On this land, not everyone had come by choice.

A large portion of people had been driven here or forcibly loaded and then dropped off.

Among these people, aside from the few who had adapted to Briar’s environment, the rest dreamt only of leaving this place.

Even being driven to wander the outside world was better than staying in a place where cannibalism was practiced.

"Stealing spaceship tickets" had been temporarily put on hold.

Seventeen told Hannah not to think about it for now, he would figure out a way to locate the tickets later.

Hannah just nodded, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

...

Hannah had promised Seventeen not to always worry about the tickets.

But when she stopped worrying, others came looking for her.

Today’s match had been added at the last minute, but it was only when Hannah arrived at the beast-fighting arena that she learned the extra match was just a front.

The owner of the arena wanted to see her.

In a private room, apart from two guards standing at the door, there was only the owner himself.

The owner of the arena was a middle-aged man who appeared to be in his fifties or sixties, with slightly white temples. His dress and manners were quite refined, not at all what one might expect from someone involved in the beast-fighting business.

When Hannah walked in, the owner gestured with his hand, dismissing everyone else from the room.

With everyone gone, the room became quiet.

The man’s eyes, though dim, were sharp as he said, "Do you and your brother want to leave the beast-fighting arena?"

Hannah and Seventeen were employees of the arena, and according to the rules, they were bound to work there for life. Unauthorized departure would result in them being hunted down.

Therefore, Hannah did not nod.

But she also didn’t shake her head.

The owner just smiled, his narrowed eyes showing obvious fine lines, "Maybe I should rephrase the question, do you and your brother want to leave Briar?"

A year had passed, and the girl who had aged another year was now eleven.

However, an eleven-year-old girl wasn’t someone with deep scheming, nor was she skilled at pretense.

She made no response, just stared with her clear black and white eyes at the man behind the desk.

"Can’t speak? It doesn’t matter."

The owner moved aside a book in front of him, revealing two spaceship tickets that had been pressed underneath.

Spaceship tickets were very special. Due to the multitude of interstellar powers, in order to prevent collisions during starship flights, ordinary starship journeys had to be planned six months in advance.

Thus, the two starship tickets the owner had were for six months later.

Now everything was crystal clear, this was a bargaining chip.

"What do you want?"

Hannah’s voice was clear and crisp.

The owner was not surprised, just rested his chin on his interlaced hands, "I’m just very curious about what kind of structure someone like you, who has strong healing ability... might have?"

He paused deliberately, his expression looking quite eerie. "Are you a monster?"

Hannah’s hand hanging by her side tightened slightly.

She kept silent.

After a moment, she spoke, "Do you want to dissect me?"

The owner shook his head, "No, I just want to conduct a very, very small experiment. Of course, whether you can survive will be up to you."

A research session for two tickets.

Whether it was worth it was for Hannah to decide.

That night, Hannah did not return. She was taken to a secret underground laboratory in Briar.

Briar produced evil men, and evil men were madmen.

Some were curious about the limit of Hannah’s talent, but the matches in the arena could not provide the answers. On the contrary, they made Hannah grow a lot.