Mutagen

Mei said with a frown.

Together with Pearl, she was frying the breaded octopus cuts using a portable stove. Even with the sizzling sound of the oil in the saucepan, she could hear the noise coming from outside.

"Don\'t mind them."

Mark ruffled Mei\'s hair as he stood behind her to see the octopus inside the saucepan. By Odelina\'s teachings, Mei, who barely had experience in the kitchen before, could now cook dishes perfectly. She was even careful that both sides of the octopus cut were evenly fried, flipping it every now and then.

"Big Sister Mei, how long will it take? I\'m hungry."

Emika asked while sitting on her bed. Just from the smell, it looked like she was about to drool.

"Wait patiently, will you." Mark shrugged as he pointed his daughters with his eyes. "Look, they are younger than you, but they are waiting patiently."

Emika turned to the three girls that were also waiting for the food. Well, only two of them since Miracle could not eat anything aside from blood. This made Emika a bit embarrassed. She was two years older than Iola, the oldest of the three who was just eleven, and yet, she appeared to be the most childish. Her face turned a bit sour as she finally chose to zip her mouth and wait.

Still, the smell of fried food was just that appetizing.

It was too appetizing that even the soldiers, who were supposed to be disciplined people, could not help but gather outside the barracks.

But then, Mark shrugged as he suddenly turned around and approached the door to everyone\'s confusion. On the other hand, Pefile sighed. Mark was up to something evil again.

Mark pulled the door open without warning, wearing a bland expression on his face.

Outside the door was the fat captain, with his right hand, awkwardly stretched out, about to push the door open. The surprise on the fat guy\'s face was phenomenal as his small eyes surrounded by fat were opened widely.

"Is there a problem?"

Mark asked, purposely ignoring the fat guy\'s posture, making him even more embarrassed as he retracted his hand.

Who knows who it was, but some giggling could be heard among the soldiers. Their fat captain\'s face was twitching, but he tried hard to hide it. Unfortunately, his shaking face fat exposed his fury.

"Ahem." Captain Zacaria faked a cough. "We are just checking if the accommodation is fine. If not, we can relocate you somewhere else."

The fat captain smiled as he gave the offer. He tried to be amicable as possible, showing that he cared about the well being of General Faustino\'s messengers. It also seemed that by the current state of this temporary shelter, anyone would want to go to a better one.

But to his further surprise...

"Oh, thank you for the offer, but we are fine right here. But checking, really? With all of you here?" Mark replied, panning his eyes to the soldiers outside, slowly retracting his expression to a frown. "Why do I feel like you\'re here to rob us instead?"

The fat captain choked. He turned around, panning his eyes to the soldiers behind him.

"What are all of you doing here! Go back where you all came from!"

Captain Zacharia yelled at his subordinates. And with sour faces, they all turned around to leave with drools on their mouths. Although none of them actually expected to be shared with the food that lured them here, being chased away like this was different. Even so, none of them wanted to offend this fat superior of theirs, and as such, they could do nothing but leave,

But suddenly...

"Wait! You two!"

Mark shouted, making the leaving soldiers look back. Unexpectedly, he was calling unto two soldiers. And, of course, one of them was no other than their guide earlier.

"Us?"

Padua and Geronimo could not help but look at each other in confusion. Geronimo was one thing, but why Padua too?

"Come here and wait for a bit."

Mark beckoned the two to everyone\'s confusion. No one knows what was going on. And thus, while the other soldiers left the vicinity, they still stayed where they could see what was going on.

As the two approached, not understanding what was happening, Mark closed the door and headed in.

Sure enough, Captain Zacaria was already boiling inside. After calling the two, Mark did not pay attention to him at all.

It took only a minute or two, and the door opened again with Mark holding a clear plastic box.

"Here, for you two."

Mark handed the plastic box with the contents plain for everyone to see. It was not really dark here in the encampment because of the solar-powered lights installed here and there.

And to say, everyone that could see the contents were envious. Not to mention Captain Zacharia, who was standing closest to the two. Who knows what it was, but it was obviously a piping hot crispy fried food.

​ "Sir, you\'re really giving this to us?"

Geronimo asked, unable to believe what was going on. Before, it was a can of tuna, and now, this. It was strange, though, that Padua\'s share was included in this. It was as if their guest knew that he shared the tuna with his friend.

"That\'s right," Mark replied. "You two better eat it while it\'s still hot."

"Really, thanks!"

"Sir, thank you."

Padua and Geronimo thanked respectively. After they did, they left, as if running away.

Mark then turned to the fat guy that was still waiting for some reason.

"Do you have any other business with us? I already said that we\'re fine here."

Captain Zaharia did not know what he should use as an alibi now. Thus...

"No, nothing. That\'s all."

"Alright then, good night."

Mark said as he closed the door in front of the fat soldier.

