Mutagen

Day 323 - 9:21 AM - Evernight Base, Kachidoki, Chuo City, Tokyo

After the group moved to their new base, an entire day passed pretty quickly.

Mark returned to the breakfast table after chasing away people knocking on their door.

"Those people just won't stop coming."

Mei said with a frown.

"Yeah," Mark shrugged. "We overdid it, I guess."

The effect of the popularity of Mark's group was much worse than they had thought.

Yesterday, most of the day was spent cleaning and renovating the new base. And, well... Chasing away uninvited visitors.

Through their performances and rumors, it seemed that many [Freelancer Groups] and private groups had become interested in taking Mark's group under their wing. And since they were now outside the immediate protection of the Black Lotus Group, many of those interested took the opportunity to approach them.

And thus, constant knocking sounds were heard from the door of the restaurant throughout the entire day, which continued even now.

There were quite a variety of these uninvited visitors. There were some who tried sales talk, others were elevating themselves, there were also those who were full of themselves, and, of course, the extremely rude ones.

The offers also varied in incentives. Their goals also varied.

Some were interested in Mark's group as a whole. Some were only interested in Mei and the girls for obvious reasons. There were also those who were interested in the equipment that Mark's group displayed during the hornet attack.

And as the visitors varied, Mark also had a variety of responses.

Mark politely declined those who were nicely talking to Mark. It was the same for those with business attitudes but not unreasonable. As for those that were arrogant and full of themselves, Mark was a bit more aggressive in chasing them away. At times, he would close the door in front of their faces.

And for those unreasonable and extremely rude ones, especially those with malicious and threatening attitudes, Mark did not hesitate at all. He pulled a gun on their faces, causing them to freeze in fear. It seemed that some of them forgot, but with the muzzle of the gun on their faces, they remembered that one of the first things that Mark did upon their arrival was put a gun on the face of the leader of the Blood Lion Troupe. He even fired the gun despite the presence of Okii-san in front of the Bureau.

Mark showed the rude ones he had no fear and did not care much about the Reclaimed City's rules. Continue to pester and threaten them, and the offenders would receive a bullet in their forehead.

And as if that was not enough, Mark actually fired a few shots at the most annoying ones. Especially those with third-rate villain dialogues when they were clearly running away.

Mark's group did not care what the neighbors would think about the situation. After Mark fired those shots, the neighbors began to avoid the restaurant as much as possible. It would be nice if the uninvited visitors did the same.

And due to Mark's violent response, it seemed that the landlords received some complaints. Ren visited the restaurant in the afternoon. While she did not try to stop Mark from violently chasing the rude ones away, she asked Mark not to shoot guns as it was scaring people. She clearly understood the circumstances, but she wanted to also address the worry of the people under her care.

Unfortunately, it was impossible for Ren to hold back all the groups that wanted to meet Mark's group. As such, she could only tell Mark to do it in moderation.

After gunshots were banned for chasing away rude people, Mark decided to use a crossbow instead. The explosive sounds that guns emit were one of the reasons it was scary to people. On the other hand, the crossbow barely makes sounds when fired. Nonetheless, the lethality was not that different.

And if the crossbow or a revolver was not scary enough, Mark could pull out a grenade. Not like he was going to use it, but it was far scarier. Fortunately, there was no need to show a grenade so far.

But for sure, more kinds of rumors about the group named [Evernight] would pop out in the Reclaimed City because of this.

"Seriously, I want to go somewhere today, but if this doesn't stop, I can't leave."

Mark said, clearly annoyed by the situation. However, there was no one to blame here but himself.

And then, with a sigh, Mark finished his breakfast and went around the house, trying to find a wide piece of plyboard. Luckily, there was some plyboard among the old stuff in the restaurant they stored in one of the rooms upstairs. It was a bit broken, but it was good enough for what Mark wanted to do.

Without any hesitation, Mark controlled his blood and wrote a notice on the plywood.

"We are not interested in joining anyone. We are also not recruiting new members. We are not entertaining uninvited guests. Leave." Spera read what Mark wrote on it. "Will that work?"

"If not, I'll end up not using my blood on the next sign."

Mark answered before hanging the sign in front of the door.

It was a sign written with blood. It would surely scare people less brave people. But its effectiveness on blockheads, arrogant, and dense people was questionable. In that case, Mark would not hesitate to beat people up, considering there was already a sign on the door.

And the sign seemed to have worked. In the next hour, not a single knock on the door came, even though some strangers stopped in front of the restaurant and read the sign before leaving.

But soon enough...

TOK! TOK!

A rather heavy knock on the door sounded to Mark's annoyance.

And unlike the previous ones, Mark's eyes seemed to carry killing intent which was noticed by Mei and Spera as he went to answer the door.

Mark opened the door and stepped out, looking at the bastards outside.

It was a group of men with rather bulky builds. There were ten of them. Looking at them, Mark immediately noticed their demeanor and the tattoos hidden under their coats.

Members of the Yakuza. Furthermore, they were not the disciplined kind but the unruly ones.

Mark looked at his feet. It was the reason why his eyes contained killing intent. Right in front of the door, pieces of scrap wood could be seen. The sign he made... was destroyed by these bastards.

