Another workday had arrived.
Shaking off the lingering feeling for the sky, Rehema was pulled back into the dark workshop full of dust and lead fragments to continue working on the firearms assembly line.
In the current situation, people couldn't feel secure without ammunition. Guns and ammunition were not just for dealing with Gastrea alone.
Hence, factories of this type operated tirelessly.
Rehema was a part of that.
Because she possessed the Cursed Child gene, the damage from the poor environment inside the workshop couldn't affect her. But others were not so lucky.
There were times when Rehema saw people next to her or nearby coughing up blood, or collapsing from illness. Starting from panic, she was now numb. Rehema now only wished she could take her siblings out of this miserable life, out of this hell.
Although the colonies were nothing more than discarded entities that could be casually tossed aside by the safe zones, the authorities still needed a stick and a carrot to make the refugees work for them.
If you were a refugee in the colony, you only needed to pay a "small" fee to the landlords there to secure a spot to travel to the safe zones. A simple, easy-to-understand request that was enough to drive the refugees crazy.
Living in a safe zone meant living under the protection of the military and varanium, no longer having to fear being swept away by a wave of Gastrea every day.
That was Rehema's goal.
However, even the girl herself knew how difficult her goal was.
90% of people would die during this process. 9% would continue to live, but could only barely survive day by day and couldn't accumulate that fee. Only 1% of people could successfully board a plane and leave the colony area.
Despite the difficulty, Rehema knew she was close to succeeding.
After all... she was a Cursed Child. Her physical constitution could not be judged by common sense; enduring starvation and laboring with an intensity enough to kill an adult was a daily activity for her.
Rehema's accumulation rate was also much faster than others. Even her two siblings could only eat one meal a day, and she often went with an empty stomach all day. It was all to save money.
Because the scrawny foreman hadn't bothered her lately, Rehema worked frantically.
Day after day after day...
Rehema labored, losing track of time, finally accumulating enough money to pay the fee. She felt herself gaining more strength every day, but that wasn't a good sign, because it was an indication that the corrosion rate of the Gastrea virus had increased.
Rehema remained completely unaware of this. To her, as long as she concealed her red eyes, the Gastrea virus wouldn't be activated. While the truth was that the Gastrea virus was constantly infecting the Cursed Child every moment.
Although avoiding combat would stretch out this corrosion period, without inhibitors, the virus would eventually progress to the 50% rate anyway.
"Onuris, Oseye, let's go."
Rehema returned home, packed their meager belongings into a cloth bag slung over her shoulder, and led her two siblings straight to the landlord's building. She was unaware that on the way, she was accidentally spotted and secretly followed by the foreman.
The landlord was extremely surprised that the person delivering the money was three children, but he didn't show much reaction, casually giving the three a seat and then leaving.
With a restless and anxious feeling, Rehema sat there waiting. Her two siblings sat quietly and extremely obediently, not daring to make a fuss, because they knew how haggard their sister was.
The three children waited, but from early morning until late evening, no one paid them any attention.
Rehema became anxious and rushed to ask the landlord. But before she even saw the landlord's face, she was stopped by the landlord's brutal guards.
Out of options, Rehema could only wait with her siblings again, sleeping in the cold all night.
The next morning, seeing the landlord walk past her, Rehema was excited, rushing over, hoping to board the plane to the safe zone. Her only reply was the landlord's mocking expression.
"Sorry, this month's slots are used up. Wait until next month."
Rehema stepped forward, wanting to demand her money back, and was immediately punched in the stomach by a nearby guard. The girl felt a surge of rage reaching its peak, but even as a Cursed Child, Rehema was too weak. She was immediately assaulted in turns by several guards, then thrown out onto the street with the other children.
The sky was still blue when Rehema saw it, but in Rehema's eyes, only despair remained.
Finally, the girl took the two children back to the shabby house they were in before, and then returned to the factory to work.
This time, unfortunately for Rehema, the foreman finally revealed his snake-like tongue.
"Rehema, I know why you're pushing yourself so hard. And why you haven't revealed your Cursed Child identity."
"You're afraid that after you're captured by the Witches' Corps, you'll have to abandon your two siblings, aren't you?"
Hearing the foreman whisper that, Rehema trembled slightly.
Yes, all Cursed Children would be forced into the Witches' Corps, whether they were refugees or not.
The Witches' Corps was a military force composed of Cursed Children from Russia. It competes similarly to the IISO's Civil Security. Although they were said to live in the safe zones, the Witches' Corps always had to fight on the front lines against the Gastrea, or act as spies infiltrating other organizations. In other words, a Cursed Child joining here was essentially afraid their life was not long enough.
However, joining this organization was mandatory for a Cursed Child; there was no other choice.
Rehema was not afraid of death, but she was afraid that her two siblings wouldn't survive after she died.
"Rehema, if you just agree to my request. I can increase your salary, two, three times as much. That way, you can quickly accumulate the money for the trip to the safe zone, can't you?"
Proposing such a vile request to a ten-year-old girl was enough to demonstrate how rotten this place was. Living in hell for too long, one eventually turns into a devil.
Rehema silently returned home.
She didn't agree to the foreman's "suggestion," but she didn't refuse either.
When Rehema arrived home, she saw Onuris crying out. It turned out that Oseye had fallen ill and now had a high fever.
Rehema was desperate.
Medicine was too expensive, and she didn't have much money left on her.
Nighttime.
Only after her two siblings had fallen asleep did Rehema sneak outside.
She sat on the ground, her eyes lifelessly gazing up at the night sky. Because most of civilization had been destroyed, light pollution was significantly reduced, and the starry sky could be seen clearly.
But Rehema had no mood to look.
She had fantasized countless times that an angel would descend from the stars, taking all the suffering from this world.
But the stars remained just distant and cold specks of light.
Rehema burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably, crying very heartbreakingly.
Since her mother died, Rehema had not shed a single tear again. Because she knew that crying was the most helpless measure.
Now, she was finally physically and mentally exhausted.
The thought of ending her life even crossed Rehema's mind. But thinking of her two siblings at home, Rehema felt sharp pain, and eventually suppressed the intention.