boy retorted: “Maybe! My friend caught a huge sea bream—I’m going to catch an even bigger one.”

But half an hour passed, and the boy still caught nothing.

By 4:30 p.m., the boy realized today was hopeless—he reeled in his line and left with the man.

On the way, the man met familiar fishermen and asked how they’d been doing.

The fishermen shook their heads: “Not good. Too many people fishing here—hard to catch anything in this sea.”

The man: “But with so many people chumming the water, the fish should be fatter.”

The fishermen: “We’re puzzled too, but the seawater’s gotten murkier lately. Some say the nuclear wastewater dumped earlier reached our waters—so the fish are disappearing.”

The man joined in cursing: “Those officials have no idea what they’re thinking—money’s not spent on cleaning up nuclear waste, but on spreading lies that it’s harmless.”

At that moment, the boy’s eyes lit up as he pointed to a large red fish in a boat: “Uncle, what’s that?”

The fisherman: “Don’t know. I’ve never seen a fish like this before—could it have mutated from nuclear pollution?”

The boy didn’t care: “But it’s huge—bigger than my friend’s catch. Uncle, sell me this fish.”

The fisherman thought for a moment: “I’ll give it to you, but promise me you won’t eat it—it’s probably toxic.”

The boy readily agreed.

After placing the fish in his basket, the boy bid farewell to the fisherman and prepared to head home.

As they passed the ocean research institute the man mentioned, a car caught the boy’s attention.

“I recognize it—that’s the Drumm vehicle from the Victory Team!” the boy exclaimed.

Watching the man and woman step out, the man sighed: “That young man—he’s handsome.”

…………………………

The male team member was Qi Ming; the female team member was Huimei. They came here to investigate two matters.

“This institute must be the one from Ultraman Tiga’s episode twelve, ‘Emergency Call from the Deep Sea.’”

“But where did this ‘σ-wave’ suddenly come from?”

In recent days, the seabed in this area had been emitting ‘σ-waves.’ Zhu Xingtuan suspected a connection to the recent surge in underwater earthquakes, so he sent Qi Ming and Huimei here with a “strange dead fish” to inquire.

“The DNA analysis is complete—it contains recombinant DNA factors caused by radiation,” said the institute’s director.

Huimei: “So this is a preexisting organism that mutated suddenly—is it due to nuclear wastewater?”

The director said: “Unlikely. The treated nuclear wastewater isn’t that harmful.”

“The most probable cause is the series of U.S. nuclear tests conducted in the Pacific.”

“The recent cluster of underwater earthquakes may also stem from those nuclear tests.”

“Due to underwater volcanic eruptions, migratory routes of planktonic fish have changed drastically. If they pass through contaminated waters, more ‘strange dead fish’ will appear…”

After detailing the dangers, the director added: “We’re using our latest equipment to find ways to mitigate the harm nuclear tests inflict on marine life.”

He led Qi Ming and Huimei into the lab and proudly introduced:

“This is the ultrasonic induction signaling system.”

“Simply put, it uses ultrasonic waves to gather fish schools and steer marine life away from polluted zones.”

“This is a buoy equipped with a signal emitter…”

After the director finished his lengthy explanation, Qi Ming said: “I advise caution in using this device.”

In the original Ultraman Tiga plot, this ultrasonic induction system attracted the mutated Pippi—Reiloss.

And in this world, where nearly every U-Beast character and event exists, who knows how many sea monsters it might summon…

Seeing Qi Ming’s skepticism, the director challenged him: “What’s your opinion?”

Qi Ming: “The ocean holds many giant monsters. If they’re drawn here, can your facility withstand them?”

The director: “Such massive monsters shouldn’t have ordinary marine biological traits.”

Qi Ming: “What if they do? Maybe they mutated from ordinary marine life—or maybe they were always that large.”

The director fell silent for a long while: “We must continue experiments, refine the system with data. If a monster does appear, the Victory Team and Defense Force will eliminate it.”

Qi Ming: “If a terrestrial monster appears and begins destruction, yes, we’ll kill it—but…”

Can a monster summoned by the ultrasonic system be called “active”?

I need to find time to explore Japan’s main dragon vein, locate the Ren Dragon, and speak with it properly.

At that moment, Huimei brought up the second matter: “The sea near this institute keeps emitting ‘σ-waves.’ That’s unusual—do you have any leads?”

The director: “We’ve noticed it too, but so far, everything appears normal.”

“Ding-ding.” Instantly, their communicators beeped.

Zhu Xingtuan sent a message: a monster had just appeared and attacked an offshore oil exploration station.

Qi Ming looked at the image data and thought: “So it’s you.”

The monster in the image resembled a green pufferfish, horrifying in appearance—it was the same creature from Ultraman Tiga’s original plot: [Reiloss], mutated suddenly due to underground nuclear testing.

(End of Chapter)