032

Ep. 32

–

The next day, before going to work, Lars reported the strange man he had seen yesterday to the police.

Since he reported it, there was nothing he could do. The police will take care of the rest.

So he spent a busy day at work, completely forgetting about yesterday.

I was so absorbed in work that it was almost time to get off work. He quickly packed his bag and tried to escape this hellish place, but the team leader caught him.

"Las you bastard. "I can't go today."

Looking at the team leader's expression, it seemed like he would be fed to the mountain crawler if he just left. In the end, Lars had to work unwanted overtime along with other team members.

"…Team leader, such a bitch."

It wasn't until late at night that he was barely able to free himself from work.

Normally, I would have gone to a business to relieve my stress, but it was already late and I had a lot of time. I had to go home to go to work tomorrow.

Today, as usual, Lars bought synthetic liquor and walked out of the subway station in the residential district.

The streetlight that was broken yesterday had been restored to its original state and was emitting bright light. There were no suspicious people on the street illuminated by street lights.

On the way home, he saw the manhole again.

Unlike yesterday, the lid was closed tightly.

Looking at the manhole brought back the scary memories of yesterday. Lars swallowed his saliva and passed the manhole.

Fortunately, none of his fears occurred until he arrived at the apartment complex.

"phew."

After passing through the entrance of the complex, Lars sighed.

Thinking that he was relieved to have come this far, he looked up at the third floor hallway where his house was located.

There, Lars thought his heart had stopped.

There was something pitch black standing in the apartment hallway.

It had a long tail and four arms, and it moved with bizarre movements, opened the door of his house, and entered.

"…."

He took out the communicator without saying a word.

–

'It's narrow.'

As expected, Cyborg's house was not very spacious. The structure was similar to a one-room apartment consisting of a bathroom, living room, and veranda.

After deciding to target Cyborg, I checked everyone who lived in this apartment.

'Most people were going to work or sleeping during the day, so it was easy to conduct research.'

During the day, they roamed the rooftops and hallways to collect all the necessary information, including who to target first and when to change their appearance. If no one was there, we would go inside the house and look for traces, and if there was someone there, we would go outside and observe the inside from an auxiliary agency.

As a result of my diligent research, I learned that there are more species than I thought other than humans and cyborgs. There was an abundance of various foods, including scaly reptiles, coldbloods, half-human and half-animal races, and Wolff.

'It's a good thing because you have to be picky about the species you have to eat to become a sub-adult.'

From the semi-adult stage, the conditions for evolution become more complex than before.

'20 races that can transform, 20 humanoid races, 20 races that use psychic power. And…'

A total of 60 playable races must be consumed and one additional difficult condition must be achieved.

'The condition is to obtain 4 types.'

Space Survival is a game that emphasizes PK. Catching and eating other races is not very difficult for Aimorphs.

The problem is the condition of obtaining 4 of that type.

Currently, I have already obtained one physical enhancement type and am on the verge of getting a psychic enhancement type. Looking at it this way, it seems like we're halfway there, but if you think about the type penalty, there's still a long way to go.

'There were many users who quit here.'

Types are not unlocked simply by having more characteristics. Characteristics that act as keys to unlock type conditions are also needed, and it is bound to be difficult to collect related characteristics. Moreover, the predation effect does not necessarily occur.

So most Aimorph players gave up here and raised other races. In some ways, it might be a wise decision. The evolving conditions after subadult are much more difficult.

'Many alien races visit special trade centers, so it is easy to collect genes at once.'

It is inefficient to collect genetic essence by visiting each planet where the necessary species live. Attacking places where many people are gathered is the shortcut to rapid evolution.

In particular, Megacorp has diplomatic relations with cults, so there are quite a few cults who have moved to Megacorp in this special trade center.

'We can meet if we go to the central administrative district.'

If you eat them too, you will easily be able to achieve the requirement of eating 60 alien species.

'good. Well, I'm going to stay here for a while, so let's see what it's like.'

I took a close look at the entire house. No. 26 wandered around here and there, wondering if he liked this narrow and dirty space.

'The soundproofing isn't very good.'

It was the first thought that came to mind after looking around. The loud TV sound from the house next door and upstairs could be heard up to here.

'No one lives in the house below.'

I don't know if there will be any prospective tenants, but it is currently vacant. When it evolves into a subadult, its weight increases significantly, so you will quickly notice that the upper nest is strange from the lower nest.

'That was also calculated…huh?'

An auxiliary organ gave me a warning signal. Someone is coming from the hallway.

