The Hunt for Red

1,188 words

Chapter 94 : Red

Li Huowang sat on the hospital bed, replaying everything that had just happened in his mind.

He never imagined that Layue Shiba would be stranger than anything he had encountered before. It could fundamentally alter cognition, silently and seamlessly replacing a person's identity—and shifting other people's various identities onto that person.

When his own identity had been replaced by that of the old man, he estimated that if he had truly believed himself dead at that moment, he probably would have died for real. If he had died under those circumstances, even Danyangzi might not have been triggered.

But what Layue Shiba hadn't anticipated was that Li Huowang was a mental patient. Changing a madman's cognition wasn't so easy.

The hallucinations he had been deliberately avoiding before had now become the key to breaking the entity's control.

No matter how powerful Layue Shiba was, it could only alter one kind of cognition. But Li Huowang, as a Heart-Element, possessed two different kinds of cognition—a rare exception.

Staring at the fellow patients sunbathing outside, Li Huowang didn't act immediately. Instead, he began calculating silently in his mind.

"I can't just wait here doing nothing. Once the hallucination fades, Layue Shiba might alter my cognition again. I have to affect the other side by taking action within the hallucination."

Fortunately, Li Huowang wasn't out of cards. After the previous two incidents, he had understood that whatever happened in the hallucination also happened in reality. And he had gained a certain understanding of Layue Shiba.

Li Huowang firmly memorized the path he had just taken. He needed to go back—back to the Wu Family Courtyard—to warn the others: that Li Huowang was a fake!

From start to finish, Layue Shiba had only dared to operate in the shadows, not even showing its face. That meant it couldn't be strong in direct confrontation. If its tricks were rendered useless, it was probably even weaker than the previous Small-Footed Woman. Even the Wandering Lord could easily deal with it.

Having formulated his countermeasure, Li Huowang was about to sit up when he realized both his hands were tied to the bed.

But that couldn't hold Li Huowang. He was already very familiar with everything in this hallucination. Turning his head toward the microphone by the bed, he put on his usual act and called out, "Which beautiful lady is on duty today? Could you please untie me? I really need to pee."

Before long, a plump nurse rushed in excitedly and began unbinding him.

"Oh my god!! Xiao Li, you're finally awake! This time was so long, it really scared me! I thought you were never going to wake up!"

"Wait right here, I'll go notify Yang Na right away! Your little girlfriend will be over the moon when she finds out you've recovered. You have no idea how many times she's cried during this time."

The nurse's words didn't stir a single ripple in Li Huowang's calm mind. No matter how wonderful this place was, a fake was still a fake.

Abbess Jingxin always said that a Heart-Element's heart was filled with bewilderment, but Li Huowang didn't think so. He had seen through everything. He would never mistake this fabricated world for reality.

Taking advantage of the nurse's hurried exit to inform the doctors, Li Huowang quickly rolled off the bed and began to run, following the route etched in his memory.

He was already very familiar with this hospital. Finding a way out was child's play.

Ignoring the security guards' whistles rising in the courtyard, he lowered his head and charged straight toward the road.

"Hallucinations—these are all hallucinations!"

Li Huowang had no time to deal with these illusions now. Bai Lingmiao and the others were still under Layue Shiba's control and could be in danger at any moment.

On the road, his blue-and-white striped hospital gown immediately drew attention. Several people even raised their phones.

"Hey, what's wrong with that guy? Why is he barefoot in this weather? Isn't he cold?"

"Look at his clothes—that's a hospital name on it. Oh my god, he escaped from a mental hospital! Should we call the cops?"

"Really? You think it's some influencer? Those guys will do anything for clout."

"Fake—all of it fake. You already tricked me once, and I won't be fooled a second time!" Biting down so hard his gums bled, Li Huowang screamed resolutely in his heart.

Weaving through the streets, Li Huowang arrived at the Wu Family Courtyard in his memory. But within the hallucination, he was now standing in the middle of a major roadway.

Cars sped past him on all sides, but Li Huowang wasn't afraid in the slightest. He knew they were all fake, all hallucinations. The cars couldn't hit him.

He shouted at the stream of traffic before him, "Bai Lingmiao! Grab my bell now! Ring it! Summon the Wandering Lord! The Li Huowang beside you is a fake! Tell the Wandering Lord to attack him!"

"HONK HONK HONK—BEEP BEEP BEEP!" Predictably, Li Huowang's "efforts" caused a traffic jam.

Every car was blaring its horn. But Li Huowang grinned. Bai Lingmiao had clearly followed his instructions. These honks were the bell sounds, distorted by the hallucination.

Just then, the driver of a red sports car stuck his head out the window and shouted arrogantly, "You psycho! You looking to die?! Get lost, or I'll fucking end you!"

Li Huowang, now in a state of exhilaration, whipped his head around and locked eyes with the bright red sports car. He could feel a gaze shooting out from the car and landing on him.

He walked over, baring his teeth in that stark-white grin again, and leaned down toward the red sports car. "Heh heh. So you do have a physical form in the hallucination, Layue Shiba!! I've found you!"

