Mutagen

Inside the conference room, the Mark and Professor Alston continued to converse in a quite amicable manner. A third person would think that they were two friends talking about each other"s opinion. Nevertheless, this carefree atmosphere appeared from the two"s interest in each other. Not as a person, however, but as a foreign species.

The alien called who called himself Professor Alphfa Alston was not someone who would be interested in just anyone. There were too many humans on Earth. Even if the humans get differentiated through their race, there was still a sizable number.

And Mark that was currently in front of him was not included in those numbers.

On the other hand, it was the very first time Mark encountered an actual alien that evolved through an environment different from Earth, an alien that came from another planet. 

It was an existence very different from demons and spirit races. It was also different from the G.o.ds that came from a different dimensional plane.

Another thing that brought the amicable exchange was that both Mark and Professor Alston knew the limits of things that they could ask each other. There were times that they asked questions that the other could not answer due to privacy or lack of information due to protocol. Nevertheless, both sides did not try to push for the answer.

This behavior also showed something about Professor Alston. It was, even though he was an alien species, he had a good grasp of human psychology.

Then, the question that Mark wanted to ask came.

"You said that interference from visitors would cause vanishment. Who will do that?"

Mark asked in a constrained manner. He had some speculations. However, he needed more proof.

To that question, Professor Alston unexpectedly shrugged.

"Who knows?"

That was his answer before continuing.

"If you are thinking about something like an intergalactic force that is protecting the universe, they do exist. It is a Union of different intergalactic species that stop crimes and such in s.p.a.ce."

"I"m thinking about something else," Mark said. "About that intergalactic force you mentioned. You said that it is a Union. Then it will only protect the members, am I right?"

"You said it." Professor Alston agreed. "The Earth"s current technological level is too low to be a member of that union. As such, there is no way that they will be the ones protecting Earth. I don"t know who it was, but there is someone. Or else, Earth had long been invaded by other aggressive species. And I will tell you. There are more aggressive intergalactic species than peaceful ones."

Mark could not help but frown. One of the questions that he wanted the answer the most was left without answers. Furthermore, it was a matter he needed to confirm the most at the moment.

The conversation continued. And finally, the last and most crucial question from Mark was asked.

He asked if Professor Alston knew of the Mutagen"s origin.

And of course, the expected answer came.

"No."

That was why this alien professor was here in the first place. To study this strange Mutagenic Effector, or so they called it. 

"Remember that intergalactic union I mentioned earlier? One of the reasons they will not protect Earth if it was attacked, especially right now, is because they are busy about things on their side."

And here, Professor Alston revealed a piece of shocking information.

Apparently, the Mutagen that currently thrown Earth into chaos and put the living population in peril was a reoccurring disaster in the universe since thousands of years ago.

Who knows how many planets it destroyed, both habitable and inhabitable.

Currently, not only Earth but other planets that were experiencing the same circ.u.mstances exist. This kept the other intergalactic species busy.

And the worst thing about this. In all these thousands of years, no cure was found for this so-called Mutagenic Effector.

In the first place, there was no way to find a cure if it was not a disease in the first place. The Mutagenic Effector had both qualities of a virus and bacteria on Earth. However, it also had traits of similar things that were not discovered on Earth because of its current technological level.

Furthermore, aside from spreading like a zombie virus, the characteristics of the Mutagenic Effector varied from planet to planet. It was rare for the same kind of effect to happen in two different worlds.

It was like how it created Psychics in Eriellis and Physical Mutants on Earth. There were also planets were only Flora or Fauna was affected by the Mutagenic Effector. There were those that only small insects or those with only one race on the planet were affected.

Mutagen was an unpredictable existence.

The most important thing, the Mutagen, or Mutagenic Effector, was undetectable in its initial state. In fact, no one that had seen its initial state before entering a planet"s atmosphere had been found. No specimens were existing either.

Fortunately, there was only one way that Mutagenic Effector would enter a planet"s atmosphere. It was through a meteor exploding in the atmosphere.

There were already other planets who knew about this and prepared thoroughly. They installed intercepting mechanisms that would destroy any incoming meteor or any other s.p.a.ce debris that would enter their atmosphere.

And of course, it was not worth it. The number of meteors. .h.i.tting the atmosphere of a planet could not be counted at all. Trying to destroy everything did not only drain the planet"s resources, and they became more vulnerable to other disasters.

Furthermore, some still fell victim to Mutagenic Effector after they used up their resources.

There was no cure, no way to prevent, and its source was not known.

A planet falling victim to Mutagen was only up to luck. And Earth faced its unlucky streak.

Mark engraved all the information he heard in his subconscious. With the last question and answer given, Mark stood up.

