Ch.422Star of Terror (1)

The boss of the Shinoroku Cartel, Common, hadn’t been able to sleep properly for months.

A cyborg with insomnia. It was an unfunny joke, but it was true.

It all began the day his ship was replaced with a Megacorp mining vessel.

A few months ago. While traveling his usual route, he happened to discover a passing mining vessel.

His joy at the prospect of earning some credits was short-lived, as a monster appeared soon after and ruined everything.

The monster destroyed the pirate ship, implanted something in the heads of the survivors including him, and left.

At the time, he thought he was fortunate to be alive, but that was a mistake.

The “something” in his head began causing periodic pain. The agony struck without warning, making normal daily life nearly impossible.

If he tried to remove the “something” or tell anyone about it, even greater pain would follow. As if warning him not to even dream of it.

Since encountering the monster, Common’s life rapidly deteriorated. He was merely surviving, trapped in a prison within his own body.

He could endure it because he was a cyborg, but others couldn’t. Everyone else went mad and ended their lives by jumping into space.

Was each day so hellish that even receiving a summons from the Shino Group’s leader brought him no joy?

Until now, operations planned directly by the leader had always brought great profits. This one would too, but Common couldn’t be happy about it. Credits couldn’t heal his pain.

Of course, defying the leader’s call was unthinkable. Immediately after receiving the contact, the Shinoroku Cartel mobilized.

Today marked one week since Common had joined the Shino Group’s fleet.

“Boss, we’ll arrive in 10 minutes.”

“…”

“Boss?”

Common, who had been closing his eyes, regained his senses upon hearing someone calling him.

“We’ll arrive at our destination in 10 minutes.”

“Destination?”

Common opened his eyes and looked around. He saw pirates in reinforced suits sitting in rows inside a large transport ship.

Only then did he realize what he had been doing.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah, yeah. I was just thinking about something.”

“Pardon?”

“I understand. Tell everyone to prepare to move out as soon as we land.”

“Yes, sir.”

Dozens of minutes earlier, the boss of the Shinoichi Cartel had ordered him to repair a terraforming facility managing the standby status on AG-01.

He had been traveling on a transport ship with his subordinates when he dozed off.

‘I took a nap?’

Until coming here, he hadn’t been able to sleep comfortably. It was because of that damn intruder in his head.

But after landing on this planet, his headache completely disappeared.

The “something” hadn’t died or left. For some reason, it had ceased activity after landing on AG-01. Otherwise, he couldn’t have fallen into such deep sleep.

‘Shit, I don’t care about the reason.’

Now was his chance while the “something” was behaving. He needed to remove it as soon as this job was finished.

He’d heard this planet was once a Hulk Mutant testing ground. If so, there should be advanced surgical equipment. The Shinoni deputy boss who arrived earlier would have the answers he needed.

“What should we do?”

‘Huh?’

The mechanically tinged voice of his subordinate woke him again.

‘What?’

When he came to his senses, helmeted pirates stood before him. The space he was in was no longer the transport ship.

Water pooled on the floor, darkness so complete that only the headlights on the pirates’ helmets provided illumination, and the sound of fierce wind from outside.

They were inside the damaged terraforming facility.

‘When did I get here?’

As he questioned himself, what had just happened slowly came back to him.

The transport ship had safely landed in front of the terraforming facility despite the harsh weather. The Shinoroku members rushed inside the facility immediately after disembarking.

During the process, one subordinate was unfortunately struck by lightning and vaporized, but the rest safely entered the first floor of the facility.

These were all intense memories that no one could easily forget. They weren’t from long ago, but had just happened.

Forgetting them was definitely not normal.

“Where should we start repairs?”

“…”

“Boss?”

“Are you alright?”

But he couldn’t give up now.

If he returned without completing the mission, he would not only fail to extract the entity in his head but would also face reprimand from the Shinoichi boss.

If that thing reported this incident to the Shino Group’s leader, the situation would worsen. With bad luck, the Shinoroku Cartel might even be expelled from the group.

‘That absolutely cannot happen!’

To extract the “something,” he must complete the repairs at all costs.

“You guys, go down to the basement and check if the operating facility is intact.”

“Yes, sir!”

“The rest of us will go to the control room upstairs.”

The pirates who received the orders moved quickly. The lights from their helmet attachments rapidly receded. Common and the remaining subordinates ran up the stairs.

The staircase was pitch black, impossible to see even a step ahead. Even with headlights, everything appeared black, making it difficult to distinguish the stairs.

Combined with the sound of wind from outside the building, the atmosphere was extremely eerie.

Even the most conscienceless criminal can feel fear. This damp space stimulated primal terror in living beings. The backs of the pirates climbing the stairs quickly became damp with cold sweat.

