Ch.42Apartment (1)

Port Security Criminal Investigation Team Leader William was currently in the residential district.

He came to visit a friend directly after receiving no reply to his messages for over a week.

‘He always kept in touch no matter how busy he was.’

When such a person went silent for over a week, it meant something was wrong.

William knocked on his friend’s door. After waiting for a while with no response, he took out a terminal device hidden in his pocket. It was hacking equipment confiscated from criminals by the security team, which he had secretly taken using his authority as team leader.

After connecting and operating the device, there was a clicking sound from the door. He opened the unlocked door and went inside.

William’s friend, true to his military background, had kept everything neat and tidy.

However, there was a stale dusty smell throughout the house, as if it hadn’t been opened for a long time. Looking around, it seemed like no one had been there for quite a while. The only sounds breaking the silence were the virtual TV from next door and his own footsteps.

His eyes caught a coffee cup on the dining table.

‘Coffee left unfinished.’

There were dried coffee stains inside the cup. Evidence that it had been left untouched for a long time in the dry room.

‘Something definitely happened.’

William was convinced of this and began searching. He thoroughly checked places where his friend might hide weapons, like inside closets and under the bed.

As a result, he confirmed that some weapons and equipment were missing.

‘Armed and went out, then disappeared or died.’

Before coming here, he had reviewed all reported violent incidents in the port district. None involved weapons of laser rifle caliber or higher.

This meant his friend had been eliminated secretly.

‘That man in pajamas’ organization.’

According to recent reports, the person meeting with Broker S had changed. It was clear they had noticed the police surveillance and were trying to evade it somehow.

William contacted a team member via communicator, then sat down and opened his laptop.

“It’s me. What were the results after sending it to the surveillance team?”

The police had diligently tracked Broker S and the mysterious man but ultimately failed to capture him on camera. As a team member mentioned during the meeting, the man was incredibly elusive.

In the end, they could only pass a composite sketch based on police officers’ recollections to the surveillance team, rather than an actual photo. Because of this, the surveillance team had to manually compare faces captured by city cameras with the composite sketch day and night.

“The new person is still being analyzed.”

“What about that pajama guy we first encountered?”

“That one’s already complete. We compared faces captured by cameras throughout the T&C Special Trade Center and narrowed it down to 20 similar subjects. I’ll send the relevant details right away.”

Shortly after, a message appeared on the laptop indicating that a file had arrived.

While reviewing the 20 profiles, he frowned.

“Commercial district worker? Nothing else on this person?”

“He has no criminal record.”

“He looks exactly like that guy! What about the store?”

“We contacted them, but they said he hasn’t shown up for quite a while. Since he was just a day laborer, they didn’t seem to care much about it.”

“…”

William wanted to ask why they hadn’t investigated further, but he didn’t.

In the T&C Special Trade Center, those with low capital were literally treated as parts, not humans. With so many people flowing into the city, employers didn’t care much about what happened to their employees.

His subordinate was also a member of this city. William knew well that scolding wouldn’t change anything.

‘A sick and rotten city.’

Not everyone in the Megacorp affirms this dysfunctional structure. Quite a few people leave for Star Union or Space Dog, disgusted by the disregard for human life that has permeated to the bottom of society.

William, also being ex-military, certainly didn’t like the fact that more people died in entertainment districts than on battlefields.

‘…No. I serve the Megacorp. My mission is to catch criminals who harm society.’

He shook his head to clear away these meaningless thoughts.

He gave instructions to his subordinate waiting for a response on the other end of the communicator.

“Send some guys to the store to investigate again, and re-examine all 19 others—their workplaces, residences, relationships, everything.”

“Yes sir!”

“Since I’m already in the residential district, I’ll check this one myself.”

“What? Wasn’t today your day off…?”

“What day off in our line of work? Anyway, good job.”

After ending the call, William closed his laptop.

Before leaving the house, he quietly bowed his head toward his friend, who was likely already dead.

‘I will avenge you.’

According to the records, the man in pajamas lived in an apartment near here.

After leaving his friend’s house, he headed to an apartment complex that was even more run-down than the previous one.