"Well, that"s all I wanted to ask for now."

"That is all, huh? I still have tons of questions. But I guess, I can"t pin you down onto your seat."

The professor said with a carefree smile on his gray-colored face.

Hearing that, Mark only nodded his head once before turning into a streak of Black Mist that seeped through the gaps of the door of the conference room.

In an instant, there was only Professor Alston and his two escorts left in the room.

"What a rude human."

One of the escorts finally spoke after staying silent all this time.

"You"re not any different, Uno."

The other escort spoke, reprimanding the first one. The latter was obviously irritated. However, the first escort kept calm.

"Uno." Professor Alston said as his face flashed, turning from the gray alien face to a handsome young man. "That thing is not human, remember that."

At this moment, the amicable expression of Professor Alston was gone. What was left was a stern and cold expression that could make anyone s.h.i.+ver.

"Yes, Professor."

Uno respectfully replied.

"What a strange specimen. I really wanted to keep him."

Professor Alston said with a creepy expression.

"Then, Professor. Why didn"t you try to manipulate his brainwaves?"

The other escort, who used the alias Segundo, spoke.

To that question, Professor Alston turned to Segundo with a frown.

"Do you think I did not?"

Hearing that, both Uno and Segundo had surprised expressions. Sending suggestions by altering and sending brainwaves directly into another was an ability of their race. It was undetectable unless there was some brainwave detection apparatus nearby.

However, with the current technological level of Earth, it was easy to do it without getting noticed.

"Then, Professor..." Uno said with hesitation. "It did not work?"

"Obviously! It did not!"

Professor Alston started shouting.

The two escorts kept silent at this scene. Sure enough, both of them were used to this.

Professor Alston was no in this place in his own volition. He was tasked to by their superiors. His interest in the mutation that happened on Earth kept him sane in this place. Though in fact, Professor Alston was the most insane researchers in their fleet.

He could control himself in front of others, but when no one was around, his true personality would come out frequently.

For him to behave like this after exchanging information with that strange man, meant that he was not satisfied with what had happened.

And for his ability to not work flared his ego further.

While Professor Alston was flaring with anger, the two escorts just hoped that the man that left just now did not detect what their boss tried to do.

After all, Mark was an unknown existence. Of anything that anyone could be afraid of, the unknown was the most frightening.

***

Mark fled the Great Island Military Base as soon as he went out of the conference room.

His face was serene, and there was no doubt that he knew what the professor had been trying to do.

Furthermore, it was not just once but many times. Every time that Mark gave quite vague answers, he would feel some sort of interference in his thoughts that seem to urge him to blurt out everything to answer the question that was given to him. 

Fortunately, even without him doing anything voluntarily, his trait as a mutator swallowed those invading thoughts to the void. And thus, he was not affected even a tiny bit.

But still, for that to happen, it meant that Professor Alston was not sincere in meeting him at all. Unfortunately, he could only pretend that he knew nothing until the meeting finished. Mark needed information, and there was a very limited source to get that information from. Because of that, he could only endure.

Furthermore, he was still busy with the hornet nest called Auraboros. Even if he was furious to that alien professor about what he tried to do, Mark was not ready yet to poke another hornet nest.

Nevertheless, Mark gained some valuable information that no one would be able to provide him on Earth. He knew that it was not false information since, despite the ill will, the professor genuinely shared the things he could.

After all, although that information was not available on Earth, it might already be general knowledge outside. It was not that valuable in the professor"s eyes and just shared it without thinking too much.

Unfortunately, the mysterious origin of Mutagen was still not revealed. Mark could not tell if Professor Alston was just lying at that part because all he was facing in that room was nothing but a remote-controlled robot. The two escorts were real living beings, but it seemed that they had no knowledge about that part either.

Professor Alston might not know anything, or it was just not applicable for him to share.

Now that the meeting was over, Mark immediately left. He could not stand to stay anywhere near someone he could not tell what he was thinking.

Mark had severe trust issues, after all.

And there was another reason that made Mark leave in a hurry.

Grrowwlll...

He was hungry.

The soldiers served him coffee in the conference room, but that was nowhere anything that could be called a meal.

He wanted to search for food, and that was why he went down from the rooftop of that orange-colored building. However, things just kept happening that he forgot about it.

It was already noon, and he had not eaten anything since he arrived here. Of course, he would be hungry. Learning all that information just made him even more hungry.

And thus, he flew back towards Atlantic City, where the food at the stores was barely touched. He just wished that the drones the US military had sent were all recalled as he did not want to have anyone watching him as he ate.

Unfortunately, the moment he arrived back at Atlantic City, eating was not an option yet.

A battle was happening around the Bally"s Casino-Hotel.