Chapter 636
Chapter 636
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 636
>Chapter Title: Beard
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Chapter 636: Beard
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> Hearing Qian Fu’s words, Li Huowang didn’t reply right away.
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> He first picked up his bowl of pumpkin porridge and took a sip, washing down the bamboo shoot in his mouth. Only after carefully looking him up and down did he say, “Multiple personalities, huh?”
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> “You could put it that way, but I’m different from others with dissociative identity disorder. I don’t just have one illness—my other personality suffers from mental illness.”
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> “Multiple personalities? One normal, the other insane?” The more Li Huowang thought about it, the stranger it seemed. He couldn’t help but muse to himself, “This guy wouldn’t happen to have severe delusions that went undiagnosed, would he?”
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> “I don’t mean anything by it. I just wanted to apologize. Since my other self hasn’t affected you, that’s great. In that case, enjoy your meal. I’ll be off.” With that, Qian Fu turned and left.
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> “This guy’s seriously messed up. Should’ve known better than to wander into the heavy ward.” Li Huowang shook his head and went back to his dinner.
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> Half an hour after dinner, he took his meds, then sat in the rec room watching the evening news broadcast until lights out.
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> In truth, aside from the illnesses, life in the mental hospital was pretty healthy and structured. No one could stay up late, and there was no junk food, so the quality of life was noticeably better than outside.
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> Even so, going to bed this early meant Li Huowang couldn’t fall asleep. With nothing to do in the ward for entertainment, he could only lie in bed staring at the ceiling.
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> In his drowsy haze, Li Huowang began to feel a hint of sleepiness. He closed his eyes, ready to drift off.
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> But just then, Li Huowang tensed up all over and bolted upright in bed, eyes snapping open as he stared out the window.
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> There was Qian Fu—the same guy he’d met earlier that day—plastered to the window with both hands, his eyes fixed on Li Huowang like some kind of ghost.
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> Anyone else might’ve been scared by the sight, but for Li Huowang now, it just sparked anger laced with irritation.
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> He threw off the covers, strode to the window, and locked eyes with Qian Fu through the glass. “I don’t want trouble, but you’d better stay the hell away from me from now on, or I won’t hold back.”
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> He hadn’t expected a casual stroll to land him with a stalker like this.
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> Yet Qian Fu didn’t budge at Li Huowang’s threat. His mouth cracked into a wider grin until he was chuckling with a fawning tone. “Little Li, let’s team up. You can’t take them on alone. We need more allies.”
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> “That’s the only way we’ll have a shot. If we lose, it’s all over!”
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> “And who are ‘they’? The aliens in Leo, right?”
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> “Yeah!” Qian Fu nodded vigorously, excited.
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> “Cut the crazy act. I’m crazier than you! Since you’ve seen my news, you know what I’ve done.”
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> With that final harsh warning, Li Huowang yanked the curtains shut and turned to the camera in the corner. “Is this how you earn your pay? A nutjob wanders out in the dead of night, and no one does a thing?”
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> Li Huowang climbed back into bed and shut his eyes, but the interruption had chased away most of his sleepiness.
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> At least it was quiet outside now, which eased his mind a bit.
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> After tossing and turning for ages, Li Huowang finally fell asleep.
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> In his dream, Li Huowang was back in school, back at the desk behind Yang Na.
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> Staring at the ribbon around her neck, he gripped his pen tight and reached out uncontrollably.
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> Just as he was about to pierce the bow, a muffled “thud” echoed from far away.
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> “Thud thud… thud!”
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> “Thud!” A massive wooden mallet rose high and slammed down repeatedly into the steaming glutinous rice in the stone mortar. An old man crouched nearby, flipping the rice with wet hands during the pauses between strikes.
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> Every time someone tired out and another took over the mallet, laughter and teasing erupted.
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> Villagers young and old gathered joyfully around, watching the mallet rise and fall like it was a show.
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> Their eyes were on the white glutinous rice in the center, while Li Huowang perched atop a treetop, watching them warily.
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> “Is it them? Is this a Law Cult hideout?” Li Huowang furrowed his brow, a twinge of unease in his heart.
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> They took turns pounding, various hands wielding the club in alternation. Soon, the freshly steamed rice was pounded into a sticky mush.
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> Still hot, they squeezed small lumps from the mortar’s mouth, rolling them in nearby black sesame and sugar. Coated in white sugar and black sesame, the rice cakes were done.
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> For some reason, seeing the villagers stuff the cakes into their mouths made Li Huowang inexplicably think of the senior sister who’d once fed him diluted sugar water.
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> That fool of a senior sister had been pounded into mush just like this rice—by Danyangzi, strike after strike.
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> They looked normal enough, but he was here now, so Li Huowang figured he should check thoroughly.
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> Li Huowang released his grip on the tree branches, tentacles unfurling as he dropped like a giant spider.
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> Camouflaging his body to blend with the ground, he gripped his sword hilt, every sense on high alert as he approached the village.
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> Drawing nearer, Li Huowang caught more details. It seemed one family had birthed twins—a boy and a girl—so they’d brought out precious rations of grain and sugar to make rice cakes and share the joy.
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> White sugar and flour were rarities in these lean times, and the village kids were ecstatic, clutching bowls and stabbing at the cakes with chopsticks.
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> Seeing their grubby, innocent faces with not a hint of suspicion, Li Huowang pressed on into the village.
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> With everyone off eating rice cakes, the village was emptier, making his search easier.
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> He swiftly combed through the entire place but found nothing suspicious.
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> Drawing from his experience at Oxheart Village, he even checked the ancestral hall specifically, but still no hidden doors.
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> “Could the intel the Siqi Bureau of Celestial Monitoring pulled from He Xin’s head be fake? Or did they move ahead of time?”
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> As Li Huowang pondered this, a commotion broke out at the village entrance.
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> Leaping across rooftops, he returned to the entrance and saw a nine-foot-tall brute with floral tattoos on his face swing his massive crescent shovel in a wide arc, sending three heads flying. The ground was already soaked in blood.
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> As the man charged toward some children, Li Huowang materialized and blocked his path.
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> “Clang!!” Sparks flew as they sprang apart. Li Huowang reeled from the man’s immense strength, while the other stared in shock at the notch in his crescent shovel.
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> Li Huowang hadn’t drawn his spine sword—he’d spotted the Surveillance Division token at the man’s waist.
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> “You’re with the Surveillance Division?”
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> “Huh?!” The man’s ox-like eyes widened. After eyeing Li Huowang’s attire, he slammed his shovel into the ground. “Well, damn! Family feud, huh? One big happy family not recognizing each other. So it’s Lord Er! My apologies.”
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> “You just go around killing like that? Even kids? What if you’re wrong?” Li Huowang demanded, eyes cold.
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> “Wrong’s wrong. Besides, I wasn’t. See for yourself.”
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> Li Huowang turned to see the villagers who’d been fleeing moments ago now glaring at him with venomous hatred.
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> “Kill the court dogs!”
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> “Kill the court dogs!!”
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> With their shouts, they tore black cloths from their belts and draped them over their shoulders.