Chapter 169
Chapter 169
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 169
Chapter Title: Noisy Site
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The noisy site.
Ships cleared away massive heaps of debris and boulders, then fully armed soldiers entered to work, repeating the process.
In the midst of it, when one soldier lifted and tossed a huge rock, an alien suddenly burst out.
Half its body was crushed beyond recognition, but its ferocity remained intact.
“...Ugh!”
The soldier pinned under the alien screamed.
He desperately held back the claws trying to tear into his armorsuit.
Nearby soldiers working with him fired their guns, but it wouldn't let go easily.
It was a Grade 3 threat alien.
If it hadn't been weakened from being buried under rubble for so long, the soldier would have died the moment it got close.
But the alien bared its teeth, clinging fiercely as if determined to drag the soldier down with it as its final sacrifice.
“Let go.” At that moment, someone approached, grabbing both wrists of the alien holding the soldier.
A man with a physique rivaling the alien's massive build.
With a squeeze of his hands, the wrists shattered explosively.
Even though its flesh was tough enough to withstand energy guns.
The alien glared at the intruder with hatred from its one remaining eye.
“Hmph.”
A punch exploded its head.
The soldier whose life was saved stood up and offered his thanks.
“Superhuman Giz! Thank you!”
“No big deal. Be careful with the work.”
“Yes, sir!”
Giz watched the soldiers return to their tasks, then slowly walked over to me.
“Manageable?”
“No issues. But safety concerns are dragging things out too much.”
This was an excavation site.
The goal was the cores.
Cores from the hatcheries buried underground when the Hive Nest crashed, high-grade alien cores, and any other salvage.
The reason progress was sluggish was the uneliminated aliens buried alongside them.
These things had such tenacious life force that they survived under immense pressure without food.
They'd pop out suddenly, just like before.
Superhumans like Giz had come as support in case high-grade aliens emerged.
“Hang in there a bit longer. Didn't we agree to work in shifts?”
“No. Specifically, until our assigned section is done.”
“Hmm, that's too long.”
At this slow pace, we might be stuck here for up to a week.
With other important tasks piling up, it felt like a waste.
As I pondered, Giz spoke up again.
“I agree. That's why I requested the commander change our approach.”
“You did?”
“They'll consider it positively, so we should hear back by evening.”
Giz's proposed method was to excavate the most valuable spoils first, like the hatchery cores.
But those were buried deepest.
To reach them in one go would require aggressive methods.
That would damage the salvage we could have extracted carefully.
Plus, leaving intact cores exposed too long might let them reactivate, so quick processing was needed to avoid prolonging the job.
“We're in a hurry. Can't afford to take it slow. I'll follow up.”
“If the Captain says it, it'll carry more weight.”
“Found the core locations yet?”
“About halfway. The rest, not yet.”
“The signals aren't penetrating, huh. I know about that issue. I'll handle it.”
Alien structures inherently blocked radar signals.
Hatchery cores were wrapped in multiple layers of shielding, impossible to locate with standard radar gear.
Even now that the hatcheries were defunct.
Special-purpose ships equipped with high-power radars for this were working hard, but pinpointing exact spots was proving difficult.
‘They probably missed this too.’
I loaded the map I'd recorded during recon of the hatchery locations.
I hadn't shared it, so the alliance forces wouldn't have it.
Pair this with persuasion, and they might listen.
‘Didn't mark it all.’
Checking the map, I recalled stopping halfway, deeming it unnecessary.
Now I figured I should, so I activated my senses.
Thanks to repeated practice, I could do it without activating my horns.
The range was smaller, but still covered 10 kilometers easily—perfect for this.
“Hmm...”
I expanded my senses gradually, marking spots on the map.
As I did, I walked over and halted the soldiers working ahead.
“C-Captain?”
“Borrowing this for a sec.”
I took the energy gun and fired into the ground.
Dirt scattered with the impact.
The soldier looked puzzled, thinking I was fooling around.
But the next instant, something shot up from underground at tremendous speed, targeting the soldier.
“...Ugh!!”
A Smog Tail's tail.
The soldier recoiled in shock, but I'd already grabbed it.
-Master?
“Fire.”
As it tensed to prevent me from spitting venom, R3D3's shot turned it to mush.
“Guess it lives underground naturally. Still lively.”
I yanked the tail, pulling the Smog Tail out.
If the venom had burst, work in this sector would have halted for a while.
“Th-thank you.”
“No other threats around here, so keep working without worry.” It was the same soldier Giz had just saved.
Twice nearly dead in moments.
Unable to calm down, his face ashen, he showed breathing distress and was evacuated.
‘Lucky or unlucky...?’ Either way, no wonder work was slow.
Seemed the whole thing was buried intact; at this rate, a week wouldn't cut it—maybe a month.
