Chapter 35
‘Let’s handle this before we go out.’
While Number 26 was feasting on the man’s brain, there were things to be done. I cut off the man’s ankles and put them in the refrigerator.
‘Once Ras’s role is finished, I’ll assu this person’s form.’
The mimicry organ is a characteristic that allows to consu flesh, analyze genes, and mimic. I don’t need to eat all of the at, like when activating the predation effect.
‘I don’t need to store all of it, so I’ll just keep a part.’
Putting it in the refrigerator might slow down the decay process a bit. Even so, it would be unrealistic for it to last more than two days.
After disposing of the body, I took out the communication device.
‘Next…’
I contemplated who to call. Looking at my contacts, Ras’s human relationships were extrely limited. Besides the team leader, there didn’t seem to be anyone who might know a broker.
‘The team leader would be a burden.’
Just like on the research vessel, being the head of a governnt office in a space city would classify one as at least a mid-capitalist. Even if we were being conservative, he would be a mid-capitalist, and if he belonged to a higher stratum, he might be a third capitalist—a figure entirely different from soone like Ras, who could easily be replaced.
‘If that person disappears, they’ll know right away.’
The current situation is different from when I killed Keisaragi Yujin. She is a high-ranking Noble Capital, far above the people on the research vessel. gaCorp is a competitive society, but at the sa ti, it’s a rigid, pyramid-shaped society where social mobility is stagnant—a contradictory organization.
The higher up in the Capital hierarchy, the more ruthless they tend to be in keeping those below from moving up. Noble Capital, positioned at the very top of the gaCorp pyramid, is even more extre in this regard.
As a result, everyone feared retaliation from Noble Capital, and they could only passively respond to her sudden death. Their timid response ultimately brought great misfortune upon them.
‘It’s ironic. The death of the person in the highest position is hidden, while the death of the lower-ranking person is revealed.’
Furthermore, the Smuggling Animal Surveillance Team seed quite busy. Amidst this, if the person in charge were to disappear, it would create chaos. I needed to choose soone else.
‘This person doesn’t seem right, neither does this one… Hmm?’
While checking the ssages on the communication device, there was one contact that appeared particularly frequently. The ssages were simple, just asking if they were going to the office after work today, but this contact had exchanged the most ssages with Ras.
‘Well, this person should do.’
The person’s na is Lloyd. He was a friend who shared a secret hobby with Ras. When you ntioned the office in the Special Trade Hub, it was famous even in online communities. It was a place that vividly showcased a dark, dystopian worldview, and it was often ntioned in the news due to its controversial ethics.
Anyway, people who enjoy such morally questionable entertainnt might know about the broker.
‘Lloyd and Ras seem pretty close…’, I thought as I used my small arms to send a ssage to Lloyd.
[Hey, let’s catch up soti.]
[You quit your job? You crazy bastard, you’re going all out. What happened?]
[I got tired of the endless workload. I’m looking for work elsewhere.]
[Work here is a bit crappy. Where are you going?]
[I’ve only learned this, so what else can I do? I’ll find sothing similar.]
[Similar work?]
[Yeah, like smuggling.]
It felt like I had brought up the topic abruptly, but there was no other way. I didn’t know how Ras usually expressed his intentions, and the longer the conversation, the more room there was for misunderstandings.
‘I better keep it short and to the point.’
As soon as I sent the ssage, there was no imdiate response from the other end. After a few minutes, the communication device beeped again.
[You said you weren’t going to do anything dangerous before, didn’t you?]
It seed that Lloyd had talked to Ras about smuggling once before, and Ras had probably declined at that ti.
[I thought about it again, and there’s really no other way to make money.]
[You’re hopeless. Now you want to do what everyone else does?]
[Well, I have to give it a try now.]
[Alright. I’ll send you the information via email.]
[Why not et up today and talk about it?]
[et up?]
[Yeah, there’s a bar I know in the Harbor District.]
[You’re not that type, are you? You buying drinks?]
[I just retired, and I can afford a drink with my colleagues, can’t I?]
[You retired and grew so balls, huh? Okay. What ti do you want to et?]
Honestly, I was a bit impulsive, but Lloyd didn’t seem to have any suspicions, so it went well.
‘Things are going smoothly.’
