章 3: 003
It's been 4 days since I became Amorph, and there have been a lot of changes.
First, my first nest was completed.
Impure life force bore fruit in a passage made of minerals. The mucus I spit out hardened and solidified, and some of it clumped together to form spores. Mucus periodically flowed from the holes in the spores. Even without me touching it, the nest was slowly expanding its territory.
'Now I can monitor the entire ship.'
What was happening on the oval research vessel with a diameter of 200 meters was relayed to me in real time. Although we cannot monitor small creatures like cockroaches, we can at least recognize most of their activities, especially when it comes to humans.
And the second.
By catching and eating cockroaches and spiders between the cargo hold and the nest, I succeeded in acquiring one more new trait.
｢Species: Unidentified hostile space creature
Status: Hatchling
Goal: Survive.
Characteristics possessed: Extra-sensory wings, chitinous outer layer, strong vitality, paralyzing sting
. 'Paralysis sting' was a trait acquired through spiders. In the latter half of the game, various monsters appear, such as beings whose bodies are made of energy or creatures whose bodies are made of inorganic materials such as metal, so this ability becomes useless, but it is a good ability for limited use in the early stages.
'It's the perfect ability for me, who has to hunt strong people with a weak body.'
As I focused my attention on the tail, feeling the strength in my buttocks, a drop of yellow liquid fell from the tip. You can easily subdue an adult with this. The duration is only about 5 minutes at most, but it is not difficult to kill a person in that amount of time.
After thanking the spider for not only my daily bread but also a precious gift, I thought about the way forward.
The conditions for hunting people are almost ready, so it's time to find a target.
There are currently a total of 222 crew members aboard the research vessel. Among them, there were 96 soldiers and officers in charge of the ship's defense, and 21 were high-level personnel belonging to the command team. The rest were civilians such as researchers, mechanics, and chefs.
'The question is who are you targeting?'
At first, I thought about targeting the captain and disrupting the command system. But after thinking about it a few times, I didn't think it would be that good. Since there were lieutenants to replace the captain, it seemed difficult to cause much damage.
'A weak but important person on the ship who cannot be replaced by anyone.'
There were only two subjects that satisfied both conditions.
'Medical team leader and research team leader.'
Among these, the person I prioritize is the research team leader.
The reason why the research team leader was appointed to the lethal department instead of the medical team leader, who was responsible for the lives of the personnel on the ship, was simple.
'Because they are harmful to my survival.'
This was the conclusion I reached after spying on the laboratory for several days.
The name of the research team leader is 'Kisaragi Yujin'. She is the only person who can create a tracking device right after I commit murder.
Two days ago, a test subject escaped, and she succeeded in capturing the test subject by creating a tracking device in two hours.
'I almost got caught because of that guy.'
If he had used the vent, I would have been in danger too, but I was able to get through the crisis safely thanks to running away to another place.
After the experiment escape incident, Yujin Kisaragi was placed at the top of the danger list in my mind.
'And for a human, he has unusually good senses.'
One time I almost got caught when she looked up at the vent I was in.
Afterwards, I moved to another location to monitor her, but every time I did that, she felt my presence and looked at me, so I had to change my position frequently.
'Do you have psychic power talent?'
Psychic power. It is a power similar to the commonly known supernatural powers such as telekinesis, telepathy, and mind control.
If you have psychic power, there are endless things you can do, from simple telekinesis to move objects without using your hands, to magical things like distorting light to turn a ship into a stealth state.
'When I was playing the game, I had a huge cult following because of my psychic powers.'
The main targets to gain psychic power were cults. This was because all individuals of the cult race were born with psychic power as a unique characteristic of the race, making it easy to target genetic essence.
However, occasionally, rare individuals among humanity appear who are born with the potential for psychic power.
It was unclear whether Yujin Kisaragi was one of those rare cases or not, but from a hunter's perspective, smart and sensitive prey is a difficult opponent.
Even if they don't know my identity, if they find my traces, they will definitely create a device to chase me in some way.
'If you're going to use a hit-and-run strategy, you should avoid tracking as much as possible.'
