Chapter 24: Director Eiji Tsuburaya

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P.S. A heartfelt thanks to “Soul-Eating Potato” on Qidian Reading for the generous tip of 6,000 Qidian coins. I’m truly grateful—at last, I'm about to become a wealthy person (teary-eyed). Now I can brag in the group chat... ah... ah...

Time passed quickly, and soon the plot began to deviate from what he remembered. The monsters were still the same as before, and Diga was still the same Diga. Yet, after Diga transformed, instead of using fists and feet, he started wielding a lightsaber. Suddenly, everything seemed a little different.

With each battle, Diga was like a sponge, absorbing every second of experience. His movements grew ever more adept, and compared to using his fists, he defeated monsters much faster with the lightsaber.

The hype around the new Ultraman faded quickly, and Diga regained his place as the top Ultra. Compared to the Ultraman who had appeared only once, Diga, who often showed up to protect the Earth, seemed like the true hero worth following.

Xie Jing found himself idle once more.

Life carried on. As for Autpes, after Xie Jing had defeated so many monsters in a row, there was still no news. He grew anxious, eager to return home. He missed his family—even though his parents were no longer there, his sister remained, along with his classmates and everything familiar to him.

Xie Jing stopped searching for Autpes’ exact location. One day, while tidying up his inventory, he discovered something he had forgotten for a long time—

A disposable Universal Compass!

Right there, written in bold: it could locate anything in the universe!

He had found the location of Autpes, and with the system’s guarantee, it was sure to work.

But another problem stood before Xie Jing.

If he recklessly went after Autpes, under its assault, he feared he wouldn’t last long with his current strength.

This wasn’t a hot-blooded shounen manga, nor a fantasy novel—there would be no opportunity to level up step by step, no training arcs for the protagonist. Given Autpes’ sinister nature, the monster sent after him would certainly be terrifying beyond compare.

Xie Jing mulled over this problem for two days, until he suddenly remembered something the Alien Leichulan had once said: Autpes had a grudge against the Land of Light, and even the Ultra King had intervened.

So, could he try to contact the Ultras from the Land of Light?

In practice, this was extremely difficult. The Ultras on this planet were all ancient warriors—beings who had originally lived on Earth, not aliens from the M78 Nebula come to fight monsters.

According to the records, the Ultras from the Land of Light had never appeared here. Not only that, but without the exact location of the M78 Nebula, he couldn’t even send a signal.

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As for the later Ultra 8 movies, though the human hosts of the original Ultras all lived alongside Daigu, it seemed they existed in a different time and space from the Diga of the TV series.

In the timeline Xie Jing found himself, there was the original, there was Seven, there was the M78 Nebula, but they never appeared before the public.

No! There was one time! There was one appearance!

Xie Jing strained to recall the plot of Diga, but even having become a being of light, childhood memories remained hazy, and the specifics eluded him.

He only remembered that Daigu followed a monster through space-time to 1965 Tokyo, entering the Tsuburaya Productions studio of that era.

In the end, it seemed the monster from the lake was summoned, and when Diga fought it and couldn’t win, the original Ultraman appeared to help.

That must have been the plot!

As the only member of the Land of Light to appear in Diga, Xie Jing knew that was his only chance!

If he could contact the Land of Light through the original Ultraman—or even the Ultra King—and provide the location of Autpes, destroying it shouldn’t be too difficult.

Now the problem was... when would the time-traveling monster appear?

Xie Jing contacted the Victory Team, instructing them to closely monitor for the appearance of a clownish figure trying to buy live monsters, and to keep an eye on the area around Tsuburaya Productions for any spatial portals.

This rather mythic request left everyone bewildered, but Xie Jing had always maintained good communication with the Victory Team, so they rarely refused his requests.

A month passed in this fashion. When Xie Jing finally announced he would give up searching and simply wait for the plot to unfold, something unexpected happened.

...

Today, the weather outside was bitterly cold. The howling wind made people wrap their coats tighter.

Xie Jing lounged in his chair, the air conditioning on, his little shop pleasantly warm and comfortable.

On days like this, even customers were scarce. After all, who would brave the chill for an Ultraman plastic figure? It wasn’t as if it were a pretty girl’s figurine; even if Ultraman wore nothing at all, it wouldn’t be attractive enough.

He wondered what he and Kamizumi Akane should eat when she returned tonight. They hadn’t seen each other for three or four days. Was the Max system really that unstable?

“Seems like I’ll close early today. No customers anyway.”

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Just as he muttered to himself, the bell above the door jingled. A gust of cold wind, mixed with the odd sound of strange shoes hitting the floor, swept into the shop.

It was the sound of rubber shoes on a sticky surface—squelch, squelch—rhythmic yet highly unpleasant.

“Ha! Boss, I hear your shop sells the most authentic and unique monsters. I want to buy a monster—how much do they cost?!” The voice was high and sharp, and though he spoke naturally, there was an unmistakable tone of mockery.

Slowly opening his eyes, Xie Jing saw a slightly plump man standing before him, dressed in a black suit, his face pale as snow, wearing a black hat and a red bow tie, holding a black briefcase and an umbrella.

When Xie Jing awoke, the man politely removed his hat and gave a deep bow.

“Boss, please tell me where I can find monsters! I very much want to buy one. No matter the price, I’m willing to pay!”

Yes! That’s him! It’s him!

Such a unique appearance instantly brought back a scene from the original Diga series.

It was this white-faced, stout man whose briefcase could open a portal through space and time, allowing him to journey back and meet the original Ultraman!

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Xie Jing smiled and said, “You must be joking, sir. The monsters I sell here are just plastic toys. How could I possibly have live monsters to sell you?”

The man grew anxious at this, set down his briefcase and umbrella, and took out a black business card from his pocket. On it, in white Japanese script, was written:

Monster Buyer—Charliega!

“I beg you, please tell me where I can buy monsters. I would be most grateful!”

Xie Jing stroked his chin, pretending to ponder for a long while.

“You want to buy live monsters... Then you should go to Tsuburaya Productions in 1965 and find Director Eiji Tsuburaya. He must know where to get you a monster!”

Charliega leaned in close, his shadowed eyes fixed on Xie Jing, and pressed, “So, if I go to Tsuburaya Productions in 1965 and find Eiji Tsuburaya, I’ll be able to buy a monster?!”

Xie Jing nodded mysteriously, his face full of yearning. “Only a director like Tsuburaya, who has truly seen monsters, could create such enchanting special effects films as Godzilla!”