Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: The Smuggler's Secret
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‘Cargo hold?’
The team leader paced back and forth in front of the cargo hold for a few minutes. He confirmed no one was coming, then quickly entered the password. As soon as the door opened, he slipped inside like he was afraid someone might see him.
There was a separate cargo hold manager, but as Logistics Team Leader, it wasn’t strange for him to know the password.
‘But why’s he acting so sneaky?’
He could’ve just walked in openly, but that wary attitude was blatantly unnatural.
I couldn’t see what he was doing inside, but he didn’t come out for thirty minutes.
Using my auxiliary organs to track his movements, I saw him wandering aimlessly around the cargo hold, repeating the same actions over and over.
He spent a full hour on those pointless movements before finally leaving the cargo hold.
I entered the now-empty cargo hold. The dust and metallic scent mixed in the air hit my senses all at once.
Instead of the smooth alloy plates I’d walked on before, a rough grating floor greeted me.
Maybe because I’d grown bigger, my footsteps echoed with every step. Stealth hunting cockroaches like before was out of the question now.
‘Well, time to eat people or livestock instead.’
My increased size meant more strength, but also way higher calorie burn.
I began tracking the traces he’d left behind. His sweat and the marks from debris stuck to his shoes guided me like signposts.
The place he’d lingered longest was in front of a certain container.
‘Needs an ID card and fingerprint scanner.’
The container linked to the team leader had pretty high-level security. Unlike the others that only required a manager’s ID card.
‘Can’t sense inside even with my senses.’
The panel must’ve been thick; even my enhanced auxiliary organs couldn’t probe what was within.
The team leader was definitely hiding something important.
It started as idle curiosity, but now I was hooked.
‘Next target: Logistics Team Leader?’
I’d originally planned on the Medical Team Leader.
But given the current situation, that wouldn’t be easy. He’d know better than anyone about his subordinate’s suspicious death, so he’d be on high alert.
Might as well go for easier prey.
‘The cargo hold manager seemed lax, and the whole Logistics Team gives off a sloppy vibe.’
If their team leader vanished, maybe no one would even suspect anything.
That settled my next goal.
“Team leader, that’s enough drinking already.”
“Just one more, one more glass.”
“Why’re you being so clingy today of all days?”
The Logistics Team Leader’s life lately felt like no life at all.
Besides managing supplies, he had a little side hustle: smuggling banned creatures and selling them to the higher-ups.
Before boarding, he’d acquired something from the black market.
An egg from a bizarre creature not even in the Mega Corp database.
He’d dealt in all sorts of rare animals, but this was the first egg like it he’d ever seen. The Cult merchant who sold it claimed it came from some forgotten ancient ruin.
‘Ancient creature my ass...’
Whatever the origin, he smelled money. After buying it, he contacted his buyer, and they showed immediate interest.
They agreed to trade when the research ship docked at a planet mid-journey, and he sneaked the egg aboard.
Up to that point, he thought everything would go smoothly.
Until the morgue fire incident.
When another team leader casually mentioned it might be an alien creature’s doing, he couldn’t believe it.
He rushed to the cargo hold to check.
The container door was slightly ajar. One of the eggs that should’ve been dormant inside was completely empty.
‘Damn it, should’ve checked sooner!’
After boarding, he’d only checked on the egg once.
If he’d properly closed the container door that day, even if it hatched, nothing would’ve happened.
Or better yet, if he hadn’t gotten drunk that day, he wouldn’t have made that mistake.
“...Booze is the enemy. Booze.”
“Team leader, let’s go inside already.”
A single door slip-up had turned three people into corpses overnight.
And one of the dead was a Noble Capital to boot.
The monster that hatched from the egg and killed people was still roaming the ship, but he couldn’t complain to anyone.
He was terrified the captain would lose it and kill him before any Noble Capital retaliation.
That was why he drowned himself in booze every night.
“Whew.”
His team members shook their heads and left the bar. The bartender clicked his tongue beside them.
“Closing time.”
“Just one more. I’ll leave after one more.”
“Sigh. Fine.”
Every gulp of synthetic liquor diluted his torment. He cursed booze with his mouth, but his body craved it as always.
In the end, he stumbled out of the bar dead drunk once more.
“Fuuuck... ugh. Why’s everything gotta suck so much...?”