When an Amorph evolves into a fluid, it becomes incomparably more powerful than a hatchling. However, it is not enough to engage in an all-out war with the soldiers on the ship. Until we secure enough genetic essence, we must fight through a thorough guerrilla war.
Therefore, Kisaragi Yujin was a person that I absolutely had to eliminate, even if it was not for the sake of my evolution.
'Then how should we hunt?'
While lying down in the nest, he scratched his head with his front legs and worried.
The research team leader is a woman and a civilian, so it would not be difficult to kill her in a one-on-one situation. Except for one difficulty.
'Bodyguard.'
Wherever she went, the soldier who served as her escort followed her. Even when she was sleeping in her bedroom at night, the guards took turns guarding her from time to time. The difficulty in conquering Yujin Kisaragi was that although he was weak, there were many people around him protecting him.
'I don't think I'll find an answer just by thinking about it.'
I think we have no choice but to continue surveillance and look for loopholes.
I became hungry because I was shaking my head furiously with my small body. I left my comfortable nest and headed to the dull cargo hold.
At the hallway vent in front of the cargo hold door, I checked to make sure there was no one around. Since there was no one there, I opened the wire fence and jumped out.
I landed lightly on the floor and climbed up to the terminal next to the door.
'You can't go around avoiding the ventilator blades all the time.'
I'm not a cat so I don't have 9 lives. It is never advisable to risk your life every time you eat.
And unlike other major facilities, the cargo bay did not have a system to monitor people entering and leaving.
I checked with my heightened senses at the nest, but there was no one coming in or out except the person in charge. The person in charge visits once a day for regular inspection, and as long as you avoid that time, you can enter without being caught.
'Open sesame.'
As soon as I entered the number into the terminal, the solid iron door opened wide with the sound of air being released. Entering the dark cargo compartment, I headed to the plastic box I always went to.
The residents of the cargo bay are shaken by the sudden invasion of a predator. The musty smell emitted as metal corrodes, the pheromones released by small insects to warn of the appearance of natural enemies, and the sound of 16 small, sharp claws walking on a mesh-shaped alloy plate.
I climbed onto the box, enjoying the stimulation of the hidden world that only Aimov could sense. As usual, I opened the box and took out two calorie bars.
One ate it on the spot, and the other just opened the bag and picked it up with its front legs.
'Then let's go.'
I put the remaining shells in the box and left the cargo hold. I returned to the passageway the same way I came and walked towards the laboratory.
When I arrived at the laboratory, I went straight to experiment tube number 26.
When the bubble amoeba that was drooping saw me, it greeted me with a wave of joy. Not only did they greet me, but their bodies also sparkled, showing their joy, which made me feel good too.
'I brought rice today too.'
"Bob."
The guy trembled and glowed even more brightly than before. I chuckled to myself and prepared to feed him.
After two days of monitoring Yujin Kisaragi and frequent visits to the laboratory, I learned one thing.
In the laboratory, an experiment was in progress to randomly awaken unknown characteristics latent in bubble amoeba. I'm not sure what powers this harmless mascot has, but the researchers seemed pretty confident.
'I didn't have any special abilities in the game. Is it just this person that is different or is the species different?'
I don't know why, but Subject 26 was receiving special treatment, and I thought I needed to build a positive relationship with him.
Even if it's not right away, it might be helpful to me later when I conquer the ship.
'Well, it's only half a hobby.'
I went to the test tube that dispensed food to test tube number 26 and opened the lid. Inside was a nutritional solution for minimal life support.
It was clear that it would clog if I put it in whole, so I cut it into small pieces with my front legs and dropped them into the test tube. The piece was delivered to the guy through a hose connecting the two test tubes. The bubble amoeba wrapped its entire body around a piece of calorie bar. I watched him and when I thought he had digested everything, I repeated the same task again.
After eating an entire calorie bar, the light slowly blinked to express that he was full.
'You seem to like it.'
I didn't know it when I was playing the game, but I think I understand why people are looking for bubble amoeba. If I see a guy emitting light in a certain rhythm in the water, I feel like I'm just going to lose my mind and just stare.
'person?'
At that time, someone broke into my cognitive range. They were researchers trying to enter the laboratory.
I quickly climbed into the vent and hid myself.
After a while, they entered the lab.
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