I sent him a ssage with the location and ti. The location was an alley near the border of the Harbor District, as close as possible to the manhole connected to the underground secret passage.
We decided on the evening for the eting. In this city, whether it’s day or night, there are always people around, but the presence or absence of bright lights makes a world of difference. To move discreetly in the darkness and keep a low profile, it was natural to et at night.
‘I should catch them after they’ve finished work.’
I sent the ssage, and a reply ca quickly. Since he had retired, he ntioned that he might get bored if he went to the office alone.
‘No need to be bored.’
After all, he would probably end up on the sa path as Ras.
‘I got confirmation.’
There was still plenty of ti until evening. Taking genetic essence from this apartnt was risky, so I had to spend ti here.
｢I’m full.｣
Looking at Number 26, it seed like it had eaten to the point of bursting. It waddled over to the soft bed and fell asleep.
‘It’s still young, so it should sleep a lot.’
After covering him with a blanket, I opened my laptop again. Before eting Lloyd, I needed to go over the list and gather information.
Carefully examining the list, I checked off multiple seized specins of the sa type of organism.
‘Since the predatory effect activates by probability, having more of the sa species is better.’
As I checked, there were truly all sorts of organisms. They were all creatures I had seen at least once in the ga, but so of them made suspicious of whether they were really trying to smuggle them.
‘There’s even a Mountain Crawler. How did they manage to capture one? And… Oh?’
As I marveled at the skills of the smugglers while looking at the list, I noticed an unusual na.
‘They captured an Outspacer?’
Hastily, I checked the entry next to the na, and the transport section was left blank. That ant the Outspacer was still here.
‘There are 20 of them.’
It would have been great if there was a queen among them, but since it wasn’t specified, it seed like there were only workers. Even so, it was a significant harvest for .
‘Outspacer genes can be useful.’
The Outspacers, as the na suggests, are extraterrestrial species from beyond the stars. They gather genes to enhance themselves and exhibit many similarities to the Amorphs, such as genetically strengthening and antagonizing different species.
The key differences are that, unlike the Amorphs, players control them in colony units rather than individual entities, and among Outspacers of the sa species, cooperation and communication are possible.
In simple terms, if Amorphs are inspired by X-Files, Outspacers are inspired by classic ga Zerg. I had played Outspacer for quite a long ti, given my fascination with extraterrestrial creatures.
‘In essence, they’re an upgraded version of Amorphs.’
When a player chooses Outspacer, their main goal is to beco the colony queen of that species and grow the colony. Absorbing genes from other creatures reflects in the offspring produced by the queen.
The Outspacers operated with a typical monarch-type chanism where the workers beca stronger, gathering more powerful genes, and growing the colony. Compared to the Amorphs, another monarch-type species with a brutal hierarchy, the Outspacers were regarded as a challenging and high-potential species within the community.
What set them apart was the ability for players to develop entirely different forms of colonies based on their choices. In terms of performance, they quickly beca powerful after surviving the initially high difficulty, making them popular among players who valued performance over concept.
‘Still, I prefer Amorphs.’
If you played as Amorphs, it was a good idea to acquire Outspacer genes whenever the opportunity arose. This was because they had many useful traits, and so were even related to acquiring new types.
‘Let’s start with these guys.’
Although there were only 20 of them, since I would be devouring them as live specins rather than samples, I could expect the predation effect to work in my favor.
Besides, I checked one or two other useful prey items. Unfortunately, due to the nature of smuggling, there weren’t many cases where more than 10 of the sa species were brought in.
‘I might not get many traits even if I devour them all.’
This aspect probably depended on luck.
As I selected the things to consu, the room gradually beca shrouded in darkness.
The ti for hunting prey was drawing near. I woke up Number 26 and together we left the apartnt.
***
A somber darkness had descended over the entire city. Streetlights illuminated the dark residential area brightly.
‘Last ti, there were people around, so I had to break the streetlights, but…’
Late at night, there were patrols of police officers around the residential area. Before, I had to break the streetlights to avoid their gaze, but if I kept doing that, it would surely raise suspicion. Today, I should try to avoid them rather than destroying the streetlights.
I moved between the closely spaced apartnt buildings, leaping over them through the rooftops and outer walls. While the gaps between the apartnts were significant, thanks to the enhanced agility trait, it wasn’t a major issue to leap long distances. When landing, I spread the wings on my back to make as little noise as possible.
