Chapter 354
Chapter 354
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 354
Chapter Title: Pirate Ambush in Dorane
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[Where's Isabel?]
"The 'little sister' is out with the main controller, testing her new body. I'll call her now."
[No need. I'll go fetch her myself.]
"Then I'll do one final check on the Screamer support ship before we depart."
"Final check!"
"Final check!"
As PS-111 rose to its massive feet, the small Screamers beneath it echoed the words in unison.
I left the busy worker behind and slipped out of the Screamer support ship.
The support ship was embedded in the ground like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. At its base—where the front of the ice-trapped vessel pierced through—patches of repairs were visible here and there. The Coldbloods had patched it up using minerals loaded onto the Gigacracker to create living quarters. They planned to stay there until their health recovered enough to adapt to the planetary environment.
Near the support ship sat the carrier craft PS-111 had repaired. The Coldbloods living inside used them to commute to the Galleron nest or forage for food and materials.
Speaking of which, a carrier was just returning from somewhere. The Sky Mother and the Coldbloods disembarked. In her beastkin form, she gave me a small wave upon spotting me, while the Coldbloods beside her bowed deeply.
They'll manage just fine on their own.
I signaled my acknowledgment to them before focusing on the auxiliary organ beneath my jaw. My right head detected a faint, familiar scent wafting from a spot not too far away.
It was the smell of metal and blood.
Hunting, as expected.
I kicked off the ground and spread my wings in one motion. The ice beneath my feet cracked, sending a spray of ice particles flying.
As I flapped my wing-arms and soared, the temperature gradually warmed. Glancing below, I saw mushroom-like plants sparsely dotting the barren plain.
And far in the distance floated a massive pink creature. Its body resembled a hemisphere covered by a ring lying flat, with countless tentacles and fins dangling below. It was Specimen 026. The creature drifted through the air-filled underground world as if swimming in the ocean, undulating lazily.
Swimming peacefully through the air beside it was a new type of mutant Screamer—Isabel, once a Coldblood, now an artificial lifeform.
If No. 26 resembled a jellyfish, Isabel's form was closer to a snake or centipede. Her long body, equipped with multiple arms, hovered in the air, coiled into a loop.
In the center of that coil lay a dead monster resembling a cross between a bat and an ape—a Cave Ghoul—with its tongue lolling out.
｢Hit it harder and it'll squish.｣
"Meaning I should relax my body?"
Isabel uncoiled at No. 26's psychic wave. The Cave Ghoul's bones crumbled entirely, liquefying and spilling out, only for her to snatch it up swiftly with her many arms. No. 26 shook its tentacles in approval, its body glowing.
｢Good job! Now eat it!｣
"Thanks."
No. 26 stroked Isabel's head with a tentacle shaped like a hand, just as I would. Isabel seemed awkward receiving praise from the pink jellyfish and tried to shy away slightly. That's when she noticed me.
[I was worried, but you seem to be doing fine.]
｢Whoa! Big sis!｣
Only then did No. 26 register my presence, fin-wagging through the air toward me. It shifted back to its usual pink balloon shape before clambering onto my head.
[How's the body feeling? Getting used to it?]
Rather than answer, it gaped its mouth wide. Like a python swallowing prey, its jaw unhinged, opening far wider than its body girth. Two hook-like fangs resembling spider chelicerae sprang out from inside.
In that state, it gulped down the Cave Ghoul whole, which Isabel still held in her multiple arms. The hands and fangs shoved the meal inward rapidly.
Isabel calmly remarked after stuffing the 3-meter prey into her belly in an instant.
"As you can see."
[I figured the Sky Mother would take longer to adjust.]
"...Sigh. It's the body my big sis worked hard to make for me. How could I complain?"
Not calm—resigned, more like. From her sigh and offhand tone, she clearly wasn't thrilled with her current form.
PS-111 could tweak it if I mentioned it.
It might sulk a bit, but tweaking it to be more humanoid wasn't impossible.
No need to stir things up, though.
She wouldn't want to waste time readjusting anyway. This body was far superior to a human one for combat and survival.
And the look suits her.
By my standards, her current appearance had its own allure. It exuded a seductive, uniform beauty like a serpent with exquisite scales—totally different from her sister's vibe.
She didn't seem to like it much, but I found it plenty appealing.
Isabel used an arm near her head to push the protruding hook-fangs back into her mouth.
Most of her body was clad in metal, giving her an even colder impression than PS-111, which made her awkward fiddling all the more ironic.
How to put it? It was like a girl pretending to be mature to hide her inexperience.
Better not say that—she'd get mad.
"Thanks to my sis adjusting my taste buds, eating's no issue."
[Seems that way.]
"And flying around like this is pretty convenient too."
She slithered through the air like a sea snake swimming. No visible thrusters or flight organs, yet it felt utterly natural.
Didn't know Vortex One flesh had that effect.
Made primarily from the Ring of Agony's flesh, Isabel could defy physics to fly. Just like No. 26 after eating meat and gaining flight.
She couldn't match the Adhaina Sky Mother's insane speeds, but she was a tad slower than a Green Galleron—fast enough to be useful in battle.
"Aimorph's here, so it's time to go."
｢Little buddy, where we headed?｣
[Somewhere warm this time.]
｢Warm? Fun?｣
[Yeah.]
I had no idea if it'd actually be fun, but it looked intriguing enough. Aska 44 was a planet I'd never visited—like the icy one with the old Galleron nest.
I've seen plenty of volcanic planets, though.
