Chapter 95
Chapter 95
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 95
>Chapter Title: Bewilderment
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Chapter 95: Bewilderment
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> Running down the center of the wide road, Li Huowang gritted his teeth and desperately chased after the red blotches all around him.
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> Under his pursuit, he could sense that the Twelfth-Month Eighteenth in the distance was constantly shifting positions—sometimes turning into someone else’s red hat, other times into a roadside shop sign.
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> No matter how it changed, Li Huowang clung to its trail relentlessly. He’d finally found his chance and wasn’t about to let go so easily. Getting his hands on the Twelfth-Month Eighteenth’s eyes could determine whether he could shake free from Danyangzi.
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> At this moment, he also noticed something strange about the Twelfth-Month Eighteenth. This thing seemed to be some kind of creature without eyelids—it couldn’t even stop itself from staring. Anything within its field of vision would be passively gazed upon.
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> “This thing is really bizarre. What does it actually look like over on the real side?” Li Huowang wondered to himself as he ran.
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> Amid the chase, Li Huowang finally saw some progress. He was drawing closer and closer to the Twelfth-Month Eighteenth—five meters, three meters, one meter!
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> The sprinting Li Huowang suddenly raised his right hand. The instant his feet hit the ground, he prepared to lunge at that patch of red.
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> But just as he was about to grab it, a hand reached out from behind and seized his wrist.
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> “Li... Li Huowang? You’re Li Huowang from Class 4, Grade 2, right?”
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> Li Huowang whipped his head around with a savage glare. The one who’d ruined his chance was a balding middle-aged man in his fifties.
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> The man adjusted the square glasses on his face and continued looking at the boy before him.
“Forget already? I’m your homeroom teacher. Where are your shoes?”
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> Staring at that familiar face, Li Huowang blanked out for a moment. He responded on instinct.
“Teacher Tong?”
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> “I remember your mom got you a leave of absence for medical reasons. How’d you end up running out here in your hospital gown? You okay?”
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> Teacher Tong spoke with concern as he reached out and tugged Li Huowang’s collar out from under his gown.
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> Gazing at this teacher who had helped him so much back in school, a flicker of conflict appeared in Li Huowang’s eyes.
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> But he quickly regained his composure, shook off the man’s hand, and bolted desperately after the red blotch in the distance.
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> “Hallucinations!! All of this is hallucinations!! You won’t fool me! It’s all fake!!”
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> Watching Li Huowang’s receding figure, Teacher Tong’s face filled with worry. He pulled out his phone from his pocket.
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> “Hello? Is this Li Huowang’s mother? I’m his high school math teacher... Oh yes, yes, hello hello. I just saw your son around Lianhua Road. He’s not even wearing shoes.”
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> “No mistake at all, it’s definitely him. I’ve been teaching for years—I’d never mistake my own student. Mhm, mhm.”
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> Li Huowang’s eyes, threaded with bloodshot veins, darted frantically left and right along the street as he searched for any sign of the Twelfth-Month Eighteenth. In his hand, he clutched a shard of broken glass he’d picked up.
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> “Damn it! Where’d it go?”
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> The distant wail of sirens didn’t faze him in the slightest—he knew it was all fake.
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> In his frenzied search, Li Huowang suddenly halted in front of a kindergarten adorned with cartoon deer patterns. Inside the yard, some children were doing morning exercises to music.
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> When he spotted a flash of red among those kids, a chilling grin spread across Li Huowang’s face.
“Haha! Found you!”
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> The toy-like iron fence couldn’t stop him. He vaulted over it in a few quick moves.
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> He punched the charging preschool teacher to the ground, and instantly, screams and sobs erupted.
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> But Li Huowang ignored everyone else. Like an eagle snatching a chick, he hoisted one of the girls into the air and fixed a vicious glare on the pair of red cherry hair clips pinned in her hair.
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> The girl was clearly terrified, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes as her lips trembled, unable to form words.
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> “Still pretending? You can’t fool me!!”
Li Huowang roared.
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> At that moment, the sirens drew rapidly closer. Tires screeched against the pavement.
“Freeze! Police! Hands up!”
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> Li Huowang instinctively turned his head and saw several officers crouched ahead of two police cars, guns raised and aimed at him through the fence.
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> Li Huowang glanced at the Twelfth-Month Eighteenth in his grasp, then at them. A cold smirk crossed his face.
“Trying to trick me with this? Fake!! All of it’s fake!!”
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> The little girl in Li Huowang’s hands burst into frightened sobs, her cries piercingly loud.
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> Just as Li Huowang prepared to finish off the Twelfth-Month Eighteenth for good, a figure suddenly broke from the crowd of onlookers. Arms spread wide, the figure boldly blocked the path of those guns.
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> “Don’t shoot! Nobody shoot! That’s my son! He... he’s always been such a good boy since he was little. He’s only like this because of his illness. Let me talk to him, okay? He listens to me. He definitely listens to me. He’s a good, filial child.”
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> Hearing that familiar voice, Li Huowang froze once more. He watched as the graying hair turned slowly—it was his mother, Sun Xiaoqin. But right now, she looked utterly haggard, years older than before.
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> Gazing at her son beyond the iron fence, Sun Xiaoqin desperately tried to force a smile, but she ultimately failed.
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> Hot tears welled up in her eyes, rolling down her cheeks after a few trembles.
“Good son, listen to Mom. Put that little girl down, okay? Let’s go home. You can play games as many days as you want—Mom won’t stop you.”
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> Li Huowang stood frozen in conflict, his gaze shifting between the utterly real-looking mother before him and the Twelfth-Month Eighteenth in his hands.
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> Sun Xiaoqin trembled as she slowly approached. Li Huowang instinctively backed away step by step, his expression twisting in agony.
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> “No, no, this isn’t right. It’s all fake, completely fake! The Twelfth-Month Eighteenth made all this up!! That other world is the real one! I can’t let the hallucinations control me again!!”
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> Li Huowang struggled to convince himself, yet the sharp shard in his grip never stabbed down.
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> His breathing grew more and more ragged, his pupils dilating and contracting wildly.
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> When Sun Xiaoqin reached the fence, her body pressed right up against it as she slowly sank to her knees toward Li Huowang.
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> “Son, Mom’s begging you on her knees, okay? For you, I’ve already sold our house. We really don’t have any money left to pay compensation.”
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> That calm sentence utterly shattered Li Huowang. His face contorted in extreme anguish as he clutched the little girl and dropped to his knees on the ground. Two streams of tears slid down his cheeks.
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> “Mom!!!”
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> At this moment, veins bulging on his forehead, Li Huowang’s mouth gaped wide in a silent, guttural wail. Drool mixed with tears, dripping from his lips onto the cartoon-patterned floor.
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> He stared at his distant mother, took a deep breath, and unleashed every last shred of his inner turmoil and confusion toward the deepest pillar of his heart.
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> “Mom!! I can’t tell!! I really can’t tell anymore, aahhh!!”
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> (End of chapter)
> ```