Ch.406Pursuit (3)

About 80% of humans living in AG-01 have no homes.

Most either hide in unmanaged facilities or barely survive on random streets.

In that sense, Jeff could be considered quite lucky.

Thanks to subsidies from Daily Mass and credits secured through drug deals here, he owns a home. His place is in an apartment located on the outskirts of AG-01’s old commercial city.

A bleak room without any decorations. A small hologram player was simultaneously displaying photos, videos, and other records.

Jeff carefully examined the materials rendered in hologram.

“An alliance between Sinoni and the separatists.”

In the hologram video, men in neat attire were shaking hands with scruffy-looking armed individuals. Among them, the neatly dressed men were members of the Sinoni Cartel.

Until now, the separatist forces’ biggest ally had been the Star Union. Those tin cans who hated Megacorp secretly provided weapons to the separatists. Without that support, they would have been eliminated long ago by the T&C fleet remaining in the star system.

‘I expected them to find new support, but the Sino Group?’

Recently, Megacorp and the Star Union have been going through peace negotiation procedures. Naturally, the amount of weapons sent by the cyborgs has been decreasing.

The separatist forces had been losing ground because of this, but now it seemed they had found a new partner.

‘Other pirates might have overlooked this, but…’

If it’s the Sinoni Cartel of the Sino Group, that’s a different story.

As far as Jeff knew, the Sino Group had been active for less than a year. In that short time, they had grown into a massive cartel, competing for first or second place among Space Dog cartels.

However, very little is known about their actual identity. Who organized the group, where their base is located—all of this remains veiled in secrecy. Even their own members rarely know anything about the group as a whole, only about the cartel they belong to.

Those interested in pirates all speculate that the Sino Group must have received support from someone.

And now, if Jeff reveals that the Sino Group is connected to the separatist forces of Jer-11? The name Jeff would be forever remembered in Megacorp media.

Just imagining it was exciting, but there was no need to get worked up yet.

Jeff turned his gaze from the hologram to the window. The sound of rain pouring like a waterfall against the thick window calmed his mood.

‘The question is what those terrorist bastards offered as bait.’

He thought while listening to the rain.

To write an article, the cause-and-effect relationship must be clear. If he just threw something together like those common idiot journalists, it would end up being treated as mere gossip.

What did the separatist forces promise to the Sinoni Cartel? This question needed an answer.

‘All the separatists can offer is people.’

The easiest thing to obtain in AG-01 is none other than humans. People are everywhere you go.

However, there are better places to kidnap people. Like Volf native villages in Cult territory, or Megacorp colonies, and so on. There’s no reason to come here specifically.

‘If not humans…’

He operated his terminal to move to the next footage.

What came up next was a photo.

The photo showed a large shadow reflected on hazy fog. It was taken by a vagrant living in the sewage treatment plant.

“It might be related to this creature.”

Jeff had received this photo from a drug dealer informant yesterday. When he first received it, the condition of the photo was terrible, but thanks to various correction programs, he managed to get the current result.

Looking at the photo, he frowned.

“No matter how I look at it, it’s not a Gallergorn.”

Jeff had never seen an actual Gallergorn. Instead, he had heard eyewitness accounts several times. So he knew roughly what they looked like. The owner of this shadow didn’t resemble a Gallergorn at all.

“And this must be the head, right?”

Jeff used the terminal connected to the hologram to enlarge a certain part of the photo.

Above what appeared to be wings were three elongated shadows protruding. If those were heads, it meant the owner of the shadow had a total of three heads. It was clearly far from a normal creature.

“Three heads? Unless it’s a Hulk Mutant… Wait a minute.”

At that moment, Jeff felt the sensation of puzzle pieces coming together in his mind.

‘Originally, this place was meant for creating Hulk Mutants.’

Jer-11, which is commonly known only as a human resource production site. But Jeff knew about its secret.

Originally, the three colonies in Jer-11, including AG-01, were all biological weapon testing grounds. They were places set up by T&C to develop Hulk Mutants secretly from House Yugin.

But the secret project was canceled midway due to the sudden emergence of the separatist movement.

Jeff had been able to access materials left by researchers at the time of the project’s termination by bribing a soldier from the security team. The researchers took only important experimental data and left the test subjects and samples behind.

‘The security team is managing it, but they’re not in good shape either.’

They’re not receiving proper support from T&C, to the point of hiring pirates as mercenaries. It wouldn’t be strange at all if a Hulk Mutant test subject secretly escaped.

‘The separatists must have drawn in the Sinoni Cartel with Hulk Mutants as compensation.’

Perhaps going even further, the two forces might be planning to attack the laboratory where samples are stored. T&C’s defense forces are guarding the lab, but with the power of the Sino Group, it wouldn’t be difficult to break through.

After occupying the lab, the Sinoni Cartel would take the Hulk Mutant test subjects, and the separatists would take the genetic samples, and that would be it.

“I guess I need to meet the person who took this photo.”

Jeff operated his terminal to send a message to the drug dealer who had obtained the photo from the vagrant. He intended to meet directly with the vagrant who took the photo through him.

He sent a message offering drugs in exchange for meeting, so a reply should come right away. He only gave one pill when they met yesterday afternoon, so the dealer should be desperate by now.

