Chapter 362: Pain

Chapter 362: Pain

Looking at the iron object before him, Li Huo Wang let out a low chuckle.

He shook his head and began speaking to the wall beside him.

"Miaomiao, take Li Sui and move a bit further away. Although no one will die in here, it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Who the hell are you talking to! Take that Bluetooth headset off!"

Li Huo Wang’s voice echoed again in the somewhat empty staircase, filled with exhaustion and suppression.

"Do you know? My mood is absolutely terrible right now. I really want to find something to vent my frustration on!"

With a twist of his hand, the sharp tip of the blade emerged from his grip. His face instantly twisted into an extremely grotesque expression. With a sudden stamp of his feet against the steps, he lunged forward like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, charging at the three people in front of him.

*Boom!* Blooming spots of blood erupted from Li Huo Wang's body. The familiar sensation of pain only made him more excited.

A flash of cold light, fingers clutching the pistol, accompanied by blood swirling in the air.

The man's scream had barely begun when his vocal cords were sliced in half, followed by a faint trembling sound as air leaked from his throat.

This scene left the remaining two utterly terrified. They clutched the girl in their arms tightly, screaming hysterically: "Don't come any closer! We have a hostage!!"

"Go talk to real cops!! In your world, I'm a madman!!"

Scalding blood gushed from the severed wound, soaking the bottom of Li Huo Wang's shoes.

Not even glancing at the two girls who had wet themselves from fright, Li Huo Wang, with a knife stuck in his chest, stepped forward up the stairs, his voice echoing like a ghostly wail through the stairwell.

"Yang Na! Sorry!! I've come for you!!"

Li Huo Wang searched room by room along the staircase. When he reached the fourth floor, he saw the remaining four men.

With blood streaming down his body, Li Huo Wang tilted his head, staring intently at each of their necks.

Despite holding hostages and wielding weapons, these men felt no dominance over the situation in front of them.

Finally, one of the four, clearly the weakest-willed among them, suddenly released the girl in his arms, his voice trembling as he said, "Comrade, can we surrender now? We really did nothing wrong! The bank robbery was forced upon me by Brother Leopard—he was the mastermind!"

Li Huo Wang yanked out the dagger from his body with his left hand, leaned forward slightly, laughing wildly while tears streamed down his face, rushing toward them.

The difference between someone who had killed and someone who hadn’t was immense.

Dark red blood dripped step by step down the stairs.

Li Huo Wang, battered and bruised, sat atop two corpses, gasping heavily, feeling every part of his body ache.

His right arm seemed to have either a nerve or tendon severed, making it difficult to lift.

"Huo Huo Wang?"

Hearing that familiar voice, Li Huo Wang's body trembled violently. A sudden impulse urged him to flee immediately, to run as far away as possible.

But thinking of Bai Ling Miao, trapped by the muddiness of her heart, Li Huo Wang repeated the hallucination to himself, slowly raising his head toward the stairway entrance.

It was Yang Na. She wore a delicate jade earring on her right ear. Li Huo Wang remembered this earring—it was a birthday gift he had commissioned his mother to give her.

"Waaahhh Huo Wang! Why are you so badly hurt!"

Yang Na rushed to Li Huo Wang's side, helpless as she watched his wounds bleed profusely.

She tried to plug the bleeding with her hands but couldn't stop it.

"It's fake...fake...fake..." Li Huo Wang muttered repeatedly, his left hand gripping the dagger tighter and tighter.

Just as he raised the dagger sharply, Yang Na spoke.

"Why did you come to save me?! You're insane!! Why did you come to save me?! How can I ever forget you like this!"

"Aaah!!" The weight of the dagger in Li Huo Wang's hands felt like a thousand pounds. Her words nearly shattered him completely.

Feeling the piercing agony, Li Huo Wang summoned all his willpower and plunged the dagger into Yang Na's chest. The sharp edge tore through her purple tight-fitting sweater and also her skin.

Feeling the pain in her chest, Yang Na blinked rapidly, looking at Li Huo Wang. Her eyes held no fear, disappointment, or complaint—only deep grievance. "Huo Wang, why?"

Her gaze pierced straight into Li Huo Wang's heart like a sharp blade—no, even more painful than that.

Just as he was about to give in and press harder, a burning pain suddenly shot up from his throat, growing increasingly intense until everything around him seemed unstable.

*Clang!* The dagger fell from Li Huo Wang's hand. The excruciating pain caused his body to shake involuntarily.

Ignoring his own wound, Yang Na quickly rushed forward and embraced the backward-leaning Li Huo Wang.

*Boom!* Everything vanished instantly. Li Huo Wang found himself back in the pitch-black forest.

He knelt on both knees, facing a red bamboo scroll labeled *The Great Thousand Records*. Something seemed wrapped inside the scroll.

At that moment, a tongue slithered out from within the scroll and began speaking. The *Great Thousand Records* was alive.

"One tongue turns the wheel! One eyelash reveals the great thousand! The wondrous realm cannot be expressed in words! Heaven is divine, fate is mysterious, could it not be carved by qi!? My Lord is supreme! How dare one disturb such grandeur!?"

Listening to the voice of the *Great Thousand Records*, Li Huo Wang felt his perception reassemble itself into a strange sense capable of perceiving Ba Hui's existence.

Under this perception, Li Huo Wang could hear that the *Great Thousand Records* was truly alive.

He touched the red bamboo scrolls transforming into writhing red worms.

In a daze, Li Huo Wang looked up toward the ceiling. The black dome seemed to crack open, revealing a long, almost infinite eye of mist, peering inward through the fissure.

That wasn't Ba Hui. Li Huo Wang could feel Ba Hui, but it was far away—it still resided in Bai Yu Jing.

The eye dispersed, and Li Huo Wang once again sensed Ba Hui—or perhaps saw it.

This time, he perceived that part of his own feelings had begun to merge with its form.

An overwhelming pain descended from above, intertwining with Li Huo Wang's own suffering and spreading outward.

Soon, all things around him were covered by this pain—whether it was Bai Ling Miao or those deformed humans.

Even the trees, the soil, and even the air began to tremble slightly.

As Li Huo Wang gently raised his hands, all the pain intensified, and these new sufferings would now be under his control.

Li Huo Wang’s fused perception detected two eyes—one black, one white—intermingling, one within the other.

They had no boundaries; their edges canceled each other out, and he stood within that sphere.

As Li Huo Wang raised his hands again, stripping all his pain from his body and pouring it into the two orbs.

(End of Chapter)