Ch.377Swamp (3)

“Did you hear that just now?”

“What?”

“I think I heard a scream from outside.”

“What nonsense. It’s completely quiet.”

Heavy footsteps and voices echoed through the silent ship corridor. These were pirates who had entered to seize the ship under Sechan’s orders.

“By the way, is there no one on this ship?”

“The life support systems and cameras are working, which means someone is maintaining them.”

One pirate pointed at the wall. Perhaps because it was a Cult ship, the corridor was filled with geometric patterns. Among the numerous patterns, only the part the pirate pointed to was faintly glowing. It meant the surveillance camera in the corridor was operational.

“So it’s recording us? But why isn’t anyone doing anything?”

“We’ll have to check the control room to find out.”

Since infiltrating the ship, they hadn’t encountered any living beings. Checking the computer in the control room would quickly reveal where the survivors had gone.

The six pirates began moving again. The dull metallic sounds from their footsteps broke the silence of the corridor.

“This ship will soon be ours, right?”

“You know the captain’s personality. He’ll most likely sell it to other pirates.”

“Tsk, that’s a shame. Cult ships are sexy and well-built. Though their performance is poor.”

“The new warship that House Egerton showcased in this civil war is how—”

While chatting and moving, the pirate at the front suddenly raised his right arm. At the signal to stop, all pirates stood in place.

“Did you hear that?”

“Damn, what now?”

The veteran pirate expressed irritation at another false alarm. But the lead pirate showed a different reaction this time.

“Please listen for a moment!”

“I don’t hear anything, what are you—”

The complaining veteran pirate fell silent. Because he really did hear something.

All six closed their mouths and listened carefully.

At first, they thought it was the sound of wind blowing outside the ship. The sound of the intense hot wind sweeping across the entire planet.

But it wasn’t. That thin but clear sound was something much more eerie.

“…This is insane.”

It was the sound of a baby crying.

“Was I right about what I heard?”

“Shit, why is there a baby’s cry here…”

The pirates of the Hamilton Cartel were veterans who had participated in numerous battles. Naturally, they had seen all kinds of horrific sights.

But hearing a baby’s cry in an empty ship corridor was a first.

“…There’s no way a baby could be here. Someone must be playing a recording.”

“Is, is that so?”

“So we need to catch the crazy pervert who’s doing this first.”

At the veteran pirate’s words, the other five barely calmed down and nodded.

The pirates walked toward the source of the sound, extremely tense.

The corridor they had just praised as beautiful now felt eerie. The chaotically intertwined patterns on the ceiling and walls, the noise that echoed with each step, and the baby’s voice. Everything felt ominous.

They passed through several sections without encountering anyone. They were clearly moving toward the direction of the voice, but it still sounded the same.

Moreover, the pitch and pronunciation of the crying changed each time, so no matter how much they listened, it didn’t feel like a recording.

That voice was not recorded.

Everyone had the same thought, but no one dared to say it out loud.

The strange journey ended soon. A door engraved with luxurious patterns blocked their way.

“This is the end.”

“The dining hall?”

“Whatever’s making that sound is probably inside. Open it.”

“Yes, sir.”

The pirate at the front connected the mechanical device on his forearm to the terminal next to the door. While preparing to hack the door open, voices were heard from inside again.

“Are you okay?”

“Save me… I don’t want to die.”

“Hello.”

“I’m hungry, let’s eat.”

Besides the child’s crying, the voices of men, women, elderly—various human voices—were clearly heard. Calculating just from the voices, there were at least 10 people inside.

“So that’s where everyone went.”

“Shit, they’re all dead.”

Finally reassured, the pirates were fired up. Their bodies, damp with cold sweat, heated up with anticipation for the coming kill.

Eventually, the dining hall door opened. The six jumped in with their Gauss rifles pointed forward.

The interior of the dining hall was not intact. Most tables were overturned, and the lights attached throughout were flickering in a broken state.

