After sending Tsubasa back to his rightful future, Yu Zhou did not linger in that timeline. He simply bid the boy farewell, then returned to his own era.
Falling out of the wormhole, Yu Zhou landed upon the golden sands of the beach. He took out the two stone statues from his spatial ring, carefully checked that they were intact, then stored them away again.
In the original storyline, Commander Gondo had shattered those two statues into fragments to create an artificial Ultraman—and even succeeded in reviving it.
But now, the broken fragments of the statues were nothing more than rubble from the fallen pyramid. Whether Commander Gondo would still succeed in his experiment was uncertain.
If not for Sophia's interference, perhaps the experiment would indeed have worked. Yet that success had been based upon draining Shin Asuka's inner light.
Yu Zhou would never allow such a thing to happen.
What puzzled him most was that in the original plot, even though Asuka's light had been absorbed, he had still managed to transform into Ultraman Dyna to battle the fake Dyna possessed by Sophia.
But before long, Asuka's energy had run out. In the end, it was Commander Gondo who extracted his own light, transferring it to Dyna—redeeming himself in the process.
"Commander Gondo is just an ordinary human, yet he carried light within him and could even pass it on to Dyna..."
Yu Zhou pieced the memory together, sinking into thought.
This proved that even ordinary humans had light within them.
Then another possibility surfaced in his mind—Dyna's light might actually have been connected to Asuka's father. That conclusion left Yu Zhou more than a little shocked.
"Could it be… that humans of this Earth can, by their own strength, become light?"
The bold hypothesis burst forth within Yu Zhou's mind.
Daigo had once said in the original series: All people can become light through their own will.
This idea was proven not only in the battle against Gatanozoa, but also in the Star Warriors movie, where the collective light of countless people merged to summon Ultraman Tiga once again.
"What are you thinking about?"
Seeing Yu Zhou standing dazed on the beach after returning, Charija asked curiously.
"Nothing." Yu Zhou shook his head. "I should get back now."
With that, he turned and walked toward the heart of R'lyeh.
Yu Zhou recalled how, in Ultraman Dyna's story, it was once mentioned: Earth is the Star of Ultra.
A simple phrase—but after some analysis, Yu Zhou realized it contained a massive secret.
"Star of Ultra." Setting aside the Land of Light, the direct meaning was a planet whose natives were Ultramen.
If Earth was the Star of Ultra, then that meant Earth was home to a race of Ultramen.
Yet clearly, Earth today was populated only by humans—not by a society of Ultramen like the Land of Light.
Still, the inhabitants of the Land of Light, before they evolved into Ultramen, had been nearly identical to humans.
"Which means… Earth in its current state might be the precursor to the Land of Light!"
The realization stunned Yu Zhou.
Humans of Earth already carried light-energy within their bodies.
Therefore, one possibility became clear:
Even without the Plasma Spark, humanity might one day evolve into light on its own, making Earth the second Star of Ultra!
Of course, this was only a theory. No one could say for sure.
But if the ancient dark gods sealed within Earth one day awakened and brought ruin upon the world, then the only hope of survival might be for all of humanity to evolve—just as the people of the Land of Light once had.
After all, when a rabbit is cornered, it bites back. And when humans are cornered... turning into light might not be impossible.
Lost in thought, Yu Zhou soon found himself standing before the crystalline palace gates.
The moment he stepped inside, he came face to face with Daigo.
"Yu Zhou-kun, where have you been?"
Daigo looked puzzled. Not seeing Yu Zhou for an entire day had left him curious.
"I went to the ancient past," Yu Zhou said with a playful smile. "And I met your son."
"The ancient past? My son?" Daigo stared blankly. "Hold on—never mind how you could see my son in ancient times, but... I only have a daughter!"
"You'll have a son too, in the future," Yu Zhou explained casually. "Probably in just a year or two."
"…You're serious?" Daigo asked, sensing that Yu Zhou wasn't joking.
"It's true," Yu Zhou replied. "I travelled back five thousand years."
"Five thousand years?!" Daigo's eyes widened. "Then why was my son there?"
"Because while piloting a training craft, he was swept into a temporal vortex."
Yu Zhou answered truthfully.
"Wait—give me a moment."
Daigo lifted a hand, asking Yu Zhou to pause while he sorted through the revelation.
So.. his future son would also join TPC, perhaps even Super GUTS. While piloting a training ship, the boy would be caught in a time storm and thrown back five millennia—where he would meet Yu Zhou.
Which meant, in the distant past, his son and Yu Zhou had shared an encounter.
"By the way, Daigo," Yu Zhou added, "I didn't just meet your son. I also met your ancestor."
"My ancestor?" Daigo blinked in confusion. "And how do you know it was really my ancestor?"
"Because five thousand years ago, he was the one who inherited the Light—the one who revived Tiga's stone statue."
Yu Zhou's voice was steady.
"The Ancient Bearer of Light, five thousand years ago!" Daigo gasped. "You mean… you met him when he awakened Tiga?!"
"That's right." Yu Zhou nodded. Amui might not have come forth to fight monsters then, but in the end, he had transformed.
"And there were three others," Yu Zhou continued, "who looked exactly like Horii, Captain Munakata, and Captain Megumi. Most likely, they were their ancestors."
"This is… incredible."
Daigo shook his head, finding Yu Zhou's tale of ancient events almost unbelievable.
"What about my son? If he was dragged into the past, did he return safely to his own time?"
Of all the shocking details, that was the one Daigo cared for most. Even though his son had not yet been born, the concern was etched deeply into his face.
"Don't worry—I brought him back."
Yu Zhou smiled knowingly. As expected, Daigo's thoughts were fixed on his child.
"Oh, and guess what I brought back with me from the ancient past."
Yu Zhou suddenly leaned closer, whispering mysteriously into Daigo's ear.
"…What did you bring back?" Daigo asked, wary. "Don't tell me—it wasn't my son, was it?!"