Layue Shiba, which had never shown itself in Wu Family Village, had unexpectedly revealed itself to Li Huowang in this form. This was an unexpected blessing.

Li Huowang continued shouting to the unseen disciples, "Everyone, look at me! No matter what's in front of me, attack it at full force! That thing is Layue Shiba!"

At that moment, the sports car driver noticed the red letters on the left chest of Li Huowang's gown: Anding Psychiatric Hospital.

He flinched in fright, all his previous arrogance vanishing in an instant. He scrambled back into his car, hastily rolled up the window, and fumblingly grabbed his phone.

"Hello? 110? Get here quick! There's a psycho running loose by the big roundabout! Yeah, the roundabout near Walmart. Hurry up!"

Li Huowang was about to kick the hood of the red sports car when he suddenly stopped.

Under everyone's gaze, he abruptly turned his head to look at a distant red electric scooter. The gaze from the sports car had shifted to that scooter.

Damn it! Layue Shiba had realized it was discovered and was trying to flee!

"Trying to run? Not so fast! Everyone, follow it now!! That thing must be injured! It's getting smaller!" Li Huowang took off running, chasing the red electric scooter.

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Reading Guide Decoding

Li Huowang Flips the Board: Cognitive Duality as a Weapon

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

Layue Shiba: The Annual Reset Spirit — This is one of the more creative folk-horror constructions in the novel. Layue Shiba (腊月十八) is named after the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, suggesting a spirit whose nature, appearance, and even vulnerabilities completely reset every year on that date. Compare this to the legalistic rule-based horror in classical Chinese ghost stories, where knowing the spirit's name and its "taboo day" gives the protagonist leverage. The fact that it's a date-name implies it has been encountered before—and will be encountered again, entirely different.

The Heart-Element's Cognitive Duality — Li Huowang's triumph here is rooted in the novel's core ontological horror. As a Heart-Element (心素), he doesn't just "see things"—he holds two contradictory realities in his head at once. Layue Shiba's power is to replace a target's identity by overwriting their cognitive schema. But if the target already possesses two schemas, the spirit can only overwrite one, leaving the other intact as a lifeline. In xianxia terms, this is not a contest of cultivation realms—it's a contest of perception structures, and Li Huowang's illness is his strength.

"Red" as a Supernatural Marker — In Chinese folk religion and fengshui, red is traditionally a yang color associated with life, joy, and warding off evil (red envelopes, red wedding clothes, cinnabar talismans). Layue Shiba's manifestation as "red objects" (sports car, electric scooter) is an inversion: the protective color becomes the signal of the predator. In the Dao-Twisted World, no symbol is safe from corruption.

Chapter Overview

And there it is. The moment Li Huowang finally gets to turn the tables. After being mentally cornered, identity-swapped, and nearly erased by Layue Shiba's insidious cognitive tampering, our favorite (only?) Heart-Element patient finally figures out the one thing that piece-of-trash evil spirit can't handle: a mind that's already broken in two different directions at once. This chapter is pure dopamine for anyone who's been waiting for Li Huowang to stop being a victim and start being a hunter. He's not just surviving anymore—he's chasing. And he's enjoying it. The chase is on, and the red is running.

Key Plot Points

Li Huowang deduces Layue Shiba's core weakness: it can only modify one cognitive framework at a time. As a Heart-Element, Li Huowang possesses two—his hallucinatory reality and his modern psychiatric reality—making him uniquely resistant.
He realizes that if his identity had fully accepted death as the old man, he would have died for real, bypassing even Danyangzi's protection mechanism.
Back in the hospital hallucination, Li Huowang exploits his familiarity with the psychiatric ward to escape: he fakes a bathroom request to get untied, then bolts the moment the nurse leaves to notify the doctors.
Ignoring the "real" world around him (which he now firmly classifies as an illusion), he runs to the location of the Wu Family Courtyard—which in the hallucination is a busy road intersection.
He shouts instructions into the traffic, directing Bai Lingmiao to ring the Daoist bell and summon the Wandering Lord to attack the fake Li Huowang. The car horns confirm she is acting—they are the bell sounds distorted by the hallucination.
A red sports car driver yells at him, and Li Huowang senses a gaze—he identifies the red vehicle as Layue Shiba's physical manifestation within the hallucination.
Before he can attack, the "red" focal point shifts to a distant red electric scooter. Layue Shiba has been injured and is trying to escape by shrinking and moving its awareness.
Li Huowang gives chase, commanding the unseen disciples to pursue the fleeing red.

Reading Guide

If you've been gritting your teeth through the last few chapters of Li Huowang getting his identity scrambled like a bad hard drive, this is your pay-off. The pacing here is exhilarating—note the contrast between the cold, deliberate calculation in the hospital room and the manic, almost feral energy of the street chase. Li Huowang's confidence is back, but it's not the brittle, fearful confidence of earlier chapters. This is the confidence of a man who has understood the rules and is now exploiting them. The hospital hallucination is no longer a prison—it's a command center. And that grin? That bared-teeth, "I found you" moment? That's Li Huowang discovering that hunting feels a lot better than being hunted. Watch the red. It's running.