36. Wow, the intense light actually works.

"This is..." Chris Maya stared, dazed and disillusioned, at the surreal sight of several GUTS members leaping one after another into the blue beam of light, ascending together.

Ever since she was a child, she had been having a "dream." A few days ago, a man had approached her and told her via telepathy that it wasn't a dream—the distant starry sky in her memories was real. He claimed to be her older brother, having come from their home planet to retrieve her. He explained that when he and Maya’s mother had set out on an interstellar journey during their childhood, an accident forced them to make an emergency landing on Earth. Their life support systems had failed, leaving them with just enough power to send two people back to their home planet. Because a car accident had occurred at that time and a local girl had died, they decided to have Maya’s consciousness temporarily inhabit the body of the deceased Earth girl.

After returning to their planet and repairing their ship, Maya’s mother and brother had intended to come back for her immediately. However, the Natan aliens launched an invasion of their world. During the war, her mother was killed and her brother fled, leaving the matter unresolved until now. To her surprise, the Natan aliens had tracked them to Earth, even locating her brother—who was also inhabiting a human body—and her, intending to wipe out all the refugees. She had been attacked at home and fled, and just as she was about to be caught, a beam of light descended from the sky, abducting the Natan alien pursuing her. Because she was the one being chased and was a woman, she was not recognized by Aboras and thus fell outside the scope of his abduction.

Seeing several "passersby" acting as if they had a death wish, following the light beam "up to the sky," left her feeling utterly disillusioned.

On the other side, Qi Ming and his three companions "hitched a ride," arriving one after another inside the Aboras spacecraft.

Kishida: "What the hell? Is this the interior of the ship?"

The surroundings were filled with jagged rocks, resembling a cavern, with white mist rising to shroud the area in a mysterious, hazy veil.

Yamanaka: "By the way, what about Chris Maya?"

Qi Ming: "The alien chasing her was also dragged in; she's perfectly safe now."

Qi Ming added that if they happened to run into the Natan alien, they could just dispose of it along the way.

Nagi Saijo, who had been carefully observing the surroundings, turned pale: "Wait, these aren't stone pillars—they're people!"

Indeed, the pillars were "carved" with the contours of human faces and bent limbs. Clearly, these were the humans kidnapped by Aboras, solidified into statues and "stored" within the pillars.

Qi Ming: "They look like they've been cast into concrete piles. I wonder if there's a way to turn them back."

The next moment, a human-sized figure with wings on its back and red glowing organs on its face emerged from behind a pillar. It was Aboras!

The target had appeared. Nagi and her two companions immediately raised their guard, drawing their GUTS Hyper Guns. Aboras ignored them, turning his attention directly to Qi Ming.

"I can sense it. Even though you are an Earthling, you are not like the rest of these mediocre beings."

"If you are willing to help us, the Aboras, conquer this planet, I will spare you from becoming our slave."

The three GUTS members were stunned.

Qi Ming: "The way you talk is as backwards as Kabutack's Super Change mode; you speak such nonsense with a straight face."

Nagi Saijo: "Don't waste time talking to him! Attack!"

She pulled the trigger, and her GUTS Hyper Gun fired a laser at Aboras. Aboras casually raised his right "Mechanical Power Arm" and blocked it with ease.

Kishida: "What a tough body!"

He fired again, refusing to believe it, but this time Aboras let the shot hit his shoulder, not even flinching.

"It's useless!" Aboras charged through their fire, delivering a straight punch that sent Yamanaka flying, his face contorted in pain.

Yamanaka: "Officer Qi Ming, why are you just standing there watching!"

Kishida: "Use your invincible skills to deal with him!"

In his eyes, even though the alien was impervious to bullets, Qi Ming was the kind of person who could smash open a six-ton door; he should be able to hold his own.

Qi Ming: "No need. Didn't I bring a secret weapon?"

With that, he flipped the switch on his handheld lantern, and a 50,000-lumen beam of intense light flooded every corner of the strange space in an instant!

"Aaah!" Aboras, who had been unfazed by the GUTS Hyper Guns just moments before, let out a deafening scream. Like a vampire caught in the sun, he shrieked in agony, losing all his strength and composure as he scrambled to flee into the distance.

Kishida immediately put on the sunglasses Qi Ming had given him: "It actually works!"

Yamanaka also took out his own sunglasses: "He guessed right!"

Nagi Saijo reacted quickly: "Quick, follow Officer Qi Ming and use the intense light to take that alien down!"

Qi Ming: "It's the Golden Flash!"

He pulled out an ultraviolet floodlight and handed it to Nagi, urging her to move forward.

With the combination of the super-intense light and powerful ultraviolet rays, Aboras felt as if he were facing a miniature sun; his body felt as though it were melting. Driven by the instinct to survive, he continued to sprint forward, screaming all the way.

"It sounds lively over there." In the GUTS command room, Megumi listened to the commotion on the communications channel, feeling a twinge of envy.

Inside the ship, the four of them pressed their advantage, using the light's suppressive effect on Aboras to charge forward. The alien, familiar with the ship's layout, managed to keep some distance between himself and his pursuers.

Aboras has restrained GUTS for 60 seconds.
Aboras has restrained GUTS for 120 seconds.
Aboras has restrained GUTS for 180 seconds, earning the title: Restraint Master.

Yamanaka: "This guy runs fast!"

Kishida was panting, completely out of breath: "Qi Ming, just forget about us and go after him!"

Nagi Saijo: "No, maintain formation."

Qi Ming stopped in his tracks: "It's too late. It seems he escaped through some kind of teleportation device."

Although they hadn't managed to finish him off, forcing the enemy to abandon his own lair was already a major victory.

"But what about the Natan alien? How come we haven't seen him?" Qi Ming wondered, having hoped to take care of him too.

Kishida tinkered with the controls for a moment and sighed: "I can't access the ship's main control room, but being able to rescue these kidnapped people is enough."

He took out his tools and tried to separate the people who had been merged into the pillars, hoping to see if they could be restored to normal. Qi Ming looked around, searching for any sign of the Natan alien.

Suddenly, a statue on one of the pillars caught his eye, leaving him deeply surprised.

"So, even before today's Natan alien, Aboras had already captured other extraterrestrials!"