Chapter 5

chapter 5

once the decision was made, all that remained was action. i had spent two days observing and investigating the cat’s daily routine.

after thorough analysis, i came to one conclusion: ‘truly an emperor.’

i’d wager that even the captain of this ship wasn’t as comfortable as this cat.

for six days, i had been observing the crew, and most of them had a below-average standard of living. for example, the meal menu consisted mainly of low-cost foods, such as synthetic meat and genetically modified grains, with no other advantages.

‘on the other hand, this cat eats only meat every day, thanks to its excellent owner.’

and not just any meat, but freshly butchered, high-quality meat.

this ship had an agricultural area responsible for farming and livestock. it was a place designed to provide gourmet cuisine to the ship’s elite and visiting dignitaries, and they were sparingly offering such precious meat to a mere cat.

‘seeing this, keisaragi yujin is definitely not an ordinary person.’

she might be a martian aristocrat, a prime capital of the megacorp, or perhaps both. both were powerful factions within the megacorp, each exerting dominance over a planetary region.

‘troublesome social classes.’

both classes had extremely high levels of pride and never forgot any grudges. even the smallest grievances would be remembered, and they would later seek ruthless revenge, often many times over. this had made playing the game quite challenging.

even if i were to kill someone other than keisaragi yujin and escape from the ship, she wouldn’t forget me. she would somehow find me and try to kill me.

‘another reason to kill her.’

in any case, her status as an owner was one thing, but the crucial question was how to kill that cat.

“meow.”

the cat yawned as if bored. looking at it lounging on the top-grade cushion, there was no other like it.

this was keisaragi yujin’s bedroom. i was currently in the ventilation duct connected to the wall near the bedroom floor. i had been watching that lazy creature through the mesh for a while, and the sight of it being so sluggish made me sigh involuntarily.

‘it looks dull, so killing it shouldn’t be too difficult.’

unlike dogs, cats had retained their wild instincts even after becoming domesticated livestock. they were also naturally excellent hunters.

so, i expected it to be a formidable opponent for someone like me, who was merely in the hatchling stage. of course, it wouldn’t win in a fight, but significant bleeding was inevitable.

however, seeing it in person made me realize that i was worrying unnecessarily. looking at its chubby belly, i couldn’t help but think it would be delicious, more than anything else.

‘the problem is that it’s too lazy.’

most of its time was spent rolling around on that cushion. except when eating or going for a walk in the garden with its owner, it didn’t move at all.

‘still, i can’t kill it right here.’

the amusing fact was that this place had better security than the cargo hold. to the naked eye, the ventilation duct i was in appeared no different from other areas.

however, with my heightened senses, i could tell that the bedroom’s owner paid extra attention to security, to the extent that it might seem obsessive-compulsive. laser signal transmitters installed throughout the area were monitoring for illegal intruders.

what if i were to enter the room? the ai would immediately inform the guards outside about the presence of an unknown intruder.

‘then, i’d be finished.’

they wouldn’t even need to use a gun. the guards would kick me, and my insides would explode, killing me instantly.

‘so, i’m stuck here.’

the cat itself seemed easy to deal with, but the process of approaching it unexpectedly proved to be quite tricky. in irritation, i carelessly shook my tail.

‘uh-oh!’

when my tail hit the wall of the ventilation duct, making a noise, the cat’s ears perked up.

“meow?”

the cat sprang up, rushing towards exactly where i was. despite being overweight, its movements were quite agile.

as the cat’s body collided with the mesh, the laser signal transmitters activated. i could feel the guards outside the door stiffening in response. i couldn’t stay here any longer.

i gave the scratching cat a brief glance and then retreated from my position. immediately after i left, the guards stormed into the room.

“what’s going on? what came in?”

“ugh, the cat’s causing trouble again.”

“again?”

“ugh, just leave it!”

ignoring the grumbling voices of the guards, i returned to my nest.

‘i can’t believe i made such a mistake.’

i had come close to putting my life in danger. i couldn’t believe i had been so careless.

could it be that this comfortable nest had gotten into my head? has my body become numb to stimuli because of the comfort?

