394 The Second Day on the Road, Towards the Next Resting Poin (1/2)

Day 67 - 1:15 PM - Don Hilario Cruz Street, San Juan, Taytay, Rizal

The rescue of the survivors proceeded as the soldiers kept the infected at bay. One by one, they crossed the bridge they prepared as they went down the ladder of the firetruck. As for the vehicle, these survivors apparently had one they used when looking for supplies. The car was an unmodified red van covered with dents on its body. That was how they managed to secure their survival up till now.

Unfortunately, that vehicle alone would not be enough to bring them out of this place towards safety. Furthermore, as the infected around the municipal hall grew in numbers and mutated further, they had to stop their supply runs and rely on what they had gathered.

Now that they spotted military vehicles passing by, they knew that it would be their chance to leave this place.

While the soldiers resumed the rescue, Mark continued to monitor the fluctuations coming from the south direction. He took out his phone and looked at the offline map as flying would be too conspicuous. Looking at the map, he saw that the establishment in that direction was a large resort hotel.

That resort was on a rather large scale. The whole establishment was three times larger than the compound around the municipal hall of Taytay, Rizal.

Mark could not tell whether the whole resort hotel was already secured, but he was sure that survivors were living there. Several of their scouts were even hiding while observing the situation around the municipal hall.

There were five scouts scattered hidden. Their motives were questionable as they did not flag the soldiers to rescue them and moved suspiciously instead. Among the scouts, there was one Mutator. As Mark observed the movements of the others, however, he concluded that they were agility based Evolvers.

Since most of the resort hotel was out of his detection range, Mark could not tell the exact number of people there. However, just by the small area, he could detect, there were about fifteen already. The scouts were not included in that number.

Mark then waited. In case that they only came to watch, so be it. If these people decided to make a move, however, he would immediately deal with them. Another Mutator ability would be handy for his collection since he had a large number of [Mutagen Stones] he collected from the horde of the [King Type]. Right now, he had more than a thousand vacant [Physical Crystals] stored inside the [PsyCrystal].

Unfortunately, these people did not seem to have any urge to confront Mark's group. He was quite disappointed. Nevertheless, they appeared to be troubled by the fact that the people inside the Municipal Hall were rescued.

Their reaction to the rescue was quite odd. Why were they troubled when the survivors inside the Municipal Hall were not related to them in any way?

Were there any relations?

Mark could not help but ponder.

The rescue went quite smoothly. There a few hitches because of the Mutated Infected, but the soldiers managed to handle the situation. It was even without too much of Mark and his group's interference.

As for the scouts of the other group, they only watched while trying not to be seen.

After securing the survivors, they left the area immediately. There was no need to waste more time as it would also waste their effort and ammunition.

As they continued their travel, the military had to adjust their positioning. It was because of the new addition to the convoy. For Mark's group, there was no change as they remained as the vanguard of the group.

Leaving the alternative route they took, they reached the main highway that traveled throughout Taytay, Rizal.

***

Day 67 - 3:42 PM - Radial Road 5, San Juan, Taytay, Rizal

Being one of the busiest roads on Taytay, this road had a lot of vehicles either left parked at the roadside or abandoned in the middle of the street. There were also a lot of infected wandering the streets waiting for prey to come.

Seeing the convoy led by Mark, all the infected rushed towards them. It was quite a horrifying scene. The soldiers were quite tense due to many reasons. With this number of infected, it would greatly hinder their progress. It would be fine if it was still early. However, it was already about to go late in the afternoon. If they got delayed any further, they would end up driving on the road after sundown.

That was the worst thing to happen.

The survivors that were also rescued were also terrified. They wanted to be saved so they could escape the danger threatening them. Yet, they were faced with a new kind of risk in the road. They were also wary of the two gigantic monsters that came along with the convoy. After all, they had never seen such creatures in real life before. It made these people uncertain whether these creatures could be trusted.

As for their commander's response to the enormous number of infected.

”Full Speed Ahead!”

Mark commanded through his mind and the radio in his hands.

Yes, it was a busy road. There were quite a number of vehicles on the road and a large number of infected around them. Nevertheless, this road was an eight-lane one. There was plenty of space to go through without needing to crash unto the abandoned cars on the road.

As for the infected, they could all face the strength of the [Exceed: Disintegrator Fortress].

In fact, that command was not just on a whim. It was also a signal designated to this convoy.

The convoy stretched out its formation with all other vehicles moving behind the [Exceed: Disintegrator Fortress] as the vehicles accelerated. Since the one driving the vehicle of the rescued survivors was a soldier, he also followed the adjusted formation.

Then, Aimee's tentacles moved out of the slots on her vehicle. The eyes on the tentacles aimed everywhere. As the defense in this formation thinned, Aimee would make up for the lost strength while also getting ready to open up the path whenever needed.

Driving on the road, the convoy started to accelerate while beams of light flew everywhere.

On the other hand, Gifre also moved while keeping up with the [Exceed: Disintegrator Fortress]. The large-bodied Gifre got rid of the vehicles that blocked the way when there was no space to go through. Chaflar on the side with Mark left the ground and flew around to eliminate most of the infected with its fire.

The soldiers also did not just idle around as they started shooting everywhere to get rid of the infected.

They kept that pace to save precious time while getting rid of the infected by leaving them behind.

After two and a half kilometers since their entry on Radial Road 5, they reached its end. Leaving the highway, they entered the extension road of Ortigas Avenue.