Became an Evolving Space Monster - Chapter 405



Only Noblemtl

“Sh, shino, shino ni! It’s the shino ni cartel!”

“Shinoney?”

Jeff scratched his stubble-bearded chin at the mention of a familiar name.

I’ve recently heard that a pirate group called the Sino Family, or Sino Union, is active all over the universe. It’s rare for space dog cartels to be linked together, but the Sino Union is a huge organization made up of six cartels.

Shinoni is one of the cartels that joined the Shino Union.

“Last time, I told you that many smugglers came and went. Did they also meet with separatists?”

“Uh, I, I don’t know about that. I don’t think we met at that time.”

Shinoni is a pirate group with a reputation for smuggling dangerous creatures.

But there aren’t any particularly rare creatures living in Jer-11. The same goes for AG-01. Unless he changed his business to human trafficking, there’s nothing that the Shinoni he knew would find interesting here.

‘A new source of funding for the separatists? Those bomb-bugs seem to be running out of credit lately. Or… .’

“That, and that.”

He was lost in thought, looking at the terminal in his hand, when a man’s voice woke him up.

“There’s a guy I know who lives in a garbage dump. He’s called a talker because he talks a lot, but he sometimes goes out and picks up useful stuff and stuff…”

“Okay. Let’s get to the point.”

“Yes, yes. Two days ago at dawn, the bluffer saw something above the treatment plant. He said it was a giant winged dragon flying through the sky and then disappeared.”

“A winged dragon? Did you mistake the pirate ship for a pirate ship?”

“Oh, no! You know that no boats sail around there!”

Jeff narrowed his eyes at the man’s words.

When we think of winged dragons, one thing comes to mind. It is the space dragon Gallagon, a being that is only a legend among sailors.

Of course, Jeff knows that it’s not a legend. If it were a fictional entity, it wouldn’t exist in Megacorp’s genetic database.

As far as he knows, Gallagon does not inhabit the Jer-11 system.

“You saw a dragon in the sewage treatment plant?”

“Yes, yes. That’s right.”

“It’s hard to see up there during the day because of the fog, so how did you see it at dawn?”

“Huh? Uh, that, that… .”

“I came here to buy information, not to listen to this kind of bullshit.”

The man spoke hurriedly as he saw him trying to get up and pack his case again.

“That, a shadow! I saw a shadow reflected in the fog!”

“shadow?”

“The shadow was so big that it covered the entire waste treatment plant! I, I received the file that was recorded and recorded. It’s in there!”

The man shouted, pointing at the case Jeff was holding.

In this city swarming with criminals, manipulating a photo like that is not a big deal. However, the chances of the man in front of me doing something like that were slim.

‘A winged dragon.’

The Shinoni Cartel and Gallagon suddenly appeared.

It was far from the information Jeff wanted, after all, he had come here to cover the corruption of the separatists.

One thing I have learned from my long experience as a journalist is that what that man said should not be taken lightly.

‘I guess I’ll have to check.’

“I, I told you everything I know. So please….”

It wasn’t the information he wanted, but it was still worth investigating. Jeff opened the case and took out a pill.

“I’ll give you the rest of the ‘smiles’ after I see the contents.”

“That, that!”

“If you don’t like it, then quit.”

“Oh, no!”

Jeff tossed the pill onto the table and the man swallowed it hastily.

A moment later, his body collapsed onto the chair, a strangely happy smile on his face.

“Then I will contact you later.”

Jeff got up and left the drugged man alone.

As he left the store, heavy raindrops greeted him. The amount of rain was so great that it was almost as if the sky was falling. Despite the pouring rain, people were walking around without umbrellas.

AG-01 has only a handful of days a year without rain. Since TNC began abandoning the planet, problems with the terraforming machines have caused the rainfall to become a complete mess.

Not only that. The facilities for treating waste and sewage were also extremely outdated due to lack of management. Even now, the streets were filled with unpleasant moisture and stench caused by rain and waste.

“… Tsk.”

Jeff clicked his tongue at the smell that he still couldn’t get used to even after two years. He took out an e-cigarette that was stronger than the smell and put it in his mouth.

‘There’s not much left now.’

The reason he, a prominent reporter for Daily Mars, stayed on this shit planet for two years was because the rewards were so attractive.

This interview was commissioned by the Prime Capital Zhao family. The Zhao family promised that if things went well, they would give me the position of head of the Daily Mars Titan branch news team.

It’s not long now before that dream comes true.

‘I have to persevere until the end.’

Jeff finished his cigarette, pulled the hood of his coat over his head, and, like everyone else, went out into the pouring rain.

–

“Hey, you blatherer. Are you going out today too?”

The man who was called a brat by the voice from behind answered without even turning his head.

“You have to work to eat and live.”

“What a fucking hard worker.”

“Hey, let me go too.”

“If you’re going to follow me, bring a mask, a flashlight, and a bag.”

Two vagrants headed towards a passage leading from the sewage treatment plant located underground to the surface.

The high-tech facility once managed by Noble Capital has now become a den of vagabonds. It is still managed automatically by a living computer, but that is all. No one knows when it will stop, and no one cares.

