498 The Infected of Atlantic City, The Odd, The Strange, and The Interesting (1/2)

Day 126 - 7:22 AM - Caesars Atlantic City Centurion Towers, Arkansas Ave, Atlantic City, United States of America

Mark continued to communicate with Mei through the ring as he flew down to the lower roofs of the orange-colored building. His destination was the next building south of this one. It was because he saw some rooftop park and a bar which looked interesting.

A rooftop park with planted trees and bushes were very unusual if one came from the Philippines. It was no wonder that he would be interested in this one.

The rooftop was empty. There was no infected either. It was kind of understandable because it was easy for the infected to fall off from the roof.

Still, the evidence of the struggle was present in the area. Dried blood stained the floor and walls. There were even chunks of desiccated flesh at some places.

The tables and chairs were overturned, the glass walls were shattered.

Fortunately, the flora on the rooftop was enough to overshadow the despair left in this place.

At the clear sight of the park, Mark said.

”The plants had overgrown.”

Without maintenance, these trees and plants planted in an unnatural environment should have withered already. Yet, they were still living vigorously and had overgrown. The effect of Mutagen on flora was very apparent in this situation.

As he landed, Mark noticed a tourist pamphlet that already stuck to the floor. He tried to scrape it off to check, but because of the very long exposure to nature, the paper was already brittle. The pamphlet was torn. However, he was able to read a large part with pages stuck together.

Through this pamphlet, he learned where in the world he was currently.

After throwing the pamphlet away, Mark noticed webs on the overgrown trees while walking.

The newly created webs were rather thick for a regular spider, and each strand was enough to be used to sew new clothes. This meant that whatever that created these webs must be nearby.

'A Mutated Infected Spider or an Evolved Spider?'

Mark could not help but speculate.

He then heard a rustling among the trees, which immediately alerted him.

And here was the answer, jumping out of the trees while shooting webs at Mark. As Mark sidestepped to dodge the thick, sticky web, he watched the assailant without expression.

He was wrong in both assumptions.

”A cat?”

Mark murmured as he looked at the bloated creature in front of him.

It was a gray fat tabby agilely moving while spitting strings of webs through its mouth. With its swift movements that a regular human would only see a blur, it was questionable to call it fat at all.

”Ah. I see.”

Mark realized that it was not a web but might be a string made of fur. This infected cat might have mutated some of its organs to become like this.

Looking at the dead body on the floor, Mark could not help but say.

”What a weird one.”

Leaving the body behind, Mark walked off towards the bar.

He wanted to look for food as he was kind of hungry now. As it was unexpected that he had to drag the enemy away, he never prepared any food for him to carry. Besides, the food situation of his base was not good either because of the enemies. They could not make any dried goods because of the veil of fog.

Disappointingly, the bar was already ransacked. It was kind of expected, but Mark was feeling lazy to go around to search for food. He had just finished a tiring battle. This made him want to relax a bit while he observed the inheritor on the building to the north.

”Oh, well.”

Mark shrugged as he decided to find some food in places below. This was a tourist area, there should be a lot of restaurants and stores.

BOOOM!!!

Before Mark could even take flight, a loud explosion was heard from the northwest. It sounded like it was quite far away, but the sound was loud enough to be heard clearly.

The explosion made Mark fly up in the sky to see the source.

”What the f-?!”

Mark almost cursed at the sight he saw.

He was not able to see it earlier because it was still dark, and he did not pay attention to the residential areas of Atlantic City. Now, however, he was able to see it.

The whole highway to the northwest was already scorched along with every building beside it. Looking at the way the establishments looked charred, it was not because of fire but because of something too hot near it. It was like the structures were exposed to smoke for a very long time.

The situation was quite strange as the charring of the buildings looked old.

And the source of the explosion was a car that was abandoned in the middle of the highway.

As for the culprit, it was a bungalow-sized red slug moving across the highway at a slow pace. The slug's body was glowing like magma, releasing smoke every time it breathes.

Mark noticed the people on the rooftop of the violet building come out to see the spectacle. They did not seem surprised at the situation, making him realize that it was not new to them.

Thus, turning into a black mist, Mark decided to eavesdrop a bit.

***

”It moved again. When was the last time?”

A female Mutator said with a frown.

”Its been dormant for a week. It's not any different from the previous times. Since that thing appeared, it will move a few blocks for a whole day before sleeping for at least five days. Just be glad that it is not moving our way.”

A male Mutator replied.

They all watched the spectacle together with other survivors that were interested. As for the others, they could care any less.

But then, another Mutator seemed uneasy. He was a thin Black-American, with a generic office worker look. He had an honest and straightforward vibe on him, and with the interaction of the non-Mutator survivors with him, it seemed that he was very well-liked.