“Shoot anything you see immediately.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Wow, really?”

“Come quickly.”

“Hey, you there. Got a cigarette to spare?”

“Are you okay?”

The owners of the voices were still conversing peacefully.

They seemed completely unaware of the great danger they were in.

The pirates moved in unison under the frantically flickering lights. Passing the fallen tables, they reached the freezer in the kitchen.

“I’m starving.”

“Here. Over here.”

“What is this?”

“Hahaha!”

“Get ready.”

While five aimed their guns, the pirate at the front grabbed the door handle. Then he opened the door wide.

“What? There’s nothing here!”

The darkened freezer was completely empty. There were no food ingredients, let alone people.

“Hey! Above your head!”

Just as the pirate who opened the door was bewildered, the veteran pirate behind urgently shouted. Before he could react, something pink wrapped around his upper body.

“Huh?”

With that short utterance, the pirate’s body disappeared into the darkness. And tentacles identical to what they had just seen shot out from the freezer.

“Wh-what is that?!”

“Everyone, open fi—ARGH?!”

“S-save me! *crack*”

“AAAAH… *static*”

The panicked pirates tried to open fire, but the tentacles were faster. Tentacles as thick as an adult man’s thigh grabbed the pirates one by one and dragged them into the freezer.

“F-fuck!”

While his comrades were being taken, the veteran pirate quickly escaped from the kitchen and ran toward the wide-open dining hall door.

Those who were on this ship must have all fallen victim to that monster. He had to relay this information to everyone.

Just as he was about to leave the dining hall with that thought, his two legs stopped.

“Wh-what the hell?! Why can’t I move?!”

No matter how much strength he put into his legs, they wouldn’t move. Not just his legs, but his entire body had stiffened like stone.

As he struggled to break free from the unknown force, familiar voices reached his ears.

“We’ll have to check the control room to find out.”

“This ship will soon be ours, right?”

“Where are you going?”

“Wh-what is that?”

“S-save me.”

The veteran pirate realized that his own voice was included among the many chattering voices. Not only his, but also the voices of his comrades.

The entity that had bound him with an invisible force slowly approached from behind. Pink tentacles wrapped around his arms and legs.

In the face of such an overwhelming presence, there was only one thing he could do.

“Got you.”

It was silence.

–

“No records?”

“Yes. It’s as if someone came and erased everything—there are no records left.”

“What about communication logs? We sent a transmission just 20 minutes ago.”

“I checked, and those are completely gone too.”

Having headed straight to the control room after infiltrating the ship, Sechan couldn’t help but be bewildered by the unexpected situation.

‘What’s going on here?’

There wasn’t a single person to be seen on the ship, yet communication records from just tens of minutes ago had been deleted. He couldn’t understand what Client S was thinking.

‘A trap? If so, they should have attacked by now.’

“Who’s there!”

Just then, one of his subordinates shouted loudly. Sechan and the other pirates reacted by urgently raising their weapons.

“I saw a shadow moving in the corridor.”

“So there are people. Let’s pursue them.”

There was nothing more to gain from the control room. Sechan and the pirates exited. As his subordinate had said, they could see a person with disheveled hair fleeing.

“Capture them alive, don’t kill them.”

“Yes, sir!”

With all of them currently wearing enhancement suits, capturing an unarmed survivor would be very easy.

Shortly after, the fugitive knelt before Sechan.

“There’s no use running. As you know, the atmosphere here isn’t something you can survive in without protection.”

“……”

“Where are all your comrades?”

“……”

The fugitive didn’t respond to Sechan’s words. He just stared blankly at his face.

Then a pirate behind him stomped on the fugitive’s thigh.

“Urgh?!”

“Answer when you’re spoken to, you bastard!”

“Enough.”

As the target writhed in pain, Sechan stopped his subordinate just before the leg would break. When the subordinate removed his foot, the fugitive sighed in relief.

“I’ll ask one last time. Where are your comrades and superiors?”

