"Damn it, it's so hot... I feel like I'm about to die..."
Several hours after escaping from underground.
As they felt the scorching high temperatures radiating from the two suns overhead.
Many of the fleeing people could not help voicing such heartfelt laments.
For hundreds of years, generation after generation of them had lived underground. Now, faced with the twin blazing suns in the sky, they truly found it hard to withstand. Not only were they utterly unprepared, but being in the middle of a desert, they also felt somewhat lost.
Walking amid the yellow sands that swirled through the air.
With no usable landmarks or maps for comparison.
After walking for half a day.
Yet feeling as though they were merely treading in place.
As far as the eye could see.
There seemed to be nothing but yellow sand filling the sky.
The joy of having escaped alive had long vanished from their hearts.
All that remained was an overwhelming confusion and helplessness.
Some people.
Had even begun unconsciously reminiscing about the good old days when they had served as slave laborers in the underground city...
There had been no freedom, much less any preferential treatment, and even their corpses would be used as food after death.
But the feeling of opening their eyes each day and knowing what they had to do had, in the end, at least let them know their purpose and what needed doing...
This spineless reaction.
Was, more or less, a touch of Stockholm syndrome.
And it was also the first psychological hurdle they had to face after their escape!
Livestock raised by humans for generations.
Even if they successfully escaped their pens, they had ultimately lost their innate ability to survive on their own.
They did not know how to forage for food,