Chapter 767: Projection

Chapter 767: Projection

Seeing the other party glance at him, then take the phone to a distance and speak in low tones, Li Huowang furrowed his brow in thought. "If this brother and sister are Ba Hui, and Chen Hongyu is the Decay Incarnate, then which Incarnate is Qing Wanglai? Does he know something about this world?"

With so many Incarnates, surely they could tell him what was really going on with himself.

After making a phone call for a while, Ba Nanxu looked somewhat grim and directly tossed the phone over. "Make your call and then get the hell out! Don't ever come into my shop again! Kindness thrown to the dogs!"

Li Huowang caught the phone, stared at the two siblings moving the cabinet back into place, and slowly spoke into it. "Hello?"

"It's me, Qing Wanglai. Yang Na told me what just happened. Don't panic—tell me, what's going on? What did you experience? Why did you suddenly act like this?"

Li Huowang hesitated slightly, but recalling his talk of projection theory, he struggled for a moment and finally began to speak slowly.

"I finally understand who I am, what all this is about, why everything feels so strange—because this is no longer the world I used to be in!"

After hearing Li Huowang's explanation, Qing Wanglai paused for a moment, then slowly said, "Li Huowang, hearing you say that, I get it. The reason you're so emotionally stirred is that you think all this is fake, right? That your real girlfriend, your real parents, are somewhere else? You think you've crossed over? That everything here is false?"

Looking at Yang Na, who seemed so real beside him, Li Huowang's expression twisted as his breathing grew heavy. "Isn't it? Isn't that what you said?"

"True, I did say before that the whole world is a projection, but projection doesn't mean falsehood."

"I've said it before—we have flesh, blood, and thoughts; we are real. We are real projections. Do you understand?"

"So what makes you think that your past experiences aren't projections? Get what I mean? When I say projection, I mean that from childhood to now, you've always been a projection."

"You've always been here. Yang Na is still your Yang Na from before, your parents are still your parents from before. Don't be confused—they're just like you and me, projections from another side."

"They're all projections? Everything from my past is a projection?" Li Huowang's mind flashed with memories of his past—kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school. "Those are all projections?"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"What makes you think it's impossible? Nothing is impossible; you just never noticed before."

"Don't think it's a big deal. Those who understand are always a minority. Look around—aside from the few who realize they're projections, billions of people just muddle through their lives."

Hearing Li Huowang fall silent on the other end of the line, Qing Wanglai continued to console, "Don't worry. You haven't crossed over. They are still the same people, and they've always been by your side. Nothing has changed, as long as you can accept this hypothesis."

Compared to the earlier despair, this explanation was far better. Nothing had changed, even if they had always been projections.

After a moment of silence, Li Huowang spoke. "Evidence? I need proof that my past and present are both projections. You can't just say it with your mouth and expect me to believe it!"

"Do you have evidence that your past wasn't a projection?"

"I do!" Li Huowang's firmness caught Qing Wanglai off guard. "Oh? Let's hear it."

"Even though I am an Incarnate, I am an Incarnate newly forged through cultivation. That means my past self was not a projection!"

"..."

Both inside and outside the phone, silence fell.

"Li Huowang, let's be realistic. If you keep arguing like this, there'll be no end to it."

"Forget it! I'll figure it out myself!" Li Huowang said, and hung up the phone directly.

Though he spoke that way, Li Huowang's mood had clearly improved a lot from before.

Qing Wanglai had proposed a hypothesis—that his past and present were both projections. Li Huowang didn't care whether he was a projection or not; he only wanted his current family to be the same as his past family, no matter what they were.

It sounded absurd, but Li Huowang was experiencing even more absurd things right now. He set the question aside for the moment, needing to find answers himself.

After wiping the blood off the phone screen with his clothes, Li Huowang returned it to Yang Na.

Looking at her, he thought for a moment but didn't ask. If she was a completely different person from the Yang Na of the past, then asking would be pointless.

"Let's go. We'll head back first." Li Huowang helped Yang Na and walked toward the door.

Just as he reached the entrance, Li Huowang turned around and looked at the Ba siblings.

"Ba Hui, we're old acquaintances. If you can help me figure out what's really going on, I'll ally with you. That way, you won't be attacked alone with no one to help."

"Their target is Incarnates. Other Incarnates have already died. Are you so sure you won't be next?"

"Idiot." The two siblings ignored Li Huowang's ramblings and slammed the door shut.

"Strange. Ba Hui clearly knows me—he's even seen me several times. Could it be... I'm really wrong?"

After thinking for a few seconds, Li Huowang shook his head. "No, they must be Ba Hui! He even warned me before. I'm sure of it! But... why won't he talk to me?"

"Could it be... because of the projection? Does the projection distort what I say? What exactly does this projection mean? Why, after becoming an Incarnate, am I still separated by a layer of projection?"

Recalling those who had attacked him earlier, Li Huowang's expression grew solemn.

He had been so caught up in his identity crisis that he hadn't thought about them. If that group were all Incarnates from the Jade Capital, then who were those others?

Something capable of threatening so many Incarnates... Li Huowang's heart tightened.

"Li Huowang, let's go home. Take your medicine. Maybe you're like this because you haven't been taking it lately?"

"What medicine? I've finally figured out what's going on with me! And I finally understand what's going on with them! It seems they must be the Yu'er Gods!"

Feeling that everything was connecting, Li Huowang led Yang Na away from the bustling pedestrian street.

(End of chapter)