Day 317 - 6:21 PM - Kachidoki Bridge, Kachidoki, Chuo City, Tokyo
Three military vehicles traversed through the ruined Tokyo. It was not a comfortable ride. While the roads the vehicles passed through were clear enough to allow passage, there were many unmovable debris and bumps along the way. Traveling through an unpaved rural road in the mountains would have probably been a smoother ride than this.
Furthermore, the loud sounds the vehicles made attracted quite a bit of unwanted attention from the [Infected]. From ti to ti, the road would get blocked, and the mbers of the Black Lotus would deal with the enemies.
The three vehicles drove across the road in a line. Mark's group sat on the military truck in the middle.
Mark was in the middle of conversing with the woman that spoke to him at the camp. He had his calculations done in the past week of camping. Within the possible encounters with people from the Reclaid City, Mark assud that it could be scavengers or the military who would co to "rescue" them.
However, from the information that the woman, Mitsui Ren, shared, the Black Lotus was a private group hired by the current governnt to guard the northwest area of the Reclaid City. By the looks of it, the remaining Japanese governnt gave privileges to so powerful groups to manage areas of the Reclaid City.
It was likely to be a mock application of a feudal system. These groups were still under their own leadership. However, they still had to answer to the governnt to keep their privileges.
This situation was kind of similar to the state of the outer areas of Corregidor Settlent. The only difference was that the territorial groups here in the Reclaid City were legitimately hired private personnel by the governnt. They were not just so unrestrained gangs controlled by politicians in the dark.
One more thing outside Mark's plans was Mitsui Ren's status. She was actually the leader of Black Lotus. In the current system that the Reclaid City had, she was more or less at the status of a landlord or a vassal.
Mark noticed how Mitsui Ren was glancing at Amihan from ti to ti. He realized that letting Amihan in the open might have been too much of a bait to use in his plans.
While talking with Mitsui Ren, Mark was observing the mbers of the Black Lotus that was present. Surprisingly, half of the twenty-four mbers present were regular humans. He could not tell whether they were [Evolvers] since that was sothing that was hard to determine with his [Empath] abilities. However, each of these mbers was powerful.
Mark saw a few of them fight the [Infected] from the back of the truck. Despite being regular humans, their strength and speed were on par with the average [Mutators]. This made Mark think if these people were professionally trained soldiers or mbers of the secret elite forces.
Mitsui Ren was also asking questions about Mark and his group. Mark knew that she was gathering information about his group. It was not with ill intent, though. It might be needed for proper entry procedures. Not to ntion that enemies were everywhere in the apocalypse. Asking questions to remove suspicions was necessary.
Mark did not hesitate to answer the questions given to him. It was expected that he would be the one to be asked questions since the rest of the group could not speak Japanese, with the exception of Emika.
And the more Mark answered the questions confidently, the more Emika's stare bore holes in him. After all, she could understand the conversation. And she could tell that more than seventy percent of Mark's answers were pure bullsh*t. Worse, more than half of that bullsh*t was made on the spot.
Of course, Mark already told everyone what story they would have as they posed as regular survivors. But most of what was coming out of Mark's mouth right now was not within the story they discussed.
Mark was taking full advantage of the fact that only he and Emika could converse with the locals. i and Spera would be able to converse using English. However, it was well known that English literacy in Japan was quite on the low side.
Of course, there would still be the chance for soone English proficient to go and ask them questions after arriving at the Reclaid City.
However, did that really matter?
Not really.
Mark was only doing this stuff to make a legitimate entry to the Reclaid City. After all, it would make things easier for him and his group to gather the information they wanted that way.
But if it was not possible or sothing made it hard to do so...
Mark was willing to drop the idea as soon as things had gone south.
Soon enough, the convoy of Black Lotus reached the Kachidoki Bridge. Of course, it was destroyed by the earthquake during the [Fusion of Dinsions].
When the convoy arrived, a barge was waiting for them at the Sumida River with more mbers of the Black Lotus aboard. The barge was docked at a newly built dock on the northwest side of the river. With the help of a ramp, the three vehicles drove up the barge. It then left the dock and floated to the other side of the river, following a pair of steel lines extending to both sides of the river as a guide.
All the while they were traversing the river, all mbers of the Black Lotus were on high alert. It was clear that traversing the river was not that safe.
Mark also noticed. There were creatures underwater. However, it seed that the creatures underwater were not [Infected]. They were likely to be [Evolved Fishes] that turned to eat humans that fell into the river.
Unfortunately for these hungry fishes, Mark would not let these fishes disturb their way to the Reclaid City. The [Evolved Fishes] was about to attack when Mark closed his eyes. Covered by his closed eyes, his pupils turned red. A sudden feeling of danger made the school of fish swimming underwater freeze. Sensing a predator nearby, the school of [Evolved Fish] imdiately turned their tail and scurried away in fear.
The barge made it to the other side of the river safely. And it was to the confusion of mbers of Black Lotus. Before, there were at least a few shakes of the barge due to the creatures in the water. It was rather strange for the way back over the river to be this smooth.
"Is sothing wrong?"
Mitsui Ren noticed Mark's eyes closed.
Mark opened his eyes, with his pupils turning back to normal. Well, at least the normal eyes he had now since his other eye still had a purplish tint. It was not that noticeable under the shade, but its purple tint was visible under bright light.
