Chapter 120: Yang Na

Chapter 120 Yang Na

Such a visually striking body laid bare before Li Huowang struck him with profound shock.

"Did they... do all this to you?"

A slight tremor crept into Li Huowang's voice, his disgust for the Cult of the Ao Jing deepening by another degree.

"At first, yes, but later I did some of it myself, because it was the only way to blend in and become one of them," Yingzi said calmly as she pulled her large robe back on.

Then, a faint sneer touched her lips. "I always thought that sacrificing so much meant I had fully integrated, but I never imagined it wasn't like that at all. In their eyes, I'm not family; I'm just something to be discarded at any moment."

Li Huowang wanted to say something, but in the end, he remained silent and lay back down.

"Don't worry, I'll take you away from this wretched place. You can start over."

This time, Yingzi offered no reply.

Li Huowang understood that his flippant words could solve nothing; she couldn't start over, for her life was already utterly ruined.

"Slurp." A wet tongue suddenly licked Li Huowang's face; it was Mantou, the dog in his arms.

Li Huowang pressed down on its head, his eyes wide open as he stared wordlessly into the darkness above.

When he woke the next day, someone had already brought breakfast to the door: sweet potato porridge and mixed grain flatbreads.

After feeding some of the delivered food to Mantou and confirming it wasn't poisoned, Li Huowang sat down to eat with Yingzi.

Today, Li Huowang didn't press Yingzi with any more questions. Her status in the Cult of the Ao Jing was low, and all she knew were trivial matters; he figured he might find better opportunities by exploring outside himself.

If Shou San were to question him, Li Huowang already had his excuse ready: he wanted to learn how these people inflicted pain.

Guided by Yingzi, Li Huowang began to wander through the cavern.

He didn't know whether they were truly abiding by the rules or if the abbess's letter had done the trick.

In the face of Li Huowang's casual roaming, the cultists did not stop him, merely fixing him with unblinking stares.

With his senses growing ever more acute, Li Huowang sensed that their gazes held not just vigilance and curiosity, but some other indescribable emotion.

Yet soon, Li Huowang had no mind for the others' stares, for the scenes within the cavern made the corners of his eyes twitch.

If the eighteen levels of the Buddhist hell truly existed, this must be the place.

Flaying, halving at the waist, tearing apart by chariots, the five punishments, death by a thousand cuts—every manner of unseen torture churned Li Huowang's breakfast in his stomach, the thick stench of blood rushing into his nostrils.

He had barely stumbled out of the zone of screams and the tearing of flesh, and before Li Huowang, leaning against the wall, could even catch half a breath.

A small figure holding a pinwheel ran past from ahead; it was a little boy wearing tiger-head shoes and a tiger-head hat, laughing loudly as he held up his paper pinwheel. "Dad, you're so slow!"

Behind him, a cultist in a robe chased after him, opening his scarred hands. "Son, you run so fast!"

Watching them walk away together, Li Huowang's expression turned grim. "These madmen! Do they have no hearts?"

Yingzi, leading the way, turned her head to glance at Li Huowang, said nothing, and kept walking.

"Benefactor, you seemed interested in other books of the Cult of the Ao Jing last night. If you want them, I can give you mine. What do you say?"

Yingzi spoke for a long while, only to find there was no response.

When she came to her senses, she saw the red-robed Daoist clutching his head in agony.

"Damn it, it's happening again!" Li Huowang felt the world around him collapsing, knowing the hallucinations were about to strike once more.

"Benefactor? Benefactor, what's wrong with you?" Jiang Yingzi quickly turned back.

Breathing heavily, Li Huowang watched in horror as Yingzi before him twisted and morphed into a nurse.

"Tuck your tongue in, be a good boy, don't bite it again," she instructed Li Huowang.

Seeing Li Huowang staring blankly at her without spouting any more nonsense, the nurse shook her head in pity and turned to leave.

Li Huowang turned his head to look at the bright, sunny sky outside the window, his mind going completely blank for a moment, not knowing what to do next.

"Wait! Over there, I'm still outside, this situation is extremely dangerous!"

Alarmed, Li Huowang quickly said in a rush, "Yingzi, listen to me, take me back to the room right now, get a rope and tie me—"

"Huowang."

Li Huowang instinctively looked up and saw Yang Na standing at the door, her eyes brimming with tears.

She was still dressed simply, a white sweater paired with jeans, a small women's crossbody bag slung at her waist.

"Huowang, did you react to my voice? You're awake, right? You recognize me, right?" Yang Na ran over and grabbed Li Huowang's hand.

Feeling that familiar touch, Li Huowang's mind was in utter chaos; almost instinctively, he froze in place, pretending to be in the midst of an episode.

After calling out a few more times, the excitement in Yang Na's eyes gradually slid into profound disappointment.

Teardrops clung to her long lashes, and her gentle voice carried a slight tremor.

"Huowang, you big liar, we agreed to go to college together! Why am I already a freshman and you still haven't woken up!"

Hearing this, Li Huowang's heart ached; he knew it was a hallucination, but he truly couldn't remain indifferent. "Nana, I'm sorry."

At these words, the extreme disappointment in Yang Na's eyes gradually transformed into extreme excitement, and she threw herself onto Li Huowang, weeping loudly.

"I'm sorry, I really wanted to come see you, but ever since you were on TV, my mom and dad forbade me from visiting you. It was hard enough just getting here today."

Li Huowang gently hugged Yang Na, then pushed her away.

"Nana, your dad was right, don't come here anymore. I'm afraid I really won't be able to hold back..."

Li Huowang buried the rest of the words in his heart. "I'm afraid I really won't be able to hold back from treating this place as real again."

Yang Na could hardly believe her ears; it was as if a bolt from the blue had struck her down, or as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over her from head to toe, leaving her frozen in place.

She never imagined that after Li Huowang had finally regained his lucidity, the very first thing he would say was this.

Suddenly snapping out of it, she raised her small bag containing her phone and smashed it over Li Huowang's head, crying and shouting all at once.

"When you say things like that, have you considered my feelings? Why are you saying this too!"

"My parents told me to give up! My brother told me to give up! My best friend told me to give up! And now even you're telling me to give up! I'm so tired of holding on, why do you have to twist the knife even further? You said you liked me! I don't want to give up!"