Mutated Tao

“You don’t need to remind me that she is fake! Even if my mom is just a hallucination, I still wouldn’t want her to be hurt!” Bound by chains, Li Huowang roared in frustration, his veins bulging on his neck.

But in the next moment, he slumped down again. Agony covered his face as he knelt down on the ground, repeatedly hitting his head against the earth. His banging started creating dents in the ground, each dent being larger than the last.

When Li Huowang finally stopped, he made every effort to keep his emotions in check and calm himself down.

“Mom, can you go outside for a moment? Don’t worry, I’ll have a good talk with Dr. Wang. It will be fine. I’m securely bound. I can’t hurt him even if I tried,” said Li Huowang.

At that moment, Bun suddenly emerged from the crowd, holding something in its mouth, ready to go close to Li Huowang; however, it was quickly held back by Gao Zhijian. “Don’t… don’t… don’t go!”

“What do you want? Let me tell you, if you dare to exploit them, then I won’t let you off!”

“What responsibility do you have? Just take your money! Can’t you just deceive her and tell my mom that you’re powerless?” Li Huowang exclaimed.

“I’ve told you before. People like you can’t help with my affairs!”

“Fine, I misspoke. Hallucinations like you can’t help me at all!”

As he spoke, Li Huowang twisted his head, plunging his entire head under the grass, burying it completely.

After a while, there was a loud boom. Then, Li Huowang lifted his head from the grass and shouted into the air with a distorted expression on his face, “Do you think you’re tough? All you do is just stand there, blabbering on and on!”

“You dare to say that you understand me?! What do you understand?! Do you know what I’ve been through?! How could you possibly empathize?!”

“Take both sides seriously?! That’s easy for you to say! If you have the ability, then why not put yourself in my situation and try it? Have you ever tried eating chocolate balls on one side while someone tries to force-feed you iron nails on the other?”

“I don’t care about myself! I don’t even mind swallowing nails! But I have people I care about, and I’m afraid of losing them!”

“I’m afraid that one day, while I’m using chopsticks to pick up food on one side, on the other side, I’m shoving chopsticks into Bai Lingmiao’s eyes!”

“I won’t give up! Someday, I’ll find a way to get rid of these hallucinations! I won’t suffer like this forever! Someday, I too will be normal!”

Li Huowang appeared to have seen something that caused his face to be in a state of disbelief. His pupils continued to twitch as his breathing grew even faster.

Then, Li Huowang abruptly turned again. At the same time, his worm-like bounded body burrowed into the earth and he shook his dirt-covered head vigorously.

“No! Li Huowang, you’ve already fallen for this twice! You can’t fall for it again! This is fake!”

“You can’t become confused again! The others are still trying to survive! If you get trapped again, what will happen to them?”

Under the gaze of the onlookers, Li Huowang kept rolling on the green grass, ruining the neat arch beyond recognition.

An hour later, Li Huowang finally stopped. He lay there motionless, no different from a corpse.

“I’m fine now, release me,” said Li Huowang, his hoarse voice filled with exhaustion.

However, just as the others were about to rush forward, Bai Lingmiao stopped them. “You guys stay here. I’ll go alone. Senior Li doesn’t want to see anyone right now.”

As the crowd gradually dispersed, Bai Lingmiao knelt beside Li Huowang and gently began to undo the chains. She was not bothered by the fact that he was caked in dirt and directly cradled his head in her arms while using her fingers to massage his temples.

Li Huowang inhaled deeply before exhaling all the stale air from his lungs. He stared blankly at the sky, and murmured, “Miaomiao, they kept on forcing me. I… am so exhausted…”

As she heard his voice, Bai Lingmiao was on the verge of tears. But given the circumstances, there was little she could do to help. All she could do was hold Li Huowang’s head and give it a light massage.

Li Huowang looked at her, his expression somewhat hesitant. After a while, he whispered again, “Miaomiao, please stop treating me so nicely. It feels too surreal. I fear that everything here is merely a hallucination.”

Bai Lingmiao’s eyes glazed up, as she lay on Li Huowang's chest and choked on her tears.

After a while, Li Huowang held up his right hand in front of him. Then, he grabbed a dagger with his left hand and severed a portion of his little finger. As he experienced the pain, he silently closed his eyes. At the same time, the flicker of doubt between his brows dwindled away. “What a joke. How could this type of intense pain be faked?”

“Woo~?” At that moment, Bun approached them and gingerly walked around Li Huowang while holding something in its mouth.

Seeing it, Li Huowang picked up the severed part of his pinky finger and tossed it toward the mutt’s feet.

“Woof!”

Bun immediately spat out the snake-like black object from its mouth, and excitedly used its front paw to hold down one end of the little finger while using its teeth to delicately start nibbling away at it.

Meanwhile, Li Huowang sucked on his bleeding right hand before patting Bai Lingmiao on the back to comfort her, “It’s okay, don’t cry. Get up. Look, everyone is secretly watching us.”

Once she rose from his chest, Li Huowang carefully loosened the ribbon from Bai Lingmiao’s wrist and put it on her eyes.

“The sun is quite strong during the day. Remember to cover your eyes up, or the sunlight might hurt them,” reminded Li Huowang.

Then, Li Huowang led the blindfolded Bai Lingmiao back toward their carriage.

Following this incident, the residents of Qing Qiu all had strange expressions on their faces when they looked at Li Huowang.

Li Huowang didn’t mind this since he was leaving and was unlikely to see them again anyway. He didn’t give that much thought to what people said behind his back or how they perceived him.

“Until we cross paths again, Baolu. Goodbye. Do not forget to write us letters whenever it’s convenient.” Li Huowang stood by the carriage as he spoke to Sun Baolu who was holding a Qing Qiu girl.

Hearing this, Sun Baolu looked somewhat helpless. “Senior Li, I don’t know how to read or write.”

Li Huowang said hoarsely, “That’s alright. Take care of yourself.”

With that, he led the others and left the group of tents.

Li Huowang wasn’t really interested in finding out more about what Sun Baolu had been hiding under his clothes. He wasn’t such a gossipy person.

Puppy, Gao Zhijian, and the others went over to embrace Sun Baolu. Many of them were overcome with emotion. They were like brothers who had been through thick and thin. The thought of never being able to see each other again was quite heartbreaking for them.

Bun, being a dog, couldn’t comprehend these emotions. It just kept circling Li Huowang while holding an object in its mouth.

As Bun’s tail brushed past his leg for the fifth time, Li Huowang sighed. Lowering his gaze to face Bun, he said, “Spit out whatever’s in your mouth. If you go around picking up random things again, then I’m going to make stew out of you!”

Bun spat out the object in front of Li Huowang and sat down while wagging its tail and staring at him.

“What exactly is this? Shedded snakeskin? Does Qing Qiu have snakes this big?” asked Puppy as he used a knife to lift the object brought by Bun.

At that moment, a dark figure suddenly darted out from the side, startling everyone.

Seeing it, Li Huowang, who had been utterly unconcerned until now, rushed toward it. As he held the object in his trembling hands, it was evident that he was quite excited.

“This is… a Black Taisui!”

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