Mutagen

Day 317 - 7:21 PM - Main Office, Black Lotus Compound, Kachidoki, Chuo City, Tokyo

Mitsui Ren sat on her chair in contemplation. As the leader of the Kachidoki Area within the Reclaimed City, she had a lot of duties to fulfill. However, her mind was preoccupied with the thoughts about the group of survivors they rescued today.

The leader of the Black Lotus was also recording the details she got from the leader of the survivors. It could be seen a page of the notebook on top of her desk was now filled. While most of the page's contents were the information she acquired, it also contained her notes and speculations.

At this time, a knock came from the other side of the door to her office.

"Enter."

Ren said as she put down the pen in her hand.

Responding to the permission given by Ren, the person behind the door entered the door and respectfully saluted.

The person who entered was a man in his mid-forties. He had a moderately muscular build, wearing the Black Lotus uniform. His hair was undercut, and his posture was firm as if he belonged to the military. If Mark and his group were here, they would recognize this man since he was with them inside the military truck. This man sat at the back end of the truck to guard it in case of emergency.

"Miss."

The man greeted.

"Tadashi..." Ren glanced at her notes as she uttered the man's name. "What do you think about that group we rescued? Don't hold anything back."

Tadashi closed his eyes for a second, organizing his thoughts to answer the question.

"They are no ordinary survivors."

Tadashi answered.

"Of course, they are far from average survivors. They survived outside until now. It would be strange if they were ordinary."

Ren retorted.

"That is not what I meant, Miss," Tadashi shook his head. "While traversing a city filled with the [Infected], they were awfully calm. Although we were in a vehicle, most people would not be as calm as they were. It was more apparent to the children. Other children would be shaking in fear, hugging their parents or guardians along the way. But the children in that group did not show any sign of fear."

"Next is the beautiful girl," Tadashi continued. "It would be hard to see since her body is slender, but her arms had the muscle form of someone who held a sword and had extensive training with it. Furthermore, someone with an appearance like her would not last long in the current world if she did not have enough strength and skill."

"And lastly, that man," Tadashi had a second of a pause before continuing. "I cannot get a read on him. This entire time, even when he was having the conversation with you, Miss, aside from his facial expressions, his pulse, posture, and tone didn't show much change to indicate lies. No, not just lies. I could not make out anything at all."

"I also noticed that," Ren said, staring at Tadashi. "He did have facial expressions while talking. However, the expressions felt empty. And his statements and posture were too perfectly in sync in forming an image of an experienced but a person quite lacking skills in the apocalypse."

Mitsui Ren had a degree in Psychology and was on top of her class. She was not able to finish her doctorate degree because of the apocalypse. Nonetheless, making such observations was within her field.

"And earlier..." Ren tapped her temple. "Our members drew their weapons just because of a glare."

"Yes," Tadashi nodded. "Although that man did not exhibit any threatening actions, our sensitive members sensed danger. One being oversensitive could be a coincidence, but all of them should not be."

"The chances of them being spies got higher, isn't it?"

Ren said with a frown.

"The chance of them being spies did rise, although we still can't be sure," Tadashi replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "But we can rule out the suspicion that the children were just being used for the farce. It was only during his interaction with his group members. That man's pulse and posture showed changes. Although their blood relation is questionable, we can conclude that they treat each other as family. Most notable spies don't have families or any sort of such relationships due to their work. It is even more unlikely for them to bring family members in missions."

"But it also makes a perfect guise due to how contradicting it is."

Ren voiced out, making Tadashi silent in agreement.

Then, the chance of the survivors they rescued being spies sent by the enemy was fifty over fifty.

In other words, Ren and Tadashi were stuck in the middle. There was no particular factor within the information they gathered that could tip the balance to one side at all.

"For now, let's just observe them closely," Ren decided. "Tadashi, I'll put you in charge of their accommodation together with Mako. The woman named Mei seemed to have fear towards men, so I can't just leave it to you alone."

"Yes, something must have happened to her before involving males. Her pulse rose when our men's attention was on her," Tadashi voiced his observation about Mei. "And considering how she could find safety behind that man just showed how tightly bound their relationship is."

"True," Ren smiled. "It won't be easy to make a woman with a scarred heart rely on another man. He must have been really good on her if they reached this far. Although that man, Mark-san, will be subject to envy everywhere they go. Their appearance as individuals was on both ends of the ruler, after all."

Ren then looked at her notes, picking up her pen and tapping on the names of the members of Mark's group on the page.

"Let's just wish they were not spies, even if they were hiding their skills," Ren sighed. " We can really use some help right now. I won't force them to join us. At the least, we can possibly get better and more competent allies."

