Chapter 341: Big Dragon

Chapter 341: The Great Dragon

The words from his opponent left Li Huowang utterly unprepared. He stared in bewilderment at the plump man adorned with a massive gold chain, nearly convinced he had misheard. “Staring at me? What’s there to stare at?”

Terrified by the bloodstained shards of glass, the fat man stammered, “I don’t know—it was my distant cousin who told me to keep an eye on you. Said he’d pay me two thousand five hundred yuan a month.”

“At the time, I thought watching a lunatic for two thousand five hundred yuan a month was better than slaving away in a factory. I didn’t even have to work hard. I could play games instead. It was way better than being stuck in an electronics plant, so I took it.”

Li Huowang reached out and yanked at the golden chain around his neck. Instantly, something felt off. He had touched real gold before—this was far too light. It was fake.

Most likely, what this fat man said was true—he was just someone sent to spy on him.

A servile smile crept across the man’s face. “This one I bought for thirty yuan at the street market. How could I afford a gold chain? That damn Wang Zhilong hasn’t paid me in two months.”

Li Huowang’s eyes grew confused. What exactly was happening in this illusion? Who had sent someone to watch him?

He shook his head violently, his breathing becoming rapid as he muttered under his breath, “No! None of this matters. Everything here is just an illusion. Illusions don’t follow logic. I don’t need to care about what happens here.”

“Li Sui!” Li Huowang turned and shouted loudly at everything around him. “Li Sui! Are you done playing yet? If you still recognize me as your father, get back here now!”

Since he had already given up, there was nothing else to worry about. He no longer wanted to stay in this illusion. There were still countless things to deal with back home!

Seeing Li Huowang's strange behavior, the bound fat man was so frightened he almost wet himself.

After watching for so long, he knew this man wasn’t pretending. This was a genuine lunatic, and from what he knew, this lunatic had once chopped someone down.

The fat man struggled frantically backward, shouting, “It’s not my fault! I’m just a worker! It was that kid Long who told me to do this. If anything strange appears near you, I’m supposed to call him immediately! Go find him if you want trouble!”

Li Huowang’s pupils contracted slightly as he turned slowly toward the man. “What did you say?!”

Li Huowang walked over and yanked him off the ground by the collar, staring intently at his jowls. “What’s going on here? Who is this ‘Great Dragon’? Why does he know I can conjure things out of thin air?”

Everything that had seemed absurd just moments ago suddenly began to make sense. This inexplicable logic made him uneasy.

“That’s all I know. My phone has his number. Call him yourself—I’ll help you lure him here!”

Li Huowang took the fat man’s phone, unlocked it using facial recognition, opened the contacts, found someone named “Dragon,” and dialed.

“Hey, Brother Long! Hurry up! That lunatic’s doing magic tricks again! He keeps pulling gold out of nowhere! Yeah, yeah, definitely gold!” With great seriousness, the fat man looked at Li Huowang with seven parts fear and three parts flattery.

“Brother, he says he’ll be here soon. I’ve lured him for you. You can let me go now, right?”

Li Huowang threw the phone into the rushing river and tore off the fat man’s socks, stuffing them into his mouth.

The so-called Great Dragon didn’t seem far away. Not long after, Li Huowang heard the screech of brakes outside.

Three men rushed into the bridge arch, armed with various tools. A bald man with thick arms looked surprised at the fat man tied up with his belt and shoelaces deep inside the tunnel.

When they hurriedly untied him, Wang Zhilong shook him roughly and demanded, “Where’s Li Huowang?”

Before the man could answer, a shadow shot out from the river beside them. Holding a stone, it smashed it into the head of one of the men.

The man dodged, but the stone struck his clavicle, swelling visibly within seconds.

But this was only the beginning. Caught off guard by Li Huowang’s surprise attack, the four men were quickly overwhelmed.

“Damn it! I’ll kill you!” A short, stocky man pulled out a knife and stabbed Li Huowang’s arm.

Once he struck, the man panicked, instinctively dropping the knife and stepping back.

In the next instant, Li Huowang seized the moment, yanking the blade out and plunging it straight into the other man’s arm. A piercing scream echoed through the tunnel.

Then, in a flash, Li Huowang pulled out the bloody dagger and drove it into another man’s thigh.

Seeing such a horrifying scene, Wang Zhilong clearly panicked. He hadn’t expected the man to be this terrifying.

Now, wanting to run, he realized it was too late. Facing a man with a weapon, escape was impossible. Li Huowang kicked him in the back, sending him sprawling face-first into the mud.

Soon, the four men were bound tightly with their own shoelaces and belt straps, lying on the ground like pigs awaiting slaughter.

Li Huowang dragged Wang Zhilong’s hair to the riverside and shoved his head underwater until he thrashed wildly, then yanked him up again.

Repeating this several times, Wang Zhilong’s life hung by a thread.

When he was pulled up again, Li Huowang looked at him and asked, “How did you know I could conjure things?”

Wang Zhilong’s eyes were dull, his voice weak and broken. “I… I overheard it…”

“What else did you do?” Li Huowang released him, leaving his face just centimeters from the water. The terror of suffocation made him speak rapidly.

“I heard you had special powers—you could pull gold out of thin air! So I got greedy and arranged to steal you out of the hospital. I wanted you to give me gold!” Wang Zhilong broke down crying by the end.

“They didn’t abandon me?” A wave of overwhelming joy surged through Li Huowang. “They didn’t abandon me!”

He had kept telling himself he didn’t care, but hearing that this man had stolen him out of the hospital made him realize how much he truly cared.

Seeing Li Huowang’s emotions stabilize, Wang Zhilong cried out desperately, “Please spare me this time! I was blinded by madness and took the wrong path—I’m sorry, I’m really sorry!”

Li Huowang looked down at him. His excitement faded instantly, replaced by suspicion.

“You’re lying! If you wanted to control me to make gold, why didn’t you just capture me instead of leaving me on the streets? This place is fake—it’s an illusion!”

Wang Zhilong wailed in despair. “I wanted to tie you up too! But it’s impossible! The ropes were tight on your hands, but they just slipped off! The door was locked, yet you appeared outside!”

“If it weren’t for your display of these powers, I would’ve thought you were just a regular lunatic! I’d have stopped long ago!”

(End of Chapter)