In the first three years, the empire would send fleets to conquer the planet Wumu from time to time. Iskali became a military camp, filled with battleships and soldiers. Similarly, the planet was also full of bars. In the past two years, the empire seemed to have acquiesced in the independence of the Sigma system. The warships staying on Iskali flew away one after another, and in the end only a cruiser fleet was left to station.
The army left, and most of the bars closed down. However, it was also during this period that the remaining garrison and some bounty hunters who did not leave with the army quietly seized the long-abandoned mines on the planet and made them operational again. At the same time, some bold businessmen also ran here from the inland systems of the empire and then went to trade in the territory controlled by the Free Alliance. Smugglers, arms dealers, and fugitives from other systems gradually became the permanent residents of Iskali. The planet is once again prosperous, but its prosperity is based on anarchy and lawlessness, and it has become a paradise for criminals.
Things that are prohibited in both the Free Alliance and the Empire, such as slave trade and drug trade, are also carried out openly here. Violent incidents abound; even if you kill someone on the street, no one will stop you. There are no police here, but there is a special underground order. The founder of this underground order is Colonel Cannon, the commander of the last Imperial cruiser fleet on Iskali. No matter who wants to do business here, and no matter what kind of business you do, you must pay protection fees to the army, and you must hand over 30% of the profits from the business to the army every time, otherwise, you will be asked to leave this planet. There was once an underground organization that wanted to break this order. As a result, in just one day, all the businesses of this underground organization on Iskali were stopped, and all the personnel stationed there were killed. Soon after, all its branches in the empire, even the headquarters, mysteriously evaporated across the galaxy.
Of course, Colonel Canon doesn't like to use violence to solve problems; he prefers to use money to speak. He often told the businessmen who had just come here, "This is a paradise for businessmen. No matter what business you do, as long as you follow the rules, you will be protected by the imperial army." Yes, Colonel Cannon said. Therefore, Iskali became prosperous again, and it was even officially named a demonstration area for free trade by the empire.
Scar Man is very satisfied with his current life. Since coming to Iskali, he no longer has to do his slave trading business as secretly as in the past. Here, as the leader of this planet, Colonel Carl, said, as long as he follows the rules, anything can be solved by doing things. Therefore, Scar Man's business is booming. In addition to customers from several nearby planets and galaxies, there are even customers from the imperial capital. Last month, a viscount came here after putting on makeup and bought several beautiful female slaves.
Scar Man is not his real name. He is called that because he has a long scar on his face. This is a souvenir from fighting the barbarians when he was serving in the army. It is also because of this scar that he quit the army. Scar Man misses the old days very much, when he and his comrades went deep into the barbarian planet, massacring those villages and destroying the ecology there. But the scarred man doesn't really want to go back to his old life. After all, it's a life on the edge of a knife, and he could die if he's not careful.
No matter how you say it, he is now a businessman, and it should be said that he is still a moderately successful businessman. At least that's what the scarred man thinks. Today, he owns the largest slave auction house in Iskali. He has his own personal guard and five specialized slave transport ships. Scar Man is even considering whether to buy a decommissioned destroyer from the colonel as his own personal car.
Today, one of Scar Man's slave ships arrived at the port. He just went to the tarmac to take a look. This batch of goods is not bad and should be sold at a good price. Although the filial piety paid to the colonel has to be deducted, what is left is still a considerable income. Scar Man ordered his men to go to his auction house to tidy up and prepare for opening. The advertisement for this auction was advertised through the special channels of the Interstellar Network as early as a week ago, and several big buyers have arrived in Iskali in the past two days.
Green had been in a coma for almost a day and night since he fainted in the open square of New Athens last time. When he woke up, he found that he was already on a crowded cargo ship. As soon as he regained consciousness, a pungent smell entered his lungs. "Cough! Cough!" Green coughed violently after smelling this smell.
"Hey, kid, you finally woke up!" A big man said, tapping Green on the shoulder.
The big man's hand was so strong that Green felt like his shoulder blades were about to be shattered. "Where am I? Who are you?"
"My name is Hank. Do you see the door diagonally above? We are in the bottom cabin of a transport ship," the big man who called himself Hank told Green.
"The bilge of the transport ship?" Green was a little confused. He remembered that he was in New Athens before, and he saw the wedding of Angel and the emperor. Thinking of Angel, Green suddenly felt a cramp in his chest.
"Hey, buddy, are you okay?" Hank asked concernedly, probably because he saw something wrong with Green's expression.
"I'm fine. My name is Green. Can you tell me how I got on this boat?"
"I don't know how you got on this boat. I was caught by them. These beasts!" Hank said ruthlessly.
"Them? Who are they?"
"Slave traders! Man, let me tell you, we are all slaves now."
"Slaves, how can there be slaves in this world?" Green did not believe what he heard, but in front of him, what he saw shocked him. His eyesight finally adapted to the light in the cabin. He was now half-lying in a square closed room. There were almost everyone around him. Human excrement and vomit were everywhere on the ground, and the room was filled with a bad smell.
"Yes, the empire's textbooks say that slave trading was eliminated as early as the founding of the country. But when I became a slave myself, I realized that all this was a lie," Hank continued, "These slave traders are not human beings. They go around capturing lone tourists or able-bodied wanderers on various planets. I was caught by them when I was traveling alone among the stars."
