Mutagen

Day 129 - 9:03 PM - The Pagoda, Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States of America

At the lowest floor of the pagoda, the survivors from the condominium building at the foot of Mt. Penn checked the clothes they received. Without a doubt, they were delighted.

Most of them were living in that condominium building. The whole building became chaotic when the outbreak started. Almost all the people inside the building either died or became infected in the first few hours. Most that managed to survive and hide in their units already got bit.

That caused more deaths as families and friends started eating each other, leaving with some that was fortunate.

It was the very cause as to why half of the survivors were Mutators.

The survivors managed to keep the top floor and the rooftop of the building clear of the infected. It was because, at the start, there were more of them on the top floor.

With the help of the Mutators, they managed to get by despite having a hard time gathering supplies. Because of that, as time went by, their numbers became lesser and lesser. Some died, some left. Not everyone would stay in place and, despite the danger, would try their luck somewhere else that slowly rot facing an inevitable future.

One of their struggles was decent clothing. After all, without enough water supply, they could not wash their clothes. When scavenging, food came at the top of the list.

Thus, receiving new clothes, despite being a bit dusty, they were very gratified.

Furthermore, their lives when they arrived here in the pagoda was far better than when they stayed at the condominium building. It was good that they took the gamble, although it also meant losing some people along the way.

In a sense, it was upsetting that these survivors were already numb about things concerning death. But with their previous situation, it could not be helped at all.

And now, the ones that managed to survive had a better life these past two days.

Unfortunately, this group was not a harmonious one.

"Get away! We'll choose our's first!"

A group of five men pushed the others away to force the privilege of choosing clothes.

And of course, the others could only make way. It was because all these five were Mutators.

"These bastards are at it again."

The others could only murmur at the side. However, as they did not want any more conflict to arise, they could only let these five do what they wanted.

Of course, if they did not cross the line. If those five did, the other five Mutators would not stand by idly.

However, once a battle occurred between the two groups, the ones affected the most were the remaining members. And sadly, they were mostly non-combatants.

Among the ten Mutators of these Survivors, seven were men with varying ages, while three were women. As for the non-combatants, four had ages of thirteen to seventeen with two boys and two girls. Lastly, among the remaining six, there was a middle-aged couple, three men in their late twenties, and two women in their early twenties.

On average, this group had more younger members. It was not hard to know what happened to the older ones.

At the highest level of the pagoda...

"Those five are really bad, aren't they?"

Karlene said as she watched the feed on the laptop in front of her.

"BAD! BAD PEOPLE!"

Karla pointed at the screen with great conviction.

"Karla, don't shout." Alana patted Karla's violet hair. "The bad people will hear you."

Hearing what Alana said, Karla covered her mouth in panic. That action made everyone watching giggle.

Unknown to the survivors below, since they arrived here, they were already being monitored. Several security cameras were installed at the ceiling of the first level of the pagoda. These cameras were in plain sight. But of course, none of the survivors below paid attention to it. After all, it was already the end of the world. Electricity stopped working a long time ago.

No one would suspect that these affixed cameras were still working.

Well, at least none of the survivors below except one that was seemingly conscious of the cameras.

It was Odelina's idea. After all, Mark only allowed people that passed his criteria into his base. This way, it would be easier to segregate these survivors after Mark and Mei returned.

In fact, most of the good things that these survivors received these past two days were on purpose. It was to judge them early on.

And sure enough, it was worth it.

These survivors had different personalities. And none of it could be seen when Odelina and the others were around.

Since the fate of these survivors lay on Odelina and the others, these survivors only showed their positive side. When they turned around, these survivors were itching to kick each other's back, especially those five men.

"Those five is really hateful. When we are around, the stares these five give are uncomfortable."

Spera complained with a pout.

"That is why we don't let Jaeya go down."

Alana shrugged.

Jaeya had no self-awareness. No, rather than not having it, it was more accurate to say that she lost it.

Odelina could only reminisce about the times where Jaeya was moving around the house without wearing anything. There were even times that she did that in front of Mark. Jaeya was not feeling embarrassed, but Odelina and Spera were.

"What do you all think about her?"

Karlene pointed at a woman.

"She's called Vera, right?" Alana replied. "I think she's good. She's quite responsible and also helps around without any need to be told of what she had to do."

"Yes, she's a good one." Odelina also agreed. "But she's too naive. She didn't even realize that she's being manipulated by best friend."

That statement made everyone watching sigh. To this group of women, the secrets of the survivors below were laid bare.

To be interested in the affairs of others...

These women were surely bored out of their minds.

***

Day 130 - 8:21 AM - Audubon High School, Audubon, Camden County, New Jersey, United States of America

The night passed without problems, although it could not be said that it passed peacefully.

