Ch.436Choice and Consequence (4)

“If it’s Siheyon Yujin, could she be the shadow I met at Beryan02 last time?”

“That’s right.”

“Do you know that woman?”

“I’ve encountered her several times.”

I’ve directly seen and fought her twice. On the spaceship where I first opened my eyes, and in the underground cave of Beryan02.

“Is she also a member of Shinobu’s group?”

“No. She was only briefly with the group in its early days, then later moved to another cartel on Akira’s orders.”

When I first encountered her, she belonged to some pirate cartel. I think until then, she had been moving with Shinobu.

“So what did you hear from her?”

“Well, you might already know this, but even though she’s a shadow, she doesn’t get along with Akira. She thinks Akira stole the head position of House Yugin from her.”

Now that I hear it, I remember.

The subordinate of hers I encountered in Adhigh Orr’s former homeland. He definitely said that.

That Siheyon’s goal was to reclaim the family head position that Akira had usurped.

“According to her, there’s a place Akira secretly visits periodically.”

“A place she visits secretly?”

“Yes. I heard she goes there alone, without attendants or her personal ship.”

“Why did she tell you this?”

“She tried to persuade me to fight Akira together. That’s when I heard this information.”

Siheyon seemed to think Shinobu was an ordinary Space Dog and tried to recruit him. Of course, knowing Akira’s power well, he immediately refused.

“Good. So where is this place?”

“Actually, I refused during her pitch, so I didn’t hear that part properly. So I investigated separately, just a moment…”

Shinobu received a terminal from the Sky Mother and entered something.

It was coordinates for a location.

“It’s Megacorp’s junkyard.”

“You know it?”

“I’ve been there in the game.”

Megacorp has a star system where they collect garbage from the solar system. Debris from abandoned space cities, scrapped ships, dangerous industrial waste—all kinds of trash are sent there via FTL travel.

Megacorp’s junkyard is an artificial planet formed by these things accidentally clumping together.

“She went into Megacorp’s junkyard?”

“I went there once to make a secret nest.”

“…No wonder no one could find her.”

The Sky Mother shook her head.

Even in the game, entering the junkyard was an extremely difficult task. Countless pieces of garbage gather like clouds surrounding the junkyard, making the approach itself quite challenging. Even the metal-obsessed Metallic Gremlins avoid going there.

I succeeded in making a nest there, but eventually gave up because coming and going was too cumbersome.

Visiting such a place regularly, and alone without attendants? That’s definitely not normal.

There must be something there that makes the cautious 3rd-ranked willing to endure the inconvenience and danger. If I can use this, it would be a great help in capturing Akira.

However, I still have one question.

“Did you tell Akira that you know about this secret place?”

“Yes.”

“Why? You’re both in the ruling faction.”

“She might stab me in the back later. I need to keep a hidden card or two for myself.”

He made a face as if wondering why I would even ask such a thing. It seemed he genuinely thought this way, not just because he was forced to tell the truth by the parasite.

‘Well, he was always like this.’

Even in the game, he was notorious for following only the strong who could protect him and switching sides. It seems his personality hasn’t changed here either.

“Then you must know the weaknesses of other members too?”

“Well, not enough to call them weaknesses, but I do know a few things…”

I suppose it’s a benefit that I’ve gained a useful informant.

Anyway, I’ve heard enough. Now I need to think specifically about how to capture Akira.

‘Ah, before that…’

Suddenly, something I wanted to ask came to mind.

“You came to the Zer-11 conflict zone to hunt the Arcane Orca, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“What were you planning to do if you failed the hunt?”

An Arcane Orca isn’t something you can hunt easily. Having a Perk increases the success rate, but it’s not perfect.

He’s someone who has hunted powerful Apex creatures multiple times. He must have prepared for the possibility of failure. For instance, collecting information about another Arcane Orca besides the one I hunted.

At my words, he rolled his eyes uncomfortably before speaking.

“Are you asking about the location of another Arcane Orca?”

“Yes.”

“Actually, while gathering information, I did learn about a second Arcane Orca, but there was a problem with the information acquisition process.”

“A problem?”

“The Volf chieftain who knew about the Arcane Orca suddenly died…”

It seems he tortured the Volf who knew the information until he died.

“……”

The Sky Mother, who had been listening, clicked her beak sharply. She clearly wanted to tear his mouth apart right then and there.

“Besides the Volf chieftain, is there anyone else who knows? Any records?”

“They were such a stupid—ahem—primitive tribe that they only recorded their history through oral tradition and engravings. I photographed the engravings and then burned them all, and killed all the other useless ones.”

“Where is the engraving data?”

“Pisces, the Chairman, was supposed to manage that. Since you defeated the Chairman, you should know.”

His statement is only half correct.

I did win, but Pisces deleted most of the data before dying.

Even PS-111, who opened the Chairman’s head, didn’t know about the Volf tribe’s engravings.

‘Wait a minute.’

We lost the engravings, but there are survivors Shinobu doesn’t know about. The ten young Volfs rescued by the Sky Mother.

The moment I turned my head, I met the Sky Mother’s eyes.

“I’ll ask the children.”

She had the same thought as me and sent a message to the Volfs via communicator.

After just a few minutes, the communicator lit up. Her eyes brightened as she checked the reply.

“You know who ‘Tane’ is, right?”

“The Volf with a jackal head?”

