Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: The Trap
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Enri placed the receiver on the large table in the middle of the Information Division office.
Bid creaked to his feet and walked over to Enri.
Meanwhile, Sharin glanced sideways at Bid908 with a complex expression, a mixture of curiosity and concern.
Sharin thought to herself.
*Can he really do police work looking so rickety?*
Text appeared on Bid's monitor.
[Oho, this is a remote receiving device used for alien exploration and travel, isn't it?]
Bid recognized the device at once.
Enri smiled in relief.
“This! I need to get the information out of it. Can you do it?”
[? _? What information?]
“It's an audio file. This is a receiver from a refugee ship that left my home planet, and it contained audio data sent from Earth.”
Enri took a breath and looked at Bid as she began to explain.
“A little while ago, the title track from Tibee-ra's unreleased album was stolen. It seems someone sent that audio file to the Bluerobic refugee ship that crash-landed on the moon.”
Listening to the story, Bid displayed an emoticon with a suspicious expression on his monitor.
[Oho. Highly intentional, I see.]
“Exactly. And there's someone's voice in that audio file too, but it's too quiet and the quality is so bad that it's hard to make out.”
[So you want me to extract the audio file and analyze that someone's voice?]
“Yes! Please.”
[Hmm... Alright. I'll take a look.]
“Oh, thank you!”
Enri's expression brightened noticeably.
[Alright. Since we're at it, let's get started right away.]
Sensing a gaze from beside his monitor, Bid suddenly turned his head and met Sharin's eyes.
-Click-
[Gasp OoO! Ah, my apologies for the late introduction. Lady Sharin, it is an honor to meet you. I am Bid908, Enri's police colleague and an investigator in the Information Division.]
Bid extended a gaunt mechanical arm. Sharin took his hand, being especially careful not to break it.
“It's quite alright. Thank you for your help.”
Perhaps because she was in front of Enri's colleague whom she'd never met, Sharin gave an uncharacteristically stiff greeting.
Watching the two of them, Enri asked Bid, just in case.
“But can you figure it out right now?”
[Nothing I can't do. :)]
*Whir, clank.*
Suddenly, from both of Bid's arms, various multi-tool attachments popped out—drills, scissors, a circular saw blade, and even a spiral screwdriver.
“Whoa!”
Enri's eyes widened and sparkled as she stared at Bid's equipment.
Without hesitation, Bid immediately began to dismantle the receiver.
Like a butchery show at a meat shop, the device began to come apart piece by piece under Bid's touch.
Five minutes later, Bid had absorbed the crucial audio data into his own body.
[Now, this audio data will be transcribed into text on my monitor and played along with the sound. I've improved the quality, so you should be able to understand it easily.]
Enri's eyes sparkled as she beamed.
“Wow!! You're amazing, Bid!!”
Sharin also nodded with an impressed expression, as if seeing Bid in a new light.
[^^ b Alright! Here it comes.]
The audio data began to play from the monitor.
*Ssshhk—*
*Ah— now clasp your hands and close your eyes—*
A clear singing voice began to fill the room.
*It was only by pure luck that my heart wasn't torn by sorrow—Even if the sky darkens with that black breath—we shall become the light itself—Even if we can only light a single fire in the darkened sky, we will be victorious—I send this song, praying for you to achieve great deeds—*
Tibee-ra's clear voice filled the room.
A song for the warriors of Bluerobic, popular even before the war.
It was the song, [May the Glory of Victory Grace Your Honor].
The combination of Tibee-ra's sweet voice, a grand orchestra, and a fitting electric guitar radiated a tremendously powerful energy.
The song continued to resonate.
*O ancient gods of the cosmos— 'Gelpuhsnia!'*
*Please, let them return home safely… 'Jimahnuitoo!' I pray…*
It was there.
Squeezed in between the beautiful voice was a sound akin to static.
Enri and Sharin flinched.
A chilling, unidentified voice.
Between the phrases of the song, an alien's voice could be heard clearly.
At that moment, Sharin's mouth slowly fell open. She seemed to know the owner of that chilling voice.
Gelpuhsnia?
Jimahnuitoo?
Jimahnuitoo!
Enri's eyes widened.
Suddenly, Bid turned off the sound.
[Jimahnuitoo!]
An ancient word used during the time of the Mesopotamian civilization, one of Earth's ancient civilizations, meaning 'throne' or 'absolute ruler'.
The very same unidentified word that the Negoti-alien, Park Shin-ju, had frantically spouted after his negotiation with the Planet Destroyer that had descended upon Earth seven years ago.
The one who had managed to decipher that single word was none other than 'Bid908'.
Bid stood still, as if recalling those days.
Then he raised his head and stared silently at Sharin and Enri.
Text was urgently typed onto his face.
[This… Don't tell me the Planet Destroyer is returning to Earth….]
Enri couldn't bring herself to read the rest of Bid's sentence.
When she turned to Sharin with a grave expression.
Sharin was…
Her eyes were rolled back terrifyingly, as if a past trauma had resurfaced.
