Mutagen

<strong>Day 147 - 4:23 PM - Planning Room, Military Base, Catanduanes Settlement, Codon, San Andres, Catanduanes</strong>

General Padilla, his secretary, and his other trusted men were taking the evaluation of the papers seriously. After all, even though Mark and his group seemed to be trusted in both Infanta and Bay City, it was different here. Furthermore, what Mark did here was to cause deaths so far. Of course, they would be warier than trusting.

Mark noticed this but did not bother to refute their thoughts. It was not like their wariness would do any harm in any way. Still, the General's group looked silly checking if the documents were complete considering even Mark did not know the password to the lock. If he really wanted to tamper with it, he would have no choice but destroy that digital lock.

And as far as everyone here knew, the lock was fully intact.

Instead, Mark focused on rewatching anime with the little girls. It was while they were waiting for the go signal for his group to leave. Well, he did not forget to glance at the twitching eyebrows of the soldiers. It was because they could hear the screams coming from the laptop in front of him. The volume was not loud. Nevertheless, Mutagen enhanced the bodies of humans. Thus, even the low volume sound coming from the laptop was still audible in this enclosed room.

The soldiers could not concentrate. At first, what they heard from what Mark and the girls were currently watching was happy giggles, although there was a bit of scared screaming. It was until the one hour mark that the sounds coming from the anime started to turn horrifying. The happy giggles became screeches along with panicked shouting and despaired crying.

Just what in the world were they watching? Some of the soldiers that were just standing guard were curious. On the other hand, the ones checking the documents were getting distracted.

Another half of an hour passed. Finally, General Padilla was done checking the documents.

"Done?"

Mark asked, seeing the General arrange the documents.

"We are. My apologies for the wait. We just had to thoroughly examine the contents of the package as per protocol."

General Padilla replied while returning the documents back into the briefcase.

Those words made Mark shrug his shoulders a little. That was the General's softer way of saying that they were careful about the package since they did not trust him or his group. Not like he cared about their trust at this point. In fact, the way that they handle things here was way more untrustworthy.

A lot of things that Mark noticed while roaming around this settlement was not reported to Infanta. It included the current division between the higherups and the rough situation between the Army and the Marines. When Mark returned to their base, he would need to stop by Infanta once more to tell these things. It was not like General Faustino would be able to do anything, but in the least, they were not kept in the dark. Besides, he was getting paid for this. Having more [Regeneration Medicine] at his disposal would not hurt.

"Then, can we go now?"

Mark asked.

Inside this room, Mark, Mei, and the little girls were present. The others were in another room. Of course, there was no need to ask why. Even if one was to ask, they would only reply that it was according to protocol. In truth, however, it was one of their ways of being careful.

To Mark's question, the General replied.

"Definitely. Are you sure that there's no need to prepare a place for your group to stay?"

"There's no need." Mark shook his head. "Just prepare some passes so we can enter and exit the settlement without getting stopped by your soldiers."

Those words made General Padilla nod his head a bit. He heard about what happened this afternoon. He then turned to his secretary, Vanessa.

"Vanessa, go lead them to the registry. Give each of them special passes and a group pass."

"Yes General." The secretary replied. And without anything else, she walked towards the door near Mark's group. "Please, follow me."

With the invitation, Mark patted the girls' heads as he closed the laptop. They then met up with Pefile and the others as they headed to the Registry Office.

The Registry Office was where any person that arrived in the settlement was supposed to go first. Their names and personal information would be registered for reference. The most important part of this was stating both the specializations and previous occupations of a person. It would likely dictate what jobs in the settlement that the person could do. Office workers back before the outbreak could be hired in different department offices while laborers such as farmers and construction workers would also get the same jobs.

It might not sound that appealing. However, having secured a work designation in the settlement meant a secure flow of food and necessities. It was not only for the person working but also for his family.

In every settlement, there were at least two Registry Offices. One was for public use, while the other would usually be the main office located in the military area.

The one that Mark's group was led into was the main Registry Office. The other one was at the Trade Area, but that was still quite a distance away from here compared to the main one. Besides, Mark's group was, more or less, VIPs at this point.

Inside the office, the group sure took everyone's attention. There was Mei, as per usual. This time, however, it was more because the General's Secretary was guiding them personally. Unless it was someone who was either had high standing or very important people, such privilege was impossible to happen.