[Zuzuzu (come here)]

"Baby, what's wrong?"

[Zuzuzu (someone come)]

After calling number 26, I calculated my steps as I walked down the hallway. There are a total of 3 opponents. Cyborg and two people I didn't know followed along.

'police.'

I have no intention of fighting with public power anymore. I decided to hide inside the house.

–

"You said a monster entered the house, right?"

"yes."

"The door is fine."

"I opened the door and went in!"

"aha. "I see."

Lars was very frustrated with the police officers' carefree attitude. He obviously asked for all reinforcements to be sent when reporting, but the fact that only two came made him angry.

"Is that alcohol in your hand?"

"yes?"

"Looking at the records, I saw that you falsely reported seeing a strange person. "I was wondering if you were drunk."

"…."

A double curse almost came out, but Ras barely held back.

Las's class is low capital. If he was a middle capital, they would never have come out rudely like this.

The police are also low capital, but unlike them, they are public servants. Even though they are of the same class, they probably act like this because their status is higher.

Of course, Lass also treats non-capitals lower than him like dogs, but aren't all people like that? You can't remember what you did and only feel bad about what happened to you.

"I've received a report, so I'll check it out. "Open the door."

"…Ugh yeah."

Lars gritted his teeth and entered the password. The door opened and the police entered his house.

The police clicked their tongues when they saw Lars' house, which was difficult to call clean even with empty words.

"Oh, what a pigsty."

"Why don't you clean up your room and live there?"

When Lars gave them a look asking them to quickly check, they shook their heads. One policeman checked the bathroom and the other scanned the veranda.

"Isn't there anything in particular?"

"It can't be!"

"look. "There's no one in the bathroom, right?"

The police opened the bathroom door as if to show off, but there was no one inside. The only thing that greeted the owner was a dirty bathtub and a dirty toilet that didn't know when it had been cleaned.

'That can't be possible…'

No matter how much I looked, I couldn't see the monster, whether it was rising into the sky or falling to the ground. Even when he opened the curtains covering the veranda, all he could see was darkness covering the entire complex.

"Shall we check the refrigerator too?"

Lars nodded to the police officer who asked mockingly. The police officer laughed and opened the refrigerator.

It was filled with leftover sandwiches and synthetic liquor bottles.

"Tsk, please drink in moderation."

"This can't be happening! "I definitely saw it with my own eyes!"

"Tsk tsk, if you're a cyborg, change your eyes first."

Lars had no time to pay attention to the police's excessive verbal abuse. He didn't believe in ghost stories or ghosts at all, but the situation he was in now was unbelievably strange.

'I kept my eyes peeled until the police arrived…'

I thought he might have gone out through the window, but there was no sign that he had opened or closed it separately. And there was no way other houses wouldn't notice a monster crawling past the window.

"The other house reported it…."

"Hey. You're the only one who reported it. "Come to your senses."

"That can't be possible…!"

When Lars screamed, the neighbor next door banged on the wall as if to complain about the noise.

The police officers frowned at the pounding noise. It was clear on their faces that they didn't want to be in a place like this anymore.

"Hmm, I confirmed it wasn't inside the house. "Don't you have anything more to say?"

"…Such nonsense…"

"We also came while on patrol. If there is any problem again, please report it again."

With those words, the police left.

Lars, left alone, sat down on the bed.

If he reported it again, the other side would also file it, but it was obvious that the same situation would repeat itself.

'Fuck, did I see it wrong? Or did he really go out in the meantime?'

The police's attitude was by no means good, but they checked every place they could. The bathroom veranda and even the refrigerator. There was no longer room for monsters in this house.

'Ho, one more time just in case…'

Ras approached the bathroom, trembling. The door I open every morning felt unfamiliar today. He swallowed and opened the door wide.

It was the same as I had checked earlier. A cockroach was so scared when it saw Lars that it ran into the drain.

"…."

The ominous premonition ended with a premonition. Only after looking at the veranda did Lars feel at ease.

"Whew Nimmi. Is your body weak? "I see all this nonsense."

There is no expression more funny than saying that a cyborg has a weak body, but he was sincere.

He took out a bottle of synthetic liquor from the refrigerator, sat down on the bed, and turned on virtual TV. As I sipped my drink while looking at holograms of scantily clad women fawning over me, I definitely felt at ease.

Lars, who had finished drinking a bottle of synthetic liquor, was worried. I had to go back to work in a few hours, but it was clear that if I drank too much, I would have a headache all day.

