Chapter 12

chapter 12

the usually quiet cargo container aboard the ship was bustling with activity, thanks to the technical team members. they were overwhelmed by the sudden increase in workload over the past few days. the order from above was to overhaul all the fighters.

“hey, scott. it’s dinner time. let’s go grab some food.”

“ah, just let me finish this.”

the blond man called out to the black-haired man working by the fighter. scott, as he was known, put down his wrench and got up from his spot.

“how much longer do we have?”

“it might take overtime.”

“ugh, damn it.”

the two of them joined others on their way to the cafeteria.

“i still don’t get it.”

“what?”

“why are we tearing apart the planes as if we have a war to fight?”

pincher, the blond man who was chewing on synthetic meat that resembled an eraser, furrowed his brow.

“scott, do you always have to bring up work during meals?”

“isn’t it strange, though? pincher, you should think about it too.”

‘here we go again.’
scott, who never tired of spinning bizarre conspiracy theories, made pincher sigh.

“what’s the latest one?”

“i’ve heard something. they’re trying to capture metallic gremlins from above.”

“metallic gremlins?”

pincher scoffed as if it were absurd.

“yeah. do you really think we can take down metallic gremlins if we encounter them? the high-ranking capital guys may be tough, but they’re not stupid. instead of fighting, they’ll probably run away.”

“you should listen to people until the end. apparently, metallic gremlins are already on board. they know about it above, and they’re determined to catch them.”

“what?”

“have you noticed the strange smell in the air lately? they say it’s the scent of metallic gremlins.”

“this is unbelievable...”

pincher shook his head as if it were ridiculous.

it was true that there had been an unusual odor inside the ship lately. however, if the air were genuinely contaminated, the ship’s ai would have reported it long ago. pincher had never heard of any air quality issues until now.

“just listen for a moment. someone from the kitchen team said that people on board have been disappearing one or two at a time since last week.”

“heh, what nonsense.”

he had entertained the idea, but it was just as he expected. pincher couldn’t believe scott’s baseless chatter.

the ship had a crew of 222 people. it was not a large number, and if one person disappeared per day, it would hardly be noticeable.

and are the people above idiots? there’s no way they’d just sit still when their subordinates are disappearing. as pincher mentioned, the higher-ups might be jerks, but they’re not stupid.

pincher had tried to dismiss scott’s delusions, but there was someone who interjected into their conversation. it was cameron, who was sitting next to them.

“i’ve heard similar stories too. they said the materials management officer went missing.”

“really?”

“yeah. thanks to that, the cargo container manager got promoted to acting head.”

“see! pincher, i was right.”

scott was delighted to have someone else agreeing with him. on the other hand, pincher’s expression twisted as if he had bitten into something sour.

“fine, let’s say people are disappearing. why are the higher-ups just sitting still?”

“they say even the top brass knows everything, but they’re hiding it to prevent the crew from panicking.”

“exactly, it’s because of the metallic gremlins!”

“metallic or whatever. even if they’re causing trouble, what does it have to do with fighter maintenance?”

cameron shrugged his shoulders.

“i don’t know about that. i’ve only heard that people are disappearing.”

“well... are they trying to maintain discipline by manipulating the crew?”

“ugh, you’re such a nutcase. that’s just like you.”

scott scratched his head with a foolish expression, and pincher clicked his tongue.

after dinner, the technical team members returned to their workstations.

time passed, and before they knew it, it was nighttime.

one by one, team members left for home, and the spacious cargo container, which had been bustling earlier, fell silent as if all the commotion had been a lie.

scott and pincher were wrestling in a corner, focusing on a fighter.

“scott, i’m going to grab some late-night snacks. what do you want to eat?”

“i’m good. if there’s synthetic booze, bring that.”

scott was busy undoing a screw under the fighter. the surroundings were so quiet, as if everyone had left for the day except for them.

“scott.”

“yeah?”

as he was changing a part, someone called him.

“cameron?”

“come here for a moment.”

“i’m in the middle of something right now.”

“it’ll just take a moment.”

scott was busy as hell, and cameron’s call was annoying. he had promised to give a piece of his mind to anyone who bothered him with something unimportant, and he reluctantly crawled out from under the fighter. in the spacious area, all he could see were fighters and toolboxes; cameron was nowhere to be found.

“you call someone and then disappear?”

“i’m right here. come quickly.”

cameron’s voice popped up at the right moment, as if he were trying to inform scott.

“in the maintenance bay?”

he was quite an irritating guy. scott grumbled as he made his way to the maintenance bay.

when he arrived at the bay, the lights were off.

“i stopped by here, didn’t i?”

he cocked his head, wondering if he had been mistaken, but then he heard cameron’s voice from inside.

“scott, over here.”

“why is it so dark in here, and what are you doing?”

he won’t know. he’ll die because he said something unnecessary to scott.

after finishing my meal, i went out to the runway and entered the ventilation duct on the wall.

‘should i stop by the lab before going to the nest?’

as i crawled along the passage, i headed towards the laboratory.

it was to see experiment subject 26, the bubble amoeba.

as i got closer to the lab, i received a wave from him.

「hello.」

the tentacles on the back of my head vibrated softly. until now, i had thought that psychic abilities were useless.

unexpectedly, i found that through psychic abilities, i could communicate with other creatures via waves.

when playing games, i always pursued efficient gameplay, so i had never paid any attention to characteristics that had minor effects like this.

