Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Find
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# 50
Is this what they call an adventure?
Well, it might be, from Roze's perspective.
"I'm interested too."
"My friend, why haven't you brought this up until now?"
Barton and Sahim were showing interest as well.
Yoon Ji-hye wasn't saying anything, but her ears were perked up.
"It'll be different from what you're imagining..."
"Isn't it meaningful? I've heard plenty about the strange alien activity lately. What you say makes sense. Let's do it together."
"What about your schedule? I thought you had a date lined up...?"
"You can meet women anytime. But righteous deeds? Miss the moment, and you usually can't go back."
"Well, if you put it that way..."
As Sahim was speaking, someone with a massive build—enough to loom oppressively behind him—approached.
It was Gizda.
"I'm in too, Captain."
Even after the practical martial arts class had ended, the way he addressed me was still fixed as "Captain."
And it wasn't just Gizda.
An itchy sensation made me glance around, and every eye in the vicinity was fixed on us.
'What the hell is going on?'
This was a volunteer gig.
One with a very high chance of coming up empty, at that.
The first seeds of contamination don't all bloom just because they've crashed into a planet.
Over 90% would fail to survive atmospheric entry and self-destruct on their own, while in the remaining 9.99% of cases, the spreading alien contamination would be detected mid-bloom and wiped out.
'This time's a bit different, though.'
Last year, the aliens had breached the fourth defense line.
The ones that broke through scattered seeds indiscriminately, but for a 'special purpose.'
Not just to contaminate the planet—for something else.
I was only handling it just in case.
Truth be told, it might end up being pointless busywork that didn't need doing at all.
"Uh... it's not that big a deal."
"If Captain's doing it, so am I."
"Don't you have other things to do? This is your first outing in half a year."
"This is my thing to do."
By now, a few people had gathered beside Gizda.
The nods I saw looked like declarations of intent to join.
"Hey, what's wrong with that, Lemon? It'll be more fun with everyone."
"No, but..."
What the hell was this?
But regardless of my opinion, this outing had become a hot topic among the cadets.
Centered around the first-year class that had taken practical martial arts with me, about 150 cadets ended up joining me for this outing.
'Hope I don't take all the heat later...'
I was getting worried.
Nine times out of ten, it'd be a total bust.
We'd scour the empty planetary surface, stare at the radar until our eyes bled, then head back to the Academy.
I swallowed hard.
And two weeks later.
Right after the theory exam wrapped up, outing period arrived.
*
We'd all left the Academy together, but we couldn't search as one big group.
We mixed mercenaries and cadets into teams of about ten each.
Then assigned one planet per ten teams.
Even split up like that, thoroughly checking a single planet would take at least four or five days.
By the end of the outing period, we'd be lucky to cover three planets max.
"Aah, so boooring..."
Roze propped her chin on the table, slumping as she stared blankly out the window.
We were inside a hoverboat modified for special ops.
Hovering about three meters off the ground, it gave a cloud-like smooth ride when crossing flat plains like this.
Which was probably why—aside from the radar operator and the two scanning visually—everyone else was bored out of their minds and in rough shape.
"I told you it'd be like this."
"It's nothing like what I saw in comics."
"Comics are like this too. They just skip the boring parts. Adventure's always a fight against tedium."
"Hng..."
I couldn't do anything about her pouting lips.
Strictly speaking, we were on a military op.
No matter how low-risk, we couldn't just chat and laugh away.
We had to stay ready for incidents that could strike anytime.
'Another bust today?'
It was already day three.
All easy terrain was checked out, and after poking a few rough spots, we'd move to another planet and start over.
Five hours later, we reached our target spot.
Our current position: the north pole of this planet.
A harsh frozen wasteland with temps dipping below -70°C and treacherous crevasses everywhere.
"Lemooon."
The rough terrain made the hoverboat buck wildly.
Passengers who'd been dozing jolted awake and peered outside.
"What?"
"Let's do some training."
Roze, unable to stand the boredom, threw out her usual "training" suggestion.
It wasn't anything special.
Just hop off the hoverboat and chase it on foot.
Even here, if you accelerated right, you could top 300 km/h easy—so to keep up, you had to run like hell.
Chasing it like that naturally doubled as training.
"Hmm..."
"I'll go first!"
"Wait. You need to wear this."
No matter how fit you are, tank tops in this weather?
I grabbed Roze as she tried to bolt and bundled her into a combat jacket.
She wouldn't wear anything too bulky since it hindered movement.
So I put her in a combat suit with slightly lower specs but basics like breathing assist and thermal regulation for cold weather.
"You have to wear this too?"
"It'll help."
I added a mask covering from neck to nose with breathing assist, plus close-fit goggles that hid half her face.
Once geared up, she kinda looked like a racer.
"Going!"
Roze dashed out first, and I suited up more meticulously.
Combat jacket on, then R3D3 converted to clothing form draped over it.
