Chapter 339
“This is for you,” Jake said as he retrieved the two power suits from his inventory. “Take them.”
“What are these?” Catalina asked, taking the leather suits from his hands.
“Some kind of power suits, each with its own set of unique abilities,” Jake explained. “Not sure how they work, but you’ll figure it out.”
“Thanks,” Catalina said. “Where did you get these?”
“Skullface sent a team of killers after me,” Jake replied. “Each wore a power suit. Skullface called that team his ‘scalpel’.”
A look of recognition crossed Catalina’s face.
“Do you know anything about it?” he asked.
“Actually, I do,” she replied hesitantly. “A few days ago, Skullface bragged about having developed a ‘scalpel,’ though I didn’t know exactly what it was at that time, as he didn’t share details.” She paused briefly before adding, “I wish I could’ve warned you about it.”
“That’s fine,” Jake said. “That team wasn’t nearly as powerful as Skullface believed.”
“I take it you killed them all?”
“Yeah, ” Jake grinned. At least, he attempted to grin, parting his jaws and revealing black, jagged teeth.
Catalina couldn’t help but wince at the sight. While he could now speak, he still obviously looked terrifying.
In his peripheral vision, he saw other occupants of the base gathering around, keeping their distance but remaining close enough to hear their conversation.
The survivors were obviously surprised that Jake could now talk. They had been used to him as a silent type, and now that he could speak, they were intrigued. They tried to eavesdrop on his conversation with Catalina, eager to learn what they were discussing.
Jake realized something else. Now that he was talking to Catalina, he felt more human than before. After evolving to Stage 3, he occasionally had intrusive thoughts about slaying regular survivors. He had once even experienced a vivid and realistic vision of attacking and killing a team he had come across.
He had been afraid he was succumbing more and more to his monstrous side, fearing he would eventually become a completely mindless beast. However, now that he could talk, he felt more human than ever as a mutant. Perhaps it would now be easier for him to resist his monstrous urges.
“There were five of them,” Jake added, realizing the silence had dragged on. “Each of them wore power suits.”
“And you killed every one of them?” Catalina asked, her expression unreadable.
“Yeah.” Jake chose not to mention what he did to the female operative he had captured alive. “The power suits of three of them were damaged beyond repair. As for the other two,” he nodded toward the ones in Catalina’s hands, “one is fully operational while the other has its helmet and visor wrecked. Perhaps you can fix it, though.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Catalina replied. “Thank you for this gift. I’ll be sure to put these to good use.”
Jake nodded. For a moment, he didn’t know what else to say. He knew he needed to leave, to keep evolving, developing his main lair, and looking for a suitable location for a new one. There was a lot to be done.
However, part of him wanted to stay and continue the conversation. It genuinely made him feel human again.
“I heard that Melissa’s people are attacking Los Demonios,” he mentioned.
“They are?” Catalina replied, appearing surprised but not too much. “When did you hear that?”
“On the way here, I stumbled across a team being attacked by Los Demonios
,” Jake explained. “They told me that after I helped them deal with the bastards.”Catalina shook her head in disapproval.
“I told her that we needed to wait. We needed to grow stronger, recruit more people, and craft good weapons. Only once we were prepared should we unite our forces and begin attacking Los Demonios’ other bases. Until we could launch a full-scale war against the gang, we should remain low-key and avoid drawing attention.
That’s what I told Melissa more than once. Reluctantly, she agreed with me. However, I always knew she would sooner or later go against my instructions. Patience has never been her strong suit. I don’t approve of her attacking wandering groups of Los Demonios, but I cannot control her actions. All I can do is hope that her people’s actions don’t alert Skullface to the fact that he’s lost control of one of his bases.”
Her expression darkened as she finished, “If that happens and Skullface attacks her base before we’re ready, we’ll be in serious trouble.”
Jake looked around the base. The turrets atop the guard towers had been upgraded since his last visit. There were also more machines and contraptions producing various weapons and ammunition. Additionally, there were more people than before.
The base had visibly developed since his last visit. But whether it could withstand a potential attack from Skullface was hard to determine. As for Melissa’s base, it was likely at a similar stage of development.
Jake extended his senses to assess the status of the wards he had set on the base days earlier. Whenever he passed Catalina or Melissa’s base, he routinely checked the wards and replenished them with mana from his own reserves to ensure they remained operational.
However, it had been a while since he last did that, and he now realized the wards on Catalina’s base were running low. With a thought, he replenished them with mana and made a mental note to visit Melissa’s base to do the same.
He then looked at Catalina again and said, “Don’t worry. If your base or Melissa’s is attacked, I’ll immediately come to your aid.”
“How will you know, though?” she asked, a puzzled expression on her face.
Jake decided not to delve into details. It had been nice talking to her, but he knew he had to go.
“I’ll just know,” he said without elaborating. “I gotta go now. See you later.”
He was about to put away the electrolarynx when Catalina asked, “Will you stop by again sometime?”
“Maybe,” Jake said, pulling the device away from his flesh and stashing it in his inventory.
“Thanks again for the power suits,” Melissa said. “I really appreciate it. They’ll be a huge help to us.”
Jake had already stored his device, so he simply nodded, then turned around and left the base.