ebookland Chapter 119 Fatal Love and a Promise That Transcends the New Year
Chapter 119 Fatal Love and a Promise That Transcends the New Year
(Thank you so much, Lanqian, for the gift! I'm so grateful!)
After the broadcast of "The Flying Iron Block" ended, the title of the eighth episode appeared on the screen with an eerie sense of vitality.
The day the fruit ripens.
Old Tang pulled out a tissue, blew his nose hard, his voice still a little hoarse from crying, but his eyes were already focused again: "Brothers, stop being so sentimental. This time, that old scoundrel Gu isn't planning to let us sleep. Two episodes back-to-back. Since it's called 'The Day the Fruit Ripens,' it sounds like an agricultural channel, but I bet the fruit is definitely poisonous."
Having just been slashed by a giant iron block, I'm fearless now!
[The art style seems a bit more normal in this episode?]
The main feature begins.
This time, the story doesn't immediately present a grand political thriller feel; instead, it carries a touch of suspense.
Deep in space, a spaceship transporting prisoners rioted and crashed in Peru, South America.
Several grotesque-looking aliens escaped; they were called the Remo Planet People.
A month later in Tokyo, these aliens had already quietly infiltrated the city.
The scene then shifts to Mizuno, a member of the team who usually spends his time conducting research at the base and has a relatively low profile.
No one expected that this seemingly dull science guy would fall in love.
The object of his affections is a gentle and intellectual female dentist named Ya-zhen.
Whether it's Dr. Ya-chen's gentle whispers while examining Mizuno's teeth or the tender moments they share while strolling together at night, the camera portrays them as a perfect match.
Mizuno's silly, lovestruck expression made viewers in front of the screen smile like doting aunts.
"Is this the cloying, sour smell of love?"
Old Tang joked, "But has Gu Nan changed his ways? The last episode was so heavy, is he planning to give us some sweet moments this time?"
However, the sugar was full of glass shards.
The Ultra Guard quickly uncovered a clue: the escaped Remo aliens possessed extremely strong mimicry abilities, allowing them to perfectly disguise themselves as humans.
They also brought with them a biological weapon seed called "Beracho".
Once these seeds mature, they will cover the entire Earth, turning it into a dead star.
All the clues pointed to the gentle dentist, Ya-zhen.
When Kazemori (Seven) directly points out that Masashi is an alien, Mizuno's first reaction is anger and refusal to believe it.
"What are you talking about! How could Miss Ya-zhen possibly be an alien!"
On screen, Mizuno's fierce defense of his girlfriend made the audience's hearts skip a beat.
Oh no, I'm totally in love.
I know this plot well; the next step is definitely a choice between two options.
[Mizuno, wake up! Those are aliens!]
However, reality was even crueler than the audience had anticipated.
When Mizuno secretly left the group to find Masami in order to prove her innocence, he overheard the heartbreaking truth.
Ya-zhen stopped pretending and looked coldly at Mizuno, uttering that classic line of "moral blackmail".
"We must treat Earth as Berlajuwon's laboratory."
"If the Earth were covered by Beratju, humanity would perish."
"This can't be done! There are so many life forms on this earth!"
Mizuno tries to awaken her conscience.
But Ya Zhen just smiled contemptuously, her eyes full of mockery of a higher being towards a lower being: "So what? You can't even love one person properly, how can you love more lives? If you really love me, then help me destroy the earth."
The moment those words were spoken, the live chat exploded.
Holy crap! This PUA technique is incredibly sophisticated!
[What the hell? If you love me, help me destroy the Earth? That's some ingenious logic!]
This dialogue vividly portrays the arrogance of an aggressor and their despicable exploitation of emotions.
Old Tang slammed his fist on the table in anger: "This woman is too ruthless! She's driving Mizuno to the brink of despair! She's asking him: 'Do you want your wife or the world?'"
Mizuno was stunned.
He looked at the woman he once loved deeply, but now she seemed like a complete stranger.
But he made a choice.
However, what no one noticed was that Mizuno had a communicator in his sleeve that was connected to headquarters in real time and was turned on.
He hasn't completely lost his mind yet...
He pretended to agree to Ya Zhen's request and followed her and the other Remo Star people to the warehouse where the Boraju seeds were hidden.
Just when the aliens thought they had successfully turned humanity into a rebel and were preparing to destroy humanity with these "fruits," the Ultra Guard, who had been lying in wait, rushed in!
Without any hesitation, Rimi raised her flamethrower and pulled the trigger on the fruits of her sin.
The raging fire instantly engulfed the warehouse, and also consumed Mizuno's budding first love.
"You traitor!!"
Ya-zhen screamed in the firelight, her beautiful face contorted with anger.
