The Starved: A Thousand-Mile Journey at the End of the Ming Dynasty

Note: A novel adapted from a fan game.

In the fifth year of the Chongzhen reign of the late Ming dynasty (1632), the bandit Liang and his accomplices took a job from a human trafficker.

Liang had to transport four little girls from Huazhou City to Luoyang City.

The journey spanned a thousand li. They would pass through Huazhou, Wenxiang, and Shanzhou before finally reaching Luoyang.

At first, Liang assumed the girls he was transporting would be sent to rich families to be raised as adopted daughters.

Along the way, a girl named Sui told Liang the "truth" about the job.

As it turned out, their employer was a pig demon that had cultivated for a thousand years.

The pig demon had a taste for unusual food. Every year on its birthday, it gathered young girls from Shaanxi. Sui's older sister had died because of it.

Sui hoped Liang would abandon the job and, better yet, join her in assassinating the pig demon to avenge her sister and the young girls who had perished over the years!

Liang didn't entirely believe Sui, since she seemed to be hiding many mysteries.

During the journey, Liang would gather information, uncover the truth, and make his choice.