Chapter 652: Star

Chapter 652: Stars

Within the capital city still reeling from recent calamity, Li Huowang kept his head lowered, gazing at his own shadow with an expression of profound complexity.

Ji Zai was real—yet his very existence depended entirely upon himself.

Ji Zai was unstable; when he confirmed that Ji Zai was nothing but a figment of his imagination, then Ji Zai vanished.

Ji Zai controlled confusion—or perhaps he himself was confusion, forever teetering between existence and nonexistence, existing in a single thought.

No wonder Ji Zai had always urged him to remain calm. He hadn’t understood what it meant until now.

“Am I right?” Li Huowang suddenly spoke, his voice low as he directed the question toward his own shadow.

But this time, Ji Zai did not respond. The shadow was merely a shadow.

Just as Li Huowang had begun to ponder, Ji Zai disappeared once more.

This time, however, Li Huowang finally grasped something. As he turned to leave, he saw Shangguan Yuting emerge from the wall beside him.

It was one of the illusions conjured by the Astronomical Bureau—the noise from earlier had drawn her here too.

After studying her for a moment, Li Huowang said, “Now I understand what you meant before. You were actually helping him stabilize things. No wonder you told him not to speak.”

“What?” Shangguan Yuting looked puzzled.

“It doesn’t matter. You’re right—he really can’t speak.”

Having said that, Li Huowang no longer paid attention to her. He walked through the streets littered with corpses, searching until he came upon a large well.

Beside the two bodies submerged in the well, reflected in its depths was Li Huowang’s own image. Above that reflection, half the moon had emerged from the clouds.

Li Huowang stared at his reflection in the water, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and silently recited something in his mind.

As he muttered those words, everything around him began to twist slightly. Stones softened, ropes became greasy, and a weed at his feet writhed and twisted, crawling out of the earth only to flee to the right.

Not long after leaving the well, as Li Huowang slowly opened his eyes again, the weed had grown back onto a brick.

“Is it you who is so unstable—or perhaps all the Fates are like this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe some are. Sometimes I remember certain things, but I cannot tell you.”

“Remember what I said before—I am you, and you are me. Without you, there is no me. Now tell me—who am I?”

“You are Ji Zai,” Li Huowang replied coldly.

“How did I come to be?”

“I don’t know how you came to be. All I know is that you are useless. At crucial moments, you’re completely unreliable. Relying on heaven or earth is better than relying on yourself. From now on, I won’t seek you out anymore. I’ll handle everything myself!”

“Fine. Stay strong. You will protect yourself. You will keep helping.”

Li Huowang cast a deep glance at Ji Zai and turned to walk away. But just then, he felt something watching him.

He raised his head sharply, looking up at the stars above.

Reaching out, Li Huowang grabbed the edge of the starry sky and gently pulled aside a corner, revealing the scene beyond.

In a corner of a residential complex, an elderly woman with gray hair and a short stature, wearing a red armband on her right sleeve, was peering curiously toward his house.

“Son? What are you looking at?”

“Mom, someone’s watching our house,” Li Huowang said, his tone tinged with irritation.

Sun Xiaoqin walked over and peered through the window, immediately pulling the dark blue curtain shut.

“Heh, I thought it was someone else. It's Aunt Qi from the neighborhood committee. She used to carry you when you were little.”

“Why is Aunt Qi watching our house? Does the neighborhood committee have nothing better to do?” Li Huowang’s voice carried a hint of hostility—there was something else in her gaze.

No wonder he’d been feeling like someone was watching him these past few days. It turned out to be her.

“Sigh, nothing much. Probably the hospital notified them too. That’s good news, son. Look how many people care about you.”

“Is she really concerned about me? Or is she afraid I’ll go out and kill someone in broad daylight?” Li Huowang grabbed the curtain and yanked it closed.

He had thought being discharged meant freedom—but it wasn’t that simple. Whether neighbors in the complex or old acquaintances saw him, they acted as if he were a plague to be avoided.

And now there was Aunt Qi watching him from the community. Being discharged didn’t feel like freedom—it was worse than being in a psychiatric ward. At least in the ward, everyone was crazy, and they didn’t look at him with disgust and fear.

*Bang!* The desk lamp flickered on. Li Huowang sat at his desk, picking up his textbook and flipping through it.

He tried to focus, to study hard, to get into a university like Yang Na. But it was an extremely difficult task.

After all the trials and despair he'd endured, he had long forgotten most of what was written in the book.

When Sun Xiaoqin saw Li Huowang sitting there with a book in hand, she was shocked and quickly snatched it away.

“Son, weren’t you playing games just now? Why are you reading now?”

“Mom, since I’m cured, I should continue preparing for college,” Li Huowang reached out to take it back, but Sun Xiaoqin held it further away.

“Son, don’t put pressure on yourself, okay? College isn’t even something you should worry about right now.”

“Mom, I’m in my third year of high school. I’ve already repeated two years. If I don’t aim for college, what else am I supposed to do?”

“You don’t need to do anything right now. Just play, okay?”

“Here, this is your allowance. Take it.” Sun Xiaoqin shoved several hundred-dollar bills into Li Huowang’s pocket.

“Do whatever you want to do. Buy whatever you want. Eat whatever you want! Don’t you have some good friends? Invite them over to hang out with you.”

“Go eat barbecue, go to the anime street, go... stay up all night at the internet café!”

She paused at that point. “Oh, and when you’re staying up all night, let me know which internet café you’re at. I’ll bring you medicine.”

These days, she had researched a lot. Most cases of adolescent mental illness were linked to overly strict family environments and excessive academic pressure.

Her son had barely returned home after such hardship—and she wouldn’t let him go back in.

“Mom, Mom, I want some alone time. Let me have some peace.”

Li Huowang pushed Sun Xiaoqin out of his room. In the process, she skillfully removed every textbook from his room, leaving not even a pen behind.

“Remember, don’t read books. Play games instead! Do you want that 3D glasses? I think you’ll love them.”

**(End of Chapter)**