He could feel the gazes of the residents of the decrepit buildings and huts on either side throwing strange glances at him while he dragged the haven model across the muddy, marshy paths into the slums. Several children playing in the mud, caked in dust and dirt, threw curious gazes at him as he walked past them. Their torn clothes revealed sickly thin figures with their bones prominently showing out of their flesh.
He passed by several people standing on their feet, hunched over like zombies, quickly, not so much as taking a single glance at them or stopping by in concern. Their expressions were lost while their eyes were half closed, almost as if they were unconscious despite standing on their two feet, completely hunched over.
They reeked of an all but familiar chemical odor.
One that he wanted nothing to do with.
He maintained a hardened expression with steely eyes as he trudged past the slums with a measured gait, with one hand over his shoulder, pulling the haven unit with him while the other hand remained in his pocket, his fingers touching the edge of the magigun in his pocket.
While magiguns weren't legal to carry outside of private property, Dlint didn't particularly care about the fact that he was in the slums. Ordinarily, he wouldn't need a magigun to survive in the slums simply due to the fact that he wouldn't normally draw as much attention as he was drawing now.
Unfortunately, he needed to draw attention despite how uncomfortable and unsafe it made him feel, that was the point of the advertisement campaign and it was why Cæ had hired him in the first place and why he had had him hire other residents of the slums who could be trusted and trained to do the same job.
With how much higher the pay was compared to anything in the slums or even the inner city, and the benefits they were getting, Dlint has volunteered for this job.
That didn't change the dangers of what he was undertaking.
A drop of sweat trickled down his face as he hid his fear and projected determination and power as he focused on the job.
According to the operation protocols, he needed to find inclined land within the district, something that he had scouted prior, so that he didn't need to waste any time whatsoever.
STEP
STEP
STEP
He pulled the haven unit up-slope, dragging it up a slightly inclined slope.
Many of the wary residents of the slums peered at him with decrepit huts and homes, barely standing as they were. Children did it more unabashedly, staring at him with open mouths with a hint of curiosity and fascination, while the men and women regarded him with wary suspicion, sizing him up with scrutinizing eyes.
THUD
He made a big show of propping the haven unit atop a particularly building foundation, one that once had a roof that was now reduced to rubble around it.
While it was too small to be visible across the entirety of the district, it was certainly as prominent as a housing unit could have possibly been in the locality, visible for quite some distance. This was especially the case when the slums barely had one-storey buildings, if they could even be called that. It meant that there were no tall buildings impeding the vision of residents.
An inclined, small hillock atop which Dlint had parked the Haven unit was visible for quite some distance across the locality before it drifted out of sight.
This was part of the plan.
WHOOSH
Dlint unwrapped the haven product, cased in a thin cardboard box.
Immediately, the blue-white color theme stood out in the slums rather intensely, drawing the open fascination of the children who gaped at the small but almost radiant and glowing objects as they sparkled despite the sun being drowned under a sheet of thick, dark clouds.
This was a feature that Cæ had asked Seliphaz to design for the advertisement models for the sake of promoting brand awareness.
It was actually dangerous to stand down out in the slums as much as under any other circumstances, so their regular products did not come equipped with this little feature.
Regardless, it succeeded.
It was unlike anything many of the residents of the slums had ever seen.
The adults were more discreet, peering at him from within the dimly lit depths of their little huts, gazing at him with wary, quizzical caution. Their attention was different from that of the children, who were simply drawn out of fascination at having seen something unlike anything that they had ever seen before.
They were more concerned about whether this strange newcomer was a threat or not.
It wasn't an overreaction.
These were people who weren't protected by the law, largely because there was no system of law enforcement in place. In Elendir and in Colohen City, police stations were divided by district and were funded by district tax funds, of which the slums paid virtually none due to their poverty, leading to the collapse of the local police funds.
In other words, they were out for themselves.
This included not just physical confrontations, but also a very high degree of situational cognizance and environmental awareness. These could be the differences between life and death in the slums.
A large number of people watched as the prominent newcomer made a big show of dragging the mysterious box with him while occupying an abandoned spot that could be eyed a great distance from all directions.
It was why it was entirely abandoned by the residents of the particular district; it drew too much attention from all of them and made them feel exposed and vulnerable. And yet, this brave newcomer waltzed in and occupied that very spot that everybody in their locality in the district avoided like the plague.