Thus, everyone in the office engraved the faces of Mark's group into their minds. But of course, it was not because they did not want to accidentally offend Mark's group. It was because there might be chances that they could curry favor on these people. This was something, although not common, that would happen quite frequently in government offices. Bribes and stuff, as long as they would have some benefit from people with high standing.

Of course, this nasty thought of these people did not escape Mark. Unfortunately for these people, what they had in their minds would never happen as his group would not stay here for too long.

The process did not take too long, and Mark and his group got their passes. It was fast considering the usual time wasted waiting in government offices in the Philippines back in the days. Was it because there were no other people than Mark's group? Not really. There were times that being the only person inside the government office would still cost more than an hour or worse, more than that.

The people issuing the cards were quite baffled, however. Unlike the usual registration process wherein all information was required, Vanessa stated that it was not necessary. Mark's group only needed their names, signatures, and thumbmarks.

Mark received his card and examined it. It was nothing fancy. It was just a printed card written with their names and was signed by them before it was laminated and cut. The only thing that stood out was the embossed stamp since it was gold in color.

It looked very different from the one from Bay City. As for Infanta, Mark never really received or needed one.

"Good, we are leaving."

Mark said, making everyone nod.

"If you are leaving, your group better use the back door." Vanessa suggested. "There were still those people out front. It would be hard to pass by without getting into trouble."

"Where's the back door?"

Mark asked.

"Let me guide you."

With the lead of Vanessa, they arrived at the rear area of the Military base. The rear was facing an area outside the settlement. Although it was still within the vicinity of the settlement, it was already behind the walls. Thus, there were almost no people that dare linger here.

"Alright, we'll be on our way." Mark said to Vanessa. "Send our regards to General Padilla."

From there, Mark's group made their way north of the settlement. It was already five in the afternoon, and the sun will set soon. They better find a good place to camp near the coast.

***

Vanessa and the guards at the rear gate watched the mysterious group of travelers walked away. Only when they were already out of sight that Vanessa turned around and walked away.

As she arrived at a place unseen by the guards, however...

"The package had been delivered to the General. Are we still going to tail them?"

It was a man leaning his back on the wall of the building that spoke to Vanessa, who stopped without looking.

"Continue watching them."

Vanessa closed her eyes and replied.

"What for?"

The man asked.

"Their group are too mysterious. More than that, too strong. If we can unveil their secrets, it will be good for our organization. Especially that Mark. Who knows what method he did to make General Seguerra's trump card follow him. As for the contents of the package, I'll handle it."

"Good."

The man replied.

"Remember," Vanessa added. "Just watch. Don't confront them. There's too much unknown about that group."

"Don't worry, I'm not stupid like that Seguerra and his bastard of a brother."

With those words, the man turned into a blur as he climbed up the wall of the building like a wall lizard. No, maybe a cockroach? In any case, he reached the rooftop of the building in no time and vanished from everyone's sight.

Sensing that the man was gone, Vanessa shrugged.

"The Military here at the south, the NPA at the north. What a chaotic island. Now, there's that group of abnormals. Things will become more and more chaotic soon."

Leaving those words to the void, Vanessa returned to the office to continue her work.

***

"A third party, huh."

Mark murmured.

They might already be out of sight but Vanessa and that man were still inside Mark's detection range. There would be no way that Mark would not notice it since that man was one of the people that was tailing them ever since they arrived here in Catanduanes. At first, he thought that the man was a part of the NPA. Considering the difference in the movements of this man compared to the others, however, it was likely that he came from a different and more professional group.

Besides, the likely spies of the NPA had not caught up to his group yet. They went out of the rear gate, after all. That guy with Vanessa, however, was quite fast to catch up with the situation. It did not seem like he was afraid of the military either.

"I guess. It's because this guy is a third level that he sees the military far below him."

In any case, it was better to be cautious. It was even if the enemy was the same.

The situation here in this place was really chaotic. The things that General Padilla did not report aside, there were even things that he had no idea either. Just how long would their settlement last in this case?

***

Making their way to the northern coast, they found an area at the border of the beach and the forest. It was more than half a kilometer north of the Catanduanes Settlement. As remote as it might sound, it was only about a hundred and sixty meters away from civilization.

To the east of this beach, just on the other side of the forest, was another farming village. Of course, it was already abandoned as it was far outside the settlement walls. The only people in that village were hunters and a military outpost similar to the western coast of Codon.

The sun was about to set when they arrived. Thus, they started to prepare for the night. Though it seemed that the night would not be a peaceful one for the Catanduanes Settlement.

<strong>-VOLUME 10 END</strong>