Chapter 806: Dream

Chapter 806: Dream

In the dining hall of the bright white tower ward, Li Huowang devoured his meal with great appetite, yet his mind remained preoccupied with events that had transpired earlier.

"The dice is a clever man; he will understand he cannot outwit the Fate Keeper. If he has any ulterior motives, then he can only cooperate with me."

"Now, before me, he is nothing more than an object—an item that can be crushed at will."

As he drifted into thought, something suddenly lodged in his throat, causing him to turn red from the suffocation.

Li Huowang stood up, desperately clawing at his own neck with both hands.

Suddenly, a large hand slammed heavily onto his back, forcing him to open his mouth and vomit everything he had just eaten.

Once he caught his breath and looked down at the table, now unrecognizable, he saw a simple plastic figure amidst the mixed remains of food and vomit.

The figure lay sideways there, its black-and-white eyes fixed on him intently.

"This is..." Li Huowang wiped his mouth and held the object close to the energy-saving lamp for careful inspection. Then he realized it was indeed one of the plastic figures from the sand tray.

Just as Li Huowang pondered how this object could have ended up in his meal, he suddenly noticed the plastic figure speaking. "Ji Zai! Ji Zai! Ji Zai! Stop hesitating!"

"Ah!!" Startled by cold sweat, Li Huowang sat upright abruptly, gasping for air.

Looking around at his surroundings, it took him a moment to realize what had happened.

"So... so it was just a dream?" Relieved after the scare, Li Huowang exhaled deeply. He glanced at the time on the wall—only three in the morning.

His face darkened as he rubbed his throbbing temples, cursing Yi Dong for introducing him to those sand tray games that kept giving him nightmares.

"Ji Zai!" Li Huowang spun around sharply, only to find the plastic figure glowing faintly standing atop the bedside table beside him!

There was a loud *bang*, and the Li Huowang from the dream crashed his head against the wall, waking himself up in pain.

After looking around and seeing no plastic figures anywhere, he realized it was another dream—a dream within a dream.

Recalling the strange dream, Li Huowang covered his head and lay back down on the bed. "Damn, and it's even glow-in-the-dark."

For some time afterward, Li Huowang tossed and turned, unable to sleep, enduring until dawn broke.

The breakfast at the white tower ward today consisted of steamed buns and plain porridge. The buns were made with old dough, chewy and delicious.

Lacking sleep, Li Huowang sat alone in a corner, eating without taste. "All because of Yi Dong! Idle enough to make me play some kind of sand tray game, making my brain go haywire!!"

Li Huowang surveyed the other mentally ill patients around him, thinking silently: "Dice has already been sent out. As long as Dice manages to connect with Zhao Lei, Qing Wang Lai’s people should come to rescue me."

"I hope Qing Wang Lai’s connections prove useful. If they come here to break me out of prison, I'll really despise them!"

Li Huowang didn't care if Sanqing treated him like a pawn—as long as the problem was resolved, everything else could be negotiated.

"But right now... I'm afraid Qing Wang Lai won't act. The Fate Keepers from the Law Sect might arrive first," Li Huowang thought, his expression hesitant as he looked around nervously.

Even though he was here, Li Huowang still knew what mattered most.

Just as he thought this, a figure approached him. "Why did you return? Did something happen outside? Are you okay?"

The speaker was a familiar face—the depressed girl named Zhao Ting. She seemed to have undergone considerable treatment, her condition greatly improved, even willing to come greet Li Huowang.

Following her came a young man, a guard suffering from bipolar disorder, whose fingers still twitched occasionally. "Back already? Why? Did you have an episode early?"

Behind him came a big, honest-looking fellow whom Li Huowang had once looked down upon but helped once—a moderate intellectual disability patient. "Brother, here, apple."

Li Huowang frowned at their greeting, feeling cautious. Though these were known faces, he couldn’t rule out the possibility of betrayal by enemies.

Seeing the apple on the table, Li Huowang didn’t reach for it. He hadn’t forgotten the long needles that had pierced his tongue earlier.

"Nothing much, minor issue. Fixed it, so I’ll be leaving soon." Li Huowang gave a casual excuse before leaving the dining hall.

He had no intention of making friends in this place, nor did he want to drag others into his troubles, regardless of their intentions.

Li Huowang walked to the outdoor area where he could look through the wire mesh. When he saw that the eighteen-sided die he had thrown away was truly gone, he felt satisfied and turned back.

But before he could return, a nurse called him over and brought him to the sand tray room, where Yi Dong was already waiting.

"Today won’t be troublesome, right? You seem energetic this morning. Let’s wrap things up quickly." Yi Dong tapped the edge of the sand tray with his pen, while the plastic figure now sat squarely in the center.

Looking at Yi Dong, a sudden impulse stirred within Li Huowang—he almost wanted to explain something—but in the end, said nothing. "I need to use the restroom."

Yi Dong responded calmly, "Go ahead. Turn left at the front, third door. Both big and small ones. Need paper?"

Li Huowang went to the restroom. He turned on the faucet and splashed icy tap water on his face, rubbing vigorously.

"Does Yi Dong represent something? Can I trust him? Should I tell him everything that happened to me?"

Yi Dong was different from others—he had helped him, and significantly. After all this time together, Yi Dong hadn’t seemed to harm him. But he couldn’t risk it, couldn’t let fate rest in someone else’s hands.

More importantly, Li Huowang feared Yi Dong might be part of the rules themselves. Having already suffered severe consequences for provoking the rules, he couldn’t afford to risk being drawn into another such situation, which would likely bring even worse side effects.

After much deliberation, Li Huowang decided to observe first, waiting for Sanqing’s strategy.

After calming down, Li Huowang returned to the sand tray room, sat on the plastic chair, and reached toward the figure.

Five fingers larger than mountain peaks, accompanied by trembling and roaring sounds, descended as space and time around them twisted and distorted, pressing down like Mount Tai.

"Well then, let’s begin."

Not feeling well today, just one update. Sorry.

(End of Chapter)