Mutagen

<strong>Day 5 – 10:38 PM – Parking Area, Queens Row Elementary School, Queens Row Area A, Bacoor City, Cavite</strong>

Mark looked at the two's surprised expressions with a little pint of confusion.

"Rather than being surprised that I have this ability, you two seem to be surprised that I told you about this."

Hearing that, the surprise in the two women's expressions receded and Odelina showed a bit of embarrassment on her face.

"Master, with what I just saw earlier, I don't know if I should react to something like this anymore. I'm more surprised that you told us this. I'm sure that Master is a person who keeps things to yourself."

Odelina replied which also made Mei nod in agreement. But Mei's expression soon turned serious as she realized something.

"Then, Gege, the way you woke up earlier…"

Mei remembered what happened when he woke up this afternoon.

Mark nodded before Mei could even finish her sentence.

"I'm telling you two this since now since we are going to encounter danger before we arrive at Bay City."

"Danger?"

Mei asked.

"Yes, danger. In the worst scenario, we'll all die. Me, the two of you, all the members of our group, even the soldiers and the refugees."

Mark decided to be straightforward which made the eyes of the two widen.

"Why? How? Is it the wave of infected Master and young miss talked about?"

Odelina asked in a hurry. She was not worried about herself but she was worried about her children.

"It's not too clear but it's likely that we'll encounter a Mutated Infected more powerful and way stronger compared to the ones we encountered so far. In my dream, there's only one infected so it's surely not related to the wave."

Mark shook his head.

The two women were shocked. Just how strong was that infected to be able to wipe out everyone including the armed soldiers alone?

"Then, if Gege had a premonition about it, we can avoid the disaster right?"

Mei voiced her concern.

"That's right but we can't deviate too much or we'll encounter even worse danger than this one. You know. People with this kind of ability don't always live too long. There are many reasons but one is that because they tried to bend the future and suffered the consequences. It's like knowing that there is danger this way so you turned the other way and encountered even worse danger that what you predicted."

Mark looked at the two with a more serious expression.

"As we agreed with Captain Dela Rosa, I will choose the way to lead all of us to Bay City. In this case, I will deliberately lead us to encounter that infected. That way, we can predict where it will appear exactly and prepare some measures. If I did not do this, considering that all the roads that connect this place going to Bay City, all of it was at the same direction. Meaning, in any of these routes, it is likely that we will encounter that infected. So it is better to directly follow the route in my premonition and anticipate where the infected will appear."

He saw the two gulped with nervousness.

"I already prepared some arrangements with Captain Dela Rosa in order to prepare for the encounter. I didn't tell him why I needed him to prepare those things though."

"Master, is that what you talked about with him before treating his son?"

Odelina suddenly remembered. When the squad captain was bringing them to the room where his son was detained, Mark told him several things and handed a torn notebook page containing a list of things.

"That's right."

Mark admitted.

"What I wanted to tell you two now is that in case that the things I prepared didn't work, I'll go and lure that infected away."

"WHAT!?"

Mei and Odelina exclaimed as they almost stood up in shock.

"Calm down you two. Gale and Iola are sleeping."

Mark hushed the two.

"But Gege. If it just needed to be lured away, then, anyone could suffice right?"

Mei started to calm down and asked.

Odelina on the other hand started to weigh the circumstances.

"No one else can do it but Master."

Mei also realized what was going on.

"Gege, that infected is coming after you?"

Mark nodded.

"I don't know why but does the two of you remember? The infected, particularly the mutated ones, seem to target me whenever they see me. Sometimes, they didn't even see me but will move towards my direction."

The two did not respond but the realization was apparent in their eyes.

"I'll tell you two but it doesn't only happen to me."

The ears of the two perked up.

"By the way it looked like. The infected are able to distinguish Espers."

Mark turned to Mei.

"Remember why Captain Dela Rosa and his squad are stuck here?"

"They encountered an "Unknown" that almost wiped them out."

Odelina looked at Mei as she was not there at the meeting for the escort proposal. She knew about the mission and rewards they were going to receive afterwards as Mark also elaborated it to them before but it was the first time she heard about the story behind it.

"That Unknown should be a powerful Mutated Infected that attacked them because they had an Esper with them."

Mark said which made Odelina come into another realization.

"Alderick?"

"Yes. The same happened to the group Paula and Angeline went with. I haven't told you two yet but Angeline is currently in a comma because their convoy was attacked by an Unknown I suspect to be another Mutated Infected. Paula was the target of the Infected and Angeline was injured in order to protect her."

The news became a shock to the two. No wonder it was Paula who was answering the phone when the phone should have belonged to Angeline. They then realized what Mark said to them.

