mtl008 Chapter 4385 Project Farstar (3)
Chapter 4385 Project Farstar (3)
Chapter 4385 Project Far Star (Part 3)
Subsequently, Hal also attracted dozens of people. His side was clearly more persuasive, after all, his truck was full of supplies. If they really wanted to trick them, there was no need to spend the money. Therefore, apart from some elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people, some people in relatively good physical condition also came along.
Upon arrival, they discovered there were indeed supplies, and seeing that Rong En and the others seemed to be trying to install heaters, they all started chatting and giving them directions.
These people had been wandering for quite some time, and they knew exactly where the homeless were worst off, or which areas were easier to take in. Soon, they provided some more leads. Barry and Hal pulled some more people from several remote shelters.
This is when some unsettling scenes occurred, such as people grabbing food, taking more than they could eat. However, Diana and Ron were seasoned veterans. They understood why these homeless people did this; they felt that this distribution was a one-time event, and once it was over, it would be gone, so of course they wanted to take as much as possible.
The solution was simple: load supplies into trucks one by one, set aside a special area next door as a warehouse, and piled large quantities of food into it right in front of them. They could take as much as they wanted; after all, they couldn't leave, and the fast food wouldn't spoil, so they could just take it home and eat it slowly.
Victor's funding options are practically unlimited. To put it bluntly, how much does this kind of fast food cost? A few tens of thousands of dollars could buy several truckloads. They can't even keep up with Victor's spending speed; he has no need to worry about costs.
There are no single rooms available for now, so everyone is crammed together. But they've gotten used to it; each person has a sleeping bag, and they fall asleep as soon as their head hits the pillow at night, eat when they wake up, and then sleep again. Aside from two pregnant women who need special care, there's not much else to do.
“This job is much simpler than I imagined,” Diana said. “I thought it would be very difficult. I thought they would go crazy and steal things, or fight over where to stay, or criticize us for not doing a good enough job or something like that…”
“They don’t have the energy to do that,” Ron said. “They’re starving, and their genetic instincts will make them use all their energy to conserve it. At least the first few days won’t be that exciting.”
Just as Rong En said, none of the people who were brought here were going crazy. They didn't have the energy to go crazy either. They had finally found a wealthy family with an unlimited supply of calories, so why wouldn't they bury themselves in food? The most common scene in the relief center was people sitting on their sleeping bags, silently stuffing food into their mouths.
The subsequent recruitment plan went relatively smoothly, and all the homeless gathering places in the city were exploited. People waiting to die were brought here, and then they entered an endless cycle of "eat, sleep, eat."
In reality, there were only a few hundred people in the relief center at that time, and not many were teetering on the brink of life and death. Several times we arrived too late, and some tents were already empty except for corpses.
However, recruiting more people is quite difficult. Those whose situations aren't too bad are afraid to change, fearing they won't have anything to eat or will be scammed. And the majority left are drug addicts, whom we can't possibly recruit all of.
Barry and his team's actions over the past few days have sparked heated discussions within the homeless community. Since they haven't been secretive, most people know they are a group of people with superpowers, genuinely wanting to help people. Many also believe they are capable of saving lives and that those who go with them are lucky.
However, since they explicitly stated that the new relief center would not provide drugs, there were no drug dealers nearby, and the administrators were a group of superhumans with absolute power, they would never allow you to use drugs for reckless purposes. Therefore, drug addicts would absolutely not go there; not having drugs was worse than starving to death.
However, these people actually make up the majority, most of whom are victims of chemical drugs; those who use marijuana are considered relatively self-disciplined. The drug problem is gradually becoming apparent within the shelter.
At first, these people were quiet, not because they weren't addicted to drugs, but simply because they were starving. Their brains didn't even have the energy to supply the drug cravings, and they were only thinking about eating, so they seemed fine.
But after a few days of feasting in the shelter, once their energy levels returned, the signs of addiction resurfaced. Even Diana's Lasso of Truth, which was practically sparking, couldn't stop these people from going mad.
When people are experiencing drug withdrawal, they lose their rationality; they either roll on the ground or attack others. Those who can cower in a corner, trembling alone, are considered paragons of civility. With so many people around, Diana and Ron were finding it difficult to restrain her.
Even worse, after these people sobered up, they begged the two of them to take them back to their old neighborhood because they could get drugs there. Diana was initially firmly against sending them back, but she eventually couldn't take it anymore because these people were causing trouble 24/7. Left with no other option, she found a car and took them back.
By this time, the number of people in the shelter had dwindled to around two hundred. This didn't include those who didn't use drugs at all; some of them were only smoking marijuana, which was slightly better than those who used chemical drugs. When they had an attack, they would only hiss and cough a few times and weren't as aggressive.
Then they were shocked to discover that, by their standards, there was no one left in the entire metropolis to take in. The rest were either too strong to come or were addicted to drugs and would have to be sent back anyway. Of these tens of thousands of homeless people, only about two hundred were truly in this situation because they were weak, had nothing to eat, or were frozen.
