The inside of the factory was very dark and humid as if it was the interior of some old dungeon.
The floor was made out of broken tiles and the walls were rusty to the point where they threatened to crumble down at any given moment.
There were even bats hung up on the wall and rats living in the corners of the corridor. All in all, it was a place worse than the sewage pipes.
Even Acht had to close his nose to stop the horrifying smell from invading his senses.
He then moved quickly until the end of the corridor while keeping his presence as hidden as possible since he knew there was a person inside with him.
When he reached the end of the corridor, he found a stairway that led deeper into the factory. Or to be more precise, the factory's basement.
After making sure no one was close by, he made his way down as carefully as possible.
The stairs were very long so it took him some time to reach the basement. That's when he heard something.
"You fucking little shits. Stay back! I said stay back!!!"
He heard the sound of someone shouting not so far away from where he stood.
But, he didn't immediately move closer as he wanted to hear more so he could discern what kind of situation it was.
'There are a lot of people inside. They are the source of this strong soul force that's surrounding the factory.' He thought to himself as he was now sensing this energy far more clearly than before.
"Come over here, you bastards. We are going to the laboratory. Better stay quiet or I will kill you!" The man shouted again with clear irritation.
Then, Acht heard the sound of some silent weeping and some rustling here and there.
Then, with no other choice, he stepped closer and closer before he took a peek inside.
There, he saw one of the most disturbing things he had ever seen in his whole life.
Rows and rows of cages made out of iron. In each one of these cages, there were small children. Tens and tens of small children with barely any clothes on and with hollow looks filling their eyes.
Acht couldn't describe how bad the smell was. It was so repulsive that even pigs will get disgusted by it.
This place was simply even worse than pig farms.
'What's this?' His eyes widened with shock.
It was just way too much to see even for someone as cold-hearted as Acht. Seeing such a scene and not making any reaction was simply out of the question.
Then, Acht's eyes moved to look at the man walking away while holding two small children in his hand.
He could see they were unwilling to go as they extended their hands while begging for their lives.
But, even though he could've moved to save them, Acht decided to wait for some more time. Any stupid move and he will be swarmed by a horde of men who work in this horrible place.
The man then opened another door and went inside.
After making sure he was totally gone, Acht stepped out from his hiding and walked between the rows of cages.
Each one of the children he saw made his heart churn with pain. He had never seen such a disgusting act before in his life. Human trafficking was indeed a thing back on earth and he saw it with his own eyes.
But, the conditions in which the others were trapped were far better than this.
What made it even more impactful on him is the fact that he could see himself in these children. Just a hopeless existence trying to make it through to the next day and even questioning why he was even trying to live for another day. That was his life and it was similar to the one these kids were living.
When the kids saw him, some of them tried to shout or call for him, but what ended up coming out was incomprehensible mumbles.
"Shhhh! Could you keep quiet for now? I will get you out later." He made a gesture for them.
The kids understood his words and even though they didn't fully believe him, they had nothing to lose if they followed his orders.
He didn't even think about it twice. Even if he was a scumbag, even if he was a piece of shit. Saving these kids was just the simplest thing he wanted to do.
'Why are they holding them hostages? Isn't this place a drug laboratory?' he thought to himself.
Acht expected to see some high-tech lab with all kinds of equipment that was creating the drugs out of chemical substances. But instead, he found a prison full of children which generated an idea in his head that made him shudder.
'There is no way, right?' he thought to himself before shaking that idea. He was underestimating how cruel humans could be when they wanted to.
He reached the door and opened it before walking inside.
Immediately, the scenery changed from that rundown shit hole to what appeared like a Clinique.
Even the smell immediately disappeared and was replaced with the strong odor of alcohol.
'These hypocritical bastards.' Acht cursed under his breath as his eyes turned a degree colder.
Then, he continued to walk in this place while searching for the main laboratory.
He had to follow the traces of the man and the two children. So, in the end, he found himself in front of a metallic door.
It was very sturdy and weighed no less than two tons. Beside the door was a glass window.
He took a peek at the inside. There, he saw the man along with 5 other men wearing the same lab coat surrounding a table.
On the table was one of the kids, he was pinned down with ropes and chains so he didn't move while the others did something that made Acht question if this world was salvageable or not.
They were opening his chest with surgical knives and other tools made for such operations.
The kid was screaming with pain and suffering as he muttered some incoherent words.
The men ignored his pleas and ultimately opened his chest like a watermelon. Inside, there was his beating heart and beside it was a red stone…it was his soul stone.
Then, they grabbed that soul stone and started hitting it with a hammer. Each hit made the boy scream even higher.
They kept hitting and hitting until his voice disappeared and he lost consciousness.
They only stopped when they chipped a part of the soul stone. The part they cut off was not that big but considering the fact that it came out of a human being made that small piece of stone a horrible thing to look at.
Then, with disgusting smiles on their face, they threw the soul stone inside a tube to clean it from blood.
Seeing such a scene, Acht felt something click in his head. Everything now made sense for him. He understood why it was called soul amplifiers. He also understood why it was illegal and why the one who posted this mission gave 6 times the normal reward for any information on this business.
"And here I thought this world could be fun. I even had this small hope that this place might be better than my previous world. Hehehe, humans are humans after all. Changing the world won't change their nature." He chuckled quietly at his naive self.
Then, with a cold yet also a sad look, he pulled out his sword.
"I will not get out of here until I make these scumbags feel the consequences of their actions." He said as he looked at his white sword and the triangular object.
Then, he stood up and walked to the door. Using the black liquid he had, he made it form a key and shoved it inside the door to open it up. He kept changing the form of the key until it fit perfectly inside the keyhole. In normal cases, it was a very hard thing to do, but Acht was accustomed to opening closed doors with his skills so it was like a walk in the park for him.
After a few seconds, the door arched slightly before Acht kicked it fully open.
The men yelped from their places in surprise. They were about to drag the second boy to do the same thing to him.
"Hey, you lot. Do you have a god you believe in?" Acht asked them with a low tone.
The men didn't answer immediately as they were still frozen with shock.
"You know what, don't answer the question. It doesn't really matter whether you do or not. Those gods won't be saving you today anyway."
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