Thinking about how to escape, Simone looked toward the exit, but there was no one there.
"Hey, Darlius, what do you think these bars are made of?" Simone asked.
Darlius approached and touched the bars of his cage. "Steel, I'd say."
Simone's lips curled into a smile. "I think I have an idea to get out of here," she said.
"What's that?" Darlius asked.
"You'll see. For now, I need to focus," Simone replied, closing her eyes and placing both hands on the bars. She was trying to take control of the steel to shape it as she wanted.
Outside, a small group arrived with a prisoner.
"Here, we caught this monster. I hope you'll increase the payment for this kind of beast," said a man.
"Calm down, you're alive, aren't you? And you, who call yourself a hunter, complain a lot for one," retorted a member of the Red Shadows.
"But you told me he was rank six, so I brought rank six and seven hunters! Look!" the man exclaimed, pointing behind him. "He killed half my group!"
"Is that my problem, hunter?" the Red Shadows member replied, looking at him with disdain.
"You, are you looking to die?" the man said, placing his hand on his sword.
"Oh, you're threatening me?" the Red Shadows member shot back.
"Enough, both of you!" Sonia intervened.
"Mistress," said several Red Shadows members.
"Hello, hunter," Sonia said.
"I have a name, you know," the man replied.
"Is this the one I asked you to bring?" Sonia asked.
"Yes, but be careful, he's completely unpredictable," the man warned.
"Don't worry about me, I can handle him," Sonia replied.
"And what about our payment?" the man pressed.
"What do you mean, your payment?" Sonia asked.
"Since I lost half my men capturing this guy, I'm asking for a higher sum," the man explained.
With her attention elsewhere, Sonia ordered that the hunter be paid a larger amount and headed toward the prisoners' cave to lock up the new arrival.
"Don't worry, you dared to steal from us—food, no less, as if times weren't already tough enough—and killed our members. Prepare to be skinned alive," Sonia said, looking at the prisoner with malicious glee.
"And to think I just wanted to eat. Seriously, they tried to kill me over food? Ridiculous," sighed the prisoner, covered in blood from head to toe.
Darlius, who had been there for over two weeks, could tell when someone arrived. "Simone, I don't know what you're doing, but stop right now. We've got company."
Halting her attempt to manipulate the steel, Simone went to the back of her cage and lay down.
Sonia entered the cave with the prisoner and five other members, heading toward an empty cage.
"Seriously? You really think these steel bars will keep me from getting out of this cage?" the prisoner said.
With a smile, Sonia replied, "You'll see. Put him in."
The five members pushed the prisoner into the cage and locked it.
"Well, I wish you all a good night, but know this: by morning, two of you here will suffer tomorrow," Sonia said as she left, followed by the others.
Getting up and dusting herself off, Simone caught sight of the new prisoner's face. It was Aconé. Stunned, she wondered how that coward was still alive.
"Well, Aconé, how is someone who abandoned us in the middle of a fight still alive? Last I heard, a cannibal was chasing you," Simone said.
Aconé was surprised to hear Simone's voice. "And what are you doing here?"
"No, you answer first, or I'll beat you to death," Simone threatened.
"Whoa, no way I'm getting involved in their drama," Darlius thought to himself.
"Calm down, getting worked up won't help," Aconé said.
"You're telling me that, you who ran away like a coward?" Simone shot back.
"Listen, I know what I did was bad, and I'm not asking anyone to forgive me. But honestly, if I had to do it again, I'd do it every single day," Aconé admitted.
"Are you trying to joke right now?" Simone said sharply.
"No, but listen, to be honest, I haven't changed. It's just my perspective on things that has," Aconé explained.
"Go on," Simone demanded.
"A few weeks ago, I thought I was ready to kill, to fight to the death, to sacrifice myself for my comrades to win this war. But when we were in mortal danger, a flood of thoughts hit me: Die here, for who? For people like Canou or Gérard? After living my long life, I'm going to die in a forest like this, having accomplished nothing? And above all, do I want to die? Am I ready to face the pain, the mortal wounds, and death? I don't want to die," Aconé confessed.
Simone remained silent. Darlius stared at the wall, feeling a kind of disgust toward himself.
Aconé then recounted his fight against the cannibal. "After that, I kept moving. I ran into some hunters. They specifically hunt humans from Earth, even though they're Earthlings themselves. Huh, on our own planet, we're the ones being hunted. Those who get caught are sold as slaves to the Chang or Payo clans, and the unluckiest end up with the Red Shadows. Not just here—they have other camps. Did you hear that woman? They revel in torture, seeing it as some kind of twisted art."
"But why are you covered in blood?" Simone asked.
"Well, I had to eat. After killing several hunters who thought they'd take me down easily, I had to flee. They came after me with over fifty men, and my goal is to survive. While escaping, I stumbled across some Red Shadows carrying food and water. I didn't hesitate and killed them all. After that, a bounty was put on my head. Like an idiot, I forgot I was covered in blood from head to toe, making me easy to spot. But I didn't go down without a fight—I took out half of them. They started with thirty, and now they're down to ten."
"How did you manage that? That's a lot for one man," Simone said.
"You know, cunning and ranged attacks helped a lot, plus the fact that I've reached rank eight."
"So how did you lose, then?" Simone asked.
"You know, when ten rank-seven cultivators attack you at once and target every opening they see, it hurts. Plus, it was close combat. Sure, in raw power, I was stronger, but they wore me down. That's how I ended up here. Oh, and I almost forgot: there's a giant lion out there killing everything it sees, and a giant monkey that mostly kills humans but likes to dismember them first for its own pleasure," Aconé added.
Simone stared at him as if he'd told a lie so big it was impossible to believe.
Darlius couldn't believe his ears. He wondered if Aconé's solitary journey had driven him mad.
"I swear it's true! Even if I haven't seen them with my own eyes, the hunters talked about them. Apparently, they're not around here. The lion is supposedly in Africa—if you don't know what that is, it's—"
"I know what Africa is, it's a continent!" Simone interrupted.
"…I was just explaining in case you didn't know. And the monkey is supposedly in Germany. And Germany is—" Aconé held back a laugh.
Simone shot him a death glare. "How about we ask Commander Darlius?"
"He's not dead?" Aconé said, surprised.
Darlius stepped up to the bars, and Aconé saw his face.
"He's very much alive," Aconé confirmed.
"It shocked me too," Simone admitted.
"What, did you all bet on my death or something?" Darlius said.
"Honestly, yeah. Everyone bet you were dead," Simone replied.
Darlius looked at Aconé.
Aconé nodded in confirmation.