Chapter 244

---- Chapter 244 After witnessing the scene through the half-open door of that room, Giselle hurriedly tore her gaze away. Her scalp prickled, and her hands and feet turned ice cold. However, she didn't dare do anything; she could only keep walking in the direction the men ordered. Passing other rooms, she caught more glimpses of the women inside through the doors that were left ajar. They lay limp on moldy beds, their eyes dulled to nothing but numb, hopeless submission . They reminded her of lambs awaiting slaughter , silent and full of despair.

Giselle had only ever read about the dark underworld of sex trafficking in these regions online. Even then, she had thought those articles and grainy pictures were unthinkable. Now that she was experiencing it firsthand, she realized the reality was far more horrific than anything the news had revealed. Calling it hell on earth felt like an understatement. Eventually, the men escorting them brought the group of newly purchased young women to the third floor's large communal dormitory. The living conditions were appallingly basic, much like those of a cramped illegal pyramid scheme den.

A single room could accommodate over a dozen people, with only one bathing area between them. Each of them had a narrow bed with a filthy and moldy blanket. ---- Overall, the conditions were tens, if not hundreds, of times worse than what she'd experienced in the detention center. Most of the newly purchased women were very young, from various countries, and unable to speak each other's language. In this suffocating, heavily guarded environment, no one dared to talk. Fear was written plainly in every pair of eyes.

After only a few hours of rest, Giselle and the other women were called into another large room. Inside, behind a counter lined with bottles and jars of medication , sat a man and a woman. Their faces were expressionless as they readied syringes and vials. The women were forced to sit in a line and taken one by one to be injected with some kind of drug. Giselle remembered the pained expressions of the women she had seen lying on the beds in the other rooms. That was when she realized what these people were injecting into the women.

The goal was to use this substance to control their minds, to make the women docile, addicted, and submissive . Eventually , their bodies would waste away until death claimed them. The ones who caught on and tried to resist were brutally beaten by the staff with electric batons. After seeing that, the others didn't dare put up a fight. In the end, they could only let these people have their way with them. Despair washed over Giselle as she watched the scene before her. She knew very well what awaited her once that substance ---- entered her veins.

Yet, at this point, no amount of thrashing and screaming would change a thing She tried to console herself by reminding herself that she wasn't about to die just yet. There had to be a chance. Forcing herself to calm down, she let these people, who were more terrifying than ghosts, press a filthy, unsterilized syringe against the vein in her wrist. When the needle was about to pierce her skin, the overseer abruptly walked in. He barked a string of words to the injector in what sounded like Mali or Luvan and roughly yanked Giselle to her feet.

Switching to clumsy Valanthean , he ordered, "Come with me!" Giselle had no idea why he was singling her out, but the sight of the gun at his waist made her heart leap into her throat. So, she had no choice but to follow him out. After a short walk, he led her to another room at the far end of the hall. It looked like a private space, probably his quarters. He pushed the door open, turned around, and noticed her hesitation. Hence, he seized her arm and shoved her inside, sending her sprawling to the floor.