Chapter 676 Thirty Hours

Liam finally finished eating after what felt like an entire feast had disappeared in front of him. He leaned back slightly in his chair, exhaled in satisfaction, and looked down at the collection of empty plates surrounding him with a faint smile on his face. There had been enough food in the room to feed several families for days, yet somehow, after twenty straight minutes of watching him devour almost everything within reach, Irina was beginning to wonder whether the village had made a terrible mistake by giving him so much food. She had stood there the entire time without saying much, simply watching in disbelief as rice, meat, bread, fruits, snacks, and everything else that had looked edible gradually vanished into Liam’s stomach. By the time he finally stopped, Irina’s expression had become one of genuine confusion.

She stared at him for several seconds before her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Can I see your stomach?"

Liam looked at her.

"Hmm?"

His brows furrowed as though she had just asked him the strangest question imaginable, but after a moment he shrugged and lifted his shirt anyway. The moment Irina saw his stomach, her eyes widened so much that Liam almost laughed. After everything she had just watched him eat, she had expected to see a stomach that looked as though it was about to burst, or at the very least some obvious sign that a ridiculous amount of food had just been forced into it. Instead, his stomach was only slightly larger than normal. There was barely any difference at all.

Irina stared.

She looked at his stomach.

Then at the empty plates.

Then back at his stomach.

Her expression became increasingly disturbed by the impossibility of it.

"How is that even possible?" she asked slowly, as though she were genuinely trying to solve a mystery. "How many stomachs do you have?"

Liam looked down at himself before lowering his shirt. A small smile formed on his face as he shook his head. "What is it you want to ask me apart from my stomach"

Irina blinked. "What is what?"

"You clearly want to ask me something."

Her brows furrowed immediately. "What makes you so sure I have a question to ask you?"

Liam didn’t answer immediately. He leaned forward and picked up a piece of bread that had somehow fallen onto the floor during his eating rampage. He examined it for a moment, apparently deciding that it was still perfectly edible, before casually taking a bite. "I know when someone wants to ask me a question," he said after swallowing. "I can smell it on you."

Irina stared at him.

There was a long silence.

"You can smell a question?"

Liam nodded with an entirely straight face.

Irina’s expression became suspicious.

Of course, he couldn’t actually smell questions. That would be ridiculous, even by Liam’s standards. He had simply been reading her expression the entire time. Irina had been staring at him with the same look for several minutes, and the way her eyes repeatedly moved between him and the empty plates made it painfully obvious that there was something she wanted to discuss. Liam simply wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of knowing that he had figured it out so easily.

Irina eventually decided not to challenge his ridiculous claim. She folded her arms and looked at him seriously. "Yesterday, when you were performing that ritual..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa."

Liam immediately raised his hand.

He looked at her in stunned disbelief.

"Fuck you mean yesterday?"

Irina’s lips curled upward.

A sly smile appeared on her face.

"Oh," she said casually, almost as though she had just remembered something completely unimportant. "I forgot to tell you that you slept for thirty hours."

Liam froze.

For several seconds, he simply stared at her.

Then he scratched the side of his head.

"Thirty hours?"

"Yes."

He looked toward the window.

The sunlight was completely different from what he remembered.

His eyes narrowed.

Then he looked back at Irina.

"You let me sleep for thirty hours?"

Irina shrugged.

"You were tired."

Liam’s expression immediately changed.

"Do you understand that we have just two weeks to find the problem and eliminate it?" he asked, pointing toward her with the piece of bread still in his hand. "Two weeks. Fourteen days. And you let me sleep for thirty hours?"

Irina’s smile grew.

"You were sleeping peacefully."

"That doesn’t answer my question."

"You were also snoring."

Liam’s face instantly twisted.

"No, I wasn’t."

"Yes, you were."

"Fuck no!"

"You were."

Liam put the bread down and stared at her as though she had personally insulted his entire bloodline. "Oh, please. I wasn’t snoring."

Irina crossed her arms.

"You were."

"I do not snore."

"You did."

"No."

"Yes."

"Absolutely not."

Irina’s smile became wider as she watched him become increasingly offended by something that had apparently wounded his pride more deeply than any monster ever could. "You were snoring so loudly that I thought something had attacked the house."

Liam’s eyes widened.

"You’re lying."

"I’m not."

"I don’t snore."

"You do."

"How would you even know?"

"I was there."

Liam opened his mouth, then closed it.

That was annoyingly difficult to argue with.

Irina continued enjoying herself. "You even stopped breathing for a few seconds."

Liam’s expression changed.

"Wait, what?"

She laughed.

"I’m joking."

Liam stared at her.

Then he slowly shook his head.

"I can’t believe you."

"You should have seen yourself."

"I don’t snore."

"You do."

"I absolutely don’t."

Irina’s eyes sparkled with amusement. "I wish we were back on Earth. I would have recorded you."

Liam immediately waved his hand.

"Okay, enough."

He didn’t want to hear another word about it.

There were some things a man could accept. Being exhausted after performing a dangerous ritual? Fine. Sleeping for thirty hours? Embarrassing, but acceptable. Having an entire village stare at him like he was some kind of miracle worker? He could deal with that.

But snoring?

Absolutely unacceptable.

Liam quickly switched topics before Irina could continue attacking his dignity.

"So, what happened yesterday?"

Irina’s expression changed.

The amusement slowly disappeared.

She looked at Liam for a moment before answering.

"Oh, yes. Yesterday."

Liam leaned back slightly.

Irina moved closer and sat down opposite him, her eyes becoming more serious. "When you were performing that ritual, there was something odd about you."

Liam’s expression became attentive.

"Odd how?"

Irina hesitated.

She was clearly trying to find the right words.

"It wasn’t just the ritual," she said. "It was you."

Liam remained silent.

Irina’s eyes stayed fixed on him as she recalled what she had seen. "The way you looked at us was different. The way you spoke was different. Even the way you moved was different. You were still using your body, but..." She paused, searching for the right comparison.

Liam’s expression slowly became more serious.

Irina continued, "Your voice sounded the same, but there was no emotion behind it. You weren’t reacting to anything. You weren’t teasing me. You weren’t getting annoyed. You weren’t even looking at me the way you normally do. You simply gave orders, performed the ritual, and acted as though everyone around you was nothing more than part of a calculation."

She leaned back slightly, her eyes narrowing as she studied him.

"It was as if..."

Liam looked at her.

"I was a completely different person."

The words left his mouth before she could finish.

Irina went silent.

Liam’s eyes lowered slightly.

For the first time since waking, the playful expression on his face disappeared completely.

Because he knew exactly what she had seen.

He had been there.

He had watched it happen.

He had watched his own body move without him.

He had heard his own voice speaking words he hadn’t chosen.

He had watched the consciousness take control.

And now Irina had noticed.

She had seen the difference.

Liam slowly leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping once against the table as his mind returned to the events of yesterday.

There were far too many things he needed to understand.

And now, after hearing Irina describe exactly what she had witnessed, Liam realized something that made the entire situation considerably more complicated.

The consciousness hadn’t merely taken control of his body.

It had changed the way he appeared to the people around him.

And Irina had been close enough to notice every single difference.