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The Apocalypse Grinder - Chapter 212
🕑 Added 2025-09-08 21:01:32 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 211 | Index | Chapter 213 >>
The head technician seemed to take Ronan’s last threat seriously. Ronan couldn’t really tell the genders or sexes or whatever of these aliens, and it was possible they were completely different to humans, but there was one universal similarity. Every being, no matter what race, had parts they didn’t want to lose. The technician gulped and slumped down against the wall.
“Fine, give me the potion and I’ll tell you what you want to know. I won’t help you do anything to the city, though. I’m no traitor.” The white-uniformed grathen reached out to Ronan’s hand that held the potion, waving a stump at him.
Ronan scoffed and pulled it away. “You’re not getting this until you tell me everything. Now, I was told that Kayir was the central logistics hub for the entire planet. All the other cities on Border World 13 receive their food and supplies from here and there are no other routes onto the planet. Is that true?”
The technician coughed. “Fuck you. Give me the potion or I won’t tell you anything.”
Ronan sighed. This was going to be difficult. He twirled the vial between his fingers, staring at it while considering his options. The technician would be fine for a while, given that he’d healed most of its wounds with his sorcery. It didn’t need the potion, it was just being difficult.
Ronan suddenly jerked and smashed his foot into the technician's face. The grey jaw snapped to the side and a spray of blood from its mouth splashed against the floor. Ronan grabbed its head and pulled it back to face him.
“You will answer my questions, and then I will give you the potion. Or, I’ll keep cutting. Your choice.” Standing back up, he stared down at the pitiful grathen.
The alien coughed once more and wiped the blood from its mouth. “Why are you doing this? Border World 13 barely has any value to the Federation. We’re just a nearly-depleted mining world.”
“You aren’t the one asking the questions here. Now, tell me if the information I received previously is true.”
“Yes, whoever let that slip was telling the truth. All transport from beyond the atmosphere must land in Kayir. We are the only city with a spaceport on the planet. The logistics network is centred around the supercomputer hub here.” The technician waved around the room as it spoke.
“I see. And you directly control everything, or is it automatic? Are the ships piloted by other grathen, or do they self-pilot?” Ronan needed to know everything about the resource routes if he wanted his plan to work.
The technician looked at him like he was an idiot. “Do you seriously not know? What kind of idiot—” A fierce glance from Ronan made it shut up and keep talking. “Every day I review the routes with the other technicians for efficiency, but the computer runs them during any given day. All the ships have grathen pilots who take their courses from the central hub and have flight assistance.”
His plan was growing more concrete by the moment. With him in control of this room, provided he could manipulate the computer organising the routes, he could starve the entire planet and conquer it in one fell swoop. It would save him a lot of effort, but the battle when they realised what he’d done would be more intense than a slow sweep of the entire planet would have been.
Ronan didn’t mind that. Big battles were always more exciting.
“I need to shut off all flights out of Kayir. You will help me do this, or you will experience hell.” He didn’t know if the Grathen had a concept of hell, but hopefully the translation skill would turn it into an equivalent. “Can you control the bubble from here as well?”
The technician coughed before trying to reply. “Never! I won’t betray my oath to the Federation. Bastard.” It suddenly reared up, before attempting to smash its head into the ground again.
Some people never learned their lesson the first time. Ronan grabbed the technician and lifted it to face him. “That isn’t going to work. You made your choice.”
He conjured a knife and with a swift movement, slashed the technician’s ear off. It screamed, but he pressed it against the wall and covered its mouth. The grey skin was slimy, which grossed him out, but he was covered in enough blood and gore to make a bath out of it, so there was no use complaining about a little extra.
Blood dripped from the severed ear, the piece of flesh itself lying on the ground with an artful crimson spray as a backdrop. When the technician stopped yelling through his arm, Ronan stepped back and released it slightly. “Now, you will help me work this machine, or you will lose more pieces. It’s up to you.”
There was a burning hatred in its glazed eyes as it stared at him. “You will suffer for this. There are soldiers on this planet far more powerful than you. I only hope they make you experience the same pain you are willing to inflict on us, simply for doing our jobs. Take me to the main panel and I will do what you demand.”
Ronan lifted it with one arm and walked towards the glowing screen it had pointed at. Halfway towards it, the technician suddenly spat a glob of blood at him and tried to leap out of his grasp.
It failed utterly, his fingers not even budging a millimetre. Ronan slashed its other ear off, causing it to start yelling and cursing at him while waving its stumps. He didn’t enjoy inflicting such suffering, but he had made a threat and if he didn’t make good on it, the technician wouldn’t take him seriously.
He slammed the crippled grathen in front of the screen. “Cancel all flights out of the city until further notice. If the pilots ask why, tell them there’s a dangerous monster outside the bubble. If you try anything funny, I’ll cut something else off, and it seems as though we’re getting to the nasty bits. Also, make sure the bubble stays up at full strength.”
The technician closed its eyes briefly. The panel lit up and the unfamiliar grathen script started flowing across it. All of a sudden, an alarm started blaring. “Fucking idiot!”
Ronan smacked the crap out of the technician and rushed towards the panel. He could understand the script, but it was flowing across the screen rapidly and made it hard to follow. As best he could tell, the technician had sent some kind of SOS signal out to the rest of the city, and perhaps the whole planet.
There was only one option left, if he wasn’t able to get the stubborn bastard to cooperate. Ronan conjured a shortsword and beheaded the technician as it crawled across the floor.
You have killed [Kirug - Grathen Logistics Officer Lv.71]!
Enemy killed with a critical hit, 1.5x Experience gained!
+48 Bronze Credits
+671 Copper Credits
+8 [Bow] Mastery
+7 [Mana IV] Mastery
+4 [Stamina IV] Mastery
+11 [Dagger I] Mastery
+4 [Sword III] Mastery
+2 [Leadership] Mastery
+Grathen Neural Link Lv.60 (Rare)
+Broken Laser Rifle Lv.68 (Uncommon)
You have leveled up to Lv.67!
You have leveled up to Lv.68!
You have leveled up to Lv.69!
You have leveled up to Lv.70!
You have leveled up to Lv.71!
You have leveled up to Lv.72!
You have leveled up to Lv.73!
You have been restored x2!
+35 Vitality
+35 Endurance
+14 Wisdom
+14 Intelligence
+21 Acuity
+987 Free Stat Points
Ronan gave the kill notification a brief glance, realising he’d accidentally managed to kill the technician with his fifth strike against it. He wasn’t going to complain about what had likely amounted to an extra level. Investing the stat points could wait—the more immediate issue was the blaring alarm.
Looking around the room, he couldn’t see anything that was an obvious source of the noise. Turning back to the supercomputer panel, he tried to tap at it, but nothing happened.
The lead technician had controlled it using just his mind, as far as Ronan could tell. Wait, that’s it! The neural link it dropped when it died. He had a sudden realisation and took the gadget out of his inventory.
Holding it up, it looked like a small lump of metal. It felt like steel, with a few bumps and ridges. There was nothing obvious like an ‘on’ button or a way to operate it. Don’t tell me I’m going to have to let it attach to my brain or something equally disturbing? While he’d already said goodbye to being purely human thanks to some of his traits, this was alien tech that he was considering letting in. A different matter compared to system-granted power-ups.
Ronan sighed. He wouldn’t let some random piece of alien tech into his body. He put the neural link back into his inventory and turned his attention back to the screen. There was only one way he might be able to stop the alarm. On the bright side, it was possible that what he had in mind would also shut down the computer and achieve his initial goals.
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