Sure enough, Captain Zacharia was fuming with rage inside. He stared for half a minute at the door before leaving, stomping the ground all the way to his office.

Of course, his fury would not subside just like that. Unfortunately, these people were messengers from Infanta Settlement. He could not make a move on them at this moment.

"Those bastards can wait for later," Captain Zacharia murmured. "For now, I should deal with those two pests."

Those two pests, there was no need to ask who.

***

"You totally infuriated that guy."

Pefile said as Mark closed the door.

"What can he do then?" Mark shrugged. "We are here as messengers carrying a package sent by a Military General. They can\'t do anything until we hand over the package."

It was true. As long as they had the package, even if the recipient was the enemy, they could not do anything. Well, at least if they want to receive the package intact. If they made a move and the carrier destroyed the package or threw it in the ocean, it would be a loss. Anything set by a high ranking person at these times would not be just some trivial items.

"Uncle, you\'re bad!" Emika said, laughing. "That fat guy wanted to invite us, so we don\'t have any choice but share our food, huh? Dream on!"

Emika was spot on. Captain Zacharia tried to use the issue with the dilapidated barracks to invite them and receive a share of the food. What a thick faced bastard. Unfortunately for him, Mark\'s group would not fall to such schemes easily.

"But Master... Will those two be fine?"

Amihan asked.

Those two did not seem to be bad people. The other guy sounded quite frank, though. Mark gave them food in front of everyone. Who knows what could happen.

"Don\'t worry. They\'ll be fine." Mark smiled. "Come on, let\'s eat and not worry about those people. They are not worth our time."

And there, with many things in mind, they had their dinner. Sure enough, fresh seafood tasted good.

***

At the same time that Mark\'s group were eating, Geronimo and Zacharia became everyone\'s target. Those that were quite close to them asked for a bite of their food, and the two gladly complied. Unfortunately, some were thick faced enough to ask for a share despite not being close to the two. And some were under the fat captain that was among the people bullying Geronimo.

"Hey, you two are being called by the Captain."

A muscular man called out to the two that had not yet gotten a proper bite of their food.

"Can we eat first?"

Padua complained.

"You two need to be there ASAP. Move!"

Being urged to go like that, the two had no choice but to obey.

"Let me carry that."

The muscular man tried to reach out to the plastic box on Gernonimo\'s hands, but Padua snatched it first.

"I\'m carrying this. We\'re poor people. We can\'t afford a baggage carrier."

"What did you say!"

The muscular man was infuriated. After all, even though it sounded like Padua was describing his status in life, he blatantly just called the other guy a baggage carrier.

Padua got thrown unto the ground. He was punched brutally. Padua might be a soldier, but an average-bodied person like him would not be able to handle a sudden attack from a muscle-buffed person.

"Padua!"

Geronimo immediately came to his friend\'s aid. However, Padua\'s eyes were glued unto something else. When the former turned to what his friend was looking at, he saw that their food was thrown to the ground, lid open, and the fried slices of food covered in dirt.

"F*CK! I haven\'t gotten a single bite of that yet!"

Padua roared as he drew the pistol on his waist.

BANG!

The roar of a gunshot echoed in the pier as Padua fired his gun without hesitation.

"F*CK!"

The muscular man cried in pain, grasping his bloody left shoulder. Fortunately, he evaded at the last moment. Padua was aiming to kill him, aiming directly to his heart.

Due to that, Padua was jumped over by his comrades, restraining him from his rampage. At the same time, Geronimo was also forcefully brought back by the soldiers that came with that muscular guy.

It seemed that at this time, the two of them were going to face insubordination.

All of this was just because of food.

***

Unknown to the soldiers participating in the commotion, the devil is monitoring the whole pier.

As he sat on the bed with Mei leaning on his shoulder, his eyes were glowing red, and sparks could be seen around it.

That conflict was not supposed to happen. However, Mark threw some wood to fuel the fire. Channeling the rage of that fat bastard to those two that were involved, the conflict was created.

It was not like he had a grudge against those two friends to do this to them. However, he needed some people to serve as bait to lure out the enemies.

And Mark succeeded. Monitoring the emotional fluctuations of the soldiers in that conflict, he decerned who was together with that fat captain and who was not. Unfortunately, even among the friends of those two soldiers, there were some wolves in disguise.

But the most unexpected thing, however, it seemed that the soldiers here did not only belong to two parties. A third one was watching the commotion unfold.

Mark started to wonder.

The first faction was the ones following the military conduct. They were serving as per their duty.

The second was following Captain Zacharia, who, for obvious reasons, smelled like rotten potato among the potato stack.

The third faction was questionable, though. Who were they following? It was odd.

In any case, Mark already got what he wanted. Of course, he would not let those two soldiers suffer just because they became bait in his plans.

After all, aside from just being a messenger to deliver a package, he had other reasons to be here.