‘tempting the cat with my tail... i must be out of my mind. wait a minute.’

the four pairs of muscles making up my legs contracted, and my body’s posture lowered sharply, signaling that i was ready for combat.

while my body was getting ready, my loyal subordinate, my super-sense, calculated the best time to attack under the owner’s command.

the transcendent vision unique to amorph pierced through the darkness of the cargo hold beyond the cat and aimed accurately at the cat. observing the cat’s muscles, bone movements, and habits, i concluded that its right eye had lower eyesight than its left eye.

“meow?”

the cat turned its head to the left. with its diminishing eyesight, it couldn’t spot me lurking in the darkness.

now was the chance.

i used my legs, which were bent almost entirely, as propulsion to lift my body into the air.

i didn’t use my wings because they made noise. approaching the cat quickly was enough with the power of gravity.

the distance between me and the cat rapidly closed.

the cat’s ears perked up at the sound of the wind. its head turned towards me, and its pupils dilated. it sensed danger and tensed up but it was too late.

my tail became the assassin’s dart, and it stabbed the cat’s side. the venom, which would paralyze even an adult, spread throughout the cat’s body through its veins. despite having a much smaller body than a human, the cat had no chance of withstanding the paralysis poison.

after being stung, within seconds, the cat’s heart stopped.

the hunt was successful.

i fell to the ground, stepping on the motionless prey, and let out a triumphant roar.

the triumphant cry of a predator echoed through the cargo hold, and the inhabitants shivered in fear and awe.

‘good. shall we eat now?’

the ceremony was successfully completed, so it was time to check the reward. i took a bite of the cat’s corpse.

‘hmm?’

the sensation in my mouth was unlike anything i had ever experienced. before i even had a chance to savor the sweet taste of blood, the chewy muscles and the flavorful fat overwhelmed my senses.

the feeling was so shocking that it sent shivers down my spine. i had thought that cockroaches, spiders, and calorie bars were edible, but i was completely wrong.

the sensation of ‘delicious’ is exactly what i felt.

i gripped my trembling legs and took another bite of the cat.

‘insane.’

it wasn’t an illusion. the taste of cat meat was so good that it could be the only thing i ate until i died. with my limited vocabulary, it was hard to describe just how delicious a cat was.

i didn’t think about anything else; i focused on eating the meat.

it took less than five minutes for the larger cat’s corpse to disappear.

‘sigh.’

after chewing the bones and licking up every drop of blood that had spilled onto the floor, i was satisfied.

having completed my frenzy of a meal and regained my composure, i could understand why amorph’s were so obsessed with meat.

‘it’s insanely delicious.’

i couldn’t help but swear, it was such an amazing taste. even excluding the goal of collecting genetic essence, if meat tasted this good, i would have sought it out intentionally.

as i licked the flesh and blood that had stuck to my front paws in regret, a text box suddenly appeared.

[predation effect activated! successfully obtained ‘wild instinct’ genetic essence from ‘cat.’]

[extracted the ‘wild instinct’ from the biological characteristics of ‘cat’.]

[do you want to apply the ‘wild instinct’?]

‘oh?’

i was feeling good after eating the meat, and then there was talk of genetic essence acquisition. moreover, i had no idea that i could obtain genetic essence by eating something for the first time.

‘wild instinct, huh? a characteristic i’ve never seen before.’

since this was the first time i had eaten a cat, i didn’t even know it had a characteristic. i had no idea what effect it would have, but since it wouldn’t hurt to have it, i pressed accept.

[the ‘wild instinct’ characteristic has been applied.]

[it’s possible to fuse it the existing trait ‘super-sense’]

[fusion of ‘wild instinct’ and ‘super-sense’ traits. evolving into ‘predator sense’ trait!]

[predator sense: the ‘super-sense’ characteristic is enhanced. it allows you to pre-detect threats in the near future based on available information.

*note: exceptional hunters have a knack for reading the future.]

‘huh?’

i stared at the text box, at a loss for words.

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