Because of Chimetrice's revival, a large number of infected roamed the area. These infected were those that came from farther places and did not make it to the event. With the event ending, the remaining infected scattered everywhere, and most of them were attracted to the school where people resided.

For the entire night, the whole settlement was in high alert. The soldiers had to implement a stealthy way of eliminating the infected without attracting more of them unnecessarily. Although it succeeded, they were far from clearing the whole place once more.

Right at this moment, Mark and Mei were sitting at the rooftop of the school building, feeling the morning breeze.

After being injured by the technique of the elder, Mei managed to wake up before midnight. However, for the entire night, Mark did not allow her to move from her bed. It was not wrong, since even though she woke up soon, her face was still pale and hurting. Mei had no choice but to say in bed and feel delighted as Mark personally fed her dinner. Despite the pain she felt, she slept with a smile as he held his hand tightly.

When morning came, Mei was feeling better. Her injury had not healed yet, but at least, it was not getting worse. It was thanks to the [Regeneration Medicine] that they had. If not, it might take longer for Mei just to wake up from this injury.

For the whole night, Mark held onto Mei's hand while skimming the fragments of memories that the elder left behind. And since it was the most recent event, he immediately found out the technique that the elder used. He could not help but feel mad and relieved at the same time.

[Sword Palms], it was the name of the technique. It was a technique where the user would inject a sharp Qi to the bodies of the enemies to damage their bodies from inside. It was a deadly technique. Fortunately, when the elder used this technique, his goal was to torture Mei and Illia after they were disabled by this technique. Thus, the attack did not lead to instant death.

This was what made Mark mad. It was a close call. The good thing was it did not work that much on Mei and Illia's bodies. Illia had a demon body that was far sturdier than a human's body. Mei's body, on the other hand, rejected the invading Qi, making the injuries she received lighter than the elder expected.

After eating breakfast, Mark brought Mei here to relax and take a breather. Her back still hurt a lot. Thus, Mark did not allow her to move around too much.

This also made Mark decide to spend another day here to let Mei have a good rest.

As for Mark, their return last night was tedious. It was not surprising that he was bombarded with questions the moment he returned. Only when they noticed the two unconcious girls that he was carrying back that they decided to postpone it.

Mark also learned that the event yesterday made Arnold and the others have a hard time. It was because the [Queen Type] and the [Empress Spider] threw a fit, trying to follow the infected running towards the center of the event. Fortunately, the soldiers had tranquilizers with them, and it thankfully worked after four shots.

The [Empress Spider] seemed to be immune to the tranquilizers and continued to wriggle around. However, with its host succumbing to numbness, its resistance was turned to waste.

As for the female cultivator that Mark brought back, she woke up far earlier than Mei. The moment she woke up, however, the first person she saw was Mark. And the first thing she tried to do was to scream in horror. The scream was cut short, however, as Mark hushed her with a glare while pointing at Mei.

Without a doubt, the girl remembered that what happened last night started because Mei was harmed. She managed to live and did not want to die. She could only cover her mouth tightly as she shrunk herself in the corner of the room, trying to avoid Mark's glare.

It was not bad, in the least, she behaved. The girl did not try to escape either. Because she might be killed if she did. Or worse, she might undergo the same ordeal that she suffered last night.

Well, it was not like she could leave either if she wanted to. Even if she ran out of the school, there would be nowhere she could go with Mark keeping their flying swords with him. Despite her fear, it was better to stay around Mark as she had nowhere to go. She just had to behave and not incur his ire.

"Hmm?" Mark glanced at Mei after he noticed something. "What's wrong, did your lips hurt?"

Mei was leaning her head on Mark's shoulder. He could not help but ask as Mei was touching her lips subconsciously while thinking deeply.

"No, it's not hurt," Mei replied.

Then, she asked a question that made Mark look away.

"Gege, how did you make me drink the medicine?"

So, that was what she was thinking. After all, an unconscious person had no way of drinking the medicine on their own. That was one of the reasons why in hospitals, drugs, and nutrients were directly injected into the unconscious patients intravenously.

And of course, Mark could not answer the question immediately. It was an emergency yesterday, and he did it without thinking.

But it was correct that he made Mei drink the [Regeneration Medicine] from his mouth.

"Gege, don't look away..."

Mei complained.

"Do I really have to answer that? You already know the answer, right?"

Mei's face looked down, a bit red.

"It's unfair..." She grumbled.

"Hah..." Mark sighed. "Look at me."

Hearing that, Mei slowly turned to Mark.

And there, Mark pecked unto her lips, surprising her.

Mark already did it once. He could do it again. Though this time, it was just a short one.

"That's enough, right?"

Mark smiled, seeing the tomato faced Mei. Though her face was like that, there was a smile on her lips as Mark caressed her head gently.