Without waiting for Mark to talk, the man in front with a white coat and chain necklace spoke.

"Are you the leader here?" The white coat man said in his deep threatening voice. "Follow us. Our boss wants to meet you."

Mark met the eye of the white coat man.

"You didn't read the sign before you destroyed it?"

"What sign are you talking about? I didn't see one." The white coat man answered with a sneer. "Just follow us if you don't want any trouble."

"No. That's my answer."

Mark replied with a glare before turning around to go back inside.

But a large hand grabbed Mark's right shoulder before he could take a step.

"Look here," The white coat man said threateningly. "You think we are asking you? This is an order."

Mark took a deep breath. He was trying to endure it, but he was already fed up.

Without saying anything else, Mark grabbed the hand on his shoulder.

And then...

CRACK!

"AAAAAAHHH!!!"

A painful cry resonated in the area, making everyone watching the situation shiver.

The white coat man took a few steps backward before falling on his bottom in the middle of the sidewalk. His right arm twisted in a literal sense. The bones were not only broken. They were crushed with his muscles spun into a spiral. Just a little more twist and his whole right arm would have been torn off.

"Who said you can touch me?"

Mark said, his eyes on the verge of turning red.

"Aniki!"

The other men cried as they came to the white coat man's rescue.

"F*ck! Kill him!"

The white coat man had lost his reason due to pain and issued an order he was not supposed to. However, his members followed without hesitation, swallowed by the rage after they saw the white coat man with his arm crippled.

Nine members took out their handguns of different models. And in a few moments, they were ready to fire.

Most of the people watching in the surroundings began to run away. If a gunfight ensued, they might get caught in it.

However...

The wind in the surroundings suddenly picked up. Blades of wind formed and slashed the arms of the members, causing them to drop their weapons.

These Yakuza members forgot one important thing.

The very first reason why Mark's group gathered attention. They had a [Sylph] with them. While these [Wind Elementals] were weak, they still had some capabilities. And to them, making an enemy drop their weapons was quite easy. Their legs were also slashed by the wind blades, causing them to fall to the ground.

Without the weapons and with their arms and legs wounded, the situation came to a complete turnaround. However, the Yakuza members had yet to give up. They wanted to avenge the white coat man.

But Mark, without any shred of fear, stepped forward. He picked up a gun that was dropped in front of him and pointed it at the white coat man.

"Kill, you said?"

Mark said with a creepy smile.

And here, the Yakuza members realized. What they were dealing with here was much worse than a gang member.

Mark's killing intent was overflowing. It had really been a while since he disposed of any trash. The bloodlust of the [Deity of Bloodshed] was getting thicker after all this time.

But as Mark was about to pull the trigger, a noticeable presence walked near them.

Mark glanced at the owner of the presence.

A man with white clothes and a black hat. A Shinto Priest.

The priest then spoke.

"Please, put the weapons down and stop this commotion."

Mark, unfazed by the priest's presence, asked.

"Are you with these dregs?"

"Me?" The priest glanced at the Yakuza members before turning back to Mark. "Please, don't associate a priest like me with these individuals. It is just the commotion is affecting the poor people, and they had nothing to do with the problems of the people with power."

"And besides..." The priest continued. "It is not worth it to dirty your hands further with the blood of these individuals. The wounds you inflicted should be enough of a punishment for their offense."

Mark stared at the priest as he lowered his gun. His bloodlust had yet to dissipate, and he really wanted to at least cripple this group of injured trash. However, it was not the best time to clash with the Temple and its priests. These priests were far more troublesome than this group of Yakuza members.

But Mark did not want to end it just like that either.

"Hey, you," Mark called out to the white coat man. "Take off your coat."

"What are you..."

The white coat man tried to argue, but the pain from his arm stopped him from talking.

"Just take off your coat before I really tear off that arm of yours."

Mark said with his bloodthirsty glare.

The man already realized that if the priest did not appear, he was already dead. He had no choice but to comply here. Since his right arm was twisted, he could only ask his members to help him take off his coat.

But instead of receiving the coat, Mark laid the coat flat on the pavement in front of the injured Yakuza members.

Mark then ordered.

"Write what's written in the sign you dregs destroyed into the coat."

The confused members could only comply, but they had one question.

"What should we write with?"

And Mark looked at them like idiots before pointing at their wounds.

Mark was telling them to write with their blood. They were hesitant, but as Mark began raising the gun in his hand again, they could only scramble to do it.

It was much incoherent since the people who wrote it were injured, but it was readable enough. Mark then picked up a coat with blood written on it and hung it in front of the restaurant door, with wet blood still dripping from the written letters.

"Scram."

Mark told Yakuza members to leave, in which they dragged their injured bodies and hurriedly left Mark's sight.

The priest watched the scene with interest. But then, without saying another word to him, Mark opened the restaurant door and was about to enter.

"Wait!"

The priest called out to Mark.

However, Mark only pointed at the coat he hung in front of the door and shut it in front of the flabbergasted priest.

Mark had no reason to pick a fight with the Temple, but it did not mean that he was willing to entertain them either.