Chapter 3: Jade Pendant

Chapter 3 The Jade Pendant

The moment Li Huowang confirmed that the candy on his chest was undeniably real, his heart pounded wildly, and his first instinctive thought flashed through his mind: "I must tell Dr. Li!"

Yet, his right foot had barely lifted before it froze in midair, as other thoughts suddenly burst forth in his mind.

He knew that his hallucinations contained not just candy, but other things as well—things of far greater value!

Savoring the sweetness melting on his tongue, Li Huowang paced slowly around the ward.

"This is an opportunity! A chance for Yang Na and me to strike it rich overnight! It could even be my ticket to the pinnacle of life!" Thrilled beyond measure, he quickly cemented this conviction.

"I can't tell Dr. Li. I have no desire to be sent to a lab and sliced up, and besides, this sort of thing isn't his jurisdiction," Li Huowang muttered to himself.

"However, I can't jump to conclusions just yet. I need to thoroughly figure out exactly what is going on here." In his heart, he firmly resolved on his next course of action.

Just as he thought this, the surroundings began to warp and shift, the clean and tidy ward receding into the background.

Long accustomed to such occurrences, Li Huowang quickly stuffed his test papers and books into his satchel and tossed it into a distant corner, lest his hallucinating self tear them to shreds.

Immediately after, he pressed the red button beside his bed; seconds later, the last thing he saw was a few nurses walking in to strap him to the bed with restraints.

When he opened his eyes again, the crude, freezing cavern had returned, and the physically deformed "junior brothers and sisters" beside him were staring at him with curiosity.

Sitting up from the icy stone floor, Li Huowang once again surveyed the incredibly real surroundings from his unique perspective.

Though this place was a hallucination, it now appeared to him as a treasure trove overflowing with riches.

Perhaps he wasn't sick at all, but rather possessed an exceedingly rare supernatural ability that those quack doctors simply couldn't detect.

"Maybe I was never sick to begin with. Yes, that's right, I'm not sick."

Over the years, he had grown thoroughly sick of the label of a mental patient, with everyone casting strange glances his way.

It was as if the very moment he fell ill, he ceased to be human and was transformed into an outcast.

The mere thought that he might one day shed this label filled Li Huowang with an uncontrollable surge of excitement.

In high spirits, he reached out and cheerfully rubbed the bald head of a junior brother who had sidled up to him. "Haha, this is truly fascinating."

"What are you all huddled together for? Get back to work! If the medicinal catalysts the Master needs aren't prepared properly and you ruin his grand ascension to immortality, he'll skin you alive!" A thoroughly grating voice echoed from the cave entrance.

Li Huowang turned to look and saw that the speaker was the aloof Taoist who had delivered the message earlier, his face still etched with arrogance, as if merely speaking to catalysts like Li Huowang would sully his eyes.

Li Huowang remembered this fellow's name; the Taoist title of this hallucination seemed to be Xuanyang.

Faced with Li Huowang's unscrutinizing gaze, Xuanyang clearly felt provoked; with a flick of his fly whisk, he strode up to Li Huowang. "Junior Brother Li, it is truly a pity that you didn't become the Master's catalyst this time."

Li Huowang couldn't be bothered to entertain his sarcastic tone, his attention entirely fixed on a round jade pendant hanging from the man's waist.

"This thing must be an antique, right? If I could take it back to the real world and sell it, it would surely fetch a pretty penny."

"But how should I do it? Just like that piece of candy, snatch it and press it against my chest?"

Having spoken a few sentences and seeing no reaction from Li Huowang, Xuanyang assumed the other was cowed; with a contemptuous tilt of his head, he turned and left the area reserved for the catalysts.

Watching his retreating back, Li Huowang made up his mind. This jade pendant would be his next test subject for attempting the transfer.

As for how to obtain it, nothing could be simpler—just steal it at night. "That jade pendant is fine, but it will be mine very soon."

A small, pale hand, almost reflective in its whiteness, reached out from the side and gently tugged at Li Huowang's hemp sleeve. A soft, sweet voice murmured in his ear.

"Senior Brother Li, hurry up and work. If we don't finish, we won't get anything to eat."

Li Huowang turned his head and saw the girl with albinism whom he had helped earlier.

After a moment's thought, he reached into his bosom, pulled out the remaining half-melted brown sugar, and placed it in her hand, then turned to his station, picked up the pestle, and began to work.

For the time being, whether in this place or back at the hospital, he had decided not to do anything too outrageous.

It wouldn't be appropriate to tell anyone about such an earth-shattering matter; he had to slowly figure out the rules governing it before making any other plans.

The day's labor ended amidst the dull thudding of pestles; late at night, listening to the snoring and teeth-grinding around him, Li Huowang slowly opened his eyes as he lay on the communal kang.

The windowless cavern was pitch black, and Li Huowang groped his way toward the entrance.

He first went to his workstation and picked up a piece of green stone he had ground himself. Its faint fluorescence would keep him from stumbling blindly through the dark cavern.

Although carrying such a glowing stone in the pitch dark was a bit too conspicuous, Li Huowang didn't care in the slightest.

"If I get caught, I'll just retreat straight back to the hospital. I have a way out, so what do I have to fear?" he muttered smugly to himself as he walked alone through the cavern.

This entire hallucination had manifested because of him; how could he possibly fear a hallucination of his own making, even if he couldn't control it just yet?

The cavern had been extensively excavated, and having spent some time here, Li Huowang knew it like the back of his hand.

Soon he slipped into Xuanyang's cave; though it was still quite spartan, the large bed meant for a single person was proof enough of the fundamental difference between him and catalysts like Li Huowang.

To Li Huowang's surprise, however, Xuanyang was not in the cave; the man was absent, but his clothes were there. Too lazy to dwell on it, Li Huowang reached into the Taoist robe with his right hand and yanked the jade pendant free.

After sneaking out of the cave, he held the fluorescent stone up and carefully examined the round jade pendant in his hand.

The pendant was crystal clear, smooth and lustrous, carved with exquisitely delicate cloud patterns; even someone ignorant of such things could tell it was top-quality jade.

The more Li Huowang looked at it, the happier he felt. If he could truly bring this object to the real world, this single jade pendant would cover at least four years of college tuition for him and Yang Na.

"Hehehe~ Yang Na, oh Yang Na, get ready to be a little rich woman," Li Huowang said, tucking the jade pendant into his clothes before heading back.

Everything had gone smoothly, but some things cannot remain smooth forever; just as he was about to reach the entrance, he turned a corner on the stone steps and came face to face with a group of people.

They were a group of boys and girls roughly Li Huowang's age, their terrified faces flickering in and out of the light cast by the fireboxes in their hands.

Both sides were startled out of their wits, freezing in place for a long while without anyone making a sound.

It was Li Huowang who finally broke the silence; pointing his fluorescent stone at Xuanyang, who was dressed in hemp clothes among the crowd, he asked, "Senior Brother Xuanyang, dressed like this, have you been banished to the material room?"

The group included not only Xuanyang but also Taoist boys responsible for other duties, among them the one who had previously fanned the alchemy furnace.

Yet regardless of what they had done before, they were now all clad in hemp shirts and trousers, carrying absolutely nothing else.

Xuanyang no longer bore the arrogant and smug air he had displayed during the day; his expression shifted rapidly a few times before he stepped up to Li Huowang and lowered his voice.

"Go! Come with us! We're escaping this godforsaken place! The senior brother guarding the gate has already been bribed."

"Escape? Oh! So you're about to—"

Before the word "escape" could fully leave Li Huowang's lips, Xuanyang clamped a hand tightly over his mouth.

(End of Chapter)