Chapter 1046: The Gene Modding Market

We went back to where my Verlandi was parked so that I could make food for everyone including the dogs.

The unfortunate thing was that I had to rely on the simple stove of the Verlandi to cook and it wasn’t exactly the best thing to cook with for a large group of people as compared to what I have on the Iridescence.

Still, I was determined to feed everyone so I just set to work, opting to make stew since that would be the easiest to feed a large group of people with.

And yes, dogs can eat anything. So you don’t even need to worry about feeding it chocolate anymore. That’s even assuming you can get your hands on chocolate in the first place.

I needed Amber to help me with her fire powers to cook the stew since I was basically feeding a small army here.

I even needed to cheat a little bit by using my own telekinesis to prepare the ingredients since there were just so many of us.

In the meantime though... I got Mara to tell me what she managed to glean from the General while I prepared the food.

"As we already know... The outpost there is owned by GenoTrend Corp and they’re here to do experiments on the bugs. From what the General knows, the company paid someone high up a lot of money to get the rights to set up an outpost here to start their research and also paid the military to arrange for this operation to begin with. The military originally never thought about attacking this nest to begin with but was coerced into it by the higher ups."

I stirred the stew as I added seasonings inside it, "Isn’t that like... I dunno... Grounds for a court martial for whoever is involved?"

"Who is going to court martial when the people who decide who gets court martialed are also paid off?"

It goes that deep huh...

"I guess that’s why the General is pissed at them?" I asked.

She nodded, "They’re basically using the military like their own private army. Well... It’s not like it would have been any different if they didn’t come here. There’s another company, Genestealer Innovations, that wanted to come here as well. But GenoTrend bought them out of it so they couldn’t move here until later when the USC officially opened this planet for companies to exploit. Otherwise, it would be Genestealer down there instead of GenoTrend."

"I assume that’s another company that focuses on gene mods?"

She nodded, "That’s right. GenoTrend is a Vixlopian owned company and the race is known for their exceptional obsession with Vanity Gene mods. They were already doing rudimentary Gene modding even before they joined the USC and some might even say they are the main reason why Gene mods were so popular today. Although their obsession with it came because of a need instead of a want at first."

Vixlope or Vixlopes for plural. I definitely remember them since I searched it up for a possibility of this race being somewhere in the galaxy and I was very happy to learn that they exist, though I didn’t really research that far into them.

If I were to just summarise what they are in one word... Then the word would just be... Kitsune.

Yes, literal fox girls. And yes, they have multiple tails too.

I paused in my cutting of potatoes to turn to her, "A need for gene mods?"

"Before we found the Vixlopians, their world was hit by a plague that rapidly killed the males of their species. At first they tried to find a cure but when it was clear that they would not be able to make it in time, they instead tried to mod themselves and found a way to temporarily turn their own females into futas. That ensured the survival of their own race since the females could now breed themselves but one of the unforeseen side effects was that since they only had one chromosome in that mating, the child will always be a female."

I blinked at her, "Wait... So... Now their race..."

"Is entirely female, yes. That’s also one of the reasons why they wanted to join the USC so desperately since they thought they could get male mates. But they have already undergone years of modding their own genes that at this point, any Vixlopian that is born from them will always be female no matter what. Though if they were to bear a child of another species, like a human’s for example, the child could be a boy or a girl. A baby with predominantly Vixlopian genes will always be female."

"Can’t they fix that?"

"Not without modding the entire population of Vixlopes and the result would only be seen after a few generations. The Vixlopes decided that it wasn’t worth the effort and just stuck to what they already have and well... Most became fine with it because Vixlopes are quite attractive females and they are also very dedicated partners as they mate for life. Since they are also capable of changing into futas as well, no one really has any problems with them. Especially when the biggest Vanity Gene modding companies are all started by Vixlopians and they are the forerunners of Vanity Gene mods."

I dropped the cut vegetables and meat into the pots I had laid out, "Huh... So... GenoTrend Corporation is owned by a Vixlopian?"

"A group of them but yes. And their specialty lies in Vanity Gene mods which includes the ones that grew your penis, Captain."

Huh... I see...

But then...

"Why the heck are they here then? What kind of Vanity Gene mods can they get from the bugs? Don’t tell me they are trying to get Gene mods that can transform people into bugs? Who even wants that?"

Mara smiled at me and it wasn’t the amused smile where one heard a joke, it was the wry smile of someone knowing something that the other party doesn’t.

I covered up the soup pot and stared at her, "Tell me that’s not the case."

She shrugged, "I can’t claim to know what exactly they are aiming to get here, Captain. Maybe they aren’t after gene mods that could transform people into bugs but something else instead."

Oh good.

Before I could even relax, she continued, "But... I do know for a fact that there are already gene mods that transform people into bugs."

"Why?" I blurted out even before I could stop myself.

"Some people are into oviposition, that’s all that I will say."

Ok... Yeah sure... I don’t even want to know anymore.

Mara chuckled, "Fufufu~ If it makes you feel better, Genestealer Innovations is the direct opposite of GenoTrend Corporation."

I peeked at her, "Oh? In what way?"

"They are founded by humans after the boom in gene mods but they specialise in Combat Gene mods instead. Initially they only made gene mods for the military but during the AI Rebellion, they saw the need for even the common people to get as much advantage as they could get so it became something that normal people could get as well. The market for it remained open even after the AI Rebellion but of course, the more dangerous and extreme Combat Gene mods are still reserved for the military."

"Right... And they were the other company that wanted to come here and do research on the bugs... Probably to make Combat Gene mods from them?"

"We can assume that, yes."

"Are there other gene mod companies?"

"Of course, Captain. There’s multiple other companies who also work in the gene modding industry. Though these two are arguably the biggest ones in those two categories who specialise in gene modding and nothing else. Most of the gene mods in the market can be traced back to them and even the other companies working on gene mods might also take mods that those two released as a base to create their own variations of it. It’s kind of the same with most industries actually."

I asked that question because I was wondering just how big and influential a company must be in order to move the military like this...

Which brought me back to the topic...

"The General really wanted them dead huh?" I asked.

Mara shrugged, "I wouldn’t say he wanted it. But he would be glad to hear if they were. He was placed down here on the frontlines by their request after all, since they wanted the military to be personally invested in it as well instead of just leaving them to fend for themselves. If the outpost had been overrun and its occupants dead, the General could just claim that the bugs took them and then no longer cater to them anymore. He might get into trouble for allowing them to perish under his watch, but the company most likely wouldn’t push for anything since if they complained, other companies might move in to take their place."

Ugh... Even here we have to hear about politics...

I’m just glad I don’t need to get involved in whatever that is...