Natania crushed my watch under her heel before slapping me across the cheek.

"You idiot! Are you trying to get us all in trouble? You just can't stand seeing us do well, can you?"

The slap left me momentarily dizzy, my ears ringing at the force. After I recovered, I demanded through gritted teeth, "If there's nothing fishy about this factory, why won't you let me call the police? Could it be that you guys are planning something illegal here? And that's why you're afraid of the police getting involved?"

The moment I saw Natania's eyes dart away guiltily, my heart sank to the bottom of my stomach.

So, she was in cahoots with Zachary!

She was well aware that the whole reason I was brought here was so I would be brutally killed by the equipment, then everyone could get a share of the compensation money!

However, Zachary wasn't the slightest bit panicked. He insisted, "The Fuller family is the wealthiest family in the city! As if there's anything we can't handle! I'm just worried that the police coming to investigate will delay everyone from getting to work.

"Will you be able to reimburse them for every second spent not earning money? Besides, we already signed a contract stating that we'll only get to intern at my family's company after graduation if we work the full two months!"

Enraged, our classmates surged forward and began shoving me.

"You piece of shit! You just want to ruin everything for us!"

One hard shove sent me crashing to the floor, my head bashing against one of the machines. A sharp pain shot through me.

Stomping on my head, Zachary cried out in a self-righteous fashion, "We can't let him ruin our bright futures! I suggest we have him sign a contract stating that he'll have to pay each of us six thousand dollars if he leaves this factory. That way, he won't have the guts to leave anymore!"

My eyes widened at his words.

"That's illegal! That sort of contract isn't viable in the eyes of the law!"

Chuckling maliciously, Zachary brought a hand-written contract over and thrust it in my face.

"As long as you sign it, why wouldn't it be viable? Adrian, could it be that you're feeling guilty about something, and that's why you don't dare to sign it?"

Natania and a few others seized me and forced me to grab a pen.

"Zachary just wants you to give us a guarantee. It's no big deal. As long as you don't leave, nothing will happen, so just sign the contract!"

"Adrian, Zach is simply looking out for us! There's a limit to our patience, you know!"

My hand was forced closer and closer to the paper, and in an act of desperation, I lunged toward a nearby beaker of acid.

Knocking the beaker over, I dipped my hands into the spilled acid. In an instant, the acid had corroded my hands.

Relieved at finding a way out of this, I spoke in a trembling voice. "With my hands like this, there's no way I can sign the paper, nor do I want to!"

A frosty look entered Zachary's eyes as his lips curved into a sneer. Ripping the paper to shreds, he said coldly, "I originally thought that having you sign this would be enough to serve as an assurance to the others, but it now seems like I have to resort to drastic measures."

With that said, he fished out a syringe from his bag and stalked closer to me.

"This is a special drug my family came up with specifically to deal with disobedient people like you. Once it's injected into someone, that person will be reduced to a docile simpleton who only knows how to repeat the same motion over and over again."

My teeth chattered in fear as I struggled wildly.

However, Natania and the others gripped my arms tightly, not allowing me any room to resist.

Just as the needle was about to plunge into my arm, the loud wailing of police sirens rang out from the outside.

Instantly panicking, Natania and Zachary fled and were gone in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, I seized this opportunity to escape the factory and ran as fast as I could to the airport.

Thankfully, the flight was slightly delayed, and I was able to make it onto the plane in time.