Chapter 99
Chapter 99
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 99
>Chapter Title: Retrospect
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After saying those heartfelt words, the smiling Doctor Li gently ruffled Li Huowang's head and adjusted his glasses as he walked toward the door of the ward. Just as he was about to step out, he suddenly stopped.
"Right, little Li. Didn't you just say that because you can bring things from that world over here, you think this world is fake? Have you ever tried sending something from this side over there? You might get some different results."
With that final remark, Doctor Li left.
Hearing this, Li Huowang froze in place, his mind instinctively pondering the words. "If I really can bring things from that side here, then which side is the real one?"
"Should I try it? What if it actually works?"
"No, I can't interact with these hallucinations anymore! That'll only pull me in deeper!"
"It's just a try. What are you so afraid of?"
Unbeknownst to himself, Li Huowang fell into confusion once more, his face twisting in extreme agony.
As he wrestled with the question, Li Huowang felt the white walls around him and the beeping machines nearby rapidly fading. Before long, the bright fluorescent lights dimmed into flickering oil lamps.
When Li Huowang realized he was lying on an old wooden bed, staring up at dusty roof beams, he immediately understood—he was back.
After a moment of daze, Li Huowang pulled back his quilt.
"Compared to bringing things from the hallucination, there's now an even stronger way to tell if that side is fake."
Li Huowang looked down at his abdomen, and to his shock, he saw that the gash he'd cut into himself was neatly wrapped in clean white bandages. Pressing it lightly, he felt only a faint pain.
He remembered that before, his entire abdomen's intestines had spilled out!
"Even with my guts rotted like that, it healed?" Li Huowang's heart jolted in surprise.
Back then, he'd performed the ritual from the bamboo slips with a resolve to die, yet here he was, alive.
"Could it be..." Li Huowang's mind flashed back to the clean, tidy ICU from the hallucination, the beeping machines, and the two hanging IV bags.
Li Huowang wanted to deny it, but deep down, he knew he was doubting again. He tried to cast aside the suspicions, but he just couldn't.
"Senior Brother Li! You're awake!" Bai Lingmiao rushed over excitedly, holding a bowl of chicken soup.
"Where are we?" Seeing Bai Lingmiao, Li Huowang quickly buried his doubts deep in his heart.
"Wu Family Village." Bai Lingmiao carefully set the chicken soup on the table, then reached into the quilt to check Li Huowang's wound.
"Why is the wound healed like this? Why didn't I die?" Li Huowang bluntly asked the key question, his freshly suppressed doubts stirring uncontrollably.
"Senior Brother Li, what are you saying? How could you die? We found you in the bamboo grove and fed you a few of the pills you refined. The pills must have cured you."
Bai Lingmiao kept her head bowed low, nearly pressing it against the quilt, not daring to meet Li Huowang's eyes.
Li Huowang knew exactly what pills he'd refined—they were just ordinary ones, not some miraculous elixirs. How could they heal such a severe wound?
"Is your world over there that much more logical?" Doctor Li's words exploded in Li Huowang's mind once more.
A terrifying thought seized Li Huowang's heart. "Could this side be the fake one?"
Li Huowang suddenly felt overwhelming panic, though he didn't know exactly why.
The next moment, he grabbed Bai Lingmiao's cheeks with both hands, yanking her face right in front of his own, his expression growing frantic.
"What's going on here?! Tell me!! What are you hiding? Or are you fake too?"
Two streams of clear tears slid down Bai Lingmiao's cheeks. She was terrified by the ferocious Li Huowang before her.
The silently weeping girl pierced Li Huowang's heart. He opened his arms and pulled Bai Lingmiao into his embrace, suppressing his inner torment as he murmured softly.
"Miao, please don't hide it from me, okay? This really matters to me. I'm begging you—tell me, how did my wound heal?"
The dim room fell silent for a long time before Bai Lingmiao finally spoke in a faint voice: "Senior Brother Li, actually... I became a spirit rider. I invited the Bai Family Great Matron to heal you. She took all but one of the Lifespan Pills from your gourd."
Li Huowang's pupils contracted sharply. Flashes of images raced through his mind—the freshly recovered Bai Lingmiao after her illness, and the drum skin she'd deliberately taken. It had all been signs from the start; he just hadn't thought in that direction before.
Bai Lingmiao shrank back from Li Huowang's arms, looking at him timidly. "Senior Brother Li, I really didn't mean to deceive you. Please don't blame me, okay?"
At this moment, Li Huowang let out a heavy sigh of relief. He laughed with relief. "It's fine, it's fine. As long as it's real, it's fine. As long as it's real."
"What's real?" Bai Lingmiao clearly didn't understand what was happening.
"Nothing. Bring the chicken soup over. I'm hungry." Li Huowang changed the subject. His mood had lightened considerably. No matter what Doctor Li said, this side was real, so that side had to be fake.
After eating the Black Tai Sui, nothing from that side had appeared again. That was the key proof—he'd fallen into hallucination and absolutely could not fall into it a second time.
Li Huowang gulped down the savory chicken soup. His stomach told him his body desperately needed nutrients right now.
In no time, he'd finished the bowl and handed it back to her for a refill.
"Right, I was crazy earlier. How did you feed me this chicken soup?"
Bai Lingmiao didn't answer the question. Her face flushed red as she grabbed the bowl and ran outside.
"How else? Mouth-to-mouth, of course. I said to force it down with a spoon, but Junior Sister Bai couldn't bear to." Xiaoman walked in and answered Li Huowang's question.
Xiaoman came to Li Huowang's bedside, looking at him with a complicated expression. "Senior Brother Li, Junior Sister Bai really gave everything for you. You have to treat her well."
"Ahem." Li Huowang seemed a bit embarrassed and didn't want to discuss it. "After all that happened, the Wu Family Village folks still let us stay here?"
At his words, Xiaoman's face showed a trace of difficulty. Finally, he spoke: "They all left."
"Left? Where to?" Li Huowang was full of confusion. Wasn't this their village?
"I don't know. Ever since the surrounding woods started blooming and withering, everyone in Wu Family Village seemed to change into different people. No one recognizes anyone anymore—not even Village Head Wu's six sons recognize each other. It's like they were never surnamed Wu or brothers to begin with."
(End of chapter)