‘i never intended to have the ability to communicate with bubble amoebas.’

it seemed like a trait that would be more useful to bubble amoeba enthusiasts than to me.

at any rate, now that it had greeted me, it was my turn to respond. i focused my mind on the back of my head. the tentacles wriggled, gathering invisible energy.

[즈즈즈(hello)]

i didn’t even need to see experiment subject 26 to communicate now, and something new had come to light.

‘his vocabulary seems to have expanded.’

as far as i knew, bubble amoebas weren’t creatures known for evolution. once they reached maturity, they mainly grew in size without any significant evolutionary changes.

however, this particular one seemed to transcend the limits of its species, conveying complex and seemingly impossible information. moreover, its communication skills were improving significantly with each encounter.

‘they said they are doing psyonium experiments. is there an effect i don’t know about?’

i wasn’t sure if it was a psyonium issue or if the creature had some special abilities. in any case, since the creature’s growing intelligence didn’t seem to have any adverse effects on me, i decided to stop worrying about that particular issue.

[즈즈 즈즈즈즈(sorry. trouble with food today.)]

「what’s the trouble?」

[즈즈즈즈즈(can’t get any.)]

i could sense a frustrated wave of emotion coming from the creature. i understood it perfectly well. after all, the only source of joy for the creature, which was subjected to experiments all day long, was the calorie bars i brought.

‘but i can’t get him any more calorie bars now that i’ve grown in size.’

the current security in the lab was at a level just below a nuclear reactor or a cooling room. after the research officer’s death, the security team had tightened the lab’s security to the maximum level.

thanks to that, the ventilation ducts above the previously secure laboratory have become risky. i had vibration detectors installed inside the laboratory, so it was clear that i would be caught if i moved carelessly.

in this situation, there was nothing else i could do except have a conversation with subject 26 from a distance.

[즈즈즈(are you okay today?)]

「i’m struggling. it hurts.」

since keisaragi’s death, the psyonium experiments had been at a standstill. the subordinates continued the experiments every day, but they didn’t inject as much as before. of course, that didn’t mean subject 26 was fine. even in small amounts, psyonium was a highly toxic substance to the body.

[즈즈(going)]

「goodbye. take care.」

‘sigh, hang in there.’

it’s not that i didn’t want to help, but the risk was too great. even if i had gained powerful abilities, going head-to-head with the crew of this ship was impossible. at least, i had to become an ascendant to engage in guerrilla warfare. once i became an ascendant, i could easily wipe out the unit that received the enhanced suits.

‘the problem is that the conditions for ascendant evolution are strict.’

to evolve into an ascendant, i had to kill and consume 10 individuals from each of the two intelligent species that players could control. since there was only one suitable target on this ship, which was humans, ascendant evolution was impossible.

‘there are pirates, but i don’t know how that will turn out.’

whether i could evolve depended on which cartel the space dogs around here belonged to. if i encountered a human cartel, it would be useless.

‘it will take several more days at least.’

judging by the atmosphere on the ship, it wouldn’t be long before i encountered space dogs. the engineering team members i had devoured were staying up all night repairing the fighter planes.

as i was heading towards the nest, a group of people passed beneath me. they were soldiers and the crisis management officer.

“i have some business to attend to, so i’ll be on my way.”

“yes sir!”

the soldiers bid him farewell, and the crisis management officer continued walking alone towards some destination.

‘i should probably consume the crisis management officer as well.’

although he seemed like a tough opponent, i decided not to postpone it any longer. even if i didn’t consume him immediately, it wouldn’t hurt to gather information about his weaknesses or daily routines in advance.

i followed the crisis management officer.

he was heading to the fitness training room. inside, soldiers and crew members were diligently working on their physical fitness.

‘what’s this? is he planning to exercise?’

in an instant, after changing into workout clothes, he sat down in front of an exercise machine and began his strength training routine. i watched for about 10 minutes, wondering if there would be any changes, but he was only pumping iron vigorously.

‘sigh. i should check on someone else.’

there was no need to watch prey exercising. as i got up to leave, he finished using the machine, took something out of his pocket, and set it down on the machine’s platform.

‘a phone?’

it was a small phone in the shape of earphones. he held it in his hand and looked around, making sure no one was paying attention to him. after confirming that no one was bothered, he plugged the phone into his ear and resumed exercising.

his actions piqued my interest, so i focused my auxiliary senses on him.

“th...contacting... c...nearby...”

his voice, which had been sporadic, gradually became clearer.

“yes. the plan is proceeding as scheduled. yes. yes. really?”

‘a plan?’

“an order came from the family? oh, no, of course not. how could i ever doubt it?”

for a moment, a perplexed expression crossed the crisis management officer’s face, but he quickly regained his composure.

“in any case, it’s going well. miss keisaragi has already been eliminated. the ship will arrive at c-08 as planned. yes. all of captain samuel’s orders have been recorded.”

‘what?’

“yes. yes. that’s fine. everything is in accordance with the will of the family, i mean, with captain jung woojin’s will. i’ll take responsibility. yes. i understand. goodbye.”

after hanging up the call, he once again focused on his exercise. he appeared to be a dedicated fitness enthusiast, but my suspicion of him reached its highest level.

‘i thought he was a straightforward guy, but he’s a real fox, isn’t he?’

i knew that the crisis management officer had convinced the captain to make contact with the space dogs.

however, based on the conversation i overheard, he seemed to have much more planned than just that.

whether this would benefit me or backfire on me remained to be seen.

i quietly observed him from the darkness.

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