Mutagen

Day 199 - 1:49 PM - Manila Bay Forest, Manila Bay Area

After Mark's group ate a simple lunch, just some instant cup noodles with bottled mineral water, they proceeded to continue their journey.

As said, their lunch was simple, at least to Mark's group. If some regular survivor of this world saw them, they might die of envy. There was no need to mention having food. For many people still alive, just getting something into their stomach already was an extremely tedious task. Dangerous, most must even say.

Mark's group did not eat that much this lunch, however. They finished their food as fast as possible and departed. Although it could not be called waste, they still used up half of the day staying at the same place.

Although the shelter was not exactly a problem, they still wanted to at least find a good place to stay when the night came. 

Shelter for the night was the most priority for them. While they were looking for the traces of the people of Bay City, there was no guarantee that Mark's group would find them today.

After all, who knows if the people of Bay City did really go to Corregidor Island.

Well, Mark wished that they did so. That way, Mark and his group would not waste more effort and time blindly finding people.

At this moment, the floating vessel, they now decided to call [The Mini Cube], was hovering over the new land over Manila Bay. Why the sudden name? Apparently, the floating vessel was not really given a name by the Creator. It was due to the fact that it was a part of the laboratory [The Cube], despite being an emergency vessel at the same time.

While eating lunch, Mark's group was discussing this. They had not really thought about it in the past, but now, the floating vessel being nameless was becoming a bit of a nuisance during talks. Since they were using the floating vessel as transport, it was better to give it a name and make it easier to indicate. And due to that, it was given the name [The Mini Cube] despite its large size. It was because of the fact that it was also shaped like a cube and was a small part of [The Cube].

[The Mini Cube] hovered carefully over the trees. It was not flying high up the sky at this moment as they were following the trail that could possibly lead them to the people of Bay City.

Since the view of the outside inside [The Mini Cube] was limited, Mark was currently sitting outside the platform in front of the vessel's door. Here, he could see things outside clearly. More importantly, the trail they were supposed to follow.

What they needed to follow was the trail of shorter grass. The grass had been affected by the people of Bay City when they passed by. However, no matter how enhanced their eyes might be as [Mutators] and non-human beings, it was still hard to differentiate the grass from above. There was no what to determine something's height just by looking at the top, after all.

That was why they were carefully traversing the way, making sure that they would not lose track of the trail and become lost.

From where Mark sat, it was not only the trail that he could see. From time to time, he could see wandering [Infected], either stray individuals to a rather large hordes. Once Mark spotted one, Mark would enter the door and hide inside [The Mini Cube]. This way, there was no chance of attracting unwanted attention from the [Infected] and end up spending more time fighting the [Infected].

It was the same for [Mechids]. And worse, [Mechids] were more curious about [The Mini Cube] than the [Infected]. The [Infected] would not pay much attention as long as they did not see Mark. The [Mechids], on the other hand, would follow for a bit before giving up. There was even one time that a [Mechid] capable of flight using some sort of rocket booster flew up and landed on [The Mini Cube's] roof. Mark had no choice but to deal with the annoying robot. Of course, not by destroying it but catching it instead.

While watching the sceneries below, Mark managed to not only follow the trail but observe the [Infected] and the [Mechids] below.

By what it looked like, the [Infected] and the [Mechids] were not working together. The [Infected] did not seem interested in the [Mechids]. On the other hand, the [Mechids] had the tendency to follow and observe the [Infected]. Nonetheless, there did not seem to be direct interactions between them.

Even during the fight in the ruins of Bay City, while it was true that Mark's group fought a horde of [Mechids] and [Infected], the two groups were not together as one. The horde of [Infected] was together, well, most of them. The [Mechids] also performed as a different group. And different to the [Infected], all the [Mechids] in that area were grouped up.

That was why Mark's group was able to deal with the threat more efficiently because Mark and Chimetrice did not have to worry about stray [Mechids] joining the fight of the girls.

This observation, however, even more, showed how dangerous the [Mechids] were. These alien robots could focus their whole group on a single target and even choose their target. This could become both an advantage and disadvantage depending on the situation.

"Hmmm?"

Mark noticed something below. He immediately tapped on his magic ring, sending a message to Mei, who was inside.

[The Mini Cube] stopped from moving and hovered in place. Mark then jumped off the platform, turning into a surge of black mist to mitigate the impact of the fall.

Mark appeared below, trampling the overgrown grass with his feet. His attention was on something left in the middle of the trail. It was covered with overgrown grass and vines.

Without hesitation, Mark called forth the [Wind Manipulation Mental Crystal]. Like yesterday, he created blades of wind, immediately cutting the grass and vines over the large debris.

There, the true appearance of the debris was revealed. And to say, it was something familiar to Mark.

"The modified Humvee."