Then Giz, who'd approached unnoticed, stared at me and asked.
“Captain. How'd you know?”
“Same as spotting Beholders. You know.”
“...That's kinda cheating.”
“Cheating over this?”
“It is cheating. Means no alien can hide from you, right? The other superhumans will be jealous.”
Jealousy won't help.
I wasn't thrilled with it myself.
“You said it finds cores too?攻略 will be a breeze from now on.”
“Yeah.”
“Can't I just stick with you? Teaming with Runshin, we always get lost. Guy's hopeless with directions.”
“...Haha, less hopeless and more overeager?”
“That's what hopeless means. He charges ahead without a clue.”
That explained why Team 1's hatchery assaults sometimes dragged.
“Ahem, anyway, the important thing is...”
Mid-sentence, something snagged.
My expanding senses had detected something.
“What's up, Captain.”
“Hold on.”
I dashed toward the detection.
Giz sensed something off and followed right away.
“Hey, hey! This is my sector! My sector, I said? Hey?”
I stopped and amplified my senses.
Activated my horns too for clearer read.
It sharpened.
“Leonard. You ignoring me?”
“Shh-.”
“Be quiet. Captain's doing something.”
“No, but at least answer...”
I dug into the ground.
Pretty deep, but to avoid damage, I cleared rubble with my hands.
No tools needed; meters flew by quickly.
With Giz assisting, we reached the spot easily.
“...Found it.”
Lifting debris revealed a translucent gelatinous mass, with capillary-like veins protruding to the surface.
I carefully cleared surrounding rubble.
Its shape emerged, letting me gauge the size.
Not that big.
About 3 meters in circumference.
Originally spherical, but squashed on one side by debris.
“Captain. What is this?”
Giz asked in a low voice.
He was seeing it for the first time, probably.
No—few humans had.
Runshin couldn't contain his curiosity and sidled up to peer at the mass.
“Hey, Leonard. You know what this is?”
“Terminal.”
“...What?”
“It's a terminal. A Hive Mind terminal.”
I drew my blade and sliced the gelatinous mass.
Runshin jumped in surprise.
“Wh-what? Looks important—okay to just hack it like that?”
“The important part's inside.”
I pointed to the gray mass revealed within.
Brain-like flesh.
This was the terminal linked to the Hive Mind.
But it wasn't intact.
The flesh was pierced by debris, badly damaged.
“So that's why.”
“Why what?”
“Hive Mind terminals are programmed to dissolve completely if they can't function. Damage must've halted that process. Otherwise, we never would've known it existed.”
“What? For real? Even if true, how do you...”
How? I'm the author.
Using R3D3's functions, I extracted and stowed the damaged terminal.
Even with my position, if caught, it'd be confiscated.
“Captain. If you're right, the Hive Mind main body is elsewhere?”
“Yeah. In the Cradle, probably.”
“I have no idea what you're on about. Why's it matter?”
“Might not now. But it'll be useful later.”
“You said it vanishes on its own if untouched?”
“Anyway, keep this discovery secret. Got it?”
Smiling as I asked, Runshin turned away, displeased.
“Say we removed an alien.”
“Lie to me?”
“I'll clear your duty. Off starting tomorrow. Deal?”
“That...”
I'd planned to shift to hatchery-core priority anyway, freeing up numbers here.
‘Who knew we'd find this.’
A Hive Mind terminal.
Probably the biggest find here.
Terminals lacked powerful energy sources like cores or other abilities.
But without it, a Hive Nest couldn't move.
Destroy this, and it's just a flying chunk of dirt.
Of course, targeting it first against a Hive Nest was near impossible—moot point.
But it mattered to me for other reasons.
‘Won't use it right away. Better store it safely.’
Even the alliance didn't know its uses yet.
Research wouldn't start for years; I was the only one in the know.
‘Good I didn't ignore it.’
The terminal had pinged oddly in my senses.
Like prodding needles.
Faint due to damage, even to my sensitive detection, but distinct.
“Man of your word—a promise is a promise! Honor it!”
“Yeah.”
No need for fancy words over duty relief.
I nodded to Runshin, who urged solemnly.
*
The ship entered astral space.
Long-range AD Drive had the crew sweating, but once stable, ship returned to normal ops.
“Captain. You're free to rest.”
“Got it.”
I nodded to the executive officer and stood.
Crackling sounds as bones and muscles screamed.
“Urgh...”
Not a single spot unscathed.
Even my recovery struggled, showing how bad it'd been.
‘Two more attribute trainings, and I'd be dead.’
Shivers from the hellish 30 days past.
I headed straight to the captain's quarters.
No need for me next two days—perfect time to rest.
But just leaving the bridge, Roze poked her face out.