Ch.213A Sky Full Of Stars!

#213

As Dexter stepped out of the room, he could once again confirm that he was indeed inside a spaceship.

Through the thick windows, he could see Earth shining in the distance.

‘I don’t even know when we departed.’

Dexter looked down at his body.

He wasn’t Rambo or anything, but seeing his shirtless upper body made him realize he needed something to cover himself.

While wandering around the interior of Jupiter, which was much larger than his own spaceship, Dexter managed to enter a storage room.

There, he found a work uniform top that someone had left behind. After quickly changing into the work clothes, Dexter surveyed the storage room.

‘Is there anything I can use as a weapon?’

While rummaging through the storage, Dexter picked up a metal crowbar that was leaning against a corner. After swinging the red crowbar a few times, he felt it had a better grip than expected and headed out of the storage room.

‘Fighting with a crowbar on a spaceship feels strange.’

It reminded him of a PC game he played as a child, featuring a scientist fighting against alien life forms.

The memory made Dexter smile.

While Dexter knew the approximate size and shape of Jupiter, he didn’t know the exact layout of the facilities or what was inside them.

Also, although he hadn’t encountered anyone so far, he had no idea what personnel were aboard Jupiter.

That’s why he needed to figure out the interior layout of Jupiter first.

‘The captain’s quarters is what I should avoid most.’

There was a high possibility that Commander-in-Chief Olivia and forces protecting her would be stationed there.

With that in mind, Dexter cautiously headed elsewhere.

There were many close calls—massive Abominations that would be difficult to handle with just a crowbar passing by, or strange wheeled robots moving around.

Then, from a corner of the corridor, he heard voices.

“What? He escaped with his bare body and still hasn’t been caught?”

“You know that guy the Commander hired who’s obsessed with electric torture? Apparently, he tortured the guy and then he escaped.”

“Wait, if he was being tortured, wouldn’t he have been tied up?”

“I heard he pulled out the ceiling hook and escaped, or something like that.”

“That guy’s crazy too, then.”

It was a moment when the Commander’s forces aboard Jupiter were spreading stories about Dexter’s escape.

‘How long has it been since I escaped, and these stories are already spreading?’

The forces that had been stationed throughout the ship were now searching for Dexter.

Though he didn’t know all the details, Dexter had somewhat anticipated this and listened carefully to the two men’s conversation.

Counting the number of people talking, there were only two of them, with no one else around.

Dexter made his decision.

‘If it’s just two people…’

Gripping the crowbar firmly, Dexter took a couple of deep breaths and charged in.

-Tap tap tap!

Dexter ran straight toward the two men, leaped into the air, and attempted to attack the closest one.

‘They’re professionals.’

The Commander-in-Chief’s choice this time was different.

Usually, she preferred to overwhelm with numbers, typically employing lower-quality gang members. But this time was different.

The men before Dexter were former PMC mercenaries.

‘Either discharged military or people with extensive combat experience.’

As Dexter predicted, when the man in work clothes jumped at him, the man Dexter was trying to attack didn’t panic and immediately reached for his gun.

“It’s him!”

Dexter kicked the gun away first and then swung the crowbar toward the man’s temple.

-Thwack!

It was a crowbar with Dexter’s full strength behind it.

The man who took the hit directly to his temple collapsed, and the other man fired his gun at Dexter.

-Ratatata!

Dexter dodged quickly, but couldn’t completely avoid the bullets.

‘Ah, damn.’

A bullet tore through his work clothes between his armpit and side, creating a hole.

Still, at close range, a blunt weapon was more effective than a gun, so Dexter’s crowbar struck the man’s side hard.

-Crack.

The sound of ribs breaking was disturbingly clear.

The man’s posture crumbled from Dexter’s powerful strike, and he lowered his head.

“Urgh…”

Dexter mercilessly brought the crowbar down on the back of his head.

Although Jupiter was large, it wasn’t so enormous that gunshots couldn’t be heard.

Others would have heard the gunfire, so quick disposal was necessary.

Dexter immediately opened a nearby door, lifted the two bodies, and went inside.

It appeared to be a crew bedroom, with bunk beds and a table lined up against the wall.

As Dexter placed the two men on the bed, he noticed their clothing.

‘Their uniforms are standardized.’

The two men were wearing camouflage combat uniforms similar to OSA’s, but custom-made.

‘If I’m going to wear something mediocre like this…’

Dexter began changing into one of the dead men’s clothes.

* * *

The four women were still in the room.

Himena had suggested they wait for the right moment to escape, as attempting to flee without weapons could lead to recapture.

“We can’t kill people with our bare hands like Dexter, the human weapon.”

“…Is Dexter really at the level of a human weapon?”

“Didn’t you see him last time?”

The “last time” Himena referred to was when Dexter slaughtered the Commander’s forces in the secret bunker in the sewers.

Judy, understanding what Himena meant, averted her gaze and replied.

“…But he used guns then.”

“He’s someone who can break a person’s collarbone with his bare hands, you know?”

“Oh, that Rascal guy or whatever his name was?”

