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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 387
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A bar with a striking, ebony-black table and a classic design.
Old-fashioned music reminiscent of a bygone Earth era filled the room. A man sat at the table.
"Two Ganymede whiskeys. The usual style."
"Understood."
The bartender gave a polite nod and began melting jelly-form whiskey behind the barrier.
While he waited, the Chief of Staff scanned the interior of the establishment. This bar was part of a film set for a period drama set on old Earth.
‘They say it’ll be torn down after the next shoot. What a shame.’
Just then, the door opened, and someone stepped in. A familiar face.
"Over here."
"It’s been a while."
The man who sat beside him had skin like solid rock—his name was Sechan.
"You’ve never backed out of a deal before. What happened?"
"Things turned out that way."
Sechan looked quite different from how the Chief remembered him. The shabby clothes were understandable; he was a pirate but his face looked emaciated, like half of it had withered away. His eyes were dull, like he was high on something.
He resembled an employee about to undergo a Hulk-style mutant modification surgery clearly in terrible shape.
"Two Ganymede whiskeys, as requested."
"Tch. Well, we ordered them, so take it."
"Thank you."
The Chief accepted a glass from the bartender and took a sip. Sechan, on the other hand, just stared blankly at his own glass without touching it.
"So, what are you looking to buy this time? Smuggling more workers like before?"
"This time, I need genetic samples."
The Chief paused mid-sip, the sweet scent of whiskey still lingering, and frowned slightly.
"Genetic samples? All of a sudden?"
"I lost contact with a previous supplier. I need a new source, and this was the only place I could think of."
"Hmm."
"Is it possible?"
The Chief didn’t answer immediately, instead tapping his fingers on the table.
‘He wants to buy genetic samples?’
Megacorps strictly regulate the genetic sample trade. Only those sanctioned by the Seven Houses are allowed to deal in them. Sechan, a mere pirate, was certainly not among them.
But, of course, not everything in the world follows the rules.
Plenty of people secretly steal and sell samples. The Chief himself had done so back when he worked in the gene design division.
"What kind of samples are you looking for?"
"Could you provide a full inventory? I'd like to—"
"Cut the crap. I’m not leaking a catalog to some two-bit pirate and getting caught."
"……."
"The best I can get you are samples from grade-4 creatures or lower. From grade-5 onward, it’s too much trouble to erase the records."
In truth, with some effort, even a rare grade-6 creature would be within reach. But he deliberately put on a strong front to maintain the upper hand in negotiation.
"Understood. Grade-4 samples it is."
But Sechan didn’t even flinch; he didn't care about negotiating.
"Huh? You’ll settle for grade-4? There’s no profit in that."
"It doesn’t matter."
The Chief clicked his tongue, mildly annoyed. He had hoped to score a major deal before Li Zhao returned. Grade-4 samples just didn’t bring enough profit for the risk involved.
"Tch… I’ll see if I can get you something grade-5 after all."
"Thank you."
"But the price will be steep."
"You don’t need to worry about that. I’ll pay whatever you ask."
The Chief narrowed his eyes. This was the first time Sechan had ever come to a deal grovelling like this.
‘Looks like his whole operation’s falling apart.’
Right now, Sechan looked absolutely desperate.
It was rare for someone who had undergone genetic modification to fall into such a poor condition.
Such emaciation usually only happened when someone suffered a critical injury or when their mind had been pushed to its absolute limits.
“If things are that bad on his side, all the better for me.”
“Alright. I’ll let you know which samples will be available in two days.”
“Understood.”
“Then let’s drink to seal the deal.”
The two raised their glasses and toasted.
“Time to bleed this pirate dry.”
The thought of scoring big off a desperate pirate lifted the Chief’s mood. He drank his whiskey with pleasant thoughts swirling in his mind.
“I’ll head out first.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You called me here, so you can cover the bill.”
With light steps, the Chief of Staff exited the bar.
Outside, cylindrical and rectangular skyscrapers loomed behind reinforced glass domes.
All of them were designed in styles that had been popular before the rise of the Megacorps.
Now, however, most of those buildings stood empty. Entertainment productions had ceased, and aside from a few buildings still used by high-ranking executives, the rest remained dark and abandoned.
Thanks to that, the streets between those towers were eerily quiet.
But the Chief, who knew the colony systems better than anyone, was used to this kind of strange stillness.
‘He walked a while, then came to a stop in front of a particular building.’
His airship was parked on the rooftop.
Passing through the building’s revolving doors, he entered a brightly lit lobby. He stepped up to the elevator and pressed the button.
‘The number on the display panel 30 began to count down quickly.’
“Maybe I should suggest they build a flight deck next time.”
It was a hassle having to go up and down a building every time he wanted a drink.
As that idle thought passed through his mind, he watched the numbers descend.
Then he noticed something odd.
“Why is it coming down from the 30th floor?”
There should only be three people in this building: the pilot, the security guard both stationed at the rooftop airship and himself.
He was the only one who had gone down to the lobby.
The pilot and the guard were supposed to remain at their posts on the roof.
The number on the panel now reads 15.
He activated the wrist-mounted terminal on his arm, trying to reach his men on the roof.
The comms device came online a moment later.
“Did anyone take the elevator down to the lobby?”
｢Sir? No, we’ve been up here the whole time.｣
“…What?”
At that very moment, a cold sweat broke across the Chief’s brow.
