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Chapter 96

“Have we secured all the equipment of the Shadows?”

“Yes. Both the Black Shroud and the Red Queen have been collected. However, the damage is quite severe…”

“It doesn’t matter. As long as the important parts are intact, we can find a way to recover.”

As the conversation ended, Akira Yujin sat in his office, tapping his fingers on the desk. Behind him, Code Blue silently stood guard.

“I thought there would be a lot to gain, but this time my expectations were wrong. I lost a useful tool.”

“…”

“Tools can be replenished, but this is intriguing. Who defeated Code Black?”

As he expressed his doubts, the sound of someone collapsing outside the office was heard. Soon after, the door opened, and a woman entered.

She had long horns on her left forehead and wore a white bodysuit. She was Si-hyun Yujin, once known as Code White.

Seeing Si-hyun, Akira smiled strangely.

“Haha, the prodigal daughter returns. Was it your doing?”

“…”

Si-hyun couldn’t understand Akira’s words, but she didn’t pay much attention. After all, Akira Yujin would die for her on this spaceship today.

“Hmm, as soon as one mystery is solved, a new one arises. You were clearly dead, so how are you alive?”

Instead of answering, she drew a sword from the back of her hand. The white bodysuit she wore was named White Maiden. White Maiden could materialize various tools according to the user’s imagination. If she imagined a sharp sword, it would emerge from the armor, and if she imagined flight, wings would appear on her back.

“Ho.”

White Maiden was an item Akira personally bestowed upon Si-hyun when she received the code. When the equipment that was thought to be lost with her death reappeared, he faintly smiled.

“It was a useful item, and it happens that you brought it back. Good.”

“You seem relaxed, old man.”

“Haha, of course, I am.”

As Akira flicked his fingers, Code Blue, who had been standing behind him, stepped forward. Code Blue drew two short swords from his waist.

“While you were wandering somewhere in space, the Shadows underwent certain improvements.”

Despite Akira’s nonchalant words, Si-hyun didn’t even raise an eyebrow. Instead, her response was beyond Akira’s expectations.

“Got it.”

“What?”

When Si-hyun gestured, Blue turned around and slit Akira’s throat.

“Gkk…gkrrk….”

With half his neck severed, Akira’s head slumped onto his desk.

“…It’s over.”

Considering the death of the one who not only belonged to Si-hyun Yujin’s bloodline but also completely ruined her life, it was surprisingly pathetic. Although she should have been pleased with her revenge, she couldn’t feel any joy.

‘If I were Si-hyun Yujin….’

Would she have laughed loudly over the enemy’s corpse? Or would she have cried?

She couldn’t know.

“I have completed the task as promised.”

“Yeah.”

“Please keep the promise to let me meet my family.”

Si-hyun, who was about to nod in response to Blue’s words, suddenly opened her eyes. Akira was getting up behind her.

“Be careful!”

“?”

Although Si-hyun shouted a warning, Akira was faster. Akira’s hand transformed into large hooked claws and swiftly tore Blue apart.

“やあ、これはかなり驚いた。彼も包摂したとは知らなかった。”

[TL/N:- The above text is in Japanese language, “Heh, this is quite surprising. I didn’t know you had included him as well.”]

Akira mumbled some incomprehensible words.

The wound on his neck had disappeared without a trace.

The hooked claws that killed Code Blue shrank and returned as the wrinkled hands of an old man.

“手前の復活も恐らくくそ虎の仕業だろ。”

[TL/N:- “Most likely, your resurrection was also the work of that damn tiger.”

“How…?”

Si-hyun also knew that Akira underwent genetic modification surgery. However, it was for life extension, not a procedure that could allow recovery from a state where the neck was almost severed.

Among the Shadows, the only existence capable of such wonders was Code Black, clad in the Black Shroud.

“Hmm? Ah, sorry. The language I used to use slipped out.”

“…Are you really Akira Yujin?”

“Haha, of course. Well, to be precise, it’s a mix of both.”

Akira laughed like an ordinary village elder, but Si-hyun remained in an extreme state of tension. Before coming to the space city, she had undergone genetic modification surgery to the extent possible. It was partly due to the mission, but also because she could encounter the mysterious monster that killed her.

Thanks to that, although not as much as before, her current state could be considered close to perfect.

However, against Akira, who was smiling in front of her, she saw no chance of winning.

‘I can’t win.’

Instinctively, she knew. Even with dozens of clones, this monster couldn’t be defeated.

“Hahaha, you’re plotting for the future, aren’t you?”

“!”

“Yeah. You never give up. That’s why Kusotora, no, Beomho might have chosen you.”

“…”

“I am merciful, so I’ll allow three attacks in total. Do as you please.”

Akira gave her three chances. Without hesitation, she drew the plasma pistol from her hip. The pistol spat fire, and a green energy mass brushed past Akira’s ear.

“Haha, even the renowned Si-hyun Yujin is getting scared.”

She didn’t react and fired another shot. This time too, it narrowly missed Akira.

Akira frowned.

“Oh well. Suddenly, it’s the last chance. I gave you three chances, and you’re wasting them.”

Watching her, Si-hyun smiled, despite sweating coldly.

“I learned something recently.”

“What?”

A long, thick tentacle emerged from her left arm, then struck the wall behind Akira. At the same spot where the pistol hit, the already weakened wall crumbled as the tentacle struck, shattering into pieces.

“What…?!”

The air in the office rapidly flowed into the vacuum of space, and seizing that momentum, Si-hyun swiftly flew outside.

Even in her exit, she extended the tentacle to retrieve the dagger Blue had dropped.

“Oh, no!”

Akira, who did not anticipate Si-hyun’s actions, turned his gaze to where she had flown.

