Thirty minutes later, the vehicle drove into a suburban warehouse, a place large enough to accommodate over a thousand people.
The door opened, and Darnell and Sophia were pushed out by the man with a gold chain and the plump woman. The crew-cut man reached out and tore off the blindfolds and earplugs from the two.
Darnell and Sophia instinctively squinted to avoid the sunlight’s glare.
Tomas and the plump woman immediately threatened the two with knives. “Move!”
Darnell signaled to Sophia with his eyes, telling her to cooperate as much as possible. Thinking of her brother’s safety, Sophia obediently followed the plump woman’s orders.
The two were quickly pushed into the warehouse. A mixture of mildew, food, and body odor hit them. Darnell’s nose instinctively twitched twice.
Then he scanned the warehouse and saw it was very large. On both sides were more than a dozen steel-welded houses with dozens of women and children crouching inside.
Dozens of men and women dressed in various styles were grouped around. From their clothes, they looked like ordinary citizens, but their eyes were extremely sharp, with an indescribable ferocity between their brows.
They monitored the warehouse while exchanging hunting experiences, unrestrained and domineering.
Seeing another car drive in, they curiously looked over, then called out to Ricardo, “Boss, you went hunting yourself?”
Ricardo smiled, “There was a person who was hard to deal with. I had to go myself.”
Then he went over to chat with everyone, asking about today’s progress.
At this time, seeing more people appear, the women and children in the iron cages instinctively curled inward, but without too much panic-they were more numb.
These women and children were all young, women under thirty and children mostly five or six years old, all fairly attractive.
In one corner, there were six small beds with six infants. A woman was carefully looking after them.
She held two milk bottles. When a baby woke up, she put the bottle in its mouth. The infant sucked for a minute and quickly fell back to sleep.
A flash of killing intent burst from Darnell’s eyes. He had fought on the battlefield, fully understanding that a person either killed or got killed, and could even sometimes put himself in his enemies’ shoes.
But facing this scene, Darnell found it truly unbearable. A man’s hands could be stained with blood, but what glory was there in trampling on women and children?
He could imagine that these women and children had only two fates-either being sold or like Nathen, having their limbs broken to beg for money.
Many people would be separated from their loved ones, never to reunite in this life. With worse luck, they’d be separated by death.
This was the ultimate in inhumanity.
“What are you looking at?”
At this moment, the plump woman noticed Darnell’s grim expression and the sharpness in his eyes. Her heart inexplicably trembled, and then she shouted with false bravado, “Hurry up and get in there, or I’ll gouge out your eyes.”
She also kicked Sophia. “You get in there too.”
Darnell withdrew his gaze, smiling sheepishly and nodding. “Yes, yes.”
“Wait.”
Ricardo narrowed his eyes, carefully examining Darnell. The fierceness that the latter had just emanated made him, like the plump woman, feel a tightness in his heart.
For some reason, he felt Darnell was dangerous. Although he seemed submissive, he didn’t show the fear typical of ordinary people.
He pondered for a moment, had the plump woman throw Sophia into an iron cage, and then said to Tomas, “This young man has had a long day. He probably is hungry. Take him to eat something.”
Tomas nodded. “Alright.” Then he beckoned to Darnell, saying, “Come on, I’ll take you to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
Darnell looked puzzled. “I just ate two carrots this morning. I’m still full. Don’t worry about me.”
Then he asked, “I don’t need to rest. If you have any work for me to do, just say so. I guarantee I’ll do a great job.”
“You guys look impressive. Please take me in. I’ve always wanted to be a bad guy. That way I can enjoy the good life.”
Hearing Darnell wanted to join them, several people sneered. This guy was truly clueless, still not seeing the situation clearly.
But they couldn’t be bothered to expose him. Tomas impatiently picked up an electric baton. “Enough talk. Come with me to eat. After eating, you can work.”
“Don’t go. They’ll kill you.”
Sophia sensed something and loudly warned Darnell, “Don’t go.”
