Earny had just said some brave words, and the thing was, the other workers who were standing by the side didn't even know how brave they were. In the first place, none of them had stolen any crystals, yet he had still decided to step forward and take the blame.
Why? The answer was simple. It was because of the bickering between the group. Earny, as he stepped forward, turned to those who were from his room.
"Come on, guys. Let's not argue amongst ourselves. We spent a good time together, sharing food, right?" Earny said as he stopped, around two meters ahead of everyone else, standing straight.
"No way," one of the older men said. "There is no chance that Earny was the one who hid those crystals. I would bet my right testicle on it!"
"Specifically the right one. What's better about the right one compared to the left one?" Gary mumbled.
"Of course, Earny didn't do it," another said. "He understands the rules better than anyone, and there have been a few times..."
The man stopped speaking there because he wasn't too sure what he was about to say would get the rest of them in trouble. But there were a few times when some of the men in the room were tempted to take stuff from the factory, and the one who stopped them was Earny.
That was why all of them strongly believed that Earny was taking the blame for someone else. The most obvious choice was that it was the newcomers' doing, and they couldn't help but give a death stare to the two of them. That was until they heard Earny's words.
They remembered just yesterday how much fun they were having with them. There was no worry. They were all just humans sharing food and stories together, and now they were put in this situation where they had to go against each other.
Dazza smiled and held out his hand. One of the men had run off somewhere and soon returned with a box in his hand. The box was relatively long and placed on the floor in front of Dazza.
"Alright, it seems like it's been a while since you guys have received your punishment, and you know things aren't exactly normal around here," Dazza explained. "Usually, the punishment would be done in private, but to make sure that you guys know what happens to you if you dare try to steal something from us again, I will be commencing the punishment right here and now."
Using his feet, Dazza kicked the top of the box open, and then reached in and pulled out a large black whip. It looked brand new, it was impressive, but not as impressive as a certain whip Gary had seen someone else use.
"Ten lashes. If you can survive ten lashes without falling to the ground, then we will see your debt as cleared," Dazza smiled.
Just from the smile alone, Elijah could tell what type of person Dazza was. He had seen many of them. There were those that got a rise out of doing things like this. When a person could control one's life with ease, get them to do whatever they wished, they felt unstoppable and powerful, and they wanted to constantly push the boundaries and just see how far they could go.
"Ten whips, will Earny be okay?" one of the men asked.
Even Earny himself looked concerned. Perhaps if he was in good condition and hadn't been hungry for the last few days, he would have been brave enough to take on the whips. But in his current condition, and depending on how hard Dazza went, this punishment had the possibility of being fatal.
Earny took a deep breath and reassured himself as he stepped forward again. But he soon felt someone grab him by the wrist and pull him back.
"This ain't right."
Looking in front of him, Earny could see the green-haired boy.
"You said ten whips, right? I will take on the whips instead. That should be fine, right?" Gary said.
The others felt Gary's bravery. Even if they did believe he was the original one to take the crystal, they still couldn't believe that after knowing what the punishment was, he willingly volunteered himself now.
"Hmm... I think that will be fine, but I don't think it's very fair," Dazza said. "For one, I am doing you a favor when this should be a punishment, and I would say it's quite clear that you have a stronger physique than him.
"I set the bar low at ten whips because I felt bad for Earny. After all, we don't want to be killing our workers. So let's say if I allow you to take his place, then you will need to survive a hundred whips."
The words that had come out of Dazza's mouth were so shocking that the workers even gasped when they were meant to remain silent.
Without saying anything else, Gary removed his shirt, placing it in Earny's hands.
"Keep it safe for me. I'll be coming back for it."
He walked forward and then turned around, his back faced toward Dazza.
"Alright, tough guy!" Dazza said as he gripped the handle of the whip tightly. "You asked for it."
Without holding back, Dazza swung the whip. It slashed right across Gary's back, leaving a red mark and a loud bang followed. The others flinched as they imagined the pain Gary was in right now. But that was what was strange about the whole thing—Gary's face was showing no such pain.
"Oh, a tough one! So you won't even scream? Then let's see how long you last!" Dazza shouted as he swung the whip again and again.
It continually hit Gary's back, doing the same as before, but no noise left Gary's mouth, and no blood was drawn on his back, only a hint of it turning slightly red. It was clear something was up. This had never happened before.
As the workers continued to watch Gary, though, they couldn't help but be amazed and silently cheer for him from within.
'Of course, this is going to do nothing. It looks like my guess was true after all. He is an Altered,' Elijah thought, smiling to himself.
At this point, Dazza had already hit Gary around eighty times. His shoulders were feeling sore, he was out of breath, yet Gary was completely fine.
If one person were to take a look at the two of them, it was hard to tell which one was being punished.
"Come on... just 12 more!" Gary shouted, having counted each hit.
"Alright, you fool!" Dazza shouted, swinging it again. The loud bang followed, but it was nowhere near as loud as the first one. One could tell he was weak, and Dazza could see that Gary would not fall.
Which was why his eyes had fallen on an older man next to
him. 'I may not be able to do anything to you, but I still have ten whips to give to someone else!' Dazza swung the whip once more.
Hearing it, Gary somewhat braced himself like he had done the time before. But as the loud sound went off, he didn't feel anything on his back.
"ARGHHH!"
A loud scream was heard to his right. Looking, Gary could see blood flying up in the air. The whip had hit Earny right across the chest, and he was falling back.
'That... Bastard!' Gary turned his head. He was unable to control his anger, as his eyes had already somewhat changed.
Dazza, ignoring this, swung the whip again, aiming to hit Earny. It went through the air.
Elijah had run forward, catching Earny before he fell on his back. And that's when he saw right in front of him, Gary standing there with a whip held in his hand.
"I'm sorry, Earny," Gary said. "I wanted to do well. I didn't want anyone to get hurt, and yet you still did... It's clear I need to do something about this place."
*****
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