Mutagen

Day 35 – 5:23 PM – Barangay Poblacion I, Real, Quezon

Just the information Mark got about the settlements gave him a lot of things to think of. It was really good that he took the initiative to gather information first when he could before actually trying to find the settlement in the east. If he did not know that there were three, it would not be surprising if he ended up in that criminal district. Although he was not worried about getting in harm's way, it was better if he was prepared.

The next thing he asked was how trading goes in the military settlement. Fortunately, it was the same as how it worked in Bay City. Money had been replaced with coupons for payment for labor and employment. For private groups however like these four people, they could enlist themselves for assignments and directly receive their wanted supplies with value equivalent to the payment they should have received. The military also posts what they wanted in the trading area like electronic parts, medicine and other miscellaneous goods and receive either coupons or directly trade the goods for items they needed as long as the item was available for trade.

After getting the answer for his previous questions, Mark wanted to ask a few more but there were more pressing matters than asking for information. The sun was about to set and they needed to prepare for the night. They also needed to eat dinner.

"Did you bring food with you?"

Mark asked the two who were tending to their unconscious friends.

Unexpectedly, both of them could only wear bitter and shameful smiles on their faces as they lowered their heads.

"We didn't really expect that we will spend the night outside the settlement. Each of us only brought a sandwich and a bottle of water for each of us. We only planned to snack on these before we return to the settlement."

Hearing that, Mark nodded. It seemed that the lives of people that relied on military settlements had it better than those who were not. Even though he had not really encountered one, for sure, the survivors relying on themselves probably did not even have water to drink, yet, this group even had the guts for a snack.

Still, it seemed that his question was misinterpreted. After all, he was alone even if the sylph on his shoulder was counted, as a human, he was still alone. His question about food made the two think that Mark was asking for some as they were worriedly staring at him.

"Seriously, don't stare at me like that. I'm just asking if you have yours since I have mine. I'm not begging for food."

Hearing that, the two was able to sigh in relief. A single sandwich was not enough for them to eat for dinner. If Mark really asked for some, they would not be able to disagree and they would have less food to eat.

"Okay, I'll take the vial first, and then you can rest and eat your food if you two want. I will ask more questions later after I eat outside."

Mark said.

Karlene immediately took out one of the vials and handed it to Mark despite the pained expression on the face of Joash.

Mark then left the two by themselves. The two of them still needed to take care of their unconscious friends. He walked around the house especially the kitchen area. The house was a two story one with the main rooms had been made of concrete. The outer areas and furniture however were all made of wood. Looking at the appliances, there was no refrigerator even though there was a broken television in the living room. There were no power outlets on the walls indicating that the house had no electricity even before the outbreak. He also remembered seeing a pair of crocodile clips near the television but he did not see a car battery which should be the power source they used to power the television.

The house seemed to have been looted of almost everything. The ones left at the house were things less or unnecessary for survival. It was quite unexpected but Mark found a half jar of brown sugar which was spilled on the sink. The surface of the sugar was moldy for being left open for too long but the granules beneath was still fine to use. It was fortunate that Mutagen and already killed or turned ants into bigger ones or else, this jar of sugar had long been gone. He also found salt, half bottle of cooking oil and packets of umami seasonings that were left untouched inside a cabinet.

There were blood stains at different parts of the house which meant that the people that lived here before did not receive a good ending. The perpetrator should be an evolved animal considering the claw marks on the walls and bite marks on the dirty clothing left on the floor. The blood stains on the floor stretched out of the doors which meant that the dead bodies were dragged out somewhere before they were eaten.

The seasonings he found were already enough for him to be able to cook a good meal for dinner. Some Sugar Roasted Sweet Potato would be fine right? After all, he found a really big one earlier. As for the utensils, he made his rather than using the rusty and dusty ones in the house that would require some hard labor and a large amount of water to clean. In that case, a frying pan made of his fresh blood was way cleaner.

It was one of the benefits he got after mutating his blood. He could flush out any impurities in it which meant that if the virus, bacteria or even poison had to enter his blood stream, he could eliminate the threat. Due to that, he could expect that he would not get ill easily.

After preparing, the sounds of knife cutting and sizzling cooking oil could be heard outside the house. Soon, the natural aroma of fried roasted sugar and sweet potato enveloped the area which even made Karlene and Joash inside the house gulp their saliva. Mark said that he would eat outside but he never said that he would cook and that took the two by surprise.