Saying that the Reclaimed City was peaceful was a farfetched idea. Given its current ruling system, it was bound to more conflict and competition between forces that ruled areas within the Reclaimed City. Resources, manpower, there were many things to compete with. Thus, espionage, sabotage, and bribery could happen in any part of the city, especially when one group wanted something from the other. However, they could not get it in legitimate ways.

The Black Lotus was not a particularly large group. However, they were a group of highly skilled people. That was why they were given the whole Kachidoki area to manage. A moderately sized territory within the Reclaimed City. And, of course, they were subject to the envy of other groups.

And the inside conflicts aside, there were also other forces that could send spies and agents to the Reclaimed City. Hostile forces outside included bandits, underground groups, and, most importantly, Demons. Ever since the world changed and magical creatures that were only heard in stories, myths, and legends appeared, Demonic creatures became a problem.

It was no news that many creatures of Japanese folklore were violent ones. Creatures that saw humans as livestock and individuals to prey upon. Many of them were intelligent enough to use humans or even disguise as one in order to infiltrate human habitats and induce havoc.

There was even the suspicion that some people within the Reclaimed City were now working with the enemies. Unfortunately, there was no concrete evidence to find out who those people were.

"Did they request anything?"

Putting away the unrelated thoughts, for now, Ren asked Tadashi.

"Aside from asking permission to move around the beds to their liking, they didn't ask for anything else," Tadashi answered. "They took and ate the food they were given without complaints either, though they took out some snacks of their own to add to their dinner."

"Snacks, huh," Ren bitterly smiled. "Some people within our area would treat a bag of potato chips as precious dinner. Mark-san's group would just add snacks to their dinner as dessert. Just what kind of people are they?"

"Haaah," Ren was tired of all the thinking. "Let's just leave this for now. Any news on our petition? Did Akari report anything?"

"Akari had not reported anything yet. I doubt our petition could be approved soon," Tadashi reported, showing a bit of frustration. "The opposition on our petition is tough. Some of them might even have the backing of some government officials."

"Haah... Damn it." Ren gripped her fists. "Our current food supply won't last too long if this situation continues. To think that they would use our agendas to their advantage... They really are keen on driving us into the corner."

"Should we prepare for another expedition?"

Tadashi suggested.

"I don't know," Ren replied with uncertainty. "We can't go on long expeditions frequently due to our limited fuel supply. It might be what our enemies are aiming for and ambush the expedition once they get far enough for any reinforcements to make it in time."

"Then, we should consider things further. We should find other groups that would go on expeditions and join them. That way, we might be able to lessen the chances of an ambush."

Ren nodded in agreement. After all, if two or more groups joined in an expedition, the enemies might reconsider relying on an ambush just in case they began making multiple enemies at once.

The leader of the Black Lotus and her right-hand man continued to discuss their plans. This night would be quite long for the two.

***

Within the house they were brought to stay for the night, Mark lay on the bed with Mei. He then opened his eyes, clearly far from being asleep.

Opening his right hand, a crystal with a greenish orb inside flew out. It then went into the [PsyCrystal] embedded on the back of his right wrist. From the looks of it, he stealthily activated the [Wind Manipulation Mental Crystal], using the wind to gather information.

Mark was listening to the entirety of the conversation between Ren and Tadashi as the wind he controlled brought their voices into his ear. He let out a sigh, knowing that his act barely worked at all. Both Ren and Tadashi were sharp people with their own ways of discerning things. Who would have thought that the leader of Black Lotus majored in Psychology? She looked more like a businesswoman with her aura and appearance. And that Tadashi, he was not just some regular fighter. To be able to discern people's expertise using their pulse and muscles, he should be an expert among experts.

There was one thing that Mark became sure of, however. Black Lotus was a righteous group. It was pretty lucky it was the Black Lotus group that found Mark and his group. If not, bloodshed might be unavoidable, considering the current state of the Black Lotus being driven into a corner by other larger groups.

But then, it might not be just luck. After all, only people as righteous as the Black Lotus would bother rescuing a small group of survivors despite the danger. Others might not bother, even if they saw Emika and Amihan.

"?"

Mark detected something. It looks like someone was observing the compound quite a distance away. Worse, someone from the Black Lotus stealthily went out of the compound and made contact with the suspicious person.

"Haah..." Mark sighed and thought. 'Looks like we'll be getting dragged into this political strife between the groups here.'

Mark would take it lying down, however. It would be expected that some odd people would make contact with him soon to invite his group. Unfortunately for them, unless they were far more righteous than Black Lotus, he would be inclined to help the people who let them inside the Reclaimed City than a group of scheming bastards.