Ch.29Double Helix (5)

On the black drawing paper, a flower of the afterlife blooms.

Siheyon Yujin, with a hole in her head, is spraying blood as she tries to fly into space.

‘I can’t let her get away.’

It would be sad if there was no reward after taking down such a formidable opponent.

I stretched my upper arm toward her. My saw-toothed tentacle extended like an arrow leaving a bowstring, wrapping around her waist.

The sound of bones breaking echoed as her waist folded halfway, but she was already dead. I didn’t care and retrieved her corpse.

“Baby! Help me!”

‘Oops.’

No. 26 couldn’t hold on any longer and was about to fly away. Before he could drift eternally in the black abyss, I quickly grabbed him with my other arm.

There was a thin tentacle protruding from his body that I hadn’t seen before.

I know what that tentacle is. And I also know what No. 26’s ‘real’ species is.

‘I’ll think about that later.’

First, we need to get out of here.

[Zzzzz zz(Don’t let go)]

“Okay.”

Research vessels have barrier doors in each section. Where I am now is the nest, the power section where the ship’s reactor-related facilities are concentrated. The barrier door that seals off this section is not far away.

I walked to the barrier door, holding the corpse in one arm and No. 26 in the other.

I operated the terminal next to the door with my small arm, and the barrier door closed with the sound of air being released. From the other side of the door, I could hear the faint alarm of the environmental maintenance system.

‘This ship is finished now.’

A person-sized hole had appeared in the ship. There’s a limit to how well the environmental maintenance system can maintain a stable environment inside.

If there were people, they would seal off the breached section to stabilize it, but there are very few crew members left on the ship except for the pirates. Besides, they’re hiding from me and not coming out, so they probably have no idea what’s going on.

“Baby is changing again.”

‘Huh?’

Hearing No. 26’s words, I looked at my lower arm and saw that the thorn bone launcher was changing. Four fingers protruded from the muzzle part, and its length shortened to the same size as my other arms. Additionally, the weight that had been pressing on my entire body felt lighter.

The Psyonium effect had ended.

‘That’s a shame.’

Still, I’m glad it wasn’t painful when it wore off. With the injuries from fighting Siheyon, I might have passed out if the pain of evolution had been added.

‘But I got an even more important reward.’

The result of high risk, high return is right in front of me.

In the game, Megacorp rankers possess more than 100 genes on average. It might not seem like many, but these genes are all from rare creatures that are difficult to even encounter through normal methods. Even if the number is small, their value is by no means insignificant.

Of course, Siheyon Yujin wasn’t at the ranker level, just an upper-tier player, but there should still be quite a few genes in her body.

‘Since it’s not different from consuming a sample, I’ll probably get at most 3 genes this time too.’

The difference is that whatever I get, there won’t be any duds. Honestly, I’d be happy with just one—preferably Gallergorn’s Claw.

‘Well then, let’s eat.’

I need to quickly devour this and then go deal with the cyborg in the situation room.

Just as I was about to put my mouth to it.

“I was eating a corpse.”

“When only the lower half remained, a massive energy explosion engulfed me.”

“I died.”

‘Ah! The bomb!’

Seeing the suddenly activated predator sense, I finally remembered what I had forgotten. I had turned off my awareness while fighting the formidable enemy, but the timer on the bomb that the boss had set in the reactor was still running.

‘How much time is left?’

In the future shown by my predator sense, the bomb exploded when I had eaten all but the lower half of Siheyon’s corpse. It takes me 10 to 15 minutes at most to completely eat an adult male corpse. Since Siheyon is female and smaller than a male, I’d eat her faster.

So there’s about 5 minutes left.

Should I rush to the reactor now to defuse the bomb, or should I hurry to leave this ship?

I contemplated the two options.

‘There’s not enough time to defuse the bomb.’

I’ve defused bombs several times during AMorph gameplay, but if it’s a type of bomb I’m not familiar with, it will take time. I’ve already caught Siheyon, and I don’t want to risk my life on another adventure.

There’s no more time to think. Even now, the clock embedded in the bomb continues to tick, racing toward destruction.

I made my decision.

‘Let’s abandon the ship.’

