At Least I Had a Higher Degree Now

Chapter 17: At Least I Had a Higher Degree Now

What happened when someone made ample, even excessive, preparations for something, focused with the intensity of a lion going all out against a rabbit, braced for the possibility that the rabbit might suddenly turn into a Rabbit Demon King, and threw themselves into action with unwavering determination?

The answer was: nothing.

There were no inexplicable enemies suddenly appearing from all over the world, nor any monsters materializing out of nowhere to save the day. This was simply an ordinary AVP world. The Yautja had been choosing Earth as their hunting ground for an untold amount of time, and the death of one elite warrior here wouldn't change much.

How many Yautja had died on Earth, anyway?

If there really were some extraordinary monsters hiding on Earth, how could they possibly not know?

So...

After Si Ming exchanged a hundred days of time to return and train, everything that happened afterward went more smoothly than even the most peaceful outcome he'd imagined.

On June 15, 2004, the small town of Conison in the Colorado mountains was attacked by Xenomorphs. The National Guard stationed nearby sprang into action at once and brought the situation under control before dawn. The United States government immediately sealed off the town, claiming a leak had occurred at a nuclear power plant following an attack by unknown terrorists. All survivors were placed under house arrest, and the town, along with the surrounding forests, was thoroughly and painstakingly searched afterward.

At the same time, a large bounty was announced for the terrorists. Although the only information available was that the target was probably Asian, American intelligence agencies still committed considerable resources and manpower to the matter.

On June 16, a well-known explorer of ancient Eastern ruins appeared in Mexico and hired local guides to investigate the ruins of the ancient Maya civilization. The pay was generous, and locals eagerly volunteered. Over the next two months, Professor Si toured the seven major known Maya ruins and documented them. In addition, the renowned adventurer uncovered no fewer than four lost Maya ruins, causing quite a stir in the archaeological world.

But the expedition didn't end on quite such a perfect note. On August 18, after Professor Si finished exploring the Maya ruins and planned to begin his next expedition, a fierce clash broke out between drug dealers and government troops in Mexico City, where he had stopped to rest.

It was a truly brutal battle. Perhaps because an unknown force had intervened, the Mexican government troops, who should have been at a disadvantage, gained an overwhelming edge. When the sun rose the next day, at least a hundred thousand brutally mutilated gang members lay dead in Mexico City. Most had died from gunfire and explosions, but some had been sliced apart, crushed by impacts, or even flattened beneath heavy objects. Several streets had been so thoroughly wrecked that they looked as though a hundred wrecking machines had charged back and forth over them.

Corpses littered the streets, and many surviving government soldiers showed signs of psychological trauma afterward. They claimed to have seen walking skeletons, the dead marching in formation, and even enormous wormlike monsters charging down the roads. In the end, they were classified as victims of post-traumatic stress and mass hysteria. Naturally, no one paid any attention to the fact that a famous adventurer had vanished amid the chaos in Mexico City, with no one knowing where he had gone.

Time flowed on, and the Earth kept turning. On September 9, someone apparently spotted Professor Si, missing for more than half a month, in a port town in Argentina, South America. That same day, a research vessel from the United States stopped at the port, which lay close to Antarctica, to take on supplies. It declined the locals' warm hospitality and hurried on toward its original destination.

Of course, no one noticed the uninvited guest who had silently come aboard.

Lex Woods drew a soft breath, taking in the long-missed chill of Antarctica. As she stepped onto this polar wasteland again, the place where she had made memories that would never leave her, the painful events of several months earlier echoed incessantly in the depths of her mind.

She seemed to see Weyland-Yutani again. The old man who had wanted to make one last desperate attempt at the end of his life had never gotten his wish to become famous after death. The secret of the pyramid beneath Antarctica had been concealed, and the expedition that killed the entire team had been explained away as the result of a sudden polar storm. In the end, the impact of Weyland's death on the world had been exactly what he had predicted before the expedition began.

"Weyland-Yutani Corporation stock fell by 12%."

That was all. Nothing more. His company had even been quietly absorbed by the United States government immediately after his death, to serve as a front for deceiving other countries. Under the pretext of "fulfilling the chairman's final wishes," they built a much larger research base on this frozen wasteland. Its public funding was substantial, though still less than a tenth of what they invested in secret. It was ostensibly for "scientific research."

"The world still isn't ready..."

She thought of the alien rifle she had received as a gift from an extraterrestrial, then recalled the disaster that had erupted in Conison less than three months ago and the remains of the alien lifeform recovered by the specialists. The alien she called a "Yautja" had been cremated after its death, and all its equipment and bodily tissue had been destroyed. Even so, instruments made from extraterrestrial metals and fragments of debris had still been recovered from the hospital.

If they could analyze their structure and composition, then American—or rather, human—materials science could advance by at least fifty years. But even if humanity gained fifty years of technological progress, how could it possibly stand against those powerful alien lifeforms?