They didn't even understand why, but their paranoia propelled them to keep their eyes on him as they watched him unveil the radiant housing unit of Trinity Housing. They weren't sure if it was a small house or a tent, for the product appeared to be a strange hybrid fusion of the two.
Much to their surprise, the strange newcomer zipped open the entrance before, zipping it closed tightly from the inside.
And just like that, he was out of sight.
"Huff…" Dlint heaved a sigh as he took stock of the familiar interiors of the housing unit with an appreciative expression.
Half of the space was a bed, able to fit even a large man, even if barely.
The other half of the space was a small and thin foldable table that could fold flat into the floor. There were some considerations for waste and storage in the form of thin foldable compartments that could isolate things even within the cramped space of the Trinity Housing.
Despite just being as small as it was, it was strangely not suffocating in even the slightest, as the non-magical ventilation system of the housing unit ensured that fresh air was assured.
The walls of the housing unit, thin as they were, were not weak by any means. While a solid structure was still stronger, the haven unit maximized protection and security remarkably well for its mass.
Any robber who thought they could simply break down the thin walls of the haven unit with a few kicks was sorely mistaken. These products had been tested under high pressure and even against low-grade magiguns, proving to do a remarkable job at protecting the user from attacks.
Of course, sustained effort and high pressure would eventually cause the product to succumb, but the value proposition, considering the cost, was not disputable, especially for the people of the slums and their low purchasing power.
Not to mention, the pathetic domestic infrastructure of the slums was so ineffective that Dlint felt safer in these thin but sturdy walls relative to the thick but unstable and weak walls and door.
What especially drew his attention was the fact that the walls were slightly unidirectionally translucent while entirely opaque from the inside. This allowed the user to be able to at least partially monitor what was happening immediately outside the tent, giving them a greater degree of security than if they had no idea what was happening outside.
Dlint heaved a deep breath as he simply relaxed in the tent for the time being.
His initial protocols were followed to the T.
Now, he just needed to send a remote report to update his bosses, and then wait.
Wait for the impending storms to fully come.
RUMBLE…
The tumultuous skies roared as lightning and thunder danced about the dark blanket of clouds that spread across the entirety of the skies. The tempestuous winds grew agitated, blowing with great intensity and vigor, leaving icy pangs of cold water droplets on the skin of all those out and about.
The classic tell-tale sign of a storm beyond the norm.
And yet, these were the norm.
CLACK
Doors and windows were shut tight as children were drawn inside. Scrappy, patched clothes that hung about on wires outside were also taken in a hurry. Many of the residents of the slums set up little sheets that bent in a way that was meant to funnel water into a bucket or tub for personal use.
This way, they wouldn't need to pump water out of a water pump or get it from the well, or worse, from a river. Rapidly, the muddy paths between the tightly shut huts and shacks of the slums were empty as the heavens roared and rumbled while the maelstrom of winds blew even harder.
And soon enough, the rains came with all the fury that they anticipated, showering the entire city in heavy, dense rain that drummed loudly. While the inner city had effective drainage systems along the sides of roads that led to underground aqueducts that drained water away quite well, the slums were already heading towards a flood within a short amount of time.
The water, without anywhere to go, simply accumulated across the muddy and marshy stone-laden path that served as their roads. Within ten minutes of heavy rain, water had already buried every last inch of visible land while the height of the precipitation only continued rising at an alarming rate.
Within an hour, the rains had intensified so much that it was outright dangerous for young children to step out of the house, as adults tried in vain to desperately prevent the flooding water from entering their little shacks and huts. The insecure ceiling dripped with rainwater that seeped in between the many holes and cracks.
In sharp contrast, Dlint found the haven to be rather warm and cozy despite the heavy storm that ensued outside. Despite the great ventilation, not a single drop of water penetrated the walls or the roof of the haven product.
He even found his eyelids growing heavy with sleep, with how cozy the unit was.
"AAAARRGHH—"
"HEL—"
BOOM!
He jolted awake from the very verge of sleep as the unmistakable collapse of a building, the horrifying screech of a woman sent chills across his skin. His expression grew grim with severity as he instantly understood what had happened.
Such was the reality of living in the slums.
"It doesn't need to be this way." His eyes flared with determination.
He genuinely believed that Trinity Housing could make life better for all of them and intended to do his best to prove that.