Mutated Tao

When he bit into the cold and rotten orange, Li Huowang not only tasted the mold, he also tasted the weird taste of the rotten fruit. But Li Huowang was too hungry to care. Right now, this moldy orange was even more delicious than an extravagant meal.

After eating the orange, Li Huowang stood up, feeling quite a bit better. Then, he shouted into the rain, “Chief Bai! Don’t be afraid! It’s my illness! I have an illness!”

At that moment, a man holding an umbrella saw Li Huowang and quickly pulled his wife before running away. At the same time, the others on the street did the same. Soon, the street that already had very few people due to the rain was completely deserted.

However, Li Huowang ignored whatever was happening around him. To him, the situation on the other side was more dire. After all, on the other side, he was practically bound and waiting to be executed. He had to do something to save himself!

Li Huowang continued to stand in the rain but felt like nothing had changed. This made him very annoyed. Based on his experience, the other side should also change according to what was happening here.

“Chief Bai! Where are you? Give me a sign! As I am now, I can’t see you!”

As he shouted, Li Huowang saw several men holding an umbrella coming toward him, causing his eyes to light up.

Wearing his torn shoes and socks, Li Huowang ran toward them while stepping into the puddles and shouted, “Chief Bai!“

The man was visibly frightened by Li Huowang who suddenly approached him in the rain.

“Chief Bai! You have to remember that I was the one who saved all of you! Do you really want to hurt the person who saved you?” Li Huowang felt that this was not enough and said something more convincing, “Also, Bai Lingmiao is pregnant with my child! No matter what, I’m already half a step into the Bai family!”

“Where did this lunatic come from? Shit… he’s scary.” The man holding the black umbrella took two steps back and tried to go around Li Huowang.

However, Li Huowang would never let him go past. He took another step and blocked the man with his arms. “Chief Bai, if you don’t believe me, then you can ask Bai Lingmiao herself!”

When the man saw Li Huowang blocking him again, he sighed. “Sir, please spare me. You are indeed pitiful, but so am I. I still have to go to work to pay off the mortgage.”

“What are you talking about? Sorry Chief Bai, but now that I’m in a hallucination, your words are twisted into something else. Wait here for just a moment. I will return back to normal soon,” said Li Huowang.

The man clearly didn’t know what Li Huowang was saying. However, he was horrified when he realized that Li Huowang wanted to stay close to him.

“Shit! There’s a crazy bastard here!” shouted the man as he ran away.

Li Huowang wanted to chase after him, but fell over after just a few steps; his body was too weak. He had been holding on purely because of adrenaline.

“Cold.” Li Huowang’s lips were purple and his teeth never stopped chattering. It was so cold that he couldn’t even feel his fingers.

Li Huowang just lay there in the rain, his body completely limp. He didn’t have any strength left.

He didn’t know how long had passed before his will to survive kicked in. Then, he used whatever remaining strength he had to crawl toward the sidewalk where the rain would not reach him.

“Go away, you crazy bastard! I will hit you!”

“Eh! Aiya! You stepped on my store’s rug!”

“Mom! Look! There’s a lunatic in front of our house!”

Li Huowang shivered as he hobbled forward while sounds continued to swirl around him. Looking at his surroundings, he felt slightly at ease.

Since I’m not dead, my words from just now must have worked.

However, he soon started to feel terrible. His head started to swim; it was as if he had gotten a fever from the rain.

“If… if I die here, I would still be fine in reality… right?” Li Huowang's voice was weak and uncertain.

At that moment, he suddenly saw a place where he could hide from the rain. It was a small opening under a bridge. Gritting his teeth, he ran straight toward the opening. He almost got hit by a yellow school bus, the various faces inside staring at his back.

Finally, once he was under the bridge, all of the noises stopped. Li Huowang panted as he slid down against the wall.

However, even though he was out of the rain, Li Huowang’s body was still in shambles.

Why is it taking so long? Why have I not returned yet?

Just as Li Huowang was waiting for time to pass, he saw something on the ground. He slowly inched forward. Once there, he found some plastic straws, bottles, some aluminum foil, and a lighter with very little fuel left.

Li Huowang stretched his hands out, picking up the lighter. At the same time, he realized that he had lost his sense of touch.

He tried igniting the lighter but there was no fire. Just as his head was once again starting to become heavy, a small red fire lit up.

“It’s lit.” Li Huowang smiled, his smile as innocent as a child’s.

He looked around and saw the plastic bottles. He carefully picked them up and placed them underneath the fire. The plastic straws lit up and slowly burned down toward the plastic bottle.

As the bottles started to burn and a small flame was made. Then, Li Huowang carefully placed his frostbitten hands close to it. The fumes were toxic and smelly, but it was warm.

When the warmth from the flame started spreading into his hands, he finally felt his body warming up. Soon, his body stopped shivering and his lips turned from black to purple.

“Who’s there?!” At that moment, Li Huowang looked toward the entrance of the opening, and felt his scalp go numb.

There was a young child wearing boots standing there with an umbrella. She was a cute little girl, around eight years old with double ponytails and a cute cherry shaped red-colored hair clip.

Her large eyes were filled with curiosity. However, as soon as she saw Li Huowang, that curiosity turned into fear.

“Eighteenth Lunar?” Li Huowang stared at that child in disbelief. It was the very same child he had held hostage when he crashed into her kindergarten.

From her school bag, it was clear she had graduated from kindergarten and was now in her first year of primary school.

No, she’s not the Eighteenth Lunar. She doesn’t correspond with anything in the real world. There’s no one within the field of reeds except for the Bai family, so she’s probably one of them.

Li Huowang thought about it and slowly walked toward her. But just as he started moving, the child ran away shrieking.

Li Huowang reached the entrance and found a small piece of the chocolate that she had thrown down. After a moment, he picked it up and ate it. It was sweet and delicious. It reminded him of the chocolate Yang Na had given him on Valentine's Day.

Why am I homeless and on the streets? Was I abandoned by my family?

The bitterness Li Huowang felt in his heart was not undone by the sweetness of the chocolate.

After a while, Li Huowang sniffled and walked back to the small fire he had made. He squatted down and stared at the fire.

“It’s just a hallucination. This is for the best… This is for the best…” He kept mumbling to himself.

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