"That's good. If you feel unwell at any point, let me know. Here, have some candy." The female nurse smiled, pulling out a piece of candy from her pocket and handing it over. As she walked away, she also gently touched his head.
Alex stared at the candy in his hand, somewhat at a loss for a moment.
Oh, I have. It was a pair of Americans. They came into the slum, led by a guide. A woman with a backpack gave me a candy. It was very sweet, very sweet...
That was the first time I ever had candy.
He looked up, staring at the nurse, and saw her moving among the wounded.
Seemed to be shining.
Those injured poor wailed, crying heartbreakingly, and some clutched water and food, crying tearfully. They had survived.
This made Alex's chest feel heavy.
Suddenly, a pair of hands touched his head.
"Do you feel compassion?"
He looked up, met his mother's gaze, and nodded earnestly and cautiously, "They are pitiful."
His mother let out a light sigh.
"Alex, to carry compassion is to be a hero. You must always maintain it. Even when you become stronger later on, you cannot bully the weak. A true strong person will always dare to challenge those stronger, protecting the civilians."
Alex nodded, pointing at the soldiers, "Like them?"
His mother looked at the soldiers helping to support the wounded and a lieutenant colonel carrying a civilian toward a distant surgery room...
She was also a bit stunned.
She had never seen such an army before.
"Mom, they're not like the news and others have said..." his little sister said quietly, "They don't seem like bad people."
"You have to see with your own eyes. Only what you see yourself is real. The slum gangs will not talk about the Government Forces; they will only say what is to their advantage."
Alex suddenly stood up.
"I... I'm going to help too. I'm fine now."
His mother looked at him, wiping away her tears with a smile, and nodded, "Go ahead. When others help us, we should help them too."
Alex nodded earnestly.
In life, empathy is essential.
How you treat others will be felt by someone.
At the military headquarters southwest of Constitution Plaza.
Goodrian listened to the report.
"Into the second half of the night, the number of civilians coming out of the slum has increased a lot, roughly close to 3,000 people. But inside, the gunfire continues. There must have been quite a few killed. Commander, I think we should go in now, to save the civilians!" said the deputy commander, Douglas Hague, eager to act.
"No, if we enter at night, we risk being ambushed. We are all rookies, without experience in night combat, and we could suffer a major loss," the other deputy commander Luigi Cardona hurriedly interjected.
This advice made the group leaders below nod in agreement.
Their own forces' limitations they were well aware of.
Douglas Hague glared at him, full of reluctance, growing increasingly displeased with the parachuted deputy commander. His nature was more aggressive.
Suddenly, Luigi Cardona took a deep breath and spoke, "There's another layer of meaning."
Everyone looked at him, including General Goodrian.
"The gang's violent oppression will only make the slum residents more dissatisfied. Maybe tonight they'll be suppressed, but in a couple of days when the water supply is completely cut off, it will be more than just these few who rise up against it."
"It's like a spring; sometimes the tighter it's pressed, the higher it will bounce."
"Let the bullets fly for a bit longer…"
Everyone present was intelligent enough to understand.
They were using the lives of the poor to stir up their rebellion threshold, waiting for them to rise up – making it all the easier.
This was somewhat inhumane.
Yet it was a safer approach.
Everyone looked to Goodrian, the young commander's face still calm, "Tomorrow, have the air force drop another 500,000 leaflets, 700,000 the day after, and 1,000,000 the day after that..."
"On the fourth day, I will launch a total assault!!"
"To liberate the Kima Huakan Slum in one fell swoop."
Four days without water...
After three days without food and water, there will be a clear sense of hunger, possibly leading to symptoms of low blood sugar, such as dizziness, chest tightness, palpitations, weakness, dehydration, cold sweats, limpness, and weakness in the limbs.
Starve these bastards to death!