–
Approximately 80% of the humans living in AG-01 are homeless.
There are two options given to them. You can either sneak into an unmanaged facility or live on the street.
In that respect, Jeff can be said to be quite lucky.
This is because he owns a house thanks to subsidies from Daily Mars and credit obtained through drug dealing here. His home is in an apartment located on the outskirts of the old commercial city of AG-01.
From the safety of his home, Jeff was verifying information he had obtained using drug dealers.
In a dreary room without any decoration, a small hologram player was simultaneously outputting records such as photos and videos. Jeff carefully examined the hologram material.
“It’s a pandering between Shinoni and separatists.”
In the holographic video, neatly dressed men and those wearing shabby clothes and carrying weapons were shaking hands. Among them, the neatly dressed men are members of the Shinoni Cartel.
Until now, the biggest ally of the separatist forces was the Star Union. Megacorp-hating thugs secretly provided weapons to the Separatists. Without that, it would have been cleared out long ago by the T&C fleet remaining in the system.
‘I expected to find new reinforcements, but it’s the Shino Group.’
Recently, Megacorp and Star Union are going through the process of peace negotiations with each other. Naturally, the amount of weapons sent by cyborgs is decreasing.
Because of that, the separatist forces were being pushed back, but now it looks like they have found a new partner.
‘If it were any other pirate, I would have just overlooked it…’
The story is different when it comes to the Shinoni Cartel, a member of the Shino Group.
As far as Jeff knows, Sino Group has been active for less than a year. In that short time, they have grown into a huge cartel, competing for first and second place among the Space Dog cartels.
However, little information is known about their identities. The details of who organized the group and where its headquarters are are all kept under wraps. Even members of the organization only knew about the cartel they belonged to and rarely knew about the group as a whole.
However, everyone who is interested in pirates assumed that the Shino Group must have received support from someone.
But here Jeff reveals that the Shino Group is related to the separatist forces of Xer-11? The name Jeff will forever remain in the Megacorp press.
It’s a fun thing to think about, but there’s no need to get excited already.
Jeff looked away from the hologram and looked at the window. The sound of cascading rain hitting the thick window soothed his mood.
‘The problem is what did those terrorists give as bait?’
He thought while listening to the sound of rain.
To write an article, the causal relationship must be clear. If you just throw things around like common idiot reporters, you will end up being treated like trash.
What did the separatist forces promise the Sinoni Cartel? There must be an answer to this question.
‘The only thing the separatist forces can give is people.’
The easiest thing to obtain in AG-01 is none other than humans. Because wherever you go, there are people everywhere.
However, there are many better places to kidnap people. Things like the Wolf native village in the cult territory, the Megacorp colony, etc. There is no reason to come here.
‘If you’re not human…’
He manipulated the terminal and flipped through the video.
The next thing that came out was a photo.
The photo showed a large shadow reflected on the hazy fog. This photo was taken by a vagabond living in a sewage treatment plant.
“It might have something to do with this creature.”
Jeff received this photo from a druggie informant yesterday. When I first received it, the photo was in really bad condition, but thanks to using several editing programs, I was able to get the current result.
He frowned as he looked at the photo.
“No matter how you look at it, it’s not Gallagon.”
Jeff has never seen the real Gallagon. Instead, I saw several eyewitness accounts of Gallagon. So we know roughly what the creature looks like. The Master of Shadows looked nothing like Gallagon.
“And this is the head, right?”
Jeff used a terminal linked to the hologram to enlarge a part of the photo.
A long three-pronged shadow protrudes above what is assumed to be a wing. If that is a head, it means that the owner of that shadow has a total of three heads. No matter how you look at it, it is far from a normal creature.
“Three heads, unless you’re a Hulk mutant…no. for a moment.”
At that moment, Jeff felt the puzzle that had been scattered around his head coming together.
‘Originally, this place was intended to produce the Hulk mutant.’
Jer-11 is known only as a human resource production area in the world. However, Jeff knows about the secret of this place.
Originally, all three colonies on Jer-11, including AG-01, were biological weapons testing sites. It was a place prepared by TNC to develop the Hulk mutant without the Eugene family’s knowledge.
However, the secret project was canceled midway due to a sudden separatist movement.
Thanks to bribing a soldier from the security team, Jeff was able to access the data left behind by researchers at the end of the project. The researchers took only the important experimental data and left the test subjects and samples behind.
‘The security team is managing it, but the situation there is not good either.’
Because they do not receive proper support from TNC, they are using pirates as mercenaries. It is not at all strange that the managed Hulk mutant experiment secretly escaped.
‘It’s clear that the Separatists brought in the Sinoni Cartel in exchange for the Hulk Mutant.’
Maybe it’s even possible that the two forces are planning to link up and attack the laboratory where the samples are stored. T&C’s defense force is guarding the lab, but with the power of the Shino Group, it won’t be difficult to break through.
After occupying the lab, the Sinoni Cartel can take the Hulk mutant test subjects, and the Separatists can take the genetic samples.
“I guess I’ll have to meet the guy who took the picture.”
Jeff manipulated the terminal and sent a message to the drug dealer who had obtained the photo from the bum. I was planning to meet in person the tramp I had photographed through him.
I sent you a message telling you to come out and give you drugs, so you will receive a reply right away. When I met him during the day yesterday, I only gave him one pill, so he must be anxious by now.
