Ch.217A Sky Full Of Stars! (5)

#217

“Why the hell isn’t that bastard getting hit?!”

“Because I’ve spent more time on battlefields than you have!”

“Bullshit!”

“You’re the one talking bullshit!”

The bullet fired from Dexter’s rifle passed through the chest of the mercenary who had taunted him.

Another mercenary who had survived wars but couldn’t survive Dexter fell.

What Dexter realized while staying close to the Abomination’s back was that its regenerative ability wasn’t infinite.

“Grr, grr…!”

As the Abomination kept healing, its reaction speed slowed, and its form became increasingly emaciated.

‘It’s almost pitiful.’

The Abomination, with muscles that would put even decent fitness trainers to shame, repaired its body with each bullet impact, and its muscles visibly shrank as a result.

As the Abomination’s movements became sluggish while attacking mercenaries, they could dodge its punches, which meant Dexter had to move around more.

But Dexter’s shooting skills remained sharp.

Since he wasn’t facing enemies surrounding him from all sides, and the Abomination served as a biological shield that also helped eliminate mercenaries to some extent, he managed well.

Captain Olivia was now completely silent.

‘Does she think giving orders would only cause more internal conflict?’

Perhaps she had already given up and was preparing to face Dexter.

-Ratattat, ratatatatat!

With the continuous barrage of bullets, even the Abomination’s regeneration visibly slowed, and it staggered more frequently when moving.

Even for a massive creature like the Abomination, this was a pitiful state.

Thanks to the mercenaries, Dexter learned new information and finished them off with a final gift of bullets.

“This… can’t be happening…!”

As a mercenary hit by Dexter’s bullet trembled and clutched his chest, Dexter stared at him blankly.

“Just think of it as grabbing the wrong rope.”

Once you grabbed the rotten rope of being a captain’s mercenary, death was unavoidable.

Dexter pulled out the pistol from his waist, put a bullet in the center of the mercenary’s forehead, then looked thoughtfully at the Abomination he was still clinging to.

‘It’s not saying anything and seems to be struggling just to stand.’

As Dexter suspected, the Abomination was merely standing, unable to do anything more.

Dexter ended the life of the weakened Abomination, which looked barely alive, with a tightly pulled rope.

With the Abomination collapsing with a thud, there were no mercenaries left.

The only thing blocking Dexter’s path now was the door to the captain’s quarters.

“……”

Still no sound came from the speaker.

Dexter opened the door to the captain’s quarters.

Holding his rifle, he slowly entered, maintaining a firing stance ready to shoot at any moment.

‘Smaller than the Dust Devil.’

Jupiter was smaller than Eliya’s personal ship, the Dust Devil, and the captain’s quarters were also smaller.

But even though it was smaller, Jupiter’s captain’s quarters were still larger than Dexter’s home.

Due to its age, the interior decorations were somewhat old-fashioned, but it resembled a hotel suite on the Las Vegas Strip.

‘A different world.’

Dexter recalled the feeling he had when he first entered Eliya’s lavish office.

And as soon as he entered the captain’s quarters, he was greeted by a portrait of Howard Hughes.

The problem was that someone had stabbed a military combat knife right in the middle of Howard Hughes’ forehead.

‘What a hobby.’

It was clearly Captain Olivia’s doing.

“…Are you a coward?”

The voice from the speaker.

Dexter flinched and looked toward the source of the sound.

A woman was sitting in a large chair, resting her chin on the desk, looking down at him.

She had long black hair like Dexter’s, a haughty and cold appearance, and an indescribable aura.

“Olivia.”

“How informal. Sit down.”

“Sit down?”

“Are you planning to put a hole in my head right now? I’d prefer you didn’t.”

As Olivia spoke to Dexter in a leisurely voice, he aimed his rifle at her.

“What’s the point when you have no means of attack…”

-Bang!

Before Dexter could finish speaking, a bullet from somewhere hit his rifle.

The bullet struck the barrel of the rifle.

It was just one shot, but it bent the barrel, significantly increasing the chance of Dexter’s shots becoming unstable.

“…Automated turrets?”

“Did I look stupid enough not to have this level of precaution?”

As Dexter had guessed, there were automated turrets installed throughout the captain’s quarters by Howard Hughes.

‘Are they firing rifle rounds?’

Dexter glanced at his rifle and judged from the thin impact area that the turrets were firing rifle rounds.

These turrets, disguised as ordinary interior decorations, were hidden in places difficult to find even with Dexter’s perceptive abilities.

In fact, Dexter looked around thoroughly but couldn’t locate more than half of them.

“Sit down, Dexter.”

“Tch.”

Dexter expressed his dissatisfaction with a click of his tongue, then sat down on a backless chair in front of Olivia’s desk and said:

“You seem quite comfortable using my name.”

Even as he sat down, Dexter was ready to attack Olivia at any moment.

‘I can’t just sit here and get shot.’

The problem was that he couldn’t figure out how to attack Olivia, who was simply resting her hands on the desk and staring at him intently.

She seemed to have no weaknesses.

‘She’s like a wall.’

It felt as if all the pathetic defeats so far were just weak acts she had put on to make herself look good.

Dexter slowly absorbed the atmosphere and spirit that Olivia was emitting.

It was similar to the gap he felt when he first met the Heavenly Demon’s subordinates.

‘Grandpa Heavenly Demon had a feeling like nature itself, where you’d lose sight of him if you looked away for just a moment, but this feels similar to his subordinates.’

What was certain was that she was much stronger than her secretary, Cloud.

‘Why didn’t I notice when I first met her? Was it what they call concealing one’s aura?’

“You’re thinking a lot, Dexter. Hmm?”

