Chapter 9
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Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Veterans Spoon-Feeding the Strategy (1)
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As soon as I opened my eyes, I dove straight into the gallery.
A ton of posts had gone up overnight.
The gallery folks were clearly chewing on some juicy bait, but without the full context, I couldn't make heads or tails of it.
I hit the compose button right away.
While I was asleep, you guys were having all the fun without me?
I'm dying to know—tell me quick what you were talking about.
Curious, huh? Then get even more curious.
Aaargh, tell me now!
We figured out a ton of stuff while you were gone.
Go read through that popular post once. You'll be shocked once you get through it. I knew there were a lot of powered folks in the gallery, but not this many.
What the hell happened?
One of the powered gallery users stripped the noise and amplified the signal to recover the original message.
Hey, bro. I worked through the night to recover it, so enjoy it with some gratitude. Here's the link.
I clicked the link that high-nick guy posted.
Succeeded in recovering the damaged data
Finished recovering the damaged data and stripping the noise.
Turns out it wasn't an audio signal—it was video.
I've attached the files, so download and check 'em out.
[2 Attached Files]
I downloaded the files the gallery user had uploaded.
Then I transmitted the data to the ship's main computer and played it back.
—Zzzt! Zzzt!
[First Message Playback]
"Can you hear me? I am Rahaltoom of the warrior class! This message comes from Science Exploration Vessel 317! Our ship has been overtaken by unidentified aliens!"
"These aliens seem harmful only to metal lifeforms like us!"
"If you're infected by them, you become extremely violent and start attacking those around you."
—Bang! Bang!
—Kieeeek!
(Terrifying monster shrieks echo through the video)
"Keep firing!"
"Don't open your eyes no matter what!"
"I can't see a damn thing!"
"Just shoot toward the noise, you bastard!"
"Bring the bombs! Hurry!"
(Warriors are locked in combat)
(An alien male in the video glances around anxiously.)
"This infectious mold doesn't just infect our bodies!"
"They can infect and seize control of metal machinery, including the ship itself!"
"We cannot allow even a single spore of this horrific mycelium to reach our home planet!"
"There's no time left!"
"High Council! Do not send a rescue team here!"
"I repeat: under no circumstances send a rescue team!"
"Ignore all rescue signals sent from this vessel after this message."
"I repeat: ignore all rescue signals sent from this vessel after this message!"
"And..."
(The alien composes himself emotionally)
"Remember our sacrifice!"
"For Ahoraatoom! For our great homeland, Chiltoom!"
⟨ Message End ⟩
The first message cut off with an explosion.
'An infectious mold lethal only to metal lifeforms.'
I'd already suspected something infectious had infiltrated the ship.
In the video, they were terrified it would spread all the way to their homeworld.
That's why, before the monsters could take the ship, they planted bombs in the main computer.
They oxidized along with the ship's main computer, successfully keeping the monsters from gaining control.
'But something's off.'
There was one weird thing.
The aliens in the video were yelling to keep their eyes closed during combat.
Wouldn't you want your eyes open in a fight?
But for now, I had no way of knowing why.
'Guess I'll play the next video.'
I played the second video.
—Zzzt! Zzzt!
[Second Message Playback]
"Can you hear me? (Static) ...Can you hear?"
"This is Chiltoom Science Exploration Vessel 317."
"I am Ehilaatoom, chief researcher aboard the science exploration vessel."
"Sending this message to Chiltoom headquarters."
"Science Exploration Vessel 317 discovered ancient ruins while exploring the Roomtoom-Mriya sector."
"We began investigating the ruins and encountered a native intelligent species in the process."
"We attempted contact with the natives to obtain more information on the ruins, and as a result, our research team became infected with a deadly infectious microorganism harmful to metal lifeforms."
"We returned to the ship to treat the infection, but that was a fatal mistake."
"The infectious microorganism spread throughout the ship, soon taking over our colleagues' bodies and minds, mutating them into monsters."
"Our brave warriors fought valiantly but were ultimately wiped out."
"Fortunately, we managed to activate the emergency bulkheads before the ship was fully overtaken."
"Thanks to the warriors' sacrifice, we destroyed the ship's main computer, preventing the infected from breaching the emergency bulkheads."
"Chiltoom High Council, if you receive this message, please send a rescue team."
"The situation is stable for now, but we're short on resources and energy."
"If we stay like this, all survivors aboard will die."
"The pathogen inside the ship is not only infectious but extremely aggressive."
"Thus, we require medical personnel as well as military support."
"If you decide to send a rescue team, please dispatch a medical ship with Level 1 infection quarantine capabilities, along with a battleship."
"Time is running out."
"Chiltoom High Council, if you take pity on us, please show the mercy you showed Ahoraatoom and dispatch the rescue team swiftly."
"We wait in the darkness."
