Chapter 688
Chapter 688
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 688
>Chapter Title: Method
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Chapter 688: Method
In the men's restroom of Kangning Hospital, Li Huowang, panting heavily, stuck his head under the faucet, letting the icy cold tap water rush over it.
“Ji Zai! Ji Zai! You’re Ji Zai!”
Qian Fu’s voice had just rung out in his ears again. Li Huowang squeezed his eyes shut in agony.
His head throbbed with pain—the kind that felt like it was crushing his skull. Only under this freezing running water could he feel a shred of relief.
Li Huowang lifted his head from the sink. Through his drenched hair, he stared at his drenched, drowned-rat reflection in the mirror—and at that face that looked more and more unfamiliar.
“What is Ji Zai? Isn’t Ji Zai just the fake name Zhuge Yuan gave me in the hallucination? Why is he calling me Ji Zai? Could it be that the world over there...”
Some lost memories began to surface. Li Huowang felt his head hurt even more. He shoved his head back under the faucet, letting the cold water pour over it nonstop.
When Li Huowang lifted his head again, he saw something eerie. The him in the mirror didn’t lift with him. Instead, it stayed bent over, head under the faucet, letting the cold water rinse the back of its skull.
Fear gradually crept into Li Huowang’s eyes. It wasn’t just that the mirror him hadn’t moved with him. It was that the back of the mirror him’s head had grown a face identical to the front one. He had the same Li Huowang face on both front and back.
“Gah—!” Li Huowang gasped in fright and stumbled back several steps. When he looked in the mirror again, it was normal. Aside from the terrified Li Huowang, there was nothing else. What he’d just seen was merely an illusion.
“What’s going on? Could the world over there be the real one? And everything here...?” An inexplicable terror surged in his heart, making Li Huowang instinctively want to hug something.
But soon, a blaze of anger rose in Li Huowang’s chest, swiftly burning away the fear. “Damn it! Trying to fool me again, huh?! I’ve fallen for this trick plenty of times already! Like hell I believe it! I’m crazy, not stupid!”
Since Qian Fu had read Yi Donglai’s paper, it was no surprise he’d learned a name like Ji Zai from it. That proved nothing.
Besides, Yi Donglai had cured him, and he hadn’t relapsed for so long. That was more than enough proof that it was all just a hallucination from his illness.
The anger in Li Huowang’s heart grew fiercer. He suddenly clenched his right fist and smashed it into the mirror. Seeing the Li Huowang in the glass shatter into pieces finally made him feel a bit better.
“What rotten luck! I really shouldn’t come to this place too often. The troubles aren’t even solved, and I almost let that lunatic Qian Fu drag me back in!”
Li Huowang held his glass-shard-filled hand under the faucet, quickly rinsing the blood. As he picked out the shards one by one, his thoughts returned to Qian Fu.
No matter what this guy called him, one thing was certain: he wanted Li Huowang’s help.
This madman wanted Li Huowang to get him out. Once he was free, he’d help Li Huowang deal with those who were watching and kidnapping him.
“Should I... do it or not?” Li Huowang hesitated. Qian Fu was a lunatic—how much of what he said was true was anyone’s guess.
But no matter how crazy he was, those threats against Li Huowang were undeniably real. There was no doubt about that.
And they’d keep coming at him. If he didn’t find a way to deal with them, he’d never have peace.
“Once Qian Fu’s out, could he really help me? Maybe all that crazy talk is just a front. I need to see through to his true nature...”
“What the hell?! What happened? What did you do?!” A man’s shocked voice came from behind him.
Li Huowang turned to see an orderly who’d entered the restroom, staring slack-jawed at the shattered mirror and Li Huowang’s bleeding hand.
“You’re asking me? Who do I ask?! How is your hospital’s mirror quality this crap?! I was just washing my hands, and it suddenly exploded!” Li Huowang argued righteously, full of indignation.
The restroom mirror had exploded and cut a patient’s hand—a bunch of hassle.
Good thing it was a psychiatric hospital, so bandaging was convenient.
Once Li Huowang’s hand was wrapped in gauze and tucked in his pocket, he emerged from Kangning Hospital arm-in-arm with Yang Na. By then, he’d made up his mind: he would get Qian Fu out.
No matter how unreliable or insane Qian Fu seemed, no matter how his words jumped around.
Since those people had tried to put needles in his food and sow discord between him and Qian Fu, it proved at least one thing: he and Qian Fu weren’t on the same side.
If they wanted to stop it, then he had to do it. Who knew, there might even be unexpected gains.
But helping a psychiatric patient escape from a psych ward was no small feat. The one silver lining was that Qian Fu was just a regular severe case—no murders on his record.
“Huowang! Look at the sky. The weather’s so nice today. Not a cloud in sight.”
Hearing Yang Na, Li Huowang looked up at the deep blue sky overhead. The warm sunlight bathed his face, making him feel cozy all over. His foul mood from earlier troubles lifted a bit.
Then Li Huowang chuckled at his own thoughts from the restroom. How could anything this real be fake?
“Yeah, the weather’s great today. Too bad it’s not like this every day.” Li Huowang headed toward the rideshare waiting at the hospital entrance.
He didn’t know who those watchers were or what they wanted, but right now, Li Huowang was brimming with fighting spirit. If someone wanted to come after him, he’d strike back. No matter who they were!
As the rideshare drove off, Li Huowang’s mind raced with ways to spring his fellow lunatic Qian Fu, given his current status.
From his past experiences, sneaking a severe psychiatric patient out of a psych ward without anyone noticing seemed harder than climbing to heaven.
But just as they reached the neighborhood entrance, something from his memories gave him an idea.
Actually, it wasn’t that hard. Kangning Hospital was private. If he could just cut off Qian Fu’s medical payments, the hospital would toss him out themselves—no extra effort needed.
“Little Li, you’re back? How’d the checkup go?” Seeing Li Huowang return, Auntie Qi let out a big sigh of relief.
Looking at the old lady with the red armband, Li Huowang thought for a moment before saying to her, “Auntie Qi, I need to go back to the hospital again tomorrow.”
“Again? What for this time?”
“My meds are running out. I need to pick some up. If I don’t take them, I might relapse.”
(End of chapter)