583 Reports and Troubles, The Things Needed to be Addressed as Soon as Possible (1/2)

Day 132 - 6:48 PM - The Pagoda, Mt. Penn, Reading City, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Mark stretched his back, trying to relax his muscles. Finally, the long journey he had with Mei from Atlantic City to this place was over.

The road was a very rough one, even for Mark. If it was just other ordinary people, that kind of journey was, without a doubt, deadly.

There was a lot of trouble that they came across. First, a city that was isolated from the mainland, brimming with infected, prominent in both power and quantity. Then, the existence of Aliens. There was also the outlaws here and there. The curse that sealed five-thousand-year-old Anti-God Weapon, the Cultivators, Lesser Demons, and even the Jersey Devil, and lastly, the Monarchs among the infected that Mark came across.

Among all that, the most important was the encounter with the 9th Eye. He called himself as Ninth, The Embodiment of Boredom. This encounter revealed the other side of the story.

It was the other side of the events that transpired during the ousting of the Gods on Earth.

Ninth also gave Mark the announcement of the incoming Second Wave of the Apocalypse. Something that everyone that received the news should prepare for.

With all those things in mind, Mark took a deep breath. Their journey home might have ended.

Still, other things were just starting. Specifically, the preparation for the incoming second wave would start from now on.

While punishing the four troublesome women, Mark asked Spera, Aephelia, Huey, and Jolleen about the current happenings while he and Mei were gone.

Usually, it would be Odelina that he would ask since she was basically the one left in charge of everything if he was not present. However, he sent her to have more time with her niece, Hannah, while welcoming the people he brought here.

And there, Mark listened to the reports starting from the most urgent ones.

First and foremost, the reason why The Pagoda that was supposed to be just a temporary meeting place turned into a fully fortified outpost.

The reason made Mark frown. It was not unexpected, but it was still annoying.

All of this was because of Auraboros and its members.

Like before, they sent Shadow people to infiltrate The Pagoda and learn about what was happening here. Although they were caught because of Huey, who had heightened senses, it still happened several times with different methods of infiltration. Thus, they decided to develop the place instead and apply more security methods.

Furthermore, the Pennsylvania Branch of Auraboros blatantly built an outpost just below Mount Penn. It was not created discreetly but was an open declaration that Auraboros was watching their activities. In fact, both sides could see each other's outposts without problem any obstacle blocking the view.

The Pagoda had already turned into a defensible outpost. Thus, Mark decided to keep it this way for a while. He already had some plans about the preparation they needed to do, and this place in its current state was just convenient.

Of course, he would deal with the annoying organization later if they pushed over with their actions and went across the line. Right now, there were more important things to do than deal with pesky flies.

The next thing that Mark asked about was not exactly urgent but asked about it anyways. It was about the people that were currently staying on the first floor of The Pagoda.

He could not help but ask about it. It was because it was uncomfortable for him to feel unfamiliar people inside his turf. It would be more acceptable if they were like the ones before that only camped outside his base.

However, after hearing the reason for this, Mark decided to persevere. These people evacuated here and actually came from that very same building that the Auraboros was currently using as an outpost. They tried to seek help after they detected some human activities here at The Pagoda.

Of course, that was not the actual reason they were allowed inside. It was because Huey and the others needed more hands in developing this place as an Outpost. Though there were some people that were proven to be troublesome among them, the others still helped diligently in building things that were needed to be made.

And now that Mark, their leader, came back, he would be the one to decide the fates of these people. Of course, if Mark did not want them, they would be compensated for their work before they were driven away.

It was really not an urgent thing. But still, it was better to decide earlier so that Mark could let the useless people go.

The next thing for Mark to hear was the current state of food supply for the base.

First and foremost, the fields that were destroyed because of The Great One's puppet was still unrecoverable for the most part. Apparently, the dust that covered the land rendered the soil infertile. Even removing the layer of dust above the ground would not work. It seemed that the properties of the dust and ashes seemed to have seeped deeper into the ground.

Fortunately, the soil in the immediate vicinity of the base was recovering, albeit slowly. It seemed that the red particles that Chiyo, The Night Everred Spirit Tree, was releasing at night were the cause of the recovery.

All the contents of this report were analyzed by the Dryad. She could check the soil when growing her vines and other plants. It was pretty fortunate that she was around, or else, they would not know that planting on the contaminated soil was futile.

Aside from the soil, the battle at that time seemed to have caused evolved animals and insects to flee Mount Malabito. They were having a hard time procuring more food by hunting. In fact, they had to utilize Chaflar to move around towards other mountains to capture evolved animals.

Right now, the main source of food of the base came from the supplies they gathered here in Reading and transported back with Spera's help.

After hearing up to this point, Mark's blood was already boiling.

Auraboros had caused him and his base nothing but trouble.

Back then, this organization lured Mei and the others into a death trap in Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Then, The Great One tried to abduct Mei on that same occasion. Next was when they caused trouble when they revived Gar'Vlam, and that encounter became the cause of the first [King Type] that they encountered to be born.

The next thing was that organization encasing his base in inescapable fog and trying to kill Emika and other people. That was also when The Great One appeared and destroyed everything around his base.

Trouble, trouble, and nothing but trouble.