Chapter 96

Chapter 96

Chapter 96

Before the T&C Special Trade Center turned into a city of death, Yujin’s flagship barely escaped into space. Those familiar with Akira Yujin might find it hard to believe that he stayed in a dangerous place until late, but there was a reason for it. He needed to retrieve an important item from the Special Trade Center.

“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...?”

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.’