Mutagen

<strong>Day 80 - 5:35 PM - Pagsanjan River, Maytalang I, Lumban, Laguna</strong>

The sky was already changing its color as the sunset came closer. Nevertheless, this transition just improved the atmosphere of Mark and Mei's date. A loving couple walking across the bridge under the sunset sky was surely a romantic scene to behold.

It was a perfect picture as the river reflected the scene above it together with the shadow of Mark and Mei over the bridge.

This whole day, Mark tried to avoid as much interaction with anything unnecessary. Survivors, Animals, and especially, the infected. He avoided such encounters as much as possible. He did not want to destroy their date. Or else, they might have to kill much more infected after they visited several malls.

Mark also detected survivors, though very few. However, there was no reason for him to make contact with them at all.

Unfortunately, not everything would go as planned.

"Gege, I hear motorcycles."

Mei said as she turned to Mark.

Of course, Mark also heard it. Since the speed of the vehicles seem to be fast, they entered his detection range shortly. He had not tried to measure how far his detection range now. His estimate was it was around a hundred meters already and could be extended if he focused in one direction.

Feeling how many people were coming, Mark had the urge to leave with Mei and not bother with them. That was what he wanted, yet, he could only shake his head bitterly.

"Mei'er, we'll meet with these people. Is that fine?"

Mark could only ask Mei with a bitter expression.

"I don't mind if Gege wants to." She replied. "What kind of people are they?"

"Probably enemies," Mark said. "I think it is better if you hide."

Hearing that, Mei grabbed Mark's left arm and hugged it.

"I'll stay."

Mark had nothing to say to that. It was not like the incoming people could do anything to her with him around. What he did not want was to expose her to unsightly stares that could make her remember her bitter experience. With what he felt from the people in that group they were about to encounter, they were definitely a bunch of animals in human skin.

It did not take long, Mark and Mei stood in the middle of the bridge, surrounded by a group of men. They were clothes in a similar style to biker gangs in movies. Black thick vests, leather jackets, ragged jeans, and bandanas either on their heads or faces. Some had piercings on their nose and lips. And lastly, each of these people was armed to the teeth.

"What do we have here?"

A man with a built looking body went down from his heavy bike and approached Mark and Mei. It was not hard to see his muscled body structure as he was wearing an open vest with nothing under it. He was wearing a necklace that somehow fit his current appearance. Furthermore, he was tall. Probably more than seven feet. By how he behaved, he was undoubtedly the leader of this bunch. If not, he might be a vice leader in the least.

The man looked at Mark and Mei. Seeing Mei's appearance, his eyes lit up with unhidden lust.

Not only the man but even the other members were also looking at Mei with unsightly expressions.

This made Mei quite uncomfortable. And of course, Mark did not want it.

With a faint red glow on his eyes, the men around froze, feeling the heavy pressure that fell unto them. Their eyes that were filled with lust were replaced with fear. They wanted to scream and flee. Nevertheless, they were able to do neither. They were rooted to their spot with wide eyes and mouths gaped open.

Unexpectedly...

"Oi, you." The built man spoke to Mark while his eyes were glued to Mei. "Usually, we kill anyone wandering around our territory. Leave this b*tch here, and we'll let you live."

This made Mark quite surprised. He could not help but stare at the man with his gleaming eyes.

As Mark did not answer, the man's eyes finally left Mei and turned to Mark. There, he saw Mark's glowing eyes and his ominous glare.

"What is the meaning of those eyes, huh?" The man stepped forward in an imposing manner. "Do you want me to dig your eyes out? Someone as bad looking as you don't deserve a b*tch like her. Just scram now when I still have a good mood."

Of course, he was in a good mood since he thought that they hit the jackpot after seeing Mei.

But then...

THAM!

BUGHI!

An extremely strong impact hit the man on his stomach, making him release a pig-like sound from his mouth.

BAM!

The man was sent flying towards their truck, even causing the truck to shake and got pushed off its original position. From that impact, quite a number of scared screams could be heard from inside the truck.

After hitting the truck with his back, the man plopped to the concrete. Of course, as his body implied, the man wound not die easily. Even though blood leaked from the corner of his mouth after his organs were rattled, he was still perfectly fine.

The man looked forwards with fury, he saw Mark that was still in the kicking pose that made him fly. He glanced at his men and shouted as his furious eyes turned back to Mark.

"What are all you fools doing?! Kill that bastard and capture that b*tch!"

His roar was loud and was surely intimidating.

But then...

Nothing happened.

In absolute fury, he looked at his men and wanted to shout once more. There, he realized. The current appearance of his men was unnatural. Some of them even started to wet their pants as yellowish liquid dripped to the concrete.

It was not hard to understand what was happening.

The leader of the bikers stood up and stared at Mark.

"Is it you?"

He asked.

"Yeah?" Mark replied. "I'm surprised why you're not affected, though."

That nonchalant reply made the leader even more furious.

