Asher now stood at a place that was the base of those hooligans, there were several things for him to take from there. He need many things for himself as he was covered in burn wounds that hurt every time he moved and the cold winter became even more unbearable.
' They must have some money hidden in this place, would it be a sin to take the money like this?' Asher thought. Currently what he was doing was practically stealing money, even if he was stealing money that belonged to those good-for-nothing people.
' Whatever, I need it so I will take it.' Asher thought as he started to carefully search the place.
It was a hut-like structure in the deepest part of the slum area. Normal street dwellers were not even allowed to roam here freely. He opened the desks and even turned around the bedsheets. In the end, he was able to find some money but nothing other than that. He also found some bandages that he tried to wrap around himself but it turned into a complete failure.
He looked like a mummy and from the gaps in the bandages, the burnt skin was visible.
' I need to find some medicine, Mom also used to apply the medicine to my skin before bandaging over it.' He suddenly remembered the time when his mother was taking care of him, he quickly dismissed the thought from his mind. He was not a fan of the weird pain that he would feel whenever he remembered these things so he tried his best to not think too much about it.
Luckily he also found some food that made his mouth watery. There were different cups of instant noodles and even some fruits within a somewhat broken but still working refrigerator.
He didn't want to leave this place, there was also a bed here, and despite the smell of alcohol, it was still better than sleeping in the chilling cold.
Hesitantly, he left the place with all the money and food that he could find. He also stole some warm blankets for himself as well.
*****
" This place is filled with street dwellers, is the government doing nothing for them?" Mark spoke as he walked towards the place where the portal had opened for the first time.
" What do you mean doctor?" A Female officer spoke. She was tall, had a beautiful face, and on top of that an amazing figure as well. Her black hair was cut short, and she was wearing black goggles.
" I mean, I often hear the speeches that they give on television. Seeing this, everything feels like a lie." Mark replied.
" You can't always help everyone, our current leaders are great people who had fought on the frontlines to protect humans. They made many sacrifices over the last hundred years for humanity." Yelena said.
" Then, What about these people?" Mark asked again.
" These people have chosen for themselves or they have been abandoned by someone."
" Someone, you mean the leaders, right? That's what I am saying." Mark argued.
" Not our leaders, I meant that they are abandoned by thier friends, families, or the people they believed in," Yelena spoke, " Maybe they are also forsaken by the god. Apart from the government, every person has someone in their life who could help them in their dark times. Nobody helped them means only one thing, they were useless, and thus they are abandoned."
" You're weird."
In the end, Mark didn't argue or speak about this topic anymore. He took out a cube from his bag and pressed the button over it. Slowly it started to unfold and turned itself into a device that had a green screen with several lines drawn over it. Different kinds of readings could be seen over the device.
" Weird," Mark spoke.
" I take offense, doctor." Yelena spoke, " Why do you keep calling me weird?"
" Not you officer Yelena, I am talking about the energy signatures left behind by the portal here. With this device, I have found something that may be a bigger problem than what we thought."
" The portals opened in five different places," Yelena spoke.
" Yeah let's check them out as well."
*****
Mark had visited all five locations where the portal was found. After his assessment of the portal was complete, he requested an urgent meeting with higher officials to discuss some important matters.
" …So, there's a high possibility we are going to encounter something undesirable through these portals. We need to evacuate the citizen before a big incident occurs." Mark spoke.
" How sure are you about this portal opening again? I think it's gone for good as the last time it was opened was two weeks ago. By evacuating the people, we would only be causing unnecessary pressure on the citizen and the officers." A holographic figure spoke, there were other people as well who were not present physically in this meeting but with the help of this advanced technology, they too were able to attend.
" I am sure you should know that if something dangerous comes out of that portal and at that time we don't have anything planned then we will be risking the lives of thousands of people here."
" I think mark is right, we should at least send some reinforcement or at the very least an exploration team with exploration mechas." A woman among the holographic figure spoke, she had short white hair and was wearing a formal white suit.
" President Meda, Just an exploration team is not enough!" Mark protested.
" You already have Yelena, she can handle any unlikely situations on her own," Meda spoke.
" That's it, we are ending this meeting here. We have another important matter to deal with." Another figure with a military uniform spoke and after that their holograms were turned off.
' They don't value my words at all.' Mark thought to himself.
Yelena who was standing there only sighed, she knew the outcome of the meeting before it even started. She looked at mark and saw a clear mark of frustration on his face but suddenly something else caught her and Mark's attention.
The device Mark carried to analyze the portals started to beep.
" …The portal just opened, once again."