Mutagen

Day 153 - 3:58 PM - Madrijelos National Highschool, Barangay Madrijelos, Municipality of Algeria, Province of Cebu

Mark's group patiently waited inside the room after everyone else left after the commotion. Well, it might not look like it, but Mark was strictly monitoring the emotional fluctuations of everyone outside.

There was no doubt that the doctor saw something she did not expect. Although she was trying to be calm, Doctor Janice was extremely terrified inside. A regular person might have fallen unconscious on the spot if they received the same level of fright that she felt. The doctor was commendable in this regard.

However, from what Mark saw, it was not like she wanted to hold it in. She had to hold it in. Doctor Janice was here to examine Mark's group, who came to this place peacefully despite their abilities. If she displayed any extreme reaction, the soldiers might suspect that Mark's group had something to do with it and act aggressively.

That was why Doctor Janice had to act like everything was alright despite her initial slip-up. She did her best to recover the tension created because of her reaction.

It was even if, in her mind, Doctor Janice was more than ready to collapse.

Mark could understand why the doctor immediately left after talking to the military officer. She needed to calm herself up before her facade collapsed.

Still, Mark could not help but feel interested as to what the doctor saw. Sooner or later, whether it was allowed or not, he would meet with that doctor and ask.

Soon, a person entered the door. Of course, Mark already expected who it was. The person was the leader of this outpost who seemed to have the surname Dela Rosa. Furthermore, he came alone. It seemed that whatever the doctor told this guy, he believed it without hesitation and took action.

Considering the commotion earlier, the military officer came in alone. It was to make sure that there would be no trouble happening once more.

The military officer was here for a serious talk. It was visible from his expression and mental fluctuations.

If that was the case, there was no reason for Mark not to give what he wanted.

The officer panned his eyes towards the group seated in front of him. His eyes were neither arrogant nor mocking. Instead, his eyes measured Mark's group at an equal level.

"Let me introduce myself. I am Captain Emilio Dela Rosa from the Philippine Marines, currently leading this place. You can call me Officer Emilio or Officer Dela Rosa. That is what everyone here calls me."

The military officer introduced himself. Mark was not surprised that he came from the Philippine Marines. The word itself was sewn on the officer's uniform.

Still, Mark's group could not help but show some odd reaction now that they noticed it. After all, the first and only time they got involved with the Marines was a bad experience.

Officer Emilio could not help but notice the odd reaction and was confused.

"Don't mind their reaction." Mark suddenly spoke. "The previous time we got involved with the Marines, we were surrounded by a bunch of hoodlums that wanted to take advantage of the women in our group."

It was not exactly what happened but it was close. Mark just did not want to say too much about that situation.

Mark's words made the officer feel a bit awkward. The military might should be protecting the people of the country. But even so, the military itself was a mix of good and bad people. If one was unlucky, it was possible to run into those people who only thought of being a soldier as a way to earn a living. Soldiers that became one just because of the power they could hold also exist.

Besides, the woman beside the leader of the group was exceptionally beautiful. It would be hard for her to not receive any ill intentions in the apocalypse.

What he heard, however, gave Officer Emilio a piece of information. Mark's group had interacted with the military before. And, of course, survived the hoodlums they mentioned.

Hoodlums they might be, they were still soldiers. They had numbers, weapons, and abilities they trained over the years. Not just some group of survivors would be able to escape that.

That information just bolstered the words of Doctor Janice even more.

"And you are?"

Officer Emilio turned to Mark and asked.

"Mark. That's what everyone calls me." Mark introduced himself without any fake politeness. Just straight to the point. "And since our cover is already blown, it's not necessary to introduce the rest of my group, right?"

Officer Emilio frowned. However, it could not be helped. Introductions were one's will, after all. There was no need to force someone to tell their name if they did not want to.

Besides, names were not really important during the apocalypse. Government records barely exist anymore, and there was no reason to follow them.

Now, anyone was free to what name they wanted to have and be called with.

Officer Emilio looked straight at Mark.

"What is your purpose for coming to our place?" The officer frankly asked. "Are you all here to infiltrate or spy on us?"

"Considering how afraid that doctor is, you think we need to do those?"

Mark replied, which made the officer frown even more.

Officer Emilio did not expect Mark to realize that. It made the group even more mysterious and suspicious.

At the thoughts of the officer, Mark stated their business in this place.

"We needed intel."

"Intel about what?" The office was taken aback. "We are the military. We don't just give our intelligence to anyone, especially suspicious people."

"And that is why we are trying to do this covertly, you know that?"

Mark shrugged.

That was right. Mark's group entered this place in the guise of a survivor group to gather information discreetly. With their abilities, it would be faster that way.

