hunting light

However, not long after Leon and the others left, God suddenly turned his face and set off a blizzard.

When Ian came back from the bathroom, there was already a strong wind outside the window, and heavy snow fell.

His heart sank.

For the people of Uptown, the snowstorm is just a hindrance to going out.For the poor with poor housing in the lower urban area, it is an unbearable disaster.

And things really went in the worst direction.

In the early morning, when Yi An was sleeping soundly, he was awakened suddenly by a knock on the door.

It was pitch black outside the window, it was five in the morning, and Advi was fully dressed.He didn't wear a robe and cloak, but a pair of neat trousers, a down jacket, and a woolen hat.

"Sorry for interrupting your sweet dreams." Father Adway went straight into the house, opened Ian's closet, and rummaged through it, "A fire broke out in the West District an hour ago, and the fire is getting bigger and bigger. Half a block away. The first victims will arrive at the church soon. I need to go to the fire and you will resettle the refugees for me."

Adwei threw the sweater and down jacket into Ian's arms: "When working, it's better to wear it more conveniently. Can I trust you to guard the rear?"

"Of course!" Ian has started to put on.

Adevi nodded, and led a group of young and strong monks, braved the wind and snow and left.

Ian quickly rushed into the administrative building, rang the bell, and woke up all the monks from their dreams. They assembled and gave orders in an orderly manner.

"Take out all the ingredients. We may receive a large number of victims today, and the number cannot be estimated yet."

"Contact city hall, the police, tell them we're taking victims."

"Please call the Holy See's disaster relief line for me. We need them to dispatch a batch of disaster relief supplies urgently."

Although the young priest has only been in the monastery for a few days, most people are not familiar with him.But looking at his calm and steady face, listening to his firm and peaceful voice, the restless monks all calmed down.

"In the next few days, I need to work hard, brothers." Ian looked around the crowd, "The Holy Lord has entrusted us with the responsibility of helping the suffering of the common people, and now it is time for us to fulfill this obligation. Before that, I still need your cooperation. do one thing—"

The priest's handsome face suddenly turned cold, emitting a palpitating chill.

"I know that you have more or less points bought from outside, waiting to be sold tomorrow night. Now, I hope you will hand them all over!"

Ian suddenly smiled kindly again: "Holy Lord will forgive you for your past greed, but there is no guarantee that you will be given another chance to repent. Please consider carefully."

The monks all froze.

***

During the snowstorm, the first group of victims arrived at the Abbey of San Milo with their families.

The door of the church opened slowly.Ian personally stood at the door to greet him.

"God bless you, Father." The disaster victims printed their cold purple lips on the priest's ring.

The fire in District 96 was caused by a blizzard that cut off household energy supplies, forcing shanty towns to burn fires to keep warm.In the middle of the night, the unattended fire ignited the curtains, and then got out of control and spread in this extremely densely populated area.

The roads were congested, the firefighting facilities were aging, and the blizzard hindered the fire. The fire spread for a full four blocks and burned until noon before it was brought under control.

Nearly 2000 people were homeless, and all flocked to the monastery, needing shelter.

In the afternoon, the strong wind finally stopped, and the heavy snow remained.Advi returned to the monastery in disgrace, stuffed a sandwich and a large bowl of hot soup into his mouth, his handsome face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

"How is it?" He and Ian asked each other in unison.

Ian smiled wryly, and said: "The monastery is overcrowded, the clothes are running out, and the food is almost exhausted. However, the church's first batch of relief supplies has been used up, and the second batch has not yet been seen. Where are you?"

"The shantytowns involved in the accident were all seriously illegal buildings." Adway said gloomyly, "I have reported it to the city hall many times and asked them to deal with it. But after several years, everything remained the same until last night."

"It's really not all our fault." A small employee of the city hall who came to help complained, "We don't have any prestige in District 96. You know that, Father. People don't listen to our advice at all. Take it apart, and they'll put it back on when they turn around."

"That's because we need a place to stay and sleep, my lord," cried the victim.

"But your house is not safe. We are also for your own good."

"But you must give us a place to live. Do you want us to sleep on the street and be frozen to death by the snow?"

