Procedural Memory

'You're 50 years too young to beat me!' He thought.

*Bratatatat*

Hikaru shuddered from the barrage of bullets and one of them tapped his head. He died instantly.

Or at least, that's what should have happened. Hikaru had enlarged his tentacle during the run and used it to block the smg's barrage. The spongy and thick tentacle absorbed the kinetic energy of the bullets, enough that none of them pierced through.

Shocked, Genji shot with his revolver. Hikaru continued pushing as if he was holding a ballistic shield. Genji pointed to Hikaru's feet and shot. Hikaru kneeled as his right heel was holed.

*Click*

Upon running out of bullets, he took out a bayonet to finish Hikaru. The tentacle shield uncurled and smacked Genji up the stairs and into the wall.

Genji lifted his head and attempted to stand but Hikaru slammed the tentacle hard on his head like a guillotine. Genji's head had burst like a crushed watermelon.

His teammates and parasites from other teams came in to check the situation.

"He's dead. Go clear up the bodies except for the residents of this house before the police get here." Hikaru commanded.

He took a moment to heal his tentacle and leg. He had an inspiration just then. After he healed them, he carried Genji and his firearms and chucked them in the truck. They then left the scene to headquarters. Soon after the police, ambulance and firefighters arrived.

***

Sirens whistled as a lone police car drove down a dark road. At first, officer Arata and Hiromichi were dispatched to a gun shooting call now it had changed to a possible gang-related war with explosives. It was likely that this case was connected to the incident at the precinct.

High beams appeared in a distance. After a while, they passed by a medium-sized moving van that fit three seats on the front.

"What's a moving truck doing this late at night?" Arata rhetorically said to himself but hoped that his partner could shed light.

"Maybe they're going home. They had a late meal or something."

Hiromichi stated the obvious and wasn't interested. He took this opportunity to get a leg up on Arata to feel superior. He was compensating for the fact that if Arata could get it on with the girl he called dibs on (albeit internally) and was more skilful, then he must be the smarter one. Even if he was trying to win an insignificant sortie.

Hiromichi wasn't a bad person this was his only flaw.

Arata didn't pay attention to Hiromichi's tone as he was focused on the truck. It was unlikely the truck had anything to do with the attack in the neighbourhood but his instincts made him feel suspicious.

The truck was driving away from a residential area, there were no shopping districts there except possibly a convenience store or an isolated family-owned restaurant. Was it a coincidence that the truck was going home in the opposite direction to the scene of the crime so close to the time of the incident?

If he wasn't dispatched to the explosion site, he would have followed the truck even if his partner thought he was paranoid. They were approaching the street where it happened.

In the middle of the road was part of a wrecked vehicle that was blackened by flames. Most of the fire had gone out, only bits of orange ambers and the smell of burnt rubber was still around. There was a black scorch mark stretching and diffusing radially from the blast on the asphalt road.

Being the first on the scene, they had an important job to do. Secure the area and any survivors. However, they could not investigate or move too far as they needed to wait for backup.

***

Along the way, Hikaru absorbed Genji and his guns. He had vastly improved his absorption speed since Aimi. It originally took ten minutes to swallow someone whole. It only took 4 minutes now. The time was decreasing each person he absorbed. His parasitic cells were getting used to breaking down and rebuilding human cells.

Daichi had given him and Kazumi permission to eat three bodies per day. Junpei wasn't allowed. Botan already had a head start on that. The enhanced also needed food for energy and the bulk material to construct their weapons and augment their strength.

Hikaru most of the time absorbed the brain tissue first as he would access their memories. He could obtain 1% of their total skills. For example, Genji had military training. By absorbing his procedural memory, he had increased his firearm skills by 1% of Genji's peak ability.

This wasn't much, but if he absorbed a lot of people with similar experiences, he could become proficient with firearms. He could also learn the hard way by rewatching their memories but that would take a lot of time.

Right now, it was more beneficial for him to spend time with his transformation abilities and absorbing people. By absorbing people's dexterity, agility and other attributes, he would improve faster in training.

They reached Daichi's house and unloaded 57 bodies in the basement. The procreator has grown much larger in a single night. She was now over 2 metres tall. She wasn't just taller, every aspect of her gigantified especially her fat.

Botan led them to Daichi's office that was in the living room.

The living room was huge. It was an open space where the kitchen was in the corner. The wall where the kitchen was attached met a wooden wall two-thirds of the way. The wooden wall was thinner and separated the living room from the office with a double door. The design fit so well that it was hard to tell if that compartment was a renovation or part of the blueprint.

A couple of people had walked out of the office, leaving the door open. They had just finished reporting to Daichi. Hikaru's team was led into the office by Botan who then stood next to Daichi.

Daichi sat on a brown leather chair that was his father's. The desk, golden typewriter and desktop computer were all his father's belongings.

He looked up from piles of paper laid out on the desk and had a serious look on his face. Right now, he had the presence of a CEO in a large company that was investigating why his regional market was facing an all-time low in sales.