154

In front of the facility entrance—in other words, the reception hall—I had been sitting on the floor.

I had finally gotten clean enough that my own smell no longer bothered me, so I could say I had caught my breath.

I had ruined quite a few towels, but I had also gained things here, so it about evened out.

If anything, it seemed there was still plenty left untouched, so this place could even serve as a good warehouse.

It was not like I felt no resistance to using the facility where that meat mass had been, but abandoning a place with usable power would have been far too wasteful.

For the same reason, telling the elves about this place was also out of the question.

There was no need to rush improving relations right now.

More than anything, this was a property with good conditions for surviving the winter.

I had solved one problem, so giving it up was not an option.

It was a step forward, but there were still plenty of problems piling up.

The biggest of them was the Nemesis Code, and if I summarized the important points within what I currently knew, it looked like this:

The Nemesis Code was a self-destruct system installed in humans who had become weapons through genetic-modification technology that began with the Chimera Project.

In the end, a person’s rationality collapsed, and they became a monster while retaining their original form.

To avoid that, I needed to follow the information gained by eating humans who had become weapons under the same genetic-modification project.

However, genetically enhanced soldiers of the same type could not advance the stages.

Then why did such a function exist?

It was only speculation, but if there was a reason to invalidate code acquisition from the same model subject, it was probably to prevent someone who knew about the Nemesis Code from providing information—or to guard against leaks and collusion.

I still lacked information and nothing was certain, but if the circumstances that led to installing the Nemesis Code were as Lark Adamas had said, then given Dr. Zeta’s character, it was not impossible.

The problem was that the code was managed not by individual, but by type.

Thanks to that, I had effectively lost my third try.

Even if their appearance was completely different, that meat mass and the one called the Emperor had been the same type of genetically enhanced soldier.

Even if it had mutated, it would be treated as the same code, so since I had already obtained the code for the type called Ogre, there would be no change even if I ate that meat mass.

I thought it was ridiculous to label it cheating without considering any circumstances… but maybe the Genetically Enhanced Soldier Project itself had not been something that could produce large numbers?

If so, the fact that I had ended up on the “successful” side made me feel a strange, indescribable gratitude toward my own luck.

“…The situation hadn’t gotten worse. I had just obtained new information.”

I patted my knees and stood up.

Looking for a hot spring was tempting, but first I needed to turn this place into a base.

I did not think any of that meat mass remained, but it never hurt to be thorough.

So I started working.

For about two hours, I kept my hands moving in silence, going back and forth from one place to another.

I gathered anything that still seemed usable, and I nodded in satisfaction at the finished bed and the roughly made storage room.

I had placed junk around the ceiling, living area, and the bed so that it would make noise easily, expecting it to serve as an alarm in case any meat remained.

Since I could produce fire instantly with magic, I judged that I did not need elaborate devices.

For now, the base-building had progressed to a good stopping point, so I called it a day.

After everything that had happened since yesterday, my mind was honestly nearing its limit.

‘I had learned too much. Even to process it, I needed rest. Maybe I should just sleep for today.’

Once I thought that, things moved quickly.

I let my body sink into a pile of mattresses I had dragged in from places like a nap room, let out a sloppy “Aaah,” and closed my eyes.

And almost unbelievably easily, I let consciousness slip away.

When I woke up, the first thing I saw was the messy bed and the area around it.

“No, seriously—how bad had my sleeping posture been?”

Just by looking at the mattresses that were no longer within arm’s reach, it was clear I had rolled over, ended up moving all the way over here, and then made a mess of everything around me.

Even so, it felt like there should have been a limit, but maybe that meant I had been under that much stress.

“Looks like the emotion-suppression function had been working without me noticing,” I sighed once.

Not being able to accurately grasp my own mental state was a problem in its own right.

Anyway, first came cleanup.

I had made this bed with effort.

Having it trashed right after making it did not feel good.

While tidying up, I happened to glance at the clock and saw that noon had long since passed.

“So I had slept about ten hours.”

Knowing the time like this made it feel real that I had slept for a long while.

Then again, if I thought of it as ten hours over two days, maybe it was not that much—but considering this body’s specs, it still felt like more than enough sleep.

After finishing cleanup, I stepped outside without taking my baggage.

I nodded at the long shadows and the sun as indicated by the clock, then stretched under the sunlight.

Preparations were complete.

Now then… it felt like it had taken quite a while, but at last, it was time to test it.

I, a genetically enhanced soldier—Type Goliath—was the crystallization of Imperial technology that made it possible to capture an enemy base solo by switching between Stealth Mode and Assault Mode.

Stealth Mode went without saying.

So what was Assault Mode?

Yes—this, right here, was where I would test it.

“…All right! Assault Mode—activate!”

I struck a sharp pose and declared it.

But nothing happened.

When nothing changed even after waiting a while, I silently dropped the pose.

“Yeah. I knew it.”

Now then… where should I start testing from?