novelkee Is there really something unusual in Chapter 295?
Is there really something unusual in Chapter 295?
Hoshino looked at the camera screen in his hand repeatedly in disbelief.
The scene showed only the Enoden tram traveling through the morning mist, a tranquil and beautiful landscape, but... there was no trace of the enormous, chilling figure he had just witnessed—a monster as big as a mountain and resembling a snail, emerging from the seabed in the distance.
With his twenty years of professional experience and meticulous attention to detail, Hoshino was absolutely certain that he had not made a mistake.
That was neither an illusion nor a trick of light.
Now, standing on the beach, he faces two choices: one is to immediately report this unbelievable incident to the TPC Victory Team; the other is to attribute it to eye strain caused by recent writing fatigue and move on without further investigation.
He is not only a well-known photographer, but also a father raising his son alone.
Since his wife passed away, his relationship with his teenage son, Ah-Xiang, has become increasingly strained.
Ah-Xiang is obsessed with the GUTS team and Ultraman, while Hoshino, due to his rich experience, harbors an instinctive and inexplicable distrust of such organizations with powerful military force.
This led to many disagreements between the two, one of which was a lack of common language and understanding.
"Sigh..." Hoshino sighed and finally put away the camera.
At that moment, he had no desire to continue filming; his strongest thought was to go home.
Perhaps trying to understand what our son loves could be an opportunity to ease tensions?
On his way home, he saw two children excitedly dressed as Ultraman and monsters, while another was wearing a small GUTS team uniform.
This scene touched him.
For Ah Xiang's sake, and to unravel the mystery in his heart, he decided to do something.
Instead of going straight home, Hoshino turned and headed towards the monitoring room of a nearby seaside hotel, which offered the best vantage point for observation.
Leveraging his celebrity status, he promised to shoot a set of promotional photos for the hotel in exchange for the right to access surveillance footage from the relevant time period.
However, after carefully reviewing the surveillance footage from all angles, Hoshino was disappointed.
The image is clear, the sea is calm, and there is no trace of the monster at all.
Could it be that I really misread it? A sense of frustration welled up inside me.
But thinking of the surprise or delight his son might show in response to his belief in Ultraman, Hoshino finally took a deep breath, picked up the phone, and dialed TPC's public hotline.
He remembered that his son had once said that if he encountered a monster, he should definitely call the hotline to report it.
TPC Far East Headquarters, Victory Team Command Room.
Captain Megumi takes the case very seriously after receiving a report from renowned photographer Hoshino about "seemingly witnessing a monster," and given the reporter's unusually firm attitude.
Although satellite scans of the area revealed no anomalies, she immediately ordered a team to investigate, as is her usual practice of caution.
"Shinjo, Horii, you two drive the patrol car to the sea area specified by the complainant to conduct a detailed investigation."
"Team member Daigo, you will pilot the Victory Flying Swallow No. 1 and provide support in the nearby airspace. Report immediately if any special circumstances arise."
Intermediary Hui ordered.
"Understood!" Dagu, Xincheng, and Horii stood at attention and accepted the order.
The three went their separate ways, with Daigo piloting the Victory Flying Swallow No. 1, arriving at the scene the fastest.
He skillfully maneuvered the aircraft to hover at low altitude, using the life detector to search for a while, but found nothing unusual.
"Captain, this is Daigo. There is light fog on the sea surface, visibility is average, and no signs of large unidentified creatures have been detected."
After nearly half an hour of meticulous searching, the Flying Swallow 1 mission returned empty-handed.
"Leave the rest to us, Daigo!"
Xincheng picked up the walkie-talkie and shouted.
After saying that, he picked up the detection device and scanned the surrounding area, but found nothing unusual.
The result was exactly the same as Daigo's.
The two found nothing unusual, so they asked Hoshino to explain the situation to him and encouraged him to contact TPC if he found anything else unusual.
He originally thought that the matter was over.
However, the news that "the GUTS team was dispatched to investigate the monster but came up empty-handed" spread like wildfire and was quickly disseminated by some small media outlets that like to hype things up.
