Ch.11Dark Clouds (2)

# “Cargo Hold?”

The manager lingered in front of the cargo hold for several minutes. After confirming no one was coming, he entered the password. When the door opened, he quickly slipped inside as if afraid of being seen.

While there’s a separate cargo hold administrator, it’s not unusual for the Material Management Team Leader to know the password due to his position.

‘But why is he being so secretive?’

He could have just entered confidently—being so cautious was clearly unnatural.

He didn’t emerge for 30 minutes, seemingly occupied with something inside.

Tracking his movements with my auxiliary organs, I could see him repeatedly wandering around different parts of the cargo hold.

After an hour of this meaningless activity, he finally left.

I entered the now-empty cargo hold. The scent of dust and metal in the air hit my senses immediately.

Instead of the smooth alloy panels I’d been walking on earlier, I was greeted by a rough grating floor.

My footsteps made noise as I walked—probably because my body had grown larger. Cockroach hunting would be impossible now.

‘Well, I suppose I’ll have to eat people or livestock now.’

While I’d grown stronger with my increased size, my caloric needs had also increased proportionally.

I began tracking the residue the manager had left behind. The sweat he’d shed and the foreign substances stuck to his feet served as markers guiding me.

The place where he’d lingered longest was in front of a particular container.

‘Needs an ID card and fingerprint scanner, I see.’

The container associated with the manager had considerably higher security than others, which typically only required the administrator’s ID card.

‘Can’t detect anything with my senses either.’

The panels must be exceptionally thick, as even my enhanced auxiliary organs couldn’t determine what was inside.

The manager was definitely hiding something important.

What started as mere interest was now developing into genuine curiosity.

‘Should I target the Material Management Team Leader next?’

I had originally planned to go after the Medical Team Leader.

But given the current situation, that wouldn’t be easy. They would be extremely cautious, knowing better than anyone that their subordinate had died under suspicious circumstances.

In that case, targeting easier prey might be the better approach.

‘The cargo hold administrator and the whole Material Management Team seem pretty lax.’

If the team leader disappeared, would anyone even be suspicious?

With that, my target was decided.

–

“Boss, you should stop drinking now.”

“Just one more, just one more drink.”

“What’s with him today? Why’s he being so clingy?”

The Material Management Team Leader felt like he wasn’t really living these days.

Besides his official duties, he had a small side business—procuring prohibited organisms and selling them to the upper echelons.

Before boarding the ship, he had acquired something from the black market.

An egg of a strange creature not even registered in the Megacorp database.

Even for someone who had traded all sorts of rare animals, this egg was unlike anything he’d seen before. According to the Cult merchant who sold it, the egg had been obtained from a forgotten ancient ruin.

‘Ancient creature, my ass…’

Regardless of its origin, he smelled money. After purchasing the egg, he contacted his buyer, who immediately showed interest.

They arranged to make the exchange on a planet where the research vessel would dock, and he secretly loaded the egg onto the ship.

Until then, he believed everything would go smoothly.

That is, until the morgue fire incident.

When he overheard another team leader casually suggesting it might be the work of an alien creature, he initially dismissed it.

He immediately went to the cargo hold to check.

The container door was slightly ajar. Inside, one of the eggs that should have been dormant was completely empty.

‘Damn it, I should have checked earlier!’

After boarding the ship, he had only verified the eggs once.

If he had just closed the container door properly that day, even if the egg had hatched, nothing would have happened.

Or rather, if he hadn’t been drinking that day, he wouldn’t have made such a mistake.

“…Alcohol is the enemy. Alcohol.”

“Boss, let’s go now.”

Due to one careless mistake with the door, three people had suddenly become deceased.

Moreover, one of the dead was from Noble Capital.

The monster that had hatched from the egg and killed people was probably still roaming the ship, but the team leader couldn’t confide in anyone.

He was terrified that the captain would lose his mind and kill him before Noble Capital could exact revenge.

This was why the team leader spent every night drowning in alcohol.

“Sigh.”

The team members shook their heads and left the bar. The bartender clicked his tongue.

“We’re closing.”

“Just one more. Just one more drink and I’ll go.”

“Fine.”

With each gulp of synthetic alcohol, his anguish seemed to dilute. While his mouth claimed alcohol was the enemy, his body acted as usual.

Once again, the team leader left the bar in a state of complete intoxication.

“Sh-shit… Urgh. What did I do so wrong…?”

The team leader belched out a curse.

The corridor where he stood alone was enveloped in silence. Apart from the subtle vibrations created by the ship’s heart—the reactor—beating powerfully, almost no other sounds could be heard.

Night had fallen in space.

While the concept of day and night doesn’t exist in space, human vessels artificially create night after a certain period. This was for the crew’s restful sleep.

The research vessel led by Eusung Samuel was no exception, with an artificial night settling over the ship.

The team leader staggered across the silence.

Though it was a corridor he walked daily, today it felt unfamiliar.

Was it because he was drunk? An inexplicable chill emanated from this familiar space.

A foreboding premonition gripped him, as if a terrible danger lurked beyond the bright lights of the corridor.

