Chapter 1: Fleeing the Famine

In the fifth year of Anle of Great Gan, a great drought struck Qingzhou; the harvest failed, and people began to eat one another.

White bones lay exposed in the wilderness, and for a thousand miles, not a single rooster crowed.

Between the vast heaven and earth, only the colors of withered yellow remained; all things had long since fallen into silence.

Not to mention birds and beasts, there was not even half a snake, insect, mouse, or ant to be found.

Yet, amidst this desolate scene, there were one after another gaunt figures, their expressions numb, stumbling along.

They were people—refugees fleeing the famine.

From time to time, someone would collapse to the ground, never to have the chance to rise again.

Chen Mo's expression was dull and numb, his frame withered, as if a gust of Wind could blow him over.

To ward off the cold, he wore layer upon layer of clothing, stripped from the bodies of people he did not know.

He could no longer remember how many days he had been in this world; only one thought remained in his mind: hungry, must eat something.

Looking out, there was nothing edible between heaven and earth; even the bark on the withered trees had been stripped clean.

He had no excess strength to think, only moving forward numbly.

He did not know if there was truly a way to survive by walking forward, but stopping meant certain death.

Not knowing how long he had walked, a low, thatched shed appeared before his eyes.

Chen Mo paused his steps and turned his head to look back.

Behind him was a gaunt figure not much different from his own, equally covered in mud and wearing layers upon layers of tattered clothes.

Only, compared to him, the other was shorter and thinner.

Chen Mo did not know their name, age, or gender; in fact, the two had not spoken more than a few words in total.

But in these days of fleeing the famine, the two had formed a de facto alliance.

Fleeing alone was too dangerous; one might be caught and treated as "two-legged mutton."

By looking out for each other, the two were at least somewhat safer.

There were plenty of lone refugees; why would anyone take the risk to attack two people?

Not to mention that if one accidentally fell, having someone to help might offer a chance to stand up; relying on oneself meant waiting for death.

Or if one failed to wake up in the morning, having someone to call out offered a chance to wake; without anyone to call, one would slowly die in their sleep.

The other was not his first companion; Chen Mo had previously had many, some of whom had attacked him over a bit of food and were killed by him.

Most others simply never woke up after falling asleep.

The companion behind him had a numb expression that did not change; they were too hungry, and they had no strength for any unnecessary thoughts or expressions.

Seeing that the other was still following, Chen Mo felt relieved and continued walking toward the shed.

His steps were very slow; calling it walking was less accurate than saying he was inching forward bit by bit.

As he drew closer to the shed, Chen Mo caught sight of a grey-black figure, clearly stronger than himself; the person did not avoid him upon seeing him, but instead took the initiative to walk toward him.

Chen Mo was immediately alert; having fled for so long, in most cases when encountering other refugees, both sides would first take the initiative to keep their distance.

Because no one was certain if the other would treat them as food.

And this time, they were two people, yet the other dared to approach first!

"What do you want?" As the person drew closer, Chen Mo gathered his strength and shouted in a low voice!

The person paused, looked Chen Mo up and down, and then looked at the companion behind him.

It seemed they were comparing the height, weight, and strength between the two.

Yet, in the eyes looking at the two, a craving for food was unconsciously revealed.

"Brother, look, you've been hungry for so long, and I see you have some food behind you; why don't we eat a little together?"

A smile was squeezed onto their face, and they unconsciously swallowed their saliva, casting their gaze toward the shorter companion behind Chen Mo.

The meaning was extremely obvious; they had already marked the companion as food.

"Alright!" Chen Mo smiled, not rushing to refuse.

"That works, you come with me." Hearing Chen Mo agree, a look of joy could not help but appear in the other's eyes.

The person turned in a hurry to leave, but Chen Mo gritted his teeth, gathered his breath, took two large strides, and reached out to strangle the other's neck tightly.

He did have a Dagger on him, but the other was wearing layer upon layer of clothing just like him, making it impossible to strike with the blade.

The person whose neck he was strangling struggled with all their might; Chen Mo lost his footing and fell heavily to the ground.

He still held onto the other's neck tightly, determined never to let go.

In the current world, everyone was afraid of others taking their food; who would be willing to share food with others?

The other definitely had ill intentions and had mostly likely marked him and his companion as rations!

Though the companion did not know what was happening, they still stumbled over, pulled out a piece of iron they carried, and aimed it at the other's eye, stabbing it in fiercely.

"Ah!" The person felt the pain but lacked the strength to scream, only able to whimper in a low voice.

The companion wanted to stab deeper, but they had no strength left; in desperation, they could only press their entire weight onto the iron, slowly piercing it in bit by bit.

Seeing the companion arrive, Chen Mo felt a weight lift from his heart.

It was fortunate they were there to help; otherwise, with his current strength, he truly would not have been able to strangle the other to death.

As the Dagger sank completely into the skull, the person stopped struggling.

The companion stood up with difficulty, leaning on a stick, then slowly moved the person's corpse aside to help Chen Mo stand up from the ground.

Things that would be incredibly simple on any other day were, for the two who were at the end of their rope, like losing half their lives.

Crossing over the corpse on the ground, the two supported each other and moved their steps, continuing to walk forward.

They were very hungry, but they had not yet crossed the bottom line of being human.

It was precisely because of this shared trait that the two were able to form an alliance.

Arriving before the thatched shed, Chen Mo's eyes went blank as he saw a pot of black porridge.

He hurried forward and stirred the ladle in the pot.

The soup contained everything: roots of unknown origin, some wheat and wild vegetables, and even two rat heads and some rat meat.

Seeing the rat heads put Chen Mo at ease; this meant the meat in the pot was definitely rat meat, and as for whether there was meat from other things, he would not dwell on that question.

Unable to care about anything else, Chen Mo scooped up a spoonful and brought it to his mouth.

Sweet, a sweetness that refreshed the heart and lungs!

He could not describe the taste; this porridge was more delicious than any delicacy he had ever eaten before!

Picking up the broken porcelain bowl beside the pot, Chen Mo hurriedly ladled out a bowl and handed it to his companion.

The porridge was important, but he did not want to have a conflict with his companion; he did not know how much further the road ahead was, and the two of them had to walk it together.

The pot of cooked meat and wheat porridge was devoured by the two of them like a whirlwind, and even the pot and bowl were licked until they shone brightly.

Having eaten some food, Chen Mo finally had the strength to think about problems.

Should they leave now, or stay in the shack for the night?

The shack was crude, but at least it had plenty of thatch to keep out the cold.

If they walked forward, they might not find the next shelter before dark.

And if they spent the night outside, it was unknown whether the two of them would be able to wake up tomorrow.

But if they stayed, whether they would have the strength to continue walking tomorrow was also an unknown.

Chen Mo did not want to think for too long; he decisively made his decision and used the stick he had found to support his body as he walked outside.

His companion said nothing, only silently following behind.

The two traveled together, and every time it was Chen Mo who made the decisions; the companion had long since grown accustomed to obeying him.

Moving at a speed slightly faster than before, Chen Mo kept moving toward the distance.

As the two gradually moved away, the figure outside the shack suddenly sat up; the Dagger in their eyes vanished, and not a single trace of injury remained.

They stood up and walked into the shack, and upon seeing the gleaming bottom of the pot, their eyes revealed an infinite craving for food.

They searched everything before them, wanting to find even a scrap of edible food.

Finally, they cast their gaze toward their own fingers; wasn't this a piece of meat!

(End of this chapter)