The crimson glow of dusk painted the ground red. Zhou Hong wiped the sweat from his forehead, then casually rubbed the sticky grime of sweat and dust from the back of his hand onto a nearby, slightly blackened towel. At the foreman's shout of "That's it for today!" he straightened up.
He took a big gulp of plain water. The foreman, a fellow countryman of his, came over and counted out some money, then handed it to Zhou Hong.
"Ahong, thanks for all your hard work. Come in a little earlier tomorrow," Old Li said with a beaming smile.
Zhou Hong glanced at the money in his hand, momentarily stunned. They'd agreed on twenty thousand yen a day, but Old Li had given him a full thirty thousand.
"Uncle Li, there's a mistake. You gave me too much."
"Don't be stupid! That's a bonus for you. You've been working so hard, doing the work of two people. It wouldn't be right not to give you a raise. Take the money and get yourself something good to eat."
Old Li lightly tapped Zhou Hong's hard hat with the one in his hand. By the time Zhou Hong reached up to steady his own helmet, Old Li had already walked off.
After a day of exhausting labor, Zhou Hong suddenly felt completely at ease as he headed home.
He passed row upon row of high-rise buildings before slowly making his way into an old, traditional Japanese house.
As soon as he reached the fence, he saw an elderly, white-haired woman sitting on the steps beneath the eaves, gazing expectantly toward the entrance.
When she saw Zhou Hong, Grandma smiled.
Zhou Hong quickly wiped his slightly sweaty hand on his clothes, then gently helped Grandma to her feet.
"Grandma, didn't I tell you? Go ahead and eat. You don't have to wait for me."
Grandma smiled and slowly shook her head. "It's all right. I'm not hungry yet."
As she spoke, she slipped out of Zhou Hong's supporting arm and hurried over to the insulated food container sitting off to one side, conspicuously in the way.
Grandma took out dish after dish that she'd cooked earlier, and Zhou Hong helped her set everything on the table.
The meal was undeniably a bit over the top. There were all kinds of dishes, and plenty of meat and vegetables.
"Come, come! I made this dish especially for you." As if by magic, Grandma produced a big bowl of beef stew with potatoes from behind her.
Oh, boy.
Zhou Hong scratched the back of his head, a little troubled. "Grandma, this is too much. If I eat like this every day, I'll get fat."
Grandma pushed the bowl in front of Zhou Hong and smiled. "That's the idea. You're much too thin right now."
Zhou Hong looked down at his six-pack and bulging chest muscles, then gave a helpless smile.
Grandma, I'm not thin. I'm muscular.
No matter what world you were in, the elderly always seemed to think you were hungry or had lost weight.
"Let me cook next time, Grandma."
"It's all right. I can still manage."
Before Zhou Hong had even finished the food in his bowl, Grandma smiled and piled as much as she could from the dishes in front of her into his bowl.
After dinner, Zhou Hong quickly cleared the table. Before Grandma could get up, he took the dishes into the kitchen.
"Ahong, put those down. Let me do it." Grandma got to her feet and headed for the kitchen.
"Just rest. I can handle a little thing like this." Zhou Hong replied without slowing his hands.
Even when he'd washed the plates until they were shiny enough to reflect a face, Grandma still seemed dissatisfied. "You're not washing them properly. Let me do it."
As she spoke, she tried to take over the tiny space where he was washing the dishes.
"Hey, hey, Grandma! If you keep this up, I won't be able to live here anymore." Zhou Hong hurriedly deployed his ultimate move.
Hearing this, Grandma could only step back a little and give him room. She leaned against the wall, smiling as she watched Zhou Hong work.
"Grandma, you should get to bed early. We have to go to the hospital tomorrow morning."
"Mm." Grandma's reply sounded a little tired. Cooking such a big dinner had clearly taken a fair bit out of her. She slowly made her way toward her room.
After putting away all the dishes, Zhou Hong watched the lights outside the window gradually go dark. Then he closed the sliding door on the outside of the house.
In the warm yellow lamplight, Zhou Hong slowly picked up a newspaper from the side. Its headline was printed in huge block letters.
TPC Far East Headquarters Recruiting Staff
He'd been in this world for three months already.
His arrival had been a chaotic affair. He'd had no identification, but luckily Old Li had reached out and helped him.
After learning about his situation, Old Li had given him a job that let him earn enough to eat, and even helped him find a place to live.
That was what had allowed him to sit here reading a newspaper instead of worrying about where his next meal would come from.
Zhou Hong took off the necklace hanging around his neck and opened the metal locket. A five-pointed star gleaming with an emerald-green sheen lay inside.
The star was called the "Ultra Heart." That probably wouldn't mean much to most people.
It was basically like a Spark Lens. That made things much easier to understand.
But it wasn't a product of the M78 Nebula, nor was it a gift from the shady organization O-50. It was a miracle belonging to U40.
When the U40 warriors who possessed an Ultra Heart concentrated, they could alter the structure of their molecules and transform into Ultra Warriors.
Unlike the M78 Nebula, however, only those with great strength on U40 could grow to giant size. Otherwise, even after transforming, they'd only be as tall as they had been as humans.
Perhaps it was the change brought about by the Ultra Heart. Even though Zhou Hong wasn't from U40, he could still transform into an Ultra Warrior.
By now, I should be able to grow to giant size, right?
Between hauling bricks and being transformed by the power of light, his once solitary six-pack had gained five new companions. He'd grown taller, and his physique and strength had improved considerably.
Now, he could easily take on three versions of himself from when he'd first crossed over.
Clutching the Ultra Heart in his palm, Zhou Hong watched golden light spill through his fingers.
In the next instant, his entire body turned into drifting particles of light.
The light passed through the glass, twinkling against its surface like stars against the dark backdrop.
It slipped between high-rises and gathered again deep in a remote, uninhabited mountain range.
He stood half a head taller than a typical fifty-meter Ultra Warrior. Sculpted, streamlined muscles covered his body, and his eyes radiated a sense of overwhelming power.
Most of his body was a mix of silver and fiery crimson, but his back was colored differently.
Black lines ran down from his latissimus dorsi and trapezius, following the contours of his muscles in a strangely captivating pattern.
His angular face had eyes like Ultraseven X's, sharp and full of edges. At a glance, he looked like a very "kind" Ultra Warrior.
The surging power made Zhou Hong feel as if he could overturn mountains and rip apart the earth with a casual motion.
He gazed into the distance. Even in the darkness, he could see all the way from the mountains to the far side of the sea.
Beneath the lightless night sky, a fortress dotted with lights stood upon the abyssal sea.
He waited patiently for time to pass. After a full four minutes, he could no longer maintain the transformation and returned to human form.
He'd barely used up any energy. Was that because he hadn't been in a fight?
With this power, even in this chaotic age, I can protect the people I want to protect.
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