“Ah, shit… Whatever.”

The team leader denied his premonition.

With slurred speech, he cursed and headed towards his room.

His shoe sounds echoed through the corridor made of high-strength panels without a single gap.

‘Huh?’

His ears caught an alien sound. At first, he thought it was his own footsteps, but something was different.

It was too quiet for a person. It was a soft, low sound, like a predator walking on tiptoes to conceal its presence.

Feeling strange, the team leader stopped in place. The following footsteps abruptly ceased.

The corridor was engulfed in silence.

Goosebumps covered his body.

Something unknown was following him.

“Who, who’s there?!”

He shouted, but no answer came.

It felt as if someone had forcibly doused him with cold water. Suddenly sober, he quickened his pace.

His shoes clashed with the hard metal floor, creating a dissonance.

Thud, thud.

As if competing, the bizarre footsteps behind him also accelerated.

Pitter-patter-pitter-patter.

‘What the hell is it?!’

It might have been a team member playing a prank.

Even if it wasn’t a team member, he could have confronted whoever was playing this disgusting prank head-on.

But he didn’t.

A part of his alcohol-soaked brain was screaming at him.

Never to confront that entity.

After turning a corner in the corridor, the team leader glanced back.

He saw it clearly.

The shadow of a long, snake-like tail flashing by in an instant.

‘Holy shit!’

It was “that thing.”

The alien creature killing people.

The cosmic slaughterer that had devoured the research team leader and the security guard was now targeting him.

The team leader’s movements became frantic. He dragged his legs, dulled by alcohol.

He resembled a deer fleeing after being shot by a hunter.

‘Shit shit shit shit shit!’

His face was a mess of saliva, tears, and mucus. His clothes had long since failed their purpose, soaked in cold sweat.

Light, bouncing sounds.

“Its” footsteps could be heard behind him.

The sound, which had been faint until just now, had grown loud enough to mix with his breathing.

The presence of “it” following from behind became clearer. A non-human growl licked his spine.

That chilling sensation was so distinct that it pierced his mind despite his intoxicated state.

The team leader wanted to scream but couldn’t.

He felt that if he made even a slightly louder sound, “it” would pounce.

Upon finally reaching his room, he frantically entered the password. He didn’t think he had ever pressed the number pad this quickly since boarding the ship.

“Shit! Open faster!”

At last, the door opened, and he quickly entered.

As he closed the door, it vibrated heavily as if hit by something. The impact sent the team leader tumbling to the floor.

He froze where he fell.

As if the previous impact had been a lie, no sound came from beyond the door.

The team leader could feel it.

“It” was still outside.

“Ph-phone! I need to call…!”

Having barely regained his senses, he recalled the emergency phone in the bedroom. His legs, completely limp from tension, wouldn’t obey. He had no choice but to crawl like a worm.

That’s when it happened.

A sound he should never have heard reached his ears.

Beep.

Like a puppet on a string, his head creakily turned towards the door.

“It” was entering the password.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep-beep-beep.

An inappropriately cheerful notification sounded. The door lock was released, and the door slowly opened.

–

The hunt was easily successful.

Or should I even call it a hunt?

It was merely cornering someone too drunk to think straight.

‘His routine was simple, making it easy.’

After two days of observation, I found that the Material Management Team Leader’s daily routine was identical down to the smallest detail. During the day, he holed up in the material management room doing nothing, and in the evening, he spent the night drinking at the ship’s bar.

His subordinates, seeing how pathetic their superior was, paid no attention to his whereabouts or activities.

‘That works in my favor.’

I had originally planned to observe for 3-4 days, but there was no need. I decided to attack when he was intoxicated.

Sure enough, today he wasted time at the bar again. I had already confirmed there were no surveillance cameras from the bar to his room.

All that remained was to leisurely enjoy the drive hunt.

To corner him, I deliberately didn’t pounce. Just showing myself briefly from time to time was enough for him to follow my intentions. While his slow escape due to alcohol was frustrating, everything else was satisfactory.

After fleeing diligently, he hid in his room. A steel door that couldn’t be penetrated by anything less than a laser weapon stood between him and me.

He was probably feeling safe. Thinking that the ultra-high-strength alloy door based on titanium would protect him.

That’s not wrong. My claws couldn’t pierce the door yet.

But when physical strength fails, one can use their brain. My faithful servant, the auxiliary organ, read the fingerprints left on the number pad.

Though the Material Management Team Leader certainly never intended it, I was now like an invited guest.

The door opened very easily, and inside was a face contorted with terror.

A civilian without any weapons had no chance of resisting an AMorph.

‘Thank you for the meal.’

He easily became my prey.

Honestly, the taste of the Material Management Team Leader was just okay. He was rich in fat, but the strong alcohol smell detracted from the savory flavor.

Of course, as I’m not picky, I ate everything except the thumb needed for fingerprint recognition.

‘Where might the ID card be?’

While picking my teeth with my small arm, I looked around the room. A soft-looking mattress was placed on a stainless steel bed. Cabinets and a desk were positioned against the wall.

‘Oh?’