It’s a shame about the cyborg in the situation room and the boss’s genes that I haven’t eaten, but they’re not worth risking my life for. The genes of Siheyon Yujin here are overwhelmingly better anyway, and I’ll have plenty of opportunities to eat cyborgs in the future.

The escape vessel is docked at the runway. The runway is located on the opposite side of the reactor, and it takes 5 minutes to get there through the corridors because they’re so complex.

It’s already too late to activate the escape vessel at the runway, but I know a faster way to get there.

‘I’ll have to use that.’

I ran to the nest in the cooling room with No. 26 in my arms.

Upon arriving at the cooling room, I picked up a plasma launcher that was standing in the corner.

“Sparkly sparkly!”

[Zz zzzzzz(Yes, it’s sparkly)]

No. 26 changed his body color to green to match the energy ammunition color of the plasma launcher. He didn’t understand the concept of a plasma launcher, but he seemed to remember that people exploded whenever the green light flashed.

Plasma launcher.

It looks similar to the ultimate weapon in classic FPS games, but it’s over 1m long and weighs more than 50kg. Of course, it’s impossible for an ordinary person to fire it by hand, so it has a mount, but I don’t need that, so I’m using it without the mount.

‘Of course, I don’t intend to shoot at people right now.’

I took the launcher into the corridor and aimed at the part closest to the outer wall.

“Charging 10…20…50…80…100%”

As I operated the terminal on the launcher, it began charging energy. No. 26, who was watching from the side, climbed onto my shoulder.

The launcher completed charging in just a few seconds. I pulled the trigger.

A massive recoil transferred to my arm, and a green beam erupted from the launcher’s muzzle. The energy beam that destroys everything pierced through not only the corridor wall but also the outer wall.

Like a vacuum cleaner sucking in air, the huge hole created in the ship pulled us in. I surrendered to that flow and was sucked out of the spaceship along with the air.

Before we drifted too far, I shot out a tentacle to grab the ship’s outer wall.

Though we were outside the ship, I knew well where the hangar was located.

I pulled on the tentacle to land on the ship and ran toward my target.

“Wow! This is exciting!”

No. 26 exclaimed in amazement at witnessing the endless night. We were on a ship that looked like a white paper floating in a black sea with no oxygen or gravity.

A six-legged beast with a woman’s corpse and a plasma launcher at its waist, and a pink balloon on its shoulder, running across the ship.

This surreal journey, like something one might imagine while high on drugs, didn’t last long.

In less than 2 minutes, I reached the hangar and activated the plasma launcher. The green beam easily melted through the thick outer wall as if it were a torch melting ice.

Before being thrown back by the recoil, I shot tentacles from both hands to anchor myself to the outer wall. Meanwhile, the plasma launcher, having completed its mission, flew off into space.

‘Thanks for your service.’

It was a powerful weapon, but I wasn’t particularly sorry to lose it. There will be plenty of opportunities to get another one in the future. I crawled into the hole made by the launcher.

I could see the carrier-based aircraft and escape vessels docked in the hangar.

“Fun!”

Carrying No. 26, who seemed to enjoy the space jumping, I approached the escape vessel. Someone had tried to board it, as the door was open.

‘Well, that saves me the trouble.’

[Zzzz zzzzzz(Hold onto something)]

“Okay okay.”

The interior facilities were luxurious, perhaps because it was an escape vessel for high-ranking officers or leadership. Leaving No. 26 to admire the lavish decorations, I sat in the pilot’s seat.

‘Let’s see.’

I’ve piloted Megacorp small spacecraft a few times. Fortunately, the escape vessel’s control method was fairly straightforward.

‘Except that it’s uncomfortable to sit because of my tail.’

I destroyed the uncomfortable seat and pressed the switches on the instrument panel to complete the adjustments for operation. The hangar door opened, and lights came on along the runway.

‘Well then, let’s go.’

As I pulled the control stick, the escape vessel shot forward. The view through the reinforced glass changed from cold metal walls to a black paper dotted with colorful rainbow stars.

The research vessel where I first set foot in this world.

Farewell to the foundation of my growth and evolution.

–

“F-fuck, I thought I was going to die.”

