630 The Dinner, The Torture for the Hungry (1/2)

Mark's group entered the makeshift building that was not any more than pieces of construction materials patched together. It was clear that this building was hastily made back when the outbreak started but was never built into a proper structure.

”What kind of place is this?”

Emika complained as she blew away the dust above some bedside tables.

Not only the old tables and chairs, but even the ragged beds were dusty. It seemed that this place had not received proper cleaning for a long time.

”You don't have to complain. At least, it's not as dusty as an abandoned house.”

Mark said, ruffling Emika's green hair.

What he said was true. An abandoned house would be even dustier and, for the worst situations, had dead bodies lying about.

Still, for a dwelling inside a Military Encampment, this kind of thing was not acceptable. But what could they do?

”Gege, should I take out the beddings?”

Mei asked.

”Take it out. We can't use these dirty beds as it is.”

Mark replied.

Of course, Mark's group was prepared for this journey. They knew that they would not be able to travel along the way in just one day. It was already surprising that they reached this place in one go. Actually, at a regular pace, they would need at least one and a half days to arrive here. However, they rushed it, going straight at this port even though the sun had already set.

Why?

They wanted a proper place to butcher the giant octopus. At best, they wanted it to be alive and fresh. Unfortunately, the shortest way to reach this place was going over several mountains where seawater was nonexistent. Thus, halfway through the journey, the food they wanted to stay alive already died and had to be stored inside Mark's ring. Although time was not stopped inside the ring, in the least, its body would be away from other elements that could hasten its loss of freshness.

After all, who would not want fresh seafood to eat?

As Mark agreed, Mei activated her ring, taking out several beddings made of soft fur. These were tailored from the skins of evolved animals that were hunted in the mountains. Most were large mountain rats and deers, though, and while some came from the same animal species, it had different colors due to the difference in their evolution characteristics.

”Let me help.”

Pearl said, volunteering to help Mei cover the dusty beds with the fur beddings she took out.

”Wow, those rings are really convenient.”

Speaking of Amihan...

”Puha! Master! Are you not going to let me out?!”

Amihan yelled as her head popped out of Mark's backpack.

This sylph had already lost her ability to hide from the sight of humans. Thus, she could only hide inside the bag.

”My bad.”

Mark replied as he put down the backpack and let Amihan out. Aside from Amihan, there was also Ivy that Mark had brought this time. As the two got out, the bag was practically empty. It was just something for disguise, after all.

”Why does she have to hide anyway? Uncle, didn't you just let her sit on your shoulder back then in Bay City?”

Emika asked, and she was not wrong. Back in Bay City, Amihan was out for everyone to see. That was also the case in the New Infanta Settlement. Now, however, he was making her hide. Not only her, but even Chaflar was also left in the mountains, waiting for his orders.

”It's because we don't know who is an ally and who is an enemy in this place yet,” Mark replied. ”The situation in this place is different from the other two settlements you had been before. It is better to hide our cards in the beginning just in case.”

”Ah! A wolf in sheep's skin!”

Emika exclaimed. It seemed that she was rather enjoying it.

It was not hard to do, actually. Their group was composed of three men, two women, and four children. It appeared to be a pretty harmless group. Of course, that was if the opposite party forgot the part that this group actually traveled from Infanta to this place. A group that could do such a thing, even with a vehicle, was not your typical group of survivors. It was quite impossible to do in these times, even if all the members of the group were all grown men.

It did not take long, and the beddings were fixed. They even cleaned the place a bit.

”By the way, Uncle,” Emika remembered something. ”I've read manga and novels giving packets of cigarettes and a pack of noodles to their guides. You're the first one I saw throw a can of tuna.”

”Seriously, you can't zip your mouth, do you?”

Mark complained.

”Not everyone smokes, and a pack of noodles is not that good when the person can't boil water. Unless the guy wanted to eat it crunchy. Even if he managed to cook it, he won't be able to eat it alone since the smell would scatter everywhere. You should know what comes next after that. There's no way a good soldier would be able to reject his comrades if they asked him for some. In the least, an easy-open can of tuna could be eaten immediately in a corner.”

”Ah, I see.”

Emika nodded. She agreed with what Mark did.

”Gege, what should we do about dinner?”

Mei asked. In fact, there was no mention of dinner being given by the soldiers at all.

”Of course, we are cooking.” Mark said as he pulled out a tentacle of the octopus from his ring. ”Takoyaki would be good but we can't really cook something like that here. Let's just marinate it a bit and cover it with breading.”

And with that, they started cooking inside the dilapidated barracks.

***

”How is that group that arrived earlier?”

The fat soldier, Captain Zacaria, asked one of the soldiers that were on patrol.

Captain Zacaria was currently sitting in the office area, looking closely at the letter that was still with him. He was trying to examine if this letter was real or not. Unfortunately, from the format to the seal, there was no doubt that it was authentic.

”Sir, that group is now at the temporary shelter.”