Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Chapter 9 It’s an era where life isn’t valued. Nowadays, no one feels repulsed by purchasing human lives with money. The interesting thing is that even in such a dystopian society, we still have a culture that honors the dead. They’re preserving these bodies that could simply be discarded into space like this. In the mortuary, two bodies I created are laid to rest. If there were no guardians, I would have gone down and devoured them right away. ‘Three outside, one inside.’ Perhaps because two people have died, the armament of the guards outside wasn’t ordinary. All three of them were in reinforced suits. ‘Alone, I could have taken them on, but three would be too much.’ If the fight dragged on, more of their comrades would gather, so it’s best to avoid combat with them. ‘The person inside is a civilian.’ Seeing the smell of disinfectant and formaldehyde emanating from the body, it seemed that the opponent was a doctor. He had earphones plugged into his ears and was listening to music. ‘Is there any way other than a surprise attack?’ The problem was that the doctor’s face was facing the direction of the ventilation ducts. No matter how much he was blocking his ears, if I went down like this, I would be caught immediately. ‘I need to divert his attention.’ Disrupting prey is also a basic hunting tactic. Luckily, I had just learned a new ability, so I should try using it. First, I moved to a different spot. The doctor’s vision didn’t reach there. With my forearm, I lightly scraped a forearm where the doctor’s sight couldn’t reach. Black blood oozed out from the thin wound. Droplets of blood fell onto the alloy plate, and the alloy plate emitted a pungent smoke. ‘The acidic blood trait.’ It’s one of the abilities I acquired automatically when I evolved into a Metamorph form. It’s a trait that damages nearby enemies by acidifying blood. Both the enhanced exoskeleton and acidic blood may seem defensive, but the true value of this trait lies elsewhere. ‘It’s useful for infiltration and armor destruction.’ It’s stronger in acidity than chemical weapons, so it can easily dissolve alloy structures. It can be used to melt the enemy’s armor at the beginning of the battle or to infiltrate the enemy’s base or spaceship. “Hmm? What’s that smell?” The doctor reacted to the pungent gas emitted by the melting ceiling. He pinched his nose and turned his head repeatedly. “Why is that...?” His gaze reached the ceiling with holes. The acidic liquid was now melting even the stainless steel cart. The doctor stood up from his seat and approached the melting cart. The fruit was ripe enough. It had to be harvested before it rotted. I opened the ventilation duct and jumped down. Due to the smell and his earphones, the doctor couldn’t perceive my movements. Landing gracefully on the floor, I slowly got up. “Acid solution? Where is it leaking from?” Realizing that the smell was toxic gas, the doctor quickly covered his mouth and nose with his coat. While he was staring up at the messed-up ceiling, I got closer and closer to him. “Security... Ugh!” When he turned around, I was right in front of him. Although he was taller than me, he couldn’t feel the difference at all. He was overwhelmed by my appearance. A chitinous exoskeleton that shone as black as the abyss of space. Four gigantic arms long enough to touch the ground when extended and thick, powerful legs. A tail so strong it could penetrate through alloys. Jaws powerful enough to crush human bones as if they were nothing. Before him stood a creature that seemed to have emerged from the depths of a nightmare, a profound and eerie terror. The creature’s mouth opened, independent of its will. He could feel air rising from the lungs, attempting to rush through the vocal cords, as if it wanted to escape. He tried to scream, but failed. A tail, almost a meter long, was now lodged in his mouth. The sharp stinger pierced through his tongue and into the back of his skull. “G-g-g...!” His body trembled, shaking in the wind like a weed. Foam flowed continuously from his mouth, staining the once-white gown he wore with the evidence of a fading life. His dilated pupils gradually returned to normal, life draining from his fear-filled eyes. The prey had died in this manner. Withdrawing its tail, the creature gently placed the lifeless doctor on the ground. Fortunately, the guards stationed at the door seemed oblivious to the murder that had just occurred. Their movements remained unchanged. ‘It wasn’t a hunt I was counting on, but it was successful.’ To be honest, it wasn’t a bad outcome. Thanks to this, the count of prey had increased to three. [Predation effect activated! Successfully obtained ‘psychic organ’ genetic essence from ‘human’ biological traits.] [The ‘psychic organ’ has been obtained. Would you like to apply the ‘psychic organ’?] ‘Of course.’ A psychic organ, as expected. Keisaragi Yujin had the Psychic Power trait, just as I had anticipated. Among other races, excluding cults and some species, the use of psychic power requires a psychic organ. ‘Why does it have to be a psychic organ?’ Amorph was one of the species that could use psychic powers without a psychic organ. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to use my enhanced sensory abilities, and I would have died quickly. But now, the Psychic Organ trait Keisaragi gave me was essentially a dud. ‘...Well, let’s not think negatively.’ You can’t fill up on just one bite. Most of the time, things don’t work out as well as you expect. Since I needed to secure my types, I decided to think positively about it. When I chose to accept, a signal came from the back of my head. There was a sound of flesh tearing, and something sprang out from the inside. As I explored the large arm around the back of my head, it turned out to be a cluster of small tentacles. Amorph’s psychic organ took the form of tentacles, unlike humans. ‘So this is what Amorph’s looks like. It’s fascinating.’ Even when playing the game, I had never obtained a psychic organ. It was a rule not to collect unnecessary traits. ‘Who knows, though.’ You never know what might happen in this world. Maybe the psychic organ would luckily fuse with other traits to become useful. ‘Considering the precedent of the Predator Sense.’ After fiddling with the tentacles for a moment, I decided to focus on my dinner again. When I opened the compartment where Keisaragi was stored, there was the body of a security guard. He had died protecting Keisaragi, and now he was my dinner. I pulled out the body and took a big bite. ‘Ugh.’ The taste of the security guard was subtle. It wasn’t that it tasted bad or anything, but it was just plain delicious compared to Keisaragi, who had the taste of a cat with rich juices flowing. I wasn’t sure why there was such a difference, but I decided to appreciate it for its energy supply. The abundance of muscles might have contributed to the enjoyable chewing sensation, making it feel like I was eating intestines. ‘?’ While I was eating the security guard, I heard a noise from outside. The battered auxiliary device wriggled and decoded what was happening outside. ‘The security guard is changing shifts.’ There didn’t seem to be many reinforced suits on board the ship, so the guards were passing them to the newcomers. I had obtained valuable information that there were few reinforced suits available, but a problem arose. ‘The doctor will change shifts too, right?’ It had been about 40 minutes since I started eating Keisaragi. If someone came in to change shifts, they would surely notice that the doctor was missing. Soldiers were standing outside, and someone was disappearing inside – it was suspicious by anyone’s standards. We are in the age of space travel now. In a world where there were as many unknown extraterrestrial beings as there were stars in the sky, how would people react to this situation? ‘They’ll probably think there’s a monster in the same space as them.’ It wasn’t desirable for people to be suspicious. If someone thought they were being targeted, their natural instinct would be to heighten their guard. I’m not strong enough to engage in a full-scale battle with the enemy yet. Until I became stronger, suspicion should fall on the other crew members, not me. As I contemplated the doctor’s body, a cart entered my field of view. Smoke was rising from the cart, which was now unrecognizable due to the corrosive blood. ‘Smoke.’ Coincidentally, I was in the mortuary, where various chemicals, including embalming agents, were stored. Suddenly, an interesting idea came to mind. It was a very useful method to not only survive but also torment the crew members while overcoming my crisis.