He belched out a curse-laden burp.
The empty corridor he stood in was shrouded in silence. Aside from the faint hum of the ship’s reactor heart beating steadily, no other sounds reached him.
Night had fallen in space.
Space had no day or night, but human ships artificially created one after a set time for the crew’s sleep.
Captain Yuseong Samuel’s research vessel was no exception; artificial night blanketed the ship.
The team leader staggered through the quiet.
This corridor was his daily path, yet tonight it felt alien.
Was it the booze? An inexplicable chill crept through the familiar space.
A foreboding premonition gripped him: some horrific danger lurked beyond the bright corridor lights.
“Fuuuuck... bullshit.”
He denied his own gut feeling.
Slurring curses, he headed to his room.
His shoe heels echoed off the seamless high-strength composite walls.
‘Huh?’
An odd sound reached his ears. At first, he thought it was his own footsteps, but something was off.
Too quiet for a person. Like a predator padding silently on tiptoes, soft and low.
Feeling uneasy, he stopped dead. The following footsteps cut off abruptly.
Silence enveloped the corridor.
Goosebumps prickled his skin.
Something unknown was tailing him.
“Wh-who’s there?!”
No answer came.
It felt like someone had dumped ice water over him. The booze cleared from his system as he quickened his pace.
His shoes clacked discordantly against the hard metal floor.
Thud thud
The eerie footsteps behind sped up too, like they were racing him.
Pat pat pat pat
‘What the hell?!’
Maybe a team member pranking him.
Even if not, he could’ve confronted whoever was pulling this sick joke.
But he didn’t.
A faint instinct in his booze-soaked brain screamed at him.
Never face that thing head-on.
After turning a corner, he glanced back.
He saw it clearly.
A long, serpentine tail shadow flashed by.
‘Holy shit!’
It was that thing.
The alien creature slaughtering people.
The cosmic killer that devoured the Research Team Leader and guard was after him.
His movements turned frantic. He dragged his booze-numbed legs forcibly.
He looked like a deer fleeing an arrow from a hunter.
‘Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!’
His face was a mess of spit, tears, and snot. His clothes had long been soaked in cold sweat, useless now.
Tap tap, light and popping.
That thing’s footsteps echoed from behind.
The once-faint sounds now blended with his breaths, grown loud.
Its presence sharpened. A non-human growl licked his spine.
That chilling sensation burned into his mind despite the drunken haze.
He wanted to scream but couldn’t.
Any louder cry, and it would pounce.
He finally reached his door and punched in the code frantically. He’d never entered it so fast since boarding.
“Fuck! Open already!”
The door slid open; he darted inside.
As it closed, something slammed into it, the panel shuddering violently. The impact sent him tumbling to the floor.
He froze, sprawled out.
No sound from beyond, as if the crash never happened.
He could feel it.
That thing was still outside.
“Ph-phone! Gotta call...!”
Regaining his wits, he remembered the emergency phone in the bedroom. Tension left his legs useless; he crawled like a maggot.
Then.
A sound he should never hear reached his ears.
Beep.
His head jerked toward the door like a doll on strings, creaking.
It was entering the password.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, bing!
A cheerful chime rang out incongruously. The door lock disengaged; the door slowly opened.
The hunt succeeded easily.
Or was it even a hunt?
More like cornering a drunk who couldn’t think straight.
‘His routine was so predictable, made it easy.’
Two days of observation showed the Logistics Team Leader’s day never varied. Lounging in the logistics office by day, drowning the night in the ship’s bar.
With a boss that pathetic, his team didn’t care where he was or what he did.
Wonder if Yuseong knew he had a salaried slacker.
The captain owes me thanks. I’m trimming the dead weight.
‘Works in my favor.’
I’d planned to watch 3-4 days, but no need. I struck when he was wasted.
As expected, he wasted time at the bar tonight. I’d confirmed no surveillance cams from bar to his room.
All that was left was herding him leisurely.
I held off attacking to corner him, flashing glimpses of myself. He followed my lead perfectly. His slow escape from the booze was annoying, but otherwise ideal.
He fled hard into his room. A steel door no laser weapon below could pierce separated us.
Probably felt safe. Thought the titanium-based ultra-hard alloy would protect him.
Not wrong. My claws couldn’t breach it yet.
