Entertainment: You're asked to make a graduation project, but you're asked to film Ultrama

Chapter 20 Don't Steal the Children's Dreams

The video continued, but at this moment, a sense of fear crept up the spine of every viewer.

On the screen, the eerie Kiranbo witch did not rush to grow to gigantic size.

She stood in the center of that colorful yet distorted "dream park," looking at Daigo who was trapped in the force field and unable to move, and let out a series of sickening laughs.

The laughter was strange; it made one's eardrums itch and one's heart pound.

"Look at these children."

The witch's withered, bony fingers pointed behind her.

The unconscious children, like marionettes, lined up and walked with stiff steps toward the giant pumpkin spaceship.

The camera suddenly zoomed in, giving a close-up of the witch's pale mask.

"Their dreams are colorful; they dream of flying, of exploring, of becoming scientists."

"And what about your dreams as adults?"

The witch casually grabbed a ball of light representing "adult dreams" from the void, sniffed it with disgust, and then crushed it as if she had touched something dirty.

"Ugh—it reeks of money and anxiety. Want a promotion? Want a raise? Want attention on fake social media?"

"This kind of moldy dream is worse than garbage."

After these lines were spoken, there was a brief silence in the comments section.

Immediately following was a flurry of "???" and exclamation marks.

Holy crap! This villain has a really sharp tongue!

Even though she's a monster, why do I feel like what she said...makes a bit of a point?

I sacrificed three ounces of my dream just to earn enough for three meals a day on the stove.

However, in reality, dreams are incredibly fragile...

This is heartbreaking. Is this what I'm feeling right now?

In the scene, Daigo is furious.

He struggled, trying to break free of the force field's restraints.

"Dreams know no social class! Anything you truly yearn for is worth protecting!"

However, Kiranbo ignored him. Sensing the arrival of the GUTS team, he went to the top of the pumpkin ship, intending to hide it back into the other dimension.

Without Kiranbo, Daigo managed to break through the force field with difficulty.

They arrived at the Spark Lens that Kiranbo had carelessly discarded.

"Tiga!!!"

With that roar, the Sparkler exploded in the dimly lit amusement park, emitting a dazzling light.

Instead of a stirring battle hymn, there was a somber and subdued cello solo.

Ultraman Tiga makes his appearance.

However, a scene that made all the viewers' sanity plummet occurred.

The gigantic Kiranbo witch didn't just grow bigger as is the usual trope; her body underwent a nauseating mutation.

"hiss--"

With a tearing sound like ripping silk, Kiramb's once smooth back suddenly bulged.

That was a "pumpkin tumor" that Gu Nan had the props team carefully craft.

Then, as it grew to enormous size, Giranbo slowly grew onto its back.

A dozen or so pumpkin-shaped tumors of varying sizes were densely packed on her back, each one wriggling slightly, as if countless painful human faces were sealed inside.

The visual impact of this scene is too strong.

The comments section on Bilibili exploded instantly.

[Warning: This content may trigger trypophobia!]

[What kind of insane design is this?! Monsters used to be ugly, but this is disgusting!]

I take back my claim that this show is for children; it's clearly a restricted-rating horror film!

Battle is imminent.

But this was not an evenly matched fight; it was a one-sided toy.

Kiranbo's figure suddenly swayed, splitting into two, then four, instantly filling the entire screen.

Each of the clones was laughing, using mocking voices to distract Tiga.

Tiga swung his fist, but it only dispersed a cloud of purple smoke.

The real witch, however, hides in the shadows.

The "pumpkin tumors" on her back suddenly opened up, like biological cannons, spitting out beams of purple destructive light.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Tiga was forced to retreat steadily, sparks bursting from his body.

That sense of powerlessness was transmitted to every viewer through the screen.

In this episode's fight choreography, Gu Nan completely abandoned the cool and dashing style, focusing instead on "struggle".

Tiga dodged and weaved through the clones, his red color timer flashing wildly.