Mizuno stood before the firelight, his back view appearing incredibly desolate.
He destroyed his lover's plans with his own hands, and buried his own love with his own hands.
I used to think this kid was a traitor, but now I can only applaud him.
He's a real man!
[Although it was a tough fight, Mizuno really pulled off a solid one!]
Is this the resolve of the Ultra Guard...? Even if it's a lover, if they are an aggressor, they will show no mercy.
However, the crisis is not completely over.
A stray Boraj seed absorbed the life energy of a dying Remo alien, instantly growing to enormous size and transforming into a terrifying plant monster.
It has enormous tentacles and flower buds that can spray strong acid.
Upon seeing this, Feng Sen immediately transformed.
"Jooo!!!"
Seven is here!
But this battle will not be easy.
The vines of the Boraju monster were extremely tough, and the strong acid spray that could dissolve buildings caused Seven a lot of trouble.
As soon as Seven rushed forward, he was tightly bound by vines, and strong acid was sprayed onto his red body, emitting puffs of white smoke.
Just when everyone was holding their breath for Seven.
At the critical moment, the Ultra Guard's fighter jets arrived and provided precise fire support, cutting the vines.
Seven seized the opportunity and unleashed a signature beam attack, a golden torrent that blasted the Devil Fruit to ashes.
The battle is over.
But the real "knife" of this episode comes at the end.
At night, the carousel in the amusement park was still flashing its colorful lights, but it looked particularly desolate.
Mizuno found Masashi, who was critically injured and on the verge of death.
"You stay here and live as an Earthling."
Mizuno is still trying to persuade them to stay, even though they are the culprits who want to destroy the Earth.
But Ya-zhen refused.
She leaned weakly against the pillar, looking at Mizuno, and finally a trace of genuine emotion appeared in her eyes, or rather, a kind of despair for this interracial tragedy.
"Can you imagine what it feels like to live with a false facade?"
"Once you see my true self, you'll never be able to say you love me again..."
She looked at Mizuno, a final flicker of emotion in her eyes.
After saying that, she suddenly snatched the pistol from Mizuno's waist.
"No!!!"
Amid Mizuno's heart-wrenching screams, a gunshot pierced the night sky.
Ya-zhen chose to commit suicide.
Compared to the original story where she was killed by Captain Bai Yong, here, her suicide brings the tragedy of the story to its absolute peak.
She would rather die than live as a fake Earthling.
Besides, even if she survived, what difference would it make?
Returning to my hometown?
Stop joking!
Earth's "Friendship Project" will only lead to the annihilation of itself and its home planet!
So, she chose to commit suicide...
Mizuno stared blankly at the corpse on the ground, the woman he loved so deeply, who had ultimately become a cold, grotesque shell.
He knelt on the ground and let out a heart-wrenching wail.
The camera zooms out, leaving only Mizuno holding the gradually cooling body, weeping bitterly in the empty amusement park.
【well……】
The title "The Day the Fruit Ripens" is wrong; it should clearly be "The Day Love Withers."
In Seven's worldview, aliens generally don't have a good ending on Earth.
The atmosphere in the live stream was extremely tense.
Old Tang sighed and lit a cigarette: "Brothers, this is Seven. It doesn't tell fairy tales; it only tells reality. Racial divisions, opposing stances—sometimes love is just too powerless in the face of these."
"Mizuno made the right choice, but he will probably never forget this night for the rest of his life."
This is way more heart-wrenching than the love stories in Ultraman Tiga...
Although it's not as action-packed as Ultraman Tiga, the storyline is really engaging.
[Gu Nan is really daring to film this! The main characters even have to kill their wives to prove their path; this was unthinkable in previous tokusatsu films.]
……
With the recent episodes airing consecutively, the reputation of "Ultraman Seven: Project Origin" has been firmly established online.
Although its audience is not as broad as that of the all-ages "Ultraman Tiga" because of its heavy and dark subject matter.
Perhaps, its popularity and audience reach will not reach the heights of the original "Ultraman Tiga".
However, its score on major rating websites has soared, even matching that of Ultraman Tiga, maintaining an extremely high level of 9.8.
"This isn't Ultraman for kids; it's science fiction for adults."
This assessment became a consensus among all viewers.
A week passed in the blink of an eye.
When Friday arrived again, countless viewers waited in front of their screens early.
Episode 9: The Promised Cause and Effect.
The style of the series changes drastically from the very beginning.
Gone are the cold machines and oppressive base; in their place lies a tranquil and mysterious beach.
A man dressed in ancient clothing collapsed on the beach.
When he awoke, looking at the unfamiliar modern world around him, his eyes were filled with confusion. He clutched a delicate seashell tightly in his hand—the legendary "Shell of Promises."
