Mutagen

Day 147 - 9:25 PM - Southeast Catanduanes Settlement, Codon, San Andres, Catanduanes

Mark and Mei's return were happily welcomed by the girls like usual. Only this time, there were no hugs or head pats since Mark's body was covered with blood.

"Welcome back, Smelly Scary Uncle!"

Emika greeted while giggling. It was clear what she was going at. She mostly called Mark either Scary Uncle or Smelly Uncle depending on the conversation and mood. This time, however, the blood-soaked Mark was both.

"You want a hug?"

Mark asked as he opened his arms and faked to run towards the green-haired girl.

"Eeeek!"

Emika could not help but retreat in panic.

But then, Mark started to run towards her.

"Come on, don't be shy."

"NOOO!!!!"

She started to run away. With Mark's expression, there was no way to tell whether he was joking or not.

The others could only sigh while Berrak could only gawk. He was not prepared to see this playful behavior of Mark towards Emika.

Of course, Mark did not really go and hug Emika. There would be various implications if he did that. Not only Emika would get dirtier, but she might annoyingly ask Mark for hugs later on.

Hmm? Something else? Of course not. Just whose mind was too dirty to think of that.

Still, Emika was definitely scared that Mark might actually do it.

Leaving the jokes aside, Mark turned to Edzel and Pefile.

"They really came, don't they? Are they scouts?"

Mark asked before turning his head towards the unconcious people lying around tied with ropes.

"Rather than scouts, they might be an advance party."

Pefile replied.

"Why did you say so?"

Mark asked.

"Scouts should only be in the vanguard to look for enemies and note their positions. As for these people, they were preparing to ambush the soldiers on the walls before we caught them." Pefile then pointed at the weapons the captured people had on the other side. "Look."

Since Mark did not pay attention earlier, he did not notice the weapons that Pefile hid on the other side. Looking at those, Pefile was definitely right. There were the M16 rifles that were commonly used by both military and the rebels. However, there were also sniper rifles and even two M60s. Although snipers might be, the last kind was definitely not equipment for scouts.

It was quite strange. Why would the rebels send a small party to ambush the soldiers while having a much larger one on stand by? It was just suicide.

Or maybe, that was the goal?

Unfortunately, there were a lot of things that they did not know to draw a concrete answer to the situation.

In any case...

With those thoughts in mind, Mark approached one of the unconcious men and sighed in front of him.

"Just what are you doing here anyway..."

That gesture made everyone confused.

"Gege, you know him?"

Mei could not help but ask.

"I sure do. This guy is my younger brother, after all."

That came as a surprise.

Why? Mark did not have a single resemblance to the guy at all!

Mark had a regular, below-average appearance. The shape of his face was oval, complementing his above-average height.

The unconscious man, on the other hand, had a small face. It was even though he was just a bit shorter than Mark. And more than that, this guy actually was above-average in terms of looks.

"I know what you all are thinking. We don't look like brothers, even a little. I have three siblings, and none of us look like we are related to each other. My youngest brother might have the same eye shape as me, but it was also mirrored."

"Is this the hunch you had before?"

Pefile asked. After all, they had never heard Mark tell them to capture people instead of obliterating them in one go.

"Well, I guess you all already noticed that I'm looking for something in this place. That's my family. But as you all can see, they are not in the settlement."

They all went silent. Berrak aside, everyone noticed Mark looking around while in the settlement. Of course, it was not in a tourist-like way at all, even though he appeared to look like sightseeing.

"Then Boss, your family is with the rebels?"

Edzel asked. It was somehow unexpected.

"It's not really surprising."

Mark shrugged, looking back at his brother.

"Why is that?"

Pefile asked.

"One of my close Uncles, the husband of my mother's younger sister. He had quite a position there. I just don't know which faction he belonged to, right now."

Mark just dropped another bomb there.

While Mark was working together with the military, he actually had a direct relationship with the rebels.

What a surprising contrast. The group thought that Mark's family were seeking refuge there or joined for some reason. But it was actually none of those two at all.

Was that why his brother with the attackers?

But before anyone could ask, Mark already spoke.

"It's surprising, though. I don't think my overprotective parents will allow my brother to participate in these kinds of dangerous things. My Uncle is more or less a boastful but peaceful one. I don't think he will join the aggressive faction of the rebels, either."

Listening to Mark, there was one thing that everyone understood.

There was something odd that was happening involving his family.

"What are we going to do next, Boss? Are we going to meet them?"

Edzel asked immediately. Things about family were a sensitive topic to Edzel, considering his circumstances. As a person that lost his mother when he was young, he knew the feeling of losing a family member. If Mark's family were still alive, he wanted them to reunite.

Amihan was the same, looking at Mark eagerly.

But then, confusion took over.

"Who?"

Mark asked.

"Your family, of course."

Pefile interjected.

"What are you talking about?"

Mark replied.

"Huh?!"

Of course, they were surprised. Aside from Mei and the little girls, no one here knew about Mark's relationship with his family.

"I'm just going to see them but not meet them," Mark added. "My family relationship is an oddly undesirable one, you all see. Or else, why would you guys think that I'm somewhere else while all my family members are here."

