Li Sui

At these words, Li Huowang’s pupils contracted slightly. “That ability… is it my dislocation ability? I have this ability in the hallucination too?”

Wang Zhilong finally started crying, sobbing with grievance as he spoke. “I didn’t make a single cent. Do you know how many tens of thousands I invested in this deal? Do you know how many connections I had to pull just to keep the城管 from taking you away? We maxed out dozens of credit cards for this!”

“Ancestor, I’m begging you! Have mercy! Just turn a little bit of gold for me, or we’re all going to have to jump off a building from the debt-collection texts!”

Li Huowang let go and looked around with a trace of panic. What was going on? Why was this world starting to feel real?

He looked down at the blood seeping from the wound on his body, then raised the dagger in his right hand and stabbed it straight into his left hand. “Why does this pain feel so real?”

Even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance it was real, then Yang Na and my mom… And they didn’t abandon me… They might be looking for me right now!

Li Huowang’s heart started pounding. He lifted his foot and rushed toward the exit, but as he ran, when he was mere inches from the sunlight, his pace gradually slowed.

“But what’s the point of finding them looking like this? Besides making them suffer more, besides dragging me deeper into bewilderment… what difference does it make? I can’t let them keep getting caught up in this.”

Defeated, Li Huowang turned around and trudged back into the bridge tunnel with heavy steps. “This is fake. Since I’ve decided this side is fake, there’s nothing to hesitate about.”

He untied Wang Zhilong, setting him free, then lay back down on the ground, staring vacantly at the ceiling above.

Wang Zhilong, now free, did not go to free his other companions. Instead, after a moment of hesitation, he moved closer to Li Huowang.

“Brother Li, while you’re still clear-headed, give me the straight answer. Do you really have superpowers or not?”

Li Huowang completely ignored everything around him. His mind was already focused on how to persuade Li Sui to return to his stomach.

“I saw it on the surveillance footage. The gold box you gave your mom was covered in gems! Just prying one loose could buy a whole house!”

“That should be real, right? Otherwise, they wouldn’t have the money to post missing-person notices all over the internet and the streets.”

“Get lost.”

“Hey, little brother Li, don’t be like that. If you really don’t want to go back, just give me some gold, and I’ll go back and tell your mom you’re dead. Let her give up hope once and for all.”

When Li Huowang’s focus finally re-centered on Wang Zhilong’s greedy face, a murderous intent flashed in his eyes. “You want gold, do you? I’ll give it to you!”

He pulled out the fat man’s gold necklace from his pocket and wrapped it around the other man’s neck.

Then he kicked him in the shin, using the momentum of the fall to yank upward. Wang Zhilong’s eyes instantly started rolling white.

Wang Zhilong struggled desperately, clawing and scratching at Li Huowang’s hands. But even as the back of his hand was torn to shreds, Li Huowang, eyes bloodshot, did not relent.

Wang Zhilong’s struggle grew more intense. As his face turned from red to purple and then began to shift toward black, Li Huowang’s pupils contracted slightly. He suddenly realized that this scene… it was so similar to when he had killed Xin Chi back then.

A wave of belated terror flooded Li Huowang’s heart, and he released his grip. He looked down at his own hands, trembling slightly.

When had he become so quick to kill without blinking?

Li Huowang turned his head toward the riverbank beside him, looking at his reflection in the water. The ragged beggar staring back at him was utterly alien.

His ordinary high school life had been just a few years ago, but in his own eyes now, it felt as distant as a past life.

His past memories were starting to blur, replaced by that bizarre, insane world.

Li Huowang found the reason. After constantly experiencing all kinds of things, he was being assimilated by that world over there. Without realizing it, he was gradually becoming just like those people from the Supervisory Heavenly Office, indifferent to human life. His heart was filled with brutality.

Or even worse—he was turning into another Danyangzi.

“No. This isn’t me. This isn’t Li Huowang.” Li Huowang turned and walked over to Wang Zhilong, who was crouching on the ground clutching his neck, and helped him up.

His voice carried a tremor of agitation as he pleaded, “I’m begging you, alright? Don’t come near me anymore! I’m a madman! I really don’t want to kill anyone!”

Wang Zhilong, who had just walked through the gates of hell, dared not say anything else. He nodded frantically, then abandoned his three other companions and sprinted out of the bridge tunnel.

That last moment had truly terrified him. He could feel that the other man had genuinely wanted to kill him.

Li Huowang let out a deep sigh. He walked over to the other three, untied them one by one.

Ignoring their panicked flight, ignoring the blood still flowing from his own wounds, Li Huowang knelt on the ground, closed his eyes, and clutched his head, repeating over and over, “This is all fake… this is all fake…”

He didn’t know how long passed before he felt the surroundings suddenly darken.

He raised his head and looked around. Unsurprisingly, the entire room looked like a hurricane had swept through it.

“Finally back…” Returning to this mad, chaotic world, Li Huowang felt an inexplicable sense of safety.

He walked over to the collapsed bed frame, knelt on one knee, and reached his hand underneath, making his voice as gentle as possible. “Li Sui, don’t be afraid. That man was a liar. Everything he said was fake. Staying inside my belly won’t hurt me.”

After a moment, a hesitant black tentacle extended from the darkness under the bed and wrapped around Li Huowang’s hand. “Mhm…”

With a gentle pull, Li Huowang dragged Li Sui’s entire body out. He cradled it in his arms and softly soothed its tentacles, some long, some short. “Li Sui, be good. Come back in. Dad really can’t be without you right now.”

Two eyeballs with double pupils, entangled between two tentacles, gazed at Li Huowang with attachment.

“Uurrp—urrp—” With a wave of nausea, Li Sui burrowed back down Li Huowang’s throat.

Accompanied by an alien sensation, Li Sui’s tentacles spread along Li Huowang’s meridians, filling his entire body.

He touched his stomach and let out a breath of relief. As long as Li Sui was with him, he wouldn’t have to go back to that place anymore.

Then Li Huowang walked to the window and looked outside. The sky was still gray and overcast, but it seemed dawn had already broken.

Having been up all night, Li Huowang had no intention of sleeping. He grabbed his luggage, went downstairs, and headed for the stables.

But as soon as he reached the main hall, he saw Old Wu looking utterly miserable, bandaging wounds alongside the cook and the stable hand.

Seeing the injuries on Old Wu that matched Wang Zhilong’s exactly, Li Huowang understood immediately.

“When did you come near my room? Didn’t I tell you yesterday not to come near my place unless there was a reason?”

The innkeeper Old Wu squeezed his bitter face into a勉强 smile and knelt with practiced, swift dexterity. “This humble one heard the commotion, feared… feared that you, sir, might be in trouble, so… This humble one deserves to die! Deserves to die! This lowly blood has dirtied your hands, sir. This humble one ought to offer you hand-washing money.”

Li Huowang grabbed him by the collar and lifted him straight up. “Stand properly!”

Then he chanted the incantation. The white wax from the True Sutra of the Fire Vestments quickly melted, forming a fire-slug that leaped onto Old Wu’s wound.

“Aaaahhh!!” Old Wu’s screams echoed through the main hall.

“Stop shouting! I’m healing you!”

By the time their voices were hoarse from screaming, every injury on them had been replaced by a layer of light burns.

Then Li Huowang pulled two silver ingots from his pocket and placed them on the table. “This is to pay for your furniture.”

“Th-this… this humble one cannot accept…” Old Wu started to refuse, but Li Huowang shoved the silver straight into his chest.

“If I told you to take it, then take it. I don’t want to be assimilated by this crappy place!”