The two was already eating their sandwich that barely had any filling in between. Compared to the aroma the food Mark was cooking and their sandwich, the latter was not as enticing as the other.

Still, the two did not want to just waltz to Mark's position and ask for food. In the least, they still wanted to maintain their dignity especially Karlene who almost lost hers earlier. The most they could do was to peek out of the window and see what Mark was cooking which was what Karlene did.

There, she could see Mark sitting on an old stool in front of a campfire while frying his food. Beside him was half of the large sweet potato he found. What shocked her was to see two slimes moving around Mark. One which was clear colored sat on his lap while he was cooking while the other bounced around behind him as if playing while rustling the pile of leaves that seemed to be what Mark piled there while cleaning the spot to create a campfire.

Karlene could not believe what her eyes were seeing. Mark was not only strong but there were a lot of mysterious things around him. It made her feel that Mark came from another world. After all, not only he was wearing some strange light armor, he also had those strange weapons and he even had non-human companions that seemed to pop out of fantasy genre. Even the ability he used while fighting the outlaws never gave her the feeling that it was an ability of a Mutator.

Fully aware of Karlene spying on him, Mark ate his dinner. Even though her staring like that was rather disturbing, he just let her. It was troublesome if he had to reprimand everyone who would do that. Sure enough, his travel companions right now were really eye catching and he was rather proud of them.

Mark also took out a honeyed berry from a jar in his backpack and gave it to Amihan. It was one of her favorites and she ate it with great relish. As for the [Blood Children], they did not really need to eat but it was better if they consume blood from time to time. Right now however, there would be no suitable sources. There were those bodies of outlaws before but he would rather not let these two suck the blood of those disgusting roaches.

While eating, Mark froze and abruptly turned his head towards the highway. He felt that gaze filled with killing intent once more but it also vanished as sudden as it appeared. It looked like that the outlaws would not stop but they would not attack right at this moment. At the latest, the most suitable time would be…

… At night.

There was still time. Mark continued to eat and pondered what steps he should do tomorrow. One thing he had already decided was to accompany these four people to the Port of Real Military Settlement. His priority was to find a way to contact his beloved ones first. He would also try to procure a suitable vehicle there that could transport people but for sure, it would be hard. If that was the case, it would be likely that he would try to find one in the other settlements.

As for the manpower he needed for the base, there was no need to think of where to find them. Just kill all the scum and get the loyalty and trust of slaves there. Of course, he would still screen the people he acquired one by one. He was not fond of getting rats into his hard work.

After eating, he prepared measures for the attack that would come this night.

He scouted the perimeter of the house to see if there were advantageous spots he could use. Unfortunately, the only good spot was the orchard that was filled with trees but that place was the most less likely that the attackers would come from. The forest was several meters away from the vicinity of the house and it would really be hard to create hard to distinguish traps around the house due to the ground being bare.

The enemies could ambush them but they could only retaliate in a direct combat. Mark could not help but massage his temples for this troublesome matter.

The sun had already set and the surroundings started to darken. They had no time to change places. There were also no structures nearby that could be as defendable as this place. There were other shacks and huts nearby but of course, all those structures were made of wood.

In the end, Mark told the two inside the house of the possible attack at night which made the two nervous. The two was in no condition to fight and who knows when their two unconscious friends would wake up.

"Leave the enemies to me." Mark said indifferently. "What I want you two to do bring your friends and hide inside the toilet. It might be a little smelly in there but you should be able to hold on right?"

Mark's suggestion was rather unappealing but they also had no choice. He also made some modifications on the door using all the metal he could find around the house and reinforced it. Now, the toilet turned into a real panic room despite how pungent the bad odor inside was.

Soon, it was almost midnight.

Several shadows of people could be seen rushing down from the highway and a pair of head lights from a pickup truck could also be seen. When all the men on foot were on position, the vehicle drove down the dirt road in a rowdy manner. The vehicle stopped in front of the house.

Around the house, there were more than fifty people. All of them were armed with assault rifles and shotguns. They were all ready to fire and were only waiting for the order of the man standing at the back of the pickup truck.

Their faces were all ferocious and their bodies were itching for bloodshed.