Beyond Despair

"Owen... take care of your mother and... your sister... You have to take care of them..."

"Mommy will draw them away for you. Owen, take your sister and go. Hurry!"

"Brother, Brother, save me!"

His sister being dragged away, the slave trader's whip, the endless torment inside the Blood Cattle Factory...

Scene after chaotic scene surfaced in Owen's mind.

"Ah!"

Owen gasped and jolted awake.

It was a dream, but it was also memory—because in the end, he had failed to protect anything.

This kind of regret had become part of Owen's everyday life, so once his awareness returned, he quickly sensed that something was wrong.

His wrists were empty. The callused strangulation marks were still there, but the things that had bound him were gone.

The air could not be called fresh, but there was no smell of rust, nor that rotten stench of blood and feces mixed together.

A can of water was handed to him from beside him. The hand offering it was withered and bony, with large knuckles and grime still embedded under the nails.

"You had a nightmare too, didn't you?" It was an old man with a hoarse voice, yet there was cheer in it. "Chief Ji said this is normal. Have some water and take it easy." Owen took the can and raised his head to look around. He seemed to be inside some kind of sealed building. The space was very large, and people were packed all around him. From their faces, it was not hard to tell that they were all slaves like him.

Some people had already woken and were leaning against the walls in a daze or talking quietly. Others were still lying on the ground, brows tightly furrowed, lips trembling, as if they too were trapped in nightmares.