Mutagen

Day 263 - 1:21 PM - Riverside, Infanta Settlement, Barangay Banugao, Municipality of Infanta, Province of Quezon

About an hour after they finished lunch, Mark could be seen walking by the riverside area northwest of the Infanta Settlement. Right now, his only guides were Arternaris and Karla.

After hearing about the birthday party Mark and the others organized for Abbygale, Karlene raised her voice like a dismayed kid. It was a typical reaction for a child who missed a birthday party because she did not get invited. It was not something unexpected because of Karlene's [Mutator Trait].

It was not like Karlene threw an annoying tantrum. In fact, what Mark did not expect was the way she showed her childish dismay.

After yelling at Mark for not being invited, Karlene sat down in silence, sulking. Karlene was a silent sulker, even when she was a child.

Karlene's appearance at the dining table made General Bautista reminisce about the past when Karlene would sulk like this, and his wife would go and pacify her. Unfortunately, his wife was not here anymore. Thus, General Bautista should do it this time.

Alana also helped the new General pacify her best friend while giving Mark an annoyed side-eye.

General Faustino and Jones Galley just stared at the scene with troubled expressions.

Karla stared at Karlene, totally confused as to what was going on. The purple-haired girl might look around ten to twelve years old because of the body Bathala gave her while having the mental capacity of a child around five years old, but she was literally a baby barely one-year-old. With this reason in hand, she had totally no idea what a birthday party was.

On the other hand, Arternaris silently watched the scene with interest and amusement. Magical beings like her did not really have the culture of celebrating birthdays, especially since they were long-lived. Just greetings would be enough unless the day was the birthday of a leader of a large tribe or kingdom. And rather than a happy occasion for their birth, it was more like a show of prestige. It was a good thing that the tribe that Arternaris led did not celebrate birthdays. For all of them who were born hybrids and outcasts, their birthdays were more of a curse.

And Mark... just shrugged it off. He expected it to happen, and it was not like he was trying to annoy them on purpose. Or else, why would he bring them cake and spaghetti? There was no point in hiding it either since they would still know once they decided to return to the Mountain Base.

Mark and everyone in the base agreed to leave them out due to mental and emotional reasons.

Life outside the base was rather harsh. Most people in the Mountain Base understood that fact. Yet, Karlene and Alana went back to Infanta Settlement to help. They were determined, but that determination could waver at any time.

While life in Infanta Settlement was hard, the two already managed to adjust to it. However, from what Berrak noticed and reported when he came back to the base, the two women were already wavering.

Mark also noticed when he arrived. Alana and Karlene looked ragged compared to the last time he saw them. If the two returned to the Mountain Base at an inopportune time, they might not want to come back to Infanta. Right now, the two were among the few pillars that were keeping the settlement intact. Once they left, it would be hard to say what would happen.

The presence of the two in Infanta Settlement was necessary if they did not want one of their few allies to vanish. One may think there was no benefit in keeping connections to Infanta Settlement in its current state. However, that was wrong. While most of their research equipment and laboratory were destroyed, a good portion of it remained. They could still produce the previously called [Regeneration Medicine], improve it, and the improved version was now called the [Healing Serum]. They were the ones that developed it and had the proper experience and knowledge to improve it. Thus, it was beneficial to keep them around.

In fact, aside from reports and messages, Berrak was going back and forth to exchange [Healing Serums] with construction supplies, equipment, and food. The people of the Mountain Base might be competent but not omnipotent. Accidents happen from time to time, especially when hunting. This newly developed serum helped a lot in those crucial times.

Since Mark was picky with who could join under his wing, their workforce was always lacking. Because of this, one inactive worker due to injuries would be a big deal, especially for the hunters who were contributing a whole lot to the food supplies.

Alana and Karlene were needed here. It was better for them not to return to the Mountain Base prematurely, lest their determination wavers.

In this case, Mark already prepared a promise for the two. It was to give them new equipment soon. After all, they were still using the equipment previously given to them by Mark. Their loadout should be upgraded too.

While the compromise lightened the mood, it was not enough to immediately stop Karlene from sulking. The rest of the lunch was enveloped in a weird atmosphere. That was why the continuation of Mark's walk around the settlement was only accompanied by Artenaris and Karla.

And as they left the tent, Artenaris could not help but comment.

"Humans are really funny on weird occasions."

Artenaris clearly found Karlene's actions amusing.

Mark understood her meaning. However, he was disinclined into humoring it.

"You know that there are circumstances behind that, right?"

Mark responded.

"Yes, there are," Arternaris said as her eyes fell on Karla. "But that doesn't make it less funny."

Mark could only shake his head slightly after that.

Continuing his walk, Mark arrived at the area where fish was being caught in the settlement.

