Ultraman Arbitrary Key: Dawn

"Thump." The door of the seaside restroom opened, and Qi Ming, with a face like a stormy sea, walked out.

"Team Member Qi Ming, why are you..."

Yamanaka was about to ask why Qi Ming had left at such a critical juncture, but seeing Qi Ming's somber expression, he was intimidated and dared not speak.

Strange, why are you so angry after going to the bathroom? Did you fall into the toilet?

Emi was also curious about Qi Ming's furious demeanor. What was with this look of having suffered immense injustice?

If anyone should be going crazy, it should be the Ultraman, right? Could it be that Team Member Qi Ming missed that comical scene while he was in the restroom? After all, he wasn't part of the discussion then...

But speaking of which, whenever the Ultraman fights monsters, Team Member Qi Ming is always very quiet, almost never offering real-time opinions...

Huh?

Could it be...

Why do I have such a ridiculous thought, haha...

Catching sight of Ryu Junya's swollen face out of the corner of his eye, Qi Ming took a few deep breaths, no longer allowing himself to lose composure.

Normally, he was a person who kept his emotions in check, but just now, the grief and indignation he felt were comparable to "Zero, who was only eight meters tall because Daiga Momonari wasn't cooperating, and was then ravaged by two monsters." He couldn't quite hold it together.

"Team Member Emi, are you alright?" Qi Ming, having regained his composure, asked about Emi's injuries. If he hadn't asked her to fetch the fish, she wouldn't have gotten hurt.

If it were Nagi Saijo, she probably would have counterattacked cleanly.

Emi put her hands on her hips. "Don't underestimate me, Team Member Qi Ming. I passed the assessment and am a member of the Defense Team. This little injury is nothing."

In her opinion, if she hadn't been ambushed, Ryu Junya wouldn't necessarily have been able to defeat her.

Qi Ming: "That's good."

Emi: "What about you, Team Member Qi Ming? You seemed a bit down just now. Did something happen?"

Qi Ming started making excuses. "Just now, when I was in the restroom, I remembered the failure of Tekkadan in Gundam and the death of their leader, Orga. I couldn't help but feel sad for them."

Emi: "?"

Orga's death was so ridiculous, and it actually evoked empathy from Team Member Qi Ming?

And why were you thinking about this while in the restroom... Well, that can be understood as being reminded of something.

Qi Ming pointed at Ryu Junya, who had been fished ashore by other soldiers and was receiving emergency treatment, having lost half his life. "Emi, what do you think should be done with this person?"

Emi thought that if this continued, it would be difficult to resolve. She quickly said that Team Member Yamanaka had already hit him, and he was unexpectedly swept into the sea, so he had suffered enough.

"Moreover, from what I understand, his loss of control when facing monsters can be understood."

She explained that Ryu Junya's sister had died in a monster disaster, and since then, his personality had changed drastically, and he harbored an irreconcilable hatred for all monsters.

Qi Ming sneered. "Yamanaka is human, and his superior is also human. Yamanaka just hit him; does he dare to take his anger out on his superior?"

"Essentially, it's the same old story of 'getting revenge on a cat for being injured by a tiger.' Getting injured yourself is not a reason to harm others."

At this moment, Mamoru Shirogane walked over and told Qi Ming to stop, not to continue.

He said that the defense forces, like TPC, longed for peace and were comrades. One day, both sides would surely understand each other.

"Understand? All he can do is re-examine his own prejudices." Qi Ming looked at Ryu Junya and continued to sneer.

In the original story of Gauss, when Ryu Junya was about to finish off a heavily injured monster, Musashi stopped him, and they had this dialogue.

Musashi: "I understand the pain of losing your sister, but not all monsters are evil. Humans and monsters can coexist."

Ryu Junya roared: "I don't want that! I just want to destroy it! I will never forgive monsters! I must kill it with my own hands!"

This level of obsession is almost catching up to, or even surpassing, Nagi Saijo.

Qi Ming was not like Musashi, who was willing to forgive even the Chaos Virus. He would not give him a chance like in the original story. He would not tolerate any rotten apples.

Qi Ming: "He has to pay the price."

Mamoru Shirogane: "Of course, there should be punishment for wrongdoing, but it must be proportionate. There's no reason to sentence someone to death for simply throwing trash."

"After all, you weren't substantially harmed, and the matter was resolved satisfactorily, wasn't it?"

He tried to persuade him again, saying that Ryu Junya's "meddling" was essentially an attempt to make the two monsters kill each other to reduce the pressure on Ultraman. He saw Ultraman as a comrade in the same camp.

Qi Ming smiled. "I'm actually a very kind person. I don't necessarily need a death sentence, but the current punishment isn't enough to make him learn his lesson in the future."

Considering Ryu Junya fired a shot at Chaos Ultraman during his second appearance in the original story, the kind-hearted Qi Ming was willing to spare his life to avoid embarrassing Mamoru Shirogane.

But the moment he recalled what he saw and smelled inside Rayloas's mouth, he felt a wave of nausea.

Being hit a dozen times by Rayloas and Anguirus was one thing, but he no longer felt much pain.

Mamoru Shirogane thought, Isn't this enough? He's already lost half his life.

"Captain, are you saying you'll cover my emotional damages for him?" Qi Ming asked.