The elevator display read 5.
A sinking feeling twisted in his gut.
When that door opened…
Something horrific, something unimaginable was waiting on the other side.
‘...Shit!’
He sprinted toward the emergency exit tucked away in the corner of the lobby.
As soon as he flung the door open, he bolted up the stairs two steps at a time.
‘What the hell is going on!’
It couldn’t have been a rogue employee or a Hulk mutant escapee.
They all had obedience implants and signal chips embedded in their brains—there was no chance of them going off-script.
“Could it have been Sechan?”
Maybe one of his goons? But that didn’t make sense either.
This was LV-06, a Megacorp colony.
For a lowly pirate to attack a high-ranking colony official was suicide.
｢What’s going on?｣
As if responding directly to his rising panic, a voice came through the terminal.
｢Chief? Can you hear me?｣
“…I’m being chased by an unidentified entity.”
｢What?｣
“Contact… haaah… the crisis response team. Tell them… huff… to seal off this building.”
｢Understood.｣
Despite the Chief’s panicked tone, the security guard responded with perfect calm.
After ending the call, the Chief staggered to a stop around the 8th floor.
Running after drinking had left his stomach in knots.
‘I… I can’t run anymore… urgh!’
He pushed open the emergency exit and stumbled into the hallway.
Picking one of the many identical rooms at random, he rushed inside.
Slamming the door shut behind him, he locked it and collapsed against the wall.
His heart felt like it was going to explode with equal parts of fear and pain.
Clutching his chest, he struggled to catch his breath.
‘It… it won’t follow me this far… right?’
Across the room, on the opposite wall facing the outside of the building was a massive reinforced glass window.
Through it, the skyline of the colony set was visible.
But he was in no condition to enjoy the view.
Ten minutes passed.
Still, no sound came from outside.
‘I told him to contact the crisis response team… so why haven’t I heard anything?’
By now, there should’ve been airships darting around outside the window.
Just as he began to feel something was off, his wrist terminal lit up.
The transmission was from the security guard.
｢The crisis response team has just completed the lockdown.｣
“What? I don’t see anything out there.”
｢They’re moving discreetly for your safety.｣
Frowning, the Chief walked up to the glass wall and scanned the view.
Not a single sign of the crisis team anywhere.
｢I’m currently en route to your location to secure you. I’ll knock when I arrive. Please open the door.｣
The transmission cut off.
Less than a minute later thud, thud a knock echoed from the door.
The Chief, still standing by the window, turned and approached.
He reached out to grab the doorknob and then a thought struck him like lightning.
‘Wait. Did I ever tell him where I was hiding?’
There were cameras all over the building sure he could be tracked.
But even with that, there hadn’t been nearly enough time.
“I’ve arrived. Please open the door.”
That wasn’t his security guard.
“Are you in there, Chief?”
Thud. Thud.
“Chief? Chief? Chief?”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The rhythmic knocking grew louder.
The Chief stumbled back, misstepping and falling to the floor.
As soon as he hit the ground with a loud thud, the knocking stopped dead silence.
“…I knew you were in there.”
A low, whispering voice.
The door splintered open and it was on him before he could scream.
***
‘Been a while since I moved alone.’
For this mission, I decided to operate solo.
The Megacorp colony is heavily monitored due to employee control protocols.
With surveillance cameras scattered everywhere, moving with the others would raise too much risk of detection.
‘But I’m different.’
Infiltrating enemy territory alone and hunting down my targets that’s what I do best.
And this time, my conditions were even better than when I used to sneak around in the game.
Because now, I have Clever Weakling.
After unlocking the Horizon of Nightmares, I transformed into the Clever Weakling.
Dense fur sprouted all over my exoskeleton and outer hide, and my body morphed into a quadrupedal form, not unlike a centaur.
My towering size once able to leap over skyscrapers with ease had shrunk considerably.
Even with the tail, I now measured no more than five meters in length.
Optimized for infiltration and stealth, I snuck near the location where Sechan was scheduled to meet his contact.
Thanks to the Clever Weakling's perk, Hide of the Unknown, no camera could capture my image.
While the chief went to meet Sechan, I quietly cleaned up the crew inside the airship.
He drank his whiskey with a smile, blissfully unaware that his subordinates were vanishing into my stomach.
‘Not that knowing in advance would’ve changed anything.’
I looked down at the target I’d just subdued.
The fool, smacked once by my forelimb was trembling, his will to fight completely gone.
‘Now then…’
From beneath the fur-covered armor of my inner foreleg, something small stirred.
A parasite, shaped like a long, writhing eel, peeked out from the folds.
“Hi—hiiiiek?!”
The man screamed at the sight of it and tried to run.
I caught him with a powerful grab using my newly strengthened pectoral arms.
“W-Wait, please—guhk?!”
The moment he opened his mouth to beg, the parasite dove in.
He thrashed wildly, trying to expel the foreign invader, but it was no use.
In a few more seconds, he’d start worshipping a new master.
‘Let’s see how much you know…’
And then, a chill ran down the back of my neck.
At that very instant, the man in my grip went limp.
‘…What?’
That creeping sensation.
It was the one I felt when a parasite died.
Alarmed, I clutched the man’s skull with my winged arms and crushed it.
Beneath the shattered bone, the cooked remains of the parasite were visible.
Inside the half-devoured tissue…
Was a small mechanical chip something akin to a submission device.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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