Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!-Chapter 101: Nothing Personal, Just Business

When I returned to my senses, it was already too late.

Of the "fake" inspection committee, only one remained—cowering on the floor, trembling like a newborn lamb. All around her, nothing but cold, lifeless corpses lay in grim silence.

"...Enough." I sighed, finally stopping the two brainwashed officers.

I lifted my hand and stared at my palm, frowning deeply.

Though I'd had a hunch about it before, I hadn't truly expected to gain access to Cassandra's ability. And yet, I did. It felt... freeing. As though I'd been unshackled from the grip of logic and reason, filled with nothing but elation in the wake of brutal violence.

"So this is how the Crazy Princess's mind operates," I muttered, slowly shaking my head as I crouched down in front of the lone survivor. "Honestly, I'd rather not go through that again. Wouldn't you agree, Ms. Fake Inspector?"

"...!"

The woman—human—was the only one left alive from the fake committee. She nodded rapidly, head bouncing like it was about to detach. Her face was drenched in terror... enough that a growing puddle had formed underneath her.

"Ah..."

She... peed herself?

Noticing that, my lips nearly tugged into a grin. Seriously, what is with Cassandra's body? Why is it reacting like this? Is she just naturally a Sadist?

Anyway, I moved my blaster slowly, deliberately, making sure her eyes followed every motion—before pressing the muzzle gently against her forehead.

"It's such a shame, huh? These officers went berserk. Just look at this... everyone's dead..."

Her trembling intensified. She understood perfectly. She could read between the lines.

"Y-Yes! I-I didn't see anything! I swear! Please, let me go...!" she stammered, drowning in a river of tears, pleading desperately.

Good. That should make her compliant. I gave a sweet smile—though her face darkened even further as I did—and reached forward to lift her chin.

"Very good~ But if you're asking me for a favor, I should get something in return, don't you think? Don't worry. I'm not going to ask for anything crazy."

Before diving into her "interrogation," I turned toward the two controlled officers and—

*ZIIIIN!*

—had them shoot each other. Right in front of her eyes.

With that, everyone else was gone. Just me and her remained in the room. "Alright. Now that nobody else is here... nothing happened, right~?"

"Y-Yes, of course...!"

I nodded, pleased by how quickly she agreed. "Nice~! Now, about my request... Tell me what exactly you were doing, and who put you up to it."

That question was all it took to open the floodgates. The woman began talking of her own volition, spilling everything.

Turns out, they were part of the actual Inspection Committee—but someone had bribed them to sabotage Eva's Hunter Frigate. Their goal was to install a virus into the ship's system. It wasn't anything catastrophic under normal conditions, just a minor one that would momentarily block certain functions for a split second every few minutes.

But in a high-speed race, where a split second can be the difference between life and death... that kind of delay could be fatal.

And as for the ones responsible...

"Again, the Eden Company... They never learn, do they?"

They were supposed to be eliminated during the preliminaries, having placed 17th on the leaderboard. If they were here now, it meant they had forcibly removed one of the sixteen qualifying teams and taken their spot. And now, they were tampering with our ship—the one that shattered the record during the preliminaries.

Talk about low, dirty play.

Still, now that the woman was completely under Cassandra's Special Ability, I had her approve the ship's inspection without hesitation. We had no need for underhanded tricks to win, anyway.

Before sending her off, though, I left her with one final task to accomplish. Just a small favor.

When I returned to our hangar, the girls could tell something had happened. Their instincts were sharp.

Not long after that, while we were resting, word of the dead officers and inspectors spread across the area. Of course, no one revealed which racer's waiting area had been involved. That part was kept under wraps.

The official statement claimed that two Gulak officers got into a violent dispute and ended up dragging everyone nearby into their deadly clash. In other words, it matched the story I'd crafted perfectly. As expected of Ms. Fake Inspector.

With that, we shouldn't face any more interruptions before the race officially begins.

While casually browsing through some Grand Prix news, I stumbled upon a betting site. Intrigued, I tapped in and checked the current odds for all sixteen racers.

"Hmm?"

And then I saw it. Something odd.

