The brown river gave off a foul stench beneath the setting sun. A few sparse patches of greenery and low shrubs lined its banks.

A dirt road marked by tire tracks wound toward several brightly colored little buildings in the distance. Farther off, villas and high-rises stood in view.

A gray-white concrete wall encircled the little buildings, topped with barbed wire. A guard post stood beside the wall at the road entrance.

Suddenly, a shrill bell shattered the silence.

A crowd of ragged people rushed through the iron gate and fled into the distance like madmen.

A few who couldn’t run fast enough were swept to the ground with a club. Before they could get back up, the beating began.

More than a dozen brawny thugs chased after the fleeing people, clubs in hand. They were fast—after just a few strides, they caught up with someone. One swing, and their victim could only scream before collapsing to the ground. The thugs cruelly followed up with two more blows, smashing their kneecaps.

The cries and screams were especially grating.

“Brother, I… I can’t run anymore…” A frail girl of fifteen or sixteen trailed behind the young man. The hundred-meter dash left her gasping for breath. She wore nothing but a shirt, and her bare feet were pierced by several cuts. Pain was written all over her face, but she didn’t dare stop.

“Run faster, Yunyun! If they catch us, it’s over!” The young man grabbed Yunyun’s hand and ran onto a muddy path.

“Swim across the river! Split up, and they won’t be able to chase us all!” one of the fleeing people shouted.

At that, five or six people turned and jumped into the foul-smelling river, swimming toward the opposite bank.

The young man wanted to jump in too, but then he realized they couldn’t swim at all.

That moment of hesitation was all it took. The thugs caught up, and a club slammed into his ribs.

The young man and Yunyun fell to the ground together.

“Brother!!” Yunyun cried.

The young man couldn’t get back up in time. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around his sister as clubs rained down on his head. Through the searing pain, he clearly heard the crack of his leg bones.

Maybe he’d never stand again.

Bang! Bang! Bang!!

The people who’d jumped into the river hadn’t swum far before the men on the bank shot them dead. In an instant, the brown water turned a glaring red.

The killer on the riverbank whistled and grinned, as if showing off how good a shot he was.

There was no hope left…

But at the very least—at the very least, he had to get Yunyun out of here…

The young man thought in despair.

“Are you hurt?” He looked down at the sister in his arms.

Yunyun looked at him without speaking, tears streaming down her face as she shook her head.

“I’ll find a way to draw their attention. You have to get out!” he whispered, low enough for only the two of them to hear.

“Brother Long, what do we do with this bitch?”

“Where?”

“Over here!”

A man appeared in the young man’s field of vision. He was tall, wore a crooked cap and camouflage, and had a ring of facial hair around his mouth.

The young man didn’t know the bearded man, but the way the thugs around him treated him with such deference made it clear he was the leader of this pack of scum. Seeing the holster at the man’s waist, the young man came up with a crazy plan: tackle him, steal his gun, and kill him, buying his sister time to escape.

A few seconds later, Brother Long’s combat boots appeared in the young man’s field of vision.

The longer he hesitated, the more cowardly he’d become. The young man gritted his teeth and lunged, shouting, “Yunyun, run! Go call the police!”

Reality was cruel. Before he could even reach Brother Long’s boots, a thug clubbed him across the back of the head. His vision went black, and he nearly lost consciousness. He lay on the ground until someone hoisted him up; only then did his eyesight slowly return.

“Brother! Waaaah…”

He struggled to turn his head and saw the scum tearing Yunyun’s clothes off.

“Fuck you! Don’t touch her!”

His furious roar caught Brother Long’s attention.

“What’s your name? Chinese?” Brother Long puffed on a cigar and glanced sideways at the young man.

“Feng Cai. That girl’s my sister. Please, let us go. I’ll give you whatever you want!”

Brother Long laughed, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. “You’re in no position to bargain with me. Get back to work.”

“Aaaaaah!!!” The girl screamed in heart-wrenching agony.

The men laughed lewdly as they assaulted the girl, beating her with their rifle butts.

Watching those beasts take turns assaulting his sister, Feng Cai’s eyes nearly burst with rage.

He hated himself. Why had he trusted his relative’s introduction and come here for work? But regret was useless now. The two siblings had a living hell waiting for them.

…

Feng Cai was tossed onto a three-wheeled vehicle and taken back with the other half-dead escapees to the “compound” that thousands feared.

Yunyun wasn’t with him. They carried her onto a different van, and he had no idea where it went.