From a small blue gate that had opened beside Shin-ju, the small arm of 'Steel Jeg' emerged.
And in front of it, a beast-like alien landed from mid-air.
“Oh, you're here?”
A lush green mane, and a face with sharp, cool eyes.
It was Jekovic, a beast-type alien from the planet Grius, commonly known as a 'werewolf'.
He was a U.C.I.D. officer working in the Special Refugee Management Division and had also been tasked with settling and managing the Bluerobic refugees who crash-landed on the moon in a temporary shelter.
Unaffected by gravity, he could move freely through rough terrain like mountains and cliffs as if walking on flat ground.
Furthermore, he could transform into other beasts from his home planet, making him a versatile officer capable of using various abilities as needed.
He sniffed the air and looked at Shin-ju.
“So, what kind of help do you need that you had to drag me all the way out to the middle of these mountains! I'm beat!”
“Haha, what are you talking about? This is nothing for you... For you, this is just like a walk in the park, isn't it?”
Jekovic and Shin-ju greeted each other like old friends, trading childish banter.
“So, you need help?”
“Yeah. Jeg and I are going into that research facility. If something unavoidable happens, I need you to buy us some time out here.”
“Investigating a case?”
“Yeah. A pretty important one, too...”
“Hmm... I get it. So if nothing happens, I can just hang out, right?”
“Well, yeah. In that case, you'll just be on lookout duty, I guess?”
“Okay, cool. So what should I transform into? A bear? A lizard?”
“Well, that's up to you.”
Shin-ju stepped forward with Jeg.
“Jeg, did you figure out the building's password?”
Jeg held up one finger in a gesture to wait.
A moment later, a sound of something unlocking was heard. Jeg had cracked the password for the locked main gate.
“Alright. Thank you, Jeg.”
Shin-ju looked back at Jekovic.
“I'm heading in then. If you don't hear from me, you know what to do, right? I'm counting on you.”
After confirming Jekovic's nod, Shin-ju entered the research facility with Jeg.
The inside of the facility was surprisingly ordinary.
Shin-ju scanned the stark white, almost empty hallway, then paused to think.
*Usually in situations like this, the golden rule is to head to the basement...*
*Tap, tap—*
Jeg tapped Shin-ju's shoulder with his finger.
When Shin-ju turned, Jeg pointed up and then down.
Then, he conveyed his message through finger signs.
He was saying that faint sound waves were emanating from both the upper and lower floors. Of the two, the waves from the upper floor were stronger.
Shin-ju instantly remembered the satellite antenna on the roof.
*Right, it's upstairs.*
He went up the stairs, muffling his footsteps as much as possible.
With each floor he ascended, his sense of unease grew.
*There's no one here.*
*What is this? Is it an automated facility?*
Finally, the fifth floor.
Jeg pointed to the end of the hallway.
A song was playing from there.
*Ah— now clasp your hands and close your eyes~*
*Even if the sky darkens with that black breath—we shall become the light itself—*
It was unmistakably Tibee-ra's voice.
“Agh, you scared me...”
Shin-ju glanced down at his phone.
He answered as soon as he saw the name 'Hyde' on the screen.
“I'm in the middle of infiltrating, so I'll call you back—”
“Park Shin-ju! Get out of there right now!!”
Along with Hyde's shout, 'that phrase' reached Shin-ju's ears.
*Please, let them return home safely… Jimahnuitoo! I pray…*
In that instant, Shin-ju slowly lowered the hand holding his phone and stared blankly ahead.
Beside him, Jeg's hand twitched, as if sensing something ominous.
Shin-ju's body began to tremble violently.
*Thud—*
Hyde's voice could be heard shouting something from the fallen phone, but it was completely unintelligible.
“Ah, aah! Aaaah...!”
Shin-ju dropped to his knees, his pupils dilated, and seemed to quiet down for a moment, but then...
“Uwaaaaaaah!!”
He suddenly started screaming, scratching at his own head with his fingernails.
Jeg restrained his arms to stop him from self-harming.
Shin-ju's mouth gaped open as he shouted.
“Gelusnieu!! Opunice!! Mineatsuua!! Jimahnuitoo!! Nachiahwichahoa!!”
The whites of Shin-ju's eyes showed as they rolled back.
His body arched like a bow, and the trembling intensified.
It looked as if his spine might snap.
*Grrrkkk—*
The building began to shake violently.
Sensing great danger, Jeg calmly deployed a protective barrier to shield Shin-ju.
And deciding to knock him out for now, he reached a hand toward his face.
At that moment, the Old Book fell from his clothes.
*Woong—woong—woong—*
The Old Book began to grow in size.
*Fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip—*
The Old Book's pages began to flip wildly, as if touched by an unseen hand.
And that final page, which had been sealed until now.
The page depicting the unidentified something that Shin-ju had seen in the far reaches of space.
And that page, which absolutely no living being could comprehend, a page that should never be witnessed by mortal eyes...
...slowly began to open.