📘 CHAPTER 1 — LIVESTOCK
The cage shook violently.
Iron bars rattled as something massive passed by outside, each step sending tremors through the cracked concrete floor. Dust fell from the ceiling in thin streams. Inside the cage, more than a dozen people huddled together, knees pressed to chests, eyes hollow.
No one screamed anymore.
Screaming only made things come faster.
The MC pressed his forehead against his knees, hands shaking uncontrollably. His body was thin from hunger, his skin pale, his lips cracked. A metal tag hung from his neck, stamped with a number.
Not a name.
A number.
Outside the cage, a tall figure stopped. The temperature dropped instantly. A cold, suffocating pressure filled the air.
The MC slowly lifted his head.
Through the bars, he saw a man wearing a long black coat. On the man's exposed back was a massive tattoo — ten grotesque figures seated on thrones of bone. The tattoo was moving. Shadows leaked from it and pooled on the ground like living creatures.
Ghosts knelt.
The man glanced at the cages like a farmer inspecting animals.
"Batch 37," he said calmly. "Still alive."
The cage door opened.
The MC's vision went black.