The atmosphere had become odd. No one knew what to be said next. It was the first time the group learned that Mark also had family circumstances he was hiding.

"So, you're not going to bring them back to the base?"

Pefile asked.

"No." Mark shook his head. "I only came here to check on them. The most that I can do is to make their environment safer and help them in the shadows. I did not even have a tiny bit plan of meeting them."

Everyone fell silent. Although some of them still had questions, they respected Mark's decision.

"But Gege, what are we going to do with your brother?"

Mei asked.

At that question, Mark turned his eyes to Pefile, Emika, Edzel, and Pearl.

,m "How did you knock them all unconcious?"

Then, the three turned their heads at Pefile.

"I used some sleeping powder." Pefile took out a satchel made of animal fur. "Our kind would use this powder on humans whenever they got lost inside our forest, then bring them out."

"Does it have side effects?"

Mark asked.

"Just a minor one," Pefile replied. "Those made to fall asleep with this powder will forget everything that happened about an hour before they fell asleep. Its not an intended side effect when it was created, but it was convenient since the people that entered our forest will forget things that they saw inside. You know what will happen if magical things they saw got leaked out to the mortal world."

That was sound reasoning. It seemed that the first person that created the powder only wanted a sleeping powder. But then, the side-effect came in a convenient form.

"Can I have some of that?"

Mark suddenly asked.

"I don't mind."

Pefile replied, throwing the satchel at Mark.

"You won't ask me what I'm going to use this for?"

Mark asked another question as he caught the satchel.

"I'm not stupid. It's obvious what you are going to do with that."

Pefile replied with a scornful eye, making Mark shrug.

"Let's move these people somewhere else." Mark said. "But first, let's deal with our visitors."

The visitors that Mark was talking about arrived a few minutes later while they were loading the unconscious rebels on Chaflar's back. It was no other than General Padilla and his entourage.

Of course, the sight of the dragon terrified the soldiers more than the fact that they were loading unconcious people on its back.

Nevertheless, they were not that surprised. Berrak's existence definitely became a good excuse at this time. At this point, it seemed that only the General and his secretary that checked the letter knew that Chaflar was Mark's pet from the Infanta Settlement.

"So, what do you all want this time?"

Mark asked. Of course, he already knew what they were here for. However, he still asked.

The appearance Mark had this time definitely surprised the soldiers. But considering the fight earlier, this might have been the result. It was surprising, though, that while his clothes were tattered and covered in blood, there were no visible injuries on his body.

The one that was surprised the most, however, was Andrew. He definitely saw Mark heavily injured, with his arm's skin being peeled off. And yet, what was this?

It was the same for General Padilla that received Andrew's report about what he saw. The General could only turn to Andrew in askance. The latter nodded, affirming that something was odd.

What made them even more confused as they were sure that the [Regeneration Medicine] could not heal such heavy injury that fast. However, they could only stay silent about that topic.

To Mark's question, General Padilla replied.

"We came here to convey our gratitude."

Then, soldiers saluted.

"On behalf of the soldiers and the people in the settlement, thank you. If not for your help, who knows what would have happened to the settlement later on. If there is something you need, we'll try our best if we are capable of doing it."

Hearing that, Mark smiled. Although he understood that the General was trying to get on his good side, the last sentence was more than enough to make up for it.

"Then, I actually need a few things."

Mark replied unceremoniously.

That caused some murmurs among the soldiers.

"Don't worry, I won't take advantage of all of you."

Mark added as he turned to the General.

"How are those two soldiers that were transported back this morning?"

"They are still in detention." The General replied. "It's already judged that they did nothing wrong, however. They will be released tomorrow morning and get reinstated to new posts. Is there something wrong with them?"

"There's no need to reinstate them. Bring them to me tomorrow. I'll meet them at the west gate."

"What are you going to do with them?"

The General asked.

"Don't worry. I already had a talk with those two. They are joining our group."

Mark's words came as a surprise to the soldiers. The shock aside, there was also a tint of envy. Just what did those two soldiers do to be invited to Mark's group?

"If they already consented to it, then there's nothing we can do. I'm not going to force everyone to stay as a soldier if they already wanted to leave."

The General replied with a sigh. It was a rather undesirable thing to lose some promising soldiers. Unfortunately, it seemed that the harsh treatment that the captain had given the two forced them to quit.

"Another thing." Mark then said. "Can I have every information you have about the rebels? Including confidential ones."

That request came out of nowhere.

"Why would you want something like that?"

Of course, the General would ask. After all, there was supposed to be no relation between Mark and the rebels at this point.

Mark then pointed at the people they were loading at Chaflar's back.

"These guys are members of the rebels. Though as it appeared, they were forced into a suicide mission. I happened to know one of them, so I want to know the actual situation there."

Learning about that, the General frowned. It looked like that the rebels did try to attack but Mark's group intercepted them, fortunately. But then, he took notice of Mark's words. These few men were forced to do a suicide attack. There was no way that these few men would be able to do much damage to the settlement. It meant that there could be hidden circumstances.

As such, General Padilla nodded at the request. If Mark could clear the rebel problem on this island, then it would be very advantageous to the settlement.