‘He lives on the third floor, right?’

Just as he climbed the stairs and entered the third-floor corridor, William felt something strange. Like his friend’s place, the apartments in the residential district weren’t particularly good living facilities. Built with cheap materials to reduce costs, they had many problems. Among these issues, soundproofing was especially terrible.

‘There’s no sound.’

Even though it was daytime, this level of silence was clearly abnormal.

As if no one lived on the entire third floor.

“…”

Tensing up, he drew his laser pistol. After taking a small breath, he knocked on the door of his destination.

There was no response. He knocked several more times, but no sound came from inside.

‘Out somewhere?’

Normally, he should have obtained a search warrant, but William didn’t. Waiting for a warrant might give the suspect time to escape, complicating matters.

Determined, he took out his hacking equipment again. After easily picking the lock and opening the door, William smelled something familiar.

‘The smell of blood!’

Having served in the military and criminal investigation team for a long time, he could easily recognize this pungent, nauseating odor.

Despite the smell, there was nothing visibly wrong inside the house. It was neatly organized, though not as meticulously as his friend’s place.

But William felt that this orderly home was like an artificial model created by a murderer to hide the crime scene.

‘Nothing here?’

The smell persisted, but there was no evidence. Just as he was considering whether to come back with a proper warrant, his eyes fell on the refrigerator.

As if entranced, he opened it.

“…!”

There was no corpse inside.

Instead, there were only distinct traces of dried blood.

William hurriedly left the house.

“It’s me! I’ve found the person connected to Broker S! The location is…”

With his urgent radio call, the Port Security Team finally mobilized.

–

“‘Juvenile->Subadult’ evolution conditions partially met.

Shapeshifting sentient beings 2/20 (not achieved), humanoid sentient beings 12/20 (not achieved), psychic power using sentient beings 0/20 (not achieved)”

“Predation effect activated! Successfully acquired ‘Beast Claws’ gene essence.”

“Stole ‘Beast Claws’ from Volf’s biological characteristics.”

“Apply ‘Beast Claws’?”

‘Oh?’

Lately, except when meeting with Sander, I’d been eating the residents of the apartment.

I just finished a meal in the last unit on the third floor, and the predation effect appeared after a long time.

Getting a trait at this point feels like the text box sent me a cake to celebrate.

‘Beast Claws, huh.’

As the name suggests, it enhances claws to help in close combat. There are no special additional effects, but like other enhancement traits of this type, it’s generally not considered bad.

‘This is good timing since I needed more physical traits.’

Currently, I have 10 physical-related traits after Contamination Nest was used as material for Parasitic Swarm. I need 13 to utilize the transcendence system, so I only need 2 more.

‘Apply.’

Upon acceptance, my combat arms transformed with a loud sound like bones colliding.

The razor-like nails on my four fingers grew thicker and longer until they became as large as hand scythes. They didn’t lose their sharpness though, seeming capable of slicing through human bodies like fruit.

After completing the mutation, a text box appeared before me like a report.

“Species: Unidentified Aggressive Space Morph

Status: Juvenile

Objective: Survive (2 successful evolutions).

Traits Possessed

① Physical-related (type applied): Wings, Chitinous Exoskeleton, Regeneration (fusion), Neurotoxin Gland (fusion), Monster Skeleton, Acidic Blood, Horn Reinforcement, Mimicry Organ (fusion), Serrated Tentacles, Spine Projectile Organ, Beast Claws

② Psychic-related: Predator Sense (fusion), Monster Tentacles (fusion), Humanity, X-ray Vision, Psychic Resistance

③ Infection-related: Parasitic Swarm (fusion)

Type: Physical Enhancement Type”

‘Good.’

Evolution was progressing smoothly.

I’m also gradually fulfilling the evolution conditions.

‘Lloyd and Lloyd’s boyfriend, 7 of the 9 bodyguards excluding the captain and Kate, plus the 3 humans I’ve eaten from the third floor these past few days makes 12 in total.’

I killed the neighbor and the bodyguard captain, but since I shared their corpses with No. 26, they didn’t count toward the evolution condition. So I’ve eaten a total of 12 humanoid species.