Si-hyun, transformed into a space suit by White Maiden, flew beyond the dark expanse of space.

***

“Umm.”

Jaeseong, who had dozed off as soon as he sat down, opened his eyes.

“Huh…huh?”

Stretching while reaching out his arms from the chair, he looked around.

Strangely, not a single passenger who was packed until he fell asleep was in sight.

“What’s this? Did everyone go to eat?”

The spaceship he boarded was a luxury ship catering to VIPs, with a separate dining area serving gourmet courses.

Assuming everyone had gone there, he closed his eyes again to go back to sleep.

“No, wait a minute. Even the crew isn’t visible?”

It was strange that there were no crew members around, even if the passengers had gone for a meal.

“What’s going on for real?”

Awakening to an unknown sense of unease, Jaeseong got up.

Passing through the seats towards the dining area, he detected a peculiar yet familiar smell.

A sharp and pungent odor, like putting a piece of iron under his nose.

“Where did I smell this before?”

Thinking that he had a similar experience from his past work, he opened the door to the dining area. And immediately, he could recall where he had smelled that odor.

It was the smell of blood.

The dining area was filled with flesh, bones, and blood, rather than delicious food and quality alcohol. Monsters from the hell of interspecies warfare in the vastness of space were enjoying a feast.

In the center of the lounge, a monster with thick green scales and large wings was sucking the blood of a person. The person being drained of blood was someone he knew—the medical team manager who had quarreled with the crew before he fell asleep. With each sip of blood, the person’s legs trembled.

At a bar table on one side of the dining area, a pink monster with numerous tentacles was slowly devouring the Human Resources Manager.

Her fate was even more miserable than the medical team leader’s. Dozens of thin tentacles penetrated every hole in her face, extracting her brain.

“Our products…Always safe….Best for you all…..Thank you…. Thank you….”

She, who always showed a sophisticated demeanor, now uttered incomprehensible words with a face resembling madness.

“Hi..hieuk?!”

When he let out a short scream, the monsters turned to look at him.

Unable to withstand their gaze, Jaeseong closed the door and quickly fled.

‘Pilot! I need to inform the pilot!’

He rushed through the seats at an unimaginable speed, never having been sucked so fast in his life.

Arriving at the cockpit, he pounded on the door frantically.

“Open up! Monsters appeared! Monsters appeared!”

How much he pounded.

“O…open the Door.”

Along with human voices from inside, the sound of the lock being released echoed.

“Phew, thank goodness! The pilot is alive!”

Thinking that the lifeline had finally come down, Jaeseong opened the door wide.

There, however, was not the sight he had anticipated.

Because all he could see from Jaeseong’s perspective were the ankles of a man.

The pilot he was hoping for was entirely swallowed by “it,” which was swallowing the pilot whole, head to toe.

“I… had… been… waiting…”

“It” revealed its blood-stained teeth as it spoke, and Jaeseong chuckled.

‘It’s a dream.’

Hoping to wake up quickly from this nightmare, he closed his eyes.

***

‘For now, the bait is accepted.’

All the living beings inside the escape pod have now entered the stomachs of the three of us.

After feasting on delicious prey for the first time in a while, Adhai and Number 26 clung to their bulging bellies and fell asleep. I spread the blankets in the passenger seats over them and returned to the cockpit.

‘What should I do next?’

The cargo hold and dining area had various types of provisions and calorie bars stored, so I didn’t have to worry about food during the journey. Steering the ship was not as challenging as the command cabin, so with the assistance of the navigation AI, I could easily navigate alone.

‘But there’s a problem.’

This ship had targeted the nearby MegaCorp space fortress as its destination from the beginning, so the stored fuel wasn’t abundant. If we performed several warp-speed jumps, the fuel would run out quickly.

‘This area is not suitable for us.’

The space fortress was out of the question, and there wasn’t enough fuel to reach the planet I originally aimed for. However, stopping at other planets in the vicinity wasn’t easy either. All nearby planets were heavily fortified compared to special trade hubs, making it difficult to infiltrate without detection.

‘There is a solution, though.’

That is, hijacking another ship. It was a method frequently used in games.

‘There’s a suitable place for warp-speed travel around here.’

There was a sector managed by the pirate organisation SpaceDog. There were no good planets for resource collection or establishing human ranches, and it wasn’t geographically important enough to build a space city like in the case of special trade hubs. Moreover, there was an extremely rare event where a swarm of metallic gremlins passed through that area. If caught by them, even a steel space fortress wouldn’t last long.

It was truly an area with no apparent usefulness to MegaCorp and StarUnion, so they paid no attention to it. Thanks to this, SpaceDog was able to sneak in.

‘If we go there, we’ll rarely encounter MegaCorp or StarUnion.’

It wouldn’t be a long stay, and if we targeted only one pirate ship, it wouldn’t be a bad choice. However, this method also had its problems.

‘SpaceDog might discover us at any time.’

The cartels of SpaceDog were constantly on the move to plunder, so unless we were unlucky, they might not return to that sector for several months. So, in the game as well, this method was mainly used after securing space flight characteristics.

‘If I only had space flight, I could personally search for pirate ships.’

But doing that with this ship would quickly deplete the fuel.

‘We need some breakthrough.’

Thinking about a breakthrough, I had a moment of realization.

‘A new transcendence characteristic.’

I opened the semi-transparent text window.

[Transcendence Material List (New!): Wings, Endurance, Space Flight, Giant Creature, High Hijacking]

I had already collected all the materials for the new transcendence characteristic. Since space flight and giant creature characteristics were obtained as samples, they were only filled to 0.5, making direct use impossible but still useful as materials.

‘Come to think of it, the previous unique characteristic was not entirely unrelated to the materials.’