A poster of a half-naked woman was attached to the wall. It was quite sexy, but perhaps due to my current body, I felt nothing.

Ignoring the poster, I approached the desk. Empty bottles and piles of documents were stacked on the old desk.

‘He should have cleaned up a bit.’

While rummaging through the documents, an ID card fell out.

I had obtained everything I needed. With the ID card in one hand and the finger in the other, I left the room.

‘Should I go right away?’

Having gathered the necessary items, I headed to the cargo hold.

Standing in front of the container in the cargo hold, I first placed the ID card on the recognition panel. The red light on the terminal above the panel turned green, and a message appeared to proceed to the next step. Pressing the Material Management Team Leader’s thumb firmly on the recognition panel, the door opened with a clunk.

‘What treasure might be inside?’

As I stepped into the container, a cold chill swept over my body.

Inside were several cryogenic tubes. Various organisms were contained within these tubes.

‘So this guy was a smuggler.’

Despite appearances, he seemed to have done a decent job as a smuggler, given the variety of rare organisms.

While looking around the cryogenic tubes, I spotted something familiar in one of them.

‘AMorph eggs?’

Two cryogenic tubes contained AMorph eggs.

One egg was plump with its contents intact, while the other was empty.

An empty egg. The Material Management Team Leader frantically searching for something.

‘Could this be the egg my body came from?’

I thought it was strange.

In the game, the starting location for an AMorph wasn’t a steel ship like this, but an unidentified ruin.

‘He was trying to smuggle me.’

Given that they were in cryogenic tubes, it seems the Material Management Team Leader was planning to sell the AMorph eggs somewhere. I’m not sure what happened, but one egg hatched and escaped the container.

It seems the original owner of my body died shortly after escaping.

‘And then my consciousness entered.’

The reason for the previous owner’s death was easy to guess. Being newly born, it probably lacked nutrients.

‘That explains why it ate cockroaches.’

No matter how much I liked AMorphs, it wouldn’t be easy for someone with human sensibilities to immediately eat cockroaches upon seeing them.

It was probably an instinctive act for the body’s survival.

‘…’

Seeing the traces left by the body’s previous owner made me feel somewhat melancholic.

Although it wasn’t intentional, thanks to its struggle for survival, I was able to start in a not-so-bad situation.

I bowed my head in front of the egg from which it was born. The creature was already dead and wouldn’t understand this human gesture, but I just wanted to do it.

‘That’s enough commemoration.’

Now that the human act was over, it was time for an AMorph act.

I opened the cryogenic tube and began to devour the other intact egg.

I also ate the AMorph hatchling that was sleeping inside without leaving anything.

AMorphs are hostile to all species. That includes their own kind.

‘The first to be born eats all the other eggs.’

Perhaps AMorphs are the embodiment of extreme survival competition.

There are two advantages to eating other hatchlings or eggs after birth.

One is providing the nutrients lacking in the hatchling state, and the other is quickly obtaining the AMorph’s genetic essence.

Characteristics like hyper-sensing can be enhanced through identical genetic essence, which is extremely helpful in the early stages.

I had hoped to gain essence, but unfortunately, no predation message appeared. As I was licking my lips in disappointment, other cryogenic tubes came into view.

‘Come to think of it, there’s a lot of food here.’

The owner of the cryogenic tubes in the container is now in my stomach.

Since the owner of the cryogenic tubes was a smuggler, no one else on this ship would know about this container.

That means no one would complain if I ate everything.

I opened the cryogenic tubes and devoured the organisms inside one by one. Despite appearances, the Material Management Team Leader seemed to have been quite good at smuggling, given the many rare organisms.

Thanks to this, I was able to secure several rare genetic essences.

「Species: Unidentified Agressive Space Morph

Status: Morphlet

Objective: Survive (1 evolution successful).

Possessed Characteristics: Predator Sense (Fusion), Wings, Chitinous Skin, Robust Vitality, Neurotoxin Gland (Fusion), Enhanced Exoskeleton, Acidic Blood, Psychic Organ, Enhanced Horns, Mimicry

Type: Undetermined」

「Currently, 2 types can be specialized.」

「Physical Enhancement Type (8/10), Psychic Enhancement Type (2/3)」

‘Good. Just 2 more left.’

To obtain the Physical Enhancement Type, I just need to secure 2 more characteristics.

I was honestly a bit disappointed when I ate Kisaragi. I had hoped to gain psychic power ability, but instead got a useless psychic organ.

But now the Material Management Team Leader has given me such a precious gift.

Especially obtaining powerful characteristics that would only be available in the mid to late game so early is encouraging.

Among all the characteristics I possess, this is the most effective for killing crew members.

With this ability, I can move more aggressively.

While there’s a path of hiding and slowly tightening the noose around the crew over a long period, the rendezvous with Space Dog isn’t far off. Not knowing how dangerous they might be, I needed to become as strong as possible before then.

‘Genetic essences, wait for me.’

In space, even if you scream, no one can hear your voice.

The same applies to this research vessel.

The pitiful cries of the crew members will be buried in that black abyss.