Chapter 127: Stockholm

The true torture began on the sixth day.

Not a single drop of water, not a morsel of food. And not a shred of hope.

Baimu truly wanted to curse aloud. Why, before the journey, did the system saddle him with a "Void Maw"? Now, the agony of his hunger and thirst was nearly double that of everyone else. When he looked at Nonou’s fair, tender skin, his gaze transformed into raw, predatory hunger.

It wasn't that he hadn't considered threatening the Root ninjas behind them with the truth of Nonou's identity. But... it was useless. In the original story, Nonou eventually became a pawn discarded by Danzo. Everyone here was too important—the One-Tail Jinchuriki went without saying, and both Baki and Pakura were pillars of Sunagakure. Sacrificing a spy to cripple Sunagakure was a bargain. The fact that the Root ninjas were willing to let Nonou suffer here alongside them proved that her importance wasn't as great as he had imagined.

"System... be useful for once. Get me some food and drink. Gold coins are not an issue." Baimu even resorted to pleading with the omnipotent system.

"Apologies, but providing catering services is not my profession. Perhaps you could purchase a potion to quench your thirst."

Baimu stared at the Life Potion, priced at 50 gold coins a bottle, and gnashed his teeth. Profiteers... they were all damn profiteers. He had just finished completing his Thornmail recently, and he did have a surplus of 1000 gold coins... but that was money he had earned bit by bit, trading away his integrity. Using it to buy consumables... would that be too much of a loss?

Better to endure for now... If there was truly no other way, he would use the gold to buy his life.

...

The eighth day.

Baimu’s legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with molten lead. The frenzied torture of hunger and thirst ravaged his nerves, destroying every shred of his sanity.

"Buy a bottle of Life Potion... buy a bottle of Life Potion... fresh and sweet Life Potion..."

This wasn't the system’s voice; it was an auditory hallucination, as if a demon were whispering in his ear. Baimu knew he couldn't open this floodgate. The road ahead was long, and once he started, he wouldn't be able to stop. His money was only enough for twenty bottles, and he had already seen the size of them—no bigger than a fist; they wouldn't satiate him at all.

...

The tenth day.

Everyone had collapsed. They found the leeward side of a sand dune and sat down, unable to squeeze out a single ounce of energy. Five days of travel remained—an insurmountable chasm.

"Master... Fū... I can't go on..."

"Please... keep Fū’s love... and live on..."

Baimu never expected that the first to give out would be the immortal Fū. The scorching sunlight was far too damaging to her mud-doll body. Fū could not bear the ugliness of her cracking, mottled face and had secretly used chakra to maintain her beautiful appearance, which only accelerated the exhaustion of her chakra.

Fū’s entire body turned into a pile of sand, scattering into the wind. Only a clump of red hair remained, housing her extremely feeble soul.

No one spoke. They didn't even have the strength to speak. Fū was just the first; others would eventually meet the same fate. Baimu reached out and tucked Fū’s hair close to his body. She wasn't dead yet; if there were a chance, she should be able to be resurrected. But Fū’s death made him realize that they couldn't go on like this. Five more days. With their vitality dropping day by day, they wouldn't last.

The most direct indicator was the debuff on Baimu, stacking layer by layer.

[Extreme Hunger x80 stacks]
[80% of all attributes lost. Death will occur at 100%.]

It was time to organize a plan for a counterattack...

"Buy five bottles of Life Potion." Baimu gritted his teeth and took the plunge.

He secretly fed a small bottle to A-Fei, who smacked his lips, turned over, and continued to slumber. He opened a bottle for himself and surreptitiously gulped it down. A maddening, greedy desire was ignited instantly. The urge to drink another bottle surged like a flood breaking a dam, every cell in his body howling in demand.

The Life Potion was, after all, only a tiny bottle; it couldn't replace food. He had to conserve it. Baimu managed to suppress the urge to drink another and walked with heavy footsteps toward Nonou.

At this moment, Nonou was cursing Yura in her heart. Was he trying to exhaust everyone to death? If he was going to act, he should do it soon! Enduring hunger and thirst was truly the most unbearable suffering in life. She had considered feigning exhaustion and collapsing to the ground; perhaps then, Yura would save her. But that pervert Baimu kept drifting over with a look that suggested he wanted to eat people. She was truly afraid that if she fell, her beautiful body would be consumed by these brutes as food.

When people were starving, they often performed insane acts, abandoning all reason, dignity, civilization, and bottom lines. In the face of extreme hunger, everything was discarded like filth...

*Oh god... oh god... he's walking over...*

*I'm not dead yet!* Nonou waved her hands frantically to prove she was still alive.

Baimu continued to walk toward her steadily.

*No way... is he planning to eat me alive?* Nonou struggled to crawl up from the ground, weakly dragging herself away.

"Shh... don't run... I don't have the strength to chase you..." Baimu stumbled after her.

"Don't come over... help..." Nonou crawled laboriously across the sand, but no one paid her any mind. Even the monk Bunpuku sat in meditation as if he had already reached Nirvana, his life sustained only by the massive chakra of Shukaku.

Eventually, Baimu’s remaining strength proved superior. He lunged, tackled Nonou, and they rolled down the sand dune twice.

"Don't eat me..." Nonou tried to push Baimu away with her incredibly weak hands.

"Idiot, who wants to eat you? Be careful not to let them find out." Baimu forcibly pulled Nonou’s head into his embrace. He had to prevent the Root ninjas behind them from discovering they had supplies. Otherwise, who knew what other trouble they would stir up? Only by letting them believe he had completely collapsed and broken down would their guard drop—that was the key to their counterattack.

*No way... at a time like this... He never touched me when we were outside, I thought he wasn't interested in women... I've never heard of hunger triggering lust... Is he trying to be a real man before he dies? I, Nonou... have spent my whole life navigating among foul men, am I going to lose my chastity like this...?* Pressed into the sand, Nonou felt a wave of sorrow, but being severely dehydrated, she couldn't even shed a tear.

Baimu held Nonou’s head, secretly opened the cap of the Life Potion, and stuffed it into her mouth.

The moist liquid touched Nonou’s dry, cracked lips...

!!!!

*It's water!!!*

*How could there be water?!*

Nonou hugged Baimu’s body like a madwoman, using all her remaining strength to stick out her tongue, greedily sucking the liquid from the bottle. Her tongue, which had been completely numb and devoid of taste, slowly detected a fresh, sweet flavor.

"Young people... such high energy, even at a time like this, they still have the heart for this..." Baki looked at the two young people embracing and shook his head powerlessly.

"Animals..." Pakura didn't even have the strength to curse.

Nonou’s tongue licked the bottom of the bottle clean. Only then did she reluctantly release Baimu, reaching up to wipe the remaining liquid from her lips...

Red...

*Could it be... did he cut himself to give me his blood to drink?*

Nonou felt a heavy blow to her heart... Why... he usually did everything he could to bully her, to exploit her... Why, at a time like this, not only did he not abandon her, but he actually gave her his blood to drink...?

At that thought, a glimmer of tenderness appeared in her heart.

*No... no... I cannot have such thoughts. I am from Konoha, he is a detestable enemy who captured me. I must not develop Stockholm syndrome.*

Baimu had no idea what was going on in Nonou’s mind. He simply stood up, brushed the sand off his rear, and signaled for silence: "Shh, don't make a sound."

Nonou stared at Baimu, dazed...

But Baimu was already walking toward Pakura...