“Yes. That child is the next chieftain, and apparently has memorized all the engravings. He says he can draw them immediately if given the tools.”

The moment I heard her words, my next task was decided.

“Ask Tane and PS-111 to find out where the Arcane Orca might be.”

“Got it.”

“And you.”

“Yes?”

I extended my wing-arm and picked up Shinobu.

“You said you know the weaknesses of other members? Spill everything, one by one.”

“…Yes.”

His face turned pale. He probably knows his lifespan has been determined.

But with the parasite inside him, resistance is impossible. All he can do is obey with a forced smile.

‘Unexpectedly, I got a second chance.’

Capturing Akira will happen after I acquire the new unique trait.

I smiled at Shinobu.

–

A reception room exuding static beauty.

A young woman and a black-haired man sat facing each other, drinking wine.

“Whew.”

“How is it? The taste of the vintage wine produced to commemorate the family head’s inauguration ceremony?”

Cloe Garmelda, who had been savoring the wine with her eyes closed, nodded.

“That Wei, his personality is terrible, but his wine is exquisite.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“How about it? If Lee wants, I could help you sit in the family head position.”

“I appreciate your consideration, but I’ll just accept your goodwill.”

“Well, with more important work to do, who has eyes for the family head position?”

Instead of answering, Lee Zhao bowed his head. Cloe put down her glass with a smirk.

“That’s fine. How is the recent project progress going?”

“Thanks to the data we secured two months ago, it’s proceeding smoothly. It shows significant results in environmental simulations due to having psychic power adaptability beyond that of the Cult.”

“No, not that one. The other project.”

Hearing those words, Lee hesitated. After looking around the reception room where only the two of them were present, he carefully opened his mouth.

“Is it alright to speak about it here?”

“It’s fine. There’s no one eavesdropping right now.”

“…’Dream,’ which the Grand Duke oversees, is also progressing well. Moreover, there has been significant progress in stabilizing the ‘World Engine’ recently.”

“Really? No wonder he kept refusing my calls saying he was busy.”

The formal name is “Jacobus’s Dream,” commonly referred to as “Dream,” a project currently managed by Cloe and Jubaka.

Even Akira, the leader of the ruling faction and CEO of Megacorp, doesn’t know about this. More precisely, “Dream” is disguised as a supplementary project to a plan Akira has been preparing for a long time.

Furthermore, to prevent Akira from finding out, it’s being conducted in Star Union territory, not Megacorp’s.

“Once the World Engine is completed, it won’t be long until the project ends. How much longer will it take?”

“The research team currently predicts at least one year.”

“One year, huh? Is it because the old man is in that state? The progress has definitely accelerated.”

Cloe drank her wine again with satisfaction.

Lee poured wine into Cloe’s empty glass and asked.

“Is there still no improvement in the CEO’s condition?”

“I checked yesterday, and it’s still the same.”

“‘Coma of unknown cause,’ is it? It’s strange that even with House Yugin’s technology, they can’t even identify the cause, let alone treat it.”

Two months ago.

Akira, who led the Megacorp-Star Union joint fleet to subjugate AMorph, was defeated by him. Fortunately, she wasn’t devoured by AMorph, but another problem arose.

During the return journey, Akira was suddenly ambushed and fell into a coma. Through footage stored on the ship, they identified who the perpetrator was, but couldn’t figure out what means were used to attack Akira.

Of course, no ordinary assassin could do this to Akira. Both people present know this fact well.

“Could it be the work of that ‘AMorph’?”

“No. It can’t be him.”

Cloe shook her head, denying Lee’s suggestion.

If it were that crazy monster, he would have devoured her on the spot rather than letting her go. After all, Akira is a treasure trove of genetic essence.

The culprit is not AMorph, but someone else.

‘…There is one person I suspect.’

The 7th-ranked expert and leader of the Return faction, Bumho.

His Perk is the ability to control others’ minds. The possibility that he sent an assassin to target Akira cannot be ruled out.

Of course, this is just speculation. There’s no need to mention it.

And whoever the culprit is, it doesn’t matter to her.

“Thanks to this, we’ve gained an advantage in the next election. At this rate, T&C will get the CEO position.”

“If that happens, we can accelerate the project.”

The two smiled silently as they raised their glasses.

Just as the glasses were about to clink, the levitating chair Cloe was sitting on lit up.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

A subordinate from House Garmelda had sent a message. She had ordered that messages be sent later because of an important meeting, but this order was disobeyed.

‘Who dares…’

As she frowned, someone knocked on the reception room door.

“Who is it?”

“I’m Chief Researcher Lee Zhao’s assistant! I have an urgent matter to report, so I knocked!”

“Come in.”

As she pressed a button on her chair, the door opened automatically.

A sweaty Asian man rushed in and whispered something to Lee Zhao. Meanwhile, Cloe checked the message that had arrived from her family.

‘What is this?’

“C-Cloe!”

A startled Lee Zhao jumped up from his seat. Cloe was also very surprised, so she didn’t blame him for his rudeness.

“Outspacers appearing simultaneously throughout Megacorp territory?”

“That’s not all! The Cult Empire is also under attack by Outspacers!”

Outspacers occurring simultaneously in Megacorp and the Cult Empire.

She knows well what this means.

‘…Empress, you crazy bitch!’

A major event occasionally mentioned in the history of both powers.

The Great Outspacer Invasion has just begun.