The corridor the two walked through was the same. Instead of surveillance cameras and security androids, it was filled with trash and filth, so it could almost be considered a ruin.

“Is it true that you said you saw it a few days ago?”

“Of course. You saw the picture.”

“It was so fucking dark I couldn’t even see properly.”

“It’s dark, Nimi. I can see right through it. You know that drug addict? He said there was someone who wanted the pictures I took.”

“There’s someone asking for a picture taken like an idiot?”

“Yeah, you son of a bitch.”

The two of them came out of the hallway and up to the ground while chatting.

Poorly purified contaminated water was collected on top of the abandoned sewage treatment facility.

Because of the continuous rain, the volume had swelled so much that it looked like a reservoir. Of course, you could tell right away that this wasn’t a reservoir because of the terrible stench that could be smelled from afar and the gas and toxic fog that hung over the surface.

As soon as they got on the ground, the two put on masks covering their noses and mouths and prepared for work.

“You’re lucky. The rain stopped.”

“Good. Then let’s get started….”

The vagrant who came up with me slipped from his seat while talking.

“Hey, fuck!”

“Be careful even if it doesn’t rain. If you make a mistake and fall and fall in there, you’re screwed.”

“… It’s been shit from the start.”

The man cursed and examined the substance on his shoe with the light of his flashlight. A strange substance, reminiscent of tar, that was either liquid or solid, covered his shoes.

“what’s this?”

“Then I will go first.”

While the man examined the substance on his shoe, the braggart went about his business.

His job is to search for bodies dumped near the contaminated water. In AG-01, hundreds of people die every day from terrorism, crime, and other causes. Even in the city of the talkers, people are dying all the time.

And the bodies that are dumped here are usually those of innocent criminals. If you search the bodies, you can find cheap drugs, laser guns, and things like that. If you’re lucky, you can even get parts from cyborg corpses.

Amid the toxic fog, we moved forward, relying on our masks and flashlights to guide us.

“Oh, found a body.”

Soon he found a corpse lying on a pile of sewage-filled garbage. When he kicked the corpse with his foot, the corpse-catchers that had been attached to it hurried away.

“Let’s see. There’s no…gun. Aha! This little dope bastard left some drugs. Alright.”

The talker let out a small cheer. It was cheap drugs, but it wasn’t a bad start. He grabbed the case containing the drugs and continued to look around.

“Oh! The fourth body. Am I lucky today?”

Today was a better day than usual. As the fog thickened, his old backpack grew more and more bulging.

As I was enjoying my new loot, I heard the sound of waves rippling behind me.

I looked back, thinking it might be the man I came with, but there was no one.

“Did I mishear that?”

The babbler, who had brushed it off as nothing serious, tried to concentrate on his work again, if only the sound of water had not reached his ears again.

“what?”

This time, I heard clearly. The talker hurriedly shined his flashlight on the water. All he could see was pitch-black darkness that was eerie. It was impossible to see what was beneath the dirty sewage.

‘Is it a corpse?’

The talker has been here hundreds of times, and in all that time, he has never seen anything larger than a corpsefish.

The only problem was that the sound of water I heard this time was, well, different. It was more like the sound of something much larger and more massive moving around than something like a genetically modified catfish.

Suddenly he remembered what he had seen here two days ago.

A shadow so large that it covered the entire polluted lake appeared and then disappeared.

‘That dragon is here?’

If the master of the shadow is nearby, you must run away immediately.

The talkative man hurried back the way he had come. The disgusting sensation he felt with every step he took, the faint sound the waves made as they swayed. None of it had changed, but he felt it completely differently now.

All the elements here were weighing on him.

“hey!”

At that moment, the voice suddenly came and stopped me from talking.

“Where are you?”

It was definitely the voice of the vagrant he had brought with him. I don’t know exactly where he was, but he was close by because it was loud enough.

It’s not like they have any particular sense of camaraderie with the homeless, but in situations like this, it’s much better to have someone you know by your side. And what if a monster really shows up in front of them? Having two people around would increase the chances of survival at least a little.

Instead of calling out to the man who was talking, I walked in the direction of the voice. I didn’t want to make a sound and attract the monster’s attention.

As he walked carefully, the sound of water passed by his ears again. He turned on the flashlight and almost screamed.

‘Hey, you fucking idiot?!’

Because a pitch-black shadow stood tall on top of the contaminated water.

“… … .”

The hair on his entire body stood on end, and his teeth clenched against each other. His body lost control for a moment due to the overwhelming fear.

After a moment, he realized that the target was not a monster.

Judging from his clothes that were tattered due to the black contaminated water and his body that shook with each breath, the other person was a vagrant like him. He was standing with his back turned to the blusterer, with only his upper body exposed.

“You fucking punk! I thought you’d freak out!”

The bluffer approached the vagrant while swearing loudly. Upon hearing the bluff, the vagrant tried to turn around and move away.

Then a familiar voice was heard from behind.

“Where the hell did that braggart go?”

It was the voice of his colleague who had been calling him earlier.

“uh?”

What this means is that the person in front of him is not someone he knows.

The talker opened his mouth when he saw the being that had completely turned its body around.

Just before the scream could leave my throat, ‘it’ rushed in.