Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 98
>Chapter Title: Doctor Li
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Li Huowang looked at the attending physician in front of him, pondering his recent question.
“Which side’s world is unreasonable?”
His right hand, shackled with handcuffs, pointed to the hospital floor.
“This side’s world is unreasonable. This side is fake!”
Doctor Li, hearing Li Huowang say this, showed no surprise on his face. Instead, he pushed up his glasses on his nose bridge with his index finger and continued.
“Alright, then why do you think this world is unreasonable? There has to be a reason for that, right?”
Li Huowang didn’t answer right away. Instead, he stared blankly at the white ceiling overhead.
“Before, when I hijacked that kid, the police shot me in the head, didn’t they? So why haven’t I died yet? Am I invulnerable or something? Doesn’t that prove this world is all fake?”
Li Huowang suddenly felt that debating this with people in the hallucination was utterly pointless.
“Little Li, that was just good luck on your part. The shooter missed the target. After all, who says everyone has to hit every shot?”
“Hmph, good luck? Do you buy something this unreasonable?” Li Huowang sneered.
“Some people get struck by lightning, others win the lottery. Some have good luck while others have bad. Why do you assume the real world is fair and reasonable?”
“This world has never been reasonable. So why is it that when others run into unreasonable things, they don’t start doubting the world is a hallucination like you do? Because you’re different from them.”
With that, the doctor pulled his phone from the pocket of his white coat and started playing a video for Li Huowang.
“Why are you so dead certain that the other side definitely isn’t the hallucination? If we’re talking unreasonable, the stuff you ran into over there is way more bizarre, right?”
“Danyangzi is dead!! Danyangzi is dead! You’re all free!! Come out!!” On the phone screen, Li Huowang—bound head to toe in a straitjacket—shouted loudly at the empty room.
Seeing Li Huowang’s attention hooked, the doctor swiped the screen with his finger. A new video clip started playing, again showing Li Huowang in a straitjacket.
“Fake! It’s all fake! Statues, giant Buddhas—all of it’s fake! Just illusion tricks! They can’t fool me!!”
“How about you chat with my master?”
“Heh, didn’t get it? I mean talk to my master face-to-face.”
One video clip after another—all things Li Huowang had said in the past.
When the final video played, Li Huowang’s pupils contracted slightly. He saw himself in hospital garb, face twisted in mania, clutching a wrench as he charged into a crowded mall, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Danyangzi! Don’t kill the kid!! You can’t kill kids!!”
The video had a long progress bar left, but the doctor didn’t play any more of it. He slipped the phone back into his pocket.
“See? Compared to everything you encountered over there, not getting your head blown off is nothing, right?”
Li Huowang’s heart started racing again, his breaths coming quick and shallow. But he didn’t bother explaining. He shut his eyes once more.
“Fake... all fake.”
“Fine, then. If you think this side is fake, why hesitate when your mother begged you? If it’s all fake, why not just drive that glass shard home?”
Doctor Li’s tone grew heavier.
“If they’re all fake, why do you care whether Yang Na has a new boyfriend or not?”
He jabbed Li Huowang’s chest over and over with his finger.
“If you keep flying off the handle like this, how long do you think she can stick it out? Even if she doesn’t stray, can you really stand by while she pines away in silence? Can you give her any happiness? Are you fit to be her boyfriend like this?”
Li Huowang’s eyes snapped open. He glared daggers at the doctor in front of him.
“They’re fake!! But my feelings for them are real!! Even knowing they’re hallucinations, I can’t just abandon those feelings!!”
“You think I don’t want to go back to them?? I can’t!! I’ve crossed over!! I’ve been crossed over for ages!!”
“You say this world is real? Fine. Then tell me—why does a mental hospital have a stomach pump?”
Doctor Li spread his hands in helpless exasperation at the question.
“What’s so weird about that? Patients like you are always swallowing random junk by mistake. It’s standard gear in pretty much every psych ward. Last time, if it weren’t for that machine, all the nasty crap you gulped down would’ve killed you.”
“Then why does eating Black Tai Sui from over there suppress the hallucinations here?”
“What you ate wasn’t any Black Tai Sui. It was a rat. Your condition took a turn for the worse!”
“Why did it worsen exactly after I ate it—and not before?? How do you twist logic that hard?!”
“Little Li, you’ve got cause and effect backward. Your condition worsened first—that’s what triggered those matching hallucinations. They shift and change along with your illness. That’s what makes them hallucinations.”
Li Huowang’s face twisted viciously at those words. He flung out his ace card.
“Fine! Say you’re right. Then explain this—why can I bring stuff from over there to this side? How do you explain that?!”
“Oh? New symptom? Walk me through it. How’d you bring it? Where’s the thing now? Let me take a look.”
Li Huowang started to open his mouth, about to explain how he’d passed the jade pendant to Yang Na—but he caught himself.
“No. Can’t drag Yang Na into this. Not even her hallucination.”
Li Huowang feared that facing Yang Na’s illusion would break him, make him buy into this side as reality all over again. He had to cut every last tie to the hallucination.
“Just you wait. Next time I come back, I’ll show you stuff from that world for real! We’ll see how you squirm out of it then, you damn hallucination!”
Doctor Li let out a helpless sigh at the boy’s ravings.
“Little Li, I’m afraid there won’t be a next time. You’ve stirred up trouble one too many times, and the hospital’s on the hook for it—lawsuits piling up. So the dean’s ordered your transfer personally.”
“Transfer? To where?” Li Huowang asked, stunned.
Doctor Li patted Li Huowang’s shoulder.
“Since you think this is all a hallucination, why sweat the details of where? All I’ll say is this—your family’s finances are in dire straits because of you.”
“This is my last consult with you. I wanted to make one final push, but looks like it’s all for nothing. Truth be told, being your attending doc has been one long exercise in frustration. Heh.”
Doctor Li reached up and took off his glasses. He studied the boy intently, then extended his right hand to ruffle his hair. The hard lines on his face softened.
In that moment, they weren’t doctor and patient anymore.
“Little Li, you’re a good kid. Even with how wildly your symptoms swing. Whatever you run into in those hallucinations, don’t give up on yourself. Especially not like before—gutting yourself open.”
“You know, you nearly died. They had to cut out part of your intestines. You’ll need a stoma for half a year to heal.”
“If there’s one thing even your deranged self cares about more than forcing people to accept—it’s your own death. As long as you’re alive, there’s hope for them. Got it?”
(End of chapter)