38. The Orphan's Fate

The Kettar-seijin struggled violently, kicking Yamanaka in the chest and sending him flying into Kishida, knocking them both down.

"Ouch," Yamanaka felt a wave of dizziness, nearly losing consciousness. He regretted not listening to Qi Ming earlier; he should have just shattered it with a single shot! Then he wouldn't have had to suffer like this.

The Kettar-seijin, having regained its freedom, had no intention of fighting in this unfamiliar environment and immediately fled into the distance.

"Senior, you're usually so experienced with aliens, how did you mess this up?" Qi Ming reacted quickly, throwing out this remark before preparing to pursue.

However, he was currently carrying nine human statues and was hindered in his movement. Fearing that any sudden action might crack a statue and leave the person permanently disabled upon restoration, he had to set them down gently.

By the time he finished, the Kettar-seijin had already sprinted over a dozen meters away, despite Nagi Saijo’s gunfire.

Qi Ming stepped forward and launched a flying kick, hoping to force the creature to dodge and close the distance. To his surprise, the Kettar-seijin did not dodge or parry; determined to escape, it took the hit head-on and used the momentum to push forward.

"Cough..." It spat out silver blood, glanced back at Qi Ming, and then vanished into the night, escaping the range of the Victory Team.

Kishida pushed Yamanaka aside. "Damn it! I'll have the Security Bureau deployed tomorrow; we will catch him!"

But the trouble started that very night.

The next morning, Qi Ming was the last to arrive at the Command Room. As soon as he entered, he felt an incredibly heavy and oppressive atmosphere. Dan Moroboshi told him that the Kettar-seijin who escaped last night had killed someone.

Qi Ming was surprised. "It acted so quickly?"

"The victims were a couple, surnamed Umeda," Moroboshi replied. "The Kettar-seijin killed them right in front of their son and daughter!"

Umeda... Hearing the name, Qi Ming felt a sense of unease. When he saw the photos, his heart sank. These two orphaned siblings were the very same ones who had lived with Gen Ohtori throughout the entire *Ultraman Leo* series!

In the original *Leo* story, it was the Alien Zulu who killed the parents. In this world, the Alien Zulu had been unable to pass Qi Ming’s gauntlet despite his best efforts and hadn't managed to harm anyone. Qi Ming had hoped he had changed the siblings' fate by flapping his wings, but he hadn't expected this...

Kishida, his face gloomy, slammed the table hard. "Damn it! If we had finished it off yesterday while it was still a statue, this wouldn't have happened!"

Yamanaka also looked sullen; his wounds from yesterday were still throbbing. He felt awkward facing Qi Ming, filled with deep regret. Meanwhile, Nagi Saijo was pale, uncharacteristically depressed, and silent. In her view, this was entirely avoidable. Qi Ming had been ready to end the alien, but the three of them had interfered.

Qi Ming, of course, would not say something heartless like, "As expected of Deputy Captain Saijo, an orphan yourself, helping others experience the same feeling." Mutual blame was pointless now. If there were to be a reckoning, it would have to wait until the current crises were resolved; assigning blame now would only exacerbate tensions. The situation was already severe and complex; he couldn't afford to have the team fall apart. Despite their shortcomings, these people were still useful.

He asked Emi, "Have you found the alien?"

Emi shook her head. "No, all security cameras have failed to capture it, and the Security Bureau hasn't found any leads."

"It has strong counter-surveillance instincts," Qi Ming noted. "Including this escaped Kettar-seijin, there are now five types of aliens active on Earth."

The Alien Crow, the Alien Alien, Aboras, the Alien Natan, and the Kettar-seijin. Five simultaneous threats—enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.

Qi Ming remained relatively calm. If he could eliminate all these aliens, it would be a massive harvest. His Star Points would surely reach 10, allowing him to perform another Star Gathering. He had a premonition that next time, he would be able to "gather" someone truly powerful.

Dan Moroboshi felt the situation was dire. "If they all appear and cause chaos, even the full military force of Japan wouldn't be enough to suppress it."

Qi Ming glanced at him. "If they really show up together, the Kettar-seijin and Aboras should start fighting each other first. Don't forget, there is bad blood between them."

"Alright, everyone, pull yourselves together," Qi Ming said. "What's done is done. Now, we must focus on how to curb the situation from worsening and avoid another tragedy. Let me share the intelligence I have and analyze our current situation."

Despite being the newest recruit, Qi Ming displayed a quality of leadership in that moment, his calm demeanor infecting everyone else.

Everyone moved closer, listening intently.

"Let's start with the Alien Crows. They have heads like crows but human-like bodies. They arrived in a large group, using 'shrinking ray guns' to capture humans, intending to take them back to their planet as slaves. Though numerous, they cannot become giants; a single spacecraft is all they have to rely on, and the Falcon 2 is enough to handle them."

Emi raised her hand, mentioning that Aboras had been driven off yesterday and the kidnapped humans had been rescued. With Aboras's results at zero, would he go after the Alien Crows?

"Possibly," Qi Ming said. "I don't know if he will, but the Alien Alien definitely will go after the Alien Crows, because one of his 'prey,' Zara, was taken by them."

He explained to the team that this Alien Alien enjoyed a "hunting game." He would shackle two inhabitants of another planet, Lucia and Zara, and exile them to Earth, then pursue them as a hunter. He could grow to giant size and possessed significant combat capability.

"That's just too much!" Emi exclaimed.

Yamanaka had a different opinion: "If Qi Ming’s intelligence is correct, then this is an affair between aliens and has nothing to do with Earth. We don't need to get involved."

Typical of Yamanaka, who would have "handed Ace over to the Alien Hipporito." It wasn't surprising he said this. In any other team, such a view would be met with outrage, but in this "melting pot" Victory Team, his view received quite a bit of support.

Dan Moroboshi wanted to speak but hesitated, his eyes flickering. Nagi Saijo remained silent in agreement. Kishida also felt that the situation was too complicated, with multiple aliens eyeing Earth, and they simply didn't have the energy to care about the personal vendettas of extraterrestrials. As long as they didn't invade Earth or destroy cities, they shouldn't intervene.

Kishida clearly still had a sense of shame, however; after speaking, he coughed and added a caveat: "Of course, from the perspective of our civilization's values, this is certainly wrong and should be morally condemned."

Qi Ming replied, "According to your logic, the situation between Chris Maya and the Alien Alien is also just 'an affair between aliens'."