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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Predator Sense
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'Predator Sense?'
I double-checked the traits listed in the text box.
⚔ STATUS ⚔
🧬 Species: Unidentified Hostile Space Creature
📊 Status: Hatchling
🎯 Goal: Survive
🔹 Traits: Predator Sense (Fusion), Wings, Chitinous Shell, Robust Life Force, Paralysis Stinger
I knew that Space Survival had a trait fusion system. It let you combine two or more related traits into a single, enhanced one.
Even seemingly useless traits could transform into powerful ones through fusion, so I'd made active use of it myself.
I'd exploited it so much that I'd memorized every trait in the game and all the fusion recipes.
'A trait I don't know about?'
No matter how many times I looked, it was something I'd never seen before.
'Detects threats in advance, huh.'
The game had traits related to future prediction, but they were usually implemented as simple evasion rate boosts.
To be blunt, they sounded good but weren't actually useful.
'But this is reality. I wonder how it'll work.'
Just like when I used Super Sense, I focused my senses on my auxiliary organs.
The thin, tentacle-like auxiliary organs attached to my jaw wriggled, reading the information floating in the air.
Thanks to the upgrade, the amount of data I gathered was on a whole different level.
I could even tell what insects were in the cargo hold and what shape the weapons inside the containers were in.
But the future precognition effect I was hoping for didn't trigger. Probably because no threat was coming my way.
'Passive type, then.'
It wasn't necessarily bad that it was an automatically activating passive. Threats could strike out of nowhere, so it was still a net gain.
'Eating a mammal gives way more energy, though.'
The vitality coursing through my body was one thing, but the satiety was on another level entirely. My shell covering my belly and back even felt a little taut.
Basking in that pleasant fullness, I returned to my nest.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Historians say Mega Corp originated from seven corporations on Earth and Mars that colluded to maximize their profits.
The government couldn't stand merchants eyeing their position, so they declared war on the seven conglomerates.
After countless sacrifices that turned the seas red with blood, the final victors were the seven corporations.
Thus began the era where every planet in the solar system bowed to a single massive corporate alliance—Mega Corp.
Afterward, of the seven founding companies, the five headquartered on Earth became the five great families of the Noble Capital, while the two on Mars became Mars's aristocratic Prime Capital.
Among the Noble Capital's five great families ruling Earth, the Eugene Family might come as a surprise, but it started as a small agricultural company.
The Eugene ancestors had recognized the potential of genetically modified foods early on and poured massive investments into genetic engineering.
This tradition continued into the space age. As a result, the Eugene Family possessed some of the galaxy's top genetic engineering technology.
It was thanks to her family's background that Kisaragi Eugene could become such an exceptional geneticist.
Having shown genius from a young age, the family invested heavily in her.
With that upbringing, she'd never known the feeling of deprivation. She got whatever she wanted, and even if she couldn't have it right away, it would fall into her hands soon enough with a little patience.
So maybe that's why.
She struggled to accept that she'd lost something she owned for the first time in her life.
"When can I see Kaiser?"
"The soldiers are searching, so if you just wait a bit longer..."
"It's already been two hours! Kaiser never misses mealtime. Something must have happened!"
Anyone who knew Kisaragi would be shocked by her appearance. Her neatly maintained black hair was disheveled, and her usual icy expression was gone.
Right now, she was little short of a madwoman.
Captain Yuseong Samuel sighed as he watched her, clearly out of her mind.
"This is a ship. Unless the cat hijacked an escape pod, it's somewhere onboard."
"That's why I'm telling you to find it right now!"
"What I'm saying is, if you wait, there'll be good results."
Yuseong was a Third Capital from the satellite Titan. Not a low class by any means, but nothing compared to the Noble Capital in front of him. If she told him to step down as captain, he'd have to relinquish his position—the gap between them was that wide.
With the person holding his life in her hands half-mad, even Yuseong felt like losing it.
'What the hell is so special about that cat!'
He barely suppressed the urge to scream that he didn't deserve this torment.
"What about the guards? What happened to them?"
"They're all detained. We'll follow due process once we reach our destination..."
"Execute them immediately."
"Pardon?"
Yuseong thought he'd misheard.
"Captains have summary execution rights, don't they? Use that authority right now."
"Executing them over something like this will unsettle the other soldiers."
"Something like this?"
Meeting her murderous glare, Yuseong cleared his throat and backpedaled.
"Ahem, what I mean is, shouldn't we discuss punishments after the search makes some progress? Nothing more."