“A-are you the leader of these men?”

“My name is Sechan Hamilton, leader of the Hamilton Cartel who came to trade with you.”

The fugitive’s eyes widened at his words.

“Are you really Sechan?”

“Yes.”

“…The one I serve is below. Please follow me.”

After saying that, the fugitive staggered to his feet. When a subordinate tried to restrain him, Sechan raised his hand to stop him.

The fugitive’s appearance revealed the condition of those hiding on this ship.

Blackened clothes, a haggard face, and an emaciated body—these couldn’t be artificially created. Client S and his group must be in a situation where they were on the verge of death.

To survive, they would need the Hamilton Cartel’s help, whether they liked it or not.

“We’ll follow him.”

Sechan and his group moved under the fugitive’s guidance.

Limping as he walked, the fugitive stopped in front of the cargo hold. When he opened the door, a deep darkness without a single point of light greeted the visitors.

“Is he in there?”

“No. He is below.”

“Below?”

The fugitive didn’t answer and walked in. The pirates activated their infrared vision and followed.

“?!”

“Captain, this is…?”

As soon as they entered, the pirates immediately realized that the cargo hold was not normal.

Strange slime covered everything—the cargo, containers, ceiling, and walls. And except for the area near the entrance, the rest of the floor had disappeared. In place of the ship’s floor was a large pit.

The pit, which appeared to be made of the same material as the slime covering everything, was so deep that its bottom couldn’t be seen.

“What is all this?”

“It’s the creation of the one I serve.”

“You keep saying ‘the one you serve’—is it Salman?”

“If you want to know his name, please ask him directly.”

“What?”

Just as Sechan asked again, the space they were standing in shook violently.

It wasn’t an earthquake. Something enormous was moving inside the pit.

Something terrifying beyond his imagination was happening on this planet.

‘This situation isn’t normal!’

Feeling a chill down his spine, Sechan urgently connected his communication device.

“Vice Captain! This is Sechan! Come here immediately…”

“Cap-tain, *static*, monster, *static*, invaded the ship, *static*, we’re all dead, *static*, AAAAHH!”

“Vice Captain? Vice Captain! Damn it!”

“Captain, I can’t contact the others either!”

The subordinates who had also tried to contact their comrades shouted with trembling voices. Sechan gritted his teeth and grabbed the fugitive by the collar.

“You goddamn bastard! What the hell have you done?!”

“I serve a great one. He desires your wisdom.”

“You madman!”

Sechan struck the fugitive hard with his fist. Due to the enhanced punch, the target’s face was completely crushed. The corpse with the shattered face staggered and fell into the pit.

‘We need to get out of here immediately!’

There were still subordinates who had gone to search other ships, but there was no time to gather them. If something happened to their ship, that would truly be the end. They needed to return to the transport ship as quickly as possible.

“We’re leaving immediately for the transport ship!”

Sechan ordered, but his subordinates didn’t move. They were staring blankly in his direction.

“What’s wrong with you guys? Snap out of it!”

“C-Captain. Behind you…”

“What?”

His subordinate pointed behind him with a trembling hand.

When Sechan turned around, he understood why his subordinates couldn’t move.

Behind him was ‘it’—something of enormous size.

“Grrrrr”

“……”

The entity that extended its long neck from the pit casually swallowed the corpse that had just fallen. Even after witnessing this, Sechan and the pirates couldn’t move a muscle.

No matter how much they modified their genes, no matter how powerful their weapons and enhancement suits were, they couldn’t defeat the entity before them. Just as the human body, no matter how strong, cannot walk on the surface of a star.

The same applied to the entity before them. ‘It’ was something far beyond human comprehension.

“So you’re the carrier.”

The voice of the fugitive who had just died flowed from ‘its’ mouth.

“I hope what’s in your brain will be useful.”

Only then did Sechan understand what the fugitive meant before he died.

He would not die.

Realizing this, all he could do was gape and shed tears.