Forest of Miracles

The poor people obediently went.

Only when it came to this Little Rainforest, their lifeline, did they dare not make any mistakes.

Call them lacking in backbone if you will, but two years of welfare living had made them unwilling to take risks, and most importantly...

"He really said that?"

Blaze Clark, the leader of the Benevolence Society—that burly Latino who usually kept order—his eyes lit up as he grabbed the black kid reporting to him:

"He really said he created this forest?"

"Yes, chief! He also said this forest is called... called 'Little Rainforest'!"

The black kid was thrilled; the chief had stressed this before, and now...

"How many times have I told you, don't call me chief!"

Blaze Clark grabbed his crutch, stood up, and smacked the black kid on the forehead:

"I'm just an organizer. If what that young man said is true, then he's our chief!"

Blaze, already in his forties, had never thought his life could take a turn.

At the peak of his physical prime, he lost a leg on a mission, ending his mercenary career and limping back to this place he'd once fought so hard to escape.

But as a mercenary, he'd always lived with his life on the line, earning plenty and spending even more freely.

The result? After saving his own skin, Blaze found his meager savings completely drained, forced to rely on his crippled body to do dirty work he'd once scorned, just to feed his bad habits.

America's social welfare kept him from starving, but could collecting handouts and dumpster-diving cure his addiction to drugs and booze?

Finally, before a robbery could even start, someone knocked him out.

The attacker hit hard, maybe using some other trick too—he was out for days.

When he woke up, his eyes were green with hunger, ready to gnaw on his own arm.

And Blaze found himself in a forest.

Though it seemed indoors, this wasn't a simple greenhouse—it had a transparent ceiling, simulated lighting, artificial rivers, and other environmental controls.

More importantly, there were edible fruits!

Blaze had no strength left to question this bizarre scene, and after filling his belly, he noticed the tree he'd just picked from had already sprouted small, unripe fruits!

If that wasn't a miracle, what was?

Then he had to stay in this Orchard for half a year.

Because he couldn't find the exit!

Though the Orchard seemed only as big as a large football field, it was like a maze.

Edible plants bearing all kinds of fruit were everywhere, and their varieties kept increasing.

At first, there were only common trees like apples, oranges, and pears.

But as he got lost more often, tropical, temperate, and even cold-climate plants started appearing—

How could they all bear fruit in the same orchard?!

After all the fruits he recognized showed up, completely unfamiliar ones appeared too—

Big, not very tasty at first, but the flavor kept changing—luckily, for the better.

More importantly, he finally realized his drug and alcohol cravings had stopped!

"These magical fruits... this is God's gift!"

When no new fruit varieties appeared, more groups of people were thrown in...

They had similar stories to Blaze—none of them were good people.

A month later, looking like savages, they finally found a supply point.

There were clean clothes, razors, hair clippers, and even a shower!

By then, Blaze understood—this wasn't God's gift. They'd been caught by some mysterious scientist for human experimentation!

Behind the supply point was a double door, completely covered in thick vines.

After leaving the Orchard, they'd thought about coming back, but they could never open the vine-covered door again.

Those vines were alive—there was no way these guys could break through.

When winter came, Blaze, who'd been missing for a long time, didn't dare commit crimes, but his enemies hadn't forgotten him.

During a revenge attack, someone injected him with drugs. Dragging his crippled body through the snow as the terrible cravings hit again, he somehow found his way back to this place.

When his frozen hand desperately touched the door, the vines retreated, and it opened.

But he didn't notice a pair of green cat eyes silently watching him.

Once inside, Blaze lost consciousness.

When he woke up, the original "Orchard" had become a "forest," still warm as spring.

With nowhere else to go, he once again received the forest's generous gift—and from that moment on, Blaze swore:

"Whether it was an angel or a demon who created this place, I, Blaze Clark, will follow them for the rest of my life!"

Having survived the bitter winter night, Blaze found the others who had been trapped with him in that forest.

Compared to Blaze, who had lost his left leg, they were in slightly better shape—but not by much.

Blaze told them about the changes in the Orchard and planned to use this gift to bring new hope to a neighborhood where a hundred people might otherwise die from drugs and crime in the winter.

Half a year later, things had gradually turned into what Oaks saw before him.

And Blaze, who had originally only been saved by Oaks out of a moment of softness, became the only person personally marked by Oaks to enter Little Rainforest.

After discovering this, Blaze became even more convinced that this was his sacred mission.

Using this ability, he took the miraculous fruits from Little Rainforest and, together with a few others who had shared his fate, saved more and more people.

Most of them had histories of crime, driven by circumstances beyond their control.

But those who committed crime for crime's sake were thrown over the walls of Little Rainforest by the group.

Though basic social welfare kept people from starving, every winter many in the Slums died from drug overdoses, illness, freezing, violent crime, or vendetta killings.

Because the Slums weren't just poor and filthy—they were chaotic. But Blaze, now with power, used every means to quickly end the chaos nearby.

Under Blaze's iron-fisted control, the secret never left this street—

With the gifts of Little Rainforest, many people got through hard times and regained their health, and they remembered it all.

Later, aside from the miraculous detoxifying fruits, ordinary fruits were used as welfare to help the most destitute.

Without Oaks even knowing it, Blaze was called a savior by all the poor he had helped—but that was something he could not accept.

That gratitude could only belong to the unseen master of this forest.

Though Blaze tried every method, he could not find out who was behind this forest.

When Oaks had leased this factory district, he had done a thorough job with confidentiality.

So, to ensure everyone thanked the right target, Blaze secretly founded the "Benevolence Society," locking the secret of this forest tightly within this neighborhood.

At the same time, everyone knew that the legendary figure, the president of the Benevolence Society, the master of the forest, was their true savior.

"Finally,"

Blaze looked at the red-haired Oaks and the vines coiling around him like an obedient puppy, a relieved smile spreading across his face:

"We sinners have welcomed our true savior."