"I want you to have a good look at yourself and do your best in this competition," Mr Huo told her. "I want you to stay safe and not go wandering around outside at night. I also want to know where the black monolith you used to get here is. That is how you crossed over, correct?"
That was all he wanted from her in order to be willing to help her? Really? Ok. She could do that. She hoped.
"Yes, but I didn't find or see it when I woke up here," Stacey said in a low voice and told him what she knew. "I want to go home," she said after she finished telling him everything.
"Not until this program has finished and you have proven to me that you aren't a waste of all the money and resources I'm pouring into you. I'm a businessman," Mr Huo said with a glint in his eyes. "If you're no longer useful or you betray me, I will hunt you down until I manage to get back however much you owe me. Do you understand?"
He would hunt her down? So aggressive. As if she had anywhere she could run and hide here anyway. She didn't even know how to fight. She couldn't speak Tadpole and so nobody would give her work if she did try to run. Where could she run to? She was stuck. Stuck with him. He was her only glimmer of hope and help in this place. The only other Earthling that she knew of.
"Right now, you owe me a lot of money and having a battle with those beastmen instead of continuing the program as usual is going to cost a lot more. You'd better work hard to earn it all back for me or I won't help you. Getting you back to your home on Earth will require a lot of time and money. You'd need medical monitoring and possible transport on Earth if you went back - if you survived a second trip. It's already amazing you came through relatively unaffected. Do you still have your apartment key? Give it to me later. Non-living things have a much higher chance of passing unscathed and actually arrive on the other end. I'll arrange for someone to take care of your things over there."
True. She owed him a lot of money now.
Wait.
Actually arrive on the other end? So it was possible to never make it through? She could die while attempting to go home? Stacey shivered at the thought. Did she want to live or die while trying to go home? What an option that was.
If she wanted to survive, she needed to know more.
"What was that about the beastmen?" Stacey shivered in the cold. Her clothes were damp with sweat. "What are they, exactly? Is there really going to be a battle?"
"I have no idea how you survived before you joined my show by accident," Mr Huo snorted. "You must've been lucky. The beastmen are the indigenous life forms on this planet. They live together with the Ancients in a mutually beneficial arrangement and usually act or liaise with humans on behalf of the Ancients.
Under the lead of their so-called gods and the ancient races on Earth, there used to be an almost free mixing of Earth's people and the beings on this planet - in a manner of speaking. The trips were usually one way journeys though. The people of Gaius who went to Earth knew there would be no returning. They tried to establish their own empires there instead."
Empires? Like the Greek or Roman empires?
"Earth's people were often captured and brought here as slaves or commodities during different periods of time and from many different places on Earth via the black monoliths. That's why there are similar technologies and a mix of cultures here. That is what happened until the development of modern weapons."
Alright. That made sense. Sort of. Why some of the technology from Earth was familiar here but also why some of the technology here had never been seen on Earth before. Stacey nodded her understanding.
"Tadpole was one of the first languages brought here from Earth thousands of years ago but over time, it has evolved and merged with others into a completely different language from what it was. It could be considered a branch of the Chinese language but then its cuneiform script could also be considered a branch of Old Persian cuneiform. Most of this planet still prefers Tadpole as the original common language across the planet but that's gradually changing now. This country just happens to use English as their other common language as opposed to Chinese, Germanic or Cyrillic languages, to name a few."
So that was why people could speak English here. The history of Tadpole sounded complicated. No wonder the language and two forms of script were also so confusing. Tadpole, like English, was a mashup of languages - only much older.
Mr Huo turned off his torchlight and continued talking, hugging Stacey's shivering body and rubbing her cold arms. At first, she stiffened, unsure of what he was doing and why, but when he did nothing else, she leaned into him a bit. It was way too cold out here and she was shivering hard. His body was warm and his touch was comforting despite his earlier harsh words. Maybe he was one of those people who were all bark and no bite.
"The people living here rose up in revolt against the rule of the beastmen gods and the Ancients that ruled here for thousands of years. The Ancients were almost all wiped out - which is a good thing. Think of the ancient Greek, Norse or Egyptian pantheons and you'll have an idea of what the Ancients were like. They're like humans but tend to be bigger and stronger. Some of them are giants or large beastmen." Mr Huo said.
Ancient pantheons... those gods weren't just stories? There really were lightning wielding, animal headed, children eating giants?
"As for the gods, think of the Greek primordial gods and the titans. They're currently in hibernation and recovering from the last war. We hope they never wake up again or this world will devolve into war and bloodshed again."