Ace ended up standing in the three-hour line with all five of his n. He forbade them from speaking because he felt like his ntal state was already close to snapping.
When they finally made it to the counter, Ace's eyes bulged at the cost of getting a resident card.
"But we just paid to get in; why do we need to pay again?" he cried out.
The registration staff mber sighed; she'd heard this question so many tis today.
"I apologize, sir, but these are the rules of the base," she said for the thousandth ti that day.
She handed him the paperwork and told him where to turn in the goods for paynt.
Ace calculated the cost with what they brought and frowned. They would need to pay half of the supplies they brought just to register!
Grumbling, he made a note to complain that the information they were given by Leader Mai's team was outdated.
Ace was about to pass out the forms to the others for them to fill out but decided not to. "These guys probably don't even know how to write," he said, massaging his temples.
After filling out the forms and paying the registration fee, Ace and his group of baby birds went back to the car.
"I'm going to hold on to your resident cards because I know you'll lose them," said Ace, placing them in his coat pocket.
They drove into the base, stopping at the parking lot outside the main lobby. Now that they had finally entered and registered, all that was left was to find a place to live.
Ace directed his n over to the housing office, feeling hopeful about finding a nice place to live.
"Welco to the housing office. How may I help you?" asked the housing staff.
Ace walked over to the counter. "Ah, hi. We've just arrived and are looking for a place to live."
"Certainly, take a look at our available rooms," said the housing staff, pushing a piece of paper toward him.
Ace looked at the sheet, and his eyes bulged when he saw the cost of renting each space for one month.
It was 700 points for one month of renting the smallest room!
"Is there a typo? These prices are insane!" he exclaid. There was no way people were living comfortably here if the prices were so high. It was borderline extortion!
The housing staff mber looked at Ace and the five lost-looking n behind him, feeling bad. She could tell that they didn't have much, and that the n in the back most likely had so issues.
Lowering her voice, she looked at Ace. "Listen, I'm not supposed to ntion this, but I feel bad for you having to take care of your brothers. We recently built a large dormitory-style building with many bunk beds. It's only 20 points a month, so it's a lot more affordable."
Ace calculated in his head. If it was 20 points per month per person, that ant for his group it would be 120 points a month. This was indeed a lot cheaper than renting a room for 700.
After thinking about it, Ace decided to go with the cheaper option. The weather was still bad, and he wasn't sure how long he would be here for, so he felt the smarter thing to do would be to ration their supplies.
"Thank you, we will take the cheaper option, please," said Ace.
After finalizing the transaction, the housing staff quickly explained where to go to find the building.
"You six will be assigned bunks 133-139," she said, handing him six tags. "Hang these over your bunks to indicate that you've purchased the bunks."
After leaving the housing office, they got back into their car and drove over to where the sports field was supposed to be.
It wasn't difficult to find, so they arrived quickly. As soon as Ace approached the building, he frowned. There was trash littered all over the ground, and people were squatting to relieve themselves around the building.
"Surely this building has a bathroom," he said unhappily. He couldn't understand why the people here were so gross and unkempt. Even the new recruits enjoyed a better life back at their underground base.
As soon as they entered, Ace had to cover his nose. A vile scent of feces mixed with body odor hung in the air.
"Leader Ace, this place slls bad," complained one of the guys.
"Yes, I have a nose too. I know it slls bad, but we don't have a choice!" he hissed.
Ace led the group down the hall, walking between a sea of bunk beds. Everyone here looked miserable and dirty. Not a single person had showered in weeks.
When they finally arrived at their designated bunks, Ace felt like crying. The neighbors on either side of them were absolutely disgusting, and one of them even seed sickly.
The bunk beds were made of very shabby tal, causing them to sway at the lightest movent. Ace frowned and placed his duffel bag on the bottom bunk. There was no mattress, only a thin piece of plywood that was covered in a rag.
He looked around, taking in all the sights. He couldn't help but shake his head. No wonder it's been so easy for us to recruit people to our side. Our promise of a better life is indeed the truth.
The six of them settled into their bunks, doing their best not to breathe in due to the horrid sll. It took Ace a long ti to fall asleep because he didn't feel safe sleeping while being surrounded by hundreds of strangers.
He finally couldn't take it anymore and woke the rest of the team up to set up shifts for a night watch. They decided on two shifts per night and that they would all rotate throughout the week.
After everything was sorted, Ace felt a little better and went to sleep. He was so exhausted from the long day of traveling and waiting in lines that he quickly passed out.
He slept soundly throughout the night, even through all the noise in the building, only waking up the following morning.
When he opened his eyes and looked around, he shot up, realizing the duffel bag and everything else they brought inside was gone!
"Which one of you was on night watch last night?" he asked, angrily.
One of the n raised his hand. "It was , Leader Ace!" His voice was cheerful, as if there were no problems.
"Did you do as you were told?" asked Ace, monts away from screaming.
The man nodded his head. "Yes!"
Ace took a long, deep breath, then asked in a slow and emphasized manner, "So why the FUCK are our things missing?"
The man shrunk back and shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't see anyone! I only closed my eyes for a few minutes. When I opened them, everything was already gone."
"Keep it together, Ace, keep it together," muttered Ace. He felt like his ntal state was hanging on by a very thin thread.
"So you fell asleep during your shift? And you didn't think to wake anyone up when you discovered that the things were missing?" asked Ace.
"No, Leader, I didn't fall asleep. I only closed my eyes for a little bit!" the man argued.
Ace wanted to pull his hair out. Thankfully, he left most of their supplies in the car and the keys in an inner pocket of his jacket. Still, this loss of supplies was not a good way to start their mission.
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