Ch.190190. Variable

After a while

“Is it over?”

“”””””Yes!””””””

When the boss-drug dealer asked if the psychic single-shot collection was complete, his subordinates answered energetically. The drug dealer smiled with satisfaction as he collected the batteries containing the psychic single-shots they had gathered.

After roughly stuffing them into his coat’s inner pocket, he ordered everyone to prepare for any unforeseen situations before their return, while also conducting a quick inspection of his own body.

Unlike the other organization members, he wore a stylish coat instead of a robe and a fedora hat, along with a mask—covering his entire head with a cool, mechanical appearance befitting a boss.

He also wore a powered suit underneath his coat, ensuring both style and safety, as this coat was, unsurprisingly, no ordinary garment.

The robes worn by other organization members were cloaks with transparency—or more precisely, environmental camouflage functions—with electronic circuits etched into the lining. The coat had similar functions but with superior performance.

It was an expensive item with high resistance to laser and energy weapons, as well as excellent psychic resistance, made from the skin of “Piscios,” an intelligent species that had to be skinned alive before reaching adulthood.

Anyway, these Mind Collectors, now ready to depart for SodomGomorrah, began moving along the secret passage that led to this place.

Initially, the drug dealer used to hunt psychic creatures directly with his subordinates, but as time passed, demand grew while supply remained woefully insufficient.

Of course, since they monopolized the supply of Meltimind, a moderate shortage compared to demand would justify raising prices, but… this time was different.

The drug business essentially requires continuously producing addicts to keep extracting money, but now drug production had fallen so low that they couldn’t even maintain regular addict creation.

Therefore, the leader of the Mind Collectors, the drug dealer, finally found a special solution: luring psychic creatures like mantas to the Babel exploration team and having them hunt on their behalf.

This was possible thanks to a secret passage connected to a tunnel they had discovered by chance, and right now, this drug dealer and his subordinates were walking through that secret passage in stealth mode.

In fact, this so-called passage was actually part of the blood vessels of the “Mausoleum of Moby Dick,” where the flowing energy-gas had dried up.

Because of this, one would normally encounter passages with cliff-like slopes or areas so twisted that they couldn’t be traversed on foot, but this wasn’t an issue for the Mind Collector organization members.

Thanks to various illegal (obviously) body modifications available in SodomGomorrah, all subordinates had enhanced bodies to the point where even the least experienced and weakest among the 519 members could fight a Human Federation Army sergeant.

Metal prosthetics inserted into bones, additional synthetic muscle fibers implanted, and artificial skin made from monster hide wrapped over the implanted muscle fibers.

Beyond physical enhancements, some members were covered with strictly regulated brain implants and various mechanical implants, with extreme cases where less than 10% of their bodies remained original.

Anyway, these individuals with powerful physical abilities gained through illegal body modifications were quickly returning to SodomGomorrah through the secret passage, but…

Here, a problem occurred.

Rumble……..

‘……..Huh?’

Suddenly, as the ground shook slightly and something seemed to collapse—

CRASH-BOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

“W-Waaaaaahhhhh!!!”

“Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!”

“Kyaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!”

The entire secret passage collapsed as if sinking, and everyone plummeted to the ground!

※ ※ ※

In truth, the collapse of the secret passage might have been inevitable.

The passage was so narrow that it would be filled by just one large-bodied species, yet over 500 people had passed through it repeatedly.

As the passage became increasingly unstable from gang members passing through to collect psychic single-shots, it finally gave way and collapsed—

“—Ugh.”

“Phew…………”

Except for a few who managed to suspend themselves in mid-air by activating telekinesis, most were swept away by debris and fell to the ground during the collapse.

“……..Tsk.”

Since those who fell were ultimately his subordinates and part of his assets, the drug dealer turned his head toward the ground where debris had piled up to rescue them…

“……..?”

The moment he looked down, the drug dealer couldn’t believe his eyes.

“—!!??”

Void, it was a void.

What lay on the ground could only be described as a void—presumably having swallowed those who fell along with the debris.

Neither dark nor bright, with no discernible boundaries—a shocking space.

The drug dealer, momentarily stunned by this strange, reality-detached shocking space, soon regained his senses, but…

“…………??!!”

Was there some kind of hallucination, body manipulation, or ability generating gravity?

From some point—the exact moment unclear—while he was dazed, the drug dealer was gradually being sucked into the void he had been staring at.

Trying to resist with psychic powers yielded no response in his brain, and he couldn’t feel even the slightest movement in his body.

With no way to intervene, the drug dealer was sucked into the void and, with a strange sensation of transition—

‘…………Where is this?’

He fell into a place with white walls and modern design that smelled of chemicals—a place that looked like a hospital or laboratory.

An ordinary exploration team or naive SodomGomorrah resident might have dismissed this as an accidental transition, but for someone who had invested a lifetime in crime—and as a Felicid, a species sensitive to emotions of living beings…

He detected faint but diverse bodily fluid smells mixed with the chemical odors, like blood from various species, while simultaneously sensing multiple grudges throughout the space, like a slum where multiple murders had occurred.

……..Swish.

Having assessed the situation, the drug dealer immediately activated his equipment’s function and disappeared, blending into the surroundings with environmental camouflage, and right after that moment.

Whirrrr.

As the door at the far end of the corridor split open, the being that appeared was shocking even to the drug dealer who had seen all sorts of things in SodomGomorrah.

‘……..A monster?’

Yes. Its form was that of a monster—specifically what might be called a standard humanoid monster, with an orthodox appearance standing about 2 meters tall—an ordinary humanoid monster.

……..Except that it wore a white coat like a researcher with casual clothing underneath, and from its mouth came utterances that, while in an unknown language, were clearly some form of grumbling.

‘A monster……..talking?’

Though shocked by this thought, rationally speaking, there was no reason monsters couldn’t use language.

It was the combination of genetically ingrained hostility and oral structure that created the problem, as research had repeatedly shown that monsters’ intelligence often surpassed that of humans.

But even so, the shock of seeing a monster not just speaking but seemingly engaged in social activities didn’t easily subside.

To draw an analogy……..it was like a Wild West American encountering a Native American suddenly attacking with SF-laser weapons.

Quite shocked by the appearance of such an implausible being, the drug dealer tried to quickly leave the place, but as someone who had lived virtually his entire life as a drug dealer, he couldn’t overlook one crucial fact.

Beep.

《Unidentified biological response detected. Unidentified biological response detected. An unidentified biological response has been detected in corridor 84!》

Rumble……..!!!

For a research facility with that level of confidentiality—with content that needed to be hidden—the installation of various security systems was practically a default setting.