Mutagen

Day 200 - 9:19 PM - White Snake Gang Base, Northern Slums, Corregidor Military Settlement, Island of Corregidor, Province of Cavite

Getting urged by Markron and Carren, Mark followed the two as they made their way to the roof of the base of the White Snake Gang. Then, as Mark pointed the direction, they went to the south watchtower of the compound.

Husto followed behind the three, but he did not climb up the watchtower. The watchtower was only built for one to two people. Three people atop it were already tight, not to mention four right now.

One would think why there were watchtowers in a compound near the walls. With the gang having enemies here and there, it was reasonable to have defenses in their base.

The guard at the watchtower was surprised to see their bosses climb up in a hurry. Furthermore, there was an unfamiliar person with them. But before the guard could ask what was happening, Mark spoke.

"It's that guy, the one with the bottle in his hand."

Mark pointed the spy to Markron and Carren.

The watchtower was right beside the street, and the entire street could be viewed from there.

The person Mark pointed at was walking in the middle of the street. He blended in with the survivors he was passing by. He had a bottle in his hand, clearly a bottle of alcohol. Not to mention that the man was walking rigidly as if a bit tipsy from drinking.

Of course, that drunk walking was nothing but a ruse. The man was not drunk. It was just an act to fool people.

"Sir Husto! Follow me! We're going to catch the guy!" Carren said as she jumped off the tower. "Markron! Standby first!"

"Good!"

Markron replied, already aiming her sniper rifle at the target.

Mark watched his two friends as they frantically chased after the messenger. It was fine to be serious since they were dealing with spies at the moment. However, there seemed to be a different cause for the reaction of the two. He could really not understand what could be the reason. After all, while he could guess simple things from reading emotions, deep, complex things were far from his reach if he did not have even the slightest clue about it.

Carren and Husto jumped over the walls of the compound and ran through the street. The people that saw them were quite surprised. Even if the night was dark, the moon was out. Furthermore, the two were well known in the area. And looking at their actions, something unusual was happening.

Of course, it caused quite a commotion. It was impossible not to in this situation.

And that commotion...

...Definitely alerted the messenger.

Seeing two familiar people running in his direction, the messenger lost his composure. He stopped his drunk act and began to run away, showing that this guy was not some professional.

Nonetheless, the messenger seemed to be not just some random individual either. He ran fast, as in fast. In the darkness of the night, his figure was hard to trace because of his speed. Unfortunately for the guy, he was panicking, or probably, inexperienced. Instead of running across the street and using the people as obstacles, he went to jump onto the roof of a shack, leaving the street and his possible cover.

"Sir Husto! I'll be going first!"

Carren said to Husto as she prepared her legs. And then, she jumped onto the roof of the shack near her.

The structure Carren jumped on was not as sturdy as the one the messenger jumped onto. The roof might even crumble if someone else was to jump on it. However, the moment Carren's foot touched the roof, she sprang off to another structure, leaving the shack as if it was untouched.

It was the [Mutator's] ability that Mark gave her. It was one of the [Mutator] abilities he collected from the criminals of the now destroyed Death Valley Settlement. Mark had not given the mutation any specific name due to its nature, and it did not cause any specific change in appearance, either.

What the mutation did, however, was mutate the muscles of Carren's lower body. Surely, it sounded weak, considering [Evolvers] could have the same enhancement in their bodies.

However, the enhancement that [Evolvers] received had limits.

Some [Evolvers] became fast at running, some gained more flexible legs, and there were also those whose kicking power rose sharply. However, [Evolvers] could only have one specific enhancement on their bodies.

Carren, on the other hand, gained all those after she received the [Physical Crystal] from Mark. In the first place, her lower body was already on the flexible side in the past. Although she would have a hard time doing splits, she had less effort in doing different angles of kicks. Of course, it was lacking power, considering she was not really trained to fight.

With Mark giving her that [Physical Crystal], the flexibility, strength, and speed of Carren's lower body were enhanced altogether.

Running and jumping from roof to roof, the chase continued. Soon, the fleeing spy would reach the border of the territory of White Snake Gang towards the western slums.

However, it was unlikely to happen in the current stage of the chase. Carren was way faster and nimbler than the messenger and would catch up in just a few seconds.

And as the messenger feared, as he was just a few steps before reaching the western slums, Carren appeared in front of him.

,m "Sh*t!"

The messenger cursed, pulling out a knife to stab the woman in front of him.

Unfortunately for the messenger, even if Carren's feet had just landed unstably on the roof they stood on, her enhanced leg muscles were faster than the speed the messenger pulled out his knife.

One kick on the messenger's right wrist caused the knife to fly away, and with a spin, another kick to the messenger's abdomen caused him to fall to the street below.

