I stared silently as the two sides argued, showing how virtuous they both were. The same thing happened in my past life as both sides made use of humans as pawns. One labelled the humans as evil creatures who would consume a large portion of the available resources while the other wanted to collaborate with the humans but only to suppress the other side and obtain useful information on Earth’s technology.

I already predicted that this conflict was going to take place. The Healing Temple and CRAFT were competitors who only agreed to work together after receiving orders from the city hall. At the moment, most of the research was focused on humans; there was no doubt that this conference would be centred around them. For the Healing Temple to bring a free human, while the whole conference was discussing how to use them as raw materials, was indeed controversial.

Nevertheless, the leaders of the two sides were not going to embarrass themselves in public. The Tauren shook his head and spoke coldly. “Since he is an apprentice of the Healing Temple, the human can naturally attend the conference. But please do not wander around or you may be taken for one of the captured humans.”

The snow elf snorted unhappily but he could only comply with his superior. The Tauren left soon after with Alanna after giving a few additional instructions to some of the nearby staff members. “Inform the others of the presence of this human and to not touch him. Also, make sure to keep an eye out in case other issues like this arise around the human.”

I was finally allowed to enter and followed behind Eliss who has returned to her usual dull and cold self. The gaze of the crowd lingered on my back for longer than I would have liked but soon, they all lost interest in me.

We stood in a large hall where some refreshments were served. The conference was going to start in a few minutes, but a few invitees had yet to show up. “Eliss. Do I really have to attend this conference? I assume that you have already accomplished your goal of provoking CRAFT.” I asked with a low voice.

The dark elf raised an eyebrow as she took a sip of her drink. “I am not interested in this conference either, but the Hall Master has spoken, and everyone should attend it. They may have made some important discoveries. Furthermore, we are also here for moral support since the Healing Temple will also be presenting a few things.”

“Right…”

“You can just close your eyes and take a nap if you don’t want to listen to the craftsmen speaking about the human organs and their properties.”

I sighed and fell silent. I listened to the conversations taking place around me but there was nothing interesting to learn. As time went by, more and more people showed up until I heard another commotion taking place at the entrance.

Like the others, I became curious and moved closer to have a better look. To my surprise, a large group of humans was being escorted inside the complex of CRAFT. The humans were all chained to each other and were being escorted by a group of bounty hunters to the back of the building.

I felt some pity for them as only God knew what kind of torture they were going to experience in the hands of the researchers of CRAFT.

“What is it? Feeling angry that your fellow humans are all going to die soon?” The snow elf taunted while smirking. I inadvertently moved closer to him as I tried to get a better view of the scene.

I glanced at the snow elf and rolled my eyes. What was the point of answering him?

However, at that very moment, I heard a loud high-pitched voice.

“Alex!”

“Alex! Help me!”

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“Who?” I felt confused as I heard my name. I shifted my gaze toward the source of the shouts. A few humans were looking at me shouting for help. I narrowed my eyes as I tried to remember their faces. They seemed vaguely familiar and soon, I managed to recognise one of them.

‘Xia Shiyu?’

About fifty humans have been captured by this group of bounty hunters. And among them, I noticed a group of Asians. One of the women particularly stood out of this group and it did not take long for me to recall my encounter with her. She was one of the hunters I was matched with on the zeroth floor. Unfortunately, we were not exactly friends. On the zeroth floor, I was minding my own business and collecting the resources I needed but upon noticing my success, Xia Shiyu became greedy and jealous. I suspected that she was the one leading the hunters who chased me out of the zeroth floor, but I had no way of confirming this.

“It looks like these humans know you. What a coincidence! Are you not going to do anything?” The snow elf taunted with his poisonous voice.

“Alex! Help!”

“I know we had some differences in the past, but we should put them behind us.”

Xia Shiyu was not the only one shouting, trying to attract my attention. A few other Asians did the same and I suspected that they were the members of Xia Shiyu’s previous team. Their shouts caused a commotion and many other humans raised their head. They looked in my direction with eyes full of hope. Maybe there was a chance to survive this ordeal after all?

However, the bounty hunters also reacted. They did not like to see the previously docile and despairing humans suddenly become agitated at the sight of a potential saviour. The bounty hunters stepped forward and punched the shouting humans a few times.

“Would you look at that. Your friends are suffering right in front of your eyes, but you are pretending to not know them. How cruel…” The snow elf continued to taunt me.

I clicked my tongue in annoyance as the snow elf kept trying to get me to act. He knew that if I were to take action, the Healing Temple would not be able to cover me anymore, especially if I harmed someone in the process.

“Alex!”

“Mister! Please help!”

The other humans also began to rebel. They have also all realised that I was probably their last hope to get out of this situation. I looked unharmed and in good shape despite being in the presence of the races who hunted them.

I remained silent, ignoring the taunts of the snow elf and the cries for help of the humans. Did I need to put myself in jeopardy for strangers and the people who tried to harm me? The answer was an obvious no and I was not planning on doing anything despite the judgemental stares I was receiving from the other craftsmen.

But that was until my eyes fell on one of the humans near the back of the line. He was also shouting at me like everyone else, but he called me by name instead of ‘mister’. Even though it has been a long time since I have seen that person, I almost instantly recognised him because of the physical similarities he shared with me.

I recalled that his name was John. Officially, he was my cousin, but several gossips were running in my family that the bastard I called ‘father’, was the actual father of my cousin. The physical similarities we shared were evident and we were quite close in the past. He was the first family member I was meeting since humanity entered the tower and while I could save my own skin, I felt compelled to lend him a hand. If I could not even save a cousin, what would happen when my parents would show up?

I frowned and glanced at Eliss. The dark elf returned a meaningful stare. Her meaning was simple: “Do whatever you want but don’t push it too far or we won’t be able to help you.”

Having received her silent approval, I took a step forward and approached the humans and the bounty hunters. The humans’ eyes instantly lit up while the others stared at me curiously.

“Excuse me.” I coughed lightly to attract the bounty hunters’ attention.

“What?” One of the bounty hunters asked coldly. “Are you here to save them? Human, even though you are a member of the Healing Temple, we won’t let you take away our merchandise like this.”

“I know… But I am not here to take away your prisoners. Rather, I come here as a customer. You are here to sell the humans to CRAFT, am I wrong? How about selling one of them to me instead?”

“Selling to you?” The bounty hunter was stunned.

Before he could reply, I continued, “Based on the rumors I heard and my basic understanding of supply and demand, I believe that CRAFT should be paying you forty to fifty points for a living human. What would you say if I offer a hundred points for one of these humans?” I heard a few gasps of surprise behind my back but remained calm. Knowing the bounty hunters, they had no valid reasons to refuse my offer. They were going to receive more points for selling just one human off. I was purchasing the merchandise just under the nose of CRAFT, but I was not breaking any rules. My relationship with this organisation was bound to be a rather hostile one, so why should I care about staying on their good side?

“Interesting. Very interesting.” The bounty hunter said with a laugh. “Not a bad suggestion but I am curious about what CRAFT has to say about that.”