Ch.198Prequel Episode 3. I Told You Clearly

Looking at the blood-soaked isolation room, I suddenly felt my indigestion clearing up.

The world had become a bit cleaner.

Though the death of one pot-bellied middle-aged man might seem insignificant, it could be considered a great step toward a utopia filled only with adorable baby wolves.

However, there was one problem.

The righteous person who took this step toward a beautiful world was one of us, and there was no guarantee they wouldn’t kill me next.

“How is that even possible? It’s not like it’s a zombie virus—how could someone just snap and stab someone?”

“A research journal was found in Peter’s room.”

The captain handed me a tablet.

It contained various videos and materials organized with footnotes.

The first page was dated four years ago.

So this is the baby wolf’s research journal…

…I probably shouldn’t lick it, right?

-It’s an alien life form. And an intelligent one at that! Though it can only communicate by wiggling, I’ve taught it many things.

-Its memory is remarkable. It can even solve matching puzzles quite well. Perhaps I could teach it language.

-I taught it English. Although I had to call out each letter from A to Z and note down whenever it wiggled in response, it clearly learned the alphabet. It might even be more intelligent than humans.

-I’m curious about its interaction with Earth creatures. I’m thinking of introducing a frog first. I’ll have to rescue it if things get dangerous.

The video that followed was quite shocking.

The small worm-like monster seemed to explore the frog at first, but then was suddenly caught by the frog’s tongue and sucked in.

At first, I thought it had been eaten.

But moments later, the frog convulsed, fell over, then returned to normal.

-Something amazing happened. The X-ray shows something else occupying the space where the frog’s brain should be. The creature dissolved the frog’s brain and took its place.

-It croaks exactly like a frog and behaves exactly like a frog. It’s a parasitic organism—one that perfectly controls its host.

-I wonder if it can parasitize species other than frogs.

The next thing placed in the container was a hamster.

In an instant, the parasite burst out of the frog’s head and forced its way into the mouth of the trembling hamster cowering in the corner.

After that, the hamster convulsed briefly before returning to normal.

After the hamster came a rat.

After the rat, a guinea pig…

-It parasitizes amphibians and mammals indiscriminately! It’s amazing! I’ve never seen a parasite like this!

-It seems there are limitations to its parasitism. Once it successfully settles in, it needs a certain amount of time before it can tear through the head and escape. The larger the host, the longer this time seems to be.

-When it sees a higher predator, it escapes without hesitation to parasitize anew, but it never escapes when faced with a lower predator. It’s as if its goal is to parasitize the apex predator…

Ah. My baby wolf must have been really excited.

The excitement was evident in his writing style, and I was starting to get excited too when the captain thrust another tablet at me.

It appeared to be CCTV footage from the baby wolf’s room.

-Eek?! Huh! How did you get out? Be good now. Stay still. I’ll send you back home… Urrrgh!

It was a sight too horrific to watch.

Whether he accidentally opened the door or not, the parasite that had escaped went straight for Peter’s mouth, and after Peter’s body trembled for a moment…

-Hmm. Ah. Ahhh. Voice works fine.

He stood up abruptly and straightened his clothes.

It sent chills down my spine.

“That Peter guy started killing other crew members indiscriminately as soon as he left the room. This man who’s now dead barely survived by hiding in the hibernation chamber.”

“So you’re saying… this parasite can wear a person’s skin and completely act like a human?”

“It seems that way.”

“Damn. What was everyone doing while the monster was stabbing this pot-bellied guy?”

“I was in the control room checking our course, and Allen was taking a shower, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Ash was performing an autopsy on Peter’s body. Ranger was probably in her room. And Gus?”

“I was repairing Knight.”

“And Knight would have been powered off for repairs, right?”

“That’s right.”

This is a real mess.

Everyone was doing their own thing, so nobody noticed this pig getting stabbed in the belly.

The black box is always turned off for fear of confiscation, so there’s no record either.

So we need to figure out which one of us is the murderer being controlled by the parasite.

I surreptitiously examined my colleagues.

Could a mere 4-year rookie deceive me, a 20-year veteran human?

Not a chance.

“So our immediate task is to find the person with the parasite in their head. The good news is that once it settles in, it can’t immediately tear out and escape. In the case of the guinea pig, it could only come out after two months, so we probably have at least two months.”

“MRI! With that, we could look inside the head, right?”

“Do you think we have that kind of medical equipment on our ship? We don’t even have X-ray equipment. Unless we split everyone’s heads open, we can’t be certain until we reach Mars. Until then, no one is above suspicion. Except for Jin—”

“Wait a minute!”

