183 Poor Choice of Identity

Marcus relaxed after getting inside the Municipal Hall. He felt safe now that he moved to a different building. Today was really a bad day for him.

His birthday celebration became a mess after a horde of rotters got attracted to the sound of firecrackers. He cursed those idiots in his head as he catches his breath.

He already vented some of his anger after beating the host planner earlier. He made sure that the man wouldn't be able to stand up for a while to appease his wrath.

After catching his breath, Marcus started walking towards the stairway. His body glowed once, followed by the muscles squirming and adjusting itself.

By the time he arrived at the stairs, he was no longer the old fat man that he is. His body changed shape, and he became a fierce-looking young man.

Marcus climbed to the second floor and encountered a blockade. Tables were used as buffers, while several bodyguards wielding spears formed an attacked force behind.

He raised his hands, then said, "I'm Lord Marcus' butler. Is the Lord here?"

The bodyguards became confused since this was the first time they heard Marcus having a butler. They knew he had a secretary, but the secretary was a girl!

Sensing their doubts, Marcus said, "You can ask him personally if you want. Is the Lord here? Can I come inside? It's not safe being down there, you know?"

They couldn't provoke the butler since they didn't know whether he was really working for Lord Marcus. On the other hand, they couldn't risk their boss's lives.

Realizing that they could just confirm the matter, later on, they let the young man come in. One of the elite families' bodyguards got assigned to tail the man.

Marcus heard them but chose to ignore them. He just ingrained their faces in his mind, for reasons unknown.

Most of the influential guests chose to tide the horde in the mayor's office. Marcus entered the room and went straight towards the window.

The guests only glanced at him in curiosity, then lost interest after some time. No one paid him any attention, and he went directly towards the window. These people were all thinking that if he was able to go past the blockade at the stairs, then it meant he was someone one high in the food chain.

The clash on the street continued. The horde was beginning to thin down, and the defensive line finally gained some breathing room when Cain joined the fray.

Cain proactively attacked the back of the horde and managed to attract the rear part. Seeing that their Chief Officer has returned, the survivors gained a confidence boost and stopped defending. They switched from defense to offense. Their structure as a whole collapsed as they change to assault, but they still maintained a two-person spear-cleaver formation as they charged the horde.

As the people felt reassured that the battle outside would finally reach its end, banging noises came from the hallway. Bodies being thrown into the wall and cries of surprise sounded.

Then everything went quiet with the battle outside as the only sound. The casual chatters of the people were stopped as they waited in terror of what's to come.

The door to the room opened, and a young hoodlum appeared. The man's hand had some blood on it, which made everyone in the place apprehensive of him.

The young hoodlum surveyed the room. As his gaze fell on the newcomer, a frown appeared on his face.

Marcus became frightened when the young man slowly walked towards him. Even though his gait was slow, he felt that the man was in total focus and could react to any situation.

He doubted whether he was actually disguised since the other person glared at him firmly. He even wanted to use his last resort if the man was able to see through his disguise.

The young man stopped in front of him and examined him.

"Carl?" he questioned, then added, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Marianne?"

'Oh? He's acquainted with this person?' thought Marcus. 'But who's Marianne?'

He acted embarrassed and scratched the back of his head.

"I got separated from Marianne... sorry. I don't know where to search for her," replied Marcus.

The young man chuckled as if crazed, then scratched his forehead as if thinking of something. Then he said, with a voice raising a notch every other word, "You kidnapped my woman, then claims you don't know where she is. Tell me, should I believe you? I want to kill you right here, right now. Do you think that's fair?"

'What the heck!? What is this? I just randomly copied someone's face, and this happens! What terrible luck!'

The young man summoned his dimensional storage then took out a pistol. The young man then aimed at his head in point-blank range.

Marcus was perplexed. If he returns to his original body, this man still plans to kill him. If he doesn't, then he would be executed as a kidnapper!

No matter what he chooses, he would still get killed!

'Does he know that it's me? That's impossible! I never told anyone about this skill! Brother, what have I done to you? We've never met before! This is our first meeting, right!? Can't we just forget what happened earlier and live our own lives?'

Marcus was someone who's strong against the weak, and weak against the strong. His everyday actions and decisions always prioritize life preservation.

He knows that the other person has more experience and is much stronger than him.

The one thing he could do now was to use his life-saving skill!

The one ability that he has been using even before the apocalypse!

A skill that has a 20% chance of success!

He knelt on the floor and begged for mercy.

"I'm sorry, please forgive me."

The people who were anticipating the result were flabbergasted. They thought that the man would fight back, but in the end, he flipped and asked for mercy! So much for acting mysterious earlier. What a spineless coward!

Drama aside, now that the situation appeared to become dangerous, the people chose to wash their hands, not wanting trouble to come for them.

The corner that the two were in became spacious as the people move away in droves.

"Please let me explain," Marcus said as he stood up. He stared at the young man, then used his last resort to problems he couldn't deal with.

The last active skill that he reserves for dangerous times like this.

His body glowed for a millisecond, and the skill activated. Many things happened in that millisecond.

His body created a clone of itself, then pushed its real body backward.

The real body turned invisible to everyone, the moment it created a clone.

The clone stood straight, gazing pleadingly forward.

Marcus chose to step to the side, in case the young man decided to shoot the clone.

He could only blame himself if he got shot after everything that happened. He placed his hand behind his back and opened his dimensional storage.

As his hand entered the black vortex, he became dumbfounded.

The young man who was facing the clone looked at him. Not a glance, but straight up looked at him. He even pondered whether the skill was working correctly.

Marcus turned to everyone, but they couldn't see him.

'Why aren't you attacking him?!'

There's no reason to.

The young man gave a reasonable explanation as to why he was doing this. He was even planning on killing someone they don't know. Unless he were the Lord's family member, no one would try to place their neck on the chopping board to save an unknown person. It was already ingrained on their bodies to ignore people in need.

The young man pressed the trigger, and the gunshot echoed in the room. It traveled outside and reached the streets, causing the defending survivors to become worried about the situation on the Municipal building.

Cain and other faction members received the notification that their Lord died. The Faction tab on their menu screen disappeared, together with the benefits of joining a faction.

Cain performed a full sweep on his surrounding, causing numerous heads to fly. He gazed at the Municipal Hall with a distressed look.

Even though he strictly works for Marcus because of the benefits, he also knew of some insider information that helps the town stay safe.

A Lord can prevent enemies from spawning inside the town.

He doesn't understand what it means since the town still hasn't been fully cleared. Nor does he want to know.

But now, the Lord died, and a lot of things would change.

—

On the town cemetery, the barrier at the entrance that prevented carriers from going out vanished.

The barriers that also stopped them from wandering out of their zones disappeared.

The carriers felt the restrictions on their body disappear. They felt their energy limits increase, and they received access to some basic instincts.

To kill and evolve.

The first thing the carriers did after the restrictions disappeared was to conserve energy while absorbing the moonlight.

In a mountain, the barrier on the entrance of a cave dimmed before vanishing. The cave is near one of the famous landmarks of the town, the Angono Petroglyphs.

The Angono Petroglyphs are petroglyphs carved into a rock wall, located in a shallow rock shelter. It measures 63 meters wide, 8 meters deep, and a maximum height of 5 meters. Numerous human and animal figures were engraved in the wall.

—

In the Municipal Street, the last rotter got killed, and before the survivors could celebrate, Cain noticed that the red vortex at the center of the plaza glimmered.