After finishing the contact, he looked out the window. Water vapor caused by the relentless rain was enveloping the entire apartment.

Soon he wouldn’t have to see this sight anymore. Not that he would miss it at all.

With that thought, he looked down at his terminal again.

“What?”

The reply that should have come. It still hadn’t arrived.

‘Did he get drugs elsewhere? Why is there no answer?’

After waiting about 30 more minutes, there was still no reply.

“…This damn bug.”

Just when he was about to put the final puzzle piece in place, the drug dealer was being uncooperative like this. Jeff was annoyed.

After muttering a small curse, he began to get dressed. Since there was no contact from the drug dealer, he had no choice but to go to the sewage treatment plant and check for himself.

After gathering his terminal and laser pistol, he left home.

As he exited the apartment, fierce rain greeted him. Jeff flipped up his hood and stepped into the flooded street.

The sound of raindrops hitting his hood and the splashing sounds with each step stimulated his hearing. These were sounds he always heard when walking the streets, but Jeff felt a vague sense of discomfort.

Before long, he realized the nature of that discomfort.

‘Why is there no one around?’

The streets that were always packed with people were empty. It wasn’t just that they were sparse—there were no people at all.

Even the shops seemed to be devoid of people. The lights were on, but there was no sign of human presence.

“……”

In his two years of living here, this was the first time he’d seen such a situation. Jeff drew the pistol from his waist. Then, extremely tense, he entered a nearby store.

An outdated song played through the speakers. There were traces of people, but no actual customers or owners in sight.

“W-what is this?”

Jeff was horrified at the suspicious black liquid covering the store floor.

At first, he thought it might be backed-up sewage, but it wasn’t. Rather than water, it had a tar-like texture that would typically be found in factories. Not only did it look revolting, but the smell was also terrible. With each breath, it felt like glass shards were being embedded in his nose and throat.

Recognizing the danger of the liquid covering the store, he hurriedly ran outside.

‘What on earth is happening?’

If other stores on the street were in the same situation, this was no ordinary matter. It would require intervention from either the major cartels controlling the streets or T&C.

With that thought, as he came outside, Jeff froze in place.

The street that had been empty until he went in.

In the foggy view caused by water vapor, hundreds of black silhouettes had suddenly appeared.

Looking as if they had risen from the ground, they stood motionless in the rain that spread like a curtain.

Overwhelmed by the bizarre atmosphere, Jeff couldn’t move a finger.

The black silhouettes approached him as he stood immobilized. Strangely, though they walked through water, they made no sound.

And despite not being able to see clearly due to the water vapor, Jeff could feel that they were looking at him. The gazes sent by these unidentifiable beings were extremely ominous and chilling.

“D-damn it!”

Finally coming to his senses, Jeff fired his laser pistol at the “something” creeping closer. A red light bullet left the muzzle and hit one of the black silhouettes.

With a sound like a water-filled leather pouch bursting, the black silhouette’s head exploded.

A normal human would have collapsed, but the “something’s” reaction was completely different. From the torn neck area, worm-like things shot out and gathered into a head-like form.

The beings lurking in the white mist were not human.

‘I need to run!’

Realizing this fact, he forcibly put strength into his weakened legs and began to flee.

Jeff ran with all his might toward his home. There were no footsteps following him.

But he kept running. A sticky gaze could be felt on the back of his cold neck. “They” had not given up.

Having run to the apartment, he dashed up to his home in one breath. Panting, as he climbed the stairs, a familiar smell touched his nose. It was the foul smell he had encountered in the store earlier.

Climbing up almost on all fours, he entered his home and immediately closed the door.

As soon as he locked it, a strong impact hit the door. The door shook as if two or three adult men had rammed into it simultaneously.

After the door shook violently a few times, silence fell.

Even though the knocking had stopped, he couldn’t feel at ease. He could feel it, though he couldn’t see or hear it.

That “something” was standing and waiting behind that door.

‘I-I need help. Right now!’

Jeff, barely calming himself, took out his terminal. It was to call someone he had bribed in advance.

‘I can’t die here!’

For two years, he had rotted here for credits and honor. If he died here, everything he had done so far would end up as nothing but suffering.

But once again, his intention was not fulfilled. He tried to activate the communication function of the terminal, but there was no response from the device.

“Why is this…”

Just as he was about to shout at the unresponsive machine, Jeff felt a shock.

It wasn’t the impact that shook the door like before. What he felt was a subtle vibration transmitted through his toes.

“……”

Just now, he felt the vibration again. This time, the resonance was deeper than before.

Jeff slowly turned his head.

He could see the window covered with droplets. Another vibration. The gathered droplets fell in droves.

The scenery visible through the tracks left by the flowing water was no different from before he left home.

Except for one thing.

A black shadow was cast on the white curtain created by rain and water vapor. With vibrations that shook the room, no, the entire apartment, the black form writhed.

The moment he faced it, Jeff understood why the vagrant had called it a “dragon.”

He hadn’t meant to refer to a specific creature or entity.

What he wanted to express was an incomprehensible being.

The entity outside was neither a Gallergorn nor a Hulk Mutant.

Seeing the hand of the “dragon” approaching, Jeff covered his eyes with both hands.