His muscled body bulged even more, in a very intimidating manner. This man was a Mutator without a doubt. A strength type Mutator with an Unfearful trait. Despite what was happening with his men, he did not feel fear as he charged towards the cause, which was Mark.

The leader stretched his left hand trying to grab Mark's head, who had not moved a single step away from his initial position. With his hands that currently had more than five hundred kilograms of grip strength. He could crush Mark's head like a tomato.

And the leader's eyes widened as he was stopped in place. Mark had grabbed the same hand and stopped the leader from moving forwards.

Mark could commend this person's strength. In order to stop him, he needed quite an effort. Right now, the veins on his whole right arm were glowing brightly.

The leader's shock only lasted for a second as locked Mark's right hand in place, and he stretched his other hand.

That was when a red shadow flashed.

Suddenly, the leader lost the feeling on his right arm.

THUD!

A mysterious sound was heard below him which made him slowly look down.

There, his severed arm lay scattering his blood on the concrete. Still, that failed to register on his mind. Only when he slowly looked at what was left of his right arm was when he realized what had happened.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! MY ARM! MY ARM!!!"

He subconsciously let go of Mark's hand as he stumbled backward, screaming. His body started to deflate, returning back to his previous appearance. He fell down grabbing the stump that was left of his left arm. Even his trait as a Mutator could not stop the feeling of fear of losing a part of his body.

The leader was screaming in fear, his men watching at the side were already dying of it. They all saw what had happened when a [Blood Whip] from Mark severed that arm in a flash before it retracted back into his body.

Furthermore, the smile Mark had in his face was like the smile of a devil. It might be better if Mark spoke even a single word of taunt because not uttering a single word as he watched the fountain of blood on their leader's arm, made him look more like a devil.

While the leader continued to yell in pain, Mark and approached him. Finally, Mark opened his mouth.

"Who are you going to kill again?"

Mark said, with a slight tilt on his head. There was obvious mockery in his tone.

"F*CK OFF!"

The leader swung his remaining arm, trying to hit Mark in an insane burst of rage.

However, with another flash, the arm that was swung did not hit Mark. Like the first arm, it was severed. The force from the swing sent the severed arm flying and ended up crushing the skull of one of the frozen members.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

The leader could only scream as both his arms were lost.

Making Mei stay behind for a bit, Mark approached the hysterical leader and bent down. He grabbed the necklace the leader was wearing and tugged it away.

When the necklace was taken away, the leader froze. He was still struggling with pain, however, like his men, he was now frozen in fear. Now, he understood why his men could not move a single finger.

The leader could only move his eyes as he stared at Mark and Mei.

Seeing Mei, the leader thought that they hit the jackpot. They never tasted such a beautiful woman. There were only two of them, what could they do? This beauty was here for taking.

Who would have thought that they encountered the devil instead? No wonder these two were walking around without fear. They stood at the center of their circle without a shred of anxiety.

On the other hand, Mark did not pay attention to the leader anymore and was observing the necklace.

"So, this is it..."

After the awakening of his dormant blood and became a Blood Demon, his senses towards unusual things had heightened. It was also how he found where the Diwata was at Mount Banahaw.

Now, he sensed something odd with this group. It was also odd that the leader of this group was not affected by his [Emotion Induction] in the slightest.

The cause was this necklace. This was also the odd thing he sensed. After the necklace was removed, he saw that the leader became affected by his Empathic Ability.

Without a doubt, this necklace was not a normal one.

"Gege, what is that?"

Mei asked.

"I don't exactly know," Mark replied. "I suspect, this some sort of trinket or Agimat."

Hearing that, Mei was a bit surprised. An Agimat was similar to charms and trinkets that were known to have magical effects on the people who wore it on their bodies.

The necklace Mark took seemed to fit the criteria as it was a circular medallion with an eye at the center and unknown symbols all over it. There was one thing Mark noticed, though. This necklace was just a part of the whole thing.

Ignoring the armless leader that was already dying from the loss of blood, Mark panned his eyes at the frozen men.

"Anyone know about this?"

He raised the necklace for the men to see.

Unexpectedly, half of the men seemed to have a reaction. He picked the nearest one, who was a skinny man, and removed the pressure on him.

After the pressure was removed, the skinny man fell on fours gasping for breath. He was covered in sweat and his nose and tear ducts were already bleeding.

Seeing the skinny man released from suffering, the other men were in turmoil. They obviously wanted to take the skinny man's place instead.

Mark approached the man and said the same question.

"Do you know anything about this necklace?"

The skinny man was surely afraid of Mark and was not able to answer immediately. Furthermore, he tried to retreat away.

Mark was displeased by the skinny man's action. With a reddish blurry flash, the skinny man's head separated from his body. The skinny man's head even rolled to the center of the encirclement making the other men soil their pants even more. After all, the head was still alive as it rolled while realizing what had happened. The skinny man could only open his mouth agape in his last moment.

Then, Mark posed the question once more.

"Anyone knew about this necklace?"

He said that as he approached the next person to have the chance to answer.