After making contact, he looked out the window. Steam generated by the non-stop rain was enveloping the entire apartment.
Now it won’t be long before we see this scene. Of course, I am not disappointed at all.
With that thought in mind, he looked down at the terminal again.
“what?”
The reply from the guy who was definitely supposed to come. Still hasn’t come.
‘Did you get the medicine somewhere else? Why do not you answer?’
After that, I waited for about 30 more minutes, but there was no reply.
“…You damn bastard.”
I’m just about to put the last piece of the puzzle together, but I never thought the bully would be so uncooperative. Jeff was annoyed.
He let out a small curse and started to get dressed. Since the drug dealer didn’t contact me, I had no choice but to go to the sewage treatment plant and check.
He took the terminal and laser pistol and left the house.
When he left the apartment, a terrible raindrop greeted him. Jeff put on his hood and walked out onto the flooded street.
The sound of raindrops hitting the hood and the sound of water every time I took my steps stimulated my hearing. It was a sound he always heard every time he walked down the street, but Jeff felt a vague sense of discomfort.
Soon he realized the identity of the discomfort.
‘Why is there no one?’
The streets, which were always full of people, were empty. It wasn’t just quiet. There were no people in sight at all.
It seemed like there was no one even in the store. This is because the lights were on and there was no sign of popularity at all.
“….”
This is the first time I have seen something like this in two years of living. Jeff pulled out the pistol from his waist. Then, feeling very nervous, I entered a nearby store.
A song that is long out of fashion is playing through the speakers. There are only traces of people, and no actual guests or owners are visible.
“W-what is this?”
Jeff was horrified to see a suspicious black liquid on the floor of the store.
At first I thought it was sewage that had flowed back, but it wasn’t. Rather than water, it had a texture closer to tar that would come from a factory or something. Not only did it look good, but it also smelled really bad. Every time I took a breath, it felt like there were pieces of glass stuck in my nose and throat.
When he realized that the liquid covering the store was dangerous, he quickly ran out.
‘What the hell is going on?’
It is not normal for other stores on the street to be in this situation as well. This is a problem that can only be solved by the large cartels or TNC that dominate the streets.
The moment he came out with that thought in mind, Jeff froze.
A street where there was no one before entering.
In a place that looked hazy due to steam, hundreds of black figures suddenly appeared.
They looked as if they had risen from the ground and stood motionless in the rain that spread like a curtain.
Jeff, overwhelmed by the strange atmosphere, could not lift a finger.
Black figures approach him who cannot move. Strangely enough, there was no sound at all while I was treading water.
And even though he couldn’t see clearly because of the steam, Jeff could feel that they were watching him. The gazes sent by the unknown beings were extremely ominous and creepy.
“Fuck it!”
Jeff barely came to his senses and fired his laser pistol at ‘something’ that was creeping closer. A red bullet left the muzzle and hit a black seal.
There was a sound of a leather bag filled with water bursting, and the black figure’s head exploded.
A normal human being would have just collapsed, but the reaction of ‘something’ was completely different. Things like worms protruded from the torn neck area and lumped together into a head-like shape.
The beings lurking in the white vapor were not human.
‘We have to run away!’
When he realized that fact, he forced his loose legs and started to run away.
Jeff runs to his house with all his might. There was no sound of footsteps following.
But he kept running. Because I felt his cold, sticky gaze on the back of my neck. ‘They’ didn’t give up.
He ran all the way to the apartment and immediately ran up to the house. As he walked up the stairs, out of breath, a familiar smell passed his nose. It was the foul smell I had smelled in the store earlier.
He climbed up, almost crawling on all fours, entered the house and immediately closed the door.
As soon as I locked the lock, there was a strong impact on the door. The door shook as if two or three adult men had struck at the same time.
After the door shook loudly a few times, silence came.
Even if the knocking on the door stops, you can’t feel relieved. I couldn’t see it or hear it, but I could feel it.
That ‘something’ is waiting behind that door.
‘I need help too. right now!’
Finally, Jeff took out the terminal. It was to call the person who had purchased it in advance.
‘I can’t die here!’
I rotted here for two years for credit and fame. If he dies here, all the work he has done so far will end in nothing but trouble.
But this time, his intentions were not fulfilled. I tried to activate the communication function of the terminal, but the machine was completely unresponsive.
“Why is this again….”
Just as he was about to shout that he was not listening, Jeff felt a shock.
It wasn’t the shock that made the door ring like it did just now. What he felt was a slight vibration coming from his toes.
“….”
Now I felt the vibration again. This time, the sound was deeper than before.
Jeff slowly turned his head.
I see a window full of water droplets. The vibration rings again. The collected drops are falling down.
The scenery seen between the water marks was no different from before I left the house.
Except for one thing.
A black shadow was cast on the white curtain created by rain and steam. A black figure wriggled with vibrations that shook the room, or rather the entire apartment.
The moment he encountered it, Jeff realized why the tramp called him a ‘dragon’.
He did not call it that with the intention of referring to any creature or specific being.
What he wanted to talk about was the incomprehensible existence.
That being outside was neither Gallagon nor the Hulk Mutant.
Jeff, who saw the ‘dragon’ hand approaching, covered his eyes with both hands.
“Watch next episode”
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