Chapter 65: Darkness

After Geerman was taken onto the troop transport truck by soldiers, he felt his vision go black and fainted. When he woke up, he found himself in a small room of about 20 square meters, with no windows, and he had no idea where he was.

"Where is this? How did I end up here?" Geerman muttered to himself, clutching his dizzy head.

Waiting for his condition to recover, Geerman slowly stood up and walked to the only exit of the small room—an Iron Gate with a small window. He poked his head out to look and discovered that there were six other small rooms like his own surrounding him; they were all in a closed warehouse.

"Damn it, what the hell is going on?" Geerman said fiercely.

Geerman tried to open the Iron Gate, but it was locked tight. He pushed hard against the door, creating a dull thud, but the door remained unmoved. A wave of confusion surged in Geerman's heart; he did not understand why he was being held here.

Suddenly, Geerman heard footsteps coming from outside, getting closer and closer. He stood nervously by the door, preparing to face the impending situation.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry, everyone up!"

An impatient voice accompanied by the sound of clashing metal, and a masked man wearing a black shirt appeared in front of the small window of the Iron Gate. "Hey! Newbie! Get ready to come out and work!"

The masked man opened the Iron Gate and walked in, holding an iron rod in his hand.

Seeing that Geerman still hadn't grasped the current situation, the masked man unceremoniously struck Geerman across the waist with the iron rod.

"Hiss..." The sharp pain from his waist made Geerman collapse to the ground, and a burning sensation began to spread across his left side.

Although Geerman was filled with anger, hindered by the fact that he had no idea how many people the other side had, he could only endure the pain in his left waist and walk slowly out of the small room.

The people from the other six rooms had already come out; their gaunt bodies and dull, lifeless eyes indicated that they had been here for quite a long time.

"Get ready to work. Newbie, since you're here, if you want to have it better, you have to work hard. Don't think about anything else, otherwise, I have plenty of ways to make you wish you were dead," the masked man threatened again after seeing Geerman walk out.

Geerman had no choice but to nod in submission. Immediately after, the seven of them were led by the masked man to the center of the warehouse, where there were many weapons, armor, and even building materials.

"Start working! Number 6, you teach the newbie and get him up to speed quickly."

Upon hearing this, the man called Number 6 did not hesitate at all and came to Geerman's side.

"Come, let me tell you our daily work routine." Number 6 used a hoarse voice to explain to Geerman the work that he and the others had to do every day.

It turned out that this was a workshop for imbuing weapons with Spiritual Power, as well as armor and such, but those were secondary; the most important thing was to carve the corresponding Spirit Patterns onto building materials.

And the seven of them were brought here to do this work precisely because their Awakened Back Spirit was an Engraver.

Seeing that everything was running normally, the masked man stretched and left the place.

"Newbie, you're really unlucky to have awakened as an Engraver," Number 6 said, though his hands did not stop moving.

"I didn't expect to awaken a Back Spirit either, I just didn't expect it to end like this." Geerman followed the method just taught by the man called Number 6 and carved a Spirit Pattern onto a Tactical Knife in his hand.

"Don't think about getting out once you're here. Although I don't know whose idea this was, the high-level officials of the Human Alliance will never let these scandals spread. We will all die here," Number 6 said to Geerman in a low voice, his tone filled with sorrow.

"Moreover, most of the items we carve now flow into the Inner City, especially those building materials. They will use the building materials carved with Spirit Patterns to build a Fortress to wrap the Inner City inside. The same goes for weapons and armor; only a small amount of weapons and armor will flow into the Military District."

Hearing the news from Number 6, Geerman felt that this place was no different from the Hunting Ground; the only difference might be the problems he was facing.

"So, according to you, the Outer City can be abandoned at any time?" A wave of worry surged in Geerman's heart. Marie and Charlie were currently in the Settlement Area; what would happen to them after he got out? Would they survive in that Outer City that could be abandoned at any time?

"Has no one tried to escape?" Geerman asked, unwilling to give up.

"How could no one have tried? But they all failed. An Engraver is just an auxiliary-type Back Spirit; how could one escape from here? I advise you to give up that thought," Number 6 advised.

"My family, they are still outside, I can't stop worrying about them," Geerman said slowly.

Even if Charlie and Marie were in the Outer City, it wasn't safe enough, and they still didn't know the ugly faces of the high-level officials of the Human Alliance.

"It seems you have a reason you must get out. Do you really want to get out that much?" Number 6's expression became somewhat subtle; he narrowed his eyes and looked at Geerman.

"Yes, my family is still outside, I cannot abandon them."

"To get out, are you willing to pay any price?" Number 6's voice began to sound somewhat eerie, but Geerman had no time to worry about that now, so he nodded and replied.

"Yes, any price."

"Good. In a while, those masked men will come to deliver our food, and after that, there will be a half-hour break. Come find me then," Number 6 said, then got up and returned to his workstation.

Seeing Number 6 leave, Geerman felt a glimmer of expectation in his heart. Listening to what Number 6 said, could it be that there was a chance to get out, just that it required a great price?

No matter what the price was, he would not change his mind about getting out.

He didn't know how much time had passed; working here, he couldn't even keep track of the most basic passage of time. However, he saw two masked men carrying two buckets to where the seven people were working, and they shouted to everyone while hitting the iron buckets with soup ladles, "30-minute break, time to eat!"

The so-called food was nothing more than soup that looked no better than swill, and flatbreads so hard they could only be chewed after being soaked in the soup.

Even so, those few Engravers swallowed the food into their stomachs at a very fast speed. The two masked men didn't care about these people; they placed the two buckets of food in front of them and left leisurely.

After Geerman finished eating the hard-to-chew flatbread, he felt his throat had been scratched by several wounds.

Seeing Number 6 leave the crowd with a second portion of food, he followed the others' example, got another bowl of soup and two flatbreads, and went to find Number 6.