Chapter 154: The Monster

Food was ultimately limited. With three more months of the Day God ahead, Tiana began to ration her meals as much as possible. After all, as a member of the Tidi tribe, her vitality far surpassed Chen Sinian’s, making him more in need of nourishment.

However, as the food dwindled, Tiana finally collapsed.

At this moment, Chen Sinian’s hair was disheveled and filthy, his clothes tattered. The arrival of the Day God cast a harsh, brilliant light over the bleak, snow-covered landscape, the icy glare utterly blinding.

Chen Sinian’s eyes were bloodshot, and his entire demeanor had become frantic.

“I have to… I have to survive. I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die!” His hoarse growls echoed through the cave they had found.

Weak and delirious, Tiana vaguely sensed Chen Sinian drawing near. She slowly lifted a hand, yearning to touch the one she loved.

Despite her Tidi heritage, the lack of sustenance was making her body grow cold and numb. Tears trickled down her pale cheeks, dropping onto the frozen, hardened earth beneath her.

In her semi-conscious state, she felt a faint pain—not sharp, but distant and strange, as if coming from somewhere far away.

Time slipped by, and then a warm, gentle stream of heat flowed into her stomach through the corner of her mouth—food. Fresh, tender, and invigorating.

Nearly forgetting the taste of nourishment, the warmth rekindled her spirit. Through the haze, she saw Chen Sinian’s blurred figure bustling around, muttering softly.

“You can’t die, Tiana. You have to hold on.”

Hearing his words, hope surged anew within her. Even in this dire predicament, Chen Sinian had not abandoned her, strengthening her belief in his love.

A violent coughing fit wracked her body. She tried to rise, but her feeble strength failed her, and she collapsed heavily.

“You’re alive! Thank God, you’re alive!” Chen Sinian rushed over, his eyes bloodshot but shining with joy. Yet, moments later, he held Tiana and wept bitterly, like a remorseful child.

“I’m sorry, I truly am. I don’t want to die!”

Tiana struggled to raise an arm and embrace him, wanting to comfort him. But as her consciousness returned, a troubling thought struck her.

Before her unconsciousness, their food—those guards’ corpses—had nearly been consumed. So where had the food she tasted come from while she was unconscious?

Confused, she looked down at her leg exposed to the freezing wind. Her already pale face turned even more ghostly white.

From foot to knee, her leg was nothing but bare bone. Suddenly, she understood what Chen Sinian had done to keep her alive.

With this realization came the painful truth behind his agonized tears and guilt.

“My stomach…” she retched violently, pushing Chen Sinian away as nausea overwhelmed her.

She had unwittingly eaten her own flesh.

“No! Don’t vomit!” Chen Sinian scrambled to hold her firmly, panic in his voice.

“Tiana, you can’t vomit! We have so little food left. If you throw up, we’re both doomed!”

Weak and powerless, Tiana could not resist. Held by Chen Sinian, her eyes filled with bitter resentment as she hissed through clenched teeth,

“If you wanted to live so badly, you should have killed me. Eat my flesh, then you could survive.”

Her heart was crushed. She never imagined Chen Sinian would come to this. If survival were possible, she would willingly give her flesh to him as sustenance. But this—this act—was something she could never accept.

She couldn’t comprehend why he had done such a thing.

Seeing she no longer tried to vomit, Chen Sinian turned away and began scraping the cave wall with a stone, as if marking something.

Facing away from her, he whispered hoarsely, “You can’t die. If you die, the moisture in your body will evaporate, and the flesh will shrink.”

Those casual words struck Tiana like a plunge into an endless abyss.

She had never imagined Chen Sinian would do such a thing to her for survival.

Despairing, she collapsed onto the cold ground, her gaze growing dim. Slowly, her eyes closed, and one final tear slid down to her ear, freezing before it could fall.

“We’re almost out… this damned daylight is nearly over.” Chen Sinian ignored her fading spirit. The resolute man who once vowed never to eat human flesh was gone without a trace. Left now was a desperate madman, consumed by the will to survive—without limits, without principles.

“Even if you live, you’ve already become a monster.” Tiana’s voice was cold and laced with bitter irony as she lay with closed eyes.

Chen Sinian’s marks covered the cave wall—five vertical lines crossed by a horizontal one, grouped into fours, each representing a day. Since the Day God’s arrival, he had silently tracked time, unable to distinguish the length of a day but roughly estimating each hour.

As a grandmaster, he had long forgotten how many days he had gone without sleep. He dared not close his eyes, fearing the piercing white light would still penetrate his eyelids, fearing the confusion and helplessness that came with losing track of time.

“Monster?” Chen Sinian heard Tiana’s voice behind him. Since she had fallen unconscious, he hadn’t heard any other sound.

He repeated her words to himself, then suddenly turned. His bloodshot eyes nearly bled as he glared fiercely at her, then stepped close, pressing his cheek to hers and snarling near her ear,

“Monster? If I’ve become a monster, it’s all because of you!”

Tiana opened her eyes slightly, then turned her head to look calmly at the man who truly had become like a monster. In her gaze was a trace of utter despair.