The three-wheeler stopped in front of a gray building. Several burly men tossed them into a windowless room like garbage.

Feng Cai lay on the cold floor, his heart filled with rage and despair—and endless worry for his sister.

Yunyun had always been frail. What would they do to her now?

The more Feng Cai thought about it, the more hopeless he felt. He couldn’t bear to keep thinking.

After an unknown amount of time, a man in white entered carrying a small case. Accompanied by the thugs, he examined the escapees lying on the floor one by one.

Those who had stopped breathing were carried away. Those still alive had their wounds given a quick dab of medicine and a rough bandage.

At last, the man reached Feng Cai.

“You’re lucky. You’ve only broken a few leg bones and ribs. Rest up, and you’ll be able to work again.” The man in white crudely wrapped Feng Cai’s lower leg in cloth, then forced the displaced bones back into place. The rough treatment made Feng Cai scream again and again.

“Honestly, why put yourself through this? You could’ve worked properly for ten years or so and paid off your ransom. Now you’re all piglets. You’ll have a taste of blood draws and kidney harvesting. Even if you can still work, your ransom’s doubled.” The man in white muttered as if he’d seen this sort of thing many times before.

“My sister… Have you seen my sister, Yunyun?” Pain had raised beads of cold sweat on Feng Cai’s forehead.

“Your sister? Haven’t seen her.” The man in white gave a strange, mocking laugh. “Is she pretty?”

Feng Cai stared blankly, saying nothing.

“If she’s pretty, they can sell her to some rich man as a plaything. If she’s plain, she’ll be sent to an entertainment venue as a ‘human armrest.’ Oh, and before they sell her, they’ll ‘train’ her for a while—regular doses of drugs and poison to make her body adjust to its new environment…”

“Enough! You beasts! May you be struck down by Heaven! I’ll kill you all!! Aaaaaaaah!!!”

One of the thugs nearby kicked Feng Cai’s broken leg. The violent pain silenced him.

The man in white stood up and shrugged. “What good does yelling at me do? I’m just an employee.”

With that, he went over to another “piglet.”

Feng Cai and the other survivors endured their pain until nightfall. They hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink the whole time.

At midnight, the thugs came to check on them. They carried away those who were dead or close to it, chained the rest by their hands and feet, and herded them to an area near the staff dormitory.

Blinding construction lights illuminated a wide stretch of ground.

The compound’s employees had just finished work. Led by their team supervisors, they stood in crooked rows outside the dormitory. At a glance, there were at least three or five hundred of them.

The employees here had to work at least seventeen hours a day. After such long hours, everyone looked dazed, and some could barely stand. Guards wielded whips to keep them in line. Anyone who displeased them or stood crooked got two lashes without mercy. The victims didn’t dare fight back or even cry out. They could only endure the pain in silence.

Feng Cai was tied to a wooden frame. They’d forced him to walk a short distance, and every step sent stabbing pain through his lower legs. Ten others were with him. Some had completely broken down and were sobbing uncontrollably.

More than his own injuries, Feng Cai worried about his sister. He anxiously looked all around, but still couldn’t see her anywhere.

Maybe they’d only brought the men out… That was the only way he could comfort himself.

“Lately, people have been trying to be clever, slacking off and sneaking out whenever the supervisors aren’t looking! You’ve got some nerve!” A man in a suit stepped forward with a megaphone. He stood in front of the employees, his face stern.

“See this? This is what happens! All thirty-five of the escapees have been brought back. The contract clearly states that slacking off or refusing to work triples your ransom. Avoiding work or escaping the compound gets you demoted to a piglet and locked in the water cell for three days! Take a good look, all of you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

“Keep an eye on your coworkers. If anyone tries to run, report them to a supervisor right away. A successful tip gets you a ten-point performance bonus! Treasure your jobs. Anyone who missed their performance targets this week, pay attention: the bottom ten percent will be ‘let go.’ If you don’t want to be ‘let go,’ then work hard. Do you hear me?”

“Yes,” the employees answered weakly.

“What was that? Louder!”

“Yes!” Their response was a little louder.

After the man in the suit finished lecturing them, the employees were dismissed. They returned to their cramped, filthy dormitory and collapsed into bed. They’d have to get up before five the next morning and keep working. It would never end.