"There's nothing wrong, Mitsui-san," Mark replied. "I'm just feeling a bit tired."
It was not just Mark. The girls were also getting sleepy. It had been a long ti since they had ridden a car. And considering the bumpy and uncomfortable ride, it was much more tiring than walking.
"Please endure it a little more," Ren replied. "We're almost there."
The vehicles left the dock and drove up the slope. In front of them was the Kachidoki Gate of the Reclaid City.
After entering the gate, the vehicles drove into a compound right beside the gate. It was where Mark's group alighted the military truck and finally had a chance to freely look around.
The compound was only separated by a chainlink fence to the outside. It allowed Mark to see the imdiate surroundings and the familiar scenery outside. After all, while Mark did not enter the Reclaid City, he did so reconnaissance.
And to say, this area was quite a seedy place.
After all, the Kachidoki Area, while pretty peaceful, was one of the most poor-looking areas in the Reclaid City.
In fact, Mark already saw that the areas of the Reclaid City were divided by class. The northern areas, while having a moderate amount of security, were the poorest areas. As the areas went south, the richer and more secure they beca. It was easy to assu that the most important people were in the central areas, while the southern areas were where the important facilities were located.
"Miss!"
As Mitsui Ren jumped out of the military truck, people within the compound imdiately greeted her with respect.
"Is the special housing ready?"
Mitsui Ren asked one of her subordinates.
"Special housing?"
Mark interjected and asked.
"It is an empty house in our compound reserved for important people."
Mitsui Ren answered honestly.
"I don't really think that we're important people."
Mark humbly denied it. Of course, another stare from Emika pierced his back because of his blatant lie.
"That could be the case, but..."
Mitsui Ren turned her eyes to Amihan, that was sitting on Mark's shoulder, before also turning to Emika.
"I see..." Mark shrugged as he glared at the woman before him. "You're not going to force us into handing them over, are you?"
The sudden glare caused the mbers of Black Lotus to take out their weapons.
"What are you idiots doing?!" Mitsui Ren noticed her subordinates and was startled. "Put your weapons away!"
"B-But Miss-!"
One of the subordinates was about to say sothing but was t with Ren's glare. Knowing their Miss' fiery personality, the subordinates reluctantly put their weapons in confusion.
Why were they confused? Well, they themselves were unsure why they took out their weapons.
"My apologies about my subordinates," Mitsui Ren sighed as she turned back to Mark. "Forcing anyone isn't my intention, although I have so proposition for you. But since it is already late, let us postpone the talk to tomorrow. We also need you to undergo registration and so dical examinations tomorrow morning. This process is mandatory. Everyone entering the Reclaid City had to undergo that."
Mark looked at the mbers of the Black Lotus warily before turning back to Ren and asking.
"There's no need to imdiately check for bites or sothing?"
"Oh," Ren understood why Mark asked that question. "We did that initially. But now, it didn't really matter much. We have a few sensitive people around. It is easy to determine who is bitten or not since people bitten would imdiately start showing symptoms a few seconds after getting bitten. Your group doesn't seem to show the symptoms."
Mark nodded, understanding the explanation. It was true, after all. While the ti to turn could vary depending on the part of the body that was bitten, the person's immune system, or their health state, they would imdiately show symptoms like fever soon after getting bit.
"Follow ," Ren then urged the group to follow her. "I will bring you to where your group can stay for the night."
Those words from Ren caused so reactions from the subordinates, although none of them voiced anything. It seed that their Miss treating the newcors in such a manner was quite a big deal.
Following Ren, Mark's group was brought to a house beside the central building within the compound of the Black Lotus. The buildings in the compound were new, but this house looked like sothing that was built recently.
The house was not that spacious and was not divided into rooms either. It was just a dwelling that was built to be spacious enough for a group of people to sleep with so leeway for important baggage and so renovation.
"You can rest here," Ren said as they entered the house. "Sorry, but while the door won't be locked, your group will be restricted from going around without an escort. The places you can go within the compound will also be limited. So please, if possible, do not go out until tomorrow when we finish the procedures. We will also deliver food, so please wait for the dinner schedule."
After that, Ren left Mark's group inside the house while two mbers of the Black Lotus stood guard outside the door.
Inside, Emika sat on the bed and spoke to Mark. Not in Japanese but in Tagalog.
"Hey, Uncle. Isn't that Onee-chan awfully polite? She looks interested in and Amihan. But still..."
"Hmm? It's more like she's experienced in her job."
Mark replied.
"What do you an?"
Spera, who was patiently silent all this while, interjected.
"Well, they might be people working to rescue survivors when they spotted one. However, the survivors they rescue would probably be untrusting and agitated. Her polite manner of talking would make her sound more trustworthy, allowing the rescued people to feel safe and make them calm down to so extent. It could prevent many accidents and outbursts from unstable survivors. Although, in our case, her interest also contributed to how she spoke to us."
"Oooh..."
Emika said, amazed by the logic behind that simple behavior.
"Anyway," Mark said, looking around the house. "Looks like they prepared this house specifically for us."
Everyone could only agree with what Mark said. After all, why were there exactly seven beds inside the house? Well, the beds could be a coincidence.
However... what about that basket with a small bedsheet and pillow atop the side table? Was it still a coincidence that Amihan could fit in that basket?
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