Chapter 584
Chapter 584
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 584
>Chapter Title: Li Huowang
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On the second floor of the White Pagoda Supervised Ward, the morning sunlight slanted through the window into the hospital room, adding a touch of warmth to the cold, sterile space.
“Son, take it slow. Be careful not to burn yourself—that would hurt.”
Under Sun Xiaoqin’s encouraging gaze, Li Huowang shakily picked up the short-handled spoon holding half a scoop of porridge and tremblingly brought it toward his mouth.
An utterly ordinary motion was, at this moment, incredibly difficult for Li Huowang to perform.
Due to his long-term bed rest, all his muscles had atrophied. Although he had begun rehabilitation training, it wasn’t showing results so quickly.
“Son, how about I feed you instead?”
Li Huowang shook his head slightly in refusal.
“No need. Right now, I just want to move a bit. Anything I do is good for my body.”
Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao finally relented and pulled her hand back.
Li Huowang slowly took a few sips. Suddenly, his face twisted in pain as he reached up to clutch his head.
But instead of feeling his scalp and hair, his fingers met a layer of hard, slightly smooth shell.
“What’s this?” After the headache eased a bit, Li Huowang scratched at it with his fingernail, flaking off some crisp, dark-yellow crumbs.
“Senior Brother Li, don’t pick at it. This stuff is really brittle.” Bai Lingmiao quickly reached out to stop him.
“What is it?” Li Huowang asked again, a bit sluggishly.
“The doctors said that third-phase psychiatric meds come with some side effects, but they’re really effective. Huowang, just bear with it a little. Once your condition stabilizes, we’ll switch to meds with fewer side effects.”
Once that intense pain passed, Li Huowang tapped his head with his finger, producing a hollow sound.
“Is it a lotus root? Is this a divine ability of the White Lotus Cult?”
Bai Lingmiao carefully touched Li Huowang’s light, crisp lotus-root head. The white hair at his temples swayed gently with her headshake.
“No, this is the work of the Four Qi Bureau of Astronomy. The Square Immortal Sect’s divine abilities are bizarre—they say everything in the Square Immortal Sect can be used as medicine to heal people.”
Before, when she’d seen that even Li Huowang’s head was gone, Bai Lingmiao’s heart had leaped into her throat. She’d truly feared he might just die right there upon learning he had no head.
But fortunately, they were now aligned with the imperial court. When Li Huowang was injured, the Four Qi Bureau of Astronomy had stepped in to help him.
“How long until I recover? I can’t go through life with this thing on my head.” Li Huowang asked again as he sipped his porridge.
“That Daoist said your fate is different from an ordinary person’s, but it’ll still take forty-nine days before you regain your flesh-and-blood body.”
Li Huowang nodded lightly.
“It’s fine. We’ve come this far—we can wait.”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ve come this far. Your illness finally has some hope now. I’d say, official treatment is just better than private care. Those private doctors in the past could never match our Doctor Yi’s dedication.”
Just then, Sun Xiaoqin heard a noise at the hospital room door. She quickly grabbed her little crossbody bag and rushed toward Yi Donglai.
“Oh my, oh my, Doctor Yi! Thank you so much—you’re truly a Hua Tuo reborn, a divine physician!”
As she exchanged pleasantries, Sun Xiaoqin pulled a thick red envelope from her bag and tried to stuff it into the pocket of Yi Donglai’s white coat.
“Sister Sun, what’s this about? Don’t do that—the hospital has rules.”
“Heh heh heh, no other meaning—just a little token of appreciation. Take it, please. You’ve worked so hard for my son these days. Say, Doctor Yi, how old are you? Married yet? Want me to introduce you to a nice girl?”
Sun Xiaoqin’s barrage of chatter caught even Yi Donglai—who never flinched facing Li Huowang—off guard.
“Mom.” Li Huowang couldn’t stand watching anymore.
“Got it, Mom’s leaving right now.”
Once Sun Xiaoqin had left the room, Yi Donglai gave Li Huowang a wry smile.
He sat down on the stool Sun Xiaoqin had just vacated, took the red envelope from his coat, waved it toward the camera in the corner, and placed it in the pocket of Li Huowang’s hospital gown over his chest.
“When you’re discharged, remember to give this back to your mom. I trust your character—you wouldn’t take this money to buy in-game skins, right?”
Li Huowang opened the envelope and looked inside at the stack of red bills. He roughly counted them—probably three or four thousand.
“No guarantees. Back in school, I was a back-row slacker, the bad kid type.”
Yi Donglai adjusted his frameless glasses with a finger and observed Li Huowang’s expression.
“Actually, if you really did spend this on in-game skins, I’d be happy. At least it’d mean you have normal human desires. If that day comes, your illness would truly be cured.”
Li Huowang pocketed the envelope, his expression turning serious as he spoke to Yi Donglai.
“Your method really works, but can it completely cure everything wrong with me?”
“Of course. Have faith in me. Don’t think your condition is one-of-a-kind—I’ve used this approach on others long before, with excellent results.”
“There was once a patient who believed he was a wooden post. He refused meds, refused sleep, refused all treatment. But I told him even wood needs sleep and meds. To prove it, I even showed him an animated video about trees.”
“After watching, he truly believed trees needed meds and sleep too. So he started taking his willingly, cooperating with treatment. Just three months later, he was discharged.”
“Follow-up visits showed no relapses after discharge. Sure, he can only deliver packages now—doesn’t make much money—but he gets by. He’s reintegrated into society.”
Li Huowang nodded slowly, though a trace of confusion lingered on his face. He raised his right hand in front of his eyes, clenching and opening it.
“Though the memories Doumu granted me from Hong Zhong are completely gone, and I’ve become the real Li Huowang again...”
“The *Great Thousand Records* from my memories hasn’t disappeared. The scars on my body haven’t either. And I still have those superhuman senses granted by Ba Hui.”
“Do you get what I mean? Even if I’ve become my own heart anchor, the real Li Huowang is forever entangled in Ba Hui’s karma.”
At these words, the Bureau of Astronomy fell silent as he gazed at Li Huowang. After a long moment, he spoke in that layered voice.
“Confusion itself is a form of suffering. Some things—you shouldn’t understand too much right now.”
Li Huowang’s face showed bewilderment at this; he couldn’t quite grasp what the man was saying.
“Good—hold on to that.” Just then, the door was pushed open, and the Bureau of Astronomy entered. The one before Li Huowang rapidly dissipated like yellow sand.
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