Chapter 131 - Danger In The Slump
Chapter 131 – Danger In The Slump
[Pirate Decoy Chapter. is Replaced]
The slump, or Sneggor Southern District, was rather a sad location to visit and see. Del was no longer in his school uniform. He was back in wearing his combat gear minus the helmet and the backpack. Other than that, he was pretty much in the same attire as when he was in the front line.
Maybe the other difference was the colour of the camouflage. He wore his cold-weather gear with snow camouflage and his half-face balaclava. It kept him warm as he ventured into the slump. The slump was rather untreated. The street was filled with holes, and those holes were filled with mud. The mud was cold but not frozen.
People were walking in that slump in tattered clothing, regardless of the weather. It looked like that the entire slump had a lack of connection with the rest of the city, which was quite, to be frankly, illogical. Ilbistirum Federation had a much better social program than Elbanian. Why would an extreme like that exist in the first place?
"You know, Mira, I feel like I'm out of place here," Del said.
While Del was wearing a pseudo-military uniform, the others were wearing the standard TMV uniform, similar to the standard MSVI uniform. It might not feel like it, but he did look like a special security detail for the TMV.
There were ten people dispatched to the slum. Three of them were from the 12th grade. Del was included alongside Mira and Daniel. The rest were either from the 10th grade or the 11th grade. All of them carried a rifle on their backs, and all carried medical supplies in their backpack.
"Out of place? Dude, you are a contractor, as far as I know, you're still wearing the contractor patch on your clothing." Mira put her finger at the patch on the left side of his shirt.
"True, but walking around with all of you, I'm feeling out of place here," Del said.
"I don't see any problem to be honest, Del. Still, your skill sets are versatile. You can participate in any combat operation or help people in the volunteering. You are both our bodyguards and medical volunteer," Daniel added.
"Bodyguards? How dangerous is the slump?"
"Let's just say, if not for the rifle on our backs, we are pretty much soft targets for the muggers. You also act as an intimidating purpose, Del Moore. So far, I see some suspicious people left and right, but it seems that you manage to scare them off."
"Really? I'm not even that intimidating."
"But you certainly look out of place," Daniel just smiled, proving Del's previous point. Del grumped in acceptance. Well, he admitted Del's previous point, which was good for him.
They continued walking until they arrived at the previously designated point. The point where they would be giving medical help was a tent located in the centre of the slump. The supervising doctor had been waiting for them. The doctor wasn't Cassandra, that was for sure. It was just another doctor whom he didn't know.
The students put their medical equipment on the provided tables. The students were not only bringing medical equipment but also cooking equipment, somehow. The idea was to entice the citizen to grab food. The medical volunteer would give them basic medical diagnoses first before letting the citizen grab the food.
Of course, that method was not really foolproof. The citizen wasn't always law-abiding. Oftentimes, they went straight for the food before getting the medical checkup. IF that was the case, Del would intervene since his job was to provide security. He would pull the person away from the line because the person didn't fulfil the criteria yet.
Of course, the security wouldn't be alone. Del had Mira accompanying him. Two people were better than one, after all. Their job was to keep order in the volunteering activity. If someone acted disorderly, Mira and Del would intervene.
It might not come as a surprise, but even something as noble as medical volunteering activity would get attacked by those who didn't want them to even exist in the first place. They would extort for drugs, food, or worse, person. It was one of the reasons why the volunteer was armed to the teeth.
Mira had explained that TMV had spent so much money to pay for the ransom in case someone got kidnapped before they were allowed to bring guns to the volunteering. If converted, they probably had spent more than ten Husnael plates for the last twenty years. It was dangerous. Some people had tried to stop their effort. Still, TMV had prioritized helping humanity first than their own safety, which was kinda insane considering their age. Eventually, the guns did help them in fighting the kidnapping efforts and other damages.
It didn't mean that the damage disappeared fully, though. Sometimes, bigger fish wanted to eat their parts too. The worst that happened to them was around two years ago when Mira and Daniel were still junior members of the TMV. Nobody died, but everyone got a bullet scar from that accident.
A group of criminal organizations attacked the medical volunteer group to steal the medicine that the volunteer was distributing, a shipment of painkillers that they brought that, if mixed with chemical substances, could produce a strong hallucinogen.
They came in hard, with their rifles and guns, shooting their way towards the medical shipment. The TMV fought fiercely, using every resource they had to protect the medical shipment from the criminals. One by one, everyone got shot and injured until the police force helped them.
The police force was not really that incompetent. It wasn't their fault. It was just the criminal attack was too sudden and too planned out. It was a possibility, but attacking teenagers distributing medicine for a noble cause was believed to be a bad omen for everyone.
However, grenades, rifles, and machine guns were used to attack those under-equipped teenagers. If not for the rapid response from both the police force and the military, all of them would be dead. Even with that rapid response, everyone got shot.
Mira got a bullet stuck five centimetres beside her heart. Yup, she was really close to being dead. After intensive surgery and therapies, she continued her activity as TMV. Still, she stuck to the security-intensive role rather than the medical role. She had medical experience, but she only participated in doing the medical check-up twice a week or less.
Instead, she was more intensive in greeting people, smiling at people, and intimidating people. Basically, she was more specialized in social engineering. She must look intimidating enough to push the criminal from doing any activity, and she must be friendly enough. Hence, people actually came to that place.
"Del, remember to smile, alright?" Mira was chambering bullets into her SMG. She checked the condition of her SMG and held it with her hands.
"Sure," Del nodded as he held his AK-74M in his hands.
The medical volunteer started their volunteer service. They started distributing food and medicines to those who were in need. Those diagnosed as sick were sent immediately to the supervising doctor to be given a more specific medicine.
The medical volunteer was giving vitamins and other boosters to prevent the slums from becoming a disease zone. The hard medicines were given by the supervising doctor since some of the substances could be easily abused by them if given without any supervision.
A boy was pulling on Del's shirt. "Sir, sir, do you see my mom?"
Del crouched on the ground to match the boy's height. "I don't think I have, but how may I help you? Maybe you can spot her from a higher position." Del offered his hand to carry the boy with his hands.
Del lifted up the boy, and he pointed her hand at one woman. Del walked to that one woman in particular and gave her child back. "Ma'am, I think your kid is missing."
"Oh, my, thank you so much, boy," his mother said.
Del returned to his post and continued watching the line. Damn, he would be lying if it weren't boring, but it was indeed a necessity. He watched the people left and right. There were no suspicious people in the vicinity. It was either that, or everyone looked suspicious in his standard that nobody stood out in particular.
"What was the comotion all about?" Mira asked.
"A mother lost her child, nothing too serious to be honest," Del said.
"Good work, you handle your first case of security anomaly rather wisely. Some people will blantantly refuse, or they would waste too much time in finding the mother. I'm quite impressed, Del," Mira said.
"Well, that's our duty, right? We must not disappoint them, after all. Anyway, we should be focused on our duty again. The supply will run out soon, right? It only has been two hours, or less, haha," Del said.
"Yeah, you have your point.." They continued their duty.