Page 263
"Then please."
Chapter 294: Reporter Shibata
The manager ran to the machinery room to open the valve to release the air. Beidou contacted the headquarters, and Captain Long and Yamanaka were on their way in the Eagle.
"Hey, this is already a controlled area. No unauthorized persons are allowed to enter. Didn't you hear the evacuation order?"
As Bokuto hung up the communicator, he heard Konno talking loudly.
The person who was talking was a middle-aged man wearing a dark green sweatshirt and a camera hanging around his neck.
All the people within a few kilometers had been cleared away, and no one knew where he had slipped in from.
"I'm a reporter from a magazine. By the way, are you a member of Konno's team?"
"Ah, you know me?" Konno was a little surprised. Unlike the likable Beidou, he seldom appeared in front of the interview camera.
"I heard from Kashima-senpai that the strongman of the TAC team is the most humane man."
"Kajima... Oh, you mean Junko? She said that?" Konno forgot what he was going to say after being praised. "Ah, now I remember. Could you be the reporter that Junko was talking about?"
Junko mentioned before that her juniors wanted to interview the TAC team. Konno mentioned it to the TAC team before, but the captain did not agree.
When I first heard Junko say that he was a junior, I thought he was a young person who had just entered the industry.
Judging from his appearance at this time, he was probably forty years old, because his beard was not clean, maybe he would look younger if he trimmed it. Even if he was in his thirties, he was much older than Junko.
Is this considered a younger generation?
"Yes, I am the same as Senior Kashima, a reporter working for MFC Magazine in Tokyo. My last name is Shibata."
MFC is the abbreviation of My-Favourite-Collection, which means "My Favorite Collection". In fact, the magazine contains a wide variety of columns, from fashion recommendations to Rakugo jokes.
It is not particularly famous, but it has a large readership.
“Are you new here?”
"Yes. I quit my previous magazine, so I had to start over."
Konno was a little surprised.
Resignation is not common in the island nation. It is equivalent to writing off all previous relationships and efforts.
Even the new company will not look up to him because of his "experience". On the contrary, he may be treated coldly because he has resigned before. Many companies will not even accept such employees. Shibata is lucky to be able to re-enter the company.
Because they are incompatible with their workplace culture and break the rules. If you want to be recognized, you can only work harder to prove your value.
"Our magazine wants to do an exclusive interview with the TAC team, and the editor-in-chief has given me the task of interviewing. Senior Konno, can you allow me to do the interview?"
"Ah, well..."
Konno wanted to say that he had already mentioned it to the captain, but the captain did not agree. But he felt a little embarrassed to be called "senior" by someone older than him.
"There are monsters here, right?"
"Yes, we found that..."
"Konno!" Beidou shouted, interrupting Konno's words, and he walked over to the two of them.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Shibata, no matter who you know, we have our own rules. If you want to interview the TAC team, please contact our external publicity department first. We cannot accept interviews without the permission of our superiors."
This is indeed the rule of the TAC team. Konno, who had become a little carried away by the praise, could only shut up.
However, Shibata did not give up. He pressed the shutter button towards Beidou.
"I say you……"
"Member Beidou, nice to meet you!"
The other party was so polite that Beidou could only swallow half of his words. He felt that he could not handle such a familiar person.
There was a hissing sound coming from the pipe, and it seemed that the exhaust work had begun. Beidou and Yoshimura's attention was drawn to the reporter, and they were no longer paying attention to the reporter. Only Konno was still chatting with the other party.
"It seems to be going well. Once the gas is drained away, we will launch the attack."
From the engine room, things were also going smoothly, and the air pressure on the valve was decreasing.
But when Manager Akita inadvertently glanced at the reading on the mechanical watch, his hands and feet suddenly felt cold, as if a basin of cold water had been poured on his forehead.
"No, it's wrong! It's all wrong!"
He tried to close the valve manually, but it was too late.
Beidou and Yoshimura listened to the hissing sound in the pipe gradually stop, the gas station should be emptied of gas. A black dot appeared in the distance of the sky, it was the Eagle coming.
"Captain, this is Beidou. We are currently working on gas extraction and expect to be finished soon."
"Very good. Once the work is completed, attack immediately."
As the captain was saying this on the communicator, Beidou noticed that Manager Akita from the gas company was stumbling towards him in the distance.
"What's wrong, Manager? Has the gas been drained out?"
"Listen to me!" Akita's throat was a little hoarse, "You're wrong! The gas hasn't been removed."
"What? But we all heard the noise just now."
"Gas should normally be drained from the pipeline, but the instrument shows the direction is reversed. All the gas in the entire gas station has been concentrated in these gas tanks!"
When the valve is opened, the gas in the gas tank should be discharged, but now the gas in the entire gas station flows back into the gas tank. In other words, the pressure difference of the gas tank is negative.
"Something is sucking up the gas in there!" Yoshimura muttered, "That creature that's living in Jupiter II and disguised as a gas tank feeds on gas. It took advantage of the valve being open and sucked up all the gas here!"
