Chapter Nine: Stay Here and Do Not Wander

At dawn, Qiao Zhe stepped out of an internet café.

The internet in this world was highly developed, making it easy to catch up on the latest news.

Members of the Alchemy Star, the Root of Destruction summoner that invaded Earth, and the silver-and-red giant fighting monsters—all these stories were circulating.

It was clear that this was the world of Gaia.

Qiao Zhe even knew exactly what My Dream Takayama looked like; it matched the image from the TV show he’d seen before.

Not far away, he could see a large screen mounted on a tall building, currently playing footage of Gaia fighting a monster.

In the video, the silver-and-red giant had just appeared, slamming into the ground in a crouch and sending dirt flying dozens of meters high.

Watching this familiar move, Qiao Zhe was certain it was the rebellious son of the Earth.

Unlike watching Ultraman on TV, seeing Ultraman captured in reality imbued him with a more tangible, biological feel, and there were no seams on his back.

Come to think of it, in this world, Ultraman was said to be a light bestowed upon humanity by the Earth.

With this in mind, Qiao Zhe called out in his heart to Noah: “Wake up, Noah. Go and borrow some light from this Earth.”

“There should be plenty of light stored here to deal with the Root of Destruction summoner!”

How much light did Gaia’s Earth hold?

That was an unanswerable question, but it certainly gave many shares to Fujimiya.

Not every Earth could nurture the light; Gaia’s Earth was clearly special.

Noah watched Qiao Zhe’s reactions with some confusion. “Jojo, why do you seem to know so much about Ultraman?”

From the moment they met until now, everything about Ultraman on this Earth seemed as if Qiao Zhe had always known—almost as though he was born with this knowledge.

Could it be that this child had the power to foresee the future?

Of course, Qiao Zhe couldn’t predict the future; he had simply watched many tokusatsu shows and saw no need to hide it. “I watched a lot of Ultraman shows in the past.”

“Enough talk. Go borrow some light from the Earth. That way, you’ll recover faster!”

Noah understood immediately, catching Qiao Zhe’s meaning.

The fact that humanity made Ultraman shows didn’t strike him as strange.

Thinking of the monsters he would have to fight in the future, and knowing that Qiao Zhe’s world had works on the subject, Noah thought that fighting them might not be too difficult after all.

Of course, they weren’t exactly on the same page: Qiao Zhe was talking about his life before rebirth, while Noah assumed it was the previous world.

“I understand.” Noah’s voice echoed in Qiao Zhe’s mind, immediately giving him instructions. “Stay here and don’t move. I’ll go speak to the Earth.”

Qiao Zhe’s face darkened at this, feeling as if the old sage was taking advantage of him, though he couldn’t say exactly how.

Still, with this Earth’s help, the old sage should recover a good deal of strength—maybe even evolve to Red Noah?

That was wishful thinking.

Noah’s recovery wouldn’t be accomplished with just any ordinary light.

Besides, Noah wasn’t seeking the Earth’s help for himself—he was doing it for Qiao Zhe.

As for the negotiations between him and the Earth, that was a matter for another time.

On the other side, at the XIG Air Base—

The little boy Qiao Zhe had met before—his uncle was none other than Staff Officer Chiba.

Now in his private room, Staff Officer Chiba listened to his nephew Hiroki’s story with some skepticism.

“You’re saying that last night, you met an alien, and you actually saw him fly out from the Stone Wing?”

The more he listened, the less believable it sounded. If he didn’t know his nephew’s character, Staff Officer Chiba would have thought the boy was lying.

How could an alien emerge from a stone?

There simply shouldn’t be any connection between the two.

Besides, Staff Officer Chiba also knew about the Stone Wing. Since he was a child, that wing-shaped stone had rested on the mountain, unchanged.

It couldn’t be that after decades of nothing happening, and just as the Root of Destruction summoner was confirmed, something went wrong with the Stone Wing?

Such coincidences were impossible, Staff Officer Chiba told himself.

After a moment’s thought, he asked over the phone: “Hiroki, did you see something through your telescope, out in space?”

He knew his nephew was fond of stargazing; the telescope was a gift from three years ago.

Now they were certain—the Root of Destruction summoner came from space, able to use wormholes to send monsters to Earth.

Perhaps Hiroki had spotted a wormhole with his telescope.

Thinking this, Staff Officer Chiba unconsciously dismissed the real answer.

Hiroki, sensing his uncle’s disbelief, became anxious. His voice over the phone was urgent: “It’s true, Uncle!”

“Last night the Stone Wing was glowing, and after the alien came out, the Stone Wing disappeared!”

“Come and see for yourself—the Stone Wing on the mountain is gone. I’m not lying!”

“All right, all right, I understand.” Staff Officer Chiba tried to comfort his nephew, thinking that after all these years, it wasn’t surprising if the Stone Wing had finally collapsed.

He was about to offer some consoling words when, suddenly, alarms sounded throughout the air base!

Beep, beep, beep—

“Emergency alert! Emergency alert! The Air Base is now at Level Three Alert Status!”

On the broadcast, the voice of communications officer Atsuko Sazaki rang out.

Staff Officer Chiba’s expression hardened. He spoke quickly into the phone: “Hiroki, I’ll come visit you in a few days. That’s all for now.”

He hung up as he spoke, then hurried toward the command room.

By the time he arrived, Commander Ishimuro and Director Makoto Tsutsumi were already examining the situation closely.

The newly joined XIG analyst, My Dream Takayama, was also standing nearby.

Standing beside the commander, Staff Officer Chiba asked, “What is it this time?”

“The footage is coming through!” Atsuko broadcasted the video onto the main screen.

On the screen, a gray, liquid-metal-like object was flying at tremendous speed.

Faced with such an unknown entity, Staff Officer Chiba looked to Commander Ishimuro; Commander Ishimuro, in turn, looked to Director Tsutsumi.

Tsutsumi looked blank. Why are you looking at me?

I have no idea!

When it came to battle command, all three could hold their own, but dealing with cosmic life forms was another matter.

Naturally, all three turned their eyes to My Dream Takayama.

See? This is when a genius scientist comes in handy.

Takayama did notice something and immediately stepped up to the console.

“Excuse me, please.”

Though his words were polite, he brusquely edged Atsuko aside.

“Huh? What are you doing?” Atsuko was not pleased with this behavior.

But Takayama didn’t notice her mood. He explained as he worked, “Image data is enough. By analyzing the refraction of light, the material, density, and precision—”

With Takayama’s operations, increasingly detailed data was revealed.

“This thing is a composite metal lifeform!”