They worked hard for half a day, and with things going relatively smoothly and no one interfering, they failed to save even a fraction of the homeless, let alone all of them.
So they started taking some somewhat forceful measures, namely bringing over those who refused to come, mainly relying on Barry and Hal's superpowers to bring people over. Most of these people were initially a little unhappy, but when they saw the mountains of supplies and heaters, they gave up.
Many of them, who had just become homeless, even started looking for work as soon as they saw they had a fixed place to live and free food, so they knew they wouldn't have to worry about survival for a while. Although they could only do odd jobs, their lives were actually slightly better than before they became homeless.
They never expected that the first to approach them would be the local gangs.
Barry peeked furtively from the street corner again. He had already spotted two targets. These two had only recently arrived, were not drug addicts, were in good physical condition, and seemed to be intellectuals—ideal candidates for the shelter.
He was about to rush forward when he heard a "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" sound behind him. Victor's voice came through the earpiece: "Watch out! Barry, someone's shooting at you!"
A flash of blue light, and Barry darted away. He reached the other end of the street before turning back to see several men in jackets crouching behind a car, shooting at him.
"What are you doing!" Barry shouted. He wasn't afraid of these men because he knew bullets couldn't outrun him, so instead of running away, he confronted them and questioned them.
The other person didn't hold back, pointing a gun at him and saying, "Kid, this is my territory. Get out!"
"Who are you? What do you mean this is your territory?"
"It means I'm the boss here, and everyone here is under my protection." The other person spoke with a strong street accent, leaving Barry completely confused. Luckily, Victor knew a bit more, and he explained to Barry through the earpiece, "These are probably the street people from this area, the gangsters."
Barry suddenly realized. But then he asked, somewhat puzzled, "Why are they looking for me? I haven't been fighting any gangs."
“Listen, kid. I don’t care what kind of superpowers you have, you’d better not interfere in our business. Those guys are here because they deserve to be here, understand?”
“I don’t understand at all,” Barry replied truthfully.
The gang member seemed to have never seen anything like this before, and could only say helplessly, "You've kidnapped them, who are we going to sell our drugs to? Let me tell you, it's not as simple as you think. If the harvest isn't good, it won't be us coming after you."
Barry still didn't quite understand, but he at least grasped that these gang members had approached him because these healthy homeless people were potential customers for drug dealers. By taking them to the shelter, they were essentially stealing customers, which was why the gang was unhappy.
It's important to understand that these street gangs' biggest source of income is drugs, and their primary customers are people in low-income communities and the homeless. While the homeless don't buy a large quantity, their purchases are relatively stable, especially those in better health who can use even chemical drugs for several years before dying, making the profits substantial. The Justice League taking these people away is equivalent to their money disappearing, so naturally they're unhappy.
But Barry didn't care at all. These guys were only armed with a few cheap pistols; even a regular army couldn't stop him. He completely ignored them, dashed over, and took away the two targets he had his eye on.
After he left, the gang members looked grim. The leader spat and said, "Just wait, someone will make them pay."
This operation lasted for about three or four days, and the number of people in the entire shelter finally exceeded one thousand. Since it was an abandoned factory area, there was no shortage of places to stay.
The factory area is now basically divided into two groups: the elderly, the infirm, and the disabled who are still able to work, and the younger generation who are still able to find jobs. Many of the younger generation have skills, and Victor helps them forge addresses so they can return to their original industries and earn much higher wages than temporary workers. If all goes well, they can receive their first paycheck within a week, enough to get by, and then they can leave this place.
Those who do odd jobs can usually save up enough for rent after a few months, and leaving this place is just around the corner.
There's nothing that can be done about those who are retired, since they're too old to do physical labor; those with some technical skills have been out of the industry for too long and find it hard to find work, so they can only stay here indefinitely.
Throughout the process, although some people caused trouble and some arguments broke out, they were quickly resolved without any major disruptions. On the contrary, many people did what they could to help, such as cleaning, tidying up, or assisting the pregnant woman.
Some people introduce jobs to each other, whether it's illegal work or odd jobs. Sometimes when a restaurant opens, one person goes to work there and can bring in several others to fill all the vacancies in the kitchen. Others learn skills; if they can't learn anything too advanced, learning car repair or furniture repair is still an option.
Later, without Diana or Ron's organization, they would spontaneously organize a group of people to patrol the area, working in shifts around the clock. Eventually, the patrol area was even expanded to cover the entire factory area.
As it turned out, the wisdom of the masses should not be underestimated. That very evening, as Diana was distributing food as usual, a young Black man suddenly climbed in through a window, ran to Diana's side, and whispered, "Madam, Witt and I saw someone acting suspiciously near those two big chimneys on the east side..."
"Hmm?" Diana turned to look at him and said, "Not one of us?"
"No, they don't look like homeless people. Witt said they look a bit like police officers. We didn't dare go closer. Do you want to go take a look?"
"Alright. Tell your men to come back quickly and stay here. Rong En and I will go check it out."