Mark murmured.

Back in Bay City, when Mark began the modifications of their vehicles, he saw something like this at the parking area of the workshop. It was a modified Humvee that was refitted with the new metal that Bay City created with their research. Mark was not sure whether this vehicle was the same one or another, but there was no doubt that it was from Bay City.

And it was left here, in the middle of the trail for some reason.

Observing the abandoned vehicle, Mark noticed that three of the wheels were missing, leaving only one which was obviously flat. It could be the reason why it was abandoned. The military might have lacked replacements for the flattened wheel and decided to salvage everything they could from the vehicle before they abandoned it.

Mark also noticed that the hood was not locked and opened it. There was no engine either. It looked like his guess was really close.

Still, it was a pity. Mark was clear that the military highly valued their refitted vehicle. It was obvious when Mark's eyes fell on the refitted Humvee back in Bay City, and he was declined before he could ask. Well, it was not like he wanted one back then.

"Let's see..." Mark tapped his [Spatial Ring], asserting the remaining space inside. "Looks like there's enough."

And without hesitation, Mark immediately stored the remains of the refitted Humvee into his ring. Even if it could not be repaired anymore, it could be scrapped for the new metal, which could be useful in many ways.

Mark returned to [The Mini Cube] and told everyone what he found. They then continued following the trail.

And as they continued further, they could not help but notice the irregular directions that the trail went to. At some point, it went inland, while at some, they went to the coastal direction. But looking at the terrain, the irregular directions became understandable.

What the people of Bay City traveled on was not a cleared road. There were places packed with trees. Unless they intended to cut the trees to make a way through, they would not be able to travel straight. Cutting the trees was impossible in their circumstance, however. They would need heavy equipment to cut and uproot trees of several hundreds of years old. 

Worse parts of the trail were rocky areas where large rocks protruding from the ground blocked the way.

Mark's group could see the difficulties of the road that the people of Bay City took. In some areas, Mark found traces of battle. There were even times where one or more graves were erected in the locations they possibly took a rest.

Worse, Mark found dead bodies. Some were eaten to the bone, while others were left rotting unfinished. By the looks of it, the ones eaten and left with only bones were the work of the [Infected]. As for the rotting ones, it might be either [Mechids] or [Evolved Animals].

Mark's group continued to follow the trail, stopping at times when Mark found something. At this time, Mark noticed that even though the people of Bay City traveled inland several times, they tried to move near the coast as much as possible. It was very likely that the reason was that Corregidor was an island. It would save them a lot of time traveling if they followed the coast of Manila Bay or what was left of the bay.

Soon, Mark's group found themselves already closing into the Province of Bataan. How could they tell? Since they were flying above the trees, they could see the terrain better. And to the east, they could see a mountain.

Mark had his phone out and was looking at the map he downloaded when the outbreak started. If he was right, the mountain they were seeing was Mount Mariveles.

The time Mark's group took to reach this point sure was short. The sun even barely set, and the sky was still bright. On the other hand, the people of Bay City might have taken more than a day or two to traverse the same trail. It was obvious since there were a few camping sites left by them along the way.

Reaching the Province of Bataan, specifically the Municipality of Mariveles, Mark found more traces of civilization. Unlike the land that now covered Manila Bay, where there was nothing but trees and rocks, the Municipality of Mariveles had more ruins of houses and many other structures.

And there, Mark's group reached the part of the trail that answered the question of where the people of Bay City went to.

As the trail went south, it was, now without a doubt, the Military Settlement in Corregidor Island.

There was no need to follow the trail any longer. They just needed to fly straight south.

Without needing to follow the trail as carefully as possible, the journey became faster. Mark was sure that they would reach Corregidor Island in just a little past sunset. 

But, of course, Mark had no plan on going there straight and showing [The Mini Cube] to the people there.

As such, Mark took out the [Photokinesis Mental Crystal]. With this, he covered [The Mini Cube] with optical camouflage entirely. It would not last long since covering a large thing with optical camouflage was draining the energy of the crystal rapidly. However, it was more than enough to last until nighttime.

At night, it would be fine even if [The Mini Cube] was exposed as the darkness of the night sky could hide it.

Mark told Chimetrice and Illia to fly higher. They could not risk anyone or anything to detect them even with the optical camouflage. It would also allow them to see further and observe the Corregidor Island from afar.

But as they arrived near the island just a few minutes past sunset, everyone was in for an unexpected surprise.

"What the hell is this?"

Mark voiced out, and others had the same question.

Corregidor was not an island anymore as the new land created a bridge towards it. But that was not the issue.

It was the settlement on the island.

Well, that was if it was still a settlement.

A few layers of several-meter tall stone walls, structures standing tall, and even slums outside its gates...

It was not a settlement. It was a gigantic fortress city.