Mutagen

Day 373 - 4:32 PM - Mountain Back, Lemahkembar Village Ruins, Sumberasih District, Probolinggo Regency, East Java, Indonesia

After Val'Flora spoke about her intention, Mark could not help but ask.

"Going straight, huh? Are you still busy or something?"

"No? Currently, you are my only client. I also finished my other commitments. So, I do have some free time. However, I had to infiltrate a hidden facility recently for the information you wanted. I had to be extremely careful about it since even someone of my caliber wouldn't be able to ensure my life if there was even just a single slight slip-up.

That is why I wish to take a short break."

Val'Flora spoke of her activities without hesitation. Her behavior sure was far different from their previous encounters. Even Mark could not tell whether she was acting or it was her true personality.

"You're not fishing for compliments, are you?"

Mark asked with a stare.

"Oh, no. There is nothing like that. What I am saying is that you are that important as a client."

Val'Flora replied.

Mark could not read Val'Flora's mind. Well, it was not like he could. In the first place, the only things Mark could read were people's emotions. If the person in front of him had perfect control of their emotions, there was nothing he could do to read them properly.

"Hmmm..." Mark hummed as he glanced at Luna and the others before staring back at Val'Flora. "Let's talk somewhere else."

"As you wish."

Val'Flora also gave Devon a short glance as she nodded.

Mark and Mei then led Val'Flora into the tent, where Mark worked on the designs earlier. Val'Flora silently followed the two while observing the surroundings. In her current persona, she was not hiding her curiosity in the slightest. Even so, Val'Flora did not senselessly ask questions and silently followed the two.

Inside the ten, Mark offered a folding chair to Val'Flora while he and Mei sat on another two.

But as Val'Flora sat down, Mark could not help but look at her. The persona she exhibited after arriving was now gone, replaced with her serious aura and expression.

"Then, since I am not in a hurry, I will not only hand these over but also go with a verbal report."

Val'Flora then took a folder from her backpack. Fastened within the folder were pieces of paper containing her report. The situation was different from the previous one, where Val'Flora only left a piece of paper taken out from between her cleavage.

But as Mark tried to open the folder, he found out that he could not. It was as if the folder was glued shut.

Mark stopped for a bit, staring at the folder. Then, from his ring, he took out a feather. He then tapped the stem of the feather on the top opening of the folder and then, like a pen, moved it down to the bottom. With that gesture, the folder loosened open as if a lock had been removed.

Seeing Mark figure out how to open the folder, Val'Flora nodded as if she had already expected it to happen. After all, Mark did not need any explanation on how to read the previous note that appeared blank without special methods.

Mark skimmed the papers one after another. These were not just some superficial information about those directly involved in the incident seven years ago. Aside from the first two pages, the following pages were profiles of people. Even Shin's profile and information were included. It was the same for Louis Morgan and Spera, who were now among Mark's people. Nia and Allen's profiles were also included.

What surprised Mark was the last page.

It was because it was his. Mark's profile and some information about himself. However, it was oddly incomplete, unlike the other profiles.

Mei also looked at the folder with a frown. She was also confused as to why Mark's profile was included there.

"I assume you are confused as to why your profile is included there," Val'Flora spoke to Mark. "Fortunately, it isn't like you were being tailed or your information was being gathered in the past seven years. As you can see, it was severely lacking compared to the others. It was because your profile had just been added to the rest of the profiles very recently.

It seemed they did not find enough time or opportunity to gather more data. The addition was also speculative, as you can see."

"Who?"

Mark asked Val'Flora with a frown.

"The US Army," Val'Flora answered. "A research division led by one of their most prominent scientists."

"That lead scientist is known as Professor Alphfa Alston."

Professor Alphfa Alston. It was a name Mark did not expect to hear.

"That grayling..."

Mark could not help but murmur as he genuinely felt annoyed.

It was an incomplete profile of Mark that had been compiled by the hands of Alphfa Alston. This could mean that after Mark met that alien creature, it began investigating Mark and his origins. Furthermore, it found out about Mark's possible involvement with that incident.

Did it realize that Mark knew about the abilities Louis used in Atlantic City?

Mark's eyes turned away from the paper containing information about him and looked back at Val'Flora.

"You already knew about our encounter, right? That's why you mentioned his name without further explanation."

"Yes," Val'Flora immediately admitted. "Your arrival at the military base monitoring Atlantic City and other information had been compiled in their database and reported straight to their main headquarters. The actual records had no mention of your name, but the vague descriptions I dug up reminded me of you.

Furthermore, the uncanny late addition of your profile into their database was suspicious, so I did more digging into the matter."

"In fact," Val'Flora added. "I was surprised after I saw this information for the first time. Alphfa Alston was quite well known in our organization. While he was not the only alien client we had, he was the highest in authority among the investigators of his kind who were staying here on Earth. That kind of person would not just go meet anyone and reveal his identity.

Yet, he divulged it in front of you."

"But didn't that grayling already leave this planet with his kind?"

Mark asked.

"So, you also knew about that?" Val'Flora was a bit surprised. "Yes, they left. Furthermore, without an in-depth explanation of the circumstances. He threw all those in command into disarray because of his sudden departure. All his ongoing research was left unfinished, including the research about the incident you asked me to investigate.

Luckily, it also allowed me to extract the necessary information with slightly less danger than usual."

Mark listened to Val'Flora's explanation with a frown. He was also reading the report he was given. According to the report, there were eleven reported cases in total, meaning eleven crystals survived intact. It included the [PsyCrystal] Mark got and the crystal now Mei possessed, which likely belonged to a single case in the report.

However...