"The entire community needs to be re-planned and reorganized." A monk lamented.

"Who will take care of this matter, who will pay for it? The emperor doesn't care about us. But for the Holy Lord, we grasshoppers only need to live. Living is the grace he gave us."

"Hush—this is a church!"

Amidst the humming of the refugees, Advi poured sweet coffee down his throat and let out a long breath.

"Pray hard, Father Mitchell." He glanced at Ian, "Now is the time for you to summon the Holy Light."

Ian bowed his head and passed something to Advi with his bracelet.

"It's not as good as Holy Light, but it can be of some use."

Advi's expression changed suddenly.

"How did you get so many points?"

"Don't get me wrong, this is not my private collection." Ian suddenly raised his voice, and said loudly in front of everyone, "These are the points actively donated by the monks in the monastery, Father. The conditions of the community hospital are too simple. Seriously injured people with these points can go to the general hospital and enter the treatment cabin. The Holy Lord told us to care for the world, and we will do our best to care for our people!"

There was a sigh of gratitude from the crowd.

"Thank you, Holy Lord!"

"May God bless you, good priest."

Advi took a deep breath and nodded to Ian.He poured the sweet coffee down his throat, flicked his cloak, and like an eagle, flew back into the wind and snow outside the door.

That night, Ian only took a nap in the dormitory with his clothes on for less than four hours before being woken up again.

A large number of disaster victims who had originally defected to the city hall turned to the monastery because they could not get clothes and food.There are many wounded among them.Ian only had time to quickly drink a cup of hot tea and devote himself to work.

As people in the Upper Town prepare to celebrate the new year, the auditorium of the San Milo Abbey is packed with victims.The air was filled with the unpleasant smell of sweat.The wounded were lying on the ground moaning, and the children were wailing.

Ian walked among the crowd, his eyes swept across the sad and tired faces.

"Father." Someone called him.

"Maureen?" Ian recognized the boy who had sold him points.He was in a mess, hugging a little boy who looked exactly like him, and the two brothers were wrapped in a thin blanket.

"Thank you, Father." Maureen's eyes were red. "Everyone didn't expect you to do this. You are so grateful. They told me just now that my mother's injuries are all right. Father Adway sent her to the hospital. In the general hospital."

"This is what it should be, kid." Ian sat beside him, and was surprised to find that what the little boy was holding was not a toy, but the palm of a mechanical waiter.

Probably a scrapped mechanical servant was disassembled and recycled. Mo Lin picked up a part and returned it to make a toy for his brother.

Ian turned his attention back to Mo Lin, and persuaded him: "It's better not to sell points in the future. You can't tell when you will need it."

"But we need money to eat." Maureen said, "The money we work for is too little."

Ian also knows that this vicious circle cannot be ended with a few words of persuasion.

The little boy looked at the mechanical palm over and over for a while, with a serious face, and suddenly took out a multi-tool knife from his sweater pocket, and began to tinker with the mechanical palm.

He looked only seven or eight years old, and his hands were immature, but he was very proficient in operating a multi-tool knife.In a blink of an eye, he deftly removed the shell and twisted around the intricate interior.

"Kathy was born unable to speak." Maureen stroked his brother's hair affectionately, "but he is very smart. After I taught him to read, he has been teaching himself at home. Now there is no household appliance that he can't fix gone."

While speaking, the energy circuit of the robotic palm lit up little by little.It has its own regional backup energy, and it can still move!

With a click, the mechanical hand grasped into a fist, and then slowly released it.

Casey's face lightened up.He connected the mechanical nerve belt of the mechanical arm to one of his old wristbands, and when he moved his fingers, the mechanical palm also moved.

Ian was amazed: "Your brother is a genius, Maureen."

"Everyone says so." Mo Lin said proudly.

Casey moved his hand, and the mechanical palm stretched out towards Ian.Ian understood and grasped a hand with the mechanical hand.

"Cathy likes you very much." Maureen said, "He rarely communicates with outsiders."

Ian smiled gently at the little boy who had regained his serious face.

"Father, you look bad too." Mo Lin said with concern.