Mamoru Shirogane: "Do you have any wishes? I'll try my best to fulfill them. How about giving you more vacation time?"

Vacation? Don't I give myself that?

Qi Ming shook his head. "Give me my phone... Oh, no, give me my crutch."

Mamoru Shirogane handed him the crutch, not understanding why, and leaned on a nearby trash can for support.

After Qi Ming got the crutch, he walked towards the defense forces' position. Thanks to the emergency rescue by Ryu Junya's subordinates, his life was no longer in danger.

Seeing Qi Ming approach, these people tensed up.

They were also elites selected from special forces, but they still couldn't understand how Qi Ming had disarmed them.

Seeing Qi Ming gazing thoughtfully at Ryu Junya lying on the ground, one soldier said, "You... don't do anything rash. If you do this, you'll start a war between us and TPC."

Hearing this, the Victory Team members who followed were also stunned, all wanting to persuade Qi Ming to stop.

"War?" Qi Ming sneered, raising the crutch in his hand. "I want to give him a gift."

A soldier muttered, "There's no need for that. Our commander isn't a cripple like your captain..."

Upon hearing this, Nagi Saijo's gaze immediately turned cold and sharp.

Qi Ming smiled, "He'll be able to use it soon."

"Stop!" Mamoru Shirogane had already guessed what Qi Ming was about to do.

Qi Ming fiercely raised the crutch in his hand and struck Ryu Junya's right leg heavily.

"Crack." A clear bone-cracking sound rang out.

Ryu Junya's right leg was broken.

Even though he was still unconscious, Ryu Junya instinctively twitched.

Qi Ming threw the crutch onto him under everyone's dumbfounded gaze. "When he wakes up, tell him something for me: From now on in Japan, when you see me, Qi Ming, keep your head down and live humbly!"

"Emi, let's go. I'll accompany you to the medical room," Qi Ming called out to Emi after finishing everything.

Emi had wanted to emphasize again that this minor injury was nothing, but facing Qi Ming, who exuded an imposing aura, she obediently followed him.

Dozens of elite soldiers from the defense forces didn't dare to chase after them and blankly watched Qi Ming leave.

"Clap clap clap!" Yamanaka, for some reason, started clapping desperately at Qi Ming's retreating back.

"What are you doing!" Kishida was startled.

Yamanaka: "I don't know why, but I just really want to clap!"

The next moment, the TPC security personnel who had come to maintain order also uniformly applauded Qi Ming's retreating figure.

Kishida hesitated for a moment before joining in, and Nagi Saijo also followed suit, the sound crisp and loud.

The soldiers of the defense forces felt as if the resounding applause was hitting them in the face, making them wish they could disappear into the ground.

After getting into the car, Qi Ming fastened Emi's seatbelt for the injured girl. He then instructed the other team members who were staying behind to clean up the scene via the communicator:

"Don't forget those children who broke into the blockade zone. Simple criticism and education won't be enough."

"We need to find their parents and teachers and publicize their deeds in front of the entire school."

Emi: "If you do that, they might be ostracized by their classmates."

In Japan, this could lead to bullying.

Qi Ming: "It's already merciful that I didn't send them to a juvenile detention center."

In his eyes, the excuse of "they're just children, why bother with them" didn't work.

That evening, Ryu Junya's superior, Officer Saijo, described as a "scum of humanity" from Gauss, directly contacted Staff Officer Gondo.

He strongly protested and demanded that those who attacked his subordinate be handed over.

Officer Saijo: "You operated within our defense forces' jurisdiction, not only refusing our command but also ambushing our soldiers. This is too much!"

Staff Officer Gondo had already received the report and was appeasing him with laughter, his heart filled with joy.

The defense forces had always felt they inherited the legacy of the Japanese military, possessing deep foundations and well-trained personnel, and they always looked down on the newly established TPC. They felt TPC lacked the "Showa spirit."

But in the end, wasn't your Showa spirit crushed by Qi Ming?

After a round of evasive talk, Staff Officer Gondo said, "As far as I know, your subordinate was disarmed by our Victory Team member Qi Ming during a direct confrontation."

Officer Saijo on the other end became even more furious: "What do you mean? Do you think our defense forces are inferior to your TPC!"

Staff Officer Gondo: "If you insist on drawing such broad conclusions from minor details and escalating the issue to this level, then I have nothing more to say."

"You!" Officer Saijo on the other end was almost bursting with rage.

After his subordinate Officer Smith mysteriously fell to his death, the relationship between the defense forces and the Americans had suddenly cooled considerably.

Now with this incident, he felt extremely stifled.

"I'll see you at the next joint military exercise. Under the supervision of so many media cameras, let's see how you play your tricks then!"

Finally, Officer Saijo ended the communication with a harsh threat.

The joint military exercise was a peculiar "competition" that TPC and the defense forces held periodically.

On the surface, it was advertised as "friendly sparring, mutual competition to encourage progress."

However, given that both sides widely invited the media, it was clearly intended to showcase to the public "who has the more outstanding soldiers, who is more worthy of the citizens' trust, and who has a brighter future."

But what was unexpected was that the final winner of the defense forces' internal selection competition was not Ryu Junya, whom Officer Saijo had favored.

He was eliminated by a soldier named Hirota, who suddenly shone brightly.

Of course, that was a story for another time.