The Olivia who had been angry every time the Abomination made mistakes was gone, replaced by someone who was completely at ease with Dexter.

“You’re acting completely different from when you were speaking through the speaker.”

“As you saw, those bastards were frustrating.”

Olivia sighed.

“But why aren’t you killing me with the automated turrets when you could do it at any moment?”

“Were you that eager to die?”

“No, but you could have killed me anytime, Olivia. Even before the electric torture. You didn’t order the Abomination and mercenaries to kill me, but to capture me. Though the mercenaries probably misunderstood your intentions.”

“I wonder why.”

Olivia grinned as she said this.

“Would you believe me if I said it was just my whim?”

“Not really. I see people doing that kind of thing every day.”

“Just think of it as my final whim. Either you or I will die here.”

While talking with Olivia, Dexter noticed something strange.

This was the first time Dexter and Olivia had ever spoken to each other.

‘She’s talking so naturally, as if she’s known me for a long time.’

If he had to compare, the conversation was flowing as naturally as meeting a distant relative after a long time.

“…You speak as if you know me. Did you investigate me?”

“I don’t necessarily need to investigate.”

Olivia slowly looked at Dexter.

Dexter also stared intently into Olivia’s eyes.

They were the same bright summer sea blue as Dexter’s.

“I’ve known you since long ago, since you were a snotty-nosed kid.”

Olivia said with a smirk.

“What?”

“Dexter Hughes. I’ve known you since you were born in Boston and cradled in Sarah’s arms.”

“That’s amusing.”

Dexter tried to laugh it off.

Information about his parents was known to the OSA, and information like his hometown could have been passed on by Rascal, who was a spy.

Besides, no one had interfered with Olivia as much as he had.

Olivia must have conducted countless investigations on Dexter, just as Dexter knew about her.

“You really think it’s a joke.”

“You want me to trust someone who’s caused endless harm to the people of Las Vegas because she had no one to trust? That’s a bit much.”

“You don’t have to believe me, Dexter. Just know that while your parents’ accident was a coincidence, yours wasn’t.”

“…What did you say?”

“I’m talking about you being exiled to space.”

Olivia folded her hands together and said:

“I know who did it.”

As soon as those words left Olivia’s mouth, Dexter jumped up from his seat and tried to grab Olivia by the collar.

-Bang!

As Dexter approached to grab Olivia’s collar, the automated turrets fired bullets aimed at his arms.

But Dexter quickly pulled his arms back, and the bullets only hit the desk.

He had nearly gotten holes in both arms, but Dexter didn’t care and expressed his anger. His face quickly turned red as he slammed the desk once.

-Crash!

“…You’d better speak clearly.”

“It’s nothing special.”

Olivia smiled lightly.

* * *

15 years ago, Boston.

It was an evening with heavy rain.

In the Weston area near Boston, Massachusetts, the upper reaches of the Charles River that passes through Boston are located.

Agents dispatched from the OSA Massachusetts branch surrounded a personal spacecraft that had crash-landed in the upper river.

The personal spacecraft was virtually half-destroyed with no protection during the crash, and some parts were either floating or submerged in the water.

Among the field agents wearing black raincoats surveying the scene, the most senior agent wiped the rainwater from his face and said:

“Is the sky crying for this accident?”

“You’re good at saying nonsense, sir.”

“So, the suspect?”

“They got flight permission from the Florida branch at 7 PM today and were about to go into space when suddenly the instrument panel malfunctioned and the spacecraft became uncontrollable.”

“So it crashed on this riverbank?”

“Yes. Fortunately, they escaped without major injuries, but the spacecraft crashed right here.”

“That’s a small blessing. With all this rain, there won’t be any witnesses. What about the debris?”

“We’re collecting it. But the Boston emergency team said they’d send a team to collect debris too, but we haven’t heard from them yet.”

“What are those bastards doing?”

The senior agent immediately took out his cell phone from under his raincoat to contact the Boston emergency team.

Just then, a military Humvee suddenly headed toward them, and an agent controlling traffic tried to drive it away with a light baton.

“Stop, stop!”

But the Humvee didn’t slow down despite the agent’s warning and drove straight to the upper river.

“Who the hell is that?!”

The senior agent, angry that the military Humvee had charged in despite being warned, was about to approach it when the back window of the Humvee opened slightly.

“Who’s in charge here?”

“That’s me. Who are you?!”

“Ah, you’re in charge. Come over here for a moment.”

The senior agent, annoyed at being ordered around, approached the Humvee with a red face, only to find an unexpected figure inside.

It was someone the senior agent was already familiar with.

“It’s me.”

“Vice Chairman Paul?”

Fifteen years ago, it was Paul, a Grey alien who was the Vice Chairman of the Galactic Union’s Security Council.

He was a figure well-known to OSA senior agents as he frequently visited Earth for vacations or diplomatic reasons.

“I heard you’re currently recovering debris, is that correct?”

“Yes, of course we are. But why…”

“Just collect what you can see and leave. Don’t conduct a thorough recovery.”

“Excuse me?”

It was an incomprehensible request, so the senior agent asked in confusion:

“But if civilians find the debris, it could be a disaster.”

“I’m just passing on a request I received.”

“I don’t understand the intention at all.”

“Neither do I.”

Paul said firmly.

“Even if some parts are lost, just ignore it and return to OSA. Say they were lost due to the heavy rain.”

“…I understand for now.”

It was a bizarre order.

* * *

“So who was involved in getting me abducted into space?”

“Want me to tell you again?”

To the stone-faced Dexter, Olivia slowly enunciated each word:

“The Galactic Union.”

Olivia, finding Dexter’s expression amusing, giggled and said once more:

“The Galactic Union screwed you over.”