"…Fuck, when did I ever care?"

Not only was he tempted to drink, but the feeling that he couldn't sleep without getting drunk also had a significant influence on his choice.

After emptying another bottle, he collapsed onto the bed. Although his house is a doghouse, he wanted to sleep like a top capitalist, so he bought a relatively large bed.

'It feels good.'

The wide, soft bed hugged him tightly. Drunkenness and comfort were eating away at his head.

'When I get off work tomorrow, let's pick a girl who looks like the team leader.'

While he was pledging to let go of all the stress he felt about her making him work overtime, he heard a sound in his ear.

I heard a shuffling sound as if something large was being moved from the house below.

That's that, that's that, that's that,

'You idiot, it's night. Let's do it during the day.'

He cursed under his breath and tried to fall asleep again. Just as he was about to fall asleep, he remembered an important fact.

No one lives in the house below him.

Just like that.

"…."

Lars came to his senses as if cold water had been poured all over his body. He wanted to think it was coming from another house, but this annoying sound that seemed to be piercing his ears was so close.

As if coming from under his large, wide bed.

The monster he saw. At first I thought it was really big, but when I thought about it again, it wasn't.

Excluding the tail, it's exactly about two-thirds of an adult male. To be exact, it was big enough to hide under the bed. As the thought

reached that point,

Lars' body began to tremble like an aspen tree. He barely opened his eyes, desperately praying that this time it was just a delusion.

When I turned my gaze away from the familiar ceiling and looked at my feet.

There, "it" was smiling, baring its teeth, with only its head removed.

–

Gary couldn't sleep because his neighbor was yelling at him at night.

"You crazy bastard, I really won't leave you alone this time."

He kicked out the door with a huff and knocked hard on the door next door.

"Hey you bastard! It's not coming out right away…sniff? "What does this smell like?"

As he was knocking on the door, he frowned at the unidentifiable smell. It was a strange smell, like the smell of iron from a hardware store mixed with some unknown pheromone.

'Why the smell of iron in the middle of the night?'

He thought it was strange because of the sudden smell, but the door opened.

"It's night, why do you keep making so much noise? "Did you rent this place?"

"sorry."

In response to Gary's anger, Lars, the man who lives next door, apologized. Gary tried to throw out a bunch of curses, but couldn't.

Lars looking at him felt strange somehow. Gary had a vague idea of what he looked like because they had met him a few times.

The current Lars was clearly not normal.

'What's so scary?'

He was looking at Gary with an expressionless face, without blinking his eyes at all. Overwhelmed by that sight, Gary was speechless.

"It's night. "I hope you'll be more careful."

"sorry."

"You just need to know. "Be careful going forward."

Seeing him just say sorry over and over again like a broken machine, Gary wanted to get out of this place right away. I just roughly told him to be careful and he went into his house.

So I couldn't hear what Lars said.

"The next target has been decided."

–

When I returned home after sending the neighbor away, No. 26 was looking through the refrigerator. The guy stuffed the sandwiches from the refrigerator into his body one by one.

"hungry. I want to eat.」

[Zuzuzu zuzu (Eat a lot)]

Leaving No. 26, who was walking around and gathering food, I grabbed an arm that was lying on the floor that was covered in blood.

'It doesn't taste good.'

Surprisingly, lars was the second least tasty of all the foods I had ever eaten. His flesh smelled of alcohol and rot, like old meat. Excluding calorie bars that have no taste at all, it would be safe to say that they are the most tasteless.

'It seems there is a correlation between health and taste.'

At first glance, he didn't seem like a person with healthy eating habits, but I didn't expect it to taste bad. I was a little worried that I would have to eat similar types of intelligent beings in this apartment from now on.

'Tsk. 'I have to force myself to eat it.'

In order to evolve, you must at least eat all of these cyborgs. As I somehow ate it all, the text window sent me a message congratulating me on my hard work.

｢The evolution conditions for 'fluid' – > 'subadult' have been met. Do you want to evolve?"

I originally planned to finish it on the Megacorp research ship, but it ended up being too far back.

[Zuzuzzu zuzuzu (I will become Al for a moment)]

｢Al? Why does it become an egg even though it's a baby?"

[Zuzuzu Zuzu (To become bigger)]

"Are the babies going to become big babies?"

[Zuzuzu geug (Yes, don't worry)]

No. 26 might be surprised, so I told him I agreed after telling him in advance.

The time has come to truly enjoy the majesty of the subadult that we briefly tasted with Psionium.