“That’s right. It was really brutal then. Though he deserved it.”

“I heard he can, like, make his arm muscles bulge and break people’s arms and crack their skulls and stuff?”

When Jesse spoke with some excitement, Emily asked.

“Who can?”

“Dex. He says there are few people on Earth who could beat him in raw strength.”

Judy, slightly disturbed by Jesse’s words, gaped and said.

“…He really is a human weapon.”

“Well, at least he’s on our side. It could be worse.”

“Honestly, if Dexter had been on the Commander’s side—whew, she would have conquered Earth by now.”

Jesse said with a pout.

The other three women somewhat agreed with Jesse’s assessment, as the force Dexter had displayed so far seemed to bring the impossible into reality.

Himena fiddled with the chains on the floor and said.

“Dexy just wanted to live quietly, but the Commander kept provoking him. I wonder why the Commander is doing all this?”

“Wasn’t Dexter’s great-grandfather connected to everything?”

“Seems that way. It’s been like that since the first case Dexter took when he arrived. The connection to Negative, the search for the secret bunker…”

Himena listed the cases she and Dexter had solved together.

“It sounds like Dexter has a fated enemy.”

“We did handle a few unrelated cases too, but Dexter solved them so quickly…”

Just then.

-Click.

The door to the room where the four women were being held opened.

Two of the Commander’s men were about to enter the room to move the women who were supposed to be bound in chains.

“Huh?”

But all four women were free of their restraints, huddled together in conversation. The man, sensing something was wrong, tried to aim his gun.

“Now!”

At Jesse’s shout, Emily, who was standing closest to the door, moved first.

She grabbed the chains that had bound her and swung them at the man.

But Emily wasn’t Dexter, so her attack was relatively weak.

However, she aimed for his face, and the surprised man took the hit directly. He couldn’t react in time and squeezed his eyes shut from the impact.

Himena was the next to attack.

She had attached a heavy padlock to the end of her chain, holding it short like a flail.

While the man was reeling from Emily’s chain attack with his eyes closed, Himena swung the chain upward between his legs.

-Thwack!

“Ugh…”

A heavy pain shot through his lower body.

As the first man collapsed, clutching his groin, the second man tried to fire his gun into the room.

“Judy!”

While Himena was retrieving her chain, Judy stepped forward.

Like Himena, she had a padlock attached to her chain, but she held it longer than Himena did.

The second man’s foot was inside the room, and Judy aimed solely for that foot.

-Crack!

Judy grabbed the chain with the padlock and brought it down with all her might.

“Aaaaargh!”

The man howled in pain.

As the sound of crushing foot bones rang out, Judy instinctively cried out.

“Are you okay?!”

As the man bent down to clutch his foot, Jesse wrapped a chain around his neck and said.

“Who asks if someone’s okay after hitting them?!”

-Wrench!

Jesse, finding the situation absurd, pulled the chain hard.

“Gack, urgh.”

The man tried to grab Jesse’s arms as he was being strangled, but was restrained by Jesse, Emily, and Judy.

Before long, deprived of oxygen to his brain, the man passed out.

“Now’s our chance. Let’s tie them up and get out of here!”

Judy and Himena each took one of the rifles the two men had been carrying, while Emily and Jesse took the spare handguns.

After binding the men’s limbs, the four women hurriedly left the room.

“What about his foot? What should we do?”

“Why is Judy worried about that?”

“Because I feel sorry for him…?”

“Why feel sorry for the people who captured us?”

“…That’s true.”

“If we had remained helpless, they would have done bad things to us, humiliating things. Judy, you need to toughen up.”

At Himena’s words, Judy nodded firmly, as if making a resolution.

“…You’re right. No one but Dexter can touch my body.”

“Well, they probably weren’t just planning to do bad things to your body. Judy seems to be thinking in that direction.”

When Jesse teased her, Judy blushed.

“…Bad things that happen to women are often like that!”

“I didn’t expect the most modest woman to think that way.”

“Jesse!”

“Shh! We’re in enemy territory!”

Emily took the lead.

“Everyone be quiet. We need to move as silently as possible.”

Emily looked around carefully as she slowly moved forward.

The four women, with Emily in the lead, maintained vigilance in all directions as they continued forward until they discovered an unusual room.

Unlike the rooms they had passed so far, this one was made of much sturdier material, and thick cables about the size of a wrist were chaotically connected to the walls and ceiling—something not seen in other rooms.

“…Is this some kind of power room?”

“We’ll have to go in to find out, won’t we?”

“Wait, there’s a button here…”

Jesse stood by the door and touched a few cables, causing a spark and the door to open.

The four women were bewildered by the strange sight inside.

“There are people lying down in there.”

The room might have originally been a conference hall, as desks, chairs, and presentation screens were scattered about.

But all of those had been pushed to one side, and something else had taken their place.

Inside glass capsules, people lay as if dead.

“…What the hell is this?”

Jesse frowned as she looked around.

All the people, whose limbs were strapped to belts inside the capsules, were wearing black devices over their eyes and had expressions of agony on their faces.