‘…Damn it.’

Common was equally anxious. Especially due to his consecutive memory losses.

The seemingly endless staircase and the pitch-black darkness beyond it felt like they would devour his mind.

“Boss.”

“!”

He was startled by his subordinate’s voice inside his helmet.

“Boss, it looks like traces of a bomb explosion.”

“…I see.”

He feared he had lost consciousness again, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case this time.

Looking in the direction his subordinate pointed, he saw that part of the staircase leading to the upper floor and the outer wall of the building had collapsed. Judging by the traces, it seemed to have been forcibly torn away by some powerful force.

“Hey. What’s on this floor?”

“Uh, there’s only staff lounges on this floor and the ones above and below.”

He’d heard that the problem here was caused by a separatist ambush. If they wanted to bomb the place, it would be more rational to target the important facilities or the terraforming equipment directly. There was no reason to target a place like this.

‘It’s probably none of our business.’

His job was to make this facility operational again. Just as he was about to move on, someone whispered in Common’s ear.

‘Come here.’

‘!’

Startled, he turned around.

“Who just spoke?”

“What’s wrong, sir?”

“Who just talked to me?”

“Pardon?”

“We didn’t say anything.”

Only his subordinates were on the middle of the staircase. Looking down, he couldn’t see the owner of the voice.

“What the…”

‘This way’

The voice again. Common jerked his head to look upward.

“Over there! Someone’s up there!”

“What?”

“Boss?”

“You idiots! Hurry up!”

Though confused, the pirates followed his orders. With enhanced physical abilities, they jumped over the collapsed stairs and climbed to the upper floor. Common also followed his subordinates into the corridor of the upper floor.

“Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

“There’s an intruder besides us.”

Everyone tensed at the mention of an intruder.

This building had been empty since the separatists’ terror attack. There was only one type of person who would sneak into such a dangerous place.

“…Weren’t those crazy bastards all dead?”

“Those damn Shinoni. Are they making us clean up after them?”

The pirates cursed as they searched the rooms connected to the corridor.

This building is filled with equipment and machinery for climate and environmental control. The space that facility managers can use privately is extremely limited. Even the break facilities are few in number.

But there was no trace of intruders in those few spaces.

“There’s nothing here.”

“No, there’s still one place left.”

“What?”

Common pointed to the end of the corridor. There was a large, firmly closed elevator door.

“They could be hiding in there.”

“Even so, that’s a bit…”

“Do it or die.”

“Yes, sir.”

Seeing their boss aiming a plasma rifle at them, the pirates immediately walked toward the elevator.

“Open it.”

Personnel with plasma cutters stepped forward and began opening the closed elevator doors. The green light briefly illuminated the dark corridor, and the thick metal doors opened with a noise.

The pirate at the front checked inside the empty elevator shaft.

“I don’t see anything.”

“Did you check properly?”

“Yes. Looking again… Wait, I see something!”

The subordinate who was forcibly looking down the shaft seemed to have discovered something and leaned his waist further inside.

“What is that…”

Suddenly, something large sprang out from inside.

A pathologically white hand. Larger than the elevator itself, it grabbed the pirate and disappeared down the shaft.

“Huh?”

“What was that just now?”

The other pirates who had been watching blankly gradually realized what had happened. That a non-human entity had snatched their comrade.

“M-monster!”

“Shit! I can’t contact anyone!”

“Boss! What should we do?!”

Screams mixed with fear came through the speakers in their helmets. Common also hurried to give orders.

‘You’ve come’

If only it weren’t for the command in his head.

“Why again… ugh?!”

When he came to his senses, he had unknowingly dropped the plasma rifle he was holding.

The corridor that had been fine until just now had instantly become ruins. The walls and ceiling showed melted traces from plasma, and the floor was littered with corpses with limbs torn off.

“N-no! I didn’t do this…”

‘Come here’

Somehow he was now inside the elevator. He could see the floor numbers on the indicator changing rapidly.

“S-stop it!”

“Ding. Basement floor 4. Doors opening.”

With a cheerful alarm, the elevator doors opened. Regardless of his will, his body moved outside on its own.

‘This way’

His uncontrolled hand removed the helmet from his head. Dense humidity and a foul smell that was hard to believe was inside a terraforming facility enveloped his face.

The owner of the white hand was waiting for Common there.

“F-fuck! This is my body! No one can control me!”

The elevator doors begin to close. The light fades with it.

It wasn’t hard to predict what would happen when that light went out. Common muttered frantically.

“This is my body! This is my body! This is my body! This is my body!”

“It’s been a while.”

The pale being in front of him whispers.

Or more precisely, it’s whispering to the “something” inside his head.

“This is my body. This is my bod…”

The doors closed. The cyborg’s voice also went silent.