Mutagen

<strong>Day 139 - 6:35 PM - Barangay Salvacion, Municipality of Murcia, Province of Negros Occidental</strong>

Mark roamed in the ruined streets for about fifteen minutes. He focused on searching the town's central area, where stores and public establishments were scattered around.

However, as Mark expected, most stores were already ransacked empty. There were some stores with leftover items. One of which was the store catered for owners of fighting cocks and poultry birds. It was not surprising, considering only a few would think of needing these items during the apocalypse.

The surprising thing, however, was the emptiness of the place. While it was expected that no people would be present now, there were also no signs of other things one would expect to be around.

For example... the [Infected].

Aside from the [Mutated Infected] that was tailing Mark, he could not see any single [Infected] in the area. There were no animals or magical beings either.

Well, the little girl might be a magical, paranormal being. But, of course, she was also an exception in this count.

The closest thing that Mark found that would tie to a living being were the bones scattered around the town. It was rather hard to determine what most of the bones came from, but the skulls were definitely easy to identify.

Mark did not find any complete skeletal remains, however. All the bones he saw were pieces and parts he accidentally stepped on while walking. The darkness of the night made the bones a little hard to see. Furthermore, most of these bones were hidden under the grass that already covered the streets.

Unless Mark overturned the grass as he walked, he would not spot the skeletal remains scattered here and there.

The annoying part of this excursion for Mark was the annoying stalkers following him.

Mark was already showing that he was lowering his guard. Nonetheless, the [Mutated Infected] did not bite the bait Mark laid.

The [Mutated Infected] was already fast and made no noise as it moved. Did it really have to be this intelligent? Mark was getting annoyed.

As for the little girl, Mark felt less annoyance from her. Although unnecessary, this girl attempted to help him earlier, after all. Still, he was suspicious as to why she kept on following him.

After getting tired of searching the surrounding stores, Mark finally decided to go back to the municipal building. In the first place, it should be where he started. However, the sudden appearance of the [Mutated Infected] caused him to derail from searching the municipal hall.

Using the parking area of the small municipal building, Mark made his entry.

Sure enough, there were more signs of fortification inside. The windows were barricaded, and there were barbed wires in front of the door. Well, most of the barricades were already destroyed.

Unexpectedly, the door was closed. It was something that one would not expect, considering the state of the place outside.

After waving through the barbed wires and broken barricades scattered in front of the door, Mark pushed the door open.

Mark did not enter immediately. Not that he could not, but he was forced to stand in place.

The moment he opened the door, he was assaulted by the horrid stench coming from inside. It was the mixed smell of the stale air, the fishy smell of blood, and the rotting smell of something decayed.

Mark had already smelled worse things. Thus, Mark only froze for a bit. Then, knowing that the smell would stick to his clothes if he entered, Mark took out the [Wind Manipulation Mental Crystal]. He had no plans to air the entire place. Mark only needed to create a barrier of wind around his body to prevent the smell from reaching him.

Once Mark used the [Wind Manipulation Mental Crystal], he felt two reactions nearby. It was clear that it was his two stalkers. After all, to the [Infected], magical energy was rather attractive. As for the girl, her current existence was nothing but a blob of energy, making her react to the strong magical energy that the crystal released.

Unfortunately, Mark could still not pinpoint the exact location of the [Mutated Infected].

Mark made his way inside.

Mark frowned. The whole place looked like it experienced a storm. Things were scattered everywhere, from small pieces of barricades to rotting body parts.

The light-colored walls were splattered with blood. Dead, half-eaten bodies lie here and there.

"It's a slaughter ground."

Mark murmured. What confused Mark was the positioning of the bodies, along with the blood scattered on the walls and floors. The bodies looked like they were backed to the entrance of the building instead of being cornered inside.

There were also more blood splashes near the entrance instead of the inner areas.

Then... all of a sudden...

<strong>CRASH!</strong>

The sound of glass breaking entered Mark's ears. At the same time, he felt a tug on his clothes, forcing him to duck.

From where Mark's head was positioned before, four stick-like things pierced through. Due to Mark being pulled down, the attack missed.

As fast as the sneak attack came, as fast the stick-like appendages retreated.

Mark saw the appendages retract outside through the broken window. It was already broken in the first place, but the attack knocked down the remaining glass attached to the window and caused the noise.

Glancing at the silhouette of the girl standing in the corner of the room, Mark stood up. He then continued investigating the place.

The whole first floor was a mess. Just how many people got killed here? There seemed to be quite a lot of rotting bodies.

Taking the state of the corpses that barely started to liquify in mind, it was barely a month since these people died.

It gave Mark the thought...

If Mark and his group did not spend too much time in Kahilwayan... Would it be possible for him to find these people still alive by then?

It was a rather mind-boggling question.

In the past, Mark would not have these thoughts. However, after experiencing two lives and having the memories of four more, he began to think of these questions.

Not to mention that he got scolded by the [Eyes] due to him drastically influencing the lives of people around him and changing their fates.

Mark shrugged as his body was now pulled to the side.

Like before, several appendages pierced like spears to where he was positioned before. Once the attack missed, the appendages retracted immediately. The attack came from a window nearby.