"There are only nine profiles, including mine," Mark spoke as he noticed. "Felicia's ex-boyfriend was also here. This guy from Japan, who we never found. He's the one in your previous report, right?"

"There's no profile for one who came from here in Indonesia, too."

Mei chimed in, noticing another missing profile.

"The discrepancy in the cases and number of profiles is because the missing ones were never identified," Val'Flora explained. "There is also the possibility of unreported cases apart from the eleven reported witness sightings."

"And my apologies about this one," Val'Flora pointed at the profile of the possible Japanese [Inheritor]. "The previous report was kind of outdated. It seemed that she snuck into another country just before the apocalypse started. She's currently in South Korea. This information is recorded in the data. It's also in the profile."

Val'Flora then pointed at a filled field on the profile. It was labeled as "last witnessed location" where Seoul, South Korea, was written, along with an addendum about attending a KPop Christmas concert.

"Are you sure about it this time?"

Mark asked.

"Yes," Val'Flora answered without hesitation. "I investigated it myself before coming here. She's currently in Busan Military Base, where the majority of South Korean survivors can be found. She was pretty well-disliked but is quite a prominent figure among the survivors."

"Well-disliked... Is it because she's Japanese?"

Mark asked.

"Yes," Val'Flora nodded. "It was not just her. Many locals treat the survivors who came from other countries pretty harshly. They hated her even more because she could stand toe-to-toe with the most prominent figures despite being a mere tourist."

"Then, I guess it won't be a problem to find this one," Mark was quite pleased to have some concrete information. "I guess our next destination is decided."

It looked like Mark had already decided on their next stop after sending the Indonesian survivors to Bali.

"Is the US military still on this case?"

Mark asked Val'Flora, waving the report he held.

"They stopped for now. I can attest to that," Val'Flora confidently answered. "The rifts separating territorial borders are stopping them from gathering overseas information. In the first place, they could not continue with Alphfa Alston missing."

"That's good," Mark nodded. "But there's still an issue. This one."

Mark then tapped his finger on one of the profiles.

"Yes, I agree," Val'Flora agreed with Mark. "The man under US military custody."

It was the profile of a criminal. It seemed that he used his acquired powers as an [Inheritor] to commit crimes and was caught by the US military. According to the profile, the bastard was currently held as a research subject.

"This is good," Mark complimented Val'Flora's work. "Although we still need to find out about the two missing ones."

At Mark's words, not only Val' Flora but Mei was also confused.

There were three missing profiles. However, Mark was only concerned about two.

Mark smiled. He said that on purpose.

"There's no need to find the Indonesian case," Mark told Val'Flora. "I already found her. You only need to search for the missing two."

"Is that so?" Val' Flora nodded. "In that case, I have no issues about it. It will also lighten my work."

"You're not going to ask who?"

Mark asked Val'Flora.

"There is no need to," Val'Flora stared at Mark. "My job is to give information to my client and not the other way around."

"I see," Mark smiled. "That's good work ethic."

"Anyway, I have a question," Mark suddenly added. "Can you handle gathering materials for me?"

Val'Flora could not help but tilt her head a little at Mark's sudden question.

"My job is only information gathering and espionage. Albeit my connections, handling materials is beyond my specialization."

Val'Flora answered.

"Then, can you hook me up with someone who could?" Mark gave his request. "I urgently needed some materials, but there's no way I can find these lying anywhere nearby. And the price doesn't matter as long as it's within reason."

Mark then put a metal box on the table and opened it in front of Val'Flora, revealing five [Attributed Mental Crystals] of different elements.

"Is the price of these still the same?"

Mark then asked.

Val'Flora's eyes fell onto the [Mental Crystals]. She then answered Mark, but her eyes never left the crystals.

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"I will handle the materials. Leave it to me. It's outside my expertise, but I should be able to handle it if the material isn't impossible to find. As for the price... The value of these crystals had been raised by fifty percent."

"Huh?" Mark tilted his head. "That's unexpected. I thought the price would go down since magical energy is now circulating around the world."

"That is the common thought about the situation," Val'Flora understood Mark's assumption. "However, the purity of the magical energy now flowing around the world is too low that clients would rather have purer sources. Just think of stagnant water after someone splashed around the muddy riverbed. That is the current state of the magical energy in the surroundings.

Just like the muddy water, it will still take time before the mud settles down and for the water to become clear again."

"I see," Mark hummed. "It works to my favor then. Anyway, I don't care if you handle it or someone else as long as they're trustworthy. I want materials in exchange for these crystals."

"This is the list."

Mark then took out a blank paper and wrote the names of things without stopping. It was as if he was extremely familiar with the materials, whose names actually did not ring a bell to Mei or Val'Flora. He then handed the list to his agent.

Val'Flora, reading the list, could not help but frown a little.

"I'm not familiar with these materials, so I can't promise to easily gather them. But I will try my best. As for the payment, I'll take one crystal for now, as both down payment and collateral. The rest of the cost can be calculated after the transaction has been finalized."

"I'm fine with that."

Mark had no problems with Val'Flora's arrangement.

But as Mark and Val'Flora were about to talk about the other details of their transaction, the door flap of the ten swung open.

It was Luna.

"Mark, we have a bit of a problem."

"What is it?"

Mark asked.

"The bastards... Those pigs. They squandered the national funds. There's barely anything left under the national account overseen by Devon."

Mark stared at Luna. He could not say that he kind of had the hunch that this would happen. It was corrupt officials they were talking about, after all. If the national funds were left to them during the absence of a president, this kind of thing would likely happen.

Still, this would not do.

The Indonesian survivors would need funds if they wanted a higher chance of survival in this damned apocalypse.

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