⟨ Reception End ⟩
Once the video ended...
A single question popped into my head immediately.
'Why ask for a battleship?'
I recalled the content of the first video.
They'd emphatically said not to send a rescue team.
As if they knew someone would send a rescue signal.
Plus, according to the first video, this infectious mold could take over not just bodies but machinery itself.
That's why they'd blown up the main computer—to prevent the ship from being seized.
'Maybe the second rescue signal is a trap?'
No matter how I thought about it, that's the vibe I got.
The request for a battleship was way too blatant.
If my guess was right, here's what went down.
Thanks to the Chiltoom warriors' sacrifice, the ship's main computer was destroyed.
The mold had taken the ship, but without the main computer, they couldn't operate it.
To break the stalemate, they came up with a clever ploy.
Sending a fake rescue signal.
'They even admitted it in the second video. It can control minds too.'
So manipulating a victim to send a trap signal back home wouldn't be hard.
'What do the other gallery users think?'
But this was just my speculation.
To hear other opinions, I opened the gallery again.
The second message is suspiciously blatant
Fine, requesting a medical ship makes sense, but asking for a battleship? The intent is way too obvious, right?
For a civilian rescue op like this, a cruiser or escort would be way more appropriate.
Specifically requesting a mainline battleship for frontline combat? That's just straight-up saying they want to steal a warship.
It's so on-the-nose it makes me wonder if there's something else lololol
I was thinking 'what the hell are these guys?' while watching too. Gotta be subtle, but asking for a battleship straight-up... lol
What if Chiltoom fell for that message and sent a battleship? Would they have lost the ship?
The freaks would've gotten wrecked instead. Ancients never lose, from what I've seen.
I agree. Even if Chiltoom fell for it and sent a battleship, those freak nobodies couldn't steal it from Ancients.
What if they actually did steal it?
That'd be horrifying. Would've turned into a real galactic disaster.
The gallery folks' takes weren't far off from mine.
I clicked on another post.
My guess on what went down with the newbie mission
Before diving into proper deduction, I checked how events usually play out.
Level 1 event 'Faint Rescue Signal' always shares the same broad framework, though details vary.
Summarizing past events:
1. A faint signal drifting through space is received.
2. The message turns out to be a rescue signal from some Xeno ship.
3-1. If it's a military vessel.
- A Xeno cruiser appears.
- An Anomaly in the engine room wrecked the propulsion system, stranding the ship.
- Inspections show nothing obviously wrong.
- Yet the ship won't run, and ominous stuff like crew injuries keeps happening.
[Truth] Price of Plundering the Sacred
It was all because the Xenos looted a relic from some primitive civilization and brought it aboard.
- Relic varies, but always something the primitives held sacred.
[Anomaly Removal]
Player finds the relic, performs the ritual, and dumps it into space—the ship's anomalies vanish.
3-2. If it's a science vessel.
- Xeno science ship appears.
- Chief scientist sends rescue signal.
- When player asks what happened, they claim they were studying a primitive civilization's culture when a local plague spread aboard.
- The plague turns people into monsters that overran the ship, so they ask for help clearing the monsters.
[Truth] A Scientist's Confession
They were actually running unethical bio-experiments on the primitive civilization.
- To develop bioweapons, they abducted primitives and ran countless tests.
- Succeeded in creating a virus that mutates test subjects into monsters.
- But the virus infected way more hosts than expected.
- Some crew got infected, escapees turned the ship into hell.
[Anomaly Removal]
Clear all infection from the ship and hand them over for galactic trial—event ends.
This mission shares elements from both 3-1 and 3-2.
Based on that, here's my theory:
1. Some civilization looted a sacred relic.
2. Turns out it was an Anomaly.
3. Chiltoom scientists ran bio-experiments to exploit it.
4. Infection broke out, infected overran the ship.
5. Infected occupying the ship are luring new hosts with fake rescue signals to homeworld.
Probably went down like that.
If so, just wipe the infected and perform the ritual on the problematic Anomaly—done.
Most plausible theory yet.
Whoa, most convincing guess so far!
Damn, this is good. I'm backing this hypothesis too.
They said the gallery was full of powered users.
And damn, there were some seriously sharp ones.
Whoa... you're a genius??
'Just how smart are these guys?'
I left a grateful comment on that gallery user's post.
'So, head inside the ship and find the relic.'
Now that I knew what to do, no need to waste more time.
I headed to the bridge to find Orca standing guard.
"How much longer till we arrive?"
"Eleven minutes."
I planned to board the ship the moment we reached the destination.
I grabbed my gun, snapped a selfie, and uploaded it to the gallery.
This mission is super easy
(Rough selfie holding a gun)
So basically, charge into the ship, kill everything, done?
Almost there—gonna storm it the second we arrive.
Upvote for the newbie already hyped to smash everything lol