The Path of the Strong Is a Road of Slaughter

People always change after experiencing certain things. After facing betrayal, Prince Nolan grew stronger, colder, and more keenly understood what survival truly meant.

After Gavin Yuan's betrayal and seeing the filth of this island, Prince Nolan's disgust for the place deepened. He began to form an initial plan...

If they could send children to this island and let Gavin Yuan leave, then he too could find a way out!

For a long time afterward, Prince Nolan focused on planning his escape. But leaving this hellhole wasn't something you could do on a whim; before escaping, he had to strengthen himself.

If he wanted to escape by sea, he had to learn how to swim.

With a goal set, Prince Nolan devoted himself to working toward it. But just as he was striving for it, a new round of life-or-death trials arrived—this was also why Gavin Yuan betrayed him and chose to leave.

After five years, the boys who survived on the island had grown up. Now they could be selected for training, but they would have no more chances to grow.

Prince Nolan was a latecomer, but the island's overseers did not treat him differently or single him out. He had to fight to the death alongside the other boys, surviving or dying just like the rest...

Out of ten thousand boys, only a hundred would be chosen. As long as you were among the final hundred survivors, you could leave this place.

But leaving did not mean freedom. After paying such a terrible price and killing so many over the years, those behind the scenes would never let the survivors go easily.

If you didn't want to leave? Then you would die, remaining here forever with those who had already perished.

For Prince Nolan, every day that followed was torment—people died daily, alliances were formed and broken every day...

Ten thousand boys fought each other, but there wasn't just one survivor—there were a hundred chances to live. That meant alliances were possible.

After Gavin Yuan's betrayal, it seemed Prince Nolan would never trust anyone or form alliances again. But he did not close himself off.

On the very first day, Prince Nolan quickly found two others with strength equal to his own, and the three formed an alliance.

"It's just an alliance. Life and death are up to fate." Those were Prince Nolan's words on the day they joined forces.

Prince Nolan knew very well that in such a brutal place, he couldn't survive alone. Even if he couldn't trust anyone, he still needed allies at this moment.

Though they were allies, Prince Nolan did not trust them. Reality soon proved that trust was fatal here—close your eyes for a second, and your ally could kill you before you ever woke up again.

Killed in your sleep, with a single stroke.

In battle, if your spirit failed or your hand slipped, you'd be killed!

Trampled to death in the chaos of battle.

There was no end to it—endless killing...

For days and nights without sleep, Prince Nolan had no idea how he survived that period. Even now, he finds it incredible that he made it through alive...

"What did you eat when there was no food on that island?" Serena Feng held Prince Nolan tightly in her arms.

Even with just a few fragments of memory, Serena Feng could tell how much Prince Nolan had suffered, how hard his life had been.

In such an environment, if it were her, she might not survive even a month.

Her heart ached for this man, for all he had endured—she wished she could have suffered in his place.

"Human flesh. At first, it was fresh; later, even rotten meat was eaten. Anything that could be stuffed in our mouths, we ate." Prince Nolan spoke with no expression, as if recounting something utterly ordinary.

He thought he had forgotten, but it turned out he hadn't.

Everything in his past was a demon in his heart. The Valley Master wanted him to let it go; he thought he had, but only now understood that speaking it aloud and facing it was the real way to be free.

Serena Feng squeezed herself into Prince Nolan's embrace, using her own body to warm him: "I know they ate human flesh. But I'm asking about you—how did you survive when you were so young?"

"Me? How could I be any different from the others?" Prince Nolan's hand stiffened, then he hugged her tighter as if nothing had happened...

At least, there was still someone willing to believe in him—and that was enough.

"You are different," Serena answered without hesitation. "If you said you wouldn't eat, then you absolutely wouldn't. I believe that with all my heart."

"You really think highly of me." Prince Nolan lifted Serena Feng in his arms and kissed her forehead, solemn and devout...

"Honestly, I don't know how I survived that period either. I was lost in killing, and nearly a whole year of memories vanished from my mind. So I don't know what kept me alive." This was his greatest inner demon, because...

He doesn't know!

He could face what he'd done and pay any price for it. But...

As for that lost year, Prince Nolan was completely at a loss. He didn't even know what he had done in that time—he could only keep guessing...

"After the people of the Former Dynasty took me off the island, I started to reject human contact. For a long time, I kept wondering how I survived that year, and what it took to make it through such circumstances."