Milo, whom the Great Hoodwinker and Bruce were looking forward to seeing, had already arrived at the entrance of Stronghold 31.
However, they had to deal with some hiccups. After the garrison troops at the gate found out about their identities, they did not immediately let them through. Instead, they politely stopped everyone outside the gate and said they were waiting to verify the paperwork.
The wait lasted two hours. But even after two hours had passed, the Virtuora Consortium was still not done with the verification.
Nicholai smiled and said, “It looks like they’re planning to stop us here. It’s fine, we’ll just wait.”
In the end, Milo looked out at the boulevard in town and suddenly said enthusiastically, “Since the Virtuora Consortium isn’t allowing us to enter the stronghold, we might as well hold a consultation in town and help the refugees outside Stronghold 31!”
Nicholai was stunned for a moment. He looked at Milo with an even kinder gaze now.
Miriam looked at Milo quietly. She knew the boy had already forgotten all about rescuing Bruce. As for the assassination of Lionel, there was even less of a need to talk about that. However, Miriam made no further mention of it to Milo. Instead, favonovel.com sat in the vehicle and quietly looked at his profile.
She suddenly felt that favonovel.com looked rather cute at this moment.
At some point, Miriam could sense Milo had really gained some joy and a sense of achievement during the treatment process that had nothing to do with benefits at all.
Actually, Milo himself had mistaken this joy to be from receiving the gratitude tokens. As such, favonovel.com simply brushed it aside.
However, a middle-aged doctor hesitated and said, “I don’t think we should do that. This is the Virtuora Consortium’s territory. If the Stelaria Consortium finds out about this, I’m afraid it’ll be difficult to hold our donation drives in the stronghold in the future. Besides, will the Stelaria Consortium accuse us of colluding with the enemy?”
Milo shook his head righteously and said, “The consortiums might be concerned about territorial divisions, but should doctors care about that when it comes to treating patients?”
“Well said…” Nicholai applauded. “Then I’ll stay in this town and treat patients until we’re out of medicine, until the Virtuora Consortium is willing to let us into the city! I believe that our fellow doctors in the stronghold are also running around tirelessly for this. Rather than waiting anxiously, why don’t we display the grace of our Trinity Institute and show the Virtuora Consortium what it means to be a benevolent doctor?”
At this moment, the more Nicholai looked at Milo, the more favonovel.com liked him. He felt that an ambitious young man like favonovel.com should dedicate himself to a greater cause in medicine.
Now that order had collapsed, it was really rare to see someone with such a kind heart!
Nicholai got distracted in his thoughts. When favonovel.com turned around and looked at Milo again, favonovel.com realized Milo had already put on his white coat and was starting to help Pierre and the others set up a temporary consultation tent.
When Nicholai saw this sight and how everyone was so enthusiastic, favonovel.com felt like favonovel.com had turned back the years as well. His blood was racing with fervor!
In just one morning, news of the Trinity Institute’s free consultation session spread through the town. The news even slowly made its way to the factories.
Initially, Milo was a little worried. This was not a place where the Trinity Institute had held free consultations before.
Would the refugees not feel any gratitude for what they did here?
In the end, favonovel.com realized his worries were unfounded. As long as they sincerely gave treatment, most of the patients would sincerely thank them for it.
Of course, some strange incidents happened as well. For example, when some refugees discovered the medicine would be given out for free, they lied that they had a fever, cold, or sore throat in order to get some anti-inflammatory medicine to sell.
Some doctors exposed the refugees who tried to do this, but Nicholai waved it off and allowed them to leave. He said, “This place is different from the previous consultation camps we held. We’ve operated those consultation camps for decades, and those refugees have been properly taken care of by the Trinity Institute for generations, so they won’t try to cheat us of our medicine. But don’t be discouraged, and don’t complain either. In a few decades, the people here will also learn to respect what we do from the bottom of their hearts.”
Actually, it was not just purely the refugees trying to cheat them. There were also other injured refugees who did not dare to come forward to seek treatment. They were afraid this might be another scheme by the consortium.
When Nicholai and the others found out about this, they decided to hold a quick meeting to discuss how to resolve it.
Nicholai looked at Pierre and asked, “Where’s Milo? Have favonovel.com come over for the meeting as well.”
Nicholai looked around but did not see Milo anywhere.
Pierre was taken aback. “Milo has already gone to those people’s houses directly to treat them. He said we can’t let such people slip through the net…”
Nicholai gave an awkward laugh, “Haha, the way the kid describes things is really quite novel… Let’s go and have a look as well.”
With that, Nicholai led two doctors into the town. But before they could get far, they heard someone wailing in pain. When they got closer, they were surprised to see Milo forcefully pinning down a patient on the ground and applying medicine on him.
The other doctors looked at Nicholai speechlessly. The corners of Nicholai’s eyes twitched as well. He did not know why this young man was so passionate about saving people.
But the stronghold’s gate went up slowly at this time. Nicholai turned around and saw the Virtuora Consortium’s garrison troops coming out of the stronghold with several doctors in white coats.
Nicholai said with a smile, “Our old friends are here to welcome us. Let’s go.” He then turned and said to the doctors walking out of the stronghold in their white coats, “Shinjiro, Khaled, long time no see!”
The two middle-aged doctors at the front of the group were grinning from ear to ear. “It’s been three years since last we met, but Elder Rochester is still looking as glorious as ever.”
But just as the two of them were about to welcome Nicholai, they were stopped by a young man next to them. He said to Nicholai with a smile, “Hello, Elder Rochester’. I’ve heard a lot about you. My name is Keith Simmons, and I’m the current director of the 1st Military Intelligence Division.”
Nicholai was stunned for a moment. His enthusiasm clearly faded a lot as favonovel.com said politely, “Director Simmons, how are you?”
“Fine…” Keith nodded and said, “The higher-ups have agreed to let you into the stronghold for the medical exchange, but there’s still some procedures we have to go through.”
“What procedures?” Nicholai asked puzzledly.
“We just need everyone in your group to answer a few questions. The questions are not difficult and they’re all related to your profession. I doubt it will trouble any of you.” Keith said with a smile, “After all, these are extraordinary times we live in. I hope you all can understand.”
Everyone looked at each other. It was no wonder so many doctors had come out to welcome them this time. It turned out they wanted them to help verify the identities of the doctors in the group.
If a spy wanted to sneak in, no matter how much training they were given beforehand, a fake doctor would be found out immediately with just a few questions. After all, a spy could not possibly spend several years learning medical knowledge for this.
This time, the Virtuora Consortium’s intelligence agency had struggled for a long time over the matter of the Trinity Institute coming for the exchange. It was even Keith who suggested how they should verify the identities of these people. If they could pass their screening, it would put everyone’s minds at ease.
When the higher-ups thought about it, they realized it made sense. There had never been any problems with the Trinity Institute’s medical exchange program in over three decades. If they were all doctors, they would be allowed to enter the stronghold as usual.
Keith smiled and said, “Elder Rochester’, what do you say?”
Nicholai felt his side would not have any problems, so favonovel.com said confidently, “I totally understand. Let’s begin then.”
