Chapter 98: Flashback

Chapter 98: Retrospection

After pouring out these heartfelt words, Dr. Li, wearing a gentle smile, softly ruffled Li Huowang's hair, put on his glasses, and walked toward the ward door. Just as he was about to step out, he suddenly paused.

"Oh, by the way, Little Li, didn't you just say that you believe this world is fake because you can bring things from that other world over here? But have you ever tried sending things from this world over to that one? You might reap a different kind of revelation."

Having delivered this final remark, Dr. Li took his leave.

Hearing this, Li Huowang stood rooted to the spot, his mind instinctively pondering the words. "If I truly can bring things from over there to here, then which side is the real one?"

"Should I give it a try? What if it actually works?"

"No, I can't interact with these hallucinations anymore! It will only drag me deeper into the abyss!!"

"It's just a trial, what exactly are you afraid of?"

Unaware of it, Li Huowang sank once more into a state of profound bewilderment, his face contorted in extreme agony.

As he wrestled with this dilemma, Li Huowang felt the pristine white walls around him and the beeping machines beside him rapidly fading away; before long, the bright energy-saving lamps swiftly transformed into the dim glow of an oil lamp.

When Li Huowang found himself lying on an antique wooden bed, gazing up at the dust-laden ceiling beams, he instantly realized that he had returned.

After a moment of daze, Li Huowang pulled back his quilt.

"Rather than bringing things from the hallucination, there is now another, more compelling way to determine whether that side is an illusion."

Li Huowang looked down at his abdomen, only to be stunned to find that his slashed belly was neatly wrapped in clean white gauze; pressing it with his hand, he discovered it only ached with a faint twinge.

To think that just a while ago, his intestines had spilled out entirely!

"With my guts rotted to such a state, how could they possibly heal?" Li Huowang couldn't help but feel a jolt of shock.

Back when he took action, he had performed the ritual on the bamboo slips with a heart resigned to death, yet here he was, still alive.

"Could it be..." Li Huowang's mind involuntarily flashed back to the pristine, tidy intensive care unit from his recent hallucination, the beeping machines, and the two hanging IV bags.

Li Huowang wanted to flee, but deep down he knew he was beginning to doubt again; he tried to cast aside these suspicions, yet found himself utterly unable to do so.

"Senior Brother Li! You're awake!" Bai Lingmiao rushed over excitedly, carrying a bowl of chicken soup.

"Where are we?" Seeing Bai Lingmiao, Li Huowang swiftly buried his doubts in the deepest recesses of his heart.

"Wu Family Village." Carefully setting the chicken soup on the table, Bai Lingmiao reached under the covers to check Li Huowang's wounds.

"How did this wound heal so well? Why am I not dead?" Li Huowang directly asked his most crucial question, the suspicions he had just suppressed beginning to stir uncontrollably.

"Senior Brother Li, what nonsense are you talking? How could you die? We found you in the bamboo forest and fed you a few pills you refined; it must have been the pills that cured you."

Bai Lingmiao hung her head so low it nearly touched the quilt, not daring to meet Li Huowang's gaze in the slightest.

As for the pills he had refined, Li Huowang knew perfectly well that they were merely ordinary concoctions, not any miraculous elixirs; how could they possibly heal such severe trauma?

"Is your world over there any more reasonable, then?" Dr. Li's earlier words exploded in Li Huowang's mind once more.

A terrifying notion seized Li Huowang's heart. "Could this side be the fake one?"

Li Huowang was suddenly struck by an overwhelming panic, though he knew not what he was panicking about.

In the next instant, Li Huowang abruptly cupped Bai Lingmiao's cheeks with both hands, pulling her face stubbornly before his own, his expression gradually growing frantic.

"What on earth is going on!! Speak!! What exactly are you hiding, or could it be that even you are fake?"

Two clear tears slid down Bai Lingmiao's cheeks; she was terrified by the ferocious look on Li Huowang's face.

The sight of the weeping, speechless girl made Li Huowang's heart ache; he opened his arms and pulled Bai Lingmiao into his embrace, suppressing his inner anguish as he murmured in a low voice.

"Miaomiao, please don't hide things from me, alright? These matters are truly important to me; I beg you, tell me, how exactly did my wounds heal?"

In the dimly lit room, a long silence ensued, until finally Bai Lingmiao spoke in a faint, ethereal voice, "Senior Brother Li, actually... I've become a spirit medium disciple; I invited the Great-Grandmother of the Bai clan to heal you, and she took all but one of the Yang Life Pills from your gourd."

Li Huowang's pupils contracted instantly as various scenes flashed through his mind: Bai Lingmiao recovering from her severe illness, and the drum skin she had deliberately taken away; all of this had actually been an omen long ago, only he had never considered this angle before.

Bai Lingmiao shrank back from Li Huowang's embrace, looking at him with timidity in her eyes, "Senior Brother Li, I truly didn't mean to deceive you; please don't blame me, alright?"

At this moment, however, Li Huowang suddenly let out a long breath of relief and laughed joyfully. "It's fine, it's fine, as long as it's real, that's all that matters, as long as it's real."

"What's real?" Bai Lingmiao clearly didn't understand what was going on.

"Nothing, just bring the chicken soup over, I'm a bit hungry." Li Huowang changed the subject; at this moment, his mood had relaxed considerably. No matter what Dr. Li said, this side was real, which meant that side was definitely fake.

After consuming the black Tai Sui, nothing from over there had appeared again; this was the most crucial proof that he had already fallen into a hallucination, and he absolutely could not fall into it a second time.

Lifting the savory chicken soup, Li Huowang drank in large gulps; his stomach told him his body was in desperate need of nourishment.

Before long, the bowl of chicken soup was gone; Li Huowang handed the bowl back to her, asking her to serve another. "By the way, I was mad just now, so how did you feed me this soup?"

To this question, Bai Lingmiao gave no answer; her face flushing red, she grabbed the bowl and ran outside.

"How else? With her mouth, of course. I said to just force-feed him with a spoon, but Junior Sister Bai felt too sorry for you and refused," Xiao Man answered Li Huowang's question as she walked in.

Xiao Man walked over to Li Huowang's bedside, looking at him with a highly complex expression. "Senior Brother Li, Junior Sister Bai has truly given everything for you; you must treat her well."

"Cough, cough," Li Huowang looked somewhat awkward; he didn't want to discuss this topic. "After that incident, are the people of Wu Family Village still letting us stay here?"

Hearing this, a trace of difficulty flashed across Xiao Man's face, and finally he spoke, "They've all left."

"Left? Gone where?" Li Huowang was full of confusion. Wasn't this their village?

"I don't know either. Ever since the surrounding woods started blooming and withering, the people of Wu Family Village have all seemed to turn into different persons; no one recognizes anyone else, not even the village head's six sons recognize each other. It's as if they never had the surname Wu in the past, and were never brothers at all."

(End of Chapter)