The odds assigned to us were 16.0—meaning a 1 in 16 chance of winning. That might sound normal, but it was actually the default value given to racers with no special standing.

Given that we had finished first in the preliminaries, and with a time far superior to the rest, I expected odds somewhere around 1.5 to 2.0. But this?

Did they really think our performance was just a fluke?

Among the rest, their odds ranged from 1.1 up to 3.7, with only ours daring to reach two digits. It was honestly insulting—seeing the bookmakers underestimate us like this—but... an idea suddenly sparked in my mind.

"Let's bankrupt them!"

The betting system allowed wagers on the top four finishers in exact order—the most difficult kind of bet, a Superfecta, just like in horse racing. In addition to that, there was an option to predict the teams' 50-lap completion time, segmented in intervals of 5 minutes.

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

The average race completion time hovered around 500 minutes. For us, though, we were planning to finish in under 150 minutes... That landed us in an extreme bracket—under 300 minutes—which came with a jaw-dropping 1,000x return multiplier.

In short, if I could guess the top four finishers—with myself at the top—and also nail the completion time... I could turn a mere 1 Credit bet into a whopping 1.5 million Credits!

As I checked the betting rules more carefully, I discovered there was a cap on the bets. A single person could stake up to 1 billion Credits...

A wicked grin formed across my face.

Without hesitation, I dove straight into analysis mode.

I reviewed every racer's ship, checking their status, their performance in the preliminaries, and even minor details like their equipment loadouts and attached modules. Of course, I studied the pilots, too. This was a race I'd run dozens of times in the game. Given all this data, it was actually easy for me to determine who'd likely finish where.

Of course, there were unpredictable elements—like cheaters. Teams such as the one bearing the Golden Apple logo, the Eden Company, were notorious for such underhanded tactics.

Still, relying on all my knowledge, experience, and razor-sharp instincts, I finalized my picks. First place, without question, would be us. Our odds sat at 16.0, with a 1000x time multiplier thanks to our radical speed.

Second place would be Astoria's pride—the Grand Hellsing. A fan-favorite and reigning champion. Their performances were consistently stable, and their odds were at 1.1. I estimated their time to fall between 425 to 430 minutes, which came with a 3.2x multiplier.

Third place? That would go to Lightspeed Tech's rising star: Mogul Dank. A team gaining traction that frequently gave the Grand Hellsing a serious run for their money. Their lap times were inconsistent, but based on my analysis, I felt confident. Their odds were 1.5, and I pegged their time at 440 to 445 minutes, landing a 2.8x multiplier.

As for fourth place... I picked Astoria's second team, the Undergods. While not particularly strong on their own, their true role was to support the Grand Hellsing. Still, one couldn't underestimate them as they hailed from the same elite camp.

Judging their performance was tricky... but since we'd be sharing the track with them, it wouldn't be hard to "adjust" their time a little. Their odds were listed at 3.0, and I expected their finish to land in the 485 to 490-minute range, which offered a 1.5x bonus.

After calculating everything, if all my bets hit perfectly, the return would be... 1,064,448x.

Of course, I couldn't be completely certain. There would always be some margin of error. Which was why I jumped to Eva and Cassandra and made them an offer.

"You two, wanna help me turn 1 billion into 1 quadrillion?"

"I'm in."

Eva didn't even blink. As expected, she never hesitates when there's money on the line.

Cassandra also gave a slow nod, though her face showed less enthusiasm. "I'll help. It's the least I can do, after all..."

"Good!"

With their agreement secured, I broke down the full betting strategy for them. Their job was to cover the edge cases—fail-safes in case any of my predictions missed the mark.

I was confident in the race order. That part was basically a lock. The timing, though, was the real gamble. That's where the backup plans came in. I had Eva adjust her bet to catch the scenario where the reigning champions performed better than expected. Meanwhile, I had Cassandra tune her wager to slightly lower the 4th place finisher's time bracket.

With this setup, no matter which way fate decided to roll the dice—we'd come out on top!

"Now, all we have to make sure of is..." I mumbled, narrowing my eyes as I thought of the one group that could still ruin things. "Eden. I'll make sure you drop out of this race early."

The racers' reparation time was nearly up.

Finally, the moment had come.