In fact, Ian was exhausted at this moment, since he woke up till now, he only drank a cup of hot tea with milk.But exhaustion has made him lose his sense of hunger.With so many victims suffering from hunger and cold, he couldn't even eat.

This is also the first time Ian has faced the most real suffering in the world since he was sworn in.

But just when Ian thought that the most serious situation was the scene in front of him, the situation suddenly took a turn for the worse.

The reason was that several officials from the District City Hall who came to inspect the area not only had an arrogant attitude, but also spoke indiscriminately, which completely angered the victims who were already full of anger.

Ian was in the kitchen at the time, ordering the cook to make an extra portion of broth for the pregnant women and children among the victims.There was a sudden commotion outside, and the angry growls of men penetrated the kitchen door.

Ian hurried out of the auditorium.In the atrium of the monastery, the snow had been trampled into mud, and the victims were surrounding several people, cursing.

"Damn, are you blaming us for being coquettish? In the eyes of your officials, is it natural for us poor people to be hungry?"

"What do you mean we built the house and lit the fire ourselves? Are you trying to say that we asked for all of this?"

"Why do we all work and pay taxes the same, and the lives of our poor people don't count as human lives?"

"If it was the gentlemen in the upper city who were affected by the disaster, would you still neglect them like this?"

"Calm down!" Ian squeezed out of the crowd and stood between the officials and the victims, "For the sake of the Lord, please don't argue here."

"Father, come and listen to what nonsense they are talking about!" The leading victim man was furious, "This son of a bitch, while counting the number of dead, complained that we are causing them trouble!"

"I'm just saying that all of this was caused by illegal construction. It's because you didn't listen to the government's advice," the official said.

"Please don't speak anymore!" Ian tried his best not to say "shut up" to the official.

"Don't move!" A policeman rushed over and put his hand on his gun. "Stay back! Don't harass government officials and priests."

The victims were furious and cursed one after another, forcing the officials to the corner of the corridor step by step.

"Please calm down!" Ian dragged the official back again and again, shouting hoarsely, "This gentleman apologizes to everyone for his inappropriate remarks. Please sit back first..."

The victims yelled and cursed loudly and approached step by step, their hostility was like a huge wave that overwhelmed the mountains and seas.

"What are you still doing?" the official screamed at the police, his face pale with fright.

"Don't be impulsive!" Ian yelled at the policeman, "Don't shoot, you will make the situation worse!"

But the police had already pulled out their guns in horror.

This move of his completely angered a group of men rushing forward.

"Do you dare to shoot? You government lackey!"

"Don't shoot!" Ian yelled, pushed the officer towards the gate with his backhand, turned around and rushed towards the police.

"Shoot!" the brawny man growled, "If you have the guts to—"

The policeman was terrified, and the hand holding the gun trembled violently.

At the very moment, Ian rushed over, grabbed his arm and lifted it upwards.

A beam of blue light bullets flew out, flew straight into the night sky, and hit a black shadow above the head with a slap, splashing a cluster of sparks.

In the next second, a bright bright light shone from the belly of the shadow, it was extremely dazzling, and everyone couldn't open their eyes.

Two beeps of the horn came from above, and a careless voice said, "Excuse me, gentlemen. You can beat that kid later, but please let us unload the relief supplies first."

Relief supplies?

The victims also didn't care about beating people, and immediately retreated.

"Put the gun away!" Ian yelled at the policeman, "This is a monastery, a place to serve the Holy Lord, no one is allowed to use weapons here!"

A huge transportation shuttle landed in the atrium, the rear hatch opened, and a strange young man stood there.The victims cheered and flocked to carry supplies.

The body of this shuttle is spray-painted with colorful text and comic patterns, and it also has a fluorescent effect, just like a tropical lionfish, obviously not from the Holy See.

"Hey, Father Mitchell." The young man actually knew Ian and greeted him with a smile, "Nice to see you again."

Again?

"Father Mitchell!" The monk rushed over with ecstasy on his face, "There are a lot of transport planes coming outside, bringing relief supplies! My God! Thank you Lord!"

He pulled Ian and ran towards the outside of the monastery.

