48. The Eternal Core

Qi Ming and Abagbas walked through the abandoned factory littered with corpses, observing whether there were any conscious Alien Baltans left while conversing.

At this moment, Abagbas acted as if he were accompanying a top-ranking official inspecting from above, walking on thin ice and not daring to breathe loudly.

He constantly reminded himself that the terrifyingly powerful human beside him was not his enemy, and there was no life-or-death conflict between them.

"In the universe, there is a legend of untraceable origin concerning this planet."

"According to legend, this planet is the 'singularity' of this universe."

"A certain power, centered around what you call 'Earth', created this universe of ours."

"And that powerful force might still be on Earth. If anyone can obtain it, they will possess the power to destroy and reshape dimensions at will."

Hearing this, Qi Ming fell into deep thought.

This description sounded far too much like the Eternity Core from *Ultraman Trigger*.

This item indeed possessed dimensional-level power, though it was extremely unstable. Villains could wield it effortlessly, while heroes faced numerous restrictions and side effects.

Wait!

Amidst his churning thoughts, Qi Ming's body trembled violently.

An extremely startling yet remarkably rational conjecture formed in his mind.

He had once heard such a theory—after browsing through the memories of Mitsukuni Shizuma, the Eternity Core created the universe of *Trigger*.

What if the Eternity Core had browsed the memories of a hardcore Ultraman fan with a worldview similar to *Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna & Ultraman Gaia: Hyperspace Battle* and used that to pioneer a universe...

Could this "all-star," "goulash" universe have been born this way?

If this conjecture came true, the inner thoughts of the person whose memories the Eternity Core viewed must have been extremely dark, which was why this world was so blatantly crawling with "scum and pests."

Yamanaka, Hoshino, Yuka Dobashi, Hayate, Hirukawa... Was that person a necrophiliac?

Qi Ming asked, "So, various alien races invading Earth want to occupy this planet to easily search for this 'power to restart the universe'?"

Abagbas replied, "Not all races believe this. I heard that in the past, aliens with friendly intentions passed by here, but as soon as they said hello, they were annihilated by you."

That must be referring to Yuka Dobashi ordering the open fire to wipe out the V99 fleet.

No wonder only malicious, invasive aliens came; friendly aliens considered this place uncommunicative and a lawless wasteland.

"Whoosh..." At that moment, a roaring sound came from afar. Qi Ming could tell it was the sound of the Guts Wing No. 2 wings tearing through the air.

The Guts team, delayed briefly by Staff Officer Koutou, was finally arriving.

Abagbas also knew he had to leave. Before parting, he told Qi Ming a "big secret."

"I am not the only one who came to Earth from Planet Standel; another race has also sent someone here. Their goal is the same as mine: to recruit soldiers."

Qi Ming stated, "You mean 'Reedle', who is suited to operate in the light, right? I know."

Abagbas: "!"

How did he know this?!

Qi Ming understood the other party's thoughts: "As long as I am here for a single day, no alien will be able to take Earthlings away as slaves. But where is he?"

TPC had surveillance feeds covering all of Japan, yet there was no trace of Reedle.

Abagbas explained, "One night six days ago, he had a conflict with me. After driving me away, he never appeared again."

Seeing that Qi Ming understood his meaning, he safely departed from Earth, deciding not to bite off more than he could chew by staying where Qi Ming guarded, and prepared to go bully the Alien Baltans instead.

Watching his retreating back, Qi Ming could not help but reveal a strange smile.

…………………………

"Is this hell? It's too terrifying."

The members of the Guts team who stepped off the aircraft were shocked by the scene before them.

The abandoned factory had been reduced to a pile of ruins. Amidst the devastation, the corpses of the Alien Baltans were scattered haphazardly, their deaths looking extremely miserable.

"They're all dead..." Even Ultraseven was deeply startled.

Emi asked, "Was this done by Team Member Qi Ming?"

Yamanaka chimed in, "Aside from him, who else would use such cruel methods?"

They knew nothing of Nova and simply assumed Qi Ming had killed all the aliens single-handedly.

In the past, no one would have believed a human could accomplish such a feat alone.

To brazenly charge into a den of tigers frequented by multiple ruthless aliens and kill them all—was that something a human could do?

Yet Qi Ming had repeatedly challenged the impossible during this period, raising their "cognitive thresholds" and gradually making them numb and accepting of the impossible.

"Bang..." At that moment, footsteps rang out from ahead.

"Alert!" Shioya Nagi shouted sharply, and Yamanaka along with a few others immediately assumed a shooting stance.

"No need to be nervous, it's already over," Qi Ming's voice drifted over.

He was seen carrying five heavy-looking metal boxes in each of his hands, walking out very steadily.

"Team Member Qi Ming," Emi lowered her gun.

"Sorry for the delay, I'm late," Ultraseven stepped forward leaning on his cane.

"It's fine, everything is alright now." Qi Ming subconsciously glanced at Shioya Nagi.

If the Guts team had arrived on time to join the battle, Shioya Nagi probably would have opened fire indiscriminately on him for transforming into Nova.

Shioya Nagi asked, "Those aliens?"

Qi Ming set the boxes down. "Some dead, some fled. The shrunken people are all inside here, including the Mineda siblings you care about."

He then handed another shrinking ray gun to Kishida, asking him to figure out a way to analyze it and restore these people to their normal sizes.

In *The Return of Ultraman*, Kishida was always inventing things as well; his ecological niche in this Guts team corresponded to Horii.

"Got it," Kishida instinctively took it, his eyes carrying a hint of awe.

This guy had genuinely resolved the aliens that had driven them frantic for days, all by himself and in such a short time.

"This is simply superman," Yamanaka muttered softly, inadvertently speaking his true thoughts.

"You guys handle the cleanup; I'm going over there to rest for a bit."

Qi Ming left them to tidy up the battlefield while he ran off to the side, wanting to figure out what was going on with the missing fraction of Stargift.

Even the habitually critical Yamanaka would not accuse him of slacking off under these circumstances.

Qi Ming found a secluded spot, fiddled with the device for quite a while, and recalling his experiences over the past few days, arrived at a conjecture.

"Could it be that the Ultraman shortcut key can only hold a maximum of ten Stargifts, and once it reaches the limit, it won't increase anymore?"

To verify this conjecture was actually very simple.

Qi Ming checked his watch; it was currently exactly 8:30 PM.

He had converted the life energy of the dead aliens into Stargifts three minutes ago, at 8:27 PM.

If he performed a "Star Gathering" now, and a Stargift was only added at 8:30 PM three days later, it would mean the shortcut key was currently in an overflow state.

"Come on! I hope to draw a powerful entity capable of time travel!"

Thinking of this, Qi Ming pressed the button and began his second "Star Gathering."