Elchen shuddered as he recalled what had just happened in the reactor.

When he finally arrived at the reactor with his body still partially paralyzed, the timer had exactly 2 minutes left. He managed to defuse it with just 5 seconds to spare before the explosion. If he had been even a little later, he would have been blown up by the bomb he himself had set.

‘Those damn monsters…’

On his way here, Elchen thought for the first time in his life that a ship could scream. The steel vessel over 200m in diameter was being destroyed by two small beings less than 1/100th its size.

Though Elchen had never considered himself weak in his life, those two were exceptions.

That’s why he gave up on killing them directly. Of course, being notorious even among the cruel Space Dogs, he had no intention of leaving them be.

“Kuk kuk, fucking bastards, die together.”

He set the bomb to automatic detonation mode and reset the timer to 10 minutes. When he escaped on the escape vessel, those monsters would become ghosts of space along with the ship.

That was what he had thought 5 minutes ago.

He had almost reached the hangar.

‘Damn it. My legs have regained feeling, but my eyes…’

Being an enhanced Hulk Mutant, he had already detoxified all the poison, but the problem was his destroyed heart. The destruction of his auxiliary heart had also affected his brain, severely damaging his senses, especially his vision.

In particular, his vision was strangely damaged, putting him in a state of extreme farsightedness. He almost triggered the bomb because he couldn’t see, even though he only needed to press a few specific buttons.

Anyway, with time running out, he walked briskly. The monsters who had been fighting noisily until just now were quiet. One of them must have been defeated.

‘Whoever died, the remaining bastard won’t be safe either.’

He thought he heard the sound of wind in space, but he dismissed it as his imagination and continued walking. As he walked, he heard footsteps.

‘Huh?’

He thought it might be one of his subordinates, but what appeared at the end of the corridor was someone he hadn’t expected at all.

“Eek! P-pirate?!”

“Oh? It’s the captain!”

Surprisingly, it was the ship’s captain, Eusung Samuel.

Elchen was taken aback when the captain suddenly appeared, having thought he had escaped long ago.

Eusung’s appearance was quite different from what Elchen had heard from Marneul. His hair was disheveled, and there were dark circles under his eyes. Moreover, he smelled strongly of alcohol, as if he had been drinking.

Seeing his miserable state, Elchen narrowed his eyes, understanding roughly what had happened.

‘He was probably going to escape on the escape vessel, but he couldn’t bear to abandon the ship, so he hid.’

There’s no one in the upper echelons of Megacorp who isn’t greedy. This tendency gets worse the closer one gets to Noble Capital. The Samuel family is Third Capital, the third highest tier in Megacorp. It made sense that he would prioritize money over life.

‘He probably came out to check when the ship quieted down.’

Eusung had no idea that Elchen was reading his thoughts so clearly. Trembling before the intimidating Elchen, he pulled out a small object from his chest.

Realizing it was a gun, Elchen snorted.

“Ha. You’re going to shoot me with that?”

“D-don’t come any closer! This is a plasma pistol!”

“Hey. Before you talk about plasma or whatever, why don’t you release the safety first?”

“Uh, what? Ah, safety?”

When the confused Eusung turned the muzzle to check, Elchen rushed at him. Struck by Elchen’s large frame, Eusung helplessly dropped the pistol.

“Ha, making people scared. You idiot, plasma pistols don’t have safety catches.”

Eusung’s face filled with despair as he realized he had been bluffed by the pirate.

Elchen picked up the pistol, mocking him. The fall had made the existing crack more prominent, but he didn’t notice due to his farsightedness.

“If I had more time, I’d skin you alive, but I’m in a hurry right now.”

“Eek! P-please spare me! I-I’ll become your subordinate if you want!”

“No need. Well, goodbye.”

When he pulled the trigger, the pistol emitted a green light.

If Elchen’s heart hadn’t been destroyed, he would have noticed there was a problem with the pistol. Even if he had just gone straight to the hangar without trying to kill Eusung, he would have been safe.

Arrogance and cruelty.

Because of his flaws, he made the wrong choice twice in a row.