"Hey!" Manager Akita was not happy. "I opened the valve based on your TAC team's instructions. Now because of the valve, all the gas in our company has been stolen. Who will bear this loss?"
He finally became a manager, and if the company leaders attributed the loss to his mistakes, he would lose his job. He didn't want to be fired and go to the park every day to swing.
"This is because the damage was caused by the monster attack. The people from the Disaster Prevention Department will be responsible for it."
After hearing what Yoshimura said, Manager Akita breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that someone was in charge.
TAC didn't care how much gas was lost, the value of this gas was not enough to repair the Airo once. What they cared about was that the enemy had sucked up so much gas, it was simply a huge explosion barrel, impossible to attack.
Upon learning of the situation, Captain Long suspended the attack plan and the Eagle slowly landed.
"Beidou, Konno, why do you always get into trouble?" Shan Zhong, who came down from the Eagle, mocked them as soon as they met, "I told you before, you should be more rigorous in doing things."
"But..." Beidou wanted to refute, but couldn't find any reason. There was indeed an oversight this time.
"What about you, Yamanaka? If you discovered the monster, wouldn't you first pump out the gas around it?" Konno said.
"At least I'll report to the captain first."
After Yamanaka said this, Beidou and Konno were speechless.
If you make a decision, you must bear the consequences. If you report it to your superiors and execute the decision made by them, you will not be held responsible regardless of the result. The responsibility lies with the person who made the decision.
This is the army.
This was Shanzhong warning them. This was definitely not the first time something like this had happened.
"But I think it's good for a man to have some responsibility," said Shibata. Although Beidou didn't allow him to interview before, Shibata really likes people like Beidou.
Just like him. He is impulsive and will not care about anything else once he has decided on something.
Although he always offended people and even couldn't stay in his original newspaper, Shibata did not regret it.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Hajime Shibata, a reporter for MFC magazine."
"Beidou! Konno! You actually let an unrelated reporter interview at the battle scene?" Yamanaka said in disbelief.
"Ah, no, I haven't agreed yet." Konno said quickly.
"Then let him leave immediately. Unrelated civilians should obey the TAC team's evacuation order and not cause trouble for our work."
"You mean creating trouble? Interviewing here is my own business. No matter what danger I encounter, I will bear it myself and will not blame anyone. You can completely pretend that I don't exist. Even if I am trampled to death by a monster or accidentally injured by TAC, it is my own responsibility."
"But rescuing civilians is our job as the TAC team. If you are in danger, even if you asked for it, we will risk our lives to save you. This is our responsibility as the TAC team!"
After looking at Yamanaka for a moment, Shibata raised his hands in surrender.
"Okay, I understand. I won't cause you any more trouble." He put away the camera to indicate that he would not interview any more people. "But please believe me, I really admire you, the TAC team, because you once saved my life."
The TAC team has saved many people, and for them it is just a daily job and they will not remember it at all. But the people who were saved will remember it.
Shibata wanted to interview the TAC team, which was like light in this hopeless world.
Yamanaka's expression relaxed, and he stopped paying attention to Shibata.
"Captain, the gas supplied to the entire Nerima area by the gas station has been absorbed. If the gas explodes, not only this gas station, but also the surrounding 20 to 30 kilometers will be razed to the ground."
If the gas in an entire gas station explodes, it can be compared to a nuclear bomb in terms of pure equivalent, except that there is no radiation.
"At a time like this, shouldn't we let Ultraman take the stage?" Manager Akita interrupted. Although TAC promised that the Ministry of Disaster Prevention would bear the losses, he was afraid that if the gas station was gone, he would also lose his job as a manager.
"It is our human responsibility to protect the Earth. If we don't work hard until the last second, Ultraman will not appear." Captain Long asserted, "TAC exists for this purpose."
Ultraman is indeed very powerful, especially Gaia. If the Meta Field is deployed, gas explosions will not be a problem.
But that should be what happens after humans have tried everything and are truly helpless.
At the wall of the Gas Station, Ling listened to Captain Long's words and temporarily put away the Light of Gaia.
Human beings are still very weak, but they have never given up trying.
"Kainar, do you think humans can defeat the source of destruction?"
"I'm sorry, there is no record of the Root of Destruction in my database, so I can't make a judgment."
Of course there would be no record, but if Sword Breaker had ever faced the Source of Destruction, it would have been reduced to ashes long ago.
Even the witches lost. As a level 4 civilization, they couldn't even put up a decent resistance and were destroyed in an instant.
But humans will never give up hope no matter what kind of enemy they face.
"Kuji, this is a dragon, is there any way to stop the gas explosion?"
Mu Qi, who was guarding the base headquarters, soon received a response.
"Yes. Use a neutralizer. We have a reverse catalyst that greatly slows down the oxidation of alkanes, effectively blocking combustion. I'll install it on the Gaara now."
Mu Qi is always so reliable. Whenever the frontline needs him, he can always bring out the corresponding weapons.
"Konno, Yamanaka, you go back to base now and pilot the Gaara with the neutralizer installed!"
Others also began to retreat, retreating further away. Neutralizers will greatly slow down oxidation and will also work on humans, causing suffocation if inhaled.