It made Mark think. The [Mutated Infected] was now proactively attacking him while he was inside the building.

Why?

And Mark came to a conclusion almost immediately. He could not help but commend how developed the intelligence of the [Mutated Infected] attacking him.

When Mark was outside, he had the opportunity to chase after the [Mutated Infected] if its attack missed. Thus, the [Mutated Infected] did not attack. Now, Mark was inside. The [Mutated Infected] could attack from outside through the small gaps and windows, and Mark would not be able to chase it at all.

"How clever."

Mark shook his head, glancing at the girl staring at him from the second-floor balcony.

He did not need the help of this girl at all. Although the attacks were as fast as a sniper bullet, his reflexes were more than enough to notice and evade.

However, Mark was letting the girl pull him away from the attacks. He wanted to know what the girl wanted for doing this. Unfortunately, he was far from understanding her intentions.

Aside from a few scattered makeshift weapons, Mark found nothing else of interest on the first floor.

Thus, Mark made his way to the stairs. This place only had two floors, so it would be the last floor to explore.

But then, as Mark was mid-way up the stairs, four stick-like appendages shot towards Mark from above. There was a large hole on the roof right above the highest steps.

This time, Mark felt the girl panic.

Since Mark was mid-way the stairs, she could not nudge Mark out of the way since he would fall. It was also the reason the [Mutated Infected] attacked at this time. It was to push Mark off the stairs, and there was no space to dodge at all.

Mark, however, was done playing.

He tilted his neck and waist to the side, causing the four incoming appendages to miss his body. And before the appendages could retract, Mark grabbed the thin limbs.

And then... There was silence...

The girl was shocked at Mark's actions. The [Mutated Infected] on the roof was the same.

Finally realizing that its limbs were grabbed, it tried to pull back in a hurry.

"KREEE?"

A confused sound was heard as the [Mutated Infected] realized that it could not pull back its limbs.

Mark would not waste this chance. While hearing the muffled screeching sounds, Mark took out a portion of his blood and formed chains and shackles that would keep the stick-like limbs in place. He then tied the limbs to the sturdy part of the intact metal railings of the stairs.

The [Mutated Infected] was stuck. Its panicked screeching could be heard from outside.

And using the windows on the second floor, Mark jumped out and went to the roof to see the struggling [Mutated Infected].

Unexpectedly, the little girl was already here, intently watching the [Mutated Infected]. However, the little girl was exuding a weird emotion this time. A nostalgic and sad emotion.

Mark approached the [Mutated Infected], only to get attacked by the two remaining arms of the trapped enemy.

Unfortunately for the [Mutated Infected], its attack was done upfront. Mark did not have to put any effort into dodging and just grabbed the two limbs. This forced the [Mutated Infected] in a rather difficult twisted position which caused it to wail in pain.

Now that Mark got a clear look at the [Mutated Infected], he realized that it was a woman. Well, the mutation changed her whole body. Her ragged dirty hair also covered her face. If not for the fact that she had breasts uncovered due to lack of clothes, it would be hard to determine her gender without observing closely.

The [Mutated Infected] felt threatened. She tried her best to free her trapped limbs while threateningly growling at Mark.

It made Mark shrug. This [Mutated Infected] was rather intelligent. Well, in terms of hunting her prey. As for everything else, there was none. She was just your everyday dumb [Infected] that only relied on instincts.

Furthermore... It seemed that the [Infected] could not see the little girl standing beside her. Even so, the little girl was intently watching her.

It finally dawned upon Mark and he could not help but ask the little girl.

"Your mother?"

And for the first time... the girl responded to Mark's words.

The little girl turned to Mark and sadly nodded.

This reply made Mark ask the girl.

"What do you want to do with her?"

This question seemed to have triggered something. Mark could feel the girl's energy swirl, releasing a plethora of emotions.

And then, images flowed into Mark's mind. The scene where the [Mutated Infected] killed the people in the municipal hall. The scene where she got bitten by an [Infected] while scavenging. However, she hid it from everyone because of her daughter.

Then, the scene of the girl watching her mother kill their allies after turning and mutating.

All the remaining survivors of this town were killed by the girl's mother.

And as those memories were transferred unto Mark. The girl uttered a single word.

"Kill."

The girl wanted her mother to die. Not because she bore hatred towards her mother. It was because she did not want her mother to hurt more people.

It was the reason why the girl tried to save Mark from the attacks of her mother. She did not want her mother to harm others anymore. It would have been easier if she killed her mother. She had the ability to pull Mark out of the way, after all.

But the girl could not do it. She could not push herself to kill her own mother.

And thus... she was asking Mark this request now that she had the opportunity.

Mark sighed. Since he caught the [Mutated Infected], he could have brought it back to the base since he intended to go there later.

However, the situation changed. This girl gave him a request with all her existence.

Thus, with a wave of his hand, Mark took out a crossbow from his ring.

There was no need to aim at this close distance. Mark just shot the crossbow in front, piercing the forehead of the [Mutated Infected].

The mother's body immediately went limp as her tall but thin figure slumped on the roof of the municipal building in front of the remaining existence of her daughter.