Ammon's Great Adventure (12)

Although they had arrived at a reasonable explanation everyone could accept—except Ammon—it was not enough to erase the unease the traffickers had brought them. In truth, that unease did not stem from the earlier threats, but from the time they had wasted away in this cramped space.

When they had been locked in the warehouse before, or separated into tiny rooms, they had faced fear and loneliness alone. But children had a strange trait: when there was no one to rely on, they became strong.

When no one was around to lean on, a child who fell would get back up on their own. But if parents, friends, or even just one or two acquaintances were nearby, they would cry their hearts out. Perhaps this was not a conscious behavior, but in terms of results, it was undoubtedly universal.

(At least, every seven- or eight-year-old the author had seen was like this.)

Although these children could hardly be called acquaintances, as time passed, a latent sense of "being alike" began to spread among them. Along with it came panic, steadily fermenting around them all.

Fear was contagious.

Ammon saw all this very clearly. In fact, he had frightened many people with this steadily escalating sense of fear, including quite a few Mid- and High-Sequence Beyonders.

But when Ammon found himself in such an environment, he finally understood what kind of torment it was.

"Click..." By Ammon's estimate, it was already nearing evening. Just as the little brats began to panic over whether the traffickers intended to starve them to death, the door whose inner handle had been removed suddenly opened. A Liang walked in carrying a bag of compressed biscuits.

Ammon clearly sensed the three children relax to varying degrees, but his own mood worsened. As a veteran Con Sorter,