This news brought unexpected trouble to the Hoshino family—Hoshino's son, Sho, was ridiculed by some classmates at school, who said that his father was "crazy for fame" and "falsely reported military information," and even a minor physical altercation occurred as a result.
This further strained the already tense relationship between father and son.
Feeling depressed, Hoshino thought of Onoda, his senior colleague who was once famous for reporting in-depth news and is now semi-retired.
He contacted Onoda through connections and confided his predicament and unwavering beliefs in a quiet teahouse.
At this time, Onoda had married Yukina of Sukai-tei and was living a peaceful life, but his journalistic keenness and sense of justice had not been extinguished.
As he listened to Hoshino's account, especially when he mentioned the contradiction between the "certainty of seeing with one's own eyes" and the "lack of results from technological equipment," he fell into deep thought.
“Hoshino-kun, I’ve known you for many years and know you’re a meticulous person,” Onoda said slowly. “I trust your professional judgment. This matter may not be as simple as it seems on the surface.”
He patted Hoshino on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I know Munakata, the vice-captain of the GUTS team. I'll ask him personally to keep an eye on that area without attracting official attention. It'll take some time, so don't rush it. Spend more time with the kids." Hoshino nodded gratefully.
Onoda then contacted Vice Captain Munakata, explained the situation, and emphasized Hoshino's reliability and the impact this matter had on his family, hoping that Munakata could help investigate on his own.
A few days later, Vice Captain Munakata, who was on leave, dressed in civilian clothes and carrying a high-performance telescope and a portable energy detector, arrived alone near the sea area indicated by Hoshino.
He chose a secluded high ground and spent a long time lying in wait.
As a seasoned warrior, Munakata possessed exceptional patience.
He stayed from dawn till dusk, carefully observing any subtle changes on the sea surface and recording the data fluctuations on the detector.
Most of the time, everything was normal; the sea and sky blended into one, with only seagulls soaring overhead.
However, at dusk, as the setting sun painted the sea a golden-red hue and the Enoden's whistle rang in his ears, the portable detector on Munekata's wrist suddenly emitted an extremely faint, brief beep! The pointer jumped briefly on an abnormal band before returning to normal.
At the same time, through a high-powered telescope, he seemed to see the outline of a huge object flash briefly and extremely vaguely in the distant sea fog, lasting for less than a second, so fast that he doubted whether it was an illusion.
Zongfang immediately held his breath and focused all his attention on that direction, but he could no longer see anything unusual.
He carefully examined the detector and recorded the precise time and frequency characteristics of that abnormal fluctuation.
Although he didn't capture any concrete footage, as a veteran, he trusted his equipment and intuition.
Something unusual did exist there.
Just as Munakata was leaving, Hoshino was arguing with his son.
To be precise, her son ran away because she angered him.
But he was certain that he had indeed seen traces of the monster.
Filled with resentment, he returned to the vicinity of the Enoden railway.
This time, the weather was excellent, with absolutely no fog.
If the monster appears, he will definitely be able to see it more clearly.
But as time passed, the monster still didn't appear, and just when he thought he was seeing things, he realized he had mistaken it for something else.
Beside him, one or two warning signs had turned into two eyes.
He took the initiative to take a picture, but failed to capture anything.
In the end, he could only report the matter to Onoda and ask him for help.
Wait, after the Victory Team received the news, Lin Yeming had already returned to work.
He insisted on investigating this news.
However, Xincheng felt that they had wasted a lot of time and energy in that area.
There's absolutely no need to continue.
Lin Yeming convinced Xincheng with just one sentence: "Do you remember the Sleeping Beauty incident?"
"Aliens have all sorts of amazing abilities, so monsters can't be much less powerful."
"We should have faith in science and technology, but we must also understand that there are unknown areas in science and technology that have not yet been explored."
"At this point, it is up to us humans to make the judgment."
"Ye Rui, help me compile the abnormal reports from the past few days. I'll analyze them!"