133 Reasons to Live (1/2)

Jun typed on the hologram and sent a reply to Evo.

[Jun: Why? What is it? I'm doing something.]

[Evo: Do you remember that the police force managed to find an old CV Radio a few days ago?]

[Jun: Yeah, what of it?]

[Evo: They found someone! I mean, they were able to talk to someone. There's another group out there, and they're asking for help!]

[Jun: Uh-huh. So, why call me? Can't they do it?]

[Evo: This group couldn't go out and scavenged since a horde was idling around their base. And the Lieutenat guy was asking for what to do since you're the MAYOR in town.]

Oh right... I'm the mayor.

[Jun: There's really no reason for us to help, right?]

[Evo: Have you forgotten why you founded our group?]

[Jun: No... get all the information about them, and send it to me later...]

Jun closed the holograms and looked around. In the distance, a convenience store appeared pleasing to his eyes, including the numerous carriers around it.

\”Listen everyone. That's our last stop for today. After we clear that, we're porting back.\”

\”Yes.\”

***

The surrounding of the statue brightened up and numerous bright lights simultaneously spat out bodies.

At the same time that Jun's vision cleared up, he noticed the crowd of people in front of the municipal building.

The flowery guy, Henry, was assuring everyone about something. Several seconds later, the crowd dispersed unwillingly. Henry noticed Jun's group passing by and initiated a conversation.

\”Hello there. I know that you probably don't remember me, or you probably would after I did something foolish like the last time we met, but let me apologize for my manner back then. You know, I got so used to acting like that to everyone, even to my parents and my friends. So, I hope that you don't take it to heart.\”

\”I don't really care.\” said Jun, not interested for a chat.

He continued walking and heard Henry say, \”Do you know who killed my father? I think I can trust you're words much more than some rumors, since you knew the mayor died before everyone else did.\”

Jun turned back and stared at him.

\”Well, you know, it's my dead father we're talking about. So, I atleast wanted to know.\”

\”How would I know.\”

Jun left without looking back.

A hint of disappointment glinted on Henry's gaze as he watched Jun's back. He murmurred, \”Okay, so that's how you want to do it.\”

He then went back inside the building, escorted by his bodyguards.

***

The group hunt was called off and Jun advised everyone to be around the area after an hour.

Jun entered the compound and greeted everyone he passed by. He went straight to Old John's smithing room and found him grinding some bones manually, using pestle and mortar.

\”You're still alive old man.\” Jun greeted as he casually piled up several steel beams on the floor.

\”More work for me I guess?\” said Old John before even turning around. He shook his head after seeing the pile of steel beams on the floor, then focused on Jun.

\”What is this?\” said Old John.

\”Metal.\” replied Jun.

Old John angrily stared at Jun, then spitefully said, \”I'm fully aware of that. Haaa... just tell me what you want.\”

\”Can you make shields with these? I don't know if they're good enough to be smelted but these are the ones that I could find. Once we get more people, I'm planning on checking out the old district mines for iron and other stuff. What do you think of these?\”

\”What? Did the one I gave you already got destroyed?!\”

\”Oh right.\” Jun brought the alloy shield from his dimensional storage out, and placed it on top of the pile. \”This one needs repairs too. There's a lot of scratch marks and I'm afraid of it getting split into two, so I barely used it. And the shields are for the people, just make them durable enough, so that they won't break while fighting.\”

\”What are you implying?\” said Old John while glaring at Jun. \”I won't make a subpar product! That would be a disgrace to my family!\”

\”Okay, calm down calm down. Please take this and take care of your health. If you're reading at Evo's database, you should know that energy can be used for almost everything. Eat this, okay?\”

On the table was a green fruit that could only be harvested from the legendary tree of life, an energy fruit.

Jun didn't explain further and left. He next went to spend some time with Marianne, praising her cooking skills, chatting with her, making her feel good, then finally went to Evo's office and sat on the side.

\”What do you got?\” said Jun.

Evo took a piece of folded paper and read it to Jun.

\”There's twelve survivors and they're hiding in a camp site. Do you know the marble mine? On the mountains? No? That's okay. There's a mine up north and it was closed due to government policies and some nature thingy rules. You know what I mean, the path going down was blocked by standed carriers and they couldn't go down to scavenge for food. According to them, their stocks could still last a day or two, but they're not sure if nothing bad would happen, that's why they're asking for immediate help.\”

Jun stared at the ceiling as he thought things up.

The world changed and now he would go save people in dire need of rescue. But why? Because he got so bored of his life that he created a gang to help people in need.