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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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Chapter 451
‘Where do you think you're going?’
I tightened the corrosive tentacles coiled around the submersible.
As the hardened shield shattered, everything inside was instantly crushed by the pressure. I tossed the crumpled wreckage to the right head.
｢Grrr｣
｢Grkk｣
‘That makes twenty now.’
The right head chewed on the metal like gum, crunching and grinding it. The left head, which had eaten first, licked its lips while watching. Feeling that satisfaction, I turned to look at the base.
The facility glowed atop the icy depths of the deep sea, but the light had dimmed since earlier.
The sections now cloaked in darkness were all overrun by the ‘Gremlin Moss’.
Half of those areas housed communication systems where I had personally seeded the Gremlin Moss.
The rest? That wasn’t me. The moss had spread on its own, infecting those zones without my command.
‘It’s finding targets and acting on its own... That’s unusual.’
It seems to be operating under a mechanism similar to a hive mind. I give the target, and it carries out the task in what it deems the most efficient way.
It’s almost like a parasite, in a sense.
The difference is, the moss can absorb energy sources other than what I supply it.
That’s why the lights went out in the occupied areas. This evolved Gremlin Moss is siphoning off the base’s energy as nutrients. Without that, launching an attack on a base of this scale would’ve been impossible.
‘Gremlin Moss with autonomy, huh.’
Whether that turns out to be an advantage or a liability, there’s one thing I know for sure
Its potential is considerable.
If I play this right, it could be a valuable tool in the Solar System campaign.
‘Looks like that side’s cleared out…’
No more submersibles trying to escape. Time to head in. I approached the facility with the others hiding in the dark veil.
As I neared, the Gremlin Moss occupying the zone reacted. The door the submersibles had used to escape slid open.
[ZZZ ZZZ ZZZZ (Adhai. You can let go now.)]
｢Not yet｣ ｢Outside still｣
[ZZZ ZZ ZZZ ZZZ (That narrow spot’s too tight for both of us.)]
｢Understood｣ ｢Still...｣ ｢Slightly｣ ｢Regretful｣
Adhai, who had been curled up in my arms, sluggishly slid off like someone reluctantly leaving a warm blanket in winter.
I aligned my head-plate and body into a straight line, throwing my arms and corrosive tentacles backward. I slimmed my form just enough to squeeze through the doorway. It was a tight fit, but I managed.
This was the launch corridor used by submersibles. Once everyone was inside behind me, the door sealed shut and the water drained. Patches of Gremlin Moss clinging to the ceiling lit up, welcoming their master.
‘Oh?’
Maybe because I was closer now, I could feel the Gremlin Moss’s activity through the energy field.
The detailed report startled me.
‘Smarter than I thought.’
It hadn’t just disabled the facility.
After taking over, the moss forced malfunctions to attack personnel from within.
It adjusted internal pressure to crush groups of people at once. It sabotaged hoverbuses mid-evacuation to wipe out fleeing survivors. Things like that.
From the survivors’ perspective, the machines meant to protect them had suddenly gone berserk.
Figuring out the cause wouldn’t be easy; they'd never suspect that glowing moss.
‘At this point, even if they wanted to stop it, they couldn’t.’
And reading the moss’s movements, I learned something else.
It didn’t attack the others who entered with me. Thanks to the symbiotic spores on their bodies, it recognized them as allies.
‘So I don’t need to worry about PS-111 or Isabel.’
The sisters are mutant screamers, both partially mechanical. I was worried they might be affected by the moss, but thankfully, that’s not the case.
Just as I was savoring the effectiveness of this new trait, the barrier door ahead slid open.
After squeezing through a few more tight corridors, we finally arrived at a spacious chamber.
‘A hoverbus terminal?’
It had once served as a transit hub for base personnel. Now, it was completely ruined.
Hoverbuses that had veered off course were jammed into the walls and ceiling, half-destroyed. The floor was littered with mangled corpses.
“I’ll check where we need to go next.”
“I’ll assist.”
As usual, PS-111 and Isabel located a local terminal and began hacking.
｢Big One, can I eat this?｣
｢Me too｣
[ZZZZ (Go ahead.)]
｢Yay!｣
While the Screamer sisters worked, the two predators gorged themselves on the scattered remains.
By the time every last corpse had vanished into their stomachs, PS-111 returned with an update.
“There’s a restricted zone in the central area. All cargo has been moved there.”
The central area... I had seen a dome-like structure at the heart of the facility from outside.
That must be it.
[ZZ ZZ Z (Let’s move, everyone.)]
Together, we headed toward the central restricted zone.
Following the hoverbus tracks, we walked for about an hour before a massive barrier door blocked our path.
“Looks like a bomb shelter.”
“This area uses a closed circuit. Every system is custom-built. External hacking is impossible.”
That barrier was absurdly rugged and hard to believe it was part of a high-tech underwater facility. Just like Isabel said, it looked like something straight out of an apocalypse movie like a nuclear bunker.
‘There’s not even a terminal for access.’
It was the kind of door that could only be opened from the inside.
And then I sensed movement beyond the thick door. Through the energy field, I picked up traces of plasma energy and the faint scent of sweat.
Survivors. Armed. Standing guard inside the restricted zone.
‘Let’s start by opening the door.’
It was thicker and tougher than a warship’s outer hull but that wouldn’t be enough to stop me.
Just as I decided to break through, something shifted on the other side.
Dozens of life signs suddenly erupted into frenzied movement. Simultaneously, plasma energy flared across the chamber then blinked out.
“You heard that, right? That noise came from inside.”
“It is an 81% match with plasma rifle discharge.”
“Amorph?”
The Screamer sisters all turned to look at me.
The commotion within I knew exactly what was causing it. I’d seen it before, back when I entered another space city.