High-output portable radar strapped to my back.
Total weight with body mass: about 200 kg.
After lugging it daily for the past three days, I'd gotten used to it.
"Hoo..."
I leaped from the hoverboat.
A white expanse greeted me immediately.
"Lemon, hurry up!"
Roze, overtaking the hoverboat instead, yelled back at me.
'Shall we?'
I pulled the signal emitter from my back and gripped it.
Trumpet-shaped device with enough power to detect alien contamination buried 100 meters underground.
More than enough for terrain the hoverboat couldn't handle.
Powered up the radar and started running.
Snowfield made my feet sink deep.
Stop even briefly, and the whole body would plunge in—the snow was piled that high.
'Gotta learn the trick.'
I glanced at Roze.
She flitted across the glacier's snow like a bird in free flight.
For now, I chased hard.
Came close to tumbling into crevasses a few times on slopes before clinging back to the hoverboat.
Breath still steady.
Thanks to the "Deep Lungs" trait, my boosted lung capacity had optimized even further with repeated training.
Unless it was an insanely intense fight, I'd never run short of breath.
"Let's head this way."
Once I'd gotten the hang of running more, I caught up to the hoverboat.
Suggested to Roze we take terrain the hoverboat couldn't easily navigate.
We entered a valley-like formation.
Steep ice walls towered on both sides, with ice caves dotting the gaps.
Ambient temp had dropped further, nearing -100°C, dark enough that goggles were essential to see.
'Probably nothing here, but...'
Aliens were living things too.
Meaning they were affected by the environment.
They rarely operated in cold like this.
'Still, while we're at it...'
Can't leave loose ends nagging at me.
Roze and I kept probing deeper into the valley.
It was deeper and windier than expected, putting some distance between us and the hoverboat, but if needed, we could call it over.
"An avalanche would be fun, right?"
"...Spare me."
Snow alone would be lucky.
Avalanche would bring down every sharp icicle studding the cliffs above.
One wrong move, and we'd end up skewered like chickens on spits.
Lost in those thoughts, something caught my eye.
"Looks like an avalanche already hit around here."
Recently, too.
The surrounding terrain where we'd passed showed it.
Plus, the glacier to the right was snapped midsection like it'd taken a heavy blow, shockwaves rippling down to ground level.
"Really?"
"Hang on, something to check here."
I approached with the signal emitter.
Up close, a deep crevasse invisible from outside yawned there.
Problem: alien readings were pinging from inside.
'Mess this up and...'
Bad terrain.
Rush in, trigger a shock, and avalanche could bury us.
"Want me to go in?"
"...Let's go together."
Brief hesitation, then we pushed ahead.
Roze plus upgraded R3D3.
Even in worst case, this combo should handle it.
I patted the R3D3 main body over my chest.
-Trust only me. Beep!
"Yeah. I trust you."
"Oh? You brought him along."
Roze finally noticed, her voice bright.
"Cute little guy."
-Beep! Bzzt!
R3D3 shrank at her voice.
Ever since their first meeting—when he'd joked around, botched it, and lost a leg— he'd stayed leery.
That was when I first learned even it played cautious around dangerous types.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
I'd notified the hoverboat crew of our situation and had them relay to nearby search teams, then we entered the crevasse.
"There's a path deeper in."
"...Doesn't look natural."
Brushed away the snow capping the hole: a near-right-angle turn inside.
No need to peek—R3D3 uploaded terrain data to my goggles.
'Deeper than I thought.'
Alien contamination signal strengthened a bit.
Intensity like this ruled out glitches.
Finding one in just three days was like striking gold.
"Let's go in."
No backing out now.
We slid down the steep incline into the hole.
After about 200 meters, we hit soil-covered ground.
Temp had actually risen a touch.
'No way it's sealed off.'
A manmade hole like this wouldn't just exist.
As I pondered, Roze—who'd been quiet—suddenly stomped the ground hard with her foot.
"It's hollow here."
Just as she said.
Her kick caved the surface, revealing a pitch-black tunnel leading inward.
"They made it like this to hide it, right?"
"Yeah. Exactly."
Crude camouflage.
But if someone stumbled here by accident, they might've passed it by oblivious.
High chance, if they weren't as certain as us.
Question was, who made it.
'Hatchery already set up?'
Simple job, but needed aliens produced by a hatchery to pull off.
Hatchery itself couldn't manage it.
"Lemon?"
"Oh, let's head in."
Roze's call snapped me out of it.
Impressive making a hatchery in this frozen hell, but that was it.
A brand-new one? Any one of us could trash it easy.
We followed the underground path deeper.
'Definitely alien-made.'
Solid construction.
Wouldn't crumble under normal impacts, well-crafted.
Inner walls treated somehow, hard as rock.
-Beep! Four unidentified lifeforms detected ahead. Presumed alien.
After pushing over 500 meters further.
At last, R3D3 issued the alert.