"What isn't ready, Dr. Wood?" asked a gentle voice beside her.

"The beasts aren't ready to become hunters." Lex shook her head. She looked at her dark-haired, dark-eyed companion. It felt as though a fog had clouded her mind, but somehow, that didn't seem very important. "The Yautja are far too powerful. The only reason humanity has survived beneath their gaze is that they don't yet consider us worthwhile prey. If two civilizations went to war, the consequences would be terrifying."

"Perhaps." Her companion shrugged, looking utterly unconcerned. "But that's not for us to worry about. Our job is to help excavate these collapsed ruins. The specialists in charge can make their own judgments about everything else."

Lex sighed.

She had to admit that she had little influence on this "research team." She was even less capable than Professor Si, who had also been invited to help excavate the ruins. At least he was younger and stronger.

Come to think of it, when had Professor Si joined this "research team"? Why did she have no memory of it...?

"Welcome to the forward base, Dr. Wood, Professor Si. The general has been waiting for you. We've run into a bit of trouble, and we need your professional opinions."

Her thoughts were interrupted.

Lex looked at the officer who had met them at the ship and politely nodded. As she followed him toward the base, she glanced back at the research vessel. Perhaps it was only her imagination, but she thought she saw a huge, blurry shape—part octopus, part worm—crouched silently atop the ship's control tower.

The impression vanished as quickly as it had come.

She turned back and followed the officer through one checkpoint after another. In less than three months, the United States government had mobilized enormous manpower and resources to build a massive military base on this abandoned whaling station. At least one full division of troops specially trained for polar combat was stationed there. In the bay outside the base, six fully armed destroyers stood ready to bombard the area at any moment.

"It would be very difficult to attack," Professor Si commented as they walked. "Whether by infiltration or a direct assault, the odds of success would be low. We could try some more drastic, destructive methods, but that might interfere with the later development work."

"You're funny, Professor Si." Lex smiled. She had heard of him, though they had never met before today. He was indeed an explorer known for his bold, aggressive approach. Supposedly, he had strangled an eight-meter-long anaconda with his bare hands while exploring Maya ruins two months ago. She didn't know whether he was incredibly strong or the snake had been in particularly poor condition.

"Strictly speaking, the snake was only six meters long, and I didn't use my bare hands." Professor Si replied, then gave a slight, apologetic nod. "Sorry. Maintaining a large-scale mental suggestion takes a lot out of me. But don't worry. This won't last long."

What was he talking about?

What on earth did he mean by those strange, nonsensical words?

Lex frowned. Complicated reasoning clashed in her mind. It was true that Professor Si was a world-famous explorer of ancient ruins. It was true that she had been invited to explore an old enough ruin. So, under the circumstances, wasn't it perfectly normal for him to be here?

That hazy feeling surfaced again. She turned around once more and, in a daze, seemed to see a huge, transparent shape following them as they headed deeper into the base. Her rational mind told her that something was terribly wrong, but her instincts insisted that nothing unusual was happening.

"It's better this way," Professor Si said again. "If we make everything too clear, things probably won't end peacefully."

He seemed to make sense, so Lex stopped thinking about it. The officer leading them and the soldiers they passed along the way acted as though they hadn't heard a thing.

Before long, the two of them met the base's commander. The "minor problem" the officer had mentioned became clear to them.

"We've run into some problems with the drilling." The commander showed her pictures of the tunnels and the ruins. "Dr. Wood, you said the Yautja blew up a powerful bomb before taking you out of the ruins. Now the drilling has nearly reached the depth of the collapsed section, but some broken pieces of the ruins are blocking our way forward."

"I need your expertise to tell me which of these fragments are valuable. You're the only person who experienced the incident firsthand, so your judgment is crucial."

As the commander explained, Professor Si naturally stepped forward to look over the photographs.

"Do you have complete excavation plans and scans of the ruins' structure?"

The commander hesitated, seeming somewhat reluctant. But in the end, he took a stack of documents marked "Top Secret" from a secure cabinet and handed them to Professor Si.

"Thank you for your cooperation." The dark-haired, dark-eyed man nodded and accepted the files with a smile. Then he turned and left without hesitation, and no one stopped him.

He just walked away.

Lex stared at the direction he had gone, dumbfounded. Even through the muddle in her mind, her logical thinking pierced her with a sharp pang.

"He... he just left like that. Is that all right?" she asked the base commander in disbelief.

"What are you talking about, Dr. Wood?" The commander looked at her in surprise. "We specifically brought you here from the mainland because we hoped you could offer some constructive advice. We'll handle everything else ourselves."

"Wait. Are you saying you only invited me?"

"Of course. Was there anyone else?"

"But just now, Professor Si..."

"What Professor Si? There have only been the two of us here from the very beginning."