Chapter 415: Another Possibility

Chapter 415: Another Possibility

“Where’s my head?”

Upon hearing Li Huowang’s question, Li Sui at first thought he was asking about himself and quickly replied, “Father, I know—it fell to the ground when we were in the city. Should we go back and pick it up?”

Li Sui’s words seemed to drain the last bit of life from Li Huowang. His body went limp and he collapsed forward onto the ground.

“Father? Father, what’s wrong?” Li Sui asked anxiously, gently pushing at his father's corpse with one of his tendrils—but there was no response. He couldn’t understand why his father wouldn’t move.

Was it because he had no head? But before, his father hadn’t had a head either, and he’d still run so far. It wasn’t that.

At that moment, Li Sui suddenly noticed that the little toy his father had given him began to stir.

With a tendril, he pulled out the small leather figure. As soon as it touched the air, it grew rapidly—soon reaching the height of a man. Its face was unmistakably Li Huowang’s, but its body was thin and flaccid, nothing more than a taut skin.

This flat, weightless version of Li Huowang instinctively crawled toward the ground, pressing his mouth against the shadow beside his own corpse and sucking it in greedily.

As the shadow entered his belly, the leather sack inflated like a balloon. Soon after, a fully formed Li Huowang—one with a head and bare body—stood beside his own corpse.

Looking down at the headless body on the ground, the Li Huowang who had escaped death breathed deeply in relief.

When his head had fallen, he had been blind, unable to see who had taken it. Most likely, it was that dead-and-alive Inspector-General.

The Celestial Observing Bureau truly had hidden tricks. If not for this artifact protecting him, he would have surely perished here.

“Next time facing the Celestial Observing Bureau, I must be extra cautious. Their methods are too strange and dangerous. One careless mistake could end me.”

While Li Huowang pondered these thoughts, everything around him trembled. Just as he suspected the bureau was laying an ambush, everything instantly turned a ghastly white.

Li Huowang lay quietly on a hospital bed, dressed in two restraining garments, staring blankly at the unlit white energy-saving lamp above him. “Back again.”

Only now did Li Huowang realize—he had returned through the power of the flesh-returning talisman. Yet Li Sui was still inside his original body. Without its suppression of illusions, this false world reappeared as expected.

“Li Sui! Li Sui!” Li Huowang called out muffled through the cloth stuffed in his mouth. “Quickly, come back into my belly and help me return!”

After speaking, he raised his head wide open, stretching his mouth as far as it would go.

The red-lit camera in the upper left corner of the ward rotated immediately, focusing on the bound Li Huowang.

Perhaps due to being unable to speak clearly, Li Sui didn’t bring him back to reality.

“Li Sui! Stop dawdling, hurry!” Seeing no response, Li Huowang grew anxious.

He knew that right now, his belly contained not only no Li Sui but also no black spindle. If anyone else caught wind of this, his identity as a Heart Essence would be exposed!

A loud *clang* echoed—the door to the ward swung open.

Sun Xiaoqin entered carrying a tray. Seeing Li Huowang staring intently at her, tears welled up in her eyes.

“Son, son, have you come to your senses? You’re finally awake, aren’t you?” Sun Xiaoqin rushed over, cradling Li Huowang’s head and examining it closely.

Once she removed the cloth from his mouth, he tried to feign madness and pretend he didn’t know anything, but seeing the worried face before him, the lies stuck in his throat.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Just seeing you is enough. This shows your condition is improving. One day, you’ll be completely better. Come, eat something,” Sun Xiaoqin wiped away her tears, picked up the food box from the floor, and held it close to her chest.

The four-tiered box was opened layer by layer, revealing a meat dish, a vegetable dish, a soup, and a serving of rice.

With a short-handled plastic spoon, he dipped half a spoonful of rice into the egg soup, then picked a piece of pork and brought it to Li Huowang’s lips.

Looking at the strange object in front of him—a thing from the real world—he opened his mouth and let the spoon enter.

“Good boy, my son is always good. Mom knows you always open your mouth to eat at this time. Compared to other patients in the ward, my son is so much easier to take care of.”

After swallowing, Li Huowang asked, “Mom, how did you get in here?”

Hearing Li Huowang finally respond, Sun Xiaoqin clamped her lower lip between her teeth, suppressing her excitement. “This place says it’s a hospital, but really it’s a prison. The food is terrible. I was afraid you weren’t eating well, so I came to stay with you.”

“Originally, it wasn’t allowed, but the warden is quite reasonable. When I told him my son is the best-behaved kid, he agreed right away. There are still good people in this world.”

Li Huowang nodded silently, then opened his mouth again to eat. But after just a few bites, he noticed Sun Xiaoqin acting strangely, glancing around nervously.

She took a small handful of rice from the main dish and walked to a nearby hole covered with a fine mesh, blocking the opening with the grains.

Then she sat back down by the bed and whispered in the lowest voice into Li Huowang’s ear: “Son, if you wake up next time and I’m not here, and anyone asks about the gold, tell them it’s your grandmother’s family heirloom! Do you hear me?”

“If you can’t say anything, just shut up. Never mention that the gold came from under your blanket! People today are all corrupt! Don’t say it, don’t say it!”

Li Huowang gave a helpless smile. “Mom, did you spend the gold?”

“You child, what nonsense are you talking about? That’s your grandmother’s family treasure! Not to be touched unless absolutely necessary!”

“Don’t worry. This place belongs to the state. It won’t cost much. Your dad can still make money off it.”

“Mom, since you’ve got the gold, spend it. Don’t save it. After all, it’s all illusion anyway. I can have as much gold as I want—”

At that point, Li Huowang froze. Seeing his mother again, a chilling realization struck him.

In the past, he had always believed this world was fake, because he could bring gold and jade pendants from the real world, and many events here seemed too coincidental or abrupt.

But if Zhuge Yuan had been right, and the Heart Essence truly possessed the ability to create truth from falsehood, then maybe those gold pieces and sudden events were actually created by his own unconscious use of that power?

Or perhaps… this real world might actually be real?

(End of Chapter)