Mutagen

Among the civilians, there were also those who were privy to the situation. Well, even those who know nothing were worried about the gang. Named as a gang they may be, they behaved like one entirely. In fact, there were even some people who received help from the gang, more than equal to the protection fee they pay.

It was not wrong to say that there were many civilians that preferred the White Snake Gang to the military.

Since many were paying attention to the situation, specifically the general leading the raid, many of them saw General Calcedo\'s expression as they found the meeting area empty.

General Calcedo\'s face showed shock with a mix of confusion before reddening into a burst of anger.

"CHECK THE ROOM! CHECK EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY!" The Marines Commandant bellowed in a fit of rage as he turned to a person nearby. "YOU! WHERE ARE THE PEOPLE INSIDE!"

The person the Marines Commandant called was the last person to come out of the meeting area. Still, when the man stepped forward, General Calcedo could not help but flinch, seeing the bulky body of the man who was a head taller than him.

Husto, who was suddenly called, stepped forward. Initially, he was worried. He was the last to come out of the meeting area before it was locked and saw Mark\'s nonchalant attitude towards the situation. Now, although bewildered, he changed his attitude, seeing that the room was empty.

"What do you mean, General?" Husto spoke. "It was only us with General Perez in that room before you arrived."

Of course, that answer would not satisfy the enraged Marines Commandant.

"General! There\'s nothing suspicious inside!"

A soldier that led the search of the meeting area did not take long and returned. In the first place, the only furniture inside was a set of tables and chairs used in meetings. There was nothing else inside, no hidden compartment or room. As such, the search ended quickly without their intended outcome.

"F*CK! FORM A SMALL TEAM AND SEARCH THAT ROOM OVER THERE!" General Calcedo pointed at the supposed guest room of the White Snake Gang. "The others search the whole place!"

Leaving Husto, General Calcedo accompanied the team that went to the guest room. Unexpectedly, it was not locked, and the room was easily entered.

The soldiers hastily entered with General Calcedo. They could not help, but cough as the dust accumulated in the room assaulted their faces and mouths.

As they relieved themselves of the dust, they saw the neatly organized but dusty room. Yes, dusty. It was as if the room had been untouched for a long while.

General Calcdo could not believe what he was seeing. He came here confident of the information he received from the lookout sent after the messenger did not report last night. Something must have happened to the messenger that was assigned to this place. The guy might be an amateur but he was not someone that would be found out easily.

And from the lookout, General Calcedo and his allies knew that the rumored group that arrived here yesterday was somehow inside the White Snake Gang\'s base. It led to the suspicion that the person the government put in the wanted list actually arrived despite the odds.

Yet, despite the supposedly concrete information he received, not even a shadow of the rumored group was here. Not to mention a shadow, not even a footprint in the dust-covered room.

The search continued for a while to no avail. General Calcedo and his men did not find anything suspicious at all. Even so, the Marines Commandant was far from giving up, or all the effort and time they spent here would be wasted.

It was until a situation happened that forced General Calcedo and his soldiers to leave.

The members of the White Snake Gang, the onlookers, and General Perez were relieved and happy to see enemies leave.

Still, the members of the gang were quite displeased. As far as search operations always went, the soldiers left the base a mess. They did not find anything but still left a whole lot of things to clean and fix.

Even so, there was nothing else to do but fix the things back to how they were before. Well, the fixing would come later. They better hide first.

The situation in the White Snake Gang ended. Even so, many were bewildered as they looked at the sky, running in fear.

RUMBLE! CRACKLE!

The weather seemed to be angry for some reason.

***

Day 201 - 10:07 AM - Northwestern Outskirts, Island of Corregidor, Province of Cavite

Near the northern beach of the new Corregidor Island, on a tall hill of stone, a group sat down. It was a new location that appeared after the fusion of dimensions. A gigantic tall sea stone rumored to be a shell of a gigantic crustacean buried under the sand.

The people atop the hill were no other than Mark\'s group. They were watching the situation unfold within the base of the White Snake Gang.

Although the hill was pretty far from the walls of the slums, it was tall enough to allow them to see a wide area of the north slums, even some areas of the west slums.

"You\'re really thorough, you know?" Spera said to Mark. "You even thought of blowing dust from the beach into the room we stayed in the previous night."

"Well, it worked, right?"

Mark smirked akin to a playful god.

With the group they had, they had various ways of escaping.

Mark and Mei had their movement psychic abilities, allowing them to move people with them. There was also Mark\'s [Photokinesis Mental Crystal], which would allow them to cover themselves with optical camouflage.

However, Mark went for the safest option, especially since it allowed them to leave the place without a trace. Not to mention they had to pick up Amihan, who was left in the guest room.

Of course, it was Spera\'s portal.

