Chapter 709: Increased Time
In the vast desert of Buserit, the sun was shining brightly and the land was barren for thousands of miles. In this endless desert, there were groups of figures moving slowly. They were not migrating desert animals, but groups of refugees fleeing.
Under the scorching sun and amidst the wind and sand, countless refugee teams were scattered across the vast wasteland. They were dressed in tattered robes, taking heavy steps and struggling to move forward. Each of them looked weak and in pain. In some teams, there were even many people who were completely unable to move and were dragged forward by ropes and wooden boards. Each team was exhausted but they kept moving forward, working hard in the same direction.
These refugees from all over Buserit, because of a widely circulated piece of news, are moving forward towards the place of salvation they believe in their hearts. This group of people, who are almost exhausted, believe that in the Oasis of Bastis, there is the only savior who can save them.
The church mission camp originally located at the edge of the vast oasis of Bastis has now expanded several times, with densely packed tents spread all over the place, even extending from the oasis grassland to the desert outside. Due to the recent influx of a huge number of refugees, the scale of the camp has expanded beyond its limit. The original stored tents have long been used up, and the simple tents built with local materials are also running out of materials. The refugees who come later can only take a straw mat and spread it on the ground to sleep.
In the huge camp that is too big to be understood at a glance, refugees can be seen lying on the ground everywhere, and all kinds of wailing sounds are heard. The mission guards wearing protective isolation clothing patrol the camp to maintain basic order, and the healing nuns are treating the seriously ill patients who can't stand it. At present, although this camp is huge and there are many patients and refugees, it still maintains basic order. However, with the continuous influx of more refugees, how long this order can be maintained is a question.
"Thank you... Thank you Sister Vanya..."
“Thank you so much!”
"Thank you for your generosity...Sister Vanya..."
At a food distribution point in the camp, a group of refugees were gathering here to receive relief food. When they saw the girl in white nun's clothes and her entourage passing by, they couldn't help but turn around, put their hands together and thanked her. After one person thanked, more people followed suit and began to thank her. Some old people even knelt directly on the ground.
Amid the countless voices of thanks around her, Vanya remained calm. She helped the people who were kneeling on the ground up with a smile on her face and gave them advice.
"Please stand up, everyone. You don't need to thank me. Coming here to provide relief is my mission. It was the Lord who guided me to come here to help people in distress. If you really need to thank someone, then thank our merciful and great Lord..."
Vanya responded to the people she helped up with common phrases in church work. At this time, she led her followers to inspect the situation in various parts of the camp as usual. Every time she arrived at a place, the refugees there would stand up to thank her. Vanya also responded gently and distributed some items in person to heal some pains.
After Vanya finished a round of inspection, she came to a small hill on the edge of the camp. There she looked at the large tents and the people moving around in between, and couldn't help but murmured with a frown.
"The number of people from the past seems to have increased a lot..."
"Yes, Sister Vanya, so far, we have accepted 674 people per day. Including the number of the past few days, the number of people we have accepted now has exceeded 10,000. All aspects including food, management, medical care, etc. are becoming more and more difficult..." The nun named Phil, who was standing next to Vanya, reported to her. After listening to Phil's report, Vanya's expression became more solemn.
"How long will our food last?"
"If the current number of people remains the same... we can still have enough food for about ten days at most. But if the number of people in the camp continues to grow at the current rate... we may run out of food in less than six or even five days. Although we have prepared enough food, the original plan did not intend to rely solely on this food for relief..."
Sister Phil said seriously that although their delegation did not bring a lot of food, they were limited by the clothing limit of a team. They originally planned to use the money they had to buy food for relief after arriving in Bastis, but they did not expect that Bastis would close its doors to them, so they had no way to buy the large amount of surplus food stored there.
"What about the purchasing team that was sent out? Do they have any news now?" Vanya continued to ask Sister Phil. She had long been aware of the food problem, so she had sent out a special purchasing team early on to other places in Buserit to find places with food for purchasing.
"The news of the purchasing team has been reported back. I'm sorry, but they haven't found a place to purchase grain. Because of the plague, many tribes have lost a large number of laborers and are unable to harvest grain. Even the tribes that have grain have already stockpiled it and are not selling it out... What's more critical is that a powerful group of desert bandits suddenly appeared not long ago and looted all the tribal villages around Buserit. All the grain was directly taken away..." Phil continued to listen to Vanya's answer, and Vanya quickly heard the problem in Phil's response.
"Bandits? In a time when the plague is raging, are there still desert bandits who can move freely?"
"Yes...it is indeed a strange place. When our acquisition team arrived at those villages and tribes, they had already been looted. Because of the epidemic, they had no way to resist the bandits who seemed to be able to move freely.
"These bandits only looted food, but hardly killed anyone. The tribesmen who were looted were basically spared... To be honest, a large part of the refugees here are members of these looted tribes. They came to us for help because they had no food...
"In addition to the most critical issue of food, we are also facing some other problems. Due to the rapid increase in the number of refugees, we are gradually running out of manpower for management. Due to long-term contact with patients, many of our people have begun to be infected with the blight. This disease is very contagious, and even wearing protective clothing cannot completely prevent infection. Even though the healing sisters have stopped treating the refugees and are fully committed to treating our personnel, the medical resources are gradually unable to keep up."
Phil continued to talk to Vanya. Listening to Phil's words, Vanya's expression became more solemn. She had not expected that she could not find a place for relief at first after arriving in Bastis, and now she was almost crushed by the pressure of relief.
"Bandits who can move freely in the midst of an epidemic...it seems like they have really made sufficient preparations to target us..." Vanya sighed, and then she turned her gaze to the Bastis city wall in the distance. It was obvious that she knew this was another work of the Elder Cult.
"The looting of these bandits started before we arrived in Bastis. It's obvious that this is the work of those evil cults. They want to create a large number of refugees for us through plague and looting, but they occupy Bastis, an important food storage and trading center, and don't give us food. They want us to be dragged to death by these refugees." Not far from Phil, the sword-wielding Spare said sternly, then he looked at Vanya beside him and spoke again solemnly.
"Sister Vanya, those cultists want to use the refugees to drag us to death. We can't fall for their trick. We should attack Bastis directly and take the city. As long as we have the large amount of food stored in Bastis, we can sustain it for a long time even if we support 100,000 people at the same time!"
Shispare gave Vanya a blunt suggestion. It seemed that he had been one of the elders in Ninja City for a long time and was always looking for an excuse to attack the city. Facing the enthusiastic Shispare, Phil on the side also spoke.
"Sister Vanya, what Priest Sparre said makes sense. We can't continue like this. Although directly attacking the city will hurt the people in Bastis who have been bewitched by the cultists and make them hate us, which will affect our work, but given the current situation, we can't care so much. In order to save more people, we sometimes have to give up a little bit..."
Phil said this, and Vanya sighed softly after listening to her words, and then spoke.
"Since the cultists had already started looting and creating refugees before we arrived here, they would not have left a large amount of food in Bastis if it was in their hands. They would only keep a small amount to supply the people in the city at a minimum...
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