This episode borrows from the mythological legend of the ancient Japanese story "Urashima Taro".
After all, Seven OV is a co-production between China and Japan, so we can simply tell this Japanese story according to the original work.
The plot unfolds slowly.
That ancient man was actually from three hundred years ago.
Three hundred years ago, he was invited to the underwater dragon palace after saving a sea turtle.
There, he fell in love with Princess Otohime of the Dragon Palace. But longing for home, he wanted to go back to see her.
Princess Otohime was reluctant to let him go, but she gave him a seashell, the legendary "Promise Shell," and told him never to open it. As long as he didn't open it, he could return to the Dragon Palace.
However, when he returned to land, three hundred years had passed. The world had changed, and everything was different.
The vast difference in time and space caused him to lose his past memories.
He opened the seashell, having lost his memory.
In that instant, a massive burst of spacetime energy caused the time field of the entire Dragon Palace Village area to turn upside down.
In an instant, time seemed to fly by on him, and he transformed from a boy into a frail old man.
Even more tragically, because he broke his promise, Princess Otohime, who remained in the Dragon Palace, also suffered the backlash of the curse and died with resentment.
This episode's story lacks the infighting within the defense forces and the invaders' schemes; it only presents a faint yet profound sorrow.
On the beach, Shimo encountered a mysterious woman in white who looked remarkably like his deceased mother.
Meanwhile, Feng Sen encountered a strange middle-aged man at the beach who kept urging the "ancient person" to remember quickly.
Hey buddy, if opening a seashell means death, then don't give them a seashell in the first place!
If we don't give them seashells, they'll probably die when they come back, right?
[Japanese mythology is a bit abstract... losing one's memory after going ashore, what a bizarre setting!]
When we finally reached the shore, 300 years had passed. Our memories were also 300 years old. Who could remember this promise after 300 years?
"Let's put the plot aside for now, but the suspense is quite well done."
Old Tang couldn't help but exclaim, "This atmosphere of Japanese ghost stories, combined with Seven's background, has a unique charm."
As the investigation deepened, the truth gradually came to light.
The woman in white was not Princess Otohime from back then, but Otohime's younger sister.
And the middle-aged man who kept persuading the old man turned out to be the sea turtle that was rescued back then!
It turns out that Urashima Taro broke his promise and opened the seashell.
That not only aged him instantly, but also caused Princess Otohime, who was waiting for him in the Dragon Palace, to die from the backlash of magic.
This is not a beautiful love story at all, but a tragedy about betrayal and punishment.
"Why did you open the seashell? Why did you break your promise?"
The woman in white stood amidst a sea of blooming sunset flowers, uttering a stern question to Taro, who had now turned into an old man with white hair.
The sunset flowers that covered the mountains and fields were originally white, but now they had turned into a scarlet blood color because of resentment.
"Because I forgot..."
The old man trembled, his eyes filled with murky tears. "When I got back to shore, I didn't recognize anyone, and I lost my home. I was so scared..."
This dramatic scene left the audience feeling choked up.
Is this the power of time?
[Spanning three hundred years, who could endure such loneliness?]
[The cycle of cause and effect dictates that Princess Otohime's death was truly unjust, so it's not unreasonable for her sister to seek revenge.]
At that moment, the negative energy generated by the spacetime distortion materialized.
A gigantic, dragon-like monster—the Time-Space Divine Beast, the Great Sea Dragon—roared out of the sea.
It was not for aggression, but for "liquidation".
It is the product of the tragic pact between the Otohime sisters, and its roar is as mournful as a woman's weeping, sending chills down one's spine.
This mythical beast possesses the ability to manipulate time and space. Its appearance caused time to reverse throughout the region, and the modern city was gradually disappearing, turning back into a fishing village from three hundred years ago.
If it is not stopped, the whole world will fall into a spacetime distortion.
Without further hesitation, Feng Sen put on the Ultra Glasses.
"Jooo!!!"
Seven makes his appearance.
But this time, Seven is facing not just a monster, but a century-old resentment and tragedy.
This battle was exceptionally difficult for Seven, and he felt extremely frustrated.
The Great Sea Dragon possesses the ability to manipulate spacetime and reality; Seven's head-mounted dart flew over, and it caught it easily.
Moreover, faced with such a tragic product born from human treachery, Seven's fist seemed to grow heavier.
Why do humans forget?
Why do humans break their promises?
Why would you protect such dishonest humans?
The Great Dragon's question resonated directly in Seven's mind through telepathy.
All he could do was fight, but every punch he landed on Hailong felt like a blow to a sad chapter of history.
Old Tang fell silent in the live stream.
Yes, humans are forgetful, humans are treacherous. Is it really worth it for Seven to protect such a race?