Falling into the street, the man was not inclined to give up. He tried to stand up as fast as he could while holding his painful abdomen. Before he could stand up, however, a shadow loomed behind him. Husto already caught up, just a few steps behind the messenger.

"Just surrender if you don't want to get hurt."

Carren warned the enemy, but he did not reply.

Even so, the messenger was trapped. Carren was in front, and Husto was behind. There was only one way he could escape, and that was to jump onto the roofs once more.

And as expected, the messenger did. Taking out several more knives from his body, the messenger threw the knives to Carren and Husto with a spin to distract them. With the delay of the two avoiding the knives, the messenger jumped up high to the roof to his right.

The messenger was already smiling. The delay should be more than enough to let him escape to the territory of the other gang.

But as the messenger was about to land on the roof.

PAK! PAK! PAK! PAK!

Four sounds of impact were heard after four almost inaudible swooshing sounds.

The next thing that the messenger knew was his body losing balance, along with the pain in both his legs and hands. He failed his landing on the roof and fell to the ground due to the impact. Blood splattered as he fell, yelling in pain and agony. He was shot and with extreme precision.

With the scene of the messenger being shot, the people that witnessed it began to flee the area. They did not know what was happening, but it was better to shut up and leave.

Soon, the messenger passed out due to pain and shock, and probably blood loss.

"Sir Husto, carry him," Carren ordered. "We should leave the area before those drug addicts sniff out the situation."

"Yes, Boss."

Husto replied, reverting to calling Carren, Boss, because of the people that could hear them.

Back at the watchtower, Markron and Mark were already heading down.

Of course, those four shots were made by no one else but Markron, with the help of his [Mutator] ability. Among the group of friends that Mark had in the past, Markron was the so-called Gun Otaku. He was also one of the few people that introduced Mark to FPS gun games.

Markron's knowledge and interest in guns were deep. As such, Mark gave him an ability similar to birds of prey had. When he was shooting just now, Markron's eyes transformed. However, the transformation was not just an eagle or hawk's eye, either. It was more or less a hybrid, allowing Markron to have a bird of prey's sight, whether it was day or night. Furthermore, Markron was a [Evolver] himself before becoming a [Mutator]. His arms were strengthened by the evolution he underwent.

With Markron's abilities as an [Evolver] and [Mutator] combined, along with the practice he had, he could now display such feats, like shooting four simultaneous shots with a rotating bolt sniper rifle at pinpoint accuracy. Not to mention that his target was moving pretty fast.

These abilities and skills made Markron and Carren known within the slums. It was one of the reasons they were seen as a thorn in the necks by other gangs, especially the Powder Gang.

And there was no need to mention that Carren and Markron were just two of the [Mutators] within the White Snake Gang.

Carren and Husto returned with the bleeding messenger in tow. The unconscious messenger was then put down on the ground inside the compound of the White Snake Gang. The guy was still bleeding, and if this continued, he would die of blood loss. However, Carren, Markron, and Husto did not seem inclined to seek medical treatment for the dog of the enemy.

The situation sure caused a commotion, and the members of the gang inside the compound were wakened up and gathered in the vacant area. They all circled the dying messenger, and all of them had ruthless faces after learning the situation.

Well, not all of them.

"URK!"

All of a sudden, three people began to bleed from their noses, eyes, and ears. It only took a few seconds for them to pass out. One of them was the young man that was with Husto's group.

"Take these away and lock them up." Carren issued the order to her confused gang members. "These guys are spies working with our enemies."

Surely, not everyone believed the sudden accusation. The three men that fell unconscious had some close friends within the gang, after all.  However, they could not go against the Boss' orders and were just satisfied that the state of their friends was unlike the dying man in front of them.

Without a doubt, Carren, Markron, and Husto were letting the messenger die. The person might have lived if he surrendered when Carren told him to, but he continued to fight and flee. This was the result of his actions.

"Take care of this guy. Make sure that no one sees him."

Markron coldly ordered some members. Unlike most of the gang members, these ones seemed to be more experienced in dealing with "dirty" stuff.

After the commotion had been dealt with, the gang members dispersed under the order of their Bosses. The only ones left were those that were called by Carren and Markron into the meeting area.

Those members were confused why they were called but still followed the two.

Entering the meeting area, those members saw someone they were sure was not a member of their gang. But when they saw his familiar face, their faces lightened up.

"Big Bro!"

Two of the members called out. While the rest called his name.

"Mark!"

Surely, these gang members were surprised but extremely happy to see Mark.

Well, Mark was the reason they were all still alive and kicking. If not for Mark, some of them might have died long ago, trapped and sick. Worse, they might have been eaten or turned into [Infected].

And most of all, they managed to pass the calamity safely because of the abilities Mark gave them.