"Paula is also an Esper?"

Mei voiced. Even though she did not really interacted too much with the two, they left a good impression to her, especially Angeline who was naïve minded but a strong fighter.

"Paula had the ability to distinguish lies from truth. She said that she inherited it from her mother. I can say that she's telling the truth. Actually, my ability to see pieces of the future is also inherited from my mother."

Mark took a deep breath and decided to console the two.

"In any way, I won't go and lure the infected away if we can defeat it. If it really happened that I have to leave and lure it away… Odel, I want you to take care of Mei and these two girls. I know that I'm dumping too much work to you this time when you also have your children to protect."

"Master, you worry too much. I will do my best to protect them even if you don't order me to."

Odelina said with resolution.

"Gege… you will return safely right?"

Mei asked. Her expression looked sad.

"I will. Though I'm not optimistic that it will be easy, at least I know that I will be able to survive that. At most, my arrival at Bay City will just get delayed and nothing more."

Mark patted Mei's head.

"Another thing... Odel, what do you want to do after reaching Bay City?"

"What do you mean Master?"

"Actually, after I escorted everyone to Bay City, I will leave with Mei and these two girls, probably, along with Laelaps and Fein too."

Odelina was surprised once more.

"Leave? Why?"

Unexpectedly, Mei was the one who answered Odelina's question.

"It's because Gege already paid his debt."

Hearing that, Mark smiled.

"You actually remembered that?"

Mei nodded.

"Back at the mall, Gege said that you have a debt to your friends. You also said before that we are the same. Then, Gege already severed connections to them before right? In the case you brought them to safety of Bay City, you already paid the debt and had no lingering connection to them anymore."

Hearing that, Odelina held her head with her right hand.

It was no wonder this two Masters of hers were limiting their interactions with the other members too much. They actually plan on leaving everyone afterwards.

Seeing the servant's dilemma, Mark spoke.

"As an Empath, places like this settlement and even Bay City don't suit me. I prefer to create my own base somewhere else with a few people. The others however, were not too suited for something like that. The Evolvers in our group now have their families with them so I can't bring them either. That's why I'm asking you. If you don't want to go with us, you can forget the deal Freed gave you and live freely."

Surprisingly, Odelina did not want to leave.

"Can we bring my children with us?"

"There's no problem with that. You have the ability to protect them."

Mark agreed.

"Well, about the plan to leave, that won't happen immediately since we needed to prepare for that. We'll probably stay at Bay City for some time before leaving."

***

The talk did not take too long after that and Mark told Odelina to return to her children back in the building used by the military.

"Gege, there won't be any problems right?"

Mei sat beside Mark.

"Don't jinx it."

Mark rubbed his handhard on her head before handing a folded cloth to her. Inside the cloth was one of the newly created Physical Crystals.

"Since we don't know other things that will happen, you better consume this."

Mei did not say anything and accepted the crystal, holding it on her hand. Her eyes were also filled with anticipation. If she evolved, she would be able to fight and help her Gege further. She did not want to be just a baggage and wanted to be able to fight beside him.

"Lay down on the sofa. It will be quite painful for sure and you will have fever after you lose consciousness. Don't worry, I'll assist you. If it didn't work, then I'll give you a drop of my blood."

Mei lay down comfortably on the sofa and propped the crystal into her mouth.

CRACK! CRACK!

Upon contact with her saliva, the crystal glowed with bright light before it cracked and broke into pieces the same way during Mark's experiment. The smoke particles left of the crystal entered her throat. Almost immediately, her face started to flush and her body started to shiver. It seemed that the crystal worked immediately on her without her needing to consume Mark's blood.

"Gege…"

Mei spoke weakly trying to suppress the pain. As her voice was too soft, Mark leaned his face towards her to hear her more clearly.

At that moment, before he could react, Mei lifted her head and planted a soft kiss on his right cheek. She then lost consciousness flaring with fever with her head falling back unto the sofa.

Mark was surprised and then he shook his head. This girl was getting braver and braver. It was not like he did not know what this girl felt towards him. It was just that he did not feel that importance of having relationships at the moment when there was danger in every corner.

He caressed her head with his hand covered with white milky light.

When her condition became stable, Mark was in a dilemma. He had no way of sleeping now. With Mei unconscious, the emotions of everyone in the settlement came flooding his mind like a broken dam.

Throwing the thought of having sleep away, he took out his phone, a USB cable and his laptop before sitting beside the sofa Mei was sleeping at. He was not playing a game. Clicking sounds of the keys of the keyboard echoed inside the vehicle as Mark started to create one of his trump cards to exchange with the government.