"Do you know how many people like us are here?" Green pointed around.
"I haven't counted. The spaceship often stops on a certain planet, but they don't let us out again. They just keep throwing new arrivals from the door."
"The air here is so bad, what if someone dies? What to do?"
"If someone dies, they will find out immediately, and then someone will open the door, put down the rope ladder, walk down, and then carry the dead person away. There must be a monitor in this cabin." Hank said. He raised his head and looked around, as if to find the monitor. "They won't leave the dead here because if the dead are left here for a long time, more slaves will die. In this way, they will suffer a big loss."
Both men were silent. Suddenly, Green felt a little hungry in his stomach. He had never felt it before. After waking up, he started to feel hungry: "What do we usually eat?"
"Every day at a fixed time, someone drops the food in a big bucket. But looking at that thing makes me want to vomit, let alone eating it. But if you don't eat, you will just wait to die..." As he said that, Hank seemed to be gone. sound.
Green knew that there was nothing he could do now. Although he seemed to know Angel's whereabouts, could he go to the imperial capital to find her? Moreover, he has now fallen into the hands of slave traders, and he doesn't know where he will be sold by them after the ship arrives at its destination. Green suddenly felt discouraged. He felt that his life was a failure. Suddenly, he had the idea of suicide. He suddenly raised himself up with his hands, and then hit his head against the thick bulkhead.
When Hank pulled Green down, Green's forehead was already covered with blood. Hank tore off his clothes, wiped the blood from Green's forehead, and then simply wrapped it. "Don't do stupid things! Although we can't escape now, it doesn't mean we won't have the chance to escape in the future?! As long as we can survive, we can at least have the possibility of going home. Our relatives don't know what happened to us yet. They must still be waiting for us to go back! Only when you are alive can you have hope!"
Hank's words awakened Green, and he thought of his parents who were still at home, and of Angel. "Yes! I want to live, I want to go home, and I want to go to the imperial capital to see Angel!"
The door of the cabin was opened from above, a guy stuck his head, and then used a rope to drop a large wooden barrel. Everyone in the cabin suddenly crawled towards the wooden barrel. Some of the strong ones came to the barrel in advance, grabbed the moldy bread inside, and ran to their original seats to eat it.
Hank helped Green grab a piece of bread. The bread was very hard, and there were a few green spots visible on it. "There is hope only if we live!" Green closed his eyes and stuffed the bread into his mouth.
The barrels were quickly emptied, and those who did not get the food were basically those who were already sick or weak. For them, they could only wait to die. This time, if it weren't for Hank, Green wouldn't have anything to eat.
The barrel was put back, and suddenly another leather tube was put down. "Wow!" Water spilled out of the tube, and the person above shook the tube casually, as if rinsing something. Everyone in the cabin desperately raised their heads and opened their mouths, hoping that more water would enter their mouths.
Stopping and going, the transport ship seemed to have landed on a dozen planets. Then it didn't dock again for a long time. In this dim cabin, time has become unimportant. No one can remember what day it is. Everyone just hopes that they can reach the destination alive.
Today, suddenly the hatch was opened, and the rope ladder was lowered. The people above told the slaves in the cabin to climb up. Everyone climbed up the ladder with almost all their remaining strength.
Arriving at the upper passage, Green and the others discovered that the transport ship was so big that it had several cabins for slaves. At this time, all the slaves were kicked out of their cabins and then collectively rushed into a shower room. "Take off all your clothes and throw them in the shower room. I will give you pigs a bath today, and you will be given new clothes after the bath. Hurry up," a man shouted at the top of his lungs.
The slaves gathered together in confusion, and then conditionally began to take off their clothes under the stimulation of the whip, and then the door of the shower room was closed. "Wow!" Water spilled from the nozzle. This time, the slave traders seemed to have invested a lot of money, and the water kept falling, pouring on everyone.
"Ugh!" Some people started covering their faces and crying, some people raised their heads and opened their mouths to drink water, and some people started screaming. Soon after, everyone suddenly remembered something and started taking a shower. Everyone rubbed their bodies desperately, trying to wash away the misfortune along with the dirt on their bodies.
After taking a shower, everyone lined up naked and walked out of the shower room from the other door. When they came out, an expressionless man handed out linen clothes to the slaves. Two people stood next to him. A big guy with a gun.
They put on their clothes, and the hem of the clothes just covered their shameful parts. The slaves came to a large room with many long tables filled with food. The smell of the food made the slaves salivate, but no one dared to just run over and grab the food. At this time, the man who had just spoken in front of the shower room began to yell again: "You pigs, today is your last day on the ship, and tomorrow we will go to Iskali. The boss said that you will be fed today. You have to be full, otherwise you will look weak, and no one will spend money on you. Go and eat!" The last sound was accompanied by the sound of the whip, and the slaves finally realized that this food was for them, so everyone rushed to the table full of food. As for where Iskali is, no one will think about it now.
When they returned to the bottom cabin where they were held that day, it was obvious that the place had been cleaned, all the dirt was gone, and the air seemed to have been sprayed with freshener. This night was the most peaceful night the slaves slept on the ship.
A jolt woke all the slaves, and they finally arrived. An unknown fate awaits these poor people.