This is a question without an answer.
Seven was tightly bound by the sea dragon, its enormous body tumbling in the seawater.
At the critical moment, the old man who had regained his memory—Urashima Taro—stepped forward.
He held in his hands a bouquet of sunset flowers that had turned red with hatred.
That was the promise he made to Princess Otohime, which he finally remembered at the last moment.
"I'm sorry... I'm late."
The old man walked step by step toward the sea, toward the raging monster.
A miracle happened.
The flowers in the old man's hands emitted a soft glow.
It slowly changed from red to white.
The great sea dragon stopped its attack. It looked down at the tiny old man, and the ferocity in its eyes gradually faded, replaced by a deep compassion.
It sensed it; it was an apology that was three hundred years overdue.
It looked at the flowers in the old man's hand, and a hint of tenderness appeared in its eyes, which were full of resentment.
Although Otohime is dead, her love does not seem to have disappeared.
The sea dragon stopped its attack and let out a long roar, which was no longer mournful but instead carried a sense of relief and liberation.
Although it was impossible to bring Otohime back to life, at least this cause and effect was resolved at this moment.
Seven stopped what he was doing and stood quietly in the seawater, watching this scene unfold.
Finally, the great sea dragon transformed into countless golden specks of light and vanished into the night sky.
Meanwhile, Princess Otohime and the middle-aged man who had transformed from a sea turtle disappeared into the light with relieved smiles.
They went back.
Return to the legendary Dragon Palace to complete that unfinished reunion.
The ending is a blank space.
It doesn't explain where the old man went, nor does it explain whether the Dragon Palace really exists.
Only Seven remained standing on the beach in the sunset, watching the sunset flowers turn white again and sway in the wind.
The ending is left open-ended, leaving the reader wanting more.
The chat room was unusually quiet at this moment, with none of the previous jokes and banter; everyone was immersed in this faint sadness.
End.
The moment the screen went black, the live stream was unusually quiet; instead of spamming "awesome" or "exciting," there was only silence and exclamations of "..." and "beautiful."
Old Tang took a deep breath, his tone carrying a sense of calm that had been purified.
"Guys, this episode... was amazing."
"He proved that Ultraman can not only talk about politics, environmental protection, and war, but also about this kind of classical tragedy with a strong oriental charm."
"The Promised Cause and Effect is not about monsters, but about the obsessions in people's hearts."
"Although there weren't any big scenes with massive model explosions or exciting fight scenes, this episode had a greater impact on me than any of the previous ones."
Old Tang pointed to the last frame on the screen, a close-up of a sunset flower.
"I have to say, Gu Nan is a real all-rounder. One second he can make you hate him to the core, the next he can make you cry your eyes out, and now he can make you stare at the screen in a daze and contemplate life."
"He really took this 'Seven' to a whole new level."
Online discussions about the recent episodes have once again become trending topics...
The controversy that arose from the "Friendship Project" being too dark vanished instantly in the face of these two episodes, which were full of humanistic care.
What the audience sees is no longer a simple monster-fighting story, but a series of flesh-and-blood souls with love and hate.
"Science and Justice", "Love and Betrayal", "Promises and Time".
These three themes were like three heavy blows, completely shattering the audience's preconceived notions about tokusatsu films.
On various forums, the ratings for "Ultraman Seven: Project Origin" have soared, directly reaching the threshold of a masterpiece with a score of 9.
……
the other side
At the Light Chaser Studio.
Chen Bo looked at the data in the backend and his face lit up with a smile.
"Brother Nan! Our data has stabilized."
Chen Bo waved the report excitedly, "Although the viewership is still slightly lower than 'Ultraman Tiga,' user engagement is extremely high! And merchandise sales are booming! Especially the Seven glasses and head crest, they're selling like hotcakes!"
To be honest, when Seven OV first aired, its data was extremely poor compared to Ultraman Tiga.
After all, most viewers may have dropped the series after watching Ultraman Tiga because of the different art style of the new story, or they may have wanted to save up a few episodes to watch all at once.
This also resulted in Seven OV's discussion and popularity being far less than that of Ultraman Tiga.
Moreover, Chen Bo had also witnessed the grand finale of Ultraman Tiga, and seeing such a stark contrast, he couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed.
However, the excellent quality of Sevenov's recent episodes and the increasing positive reviews have given him renewed confidence.
Gu Nan sat in the chair, twirling a pen in his hand, his face showing little surprise.
"Ultraman Seven: Project Origin" was originally a work that relied on word-of-mouth and depth.
It doesn't need to become a national phenomenon like Ultraman Tiga; it only needs to plant a seed in the hearts of the audience—a seed that "tokusatsu films can be serious literature."