“Shut up!”
The plump woman strode forward and poked Sophia several times with a stick. “If you make a sound again, and I’ll have someone sew your mouth shut.”
Sophia’s abdomen was hardly jabbed. Despite the pain, she didn’t back down. “Don’t go…”
Another barrage of blows rained down on her, causing Sophia to groan in pain.
“Move!”
While Darnell still looked bewildered, Tomas pulled him toward the backyard. After they passed through a corridor, Darnell’s view opened up.
This was a large earth pit measuring thirty square meters, containing over twenty fierce dogs, all bloodthirsty with saliva dripping from their mouths.
Their jaws had a crimson tinge as if they had just torn something apart. Looking more carefully, Darnell saw blood stains in the middle, along with some bloodied clothes and black hair.
His eyelid twitched as he judged that these dogs had just torn apart a person, and he was likely next.
Thinking of this, his killing intent ignited again.
He had wanted to make a move all along, but it wasn’t convenient in the warehouse. He didn’t want to expose himself in front of outsiders.
And this place was a good spot to make his move.
“Jump down yourself.”
At this point, Tomas raised his electric baton, threatening Darnell, “These twenty-three dogs are your meal. Jump down. Either you eat them, or they eat you.”
“If you don’t jump, I’ll knock you out with this electric baton and throw you down. Then you’ll have even less chance to survive.”
He pressed the electric baton, which crackled menacingly.
Darnell looked puzzled: “Brother, weren’t you going to take me to eat?”
Tomas glared at him fiercely. “Stop talking nonsense! Hurry up and jump. Don’t make me hang you up for the dogs to bite. That would be even more of a living hell.”
“Fine, I’ll jump.”
Darnell sighed lightly. The next second, he raised his right foot. Just as Tomas thought he was going to jump down, Darnell withdrew his foot.
“You-”
Tomas was stunned, his perception disrupted. In this gap, Darnell shifted his body and caught Tomas’ hand holding the electric baton.
Unbeknownst to Tomas, Darnell’s handcuffs had been unlocked at some point.
“Crack!”
Darnell forcefully broke Tomas’ hand. As the man let out a scream, Darnell bent his legs, crouched, and suddenly performed a shoulder throw.
“Bang!”
Tomas was thrown by Darnell into the pit, his limbs feeling as if they were coming apart. “Damn! You dare throw me? I’ll kill you.”
But before he could curse any further, the twenty-plus dogs howled and approached, saliva constantly dripping from the corners of their mouths.
Tomas trembled and shouted at the dogs he had fed for some time. “Get away! Get away!”
The beasts were somewhat familiar with this voice, so they stopped approaching when they heard it.
Just then, Darnell suddenly clapped his hands. Startled, the dogs immediately became aggressive.
They pounced directly onto Tomas and started tearing at him.
He let out a shrill scream. “Ahhh! Get away, get away, ah, help, help-”
He struggled with all his might, punching and kicking, trying to turn and run, but the twenty-three dogs gave him no chance, tearing at him mercilessly.
Soon, Tomas was covered in blood, his flesh torn to pieces. His resistance gradually weakened, and after a while, he completely fell to the ground motionless.
The scent of blood rose.
“You deserved it.”
Darnell paid no attention to his life or death. Holding the electric baton, he returned to the warehouse, moving very quickly. Halfway there, a man who had heard the commotion appeared.
Seeing Darnell alive and well, with no sign of his companion, the man was stunned, his face changing dramatically. He picked up his walkie-talkie, about to call for backup.
“Whoosh!”
Darnell gave him no chance. The electric baton in his hand flew out, hitting the man’s head with a loud bang. Without even a groan, he fell to the ground.
Darnell ran over and stepped on him, completely rendering him unconscious. Then, he quickly changed into the man’s black clothes and equipped himself with weapons.
Walkie-talkie, dagger, and more than a dozen small knives-this guy seemed to be a master of hidden weapons.