My energy field. It pollutes minds and incites madness.
Those humans inside must’ve gone berserk and started attacking each other.
‘So, if they perceive my presence, the effect intensifies.’
If they see me, hear me, or even sense me while within the range of the field, the descent into insanity accelerates.
Seems like one of the more perceptive soldiers in there must’ve sensed me.
‘If only I could control it better.’
A few minutes later, the door let out a deafening rumble and slowly opened.
“Heh... heehee... light! Heeheehee! S-save me... bleuaagh!”
The chamber beyond was a slaughterhouse.
Most had died from plasma shots, but not all.
About a quarter of the corpses had succumbed to madness and taken their own lives.
The one who’d opened the door wasn’t sane either.
Drenched in blood, he muttered something unintelligible before collapsing, dead.
“The energy field Amorph emits has a detrimental effect on sentient minds. Eleven individuals suffered psychotic breaks and initiated a firefight.”
“I’ve seen it before, but this is... this is practically a pseudo-Vortex One.”
Hearing that name come from Isabel, once a Coldblood herself, stirred a strange feeling in me.
‘Vortex One, huh.’
That thing does exist as a being known for plunging sentient minds into madness and confusion.
But even it doesn’t affect both machines and humans alike.
Like Isabel said, to the average sapient, I must seem like some demon of the cosmos.
‘And I’m only going to grow stronger.’
｢Big One｣ ｢This one｣ ｢Can we eat it?｣
｢Big One, let’s eat together!｣
Adhai and Number 26’s telepathic voices brought me out of my thoughts.
Sensing my hunger, Number 26 had handed me a corpse.
‘Still a long way to go.’
There are beings out here that can still threaten me.
One of the reasons I came here in the first place was to devour experimental organisms to extract their genetic essence and grow stronger.
I swallowed the charred corpse in a single gulp.
[ZZ ZZZ ZZZ Z (Grab what you can eat and let’s go in)]
We passed through the door and entered the heart of the restricted zone.
The interior had the same austere feel as the entrance, nothing like the usual Megacorp facility.
The hallways were rough and bare. Not a single ornament. Not even the standard terminals that litter most places.
Some parts of the infrastructure seemed like they hadn’t been touched in ages.
Several doors had been crudely welded shut, rendering them permanently sealed.
Not that the place had been entirely abandoned there were caretakers.
Or there had been. All of them were dead before we even had to face them.
｢So much food｣ ｢Too much｣ ｢I’m full｣
｢Stomach’s happy｣
Thanks to that, Adhai and 26 were able to feast to their hearts’ content.
Eventually, we arrived at what seemed to be the central data room of this zone.
“This one hasn’t been welded shut.”
“This system is still active.”
“Looks like it. Let’s head in.”
Once inside, I saw rows of computers, data storage units, and a hologram projector.
“I’ll check what kind of work was done here.”
The computers powered on, and the hologram projector linked to them lit up. Security protocols immediately began flashing warning messages, but PS-111 disabled them one by one with ease.
｢Big One, I’m sleepy.｣
｢Me too.｣
Having filled their bellies on the way here, the two of them lay down beside the warm data storage units. I gently patted them, then turned my attention to the hologram.
“Anything interesting come up?”
“The security system is quite complex. It’s an outdated method, no longer widely used due to inefficiency. However…”
PS-111 gave a subtle nod, and the hologram screen shifted. The room filled with a rigid grid of characters and numerical strings displayed in neat lines.
“With my current capabilities, I can bypass it easily.”
“Knew I could count on you.”
“You’re always reliable.”
Isabel and I offered our praise as we examined the data on the hologram.
‘There’s a lot of it.’
For what felt like an abandoned facility, the data logs stored here were numerous. They all appeared to be project-related documents easily numbering in the thousands.
“These are all separate projects?”
“No. Only two projects have ever been conducted at this facility. What you’re seeing is the experimental log entries tied to those two.”
According to the timestamps, the records clustered around two periods: one from ten years ago, the other from two years back. Just like PS-111 said, the base only seemed to operate during specific projects. Currently, it has no active projects hence the closure.
“What about the organisms used in those experiments?”
“There are no records indicating they were disposed of or transferred elsewhere.”
“Then they probably broke them down into samples and stored them.”
“Correct. There is a 91% probability that they were refined and preserved as genetic samples.”
I figured as much. The only living beings here had been the humans guarding the facility.
Still, the fact that the samples remain even in that form is a relief.
“Hey sis, was this place used for Hulk Mutant experiments?”
“That was the focus of the first project ten years ago. The second project, two years ago, was different. There were fewer combat trials and more adaptation-based experiments.”
“Adaptation? That doesn’t seem like something you’d need to keep secret.”
“We’ll need to check the experiment logs to understand more.”
As PS-111 spoke, the holographic entries began scrolling rapidly.
‘Project Director: Denver Edgerton? Was he related to the House of Edgerton? That would explain the obsession with Hulk Mutants... huh?’
I was scanning through the logs, wondering if there might be any usable intel, when a familiar name jumped out at me.
“Wait, pause there.”
“What is it?”
PS-111 stopped the scrolling. I activated one of my auxiliary organs beneath my jaw to interface directly with the terminal.
｢Experiment Title: Research on Triggering Radical Evolution Through Extraction of Genetic Mutation Potential in Marine Organisms
Project Lead: External Guest Researcher, Kisaragi Yujin.
Note: Project terminated due to disappearance of lead researcher.｣
“Kisaragi Yujin?”
“You know him?”
A long time ago but there’s no way I’d forget that name.
The human who led me to Number 26.
The very first prey I ever hunted after becoming the Amorph.
To find traces of the long-dead Kisaragi Yujin in this strange, secret facility
It stirred something deep within me.
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[Translator – Seraph]
[Proofreader – Draxx]
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