Chapter 1043: Another Capture Job

We were led to another building in the centre of the outpost, this one being a rectangular building that actually looked the most normal out of all the buildings here.

The dogs were also following us and, as expected, the guard told us to leave the dogs and our Power Armours outside the building before we stepped inside.

Once again, Renata stayed with Patricia while everyone else followed me into the building.

The interior of the building was less prim and immaculate as the previous building we had been to and looked more ’raw’.

By that, I mean that instead of the white and featureless walls and floors, this one had a dark, metallic grey interior and there were exposed pipes and machines scattered around the place.

Instead of a corridor leading to hidden rooms, this one was just a wide open space with different machines arranged in different parts of the hall.

I then noticed that while most of the building had the dark, metallic grey coloration, there were still some scattered parts here and there that were white in colour and there were also grooves in some places where it looked like there used to be a wall there but had been removed.

I’m assuming this place also used to be designed just like the previous building we were in but they had to strip everything out when they had to refurbish the place to suit their needs for... Whatever they were trying to do here.

Also, that told me that these buildings were most likely prefabs that this group had brought here to set up quickly, probably something that they are used to doing which actually gave me more concerns...

The guards brought the carts that contained the last of the bugs towards another side of the hall where there were still open spaces available, and where I noted the previous bugs we brought for them were now in vats that were filled with a bluish liquid.

I watched as the containers on the cart slid off to float above the ground beside the cart, like they were being magnetically moved to that new position before a stand popped out from the ground to ’catch’ the containers.

The same liquid then flooded into the container to submerge the bug and the bugs tried to struggle free from the liquid but when the liquid reached the halfway mark on the capsule, it started to solidify into a jelly like substance to lock the bug in place.

The rest of the vat was filled up by the liquid and the bugs were stuck in the jelly, unable to move.

Once the jelly stopped the bugs from moving, a robotic arm appeared at the bottom and pushed through the jelly to reach the bug, injecting something into it before retreating again.

The jelly then turned into liquid again and the bug was no longer moving, though the air bubbles coming from it showed that they were all still alive.

Interesting... It’s like they’ve already figured out the most efficient way to capture and experiment on live test subjects at this point...

"Just to be sure... Your job does not involve any of us being stuck in one of those vats, are you?" I asked, eyeing the guard leading us carefully.

He did not turn around as he continued to lead us, "I know my words might not assure you and what you’ve seen so far probably will not help our case either. So I’ll just tell you the truth that there is nothing new we can learn from experimenting on any of you."

His words might actually sound a little reassuring when I first heard it, but then I realised that the reason why they could not learn anything new was because they have already done this before and learned all that they could learn from previous subjects so there was no need to get more test subjects for further experimentation.

As though reading my mind, Amber leaned over close to me to whisper, "They took convicts and criminals on death row for the experiments. They didn’t kidnap innocent people to do those experiments."

Just as I was feeling a bit assured of that, Yumiko leaned to whisper in my other ear, "That’s what they say at least... There’s actually no proof that they didn’t just kidnap people to experiment on them either. And if you ask me, I’m pretty sure they did."

Ugh... I guess I should keep the fact that I was from another universe a secret from these people then...

Anyway...

"Who are these people? Do we know them?" I asked.

Mara nodded, "GenoTrend Corporation, Captain... One of the main companies that specialises in making Gene mods."

Ah... Figured it would be something related to that...

Which means the experiments here are most likely them trying to exploit the bugs to make some kind of gene mod or something...

Which means the job they want us to do is most likely also linked to this gene mod thing.

We continued to the far end of the building where a large terminal had been set up with giant screens projected all around and several people in white lab coats working on each screen.

There was one person in particular who was standing in the middle of everyone and was typing away furiously on a holographic keyboard as he moved even more screens around him, each of them displaying a bug with various numbers and graphs beside the pictures.

"Professor," The guard called out.

The man did not even slow down his fingers nor turn back to look at who was calling out to him when he answered, "What is it? This better be important."

"Yes. I have brought the people who brought the live samples to you. You said you wanted to meet them."

The guy finally paused for a moment and went right back to typing, "Yes. I did. Give me a moment."

All of us just waited behind him for a full minute before he finally finished what he was doing and dismissed the screens to turn back to face us.

He was an elderly man with frizzled white hair and a pair of glasses on his face which seemed to serve as an additional screen for him to work with instead of an aid for visual impairment.

I then realised this guy was an Alv since he had a pair of long ears, or at least he looked like one.

I had to peek at Lea to make sure this wasn’t a gene mod since I remember the last time we met a human who had simply modded himself Alv ears and she had quite a bit to say about the guy because of that.

She caught my gaze and gave me an imperceptible nod, showing that the guy in front of us was indeed a real Alv and not a modded human.

The guy narrowed his eyes at me as a blue screen appeared on the edge of his glasses, his gaze shifting to it before looking back at me.

"Interesting... No records aside from your Mercenary status. You’re not even tied to any organisations... Very well then. I have a job for you Mercs. Fulfill it and you will be paid for it. As simple as that."

Amber crossed her arms at him, "Not even going to introduce yourself?"

He scoffed at her, "There is no need for people like you to know me. What’s the use of that knowledge to you? Would it give you any advantage or serve any purpose? Not at all. So let’s just get right to the point. You might not have realised this but we are trying to further science by researching these marvelous creatures. I won’t bore you with the details since I doubt any of you would understand, but we basically have a specific bug we need you to catch. Alive."

He waved his hand and another screen appeared, revealing a humanoid bug that had jet black carapace and red compound eyes, looking quite menacing.

The screen then expanded to show that the bug was about twice my height and had four arms and two legs, each of the limbs ending in sharp claws.

Behind its back was four pairs of insect wings and on its face were mandibles that looked like it could chew through steel.

The difference between the other humanoid bugs was that this one did not look like a rhinoceros beetle and looked closer to a humanoid shape with a round, angular head and lean body.

"This particular specimen is very valuable," The professor continued. "More valuable than all of you. So I want you to capture it and return it to us unharmed and alive. Do that and you will have my appreciation. That is all. You can leave now."

He then turned back and went right back to typing on his holographic keyboard with the screens floating in front of him, completely ignoring us as if we were subjects that he was no longer interested in.

Wow... Are all scientists in this universe this rude and arrogant?

Can I just kick his ass real quick?