Chapter 80: 78 The Excluded Aihara Ryuu

A massive, unconfirmed creature has appeared within Tokyo!

The location of the massive creature has been confirmed at six sites!

An emergency alarm blared; Qi Ming sighed softly as he gazed at the majestic dragon head on the large screen.

“Ren Long has appeared after all.”

Kishida gasped: “What? This is the ‘Dragon that commands Earth’s monsters’ you mentioned?”

Even through the screen, he could sense the extraordinary aura of the six dragon heads.

The next moment, Ren Long’s six dragon heads simultaneously unleashed fireballs, striking and destroying several underground pipelines.

Nami Nishijo frowned and demanded:

“We’ve let every recent Earth monster go, even established protected zones.”

“Isn’t that enough? Why is it still coming out to cause chaos?”

Emi spoke up: “There have been no casualties—it seems to have waited until civilians fled before launching its attack.”

Qi Ming exhaled in relief: “It seems Ren Long is still restrained. It’s only here to repair the dragon veins.”

Yamana: “Repair the dragon veins?”

Qi Ming: “Emi, bring up Tokyo’s map.”

In the original Gaia series, excessive human urban development severed the earth’s dragon veins.

Thus, Ren Long appeared and severed all human infrastructure in Tokyo to restore the dragon veins.

Once displayed on the screen, Qi Ming pointed to the areas without water or electricity:

“These locations—all of them—are dragon veins.”

“Human overdevelopment has caused the ‘form’ and ‘energy’ here to oppose each other; if this continues, auspicious land will become cursed.”

He did not recite the exact lines of the female feng shui master, Hei Tian Hui, from the original series—he spoke his own understanding.

Unlike the deceptive “divination” used to fool others, he truly understood the “Art of Seeking Dragons.”

Two years ago, during the Spring Festival, Qi Ming heard his father’s unsavory relatives were coming to visit, so he quickly fled abroad with Professor Sima Hui, the archaeologist.

Sima Hui took Qi Ming to the United States to visit an elderly man surnamed Hu, where Qi Ming came across a copy of the “Sixteen-Character Yin-Yang Feng Shui Secret Art,” flipped through it briefly, and thus gained a basic understanding of feng shui.

Kishida: “But why has all of Tokyo been paralyzed? Is the entire city a dragon vein?”

Qi Ming: “Dragon veins are countless. Some tributaries are as insignificant as human hairs; others are as vital as the brain or heart.”

“The places Ren Long severed… how could this be.”

Qi Ming stared at Tokyo’s topographical map, growing more uneasy with each passing moment.

Was this coincidence?

Why were all the trains, subways, gas lines, and power cables laid directly atop the main dragon veins?

Qi Ming: “Who designed this city layout? Why does it feel like someone deliberately ‘severed the dragon veins’?”

Kishida: “It was designed by the world-class underground scientist, Dr. Koizumi.”

Qi Ming frowned: “The survivor of the ‘Underground Science Center Destruction’ incident two years ago?”

Kishida: “Yes. We still don’t know who was responsible.”

“After that accident, Dr. Koizumi was the only outstanding underground scientist left.”

“Every underground engineering project with related issues must turn to him—he’s overwhelmed.”

No, I think I know who did it.

The Underground Science Center destruction and Dr. Koizumi both originate from Ultraman Jack’s 50th episode, “Invitation from Hell.”

In the original series, the subterranean being Bokkou Wang destroyed the Underground Science Center to invade the surface world, then hypnotized and murdered the lone survivor, Dr. Koizumi.

Afterwards, Bokkou Wang framed Ueno, an officer investigating the truth alongside the doctor’s daughter, for the murder.

This was a cunning alien, radiating an indescribable air of eerie malice.

“Bang!” The command room door opened; Colonel Kento entered, looking regretful.

He said the Prime Minister had directly ordered the Defense Force to eliminate the newly appeared dragon monster—TPC was no longer involved.

Qi Ming sneered: “Eliminate Ren Long? They’re walking to their deaths.”

…………………………

“Bang!” Dozens of tanks and six fighter jets rolled toward a dragon head emerging from a bay, their cannons raised and aimed at Ren Long.

“Fire!” Commander Aihara Ryuu gave the order, and all weapons opened fire simultaneously.

The dragon head was engulfed in blue light; it used telekinesis to reflect every attack back, exploding tanks, flipping them over, and causing planes to crash.

“Can the dragon head on its tail also use telekinesis? This Ren Long is far stronger than in the original series,” Qi Ming thought.

Deputy Commander Nishijo: “It didn’t retaliate even when targeted—only responded after being attacked…”

Kento, watching the battle’s outcome, was stunned: “Such a powerful monster. Without Ultraman, defeating it may come at an enormous cost.”

Half an hour passed; all other Defense Force units dispatched to the remaining five dragon heads were annihilated—yet Ultraman still did not appear.

“Ryuu, last time you yelled at Ultraman on the rooftop, you went too far,” one of Ryuu’s fellow officers rebuked him.

He believed Ryuu had driven Ultraman away, causing it to abandon the Defense Force to their fate.

Ryuu felt a bitter pang inside.

Yet even in retaliation, Ren Long remained restrained—casualties among the Defense Force were minimal, though all their military equipment was destroyed.

…………………………

In the command room, seeing the Defense Force return empty-handed, Kento sighed: Humanity must find a way to make Ultraman a “controllable factor,” to seize this power for itself.

Qi Ming: “?”

Here we go again?

He asked: “Have any stone statues been found in Kumamoto City?”

Colonel Kento said traces had been discovered, but the survey team kept encountering bad luck—constant mishaps and unexpected events—slowing progress drastically.

Qi Ming immediately knew: It was Shōgo Masaki secretly sabotaging them.

Before this frontline was breached, Kento likely had no energy left to pursue other matters.

After dealing with the Defense Force, the six dragon heads retracted, then reappeared at six other locations, destroying pipelines with fireballs.

Soon, the Cabinet called Kento, requesting the Victory Team deploy to eliminate the monster.

Colonel Kento hesitated—he believed eliminating this non-lethal monster without Ultraman would cost too much, making it pointless.

Qi Ming realized something: “Emi, check Ren Long’s movement pattern.”

Emi nodded, typed a few keys, and said: “By the way, Dr. Koizumi’s recently planned ‘Underground City’ lies directly along this path.”

Underground City… New Frontier Development Project…

Is this the one from Ultraman Dyna’s fourth episode, “Battle! Underground City”?

Gaia’s “City of Dragons,” Jack’s “Invitation from Hell,” Dyna’s “Battle! Underground City.”

Another multi-layered attack… Whatever. I’m used to it by now.

(End of Chapter)