PFC Chapter 4384 Project Farstar (2)
Chapter 4384 Project Farstar (2)
Chapter 4384 Project Far Star (Part Two)
Barry ran through the streets of Metropolitan and discovered that there were far fewer homeless people on the streets compared to Los Angeles. This was because the city was cold and near the sea, with extremely cold winds blowing. The street layout wasn't designed for protection against the cold, resulting in many streets becoming wind tunnels. In the current temperature, being exposed to the biting wind for ten minutes or so would render rescue pointless.
You could find some in the sheltered alleyways. Most of them were wearing thick cotton-padded clothes and sleeping bags, sitting half-asleep in the corners. Not all of them were on drugs. Most were inactive simply because the food they found didn't provide enough calories to support any physical activity. Sitting there was a better way to conserve energy.
Most homeless people choose to live in groups. Some choose to stay on the streets near shelters, so that they can go in if someone comes out.
The remaining majority are all centered around the food distribution points. The largest number of homeless people gather within the radius of the three food distribution points. It doesn't take much precise calculation to find that if you want to provide two meals a day, the homeless people can completely waste their entire daytime just going to get food, queuing, receiving the food, returning, and then going to get the next meal.
Some might think it's unnecessary to eat two meals a day, since they're mostly staying put and one meal a day is enough. However, this isn't actually feasible, because the distributed food isn't as high in calories as you might imagine. Furthermore, going to get a meal requires expending energy; one meal a day isn't enough to meet the nutritional needs.
Many relief meals seem quite legitimate, with meat patties, bread, beans, and so on. But strangely, none of the high-calorie desserts featured in many bizarre videos, such as donuts covered in syrup, ice cream stacked half a meter high, or large tubs of sugar and oil mixtures, are found in relief meals.
The United States is a place where syrup is so cheap it's practically free. Walk into any fast food restaurant, and you'll find unlimited supplies of syrup-based drinks and food, which is why the obesity rate is so high.
However, the relief meals contained absolutely nothing like syrup. Even a spoonful of the cheapest corn syrup could provide them with enough energy to last for two more days, but there was nothing.
This is because the distributed meals are calorie-controlled. This is to ensure that the energy a homeless person receives is just above the energy they expend each day to collect meals. This way, they don't have time to do anything else; their days are just an endless cycle of queuing for meals, eating, and then going back for more meals.
Furthermore, homeless people eat two meals a day, but there are 3-4 hunting spots nearby because many of these spots are vacant from time to time, causing many people to make wasted trips. This allows them to burn off the excess calories they have accumulated, reducing all their stored fat to zero.
The purpose of this is to exhaust the homeless and keep them permanently confined to the area where relief meals are provided. This prevents them from appearing in other neighborhoods, serving as a method of managing urban security. The same principle applies to shelters; there's always a waiting list and a constant need to secure them, thus keeping people in place.
Victor retrieved a lot of surveillance footage, and Barry also went to the site to investigate. They have basically determined the area where the homeless gather in the metropolis, and the number of people has been counted.
The situation is very bad. Barry said as he walked, holding his phone, "Many of them are too thin; they've almost lost all their fat. They won't survive the winter."
“Prioritize relocating these people,” Diana said on the phone. “Don’t use force yet; try to reason with them if possible. Ron and I have found a good place; would you like to come and take a look?”
A few seconds later, Barry appeared where Diana was. It was an abandoned factory, where there were already some homeless people, but because the place was relatively remote, they were more like wilderness survivors than homeless. They were gathered in twos and threes around oil drums, warming themselves by the fire, and someone was even roasting a rabbit, which had obviously just been caught on the nearby mountain.
They were wary of these outsiders, but it was clear that Diana had already spoken with them. So, although they stood at a distance observing them, they made no aggressive moves.
“We can seal this side off,” Rong En said. “That way, the mountain winds won’t blow in. This side faces the sun, so if we break down this wall, the lighting will be much better. We’ll install heating equipment underground here, which can radiate almost the entire building.”
Barry nodded; he thought it was a good idea. Diana reiterated, "Whatever you do, don't kidnap them. It'll cause panic and that would be troublesome. Just talk to them nicely; someone will eventually agree. Once it reaches a certain scale, people will come willingly without us even having to look for them."
At this moment, Hal returned and said, "The procurement is basically settled, but the truck hasn't arrived yet."
"What's wrong?" the group asked with concern. "Has something gone wrong?"
“No,” Hal shook his head and said, “I was thinking, if we just go and tell them out of the blue, they won’t believe us. It would be better if I had the driver drive the truck with the relief sign on it around the city a few times, so they would know that a new relief point has opened. Maybe they would want to come over on their own, and then it wouldn’t be so difficult to transport them over.”
