Chapter 557
Chapter 557
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 557
>Chapter Title: Return
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“Mom, I’m really doing okay. It’s just that I’ve had some free time lately, so I’ve been lucid a bit less, but things will get better going forward.”
Li Huowang, strapped to the hospital bed, comforted Sun Xiaoqin at his side.
Sun Xiaoqin shook her head with a smile. “Mom’s not worried, really not worried. Here, have some apple.”
“Mom, I can’t eat anything right now.” Seeing the smile fade from Sun Xiaoqin’s face, Li Huowang quickly added,
“Mom, next time I want to eat, I’ll shout it out while I’m in a coma, and then you can feed me the apple, okay?”
Hearing this, Sun Xiaoqin nodded with a smile. “Alright, I’ll listen to my son.”
Just as Li Huowang relaxed his tense mind and chatted with Sun Xiaoqin, he suddenly spotted Yi Donglai standing at the hospital room door, peering in through the glass at him.
Seeing that Li Huowang had noticed him, Yi Donglai adjusted his rimless glasses with a hand, twisted the doorknob, and walked in.
He first asked Sun Xiaoqin to step out. Then, as if making small talk, Yi Donglai asked, “How’s it going? Have you found Bai Lingmiao yet?”
Li Huowang met this with silence.
“With such nice sunshine outside, how about we go sunbathe?” Yi Donglai unfastened the restraints on Li Huowang’s limbs, but Li Huowang didn’t budge.
Yi Donglai wheeled over a chair and raised a brow. “Why aren’t you moving?”
Looking up coldly at Yi Donglai, Li Huowang said, “I’m riding a horse right now. Moving around could make me fall off.”
Yi Donglai nodded understandingly and wheeled the chair away. “You know, I tracked down your old doctor, Wang Wei, and had a chat with him.”
This caught Li Huowang’s attention. “What was he hospitalized for?”
“What else could it be for someone ending up here? But his paperwork wasn’t in order—he pulled strings to transfer in—so the director shipped him back out.”
“Anyway, enough about him. His condition’s much lighter than yours. But from our talk, we came up with a new treatment plan.”
“It’s untested before, but we’ve tried every standard method on you with no results. Maybe this one’s worth a shot.”
Li Huowang smiled at him and said candidly, “Sure, give it a try. What if it works?”
Both worlds are real, and he was stuck between them. Did this Yi Donglai really think ordinary medicine could yank him out?
If things could be resolved as easily as in a fairy tale, that’d be great.
“It won’t be that quick—we have to go through procedures. But I think the higher-ups will sign off. They’ve got a real headache with you; they’d love to patch up this hot potato and ship you off to some subordinate unit.”
“If you’ve got nothing else, I need to head back. Carving out time on the road isn’t easy.”
At this, Yi Donglai’s expression grew serious, his determined gaze piercing through his greenish-tinted lenses at Li Huowang.
“I know you don’t trust me, but I’m telling you, I’m stubborn as hell. That’s how every patient who passes through my hands gets discharged cured—even the untreatable ones have the best prognoses in the whole hospital!”
“Since you’re my patient, I’ll exhaust every option to fix you! No matter how many methods it takes.”
“Thanks, you’re a good doctor, but you really can’t help with this. Stop messing around.” With that, Li Huowang slowly closed his eyes.
In the darkness, Li Huowang heard Yi Donglai’s voice fading away. “Is that so? I refuse to believe it. In fact, you’re not flawless—I’ve already spotted some patterns and figured out how to intervene.”
Dazed and groggy, Li Huowang jolted awake to thunder. He found himself astride a horse, tentacles sprouting from his red Daoist robes clutching the reins tight.
Just then, rain poured down. In the deluge, Li Huowang donned his conical hat.
“How long have we been traveling?” Li Huowang asked Li Sui.
“Dad, I don’t know. You never taught me that.”
Eyeing the mud-churning dirt road, Li Huowang bit his index fingertip and drew a talisman, slapping it onto the horse’s back.
The weary steed’s veins bulged instantly, and it bolted forward at double speed.
“We should be nearing the capital soon.” Li Huowang thought, scanning the vaguely familiar surroundings.
Hooves pounded relentlessly until nightfall. When a bolt of lightning flashed, Li Huowang finally glimpsed the towering walls of the capital by its glare.
Raising his Celestial Surveillance Division badge high, Li Huowang rode unimpeded through the gates.
Another bolt struck. Now Li Huowang sensed something off—the lightning kept hitting one spot inside the city.
On the deserted streets, realization dawned. He yanked the reins and charged toward the lightning’s direction.
The sky grew blacker, but flames shot skyward from one spot in the capital—Princess Anping’s residence!
By the time Li Huowang leaped off his dead horse and rushed inside sword in hand, he saw a pyramid of heads piled before the blazing palace hall.
“Ah~ You’re Er Jiu, right?” A slovenly Daoist stepped out from the shadows.
His Daoist robes were ragged and patched, his filthy feet bare, a grimy green pompom tied atop his head with red cord.
Li Huowang paid no heed to his bizarre appearance—his full attention locked on the left hand clutching a woman’s severed head!
“Er Jiu~ Taking your sweet time? Hmm? His Majesty is most disappointed. The weakest little lady took you this long? This Daoist finished not just one, but with one hand tied.”
The patched Daoist placed Princess Anping’s head atop the pyramid.
Her beautiful face was etched with despair, mouth agape, rain pouring in. This was no double—no substitute.
Princess Anping was dead. The last contender for the throne gone. Ji Lin was about to ascend! The dice had achieved its goal.
The ragged Daoist strolled hands-behind-back to Li Huowang’s side, voice tinged with regret. “Sigh~ Some folks just lack vision. His Majesty’s about to become true emperor. They’ll send coal in snow, but not flowers on brocade.”
In the downpour, Li Huowang clenched his fists. “No! He can’t ascend! At least not before the dice dies!!”
As the ragged Daoist turned to leave, Li Huowang gripped his spine sword and slashed hard.
The rift neared the Daoist’s head, but it turtle-shelled inward, dodging clean.
Then his head popped out reversed from his robes, glaring murderously at Li Huowang. “You dare sneak attack this Daoist?!”
“You killed her, and only you know she’s dead. Kill you, and to everyone else, she lives! Ji Lin won’t ascend!!”
With that, Li Huowang lunged tentacles flailing at the Daoist.
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