Suddenly my exceptional brain finished its deduction.

The captain is lying right now!

Everyone looked at me in bewilderment, apparently no one else had noticed.

These ignorant fools.

Allow me to explain my deduction.

“I’m a confirmed innocent!”

“Confirmed innocent? What’s that?”

“Haven’t any of you played Mafia games? Confirmed innocent! I’m abbreviated as CI! The murder happened while I was unconscious and isolated, so I’m above suspicion!”

“You just realized that now?”

“What?”

“I was about to say that. Everyone except you is under suspicion.”

“Oh…”

My face turned bright red.

Damn. Was I really the only one who didn’t know?

I just realized it.

Embarrassed, I slowly lowered my hand and went to the corner.

“Move, tin can.”

“Yes…”

I pushed Knight aside and buried my head in the corner.

Shit. I’m dying of embarrassment…

“Everyone understands the situation, right? Then let’s proceed with tests to identify the culprit.”

“What kind of tests?”

“Various ones. Let’s try everything we can think of. Since it crawls through the mouth to the brain, I wonder if there might be some tear marks left. If not, we’ll hold a quiz show. The alien wouldn’t remember our shared memories.”

“Ohhh…”

And so the captain’s grand operation to identify the culprit began.

With just me left out.

I felt somewhat excluded.

They’re not really discriminating against the rookie, are they?

“Can’t you test me too?”

“What are you saying? Close your mouth and speak.”

“I said, can’t you test me too? I’m bored.”

“What kind of woman are you…?”

After swallowing my embarrassment and gathering my courage, I was finally allowed to join the Mafia game.

One by one, including the captain, everyone was thoroughly examined, even having dental mirrors inserted into their mouths.

However, there were no significant findings.

None of them had any wounds that suggested something had torn through their flesh.

“So, on your first day joining our mercenary unit, how was the welcome party conducted?”

“Me! Me! Me me me!”

“Jin… It’s not about who presses the buzzer first… Everyone writes their answers on their tablets…”

The quiz show was cut short after a few questions.

Even questions that an alien who just boarded the ship today should not know were all being answered correctly.

Everyone, in a state of panic, forgot that the quiz show was still ongoing and started bombarding each other with questions.

How old is my son, which I only told Allen, are you aware that you’re actually gay, Gus, no I’m not you fucking bastard, yes you are Gus! And so on…

All kinds of questions were exchanged, but there was no evidence to identify the alien.

We had no choice but to draw a conclusion.

“It seems the creature… inherits the host’s memories…”

“This is insane. Damn it.”

“Haaa…”

The creature possesses the host’s memories.

A parasite that dissolves a colleague’s brain and speaks and acts exactly like them—it’s impossible to distinguish.

This fact seemed to hit everyone hard, as they were all sighing heavily all over the place.

Our captain, who’s quite kind despite being prickly.

Allen, the first mate who makes amazing food whenever ingredients are available.

Ranger, who may look like a girl but is a good shot.

Ash, our doctor who seems cold on the outside but probably warm on the inside.

I’ll pass on Gustave since we’re not close.

Anyway, it was infuriating to think that one of these colleagues with whom I’ve built so many memories over the past year was being violated even after death.

“I suspect Ranger! Let’s split her head open! It’s a one-in-five chance, isn’t that worth trying?”

“What are you suddenly saying?!”

“You dare question the deduction of a confirmed innocent? Are you the Mafia?”

“Eeeek!”

“Ranger has started whimpering! It seems the tear ducts are malfunctioning as a side effect of having a parasite in the brain!”

“W-w-what are you saying?!”

“I’m saying you’re the bug! Caught you!”

I really wish I could just split Ranger’s head open once.

I’ve got a feeling about this.

A feeling that if we open that skull, we’ll find it packed full of alien crab meat.

Well, if I’m wrong, it’ll just be embarrassing.

“I’ll just close my eyes and split it open! Let’s see if she doesn’t scream ‘I’m actually a pathetic parasite!’ when I put the saw to her forehead!”

“That’s not happening, Jin!”

“Captain, you just need to look the other way! Ash! Give me the saw!”

“Huh? Uh…?”

“Hey! Why are you handing it over?!”

“Kyaaaa! I’m actually an alien! Please don’t kill meee! Sob…”

“See! I was right! Let me cut her head open!”

“Fuck! Don’t cut, you crazy woman! Knight! Stop Jin!”

In the end, I failed to split Ranger’s head open because Knight restrained my limbs.

I told you clearly.

That Ranger girl is the Mafia.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you, seriously.