Chapter 463
Chapter 463
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 463
>Chapter Title: Missing
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Hearing Lv Zhuangyuan’s ignorant superstitious ramblings, Li Huowang immediately let out a long sigh of relief, his body slumping heavily onto the stool.
“The missing sun has returned. No matter what, this heavenly disaster is finally over.”
Once the taut string in his heart fully relaxed, Li Huowang passed out right there on the stool.
When he awoke again, it was the slippery clump of thick soup in his mouth that jolted him alert.
The softness at the back of his head, and the familiar faint fragrance before his nose, let Li Huowang realize whose arms he was lying in.
“Miaomiao.”
Bai Lingmiao didn’t reply. She silently continued feeding Li Huowang the chicken soup.
“I’m not crippled, just a bit tired.” Li Huowang struggled to sit up and took the bowl, gulping it down in big mouthfuls.
Aside from his blindness, Li Huowang’s body hadn’t sustained major injuries. What left him this exhausted was his mind.
Right now, Li Huowang felt like his brain had completely rusted over. The slightest attempt to think faster brought a piercing ache to the back of his head.
Li Huowang, of course, knew why. It was because he had seen that thing—the patch of sudden darkness in its essence. Beneath the heavenly disaster, that existence he couldn’t even think about, couldn’t even speak of.
This heavenly disaster wasn’t because something was missing.
It was because something had been added.
The moment he saw it, Li Huowang also glimpsed some things on its body. There were no lies on its body, just like a bronze cauldron recording major events—it inscribed everything upon itself.
“Every remembrance renders it useless, every forgetting alters it anew, and every utterance ties it to bygone years, supplanting the present.”
Li Huowang had understood what this meant before, but now he had forgotten. Forgotten completely.
That was definitely not a Sighting One. He hadn’t seen that thing in White Jade Capital. As for what it was or where it came from, Li Huowang didn’t know—and didn’t want to know.
“Senior Brother Li, what’s wrong?”
Bai Lingmiao gently stroked Li Huowang’s furrowed brow with her pale, slender fingers, trying to smooth it away.
“It’s nothing. I’m fine. This isn’t something I should worry about. The Monitor Heaven Division’s got it covered.” The pale-faced Li Huowang repeated this over and over.
To distract himself as much as possible, Li Huowang tried hard to think of other things.
He gripped Bai Lingmiao’s soft hand and asked her with a hint of anticipation in his voice,
“Miaomiao, are you alright now? You really don’t need killing intent anymore?”
Without eyes, Li Huowang couldn’t see Bai Lingmiao’s expression. All he could feel was her other hand gently caressing the back of his.
Hearing her wordless response, Li Huowang’s face fell. He quietly savored the silence.
Maybe he shouldn’t bring it up again. Maybe he should just pretend it never happened, forget it entirely. That might be better for both of them.
“No one’s missing from the village, right?” Li Huowang asked again.
“The others are all here, but one is missing. I don’t know if you’d call it a person.”
“Hm?”
“Li Sui is gone. The one that came out of your belly. The one that calls you Dad.”
“What!? Li Sui is gone?” Li Huowang’s heart leaped into his throat.
He fumbled his way to the window and shouted outside,
“Li Sui!! Come here!!”
He yelled loudly several times but got no response. This wasn’t right.
Li Sui was simple-minded, and after spending every day together, it was deeply attached to him. There was no way it would hear his call and not respond.
“Miaomiao, tell everyone in the village to spread out and find Li Sui! This is important!” Li Huowang ordered gravely.
“Mm.”
Hearing Bai Lingmiao’s footsteps descending the stairs, Li Huowang racked his brain with possibilities. He didn’t think Li Sui would leave his side for no reason.
“Brother Li, I advise you to prepare for the worst. Black Tai Sui is an evil being too. I can’t even calculate how yesterday’s heavenly disaster might have affected it.”
Hearing Zhuge Yuan’s words made Li Huowang’s expression darken further. Now that he thought about it carefully, he realized he hadn’t seen Li Sui since the disaster began.
“Master! Master!”
Lv Xiucai’s voice made Li Huowang stand. He eagerly turned toward the sound.
“Did you find it?”
“Uh, no. I just came to tell you—the dog named Mantou is gone too.”
Li Huowang clenched his fist and slammed it onto the table, cracking both the wooden surface and his knuckles with a crunch.
Startled by Li Huowang’s outburst, Lv Xiucai shuddered and quietly backed toward the stairs while the other man couldn’t see.
“Keep searching! If it’s not in the village, comb every inch of the ten li around Oxheart Village!”
“Got it! I’ll go tell them right now!”
Time ticked by. As night fell, hope of finding it seemed ever more remote.
Until the second watch of the night, when the gradually calming Li Huowang told them all to come back and rest. They’d continue tomorrow.
Suddenly, a pair of soft hands placed a bowl of egg noodles on the cracked table, followed by a pair of chopsticks shoved into Li Huowang’s hand.
“Eat it. I have no appetite.” Li Huowang said gloomily, his mood foul.
Just two days ago, he’d thought everything was heading in a good direction. In the blink of an eye, one disaster after another had crashed down on him.
“Tch, look at you. Anyone’d think you lost a real son. That thing’s an evil being—crawled out of your gut, so it’s your son? I say, good riddance. One less burden for you.”
The faceless Sitting Oblivion Daoist’s mockery made Li Huowang turn his head toward the voice.
“Brother Zhuge, could you do me a favor? Slap him for me?”
“Pa!”
“Thanks.”
Watching Li Huowang mutter to himself, a flicker of pity crossed Bai Lingmiao’s eyes as she headed toward the bed.
She came back, picked up some egg noodles with the chopsticks, blew on them gently, and brought them to Li Huowang’s lips.
“I’m not hungry. You eat.” Li Huowang pushed her hand away, but the noodles returned to his mouth.
After a few back-and-forths, Li Huowang finally opened his mouth and swallowed the now-cold egg noodles.
One feeding, one eating—the room was utterly quiet.
Just as the bowl was nearly empty, a familiar voice came from the window.
“Dad, were you calling me?”
“Li Sui?!”
Overjoyed, Li Huowang shot to his feet and groped toward the voice.
But he was quickly blocked by a figure—Ershen.
“Senior Brother Li, that’s not Li Sui. That’s a flayed dog face. And right now, it’s grinning at you.”
(End of chapter)