‘It’s fortunate that there are fewer people because it’s work ti.’
Moving quickly, I soon approached the manhole cover. It was right in front of , but I didn’t rush to it. Instead, I concealed myself.
｢Why are you acting this way, little one?｣
[ZZZ (Enemy)]
｢Enemy?｣
There was an android patrolling around the manhole.
‘A combat android.’
Unlike the android I saw on the pirate ship last ti, this one had three arms. In addition to two arms resembling those of a human, there was an additional combat-oriented right arm equipped with a Gauss rifle near its waist.
‘That’s strange. An android using a Gauss rifle?’
The Gauss rifle is a high-powered weapon that falls below plasma weapons in terms of firepower, making it highly efficient against heavily armored foes. To put it in perspective, it’s like a less expensive but less destructive version of a plasma weapon.
However, just like plasma weapons, Gauss rifles are costly equipnt for regular soldiers or androids to use. The cost of a single rifle is higher than lower-tier powered armor, and, most importantly, the ammunition is exceptionally expensive.
‘It uses tungsten ammunition, so it’s bound to be expensive.’
Anyway, the level of armant I was aware of for androids was by no ans as high as this. Even if this city is wealthy, it’s not so affluent as to equip a single android with a Gauss rifle that consus high-cost tungsten ammunition like water unless it’s an extraordinarily special situation.
‘Could there be so kind of event or festival?’
T&C Special Trade Center was a place where various in-ga events were held. Given that it was a city frequented by tourists, it wouldn’t be unusual for an unknown festival to be taking place.
If a festival was happening, it would naturally an a higher level of alert and security, with a significant influx of visitors. The reason for the androids being heavily ard might be related to the festival.
‘I guess I should consider myself lucky and unlucky at the sa ti.’
I made it in safely, but of all tis, it had to be when a festival was scheduled.
While lost in thought, the heavily ard android loitering around the manhole disappeared sowhere. After waiting for a mont and confirming that no one else was approaching, I approached the manhole.
I lifted the incredibly heavy piece of tal effortlessly with my human strength and sent Number 26 in first. After a final look around, I entered the manhole as well.
As I touched the manhole cover, a pitch-black darkness, like a black hole with not a speck of light, enveloped us.
｢Baby, where are we going?｣
[ZZ ZZZZZZ ZZZZ (We’ll go the way we ca)]
The little GUY and I had no trouble seeing in the dark. It sensed air currents, vibrations, and other such things with its entire body, and I had an auxiliary system.
I could see it. A small tunnel, about 5 ters high, stretched all the way to the other side of the ground.
Inside the tunnel, there was discarded trash from past laborers, cigarette butts thrown by soone from above the manhole cover, and more scattered on the floor.
From the tunnel walls, dust periodically fell due to vibrations caused by passing subway trains.
I walked toward our destination with Number 26.
‘Let’s lay down spores on the way.’
Originally, I planned to lay down spores after establishing a nest, but things were different when there was a festival in the city. Setting up surveillance in advance would make it easier to deal with unexpected situations.
When I activated the contamination organ on the lower right arm of my combat arm, a viscous brown mucus mixed with spores oozed out. The spores I had released slowly spread through the tunnel, as if reassuring that they wouldn’t worry about leaving my body.
Since the contamination organ also had the enhancent effect, in about two days, the spores would grow as effectively as if I had built the nest myself.
“That should do for surveillance.”
By the ti most of the spores were laid down on the path connecting the residential and harbor zones, I arrived at my destination. I carefully opened the manhole cover and checked outside.
‘Nobody here either.’
This area was the border between zones, and it seed people didn’t frequent it. If you wanted to go to another zone, you would take the subway rather than walk.
[ZZ ZZZZ (Wait here)]
｢Why? I want to go with you.｣
[ZZ ZZZZZZ ZZZ ZZ (They’ll get scared of you)]
I recalled that Ras had been scared of Number 26, and he crouched down gloomily. It was a sad truth that people were afraid of Number 26.
I hid Number 26 under the manhole and went to the eting place. They hadn’t arrived yet. I activated the mimicry organ and crouched in a dark alley.
‘They’re coming.’
About ten minutes had passed since I started waiting. Soone was walking toward from a distance.
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