318 Investigation.
Shi Lang provided them with the details of the matter and also instructions about the things they needed to pay attention to and things they needed to avoid. Places such as isolated buildings and dark alleys were forbidden. They all were allowed to move at a specific distance with him as a center and he also passed on a batch of military-grade communication devices.
He said, “This thing I just passed you is called a mind comm, and they do not need you to speak out loud. You can communicate with me with your thoughts. Just set a code name and as long as you think of that code name, we will be connected. My code name is Ace, and I hope that you all just set your own names for this event. If you get confused during the process, it might lead to great danger.”
The class understood and they all replied with, “Sir, yes, sir.”
Martha was surprised to see this. She did not expect this batch of kids to be so vigorous. She cast a gaze at Shi Lang and sighed, ‘My stupid daughter.’
Shi Lang went on to speak, “There are sixty of you, if too many people entered the city together, it will make the natives suspicious and you might already know how easily things can get violent in this area. So, you will be all going to work in rotation. The latter batch will be made of the troublemakers. I want you all to observe your classmates with a good foundation and learn from their actions. Understood?”
The class nodded and the journey continued. They were excited to reach the first place, and Shi Lang wanted to pour some cold water on their spirits to keep them grounded and not act like a hero, but the timing needed to be right. After a few hours, the bus was parked outside the Jung-ta districts and the students were all raging to move out when Shi Lang stood up and was about to get off the bus.
The students of the first batch also stood up and were ready to go out when they heard an exclamation from Shi Lang, who turned around and said, “I almost forgot to mention a key detail. The people here are lawless, and they have firearms. If you are lucky and managed to keep a low profile, otherwise, by the time I reach your location, you might just be a naked cold corpse.”
The students all rubbed their throats when they heard this. Suddenly they all had an urge to drink water. Martha looked at them and felt sorry, after all, this teacher of theirs was a sadist bastard, she nodded secretly and thought, ‘Well Lucas is not that bad. Yes, as long as my baby is happy with him.’
Shi Lang would have coughed up blood if he was to hear such thoughts. After getting off the bus, the students were all personally inspected by Shi Lang if they have put on the mind comms. Just when they were all about to enter the city limits. Theseus noticed something and said, “Guys, the teacher has dirt on his clothes. We are going to follow his lead.”
Vanessa agreed and said, “You guys do not have to think so much. This way the disguise will be complete. The clothes we are wearing might seem like those of the renegades but we are too clean.”
The batch of thirty people formed ten teams with three people each, then became to put on the makeup. Shi Lang nodded secretly and said, “Good job noticing this point. Since the place is a mess, how could the people be clean and that too like us.”
The class nodded and they all moved away. Shi Lang moved straight to the medical center located in the city, this was the only medical center left in the city. Although the doctors have left, the automated operation room and A.I.-guided outpatient department were still working and if by mistake someone decided to come in, they receive a complete treatment.
The reason this center was still working was because of a gang leader who had appointed people to look after the place and keep it maintained. He just wanted to make sure that if there was a gang fight, then his people receive proper treatment.
This medical center happened to be located at the edge of the district. This region was twenty kilometers in diameter. The place was not too big if compared to modern cities, but it was still a place that was very hard to maintain order in. Shi Lang and Martha covered their faces with masks and began to move around.
Theseus led the group and his partner was Quo Lina, the best fighter in the class, to make sure that his weak body was not broken by some delinquent ladies. He said, “Everyone, we will move around like runaway couples and pretend to have come here after a cousin or a friend did the same. Now we are hoping to get in touch with that person we know since it was possible for the people to have changed their names and identities to cut off from the outer world easily, mention that the last time you were in touch with the people was when they were expecting a child a few years ago.”
This story did not have many loopholes and was suitable for a group of rebellious teenagers to know. ‘Everyone’ was a code set to communicate with the whole class. Shi Lang and Martha included.
…
Martha was walking beside Shi Lang when she heard this message and said, “This student of yours is cunning.”
Shi Lang shook his head and said, “He is smart, that is all. If he was cunning, he would not have been stuck in the problem class. He is here because this guy could not be the first in other genius classes and thus he gave up the big pond to be a small fish and came to a small pond to be the big fish. This shows his military administrator potential.”
Martha was surprised to hear such a high evaluation, Military Administrators were smart and very good at manipulating others to do their bidding. According to what Martha had witnessed till now, Theseus was indeed a good seed for this position.
The two people arrived at the medical center and found the building to be under strict security. Of course, the guards were all thugs of the gang leader in the area. They were vigilant and Shi Lang could even sense a faint killing intention from them. He walked closer and one of the guards asked, “What do you want here?”
Shi Lang sighed and said, “Brother, we are both from the parliament and are sent here to inspect the place, you know, it is not easy to come here. Not everyone is wise enough to know that if you are not troubled you will not make things difficult for us. Right?”
He deliberately pretended to be mellow and somewhat afraid of the man. The person in front of him was burly, tall, and bald. However, he was holding a phaser rifle in his hands, hearing what Shi Lang said, the man felt proud, not a lot of people from the outside came here, and even if they came, they would never compliment them and make them feel familiar.
The man smiled and nodded, then his gaze fell on Martha, who hurriedly hid behind Shi Lang, the bald man asked, “Who is this?”
Shi Lang smiled and said, “Big brother this is my younger sister. She came here with me to film a small documentary inside the medical center to tell the world that you all are not bad people. However, she is shy and very easily scared.”
The bald man asked, “Why is she scared?”
Shi Lang held Martha’s palm and gently patted it as he said, “Pity, she got a genetic trigger and by the time we discovered it, it was too late, the time for treatment has passed. She had almost had a heart attack, and since then I cannot bear to leave her alone. I only have her in this world.”
The bald man felt bad for the two people and said, “Sigh, fate is tricky. You want to go inside, right? Come, I will take you personally, but do not break anything.”
Shi Lang nodded and the two sneaked inside the hospital.
…
Theseus and Quo Lina had arrived in front of a hotel with a desolate front, they walked in holding hands. Behind the counter sat a fat lady with a bad face and scattered hair. She raised her eyebrow and asked, “What do you two want?”
Theseus was calm and said, “Big sister, can we have a room here?”
The lady was happy to hear the praise and nodded, as she said, “Ofcourse, you can have a room, twenty credits a day. We only have double rooms, are you okay with that?”
Theseus nodded and said, “Yes, thank you, big sister. But can you not scan our IDs?”
The lady frowned and looked at Theseus with squinted eyes, who said, “We are a run away couple.”