It wasn't the first, but...

Alice was taken back to her cell, not after the stunned professionals asked her a series of questions.

Questions like,

"What are your stats?"

"What class are you in?"

"What sort of skills do you have?"

"Do you wish to join any guild once you've fully been acknowledged as an awakened?"

"What are your thoughts on monster hunting in the future?"

Alice watched them as they threw questions at her face and wondered if being a reporter was their side job.

She needed to make it clear to them that she was in no way an awakened so she said,

"I don't have a system." They all went silent. "And therefore, I'm not an awakened."

She thought that would shut them up but they switched the question,

"Is there a reason why you wish to hide your abilities and the fact that you have a system?"

Alice's eyes twitched. It was like the words that came out of her mouth got filtered and they only heard what they wanted to hear.

They were crazy.

"I'll take Miss Alice back to her cell for now." Mark said, getting in between her and the professionals. "In the meantime, please work on your device."

They cleaned their throats and adjusted their glasses, those who wore them at least, and reverted back to the professionals they were.

"Thanks, Boss, you definitely saved my ass there." Alice said as they made their way back to her cell. The restraints were returned to her wrists and neck and the guards around her made sure to be on guard.

It wasn't like she was a deadly criminal, but if she were truly an S-class awakened, then they had to take all measures to make sure she did not escape.

Mark turned his head and looked at her with a questioning frown.

"Boss?" He asked and she shrugged her shoulders.

"What? You wouldn't tell me your name so I gave you the one I'm most comfortable with. Since you call the shots and all, that suits you perfectly." She explained and though Mark suspected she already heard his name back at the research lab, he didn't say much to it and shook his head.

"Do whatever you want."

"Hehe!" Alice grinned.

Back at her cell, she got her restraints removed and was given the freedom to move around as she pleased.

'Hm, should I tell him the mana crystal powering the bars is weak?' she wondered but didn't give it a second and said, "Nah! They'll figure it out themselves. For now, let's enjoy life."

That was her plan.

Sit around, lay down, watched TV, and ate the snacks provided, but she was not satisfied. She was really craving fried chicken and maybe some fries to go with it.

It had been a while since she had a 'proper' meal.

'Come to think of it, I never really got to eat breakfast nor lunch, and neither dinner yesterday.' she thought and immediately sat up. 'I went the whole day without eating.'

It wasn't the first but... She got her hands on some good cash. Why didn't she get a decent meal at least?

Well, who could she blame? The events were so bizarre and crazy that she didn't even remember how she got back to Big Stach's den.

She touched her stomach and heard it growl.

"No wonder I feel so unsatisfied." She uttered and looked at the snacks on the table. "Those don't cut it. I need a proper meal."

She got up from the bed and went towards the bars.

"Hey, anybody there?" She called out. "This little prisoner would like to get some 'decent' food to eat. You're not going to starve me, are you?"

There was no response, and she rolled her eyes to the side, worried.

"They don't really plan to starve me, do they?" She wondered with shaky pupils. "What if they want to use food to get me to talk? But I don't have anything else to say. I already said it all. I'm not an awakened."

She grabbed the bars and screamed out again,

"I'm going to die of hunger here. Can you not hear me or are you just ignoring me?" Still silence and it got her annoyed. "Fine. Suck on your thumbs for all I care."

Then, a realization hit her. Maybe they were punishing her for breaking the mana tester. But it wasn't her fault. She just placed her hand and...

"Hey, it's not my fault, okay?!" She yelled. "I just did as I was told so it's not my fault that your fancy machine broke. It really isn't."

The silence was irritating and stiffening. She let go of the bars and stepped back, falling to her butt as she agonized over her situation.

She thought that this place would at least treat her better than when she was still Big Stach's dog. But it looked like they were all the same.

If she made a mistake, she'd get punished. If she didn't do what she was told properly, she'd also get punished. If she was late by even a minute, another punishment.

She got fed up and eventually got used to it, and the punishments felt like a normal thing.

No one was perfect, and no one was prone to mistakes, not even those haughty awakened, so how did they expect a mere human like her to do everything perfectly without mistakes?

Knowing she would always make mistakes and always get punished, she just took it all with gritted teeth and acknowledged it as her life.

There were days she got punished with no food for a week, locked in her room and no one to talk to. She had to scratch her nails on the wall to occupy herself and not lose her senses.

She scaled through like it was a walk in the park and at the end of the day, she was given a measly meal, not even enough to fill her for a day.

And right after, she was given a job to take care of.

It was hell but she got used to the hotness.

She got used to it all.

Was it sleeping upside down? She got used to that.

Having her legs broken for disobedience? She got used to that as well.

Getting slapped repeatedly till her face was more swollen than a pufferfish? Hell, her muscles grew like steel and she chested it all.

It wasn't that it didn't hurt. It always hurt, and every time, she told herself she would do better to avoid repeating the same mistake, and if she ended up repeating her mistakes, she would take the punishment.

The worst that could happen was then Killing her, so as long as she proved she still had some worth, she had hope of surviving another day to eat one good meal.

"Fucking hell, I don't care anymore." She said and got up from her butt. "Starve me, I don't care." She gritted her teeth. "I won't die from it so know that you're wasting your precious time."

She threw herself in her bed and crossed her legs. She stared at the metal ceiling and gritted her teeth once more.

Her heart had been hardened to steel so come what may, she would not be moved so easily.

'Once I'm out of here, I will definitely buy all the chicken I can eat with my money.' she thought and closed her eyes. 'I won't go back to Big Stach. Thank goodness for that commotion. He probably thinks I'm dead and won't come find me.' she turned her head to the side and sighed. 'I'll just survive in this world however I can. Alone.'