‘With Volf, that’s Kate plus today’s, making 2.’

There are many playable sentient shapeshifting species besides Volf, but I’m not sure if I can meet them in this space city. Volf is the most common, so I’ll probably fulfill the evolution condition with them.

‘If I eat all the Volf in this complex, I’ll fill more than half the requirement, and I can complete the human count just by clearing this apartment.’

Once other conditions are met, I’ll need to prepare to hunt Cult next.

Hunting Cult is currently my most important task as it’s tied to both acquiring the psychic enhancement type and evolution conditions.

‘Fortunately, I already have psychic-related traits like Monster Tentacles.’

According to the setting, Cult believe their species was chosen by the Great Will to freely use psychic powers. So they treat species that can’t use psychic powers like monkeys—they’re quite arrogant.

Of course, since psychic power is a very powerful ability, their arrogance isn’t necessarily wrong.

When fighting opponents other than me, that is.

‘If they’re careless when fighting me, that’s actually good for me.’

Their arrogance benefits me. They’ll underestimate my attack and get caught off guard.

‘Hunting Cult isn’t a problem, but the location is.’

The administrative district has the highest concentration of Cult, but attacking there without preparation isn’t easy. There are secret passages connected, but there are many cameras around the manholes, making it impossible to move secretly like in other districts.

‘The administrative district is too risky to attack before getting stronger, so I need to target other places first.’

Attacking the administrative district will have to wait until after I acquire the psychic enhancement type. Until then, my alternative is the commercial district.

While Cult don’t like the entertainment provided by Megacorp, they love artifacts and rare equipment, so they frequently visit the commercial district. Especially with many Cult visiting the city recently due to the board meeting, it shouldn’t be difficult to fulfill the evolution conditions.

‘Surveillance is strict, but still much better than the entertainment or administrative districts.’

The chance of getting caught increases, but there’s no choice.

‘Once the residential district is cleared, let’s set up a nest in the secret passage.’

The spores I spread in the secret passage before losing the contamination organ have grown considerably by now. If I additionally set up nests in the port district and residential district areas I frequent, I can monitor enemy movements without difficulty.

While planning my next steps, my auxiliary organ detected faint footsteps.

‘Huh?’

The third floor should be empty, so there shouldn’t be any footsteps.

Leaving the Volf’s house, I saw a man disappearing down the corridor. Instead of immediately chasing him, I focused my auxiliary organ’s senses on him.

“The location is C block, apartment 3! He’s not only connected to Broker S but also murdered armed bodyguards, so hurry with backup…”

Thanks to my superhuman senses, I could faintly hear what he was shouting into his communicator.

‘A police officer.’

From what he was saying, he seemed to be a police officer tracking Sander. I don’t know how he found out, but he also knew I had killed the bodyguards.

‘I was discovered earlier than expected.’

I was planning to fulfill the humanoid species evolution condition here, but that seems difficult now.

‘What should I do?’

There are two options.

Escape or fight.

‘No. Escaping now is difficult.’

Since he’s already requested backup, leaving the apartment won’t be easy.

Even if I manage to escape, getting caught using the secret passage during the escape would be an even bigger loss. The secret passage is my last resort, so it must not be discovered at any cost.

That leaves only one path.

‘Fight.’

I need to eat those who come in and look for an opportunity to escape.

Although they have overwhelming advantages in numbers and firepower, strength doesn’t always guarantee victory.

Seeing their colleagues brutally murdered will inevitably cause them to falter. When the enemies are in confusion will be my only chance to escape.

I woke up No. 26 and Adhigh Orr who were napping.

“Big one, what’s wrong?”

“I” “tired”

[Zzzzz Zzzz (Prey is coming)]

They probably think they’ve already caught me, but there’s one thing they don’t know.

AMorph is a hunter.

What AMorph does best, as good as tracking and hunting.

‘Ambush.’

How an apartment that provides comfort and shelter to residents transforms under an AMorph.

What happens to humans who unknowingly enter an AMorph’s territory.

They’ll soon find out.