And with it, not only did they manage to escape successfully but made a ploy to mess with the minds of the enemy soldiers. It was to blow dust from the beach inside the room they stayed in.

It showed the illusion that the room had been left untouched for a long time. That situation, especially for General Calcedo, would make it as if the information he had was just an illusion. The Marines Commandant was confident with the information he had, but what he found was nothing, making him doubt the information and the integrity of the people that gave it.

"You\'re playing mind games, now, huh..."

Spera murmured, but it was not like she had complaints about it. The reception within the gang was good and it was spoiled because of those soldiers.

"Gege, they\'re not giving up, are they?"

Mei said, seeing that even though the guest room was found as Mark left it, the soldiers were not stopping their search. She could see the situation clearly because of her eyes zooming in.

"That\'s expected." Mark shrugged. "The leader of those soldiers arrived confidently with the information he had. He must be thinking that we are just hiding somewhere within the base. Well, there were lookouts outside the base, after all."

"Wait..." Spera rigidly turned to Mark. "So, you know that we are being watched all this time?"

"Yeap." Mark nodded slightly. "After that messenger guy died last night, a new one arrived after we all went to sleep. The guy had been watching all morning and made contact with a few people before General Perez arrived."

"You..."

Spera was speechless. Mark knew everything but did not say anything.

"Did you plan this to happen?"

Feng Zhiruo asked Mark.

"Not entirely." Mark smiled. "There are possibilities but it did not mean things will go the way I had in my mind. Besides, it\'s a perfect opportunity."

"Opportunity for what?"

Spera asked.

"Well, the best reason they were targeting General Perez intently is his current actions. Like searching for the backer of the Powder Gang." Mark explained. "Which meant that with those soldiers going to the base of the White Snake Gang, there won\'t be any immediate reinforcements when something happened to the Powder Gang."

"Don\'t tell me, you plan on attacking them..." Spera spoke. "We will end up exposing ourselves that way."

"Ah..." Mark turned to Spera, scratching his head. "You don\'t know about it."

"Know about what?"

Spera asked and Feng Zhiruo was also curious.

And without explaining, Mark stretched out his right hand.

Several Crystals flew out of the [PsyCrystal], floating and rotating around his wrist.

The [Wind Manipulation Mental Crystal], [Photokinesis Mental Crystal], [Lightning Mental Crystal], and lastly, the [Stormcaller Mental Crystal]. The crystals flew around Mark\'s wrist as they began to emit intensifying light.

Spera and Feng Zhiruo could not help but flinch as they felt the heavy wave of magical energy around them. They could not understand what Mark was doing at first, until they raised their heads, looking at the sky.

"It\'s slower than before."

Mei said, looking at the dark clouds slowly gathering in the sky.

"I\'m not making it too conspicuous," Mark replied. "You see, I\'m even gathering it from only one direction."

As Mark said, the clouds were gathering from the west, as if a storm was brewing from that direction. Slowly, the clouds gathered ominously as if heavy rain would come.

Following the movement of the clouds, the gray clouds moved over the Corregidor Military Settlement. Many people began to panic as many of them were not prepared for heavy rain, especially the homeless ones.

RUMBLE!

The first sound of thunder was heard, signaling the incoming storm.

And soon, the center of the dark clouds loomed the settlement.

But different from what the people thought, not a single drop of rain fell.

Instead...

CRACKLE! BOOM!

A sudden bright flash of light blinded everyone\'s eyes. A thick branch of lightning fell from the sky as if a god angrily threw it towards the mortals.

It was just a flash in a millisecond. However, all that saw it knew that the lightning struck the ground.

"AHHHH!!!"

Soon, the screams ensued.

BOOM! CRACKLE! RUMBLE!

The lightning strikes hit the ground several more times in various places of the settlement. As the people fled, none of them noticed that compared to the scattered lightning, more hit a particular place in the western slums.

Hit by lightning several times, the place soon caught fire.

It was the base of the Powder Gang, with its members inside either dead or paralyzed after being hit by lightning several times.

Many people started fleeing, and even the soldiers searching the base of the White Snake Gang were alarmed. The search was canceled as the news of the fire in the base of the Powder Gang reached the soldiers.

The soldiers led by the Marines Commandant left the place in a hurry, cursing his luck and the information given to him. Even so, he needed to respond to the situation, even more so because his backer would be pissed by the situation.

***

The storm passed as quickly as it came. However, the situation was far from over. The base of the Powder Gang was slowly burning to ashes, along with its members, dead or paralyzed, trapped inside.

Carren, Markron, General Perez, and Husto waited in the meeting area. They were thinking that Mark and his group would return after some time.

Unfortunately, what they found was a letter left under the table.

By the looks of it, Mark and his group would not be returning. After all, they only came to check the situation of their friends and it was already fulfilled.