Everyone thought this method was excellent. So, Diana and Ron built the base, Hal went to work with the trucks, Barry handled the publicity, and Victor provided them with information and logistical support. They quickly achieved remarkable results.
Some people really can't survive. If you want to receive welfare, you have to get up early. More importantly, you have to walk fast to get ahead of others in line. If you arrive too late and there's no food left, your whole morning is wasted.
Because they were hungry, they couldn't outrun others in the afternoon relief race. This created a vicious cycle: the weaker the person, the less they could get anything, and then they became hungrier and weaker, with less calories and less resistance to the cold, eventually dying of cold and hunger.
Barry quickly found more than a dozen such people, most of them older. They were no longer able to go out to collect relief, so they huddled in their tents, waiting for kind-hearted homeless people to give them some handouts, or simply waiting to die.
When Barry mentioned a new relief point, they didn't care anyway. Even if they were tricked into going there for human experimentation, at least they would have a full meal. They readily agreed to go.
However, transporting these people won't be easy. Barry doesn't dare take them into the Speed Force; these old, weak, and disabled people can't withstand his handling of them. So, it's best to find a vehicle to take them there.
You definitely can't hire a legitimate freight company for this; they won't do it. You can only find truck drivers willing to take on private jobs. Barry drove around the city and found a truck driver's parking lot, but it didn't seem to be the right time for trucks to run; the parking lot was empty except for the trucks.
Fortunately, Victor quickly retrieved the driver's phone number based on the license plate number. Barry called them one by one, and to his surprise, after only five or six calls, one person actually agreed.
Barry waited for a while in the chilly parking lot. Soon after, a burly man emerged from the nearby store. He was covered in tattoos, even his bald head was covered in them, and he carried a bunch of chocolate bars in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. Barry felt a little intimidated as he approached.
He swallowed hard, shook hands with the burly man, and stammered, "Um...we've just opened a relief center in the suburbs, and we'd like to take some homeless people there..."
The burly man squinted, looked him up and down, and then said, "You don't look like someone from a medical institution."
“I’m not,” Barry quickly emphasized. “We’re not selling corpses, nor are we conducting live autopsies or drug trials. It’s a real relief center. If you don’t believe me, I can take you there.”
The burly man frowned, seemingly unwilling to waste his time. But Barry reached out and touched his arm, and the next second, he appeared in the abandoned factory.
He stared wide-eyed at Barry, who spread his hands and said, "We are superhumans. We did this because we felt our superpowers could help more people. Of course, we're not asking you to help for free; we'll pay you."
After taking the driver back, the truck driver hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, get in."
Barry got into the passenger seat of the truck and led him to the agreed-upon location to pick up the people. There were actually more than he had imagined, about twenty or so, mostly elderly people, three or four women, and a pregnant woman.
The journey was mostly silent; these people had clearly not interacted with others for a long time. Even upon arriving at their destination, they showed little reaction, appearing numb. Only after a fire was lit and they were given some food did someone finally ask, "Can we stay here?"
“Of course, but only in winter.” Ron thought for a moment, then said, “We can guarantee your safety through the winter. Perhaps when it gets warmer, you can try to find a job.”
Some of them nodded, while others silently stuffed food into their mouths. Barry whispered to Ron, "Will they be able to find work?"
“If you don’t take drugs, it’s actually possible,” Rong En said. “If you can’t find a legitimate job, you can do illegal work.”
Barry nodded. He'd seen some restaurant districts when he was wandering around the city earlier, and those areas were actually short of undocumented workers. The reason they couldn't use homeless people was because homeless people needed to focus most of their energy on finding food and maintaining their body temperature; they simply didn't have the extra energy to look for work. But if they could be supported for a winter, allowing their physical condition to improve, those who weren't using drugs could work illegally.
This kind of work doesn't require a fixed address, and it even includes meals and accommodation. Aside from the lower pay and the more strenuous work, it's still doable. While your physical condition might not be as good as those who do manual labor, as long as you ask for a low enough price, you're sure to find a boss.
The reason why ordinary homeless people can't do this is because when they first become homeless, they don't know how to do it, they can't find this kind of work, and they can't accept the change in circumstances. But by the time they adapt to the environment and find a way, their bodies are already worn out, and they can only fall into the same cycle of receiving welfare meals as others.
This made Barry realize that they didn't need much help. In fact, if they could eat their fill for a few days in a row, build up some fat, and gain some strength, they might be able to turn their lives around through sheer physical exertion. This smooth start gave everyone even more motivation.