The young man yelled behind them, "The Lord didn't send you, we..."

The victims outside the monastery were also crowded with nowhere to go, so they huddled up on the side of the street to warm themselves by the fire.At this moment, several flying shuttles of different sizes were slowly descending from the sky, hovering over the small square.

The cabin door opened, and the large and small bags of items fell, among the eagerly awaited crowd.The disaster victims crowded below, cheering bursts of cheers.

Winter night fell early.The neon lights of the whole city are scrambling to bloom, decorating the night, and spending the last few hours of the old year with the most magnificent and gorgeous makeup.

Under this gorgeous curtain, in the gray and cold neighborhood, the fire and the light from the shuttle illuminate the land and the eyes of the suffering people.

Ian stared blankly at the scene in front of him, speechless.

A small black flying shuttle landed beside the fountain, a young man jumped off it, passed through the crowd, and walked towards Ian.

"Good evening, Father Mitchell! We heard that there are many poor people here in need of help, so we temporarily collected some supplies and sent them here, hoping to be useful."

The young man was in high spirits, his neat short blond hair fluttering in the wind, and he was dressed in black clothes, but his whole body was emitting light.

"May the Lord bless these victims, as well as you."

At this moment, the bridge of Ian's nose suddenly became sour, and a tear that he hadn't felt for many years came out.

Many years later, Ian also mentioned this story to Leon, and he was deeply moved.

"Before that, I had always regarded myself as your predecessor and protector. At that moment, I suddenly discovered that my Leon had grown up and was able to protect and take care of others. For the first time, I discovered that I I can rely on you. I will even look up to you. The angry words you said back then may be coming true step by step."

***

An hour later, after having a simple dinner in the cafeteria, Leon stepped into Ian's dormitory as he wished.

"It's really small." Leon sat on the bed, with his feet straight, he could step on the opposite wall.

Ian sat in front of the desk, propped his cheeks, looked tired, but looked at Leon with joyful and gentle eyes.

"Those are your friends?"

"A guerrilla." Leon said, "I saw the news yesterday, so I knew the situation here must be bad. But I followed my father into the palace yesterday, and I just came back today. I heard that there was almost a riot in there just now? Are you okay?" ?”

"It's just a few people who are arguing." Ian said lightly, "I'm sorry, because of my relationship, the high-end restaurant you reserved will be wasted. Actually, you should go to the White Tower with your friends. I still have There is a lot of aftermath work, and I am afraid that I will be busy until late at night."

Father Adevi has returned and brought good news: the district government has given up an idle office building for temporary residence of the disaster victims to help them survive this cold winter.

The disaster victims in the monastery left one after another and went to the next resettlement site.After they left, Ian still had a lot of paperwork to do in order to deal with inquiries from his superiors after the year.

"Do you think I can leave you in such a situation and run into the city to have fun?" Leon couldn't help but laugh, "I'm such a heartless person?"

"But……"

Leon leaned over to Ian and grabbed his hanging hand.

"I just want to spend New Year's Eve with you, Ian. It doesn't matter where or how. What matters is that when the bell rings, we are by each other's side and are the first to bless each other people. Like when we were at Flair."

Ian looked down at the tightly clenched hands and remained silent for a while.

Ian took the documents back to the dormitory for processing.Leon insisted on ghostwriting, and let Ian lie on the bed to rest, and just dictate.

Ian was so tired that he could barely open his eyes, and he didn't even have the strength to resist, so Leon pushed him down on the bed.

"...With the active cooperation of the district police officers, good law and order has been maintained..." Ian's voice faded.

Leon turned his head and was not surprised to see that Ian had closed his eyes, his breathing became long, and he fell into a deep sleep.

Leon gently pulled up the quilt, covered Ian, and then stood by his side, staring at him quietly and intently, and sat for a long time.

"If I kiss you now, you will be angry." Leon said in a very soft voice, "Maybe a kiss on the forehead is okay. But I don't care about it."

The young man smiled with affectionate eyes.

"What am I in a hurry for? I'm not yet 20, and you can't be taken away by someone else. I still have plenty of time."

He dimmed the lights and began writing Ian's report.