Feng Cai and the other ten were each stuffed into a wooden cage and thrown into a pitch-black, stinking pool. The water came up to their chests. A small opening in the front of each cage was just big enough for a head to fit through. A small basin sat on top, filled with leftover slop from the cafeteria. It reeked.

Feng Cai didn’t eat the solid scraps in the basin. He forced himself to drink a little of the liquid, then leaned against the opening of the cage, finding a position that put less weight on his legs.

Feng Cai’s night was far from peaceful. First, he had to stand the whole time, and the broken bones in his legs hurt unbearably, so he could only brace himself against the cage opening with his arms. Second, the water was full of leeches. He crushed at least twenty of them that night, and his legs were covered in little wounds.

In the end, he watched the man in the next cage kill himself.

At first, the man stayed underwater for a while. When he surfaced, he coughed and cried, saying he wanted to see his mother and go home. Feng Cai and the others tried to comfort him, but nothing could stop him from breaking down. After crying for a while, the man went under again—and… never came back up.

Feng Cai’s heart slowly turned cold. He suddenly envied the man who’d killed himself. At least he didn’t have to suffer anymore. Feng Cai even thought about trying it himself, but he still hadn’t seen his sister.

Maybe he’d see Yunyun once he got out of here in three days.

Of course, once he was out, he’d have to keep working, just like those “dog pushers,” heartlessly tricking people they knew. He’d have to deceive others the same way he’d been deceived.

At least for now, no matter how much he suffered, he had to stay alive for his sister. Maybe one day, he’d be rescued.

At first light, employees began filing out of the dormitory. Guards drove them toward the offices, where they shuffled along like the walking dead.

Feng Cai was filthy and disheveled, his eyes bloodshot and his lips cracked. He didn’t dare drink the foul water beneath him, so he was badly dehydrated.

The person delivering food carried a bucket of leftovers, filled the basin in front of Feng Cai, then tossed him a bottle of mineral water.

Feng Cai thanked him and drained the bottle in one go. He humbly begged for another, but was ignored.

Though his heart was numb with despair, his body still felt hunger. Feng Cai forced himself to eat a quarter of the food before his stomach churned. He leaned out to look at the scenery, trying to distract himself from the nauseating taste in his mouth.

A small four-wheeler with two rows of seats drove past. A hemp cloth covered the wire cage in the back.

Every day, more unfortunate people were brought here, traded and butchered like livestock.

Who was the poor soul this time? Through a gap in the draped cloth, Feng Cai saw the people inside the cage.

What he saw left him stunned.

It was an extraordinarily delicate-looking girl, seemingly twelve or thirteen years old. Her fine black hair fell over her shoulders, her lashes were long, and her fair skin looked soft enough to bruise at a touch. She seemed completely out of place in this world, like an angel who’d strayed into the mortal realm—sacred, graceful, and beautiful, inspiring an instinctive tenderness.

Usually, the cages held a whole group of people. This time, there was only one girl inside, which suggested she was someone important.

What did status matter after she’d fallen into this den of evil? Her fate would still be worse than death.

The vehicle drove away, and Feng Cai could no longer see the cage. He sighed and smiled bitterly at himself. He could barely protect himself—how could he spare a thought for anyone else?

…

The “girl” in the cage was Gussy.

Although Gussy’s eyes were closed, it was actually awake. It was only pretending to be dead while secretly observing what was going on outside.

In its current predicament, Gussy had only 2% energy left. The “Paralysis Mechanism” had been triggered, leaving it unable to control its energy or speak, with almost no ability to move.

Gussy had lost about 10% of its memories. It had absolutely no recollection of what happened after it boarded the plane with Luo Xiaoming. The next thing it knew, it was surrounded by strangers, one of whom was muttering away as they sliced into Gussy with a knife. With every cut, Gussy lost a little more of its memory.

Gussy wanted to fight back, but it had no energy.

After that, Gussy was moved to this place.

Gussy was completely naked now, and it had no idea where its “invisibility cloak” had gone.

It was at the mercy of others, so Gussy decided to pretend to be a doll and wait for a chance to replenish its energy.

At least the ones who’d captured it weren’t Organization K. Otherwise, Gussy wouldn’t be locked in this flimsy iron-mesh cage that one poke could break through. It’d be sealed inside a thick-walled, heat-resistant steel container instead.

As long as they weren’t Organization K, Gussy still had plenty of chances to regain its freedom.

If it could move again, it had to find out whether Luo Xiaoming was alive or dead—and hurry to get its “invisibility cloak” back. That belonged to its original body...