Chapter 97: Doctor Li

Chapter 97: Doctor Li

Li Huowang stared at the attending physician before him, pondering the question just posed. "Which world is unreasonable?"

His right hand, bound in handcuffs, pointed toward the hospital floor. "This world is unreasonable. This one is fake!"

Hearing Li Huowang say such a thing, Doctor Li showed no surprise on his face. Instead, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his index finger and continued, "Very well, why do you feel this world is unreasonable? There must be a reason for that, surely?"

Li Huowang did not answer immediately, but gazed blankly at the white ceiling above.

"Earlier, when I held that child hostage, the police shot at my head, didn't they? So why am I not dead? Am I invulnerable? Doesn't that prove this entire world is fake?"

Li Huowang suddenly felt that debating this with a figment of his hallucination was utterly meaningless.

"Xiao Li, that was just your good luck. The others simply missed their shots. After all, who says everyone who fires a gun must hit the bullseye every time?"

"Hmph, good luck. You expect me to believe such an unreasonable thing?" Li Huowang sneered.

"Some people are struck by lightning, others win the lottery. Some have good fortune, others have bad. Why do you assume the real world is fair and reasonable?"

"This world has never been reasonable. Yet why is it that when others encounter these unreasonable things, they don't doubt the world is a hallucination just like you do? Because you are different from them."

Saying this, the doctor pulled his phone from the pocket of his white coat and began playing a video for Li Huowang.

"Why are you so absolutely certain that the other side isn't a hallucination? Actually, if we're being honest, the things you encounter over there should be even more unreasonable, shouldn't they?"

"Danyangzi is dead!! Danyangzi is dead! You're all free!! Come out!!" On the phone screen, Li Huowang, his body tightly bound in a straitjacket, shouted loudly into the empty room.

Seeing that Li Huowang's attention had been captured, the doctor swiped his finger across the screen again, and a new video began to play, once again showing Li Huowang confined in a straitjacket.

"Fake! It's all fake! Whether it's those statues or the giant Buddha, they're all fake. These are just illusions, they can't fool me!!"

"How about you chat with my master?" "Heh... didn't you understand? I'm saying you should talk to my master in person."

Clip after clip of video played, all featuring words Li Huowang had spoken in the past.

When the final video finished playing, Li Huowang's pupils contracted slightly. He saw himself in hospital garb, his expression manic, wielding a wrench in his hand, screaming frantically as he charged toward a bustling shopping mall.

"Danyangzi! Don't kill children! You can't kill children!!"

There was still a long progress bar left on the video, but the doctor didn't play it, slipping the phone back into his pocket.

"See, compared to all the things you've encountered over there, not getting your head blown off by a bullet is hardly worth mentioning, is it?"

Li Huowang's mind grew turbulent once more, his breathing becoming rapid. Yet he had no desire to explain anything, and closed his eyes again. "Fake... it's all fake..."

"Very well, since you believe this side is fake, why did you hesitate in the face of your mother's pleas? If it's all fake, wouldn't it be better to just plunge the glass in your hand?"

Doctor Li's tone began to grow increasingly heavy.

"If it's all fake, why do you care whether Yang Na has a new boyfriend or not?"

He poked Li Huowang in the chest, once, then again.

"If you keep going mad like this, how much longer can she endure it? Even if her heart doesn't change, can you really bear to watch her wait in silence like this? Can you give her happiness? Are you even fit to be her boyfriend?"

Li Huowang snapped his eyes open, glaring fiercely at the doctor before him. "They are fake!! But my feelings for them are real!! Even if I know they are all hallucinations, I simply cannot bring myself to abandon my feelings for them!!"

"You think I don't want to go back and find them?? Because I can't go back!! I transmigrated!! I've been transmigrated for so long!!"

"You say this world is real. Fine, then let me ask you, why is there a gastric lavage machine in a psychiatric hospital?"

Hearing this, Doctor Li spread his hands with a hint of helplessness on his face. "What's so puzzling about that? You patients often accidentally swallow things. This machine is standard equipment in almost every psychiatric hospital. If it weren't for this machine last time, those disgusting things you swallowed would have killed you long ago."

"Then why did eating the Black Tai Sui over there suppress the hallucinations over here?"

"What you ate wasn't any Black Tai Sui. You ate rats. Your condition has worsened!"

"Why did it have to worsen exactly after I ate it, and not before or after? How do you manage to force such an explanation?!"

"Xiao Li, you've got the cause and effect backwards. It is precisely because your condition worsened that those corresponding hallucinations appeared. Those hallucinations change as your condition changes, and precisely because of that, they are hallucinations."

Hearing this, Li Huowang's expression turned fierce, and he threw out his most crucial piece of evidence. "Fine! Let's say you're right. Then tell me, why am I able to bring things from over there to over here? How do you explain that!"

"Oh? A new symptom? Tell me how you bring them over, and where is the thing now? Show it to me."

Li Huowang had just opened his mouth to explain how he had given the jade pendant to Yang Na, when he suddenly stopped.

"No, I can't drag Yang Na into this, not even as a hallucination of hers."

Li Huowang feared that if he faced the hallucination of Yang Na, he wouldn't be able to hold on, and would once again mistake this place for reality. He had to sever all connections to the hallucinations as much as possible.

"Just you wait. When I come back next time, I'll show you the things from that world properly! Let's see how you'll force an explanation then, you damn hallucination!"

Hearing the young man's nonsensical rambling, Doctor Li let out a helpless, light sigh.

"Xiao Li, I'm afraid there won't be a next time. You've caused trouble several times now, and our hospital bears joint responsibility, facing numerous lawsuits. So the director has personally ordered your transfer to another facility."

"Transfer? Transfer where?" Li Huowang asked in astonishment.

Doctor Li patted Li Huowang on the shoulder. "Since you believe this side is a hallucination anyway, why do you care where you're transferred to? I can only tell you that because of your situation, your family's financial circumstances are currently quite grim."

"This is my final consultation with you. I had hoped to make one last effort, but it seems destined to be in vain. To be honest, being your attending physician has been nothing but a profound sense of defeat, heh."

Doctor Li reached up and took off his glasses, carefully studying the young man before him. He reached out his right hand to pat his head, the lines of his face softening considerably.

In this moment, they were no longer doctor and patient. "Xiao Li, you are a good boy, even if your illness is so erratic. I hope that in the future, whatever you encounter in your hallucinations, you won't easily give up on yourself, especially not by ripping your own abdomen open like you did before."

"Do you know? You nearly died. A portion of your intestines had to be removed, and you'll need a stoma for half a year to recover."

"If there is anything more unacceptable to those who care about you than your madness, it is your death. As long as you are alive, they have hope. Do you understand?"

(End of Chapter)