After all, getting the information from the soldiers would lead to a lot of processes before the information he wanted would be given to them.

Might as well get the information directly without the soldiers knowing. It was not like Mark needed to take their records or anything. He only needed a glance at the contents, and it would be saved in his subconscious memory.

"Besides, we are not enemies," Mark said, finally whipping out the identification papers he had. "You can refer to this if you don't believe me."

Officer Emilio was surprised as he saw Mark take out a large envelope from inside his jacket. It was odd since there was no way that it would fit there.

In any case, the military officer cautiously received the envelope and opened it. Then, he took out the papers inside and skimmed at the contents.

Officer Emilio was also a Mutator with enhanced senses. Although he was just skimming, it was more than enough for him to understand the contents of the documents.'

And surely, the military officer was shocked as he alternated his eyes towards the documents and Mark.

Mark had a direct connection to two Generals in the Army. The documents also contained the feats that Mark and his group did to help the settlements led by those Generals.

The information in the document was too good to be true. It was too good that a regular soldier would think that it would be fake.

However, aside from the signature of General Faustino, there was also the military seal used for highly confidential documents. It was a seal that only those with high positions in the military knew about, and no one outside the military would know about it. Even Officer Emilio just learned of this seal recently. His rank was not high enough to know of this before.

Because of the seal, these documents were, without a doubt, genuine.

Officer Emilio looked at Mark. Who would think that this person in front of him was a big shot?

Finally, the military officer carefully returned the documents into the envelope and returned them to Mark with shaking hands.

"You could have just shown these in the first place."

Officer Emilio complained.

"It's not like anyone would believe what is written here, right? Someone with connections to Military Settlements in Luzon is right here in the Visayas sitting in front of you." Mark replied. "Besides, not just anyone knew of the seal stamped at the last page. I don't even know if someone of your rank would know something that is only known by those with stars on their shoulders."

"I'll believe it because of the seal, but I'll frankly say that I won't let my guard down to you people."

Officer Emilio stated.

"That's better," Mark nodded. "Only stupid people would let their guard down just because of some papers."

Then, Mark went straight to business.

"By the way, it's not like the intel I want is something confidential. I won't ask anything about you guys in specific detail."

"Then give me an example."

The officer requested.

"Then, first and the main reason we are here," Mark spoke, staring at the officer. "That town near Kawasan Falls. How come that something like that exists?"

Officer Emilio was stunned at the question. He was surprised that Mark's group was here because of what happened in the town up north.

"But don't you all came from the south? You people were spotted coming from the west side of the school," The officer asked but then realized. "I see. So, that's also a guise."

"That's right," Mark affirmed. "With the situation in the town north, it would be even more suspicious if we came from that direction."

"If what you want is intel about that town, then we had quite some things to talk about."

Officer Emilio said with a sigh.

"That town is also our problem." Officer Emilio took a nearby seat and sat down. "We also want to deal with that inhuman town. We hadn't known that it existed until a month ago. Who would think that the Tamawos of Kawasan really exist and took over that town as their own? They even captured and enslaved any human that came close to that town. We also got into a scuffle with them, but they were afraid of our guns and told us to leave. But of course, even if we had guns, we can't just attack them either. Their magic and stuff inside their territory is nothing we can defend against."

Mark watched the officer as he told some information about the town. He could not help but feel something odd.

"Can't you ask for reinforcements from the settlement?" Mark asked. "There's one here in Cebu should be in Liloan, Santander, right? There's also one in Bantayan Island, but that's far up north..."

"Wait..."

Mark paused as he realized something odd from the things he had just said.

The Barangay Liloan in the Municipality of Santander was way down south of the island of Cebu. That place was designated to be the location of a settlement because of its short distance from Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental. There was a four-kilometer wide distance between the two where Tañon Strait flowed through, but the military boats should be able to handle a fast trip between the two places. This way, they could gather supplies and save survivors from Dumaguete.

On the other hand, this outpost was far up north from Liloan. It was about forty-three kilometers away. It was too far to be an outpost of that settlement.

It was when Mark noticed Officer Emilio having an odd emotional fluctuation as the latter realized what Mark was saying.

Then, the military officer opened his mouth. There was a slight tint of grief in his voice.

"All of us here are from Liloan Settlement." Officer Emilio shook his head. "Now, we are the Liloan Settlement. Or at least, what is left of it."

Those words rang into the ears of everyone in the room. Even for the little girls, it was not hard to understand what the soldier in front of them was saying.

From the thousands of soldiers and survivors of the Liloan Settlement, the people in this outpost were the only ones left.

The Liloan Settlement had long been gone leaving only a few hundred survivors after its fall.

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