"Have you forgotten this all happened because the soldiers didn't do their jobs?"
Yuseong knew it well. The crew wasn't exactly fond of the cat.
Even he, the captain, only got fresh meat once a week, filling up on cultured stuff the rest of the time.
'While that damn furball gets beef every meal.'
If even he hated the cat that much, how must the soldiers feel?
There had to be more than a few cheering at its misfortune.
But voicing that would direct her rage at him, so Yuseong kept his mouth shut.
"I'm fully aware of your concerns, Research Team Leader. I'll use this as an opportunity to tighten discipline among the soldiers."
"...I'll be back in two hours. If there's no progress by then, you'd better take off that hat."
Kisaragi warned Yuseong and left the captain's quarters.
'Where the hell are you?'
She hadn't been sitting idle while the soldiers searched.
Using hairs left on the cushion, she'd made a tracker to pinpoint where Kaiser had gone.
The device worked perfectly, but the results left her baffled in reverse.
Her cat had gone somewhere it couldn't possibly reach by normal means.
Kaiser had unscrewed the grate in the ventilation duct, headed to the cargo hold, and vanished.
It screamed human involvement, so she summoned the cargo hold manager.
He had a solid alibi—he'd been drinking in the mess with colleagues all day. But he'd still neglected his duties, so she tried to kill him.
If the captain hadn't intervened, the manager would have been cast into the eternal void of space.
Suppressing her killing intent with effort, she dragged the trembling manager through every corner of the cargo hold.
Kaiser's trail ended near a container. And there were traces left by some unidentified creature. She collected samples, ran them through the analyzer, but all it spat out was "No data."
'Genetic info not even in the Mega Corp database.'
Even for her, building a tracker for something with zero data wasn't easy. She could do it, but it would take longer than usual.
At best a day to finish the machine; two days if she added steps to boost success rate.
Kaiser wouldn't die from a day or two without food, but she felt an inexplicable anxiety.
Something was definitely wrong.
Her instincts screamed that something horrific had happened in the cargo hold.
That's why she'd hounded the innocent captain to find it fast.
'Whoever you are, if you touched what's mine, I'll kill you.'
Unconsciously, she bit her nail. The blood dripping from the tip revealed her emotions plainly.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
'Hm?'
As I lay in my nest leisurely digesting, I sensed changes in the ship.
The humans were more frantic than usual. They'd realized the cat was missing.
Thanks to my upgraded auxiliary organs, I could even roughly make out the humans' appearances. Stocky builds and forceful movements—they were all soldiers out searching.
Soldiers scrambling on empty stomachs to find a pet they didn't even like. Military unfairness was alive and well in the space age.
'Everything's going according to plan.'
Killing the cat netted me two big gains.
First, clouding Kisaragi Eugene's judgment.
Considering her behavior and the cat's well-fed state, she doted on her pet. A devil to test subjects and researchers, but an angel to animals she raised.
People who only act human toward what they cherish aren't rare. And they share another trait.
'Lose something in their grasp, and they snap.'
She wasn't worried about the pet dying or being in danger. She was furious that a stranger had stolen her possession. She'd react the same even if it was her least valuable item.
An irrational possessiveness—obsession, plain and simple.
And the obsessed can't stay rational.
Second, sowing discord between Kisaragi Eugene and the soldiers.
The biggest obstacle to ambushing her was the guards. With soldiers shadowing her everywhere, a surprise attack was nearly impossible.
Even if I somehow took her out, if the soldiers spotted me afterward, the losses would outweigh the gains.
So I created an opening.
By driving a wedge between her and the soldiers.
'The guards didn't like the cat.'
They couldn't touch meat themselves, yet it went to cat food—who wouldn't be pissed?
Honestly, the cat was just an excuse; the root was class resentment. Forcing absurd unfairness just because she was Noble Capital, but too scared of repercussions to complain directly.
'Master's scary, but the pet isn't.'
In short, her cat had served as a shield.
What happens when that scapegoat vanishes?
Especially when it's someone they hated, and now they're slaving away to find it?
Would the soldiers still loyally protect her like before?
And it wasn't just them. Kisaragi Eugene no longer trusted the soldiers either.
Their negligence was the main reason her treasure was gone.
'Heh, thanks for the assist, kitty.'
They never imagined a worthless lump of meat could trigger this butterfly effect.
I rose from my spot.
Plant the seeds, then reap the harvest—that's the way of the world.
The time had come to claim Kisaragi Eugene's genetic essence.