"Ding-dong... Ding-dong..."

The urgent alarm sounded particularly jarring in the silent night.

Just then, the camera focused on the ground.

A little boy whose dreams have been robbed is staring blankly at the battle in the sky.

Gu Nan gave a very meaningful close-up shot here.

The camera focuses on the child's eyes.

Those once clear pupils were now murky, like stagnant water.

In that stagnant, still reflection, what is shown is not Tiga, the symbol of hope, but the hideous and terrifying witch.

This one second of camera work sent a chill down the spines of countless viewers, who couldn't quite put their finger on what was wrong, only feeling a tightness in their chests.

Back to the battlefield.

Daigo understood that a swift victory was necessary.

He was no longer misled by those illusions, but calmed down.

Suddenly, Tiga crossed his hands over his forehead, and a golden light flashed from the crystal on his forehead.

Ultraman Tiga's Eye!

That is the mind that can see through all illusions.

In Tiga's vision, the clones turned into gray phantoms, with only one entity radiating a nauseating purple light.

"just!"

Tiga spread his arms, and his body color instantly turned purple.

Aerial type!

The speed increased dramatically.

Instead of using any fancy beams of light, he transformed into a purple afterimage and charged directly at Kiranbo's main body.

In the original Ultraman Tiga, Tiga did not switch forms during his battle with Giranbo.

Now, with funding and more advanced technology, Gu Nan can make the "aerial type," which had the fewest appearances in the original version, appear on screen multiple times.

With a swift and precise chop, he severed the pumpkin tumor on Kiranbo's back.

"ah!!"

Kieranbo let out a piercing scream.

The dream orbs that had been swallowed flew out of the broken pumpkin, like fireflies filling the sky, and returned to the children's bodies.

The outcome is decided.

However, Gu Nan did not arrange for the conventional Zapelion Ray to finish the match.

He wanted to give this episode a most divine ending.

Tiga stood under the night sky, without assuming the starting stance for his ultimate attack.

He brought his hands together in front of the color timer on his chest.

Timer flashing!

This time, the light shines forth to dispel evil!

A dazzling white light erupted instantly, centered on Tiga.

It wasn't a blinding laser, but a gentle yet unstoppable blazing sun that instantly illuminated the entire Halloween night, dispelling all the gloom.

In this pure light, Kiranbo's hideous body disintegrated like melting snow, disappearing into the void along with the amusement park filled with wicked humor.

The darkness fades, and dawn breaks.

The children woke up on the park bench.

They rubbed their eyes, looking at the candy in their hands, as if they were having a strange dream.

"Huh? Why is it already light?"

"Mom is still waiting for me to come home."

The children ran out of the park laughing and playing, their innocent laughter finally replacing the eerie, mechanical laughter that had preceded them.

And in the woods not far away.

Daigo leaned against the tree trunk, sweating profusely, and looked at the children's backs with a relieved smile.

"Dagu!"

Lina ran over, looking at him with concern. "Are you alright?"

"fine."

Daigo straightened up and dusted himself off.

"Their dream has returned."

The image freezes on Daigo's clear eyes, and as the camera zooms out, the first rays of morning sunlight fall on his face.

The screen gradually goes black.

The ending theme song, "Brave Love, TIGA," begins to play.

This episode has ended.

But for Bilibili viewers, tonight is destined to be a sleepless night.

Even after the progress bar finished, many people were still sitting in front of the screen, unable to come back to their senses for a long time.

Is it scary?

That's truly terrifying.

But besides the terror, there seems to be something deeper, stuck in your throat, making you want to cry and scream at the same time.

The old machinery factory in the western suburbs of Jinghai.

"Brother Nan..."

Wang Kai swallowed hard as he watched the ending sequence. "Although I was involved in filming this episode and made the props, watching the final cut still gave me goosebumps."

"That's right."

"In this episode, we planted a seed."

"A seed about 'thinking'."