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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Li Huowang
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"Phew, finally back." Li Huowang let out a sigh of relief and shouted into the microphone by his bedside.
Soon after, his attending physician walked in from the doorway, holding a white tablet and accompanied by a nurse.
"Xiao Li, how are you feeling? Any new changes in this hallucination?" The physician sat down on the stool and asked kindly.
"It was the same environment, doing the same things. But this time, that bald-headed master killed someone right in front of me in a really brutal way and even used her to refine pills." Li Huowang described in detail everything he had seen in the hallucination.
"Mm-hmm." The attending physician nodded while quickly tapping notes on the tablet with his fingers.
After thinking for a moment, Li Huowang hesitated and asked, "Doctor, what do these different hallucinations mean? What do they say about my inner thoughts and psychology?"
"No, don't worry about that. You should focus more on the length of each hallucination and your mental stability." The doctor shook his head, rejecting Li Huowang's idea.
"Since they're hallucinations, you have to remember—they're all fake. You've already overcome hallucinatory perception disorder, so don't fall back into it."
"As long as you act according to the logic of that side every time you get trapped in a hallucination, and cooperate with the hospital's treatment, you'll be cured in no time."
Hearing this, Li Huowang's heart tightened. This was about whether he could get discharged soon, so he couldn't afford to be careless.
The doctor didn't forget to encourage his patient.
"You're already doing really well now. When you first came, you couldn't even tell reality from fantasy. It'll only get better from here—keep it up, you got this."
As the two talked, light footsteps came from the doorway of the ward.
They both turned toward the sound and saw a girl in a high-necked black sweater peeking inside.
The girl looked about sixteen or seventeen, right at the blooming age of youthful beauty.
Her skin was fair as jade, and her black hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall. She was as lovely as a flower bud unfurling.
Seeing the two young people hesitate to speak, the attending physician chuckled knowingly. He lightly pushed up his glasses with a finger and turned toward the door.
"I've got things to handle over there. You two go ahead. Oh, and Xiao Li, remember to take your meds on time later."
As soon as the doctor left, the girl walked in. The two exchanged smiles, and Li Huowang felt a sweet warmth in his heart, quickly pushing aside his worries about his illness.
"Stop smiling. You look ugly when you smile. Guess what I brought you? Review homework personally assigned by the teachers!" The girl flashed a mischievous grin and pulled a canvas messenger bag from behind her.
Hearing this, Li Huowang's face fell. "Nana, we've been friends since we were kids. Is this how you get revenge on me?"
The girl named Yang Na turned to close the door properly, then pulled out a small handheld game console and waved it smugly. "And this~ Hehe, be good and call me big sis, then it's yours."
"Sis! You're my real sis!" Li Huowang lunged excitedly and snatched the game console from her hands.
Being cooped up in the mental hospital every day was unbearably boring. He was going stir-crazy without even being crazy.
"Play less, and remember to do your homework," Yang Na said, sitting sideways on the edge of the bed as she instructed the Li Huowang who was powering it on.
"Mm-hmm." Li Huowang's attention was glued to the handheld screen.
Her slender white fingers pinched at the blue-and-white hospital gown on him, tugging at it affectionately. "Hey, don't forget what you promised me."
Li Huowang paused and looked up at her, his face suddenly serious. "Yeah, we agreed—we're taking the college entrance exam for the same university."
Yang Na shyly lowered her head, her voice as soft as a mosquito's. "Mm. Get better soon. I'll wait for you."
Li Huowang suddenly reached out and pulled her into his arms.
The blushing Yang Na didn't struggle. She just closed her eyes and murmured, "Big perv."
The two didn't do anything more. Just holding each other made the young lovers feel perfectly happy.
After cuddling for a good while, Yang Na had to leave. After all, she was in the crucial final year of high school, and squeezing out half a day was already precious.
Though their visits were always short, to Li Huowang, they were a ray of light in his difficult days.
"I'll walk you to the hospital gate." Li Huowang, in his blue-and-white striped hospital gown, threw off the covers and slipped on the hospital's white slippers.
He followed Yang Na toward the door but suddenly felt something off. He realized with a jolt that the pestle mortar he'd used for grinding medicine in the hallucination was sitting on the bedside table next to him.
Li Huowang's body jerked back two steps, but when he looked again, the pestle mortar had turned into his lunchbox.
"What's wrong? You okay?" Seeing his startled reaction, worry flickered across Yang Na's face.
Seeing the concern on her face, Li Huowang immediately grinned cheekily. "Haha, gotcha scared, huh?"
Yang Na frowned in annoyance, puffing out her cheeks, and pinched the soft flesh at his waist hard. "How old are you? Still acting like a kid with this childish stuff."
"Don't be mad. I just wanted to cheer you up." Li Huowang reached to hold her hand, but she shook it off.
After a few shakes, though, their hands finally clasped together.
The other patients sunning themselves in the courtyard saw this and all broke into warm smiles. Such pure, innocent young love was so beautiful.
They walked slowly, but eventually reached the end. Yang Na stood at the hospital gate, looking at Li Huowang reluctantly. "I'll come see you again next week. Be good in here."
"Why don't you skip next week? I know school's intense right now. You only get half a day off a week, and you're wasting it on me."
Yang Na lifted her slender leg and lightly stepped on his hospital slipper, her delicate brows furrowing slightly.
"Loser, don't project your own issues on me, okay? I've never dropped out of the top three. What study pressure?"
"Ah~" Li Huowang clutched his chest dramatically, feigning agony. "Ouch, right in the heart, sis."
Yang Na burst into giggles. She gave him a light punch on the chest and turned, darting like a little deer toward the bus stop across from the gate.
Li Huowang watched until the bus carrying his little girlfriend vanished completely, and the smile gradually faded from his face.
Recalling what he'd just seen, he headed toward the doctor's office with a heavy heart.
An hour later, Li Huowang lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep as he fretfully pondered his future with Yang Na. On the table beside him was the new medication for his latest symptom.
The pestle mortar from earlier and Yang Na's smile kept alternating in his mind.
"If my condition worsens, what if I can't get out before the college entrance exam? Then I won't be able to go to the same university as Yang Na."
Even stuck in here, Li Huowang knew the gossip outside. To the neighbors, he was a complete lunatic.
Yet the day before he was admitted, Yang Na—his childhood sweetheart—had confessed to him. Her feelings were clear without words.
She was a good girl, and as a man, he didn't want to let her down.
"This shouldn't be happening. I've been following the doctor's orders completely. Why is my condition worsening? Another transfer? This would be the third hospital."
"Doctor Li should be fine, right? He's the best one Dad could find."
The worries piled up, frustrating him more. Finally, he sat bolt upright like a carp flipping, dumped out Yang Na's books and papers, and started studying.
He hoped the complex, esoteric knowledge would drown out the lingering anxiety in his heart.
Li Huowang kept doing his homework. Before he knew it, it was deep into the night.
Just as he finished an English test paper, he stretched lazily and rubbed his throbbing temples with his fingers.
"Ha~ What time is it? Pretty late, huh?" Li Huowang slipped on his slippers, ready to hit the bathroom and then bed.
As he yawned his way to the door, his right hand, which had been scratching his chest, suddenly stopped. Li Huowang felt something weird on his chest.
He pulled open his collar and saw a dark brown, mushy blob stuck to his chest.
That oddly familiar color sparked a thought in his mind.
Li Huowang lightly touched it with his finger and put it in his mouth. The bitter-sweet taste made his pupils contract slightly.
This was the candy from that dead fool senior sister in the hallucination! Something from the hallucination had appeared in reality!
(End of chapter)