After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World novel Chapter 816

Anyway, while the first batch was being sold, the rest remained in the ’holding area’. The place was dark with their sole source of light being the narrow opening in the curtains.

It was also very hot—simmering due to the number of people enclosed in an area. It was getting hard to breathe, and it wasn’t just the smell anymore.

They could hear the slave seller hype up the crowd below. When he said "Now for the next batch" everyone’s stomachs churned.

The curtain fluttered open, revealing two big men with at least level 20 in strength. They chose whoever was nearest to them, grabbing their arms and pulling them to the stage.

One cried, trying to stop him, though—with their strengths—what could they do even if they weren’t ’ordered’?

The other one just followed without struggle, having long succumbed to fate.

"So she just gave up?" a voice in the room would mumble, tone obviously dissatisfied.

A sigh from another side of the room followed the comment. "Who can blame her? As days pass, it seems like things just become more and more hopeless for us," the voice said. "It’s like there’s no end to our suffering."

"Perhaps… being a slave to townspeople won’t be so bad," said another, and many people started arguing with him.

People listened to the discussions, all with varying thoughts.

The two sides had a point in the end.

They were Terrans so they had a natural aversion to slavery in general. They just valued freedom above all else.

However, at the same time, how much worse could things get?

A lot of them had a hard time even back in their own territories, even when they were ’free’. They struggled to get something to eat and drink, and then they had to guard against strong monsters above that.

How much worse can aborigine territories be? At least they’d be more adjusted to this world, right? These people were also far stronger than they were, so at least they should live a bit better here.

At this time, they still didn’t understand how much worse it was outside their Terran bubble.

In any case, no matter what their view was, every and each one still tried to squeeze at the back and corners, hoping to be the last to be chosen.

It was inevitable, but most of them opted to prolong the suffering anyway.

As time passed, there were fewer and fewer people in the ’storage area’, their hearts beating loudly as they neared their fates.

Because they were so cuddled at the edges, the slave owners usually had to open the curtains wide and head inside to pull people up.

His eyes zoned in on a young woman. He grinned and extended his grubby arms to pull her up.

"Noooo!"

She screamed and the older man beside her immediately held her back. He was not very high-leveled but he used all his strength to pull her back.

"Wuu—"

"What the—" The slavedriver pulling looked behind to see what was going on. He frowned when he saw the girl was being pulled back.

He sneered and easily kicked him back. It wasn’t too strong—not to waste decent merchandise and all—but it wasn’t weak either, considering the level differences.

BANG!

"UNCLE!!"

The man coughed blood, but he turned and crawled.

The woman froze and turned and Gurnam saw her whole face—quite cute. She had a baby face, but she had determined eyes that made people curious.

These same determined eyes suddenly became teary at the sight of the boy next to him. "M-Milo?!"

The young lad sobbed and immediately crawled to embrace his sister. The woman also broke to tears, and the siblings held on tightly to each other as if afraid to part again.

It was a touching reunion amidst tragedy, and it made a few people smile despite themselves.

The curtain closed again as Yulia was sold, though it ended up being partially open so a bit of light still peered through.

Ersat concentrated and remembered the voice of the man who bought his only relative left, while the siblings were in their own world.

Gurnam couldn’t help but look at the silhouette of the girl for some reason. She just had that calming quality to her that he wanted to approach and, if possible, get close with as well.

He would’ve stared for longer had he not been distracted by a chuckle not far from him.

He turned to see that it was also a beautiful woman, and she was looking at the siblings with warm eyes.

She had wavy blonde hair, wearing a robe to hide much of herself despite the heat. She also had a large scar on her face, though Gurnam’s expert eyes as a former soldier could tell it might not be real.

If Gurnam knew Micheal, he’d find her very familiar. After all, she was his sister.

"Well, one good thing came out of this at least," she said, feeling happy for two people she didn’t even know.

Perhaps it was because it gave hope that something similar would happen to her as well.

They were slaves, sure, but at least they were together.