58. Dragon Vein

To eliminate Gudon before it appeared, the entire Guts Team went on high alert and began using every possible means to search for the underground subterranean monster.

Meanwhile, Kishida started flipping through ancient texts. "I see! This monster is Gudon! A powerful ancient monster!"

Qi Ming added, "Does it also mention that it feeds on Twin Tail?"

Kishida nodded repeatedly. "Indeed, Team Member Qi Ming is truly well-versed in classics."

Qi Ming rubbed his temples and asked after a moment, "While searching for Gudon, we should look for 'strange stones' as well. Those might be Twin Tail eggs."

Unfortunately, after half a day of searching, they found nothing.

Late at night, the other team members, exhausted from a full day of work, fell into a deep sleep.

Qi Ming, however, seemed to have endless energy and prepared to head out into the night.

"Where are you going?" Moroboshi Dan, deeply worried and still awake, called out to him.

Qi Ming replied, "I'm going to use my own method to smoke out Gudon."

Moroboshi Dan said, "I'm coming with you."

Qi Ming did not refuse. He drove the Deram Car all the way to the quarry where Gudon had appeared during the day.

Seeing Qi Ming get out of the car, Moroboshi Dan followed with his cane. "What do you plan to do?"

Qi Ming pointed at the giant hole Gudon had excavated earlier that day. "I will transform into Golza and follow the tunnel that Gudon dug while moving underground."

Moroboshi Dan's eyes lit up; this was indeed a brilliant method.

Watching Qi Ming spin his transformation dial, Moroboshi Dan said with profound meaning, "Even though this world is not your own, you still care deeply about the lives of the people here, don't you?"

Qi Ming did not answer. He tapped the dial lightly and transformed into the massive Golza.

After pondering for a moment, the monster plunged its head into the ground, following the tunnel carved out by Gudon.

Moroboshi Dan kept watch there all night.

Five hours passed. As the sky began to grow pale with dawn, Golza's huge head emerged once more from the ground.

Under Moroboshi Dan's watchful gaze, Golza first shook the soil off its body and then transformed back into Qi Ming.

He sat down on a rock, without saying a word.

Moroboshi Dan hurried forward, leaning on his cane. "Well? Did you find Gudon?"

After catching his breath, Qi Ming asked, "Captain, do you have any idea what it's like down there?"

Moroboshi Dan asked, "What is it like?"

Qi Ming said, "It's hard to imagine that one day I would use the phrase 'stretching in all directions' to describe the underground world."

He explained that not long after descending, he encountered a four-way intersection formed by two tunnels.

One tunnel had been dug by Gudon, while the other had been excavated by some other subterranean monster.

Judging the relative age of the tunnels by the soil quality, Qi Ming chose the newly dug left tunnel, only to encounter another four-way intersection shortly after...

He had to make choices like this a dozen times over the course of the night.

Qi Ming looked slightly exasperated. "It's hard to imagine just how many active monsters are underground. The tunnels they've drilled have practically formed a massive maze!"

Under such circumstances, trying to track down Gudon along those tunnels? You'd be lucky just to find your way back.

Hearing this, Moroboshi Dan furrowed his brows deeply. "So, you wasted your effort and came back empty-handed?"

Qi Ming waved his hand. "Not quite. Burrowing around underground was quite a novel experience for me anyway. Besides, I think I stumbled upon a 'dragon vein'."

For Qi Ming, aside from lacking a time limit, Golza felt rather subpar and inferior in every aspect to Tiga, who was also Class C.

Since his first transformation into Golza didn't cost any Star Bestowments, getting a free underground trip out of it wasn't bad at all.

Moroboshi Dan asked curiously, "What is a dragon vein?"

Qi Ming answered, "An earth meridian nourished by dragon aura; it can also be considered a dragon vein."

He explained that the underground world should have been oppressive and desolate, but when he entered a certain section of a tunnel, he felt it was "full of vitality," and the scattered tree branches there were still fresh.

He even saw some human corpses that had not turned to dry bones, but instead sprouted "bird feathers and dragon scales."

From a "scientific" perspective, this was a case of microorganisms nourishing the body to prevent decay, causing the corpses to mutate over a long period.

From a "feng shui" perspective, that place was an auspicious dragon vein; being buried there could lead to "ascension" and bring blessings to future generations.

Such a dragon vein, which made biological entities feel thoroughly refreshed and sustained their vitality, was favored by the Four Symbols and inevitably occupied by someone in this "bustling" subterranean world.

Therefore, Qi Ming immediately chose to retreat to avoid being misunderstood by whatever monster occupied that dragon vein.

At this point, Qi Ming joked that if he ever died in battle in the future, they should bury him right there so he could "enjoy" a geomantic treasure trove that countless people sought their entire lives in vain.

"Don't say such inauspicious things." Moroboshi Dan thought for a moment and asked, "So, do dragons really exist in this world?"

Qi Ming replied, "Didn't you fight Space Dragon Nasr in the past?"

Moroboshi Dan said, "That was a mechanical weapon brought by aliens, it just had the shape of a dragon."

Qi Ming countered, "There must be quite a few living dragons."

This was a world that integrated all Ultramarine series works. The Great Sea Dragon from *Ultraseven OVA*, the Summer Watcher from *Ultraman Max*... perhaps they truly existed.

However, when it came to the most famous dragon, it had to be the Earth Deity Great Monster—Zorg.

Dawn had broken by now. Qi Ming looked at the first ray of sunlight emerging from the horizon, and a thought inevitably arose in his mind.

In the original series of *Ultraman Gaia*, Zorg was "the deity guarding the order of the earth," capable of summoning all Earth monsters to battle.

"If this world also possesses a 'Zorg' with the same positioning as in the original *Gaia* series, just how powerful would it be?"

...

After drilling underground all night, Qi Ming returned to his single dormitory at the Maritime Base and fell into a deep sleep. Meanwhile, the other team members, newly awakened, began another day of carpet-searching.

Kishida said, "I heard the Defense Force is developing a 'Subterranean Penetrating Missile' capable of directly attacking monsters lurking underground. If we find Gudon, we could try cooperating with them."

Yamanaka said, "Ask the Defense Force for help? The staff officers won't agree."

Saijo Nagi said, "Let's find it first before talking."

As a result, today still yielded nothing, making everyone increasingly anxious.

At five in the morning, the Guts Team's emergency assembly alarm sounded.

"What's going on, what's going on? Have you found Gudon?!" Team Member Kishida was the first to arrive fully dressed in the command room.

When Qi Ming arrived, everyone in the command room stared with wide eyes.

Yamanaka said, "Team Member Qi Ming, you look so yellow."

Qi Ming had arrived wearing a pair of SpongeBob SquarePants pajamas, causing Saijo Nagi's face to twitch.

She wanted to reprimand him, but she was afraid of his sharp retort.

Even for Qi Ming, having his biological clock disrupted led to minor slips.

"Don't worry about such minor details, what happened?" Qi Ming showed no embarrassment at all.

Emi reported, "According to information sent by the meteorological team, that cloud cluster containing Spark Dolls has started descending rapidly from the ionosphere!"

Moroboshi Dan frowned. The underground Gudon had yet to be dealt with, and now an anomaly had occurred in the sky.

Was it a coincidence? Or was there some kind of connection?