139 Expedition Arc 24 Dialogue 1

Sorry I'm late. Apologies.

Why has Neahyoom, who briefly became friendly after acquiring a biological body, turned so malevolent?

There’s only one way to find out: ask Neahyoom themselves.

Options are: analyze the core’s memories, establish dialogue with the core and listen in, or talk directly to Neahyoom—the one who now possesses a biological body, the organic-type Neahyoom.

We’ll leave extracting data from the core to Gail’s research facility. Given time, they’ll produce something—anything.

The organic-type Neahyoom hasn’t been confirmed to exist yet. Suspicious? Sure. But we haven’t even made contact.

At the very least, Neahyoom is still treating humanity as raw material, continuing their expansionist path without pause.

They’ve shown nothing but hostile behavior. So far, fighting seems to be the only option left.

For now, even organic-type Naihyūmu should be identifiable as long as they have a core—using the identification method we acquired straight from the True Empire.

The Naihyūmu invading from the neighboring spiral arm won’t be persuaded to leave through dialogue. We’ll have to wipe them out.

Our interception system is gradually becoming viable thanks to mass production of the Dimensional Radar.

And it’s coming in the form of orders from the imperial homeland—so here in my territory, we’re getting a manufacturing boom, and the economy’s picking up as a side effect.

Whether it’s factory satellites producing the Dimensional Radars or our own merchant ships transporting them, it’s all part of the same chain.

Importing refined raw materials for efficient production, and active mining and refining within our own system—this is all going strong.

A welcome development for any new star system.

The star systems receiving the Dimensional Radars are being prioritized by threat level, and are being activated in sequence.

"Alright, early-warning readiness for Neahyūm and containment of spread are now on track. Just need to figure out what to do with the contaminated star systems."

Currently, any departure point where infected ships have been confirmed is being treated as contaminated and sealed off.

Which, as expected, was the star systems controlled by the Second Prince (Henry) and Third Prince (Ethan).

Ethan’s system had already been wiped clean during the previous eradication campaign—nearly all combat vessels were contaminated and destroyed. We thought the operation was complete.

But if the organic form of Neahyūm had hidden on the planet’s surface and found some way to spread the infection, then we missed it.

That’s probably why the remaining ships and civilian vessels got infected.

Seems like the real Empire’s records claiming infection from organic Neahyūm is no longer possible… might be wrong. Something’s happening differently now.

Hmm. Can’t we somehow communicate—capture or even just talk to that organic near-hyume?

Guess we’re just gonna have to confirm the infection on Ethan himself—he’s the most suspicious one.

When it comes to investigating the prince's domain and the prince himself, I can only consult Kyle—emperor's representative.

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"Your Imperial Representative, I have a matter of great urgency to discuss."

"What’s with the formal talk? Cut that shit out. It’s gross."

I requested a meeting in the virtual space from the Emperor's Proxy, Kyle.

We gather in a virtual conference room, draped in avatars, over a secure line.

I straightened up, emphasizing that this meeting was of vital importance to the empire’s survival.

Of course it's a perfect avatar of the real thing? We’re not using idol avatars here, okay?

"Got it. There’s some old资料 on Neihyum here—read through it."

I loosen my tone, nudging Kyle into action. He starts reading the documents brought in from the True Empire.

Naturally, we don’t mention the True Empire directly. We frame it as unearthing some long-buried old records.

"Interesting. So the Neihyum invasion was halted peacefully in the past?"

"Yeah. But we don’t know when it turned vicious—or how it got to where it is now."

"True. Even the imperial archives I’ve access to only say they’re humanity’s arch-enemies, irreconcilable foes."

"Accessing the captured core data’s been handed over to a researcher claiming descent from the old empire. But that’ll take time."

Gale, of course.

Kyle knows I seized the research facility during the Earth-human abduction cloning incident, so I didn’t bother hiding my identity from Gale.

“We’re weak in research and development.

I’ve always thought we needed to do something for the nation’s future.

I understand it’ll take time to get results from that researcher.”

“So I figured I’d ask him directly.”

“Huh? Him?”

Kyle’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Yeah. Probably Ethan’s an organic-type Near-Hyume, so talking to him might actually work.”

“Straight to the point, huh!”

Kyle deadpans at my words.

“So you want me to grant permission for questioning the prince… and issue a mandatory order for him to comply?”

“Smart as ever, Kyle. Fast learner. You’ve got this high-ranking imperial proxy role now—might as well use the power.”

Kyle hesitates for a moment.

“So who exactly do you expect to conduct this interrogation?”

"Obviously, me, right?"

"Rejected. Akira’s out."

"Why not!"

"Come on. You know why. I can’t have you getting contaminated."

"Kyle… you’re not serious…"

"No way!"

My face flushed at the confession, and Kyle shot back with full force.

It’s a joke, okay? No BL keywords here.

"Let the organic android handle the interrogation."

"But if Ethan’s the real deal, a low-ranking one might bruise his pride and shut up."

"Then I’ll use my stand-in."

Who knew even the first prince had a body double!

"Got it. Let’s go with that."

Will we even be able to talk to Neahyume?

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