Chapter 152
Chapter 152
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Essence
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"Amy!"
Sweat poured down in streams.
Carrying Jenny on my back as I raced to the hideout was so grueling that my legs shook uncontrollably. I'd thought she wouldn't weigh this much just by looking at her... It felt like I was lugging around a massive chunk of iron.
"Amy, help me!"
Even so, I somehow made it back to the hideout and called out to the most capable woman there. Jenny had come to me, the father she trusted most, but truthfully, there wasn't much I could do in my position. I needed Amy's help.
"Elder?"
"What's wrong? What happened?"
Nephy r and Arachne rushed out at the sound of my urgent voice. But there wasn't time to explain the situation. Finding Amy came first.
"Jenny's in pain! Where's Amy? Huh?"
"Inside..."
I didn't even wait to hear the full response before charging straight inside. What I needed right now wasn't Nephyr or Arachne's attention—it was the [technical expertise] to fix Jenny's stomachache.
"Amy, I need help! What are you doing in there...!"
Only after I yelled at the top of my lungs did Amy finally emerge, her face utterly indifferent, moving at her usual languid pace. It wasn't like her at all...
"Ah. Dr."
"Jenny's hurting...! Scan her abdomen first. Hurry!"
She must have been sulking a bit from that brief mishap with Arachne earlier. But this wasn't the time to indulge emotions—we had an immediate problem to solve.
"There's no need to rush. This creature won't die from mere pain anyway."
"...Just scan her."
"...Yes."
Only after I issued the order more firmly did Amy begin the scan in earnest. Should've done that from the start.
Whirr—
A narrow beam of blue light poured from her eyes. The wondrous glow, born from human hands, pierced through Jenny's opaque skin and exoskeleton, dissecting her internal structure down to the finest details.
"Kyaaak!"
"Whoa?!"
But the moment Jenny sensed something other than my touch, she bared her fangs and started thrashing her tail wildly.
The cave interior, already cluttered from the gear we'd hauled in from the desert, turned into total chaos. Supplies scattered everywhere across the floor.
"Jenny, calm down! Everyone except me and Amy—get out!"
A graze from that tail would be fatal at least. Even the usually gentle and slow Alraune jumped in surprise at the lightning-fast appendage, whipping my hand with her vines as a warning to hurry up and flee.
But handing everything over to Amy and running felt off. Even if I couldn't fix it with my own hands, I had a duty to stay by her side, observe, and remember every detail of this spectacle.
"Mm. Joo-ho, it's already morning—"
The one who actually needed to escape was right there. In the chaos, I'd overlooked him completely—Isaac, rubbing his eyes as he woke up late.
"...Oh, damn it. Air raid?"
Still in recovery, he spent more time asleep than awake, but the survival instincts etched into his brain woke him from deep slumber and spurred him into action.
With even Alraune, who'd been tending to him, gone now,
he had only his upper body left, crawling awkwardly out of the cave.
I hadn't realized I'd space out on Isaac amid Jenny's emergency. Had I come to care for her that much?
"Nephy r, take Isaac too...!"
"Who's Isaac!?"
"The guy next to you!"
"The one without legs?"
"Yeah, no legs...! Sigh, yes! That guy anyway!"
I quickly handed the still-clueless Nephyr, not yet adjusted to forest life, over to watch Isaac, then rushed back to Jenny, breaking into a sweat as I tried to restrain her.
Even as she swung her tail unconsciously, it came to an abrupt halt the moment it neared me. Jenny's instinct to protect me was ingrained down to her genes.
"Jenny, snap out of it!"
Slap— Crack—
Yes, I wanted to praise her filial piety to the hilt, but right now, to resolve this mess, I had to slap some sense into her first.
I couldn't let the hideout get any more wrecked than it already was. It would've been smarter to lay her out in some empty clearing from the start for the checkup, but with my kid burning up with fever, rational thinking wasn't easy—like parents rushing barefoot to the doctor.
"Can't you hear me? Calm down!"
I gripped her shoulders tight and shook her up and down,
slapped her cheeks dozens more times...
"Kiiit... Kyaaat..."
Yet Jenny kept writhing. My palms were stinging instead.
This intense [stomach pain], complete with tears, must have been utterly alien and awful for her. Her sturdy gut had never failed her before, but after this brutal lesson, she'd learn well.
"Dr., that kind of stimulation won't calm her. Let me handle it."
This time, Amy stepped in directly. She grabbed the prone Jenny's head, yanked it up to eye level, and then...
Thud—
"Kek!"
delivered a heavy blow to the center of her abdomen. There wasn't a hint of hesitation in Amy's fist. It was so perfectly executed, I wondered if she was even enjoying disciplining Jenny a little.
"Subdual failed. Attacking again."
"...She looks subdued enough."
Only after four or five more solid hits did both Amy and Jenny finally stop.
"Kiiing..."
Now thoroughly meek, Jenny whimpered and clung tightly to me. Her pitiful, bedraggled state made me sigh as I opened my arms to her. Only after soaking in my warmth did she finally allow Amy's examination.
Amy's scanner observed and analyzed Jenny's bizarre physiology once more, while her fingertips traced over the skin along Jenny's esophagus and stomach.
Then—
Amy's fingers halted at a specific spot.
The upper left part of the abdomen.
"Cause identified."
That was the source tormenting Jenny. Without so much as a blink, Amy pried open Jenny's mouth and shoved her hand inside.
"Eugh...!"
I had no idea if her anatomy even allowed that, but Amy was giving her all to treat Jenny.
Well, she won't die.
Just suffer a bit.
"I-is that right? Really?"
Jenny's panicked gagging was a dizzying sight to witness wide-eyed.
Her belly already in agony, and now Amy's arm thrusting down her throat, rummaging freely inside—it had to be hell. Even watching, I couldn't help doubting if this was truly the solution.
"Incision or laparotomy would heal too quickly given Jenny's regeneration, making it inefficient. Physical removal via oral route is optimal."
"Fine, got it! Just finish quick... You'll kill the kid at this rate..."
Crack—
A strange noise echoed from inside Jenny's body. Amy gripped something hard and yanked, but whatever it was clung stubbornly, refusing to budge.
Amy readjusted her stance fully,
pinned Jenny's shoulders with her feet,
and even fired up her auxiliary engines and boosters before it finally ended.
Grrrind—
Amy's hand emerged from Jenny's maw, slick with saliva and gastric juices. At its tip dangled a familiar object from before, glowing faintly.
"That's..."
"The substance that protruded from the giant desert corpse. It was blocking the connection between her stomach and esophagus (pylorus)."
It should have digested by now, yet it clung on tenaciously. As if it had endured just to choose its consumer itself.
"..."
Caked in her guts for so long, it reeked foully at first, but a quick rinse from Amy brought out its sweet, fruity aroma in full.
"Hey, Amy. What the hell is this thing?"
"I can't analyze it fully. However, it emits energy that influences biological genetics."
Just hearing that killed any appetite.
But a few words Rophuk had said flashed through my mind...
It lined up with Amy's explanation to a degree.
Maybe the Guide meant to pass his power to me. Whether it'd work out well, who knew...
"Dr., shall I prepare it for ingestion?"
Amy spat disinfectant solution from her mouth to clean the Guide's fruit once more. Not saliva—disinfectant.
I stared at the glistening thing and swallowed hard.
Two opposing urges surged within me.
The adventurous "let's try it,"
and the cautious "don't trust alien crap too much..."
"Screw it. Let's eat."
Still, I bit down on the essence the Guide had poured everything into—the fruit he'd borne for me.
Believing in his final gift,
prepared for no one else.