“My name is Vice Commander Liam, the commander of this camp, and today I will be enforcing the emperor’s justice!”

“These six people have been sentenced to a lifetime in the mines, but they tried to escape! And now, they will be punished accordingly.”

The next day, in front of all the hundreds of slaves, the Sullivan soldiers tied Chris and the five other teens that tried to escape to six wooden poles.

Patel was among the teens. His expression turned as he realized what happened. He couldn’t just abandon these six teens. Emotionally, they were his people. Logically, they represented more militias. But there was nothing he could do. He spent the entire night uniting the teens that he could contact. They didn't have an army. If they fought, they would merely add to the prisoner count.

Raymond stood among the Sullivan ranks. He lowered his head and closed his eyes, hoping everyone would forget about him. He tried to convince Liam that it would be better if he remained undercover among the teens so he could keep on feeding Liam information, but Liam had other opinions in mind. Raymond didn't dare resisting.

Jerry was among the observers. He kept Alex hidden under his bed. Hopefully, nothing would happen to her while he was gone.

Behind the Sullivan soldiers, Jonah and Sophia were watching the scene as well. As the things unfolded, Jonah turned to Sophia. The girl almost flinched, but she forced herself to stop. She knew if she backed away, she would only be punished more.

“See? Without me, you might be one of them. After you see what happens to them, you will be glad you’re with me.”

Sophia forced out a smile.

Tied to a pole, Chris turned to the other prisoners and sighed.

“Sorry, guys.”

Vice Commander Liam waved his hand. A line of Sullivan soldiers walked up to the prisoners. Two men carried a large metal cart over. One of them reached inside with a metal stick and pulled out a piece of iron.

“We can’t kill you. That will be a mercy. Instead, we will make your life hell. Hopefully it will convince your friends to learn to obey.” Liam announced as the soldier pressed the iron onto one of the prisoners, who screamed.

“Work, and you may live. Try to flee, and you will learn death will not be the most menacing thing.”

The soldier went on to the next prisoner. As the scream rang out, Liam turned to Raymond.

“Step forward, my loyal servant.”

Raymond felt his face burning. He didn't want to do this. He wanted to either run away and hide under a rock until the end of the world or punch Liam in the face. But he could do neither. Doing anything except for obeying would get himself killed.

He took a step forward.

All the teens looked at Raymond in shock and confusion.

Liam smirked.

“When those fools down there wanted to run, Raymond here came to me and informed me. Thanks to him, I escaped the fate of losing six slaves. As a result of his correct decision, he will be rewarded handsomely.” He clapped again, and two soldiers dragged over a heavy chest. One of the men opened the chest and revealed it to be filled with gold.

Liam had his plans. Using only force to subdue the slaves might be efficient on the surface, but it would also plant the seeds for resistance. Even in the ideal case, it would lead to a drop in the efficiency to the workers. He needed to use both punishments and rewards. Burning the escapees, that was the punishment. Giving Liam gold, that was the reward.

Sure, Raymond might get cornered in some ditch and get stabbed to death or eaten alive by the other slaves for his betrayal, but why did he care? All he needed was an example.

The prisoners’ gazes turned from that of confusion to that of anger, but there was nothing he could do.

Jerry watched along with the others. He had some sympathy for the tortured escapees, but a part of him knew they saw it coming. They trusted the wrong people and decided to take some risk, and they paid the price. He didn't really care about them. Alex was safe. Good. He would save the prisoners if he could, but he couldn’t.

On the other side, it was finally Chris’s turn. The man stared into the soldier’s eyes.

“I swear to god I’m gonna kill you.”

The soldier pressed the iron onto his chest.

When the torture was over, for the moment, Liam took another step forward.

“Now, according to Raymond, there is one more escapee. Girl named Alex.” He announced. “She has gone into hiding. Where is she?”

The crowd exchanged confused looks.

“She couldn’t have gone into hiding all by herself. The fences weren’t breached. The gate wasn’t breached. Where is she?”

Liam pushed. A lesser person might wonder what was the big deal of a single escapee, but Liam knew if he let her go unpunished, it would be sending a signal that resistance, as long as it was done carefully, was ok. He needed to crush that idea before it could truly take place.

Honestly, Liam felt a little exhausted. If it was up to him, he would order all the escapees to be burned alive and even one third of the camp be massacred just to make an example. He was sure no one would dare escaping after that. Even if someone tried it, the others would stop them for fear of retaliation. Unfortunately, things weren’t as easy. The Sullivan Empire was at war with the Crescent Empire, and resources were dragged thin. He needed every single man he could get. If he slowed down the mining progress because of his impatience...the Sullivan hierarchy was rigid. Just because he was Vice Commander didn't mean he could get a free pass for screwing up.

Jerry did his best to keep a poker face. Deep down, he kept on reassuring himself. Neither Raymond nor Chris knew he hid Alex. As long as he kept quiet about this, there was nothing the Sullivan guards could do. They would have no choice but to let it slide.

Liam waited ten seconds and the crowd was still silent. Slightly disappointed, he turned to Raymond.

“Who is Alex closest to?”