"We got one here! Get the spear!"

"Okay! Prevent it from escaping!"

"We already blocked the entrance!"|

Shouting could be heard as Mark, Arternaris, and Karla reached the area.

Normally, one would think of seeing people casting their fishing rods or nets when they heard of a fishing area. Of course, it was different in the apocalypse, where fishing rods would definitely not catch any monstrous fish in the river.

The riverside was built with rows of small canals. Each canal was around a meter deep and another meter wide, leading to a shallower basin. The basin had pieces of bait, either pieces of meat or smaller fishes, to attract fishes into the canals.

Once a fish entered the canal, it would be blocked at the entrance, and spears or arrows would be used to neutralize the prey.

It was a primitive way of catching fish, but it could not be helped when the fish was an [Evolved Fish] only a little smaller than the canal with a length longer than an adult human's height.

Mark watched the scene as soldiers manning the fishing area spear the prey to death. The fish was soon killed. It was a messy one as its body was poked with holes several times. However, a fish this large would feed a good portion of the settlement's inhabitants for dinner.

Furthermore, the blood and torn flesh of the fish would serve as fresh bait for this trap, possibly attracting more fish later on.

Mark's group passed by.

"Sir!"

Some soldiers recognized Mark and saluted.

Mark nodded to them as he also remembered these soldiers. They were among those who traveled with his group from Bay City.

Of course, there were people and soldiers who were aware of Mark but did not know him personally. As such, they looked at the soldiers saluting Mark in confusion.

After the fishing area, Mark also went to the residential area, the northern and eastern walls, and even the area where the tribe Artenaris led was designated to.

All in all, the current state of Infanta Settlement was not bad. They were steadily climbing up from the rubble. Very different from the state Codon was in when they returned to Catanduanes.

Earlier, Mark had already relayed the information to the two Generals about what happened to Codon. The two were clearly dismayed by this fact. They were also angry about the politicians who thought of nothing but their positions and power and caused the settlement's downfall. Nonetheless, there was nothing they could do but wish the remnants of Codon good luck.

Fortunately, the political faction in Infanta Settlement was long neutralized. It was not the military's doing, of course. Most of the members of the faction died during the [Fusion of Dimensions]. As such, they lost all power to interfere with the military. There was no way for them to cause the downfall of the settlement.

As Mark returned to the military encampment after his walk, he noticed soldiers running about with people who clearly looked like scientists. When he eavesdropped on them, Mark could only shake his head. Alana already relayed what he did to the dump site. It was no surprise. The researchers were now nagging the soldiers to retrieve research samples.

Mark entered the tent, where they ate lunch.

"HMPF!"

Karlene was still sulking.

Mark looked for the two Generals. He still had a few things to discuss with them. For example, scheduling when they would go to Corregidor. After all, Mark still had a few things to do nearby. He also planned to go to Corregidor one of these days. As such, he suggested they go together with him.

The two generals had no problem with Mark's arrangement. After all, he was the one who had the way of transport.

Time passed while Mark discussed things with the two generals. Aside from going to Corregidor, they also exchanged thoughts about how things needed to develop from now on.

Unexpectedly, Mark found himself immersed in the discussion. Since the two Generals and Jones Galley were more experienced than him, he managed to see many angles of things he had never thought of.

It was the same for the three who were listening to Mark. While they were specialists in terms of military combat and tactics, they had less knowledge about apocalypse and zombie survival than Mark. Not to mention that Mark and his group had already fought countless [Infected] and [Mechids]. His knowledge about these enemies was extremely valuable for the three.

The thing that made the three military experts silent was when Mark mentioned the [Mechid Factory].

They already knew that these dangerous robots came crashing from space. As such, it was no surprise that they initially thought that these robots had a limited number. After all, these robots did not land. They crashed. It was not an alien invasion where the enemies could reproduce within their mothership, and these robots were not supposed to be able to reproduce due to the materials they were made of clearly unavailable on Earth.

But now, the three heard of [Mechids] starting to utilize Earth's resources to make more of their own. It was definitely not a good thing. While the new [Mechids] was weaker compared to the [Mechids] that crashed on Earth, it was still dangerous.

And the worst thing to think of was the possible number of [Mechid Factories] that were still functional all around Earth.

Fortunately, the residents of Infanta Settlement had yet to witness any kind of [Mechids] from the descriptions Mark gave. It meant that there were no functional [Mechid Factories] in the immediate vicinity of the settlement.

Nonetheless, if there was one quite a distance away, it was only a matter of time for these new [Mechids] to reach this settlement.

The information Mark relayed gave the three a new sense of danger of what was possible to come in the future. They needed to decide on things fast and the meeting with General Perez in Corregidor became even more necessary.