But when body fails, use brains. My loyal auxiliary organs read the fingerprints off the keypad.
He never intended it, but I was now an invited guest.
Door opened easily; inside, a face frozen in terror.
An unarmed civilian resisting an Aimorph? Impossible.
‘Bon appétit.’
He became my meal effortlessly.
Truth be told, the Logistics Team Leader tasted meh. Plenty of fat, but the booze stench killed the umami.
I don’t picky eat, so I devoured all but his thumb for the print scanner.
‘Where’s the ID card?’
I picked my teeth with a small arm, scanning the room. Stainless steel bed with a plush mattress. Cabinet and desk against the wall.
‘Oh?’
A half-naked woman poster on the wall. Pretty sexy, but my body felt nothing.
I ignored it and approached the desk. Empty bottles and paper stacks cluttered the old surface.
‘Live like this? Clean up.’
Rifling papers, the ID card fell out.
Got everything worth taking. ID in one hand, thumb gripped in the other, I left the room.
‘Straight there.’
With what I needed, back to the cargo hold.
At the container, I scanned the ID first. The terminal light shifted red to green, prompting next step. Pressed the thumb; door clunked open.
‘What honey pot we got here?’
Stepping in, cold air whooshed over me.
Several cryo-tubes inside, each holding various creatures.
‘Guy was a smuggler.’
With ship trouble, you’d think he’d tell someone, but he suffered alone. Who knew this backstory.
Scanning the tubes, one held something familiar.
‘Aimorph egg?’
Two tubes with Aimorph eggs.
One full and plump, the other empty.
Empty shell. Panicking Logistics Team Leader searching.
‘Is this the egg I hatched from?’
Something felt off.
In the game, Aimorphs started in mysterious ruins, not some steel ship.
‘Tried to smuggle me.’
Seeing it cryo-sealed, he planned to sell the Aimorph egg somewhere. Something happened en route; one hatched and escaped.
Likely killed the original owner right after.
‘Then my consciousness entered.’
Easy to guess why the previous owner died: newborn, starved for nutrients.
‘Explains eating the cockroach.’
Even loving Aimorphs, human instincts wouldn’t chomp a roach on sight.
Body acted on instinct for survival.
‘...’
Seeing traces of the previous owner stirred complicated feelings.
Unintentional, but its struggle let me start strong.
I bowed before its hatching egg. Dead thing wouldn’t get human gestures, but I wanted to.
‘Memorial over.’
Human stuff done; time for Aimorph ways.
I cracked open a cryo-tube and tore into the intact egg.
Devoured the dormant Aimorph hatchling inside too.
Aimorphs hostile to all species—including kin.
‘First to hatch eats the rest.’
Aimorphs might embody ultimate survival competition.
Eating hatchlings/eggs post-birth has perks: supplements nutrition in hatchling stage, quickly gains Aimorph gene essence.
Traits like Super Sense strengthen via same essence, huge early boost.
Hoped for essence, but no predation message. Disappointing. Smacking lips, another cryo-tube caught my eye.
‘Tons of food here?’
With their owner in my gut, no one on this ship knows this container.
Means I can eat freely, no complaints.
I opened tubes, chowing down the creatures one by one. Smuggler did decent work; plenty of rares.
Scored several rare gene essences.
🏺 Species:Unidentified Hostile Space Creature
📊 Status:Juvenile
🎯 Goal:Survive (1 Evolution Success)
🔹 Traits:Predator Sense (Fused), Wings, Chitinous Exoskeleton, Robust Vitality, Neurotoxin Gland (Fused), Reinforced Exoskeleton, Acidic Blood, Psionic Organ, Leg Strength Enhancement, Mimicry
⚙ Type:Undecided
‘Nice. Just two more to go.’
Two more traits for Physical Enhancement Type.
Eating Kisaragi disappointed me. Hoped for psychic power, got useless Psionic Organ instead.
But Logistics Team Leader’s gift? Gold.
Especially traits normally mid-game only; huge morale boost early.
Among my traits, the one to kill crew most efficiently.
With this, I can act bolder.
Could lurk long-term, slowly squeezing crew, but Space Dogs contact soon. No clue how dangerous; need max strength first.
‘Gene essences, wait for me.’
No one in space hears screams.
This research ship’s no different.
Crew’s pitiful cries will sink into the black abyss.