Chapter 654: Surveillance

Chapter 654: Surveillance

"My son, don't forget to take your medicine!"

Once the voice outside faded away, Li Huowang let out a long sigh. At last, he had a moment to sort through his thoughts. What exactly had happened the night before?

First and foremost, he couldn’t define anything too definitively, because the events of that night were too hazy—perhaps he had simply misseen something.

To confirm whether someone was following him, he needed solid proof.

Otherwise, others would always think he was going mad. His current reputation in their eyes was far from favorable.

Moreover, Li Huowang didn’t entirely trust what he had seen with his own eyes.

At this thought, a trace of hesitation appeared on his face. He picked up his phone and began typing rapidly.

It felt as though someone nearby was watching him with ill intent, trying to harm him for some reason—

After typing these words, various answers popped up. Li Huowang flipped through them quickly until his finger stopped on one line: "Paranoid Delusion."

Patients with paranoid delusions firmly believe without basis that certain individuals, groups, or organizations are engaging in adverse activities against them—such as persecution, framing, assassination, sabotage, defamation, false accusations, and suppression. These include actions like poisoning food, surveillance, and plotting conspiracies.

The delusions stem from pathological distortions of belief, abnormal reasoning, and judgment. They do not align with objective reality or the patient’s educational background; the content is absurd yet deeply believed by the patient, who cannot be convinced otherwise and cannot correct it through personal experience.

Seeing this, Li Huowang's fingers trembled slightly. A terrifying realization formed in his mind.

"Could it be... that I really have a mental illness?"

Li Huowang opened his phone contacts and scrolled to Yi Donglai’s number.

But after hesitating for a moment, he closed the contact list again.

He had finally escaped, and now he truly did not want to return. He no longer wanted anyone who cared about him to worry. If his mother found out, how heartbroken she would be.

Li Huowang continued searching online, various pieces of information flashing before his eyes.

He kept switching keywords—surveillance, mental illness, persecution—and looked for alternative possibilities.

Then another piece of content appeared.

Hemingway, in his later years, descended into madness. He told everyone he was being watched, claiming he was eavesdropping, having his emails intercepted. During one meal, he even pointed at two people across from him and declared they were agents monitoring him. This behavior was seen as delusional psychosis. Under pressure, Hemingway’s mental state indeed became unstable, and people grew more convinced he suffered from paranoid delusions, labeling him a lunatic. Thus, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital and subjected to electroshock therapy, which was popular at the time.

Everyone knows the outcome: the broken Hemingway took his own life. Many textbooks and books claim he died from despair over life’s pressures.

Yet fifty years later, after documents were declassified, people discovered that Hemingway was truly under constant surveillance. Everything he said wasn’t delusion—it was real. There really was an organization watching him all the time.

“Ahh!” Li Huowang shut his eyes tightly, flinging his phone onto the bed. Difficulties weren’t scary—but what was terrifying now was that he didn’t know what to do. No matter which direction he turned, it seemed wrong.

"What should I do? Is this even true? Should I go look for answers?"

Just as Li Huowang found himself caught between two choices, he suddenly felt that sensation again.

This time, however, Li Huowang didn’t act rashly. The window was open, and it was daytime.

Slowly turning his back, he silently slid open the left drawer and pulled out a mirror.

Bowing his head, he slowly moved the mirror, hoping to catch sight of whoever was watching him through reflection.

Moving inch by inch upward, Li Huowang finally saw a pair of women’s shoes! His heartbeat quickened.

Suddenly, he jerked the mirror upward, revealing Qi Dama’s wrinkled face in the reflection.

"Damn it!"

Li Huowang spun around, sticking his head out the window and shouting, “Hey! Grandma Qi, aren’t you tired of crouching there all day? Do you have someone else on shift? Come inside and sit down!”

Watching Qi Dama walk away as if nothing happened, the house phone rang.

Li Huowang remembered that ringtone—it belonged to his mother.

He stepped out, grabbed the cracked-screen phone from the cabinet, swiped it open, and held it to his ear. “Hello? Who is it?”

There was silence on the other end.

“Who is it? Sun Xiaoqin isn’t here—I’m her son. Mom’s not here either. Who are you looking for?”

“Li Huowang?” A strange voice came from the phone.

That voice sounded odd, as if processed through a computer.

Li Huowang frowned, his earlier doubts resurfacing.

“This is Li Huowang. Who are you guys?”

Still no response. Li Huowang pressed the phone close to his ear, straining to listen.

In the distance, faintly, he seemed to hear a scream.

Li Huowang reached into his pocket, dialing emergency services with his left hand.

“Son, what are you doing?” Sun Xiaoqin entered carrying a bag of fruit. She looked at Li Huowang holding his phone, bewildered.

“Nothing. Someone called you. Probably just a wrong number,” Li Huowang said, placing the phone down.

“Phone? My phone is broken.”

“What!?” Li Huowang brought the phone to his face. On the screen, besides the crack and the blackness reflecting his own shocked expression, there was nothing else.

“Son, what’s wrong with you? Don’t scare me like that!” Sun Xiaoqin rushed over, embracing Li Huowang and stroking his head repeatedly.

Li Huowang burst into laughter. “Mom, did I fool you? Did I act well?”

Hearing that, Sun Xiaoqin pushed him away, her right hand angry and forceful. “You little rascal! You can joke about things like this?! I almost died of fright!”

“Haha, I just wanted to cheer you up since you’ve been so worried,” Li Huowang said, standing up and walking into the room with a nonchalant air.

As soon as he stepped inside, his face changed drastically. Clenching his fists, he roared silently in rage.

“What the hell is going on?! Is anyone actually watching me?!"

(End of Chapter)