It might not differ much from my expectations, but I'd have to see for myself.
I returned to the support ship with them.
A few hours later, the Adhaina Sky Mother returned as well. With all preparations complete, we set off for the Dorane Star System, home to a red giant.
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Deep in the void, beyond the observable universe, a single point of light streaked across the darkness.
The light was a mid-sized mining ship produced by Mega Corp.
Its elongated oval hull had a massive capture crane at the rear, firmly securing a boulder of dark matter ore as large as the ship itself.
Mega Corp's mineral procurement relied heavily on the Saintkey Family, but that didn't mean civilian mining ships didn't exist. Recently, the Saintkeys had halted Gigacracker operations for unknown reasons, spiking demand for private mining vessels.
The ship's owner, a Middle Capital native from Mars named Jinchen, had jumped on the mining boom.
Currently, he was tapping away at a small pad in the ship's dingy captain's quarters.
"Let's see. Comparing to Earth market prices... that's one zero, two..."
Calculating his haul's value, he gawked at the pad's display.
"Se-seven, eight, nine? Ha, hahahaha, hohohohoho! I'm rich! Filthy rich!"
Middle Capital was decently high-class in Mega Corp, but it varied by planet. Jinchen had spent his life on Mars cleaning up after Primes, always dreaming of better.
Then opportunity knocked. After the civil war ended and recession hit Mega Corp, a colleague tipped him off: mineral prices were surging—buy a mining ship now.
Like he'd been possessed, Jinchen bolted to the ship market after work, sinking all his credits plus loans into a used mining vessel.
"What? You think I'm crazy? We'll see who's crazy."
Prophets walk alone. Everyone called him mad, but look at that number on the pad—over twice his lifetime earnings. A couple more round trips and the debt would vanish.
"With this seed money, reinvest the rest... heh."
As he grinned at his fantasies, a light blinked at the pad's top.
"What the—?"
It was a comm from the situation room. Jinchen jabbed the light.
｢Captain. There's a ship in the same system.｣
"A ship? What affiliation?"
｢Unknown. You should come see.｣
Unknown ship made him flinch.
In the vast ocean of space, nothing was scarier than an unidentified vessel.
He replied affirmatively and rushed to the situation room.
The room buzzed with chaos. Crew at the consoles snapped awkward salutes as he entered.
He asked the balding middle-aged navigation chief.
"Nav chief, where's the ship?"
"Quite a distance away, holding position."
"It's definitely a ship?"
"Radio signals confirm it, yeah."
"Maybe mining another planet nearby?"
"No suitable planets around..."
Jinchen sighed softly at the nav chief's timid hemming.
Having blown his credits on the ship, he'd hired cheap crew—mostly greenhorns with under a year experience or opportunists like himself.
He'd picked the nav chief for his resume, but cheap hires had reasons.
"Keep eyes on it. Warn if it heads our way..."
"Uh, captain? It's moving."
"What?"
A crewman worked the console, projecting a system map hologram in the room's center. Jinchen's mining ship sat in the middle; a small triangle blipped at a distance.
The marker was closing in.
Jinchen felt his blood run cold.
Pirates lying in wait for prey had revealed themselves.
-
In Mega Corp, piracy was treated as the vilest crime. Space Dogs committed human trafficking, murder, smuggling as daily bread. Their damage was no small matter.
Thus, not just piracy but even aiding pirates rarely went unpunished. Working under Primes, Jinchen had seen colleagues caught trading with pirates demoted to "employees."
"D-Damn it! Battle stations, everyone!"
"Captain? We only have laser weapons aboard."
"Fuck! You wanna just bend over for pirates? We fight no matter what!"
"Ahem, our armament won't last an hour. Resisting might make it worse..."
Jinchen barely suppressed the urge to smack the nav chief's slick bald head.
As he said, weapons were sparse: laser rifles for personal arms, one mid-grade reinforced suit for protection—his.
Escape wasn't easy either. New models could FTL with ore clamped in the crane, but not this rustbucket.
Fucking hell! This system's pirate-free, he said!
His "safe" route from the colleague had backfired. Regret flooded him too late.
The pirate marker closed relentlessly. He couldn't die after finally striking it rich.
"Can we comm the ship?"
"Yes."
Jinchen recalled his black-market-savvy friend's tales. Common minerals weren't hot items there—hard to transport, low price.
If true, pirates wouldn't risk blood for cheap ore.
The ship was poorly armed, but pirates didn't know that. Bluff right, minimize damage.
"Comm connected."
A rectangular screen popped up on the hologram. It showed a grim-faced man with cybernetic implants.
｢Heh, daring to ping the Shinoroku Cartel first?｣
"...You're the boss?"
｢Yeah. I'm the head of the Shinoroku Cartel.｣
Jinchen swallowed hard at the scary cyborg pirate, who puffed a synth-drug e-cig and asked,
｢Tit for tat. What's your name?｣
"J-Jinchen. Owner and..."
｢Whatever. Cough up everything or die.｣
"This is a mining ship. Just ore aboard. Nothing for Shinoroku Cartel."
｢Fucking Mega Corp shits only wise up after blood. Prep for docking, boys.｣
Grim pirates armed up behind the boss. Jinchen blurted,
"Wait! We have seasoned fighters aboard."
｢So? Experience make your gut pirate-proof?｣
"...Powered suit troopers on standby. Even if we lose, your losses won't be light."
The pirate boss inhaled deeply instead of replying, exhaling smoke as he eyed Jinchen.