383 Investigation, The Queen Type and The Invitation (1/2)

Day 60 - 9:02 AM - Military Residences, North District, Bay City Settlement, Pasay City, Metro Manila

The previous day had already passed. It was now the day after the horrifying number of infected tried to invade Bay City. Throughout the rest of the day, the whole night, and the morning came, the military was still not done with the cleanup.

There were a lot of things for them to do. First was to be sure that there were no infected left inside the settlement. Yesterday, a large number of infected entered the Bay City Settlement because of the [Catapults]. Although most of them landed inside the settlement in gruesome ways that made them incapacitated, a lot still managed to kill and infected people.

They were very lucky. If the military handled that situation poorly, it could turn the whole settlement upside down.

Fortunately, it did not.

Of course, even if the people started to help, the casualties still reached hundreds.

The next thing they had to do was to remove the bodies out of the waters under the moats. It was also the same for the ones in Manila Bay. Such a task was not easy. Nevertheless, it was a very urgent thing for them to do.

Bay City Settlement's current water supply relied on purifying the water from the Bay. To make it more contaminated was not something they wanted.

There were also other things they needed to address. The military was too busy at this point.

***

At the rooftop of the Military Residences, Mark, along with a few people, currently gathered.

Immediately after the battle yesterday, Mark fell asleep. He woke up a bit after reaching the residence, changed clothes, and plopped on the bed afterward. It was until dinner that he finally recovered from his lethargic state.

Mark overexerted his body in the battle. It was too apparent for Mei and the others to notice. While eating dinner, Aephelia reprimanded him severely for not taking care of his body. It was quite annoying, but her worry was heartwarming at the same time.

As for the [King Type], Mark imprisoned it in a cage made of [Blood Metal] at the rooftop. Chaflar guarded it throughout the night.

After its defeat, the [King Type] grew weaker and weaker. It weakened until it returned to its natural form, of course, without limbs. The dark aura around its body already dissipated as if it never appeared at all.

The military inquired about it since they saw Mark carrying two bodies before the final attack. However, since Mark was asleep at that time, the questioning had been postponed.

Now, Mark was together with Mei, Odelina and Spera. They were here to confirm one thing. What was the reason the [King Type] sent his army towards this settlement? With the miasma around its body exhausted, Mark learned that this infected was incredibly weak. It might be stronger than normal infected by it was weaker compared to even the weakest mutated infected they knew.

It indicated that it used the miasma stored in its body to strengthen itself. This might also be the reason that it sent its army instead of personally entering the settlement. The [King Type] might have been able to store miasma in its body, but could not use it the way it should be used. The possibility that it could not keep its strengthened form for too long was also there.

They tried to communicate with the [King Type]. To their dismay, it was totally impossible. Their questions were answered with nothing but inaudible aggressive growls. Although it still muttered about finding the queen while idle, that was it.

As such, Mark had another idea. It was to show the [King Type] a few individuals. Those in the settlement that could possibly be the queen it was looking for.

The first candidate was Aimee that was currently staying at a renovated building beside the Military Residences.

Bringing Aimee in the front of the [King Type], however, was a bad idea. Seeing Aimee, it started to behave aggressively. Even more aggressive than it behaved around Mark and other humans. On the other side, Aimee felt the same. If not for her having her previous memories, she might have attacked the [King Type] immediately.

Fortunately, Aimee knew that Mark had some uses for the [King Type] and restrained herself.

After the two met, it took quite a while before the [King Type] calmed down. They had to make Aimee stay out of its sight for some time.

To the stone Aimee was carrying, the [King Type] did not react at all. The same way the infected at NAIA ignored the stone after Aimee's pod opened. As the days passed, it became more and more doubting whether there was really a life inside that stone.

After that, they started to think that the queen it was looking for could possibly be a human. Nevertheless, they had to forget the thought immediately after. It was because, on their second attempt, they found the queen. Furthermore... There was not only one...

On the rooftop, Mara and Monique entered. Mara was bringer her sister, Jannette, in. On the other hand, Monique was bringing her daughter. The two were confused as to why they were asked to bring the two instances of docile infected in the settlement on the rooftop.

The first to enter was Mara and Jannette. Mark had the two pairs enter separately to avoid confusion. The moment the first pair entered, however, they were welcomed by violent growling and rattling of a cage.

”QUEEN!!! AAAA!!!”

The [King Type] continued to struggle inside the cage trying to get the attention of Janette. It even looked at Mara with ferocious eyes as it saw her holding the hand of its queen.

Mara felt goosebumps all over her body. She could not help but step back. It caused her to lose grip of the hand Janette.

The moment it happened, Janette suddenly ran...

Towards Mark.

She ignored the aggressive calls of the [King Type] inside the cage and ran towards Mark. Like she did before, she grabbed Mark's hand and put his hand on her head. She behaved like a tamed cat as she rubbed her head on his palm.

The Infected King fell silent. Everyone felt awkward.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

The Infected King roared as it released its anger. It found its queen. Yet, that queen was ignoring him for the being that defeated it. Of course, no one would find it forgivable.

Then, an unexpected thing happened.

Because of the roars, Monique became curious. She opened the door to the rooftop to take a peek. That was a wrong move for her as her daughter ran through the door.

”Trish!”

Monique yelled and chased after her daughter.

Everyone was surprised. They suddenly saw Monique's daughter running towards the [King Type].

As Mark could not let things like this happen, he immediately moved and grabbed Patricia. Mara, on the other hand, grabbed the hand of Janette and for sure, she would not let go of it no matter what.

Nevertheless, the roars of the [King Type] suddenly stopped.

The Infected King looked at Patricia and Jannette alternately in confusion. That was right, even though it should have been incapable of showing or feeling emotions, the confusion on its face was apparent.

”Q..QU...EEN?”

Its expression was too incredulous. If he was a normal human, he might have the expression of someone who thought that he might be dreaming.

That made Mark realize. Looking at its expression, it seemed both Jannette and Patricia were [Queen Types]. No wonder the two had similar characteristics as infected. The only difference between the two was that Mark had affected Jannette too much that she started to gain a new consciousness while Patricia remained a normal [Queen Type].

Unlike Jannette, Patricia responded to the [King Type]'s calls. She was even struggling to break free from Mark's grasp.

Still, the [King Type] lied down inside the cage and continued looking at Jannette and Patricia alternately.

It was as if two queens should not exist in one place.