Chapter 273: We Got An Annotated Map

We cleared out the interior of the hideout and I decided to take a look around, figuring that we would probably need some proof to show that we were here or the people at the other hideout wouldn’t believe us.

Jhou’tiv and Otis had already left after I told them we could handle things from here so we didn’t need to worry about them, they didn’t even seem particularly worried that we were seemingly stuck in the bottom of a hole with no way to climb back up. They didn’t even bother offering to throw down a rope for us.

I guess Jhou’tiv finally accepted the fact that we were beyond their understanding of how capable we actually were.

We looked around the place, ignoring the remains of the Anomalies we just killed that we had dumped in the corner of the room. I managed to also ignore the fact that these Anomalies were most likely the mutated forms of the survivors we were sent here to find to begin with.

I quickly found something that looked like a radio of sorts, seeing that it also had something resembling a microphone and a headphone attached to it.

It was still intact which was surprising considering the fact that the rest of the room was in a mess, no doubt from the survivors trying to fight off the Anomaly that no doubt smashed its way into their hideout but failed to defeat it.

The rest of the room was a mess with broken furniture and blood splatters all around the place, which I suppose was expected from having to fight an Anomaly in such an enclosed space.

"Guess they’re all dead, huh?" Dan commented, looking at the blood on the walls.

Olivia nodded, "The Anomalies we’ve just dealt with are most likely the former survivors."

Maylene took a look at the pile of corpses, the bunny girl’s eyes widening when she realised that fact.

She’s clearly not used to the idea that the anomalies were former people that have mutated because of the miasma.

It seems like she’s the only one since Liliac also did not look surprised.

I guess during her time in her world. Maylene did not really witness her people mutating into Anomalies but only saw them after they had already mutated.

I patted her on the head, "It’s best not to dwell on it... Just see it as putting them to rest."

She looked up at me and nodded slowly in understanding.

It’s a sad fact but it’s something that you would have to get used to in this line of work.

I mean... Just the other day when we were dealing with those terrorists in Australia, we literally had to watch a bunch of them transform into Anomalies right in front of our eyes. It wasn’t even the first time I saw something like that happen either.

"Let’s just search the area, look for anything that might be useful or can be used to identify the people here to bring back to those people."

Dan turned to raise an eyebrow at me, "Why we even need to go so far for them?"

I shrugged, "If we can gain their trust and get them to vouch for us in future, it should be easier for us to deal with the other survivors in this world."

"I doubt it bro. I think the survivors also hate each other."

"Better than nothing. Especially once they find out we’re so-called ’mutants’ and that we are also from another world. I’d think they would trust us even less once they figure that out."

"I mean... At that point... Should we even try saving them?"

"We should at least try..."

"Man... If they were pretty girls or something I can still understand why leh. At least try hard for cat girls or something."

"Dan, shut up."

He raised his hands in mock surrender, seeing that he knew I caught him trying to rile up the other girls that were with us.

We went through the room to search around for anything useful, but most of the place had been ruined though we did find another of those laser guns lying around.

"My Lord?" Olivia called out from the side. "You might want to see this."

I turned to her, finding her lifting up a board that had been knocked off the wall.

Going over to her, I realised that there was a map stuck to the board that showed the region around this area, roughly similar to the map we found.

The only difference was that this map had hand drawn annotations scribbled on it which was undoubtedly notes that the former survivors here had left.

There was a house symbol drawn over the town that we were currently in, which was obviously their way of showing that this place was their home base.

At the location of the Gorald Estate, there was a triangle symbol which I suspect was their way of noting there was a hideout there, especially since they also drew another triangle above the town which must point towards the survivor group in the mall.

Why these two groups decided to separate themselves instead of combining together was a mystery to me.

And looking at the rest of the map... There were several more triangle marks scattered all over the place, which must be marking the locations of even more hideouts.

A quick count revealed that there were at least twenty such hideouts spread out throughout the area nearby, making me wonder if there were even more of such hideouts in the rest of this world.

Incidentally, there were a number of those triangle icons that were marked with a cross on top of them.

I’m not sure if this meant that those hideouts had been destroyed or it was because they simply lost contact with them.

There were also a couple of other shapes and symbols drawn on the map but without a reference, we won’t be able to know what those symbols actually meant.

Some of the places were marked with circles, a few with crosses and others with squares.

While these shapes might be familiar to us... Their meanings might be completely different from ours.

For all we know... The crosses might mean that its safe or something while the circles were marking out danger zones.

Especially given the fact that someone from our own world could also be marking a map with crosses to show the places they’ve cleared and marked as ’safe’ instead of showing that place was a ’no go’ zone.

"Don’t suppose we can find some kind of note that they might have kept around to show what each of these symbols meant?"

Maylene raised her hand slightly, "Umm... Qing?"

I turned to her to see that she was holding some kind of notebook in her hand. The only problem was that it had been shredded to pieces and there were blood splatters soaking the page.

At the top of the page which was the only untouched part was the drawing of the house symbol with the words ’safe house’ marked beside it while the rest of the symbols were completely ineligible.

I guess we would have to visit those marked locations to figure out what each of those symbols meant if we want to decode this map.

Olivia turned to me, "My Lord. If you would accept my suggestion... Perhaps it might be a good idea to get the other two Mortal Gods involved in this?"

I understood she was referring to Siti and Diana.

I raised an eyebrow, "You sure? Because that would mean choosing to hand over this rift to the two countries as well."

She nodded, "It seems like there’s more to this world than we thought, my Lord. It might not be feasible for us to handle it all on our own. We might not be able to account for all the survivors we find here."

I read between the lines and understood what she meant by that.

Basically, she’s expecting some of the survivors to be uncooperative or even just outright hostile to us, so she wants to pass off some of the responsibility to the others instead.

She’s really quite the devious one. That’s why I have her as my right hand woman.

I couldn’t help but feel a smirk crawl up my face, though it was hidden behind my mask, "I suppose I would have to give those two a call later before we decide."

"Of course, my Lord. We should secure this place first and I will make a copy of this map. Should we return to the first group of survivors to report back to them?"

I nodded, "We should. Who knows, they might even know what the symbols on the map mean."

"Of course, my Lord. We shall follow your lead."

She then started taking photos of the map to make digital copies of it while Maylene pulled out her own papers to start drawing a physical copy of it, her hands flying across the paper faster than a machine printer.

I suppose we’re going to have to return with bad news for them.