As soon as that question was asked, Jerry knew he was in trouble. He just realized something. This wasn’t back on Earth. As far as he saw, the concept of rule of law and innocent until proven guilty didn't exist. All the teens were captured literally because they happened to be in the way of a group of Sullivan calvary. If Liam felt like he harbored Alex, whether he has evidence or not, he could take action.

Raymond took a deep breath before turning and pointing to Jerry.

“Oh crap…”

All eyes turned to Jerry. He twitched uncomfortably. He really didn't enjoy being the focus of the attention. Of course, that discomfort ranked second compared to the fear of what was going to happen next.

Stay calm. Fear and anger can only lead to a quicker end.

“Please.” He begged and allowed his fear to take over control of his face and his voice. “Show mercy! I don’t know where she is!”

Mercy wasn’t something Liam had in mind. He snapped his finger, and four Sullivan soldiers walked into the crowd and grabbed onto Jerry and pushed him onto the stage.

Jerry lowered his head as he faced Liam.

“Please...I have did everything you told me to…please don’t hurt me.”

Liam smirked before waving for the soldiers to step back. He suddenly reached into his belt and pulled out a dagger.

Jerry flinched. He took a deep breath and evaluated if he could grab the dagger and kill the Sullivan officer and then get out alive. He decided he couldn’t. Then again, he silently made up his mind. If this Commander Liam wanted to make an example of him, he wouldn’t die without a fight. A possibility of survival, no matter how small, was always better than no possibility at all. It was all in the numbers.

”Please…”

Liam suddenly grabbed onto Jerry by the neck and pulled him in. As soon as his arm made contact with Jerry’s neck, Jerry knew fighting was really the worst possible idea. The commander was perhaps twice as strong as he was.

Liam stuck his dagger next to Jerry’s neck and started pushing it in slowly. Jerry shook both in fear and in pain. The cold piece of metal right next to his warm skin constantly reminded him that he might be dead the next second.

“I am going to ask you one last time. Where is that girl?”

“Look, if I know where she is, I will lead you to her within a heartbeat.”

“In that case, let’s ask fate, shall we?” Liam suddenly pushed Jerry onto the ground. As he got back, he heard Liam talking to his guards.

“Bring him to the pole.”

Jerry gulped as he was dragged to one of the polls twenty meters away from the commander. At first he thought he would be involved in one of those sick branding processes Liam did to the escapees. Fortunately, that wasn’t what Liam had in mind. Unfortunately, that wasn’t what Liam had in mind.

Liam picked up a bow and placed three arrows in a counter in front of him.

Jerry coughed as the Vice Commander placed an arrow on the bow before pulling it. The arrow was trained on Jerry’s direction. Liam turned his face to the audience, who were either worried or angry.

“Anyone?”

No answer came up.

“Fine.”

Liam said before unleashing the arrow.

The arrow flew through the air. On the other end, Jerry watched as it approached, but he couldn’t do anything to stop it. The arrow was in front of him in less than a second.

“Sssssss.” He hissed.

The arrow whizzed beside his left leg. It didn't touch him, not in the slightest, but he wasn’t exactly reassured. His heart was beating so hard he felt like it was getting out of his chest. Just seconds ago, he kept on brainwashing himself that he wasn’t in any real danger. Liam was just making a show for it. Now he realized his mistake.

As far as he could see, across this much distance, Liam had no control over if the arrow missed or if it landed on his chest.

Fear started creeping into his heart. Oh how he wished he couldn’t feel fear.

“Oh god.” Sophia whispered on the side and turned away, but Jonah grabbed onto her neck and forced her to watch.

Patel held his fist tight. He wasn’t a fan of Jerry and his cowardice, but this didn't mean he was fine with seeing Jerry suffer.

“Anyone?” Liam loaded another arrow.

The field was dead silent.

Jerry held his fist tight and tried to breathe. He considered summoning units, but even if his hands weren’t too tied to control the interface, a single militia in ten minutes wouldn’t do anything.

Another arrow flew by. This time it left a long slash on his right shoulder. Jerry screamed before catching himself. If he was going to die, he wasn’t going to die filled with emotions.

Liam loaded the last arrow and pointed at Jerry’s head.

“Last chance.” He shouted.

Jerry closed his eyes.

The arrow was unleashed. It went through the air before finding its target.

“pff”

It took Jerry two seconds to realize he didn't feel any pain on his body. He opened his eyes and looked around. Immediately, he saw the arrow, which landed just a couple centimeters on the pole above his head.

“Bring this Alex to me, or the next time I will do the same thing to one of you.” Liam announced at the slaves. “Trust me. He’s lucky this time. The next person might not share that luck.”

His plan was going on well. Whoever harbored Alex would think twice about keeping the girl safe. The boy he just shot out was probably scared to death. People have a tendency to submit to the stronger party and then blame the weaker party for their pain. The boy wouldn’t dare blame Liam for it, so he would likely place the blames on Alex. He could be a helpful tool to hunt Alex down.

It was the only reason he allowed Jerry to live. Otherwise, he would gladly nail the boy to the pole and watch him bleed to death.