The plasma pistol, being an extremely lightweight version of the powerful plasma weapon, didn’t have great durability. It had already cracked once when dropped by the monster, and the additional impact had pushed it beyond its limit.

As a result, the plasma energy charged in the pistol exploded before it could pass through the muzzle.

Elchen’s remains, with his entire upper body blown away, collapsed to the floor.

–

Eusung stared blankly at the pirate’s corpse. His face gradually contorted. Then he laughed like a madman.

“Huh? Ha, haha, hahahaha!”

He thought that his judgment had been correct after all.

Eusung had not abandoned the ship at all. He had planned to escape on the escape vessel while the soldiers bought time. But once he boarded the escape vessel, regret took over.

This research vessel is by no means cheap. While it’s worth less than a life, he thought that maybe if he waited a little longer, things would be okay.

‘The soldiers might succeed in killing the monster. Or another passing ship might come to help.’

In truth, Eusung was out of his mind with fear, but as usual, the insane think they are sane. He thought he was making an extremely rational decision.

Anyway, after sending the soldiers to their deaths, he waited, depleting the alcohol stored in the escape vessel. He held onto the vain belief that someone would save them.

And then a miracle happened. The screams and vibrations inside the ship stopped.

After debating whether to go out or not, he finally made up his mind and stepped outside.

And finally, Eusung Samuel survived.

He survived both the monster attack and the pirate attack.

Eusung, the eldest son of the Samuel family, descendants of the Titans, felt his heart swell as he spread his arms wide.

“I am invincible!”

With those words, a white light that started from the reactor enveloped his body.

–

‘Oops.’

“Waaah! Baby!”

[Zzzz(Calm down)]

The reactor must have finally exploded, as a tremendous shockwave rocked the escape vessel. Following the warning sounds of the escape vessel, I adjusted the control devices.

My efforts seemed to work as the warning sounds subsided and the escape vessel regained stability.

[Zzzz(Are you okay?)]

Looking back, I saw that No. 26 had fainted, probably from hitting the wall. Since there was no danger to his life, I placed him on a bed inside the escape vessel.

‘What’s this? Did someone drink here?’

I kicked away the bottles rolling on the floor and tidied up the interior of the escape vessel.

I need to clean the surroundings to have the meal I’ve been postponing until now.

Siheyon Yujin’s corpse was tucked away in the corner. Finally, it’s time to eat it.

I set the escape vessel to autopilot and took out her corpse.

Then I tore off her luscious leg and took a big bite.

‘….’

I’ve eaten hundreds of creatures so far. So I know roughly what kind of creature gives a delicious feeling.

The most delicious creature I’ve eaten so far was Kisaragi Yujin. She tasted like a refined and well-calculated high-end Korean meal.

It’s probably due to gene modification. I thought Siheyon Yujin would be similar.

But I was mistaken.

I can declare that Siheyon Yujin’s taste is excellent enough to be among the top-tier creatures I’ve eaten or will eat.

‘…Maybe I should visit Earth sometime.’

I originally planned to go to the Megacorp capital much later, but after eating Siheyon Yujin’s meat, my resolve is wavering.

I shook my head and took another bite.

It was strange. Usually, the first bite tastes the best, but with her, it was the opposite. The more I ate, the more I chewed, the more savory it became.

Here, there’s only me and the unconscious No. 26. No one to interrupt my meal. I savored her meat leisurely, like enjoying a high-end French course meal.

As the seemingly eternal happiness was coming to an end, a translucent text window announced the end of the feast.

“Predation effect activated! Successfully acquired gene essence ‘Gallergorn’s Claw’.”

“Stole biological trait ‘Gallergorn’s Claw’ from ‘Siheyon Yujin’.”

“Would you like to apply ‘Gallergorn’s Claw’?”

“Predation effect activated! Successfully acquired gene essence ‘Camouflage Skin’.”

“Stole biological trait ‘Camouflage Skin’ from ‘Siheyon Yujin’.”

“Would you like to apply ‘Camouflage Skin’?”

“Predation effect activated! Successfully acquired gene essence ‘X-ray Vision’.”

“Stole biological trait ‘X-ray Vision’ from ‘Siheyon Yujin’.”

“Would you like to apply ‘X-ray Vision’?”