Mutated Tao

Yi Donglai laughed out of anger. In fact, he almost gave up on Li Huowang. Yi Donglai thought Li Huowang was the craziest person he had met in the medical field.

“Really? You learned about the truth of this world?”

Yi Donglai opened Li Huowang’s straitjacket before placing his phone into Li Huowang’s hands. Yi Donglai swiped on the phone’s screen swiftly.

“This is your mother’s WeChat! Talk to her on a video call. Look at her with your single remaining eye and tell her you’re not crazy! Tell her that you’ve learned the truth of the world! Do that if you have the guts!”

With a slight tremble on his face, Li Huowang slammed Yi Donglai's phone onto the ground. “You don’t know anything! Everything’s over! All of the problems have been resolved! Yi Donglai, I know I was sick, but I also know you cured me.”

Yi Donglai was not afraid of Li Huowang’s snarling face. Instead, he took a step forward and glared at Li Huowang.

“Then tell me what you meant! I can only help you if you tell me!”

Li Huowang slowly calmed down and shook his head lightly. He went back into the room and sat facing the walls. “Doctor Yi, I’m not ill. You can perform as many tests as you like. I assure you that the results will confirm I’m fine.”

Since everything was over, any further interactions with Yi Donglai would only make him think that Li Huowang’s condition had worsened. It was useless to converse with Yi Donglai right now.

Moreover, Li Huowang wasn’t sure what Yi Donglai's projection was. He was, however, certain that Yi Donglai was not his ally. If Yi Donglai were an ally, he would’ve saved Li Huowang when he was fighting god Yu’er instead of sending people to catch him.

Now that the danger was over, all Li Huowang needed to do was wait. Even if Qing Wanglai didn’t save him, Li Huowang was sure that as long as he followed the rules of the projections in this world, he would pass the examinations and get discharged again.

Though the process might be long and arduous, Li Huowang wasn’t worried. As long as the people around him were safe, he didn’t mind what was happening to him.

Li Huowang sat there for a very long time, yet he did not hear the door close. He turned and saw the metal door was wide open.

“Come out. The doctor said that you don’t have to stay inside anymore,” the nurse guarding the entrance said.

Li Huowang was confused. He had just killed a lot of people, but now they were allowing him to interact with the other patients.

Li Huowang was sure that this was a trick from Yi Donglai. It couldn’t be that simple.

Despite that, he walked outside after pondering for a moment.

It didn’t matter what Yi Donglai wanted to do. He would continue to live and act normally, as they couldn’t do anything to a regular person during the examinations. The only thing he had to do was not bring up anything about the Simings.

“Wait,” Li Huowang had just stepped outside when several burly nurses stopped him, “we still need to put preventive measures on you. Wait here.”

They put on heavy handcuffs and leg cuffs onto Li Huowang. They also placed a special helmet on Li Huowang’s head, which would prevent him from gouging out his one remaining eye.

Li Huowang was okay with it, although he felt like a serial murderer walking into a park while wearing all that equipment.

Li Huowang gazed upwards, enjoying the pleasant sun. He sat on the bench and basked in the sunlight.

He felt peculiar gazes from every direction, but he was already used to them. Sitting there, he exchanged greetings with some of the familiar faces. He even raised his hand to wave at the guards holding guns atop the guard towers.

He didn’t see the people who had talked to him before this. Li Huowang thought it would be too obvious for them to approach him now, considering that Yi Donglai had just released him.

Li Huowang stretched lazily. Compared to the restrictive room, he felt much better outside right now. At the very least, he could scratch the itches on his body and move around if he felt sore.

He felt the wind blowing through the wire fence. It blew his hair apart and revealed his bloody eye socket. “It’s a good day today…”

Li Huowang relaxed and closed his eyes. He slumped onto the bench, his body slowly tilting to the left as his head bobbed. In the end, he lay down and fell asleep.

The room he was kept in was not a good place to sleep. It was a place to prevent the patients from killing themselves. To avoid any accidents, they never turned off the lights, so Li Huowang barely got any sleep at night.

He felt his body relax as he fell asleep. He slowly curled up on the bench like a baby in a mother’s womb. It was peaceful.

However, the peace was short-lived, as he soon frowned and snarled.

“No! Wait!” Li Huowang opened his eyes with shock, his body drenched in sweat. His sudden shout startled the others around him.

He wiped off the sweat on his forehead and sighed in relief. It had only been a bad dream.

“Are you alright?” Zhao Ting tried to help Li Huowang up. She stretched out her arms and revealed the scars on her wrist.

“I’m fine. It was just a nightmare,” Li Huowang whispered as he slowly retracted his hands. “You guys have to leave. Don’t talk to me for a while—Yi Donglai must be observing us right now.”

Zhao Ting nodded and left the area.

Li Huowang sighed. The nightmare had felt incredibly real, leaving him with a lingering sense of fear. Thankfully, it was only a creation of his imagination that hadn’t actually occurred.

Li Huowang scratched his head. “It’s fine. It was just a nightmare. It’s all over now, and I can live a normal life.

Suddenly, a troubling realization crossed his mind. “Wait a minute, why is Qing Wanglai a graduate student while I’m stuck here, treated like some deranged mental patient? We’re in the same situation.”

Li Huowang swore to himself before walking back into the building. “Damn it. If I get out, I will enjoy my life to the fullest! I cannot let them be afraid of me anymore! I need to make them proud! I don’t care who their projections are. At least they are not illusions! Definitely not!”