Chapter 913: Believe

Chapter 913: Belief

"Crunch, crunch." Chen Hongyu grabbed a handful of potato chips, shoved them into her mouth, and chewed vigorously. She shifted her gaze from the television to Li Huowang, who was currently holding forth with frantic intensity to Qing Wanglai and Zhao Shuandian.

"What kind of madness is this kid spouting now?"

Zhao Lei’s fingers, which had been dancing across his phone screen, suddenly froze. He glanced up at Li Huowang, then buried his head back into his device. "He says he can reverse time. He’s trying to convince them of it."

"Hm?" Chen Hongyu’s face registered pure astonishment. "I thought his special ability was conjuring things from nothing? When did it get an upgrade? How did I miss that?"

Zhao Lei couldn't be bothered to respond; he kept his eyes glued to his phone, though Li Huowang’s relentless voice continued to pour into his ears.

"I’m telling the truth! Everything is real! It’s precisely because this has happened before that I can be so certain. Why won't you just believe me!"

"That factory was a Siling! It was only because we destroyed that Siling that it was erased from the root, completely vanished! Even from your very minds!"

Qing Wanglai, hearing Li Huowang’s agitated outburst, leaned over to whisper something in Zhao Shuandian’s ear. After a few seconds, she nodded in agreement.

Though they said nothing, Li Huowang knew exactly what they were thinking from the look in their eyes—a look he had seen countless times before.

"What is that look supposed to mean? Do you think I’ve lost my mind?! I’m not sick!! No, wait! I am sick! But my illness only causes delusions! It is impossible for it to wipe everything related to a Siling from everyone’s memory!"

Qing Wanglai raised his hands, pressing them downward in a calming gesture. "Alright, Li Huowang, don't get worked up. We aren't saying your condition has worsened; it’s just that this is very hard to grasp."

Li Huowang stepped forward, his bloodshot eyes boring into him. "What is so hard to grasp? The factory was a projection of the Siling! When a thing like a Siling dies, its very cause and effect are wiped away—it disappears entirely!"

"The Great Siling has no past and no future; the Siling’s shroud comes and follows, and so it is!! I finally understand what that passage written on Zhuge Yuan’s fan meant!!"

"Um, who is Zhuge Yuan? Why are we suddenly introducing new characters?" Wu Qi, who had been watching the spectacle, chimed in.

"And what is a Great Siling? Did you call us here just to rave like a lunatic?" Ba Nanxu, a cigarette dangling from his lips, leaned against the wall and watched the frantic Li Huowang with palpable impatience.

"I understand. I grasp what he is trying to say," Qing Wanglai explained to the others. "He is speaking of things within his own worldview. Li Huowang seems to have grasped some kind of truth from his own reality."

"Pfft, how is that any different from what I said? Isn't he just raving?" Ba Nanxu flicked his cigarette and blew a cloud of smoke toward Li Huowang.

"Shut your mouth!! I am doing my best to understand your worldview! You should try to understand mine! This is vital—it concerns the enemies we will face later!"

"You’re right to say that, but your talk of time reversal is simply too inconsistent with our worldview," Zhao Shuandian pointed out the central contradiction. "I have studied every worldview, and none of them allow for time reversal as you describe."

"Is what you believe necessarily the truth? And this isn't the first time I’ve encountered this; this is the third! It’s only this time that I’ve finally understood what happened before!"

Seeing Li Huowang preparing to argue further, Zhao Shuandian cut him off. "Fine, I get it. You don't need to explain any further. Does that mean you’re definitely joining us for the operation on the sixth of next month?"

"That’s not the point! I’m saying—"

"Yes or no?"

"Yes."

Zhao Shuandian’s bluntness made Li Huowang feel as though he had punched a pile of cotton; even if she agreed on the surface, he knew she still didn't believe him.

"Good, that’s enough for today. I have a meeting later; we’ll stay in touch via WeChat." Zhao Shuandian stood up, shoved a smartphone into Li Huowang’s hands, and followed the others toward the exit of Qing Wanglai’s villa.

"Sister Zhao? Leaving already? Not staying for a meal? Qing Wanglai’s cooking is quite good," Wu Qi offered politely.

"No, I’m on a diet. I’ll skip lunch. See you next month." Zhao Shuandian reached out, grabbed the door handle, and pressed down.

"Wait!!" Zhao Shuandian frowned and turned back toward the voice. It was Li Huowang again.

"Your specialty is the sniper rifle, isn't it?" The hall fell silent, save for the hum of the television.

Watching Zhao Shuandian stand frozen, Li Huowang smiled. This time was different—completely different from the previous times. Although the cause and effect had been severed and they remembered nothing, he knew! He had retained information from that experience that could not be denied!

"You never told me that. Now, care to guess how I know?" A confident smile spread across Li Huowang’s face.

Zhao Shuandian immediately looked at Qing Wanglai. "Did you tell him?"

The familiar, affable smile that usually graced Qing Wanglai’s face vanished. He shook his head slowly. "No, I didn't tell him anything about you."

Before Qing Wanglai had even finished, Li Huowang cut in. "Not only do I know you’re a sniper, I know you have a little girl named Ling by your side! She uses a computer to guide us! And she’s sick, too! Her face twitches!"

"Think back to before! You hadn't said a word, so how did I know in advance that you were going to counterattack them?"

Li Huowang’s words pressed down on Zhao Shuandian’s chest, layer by layer, while simultaneously bolstering his own confidence.

Under normal circumstances, the current Li Huowang should have known none of this. The fact that he did proved he was telling the truth, and Zhao Shuandian’s current demeanor confirmed it.

"Everything I experienced couldn't have been fake!! What I went through was real!" Li Huowang declared with ironclad certainty.

"Wait here a moment." Zhao Shuandian pulled the door handle and stepped out, returning shortly with a laptop in her hands.

As she opened the computer and her fingers flew across the keys, Li Huowang knew she was finally taking him seriously. She had finally begun to believe what he had been saying all along.