Chapter 412: Discharge

The smell of disinfectant was sharp; Li Huowang regained consciousness and stepped out of the bathroom to find the other two patients in the ward watching the News Broadcast.

Qing Wanglai, wrapped like a zongzi, and Yi Donglai, looking haggard, turned their gazes toward Li Huowang—eyes that seemed to ask why he had taken so long in the bathroom.

「. 」

Of all people, he had to share a room with these two.

"If you have no appetite, try eating some sweet-and-sour fruit," Qing Wanglai said to Yi Donglai.

"As you can see, I can't move my hands or feet. Li Huowang, could you peel an apple for us? Just half each."

"No problem," Li Huowang nodded, taking an apple from the fruit basket on Qing Wanglai's bedside table.

Since arriving at this hospital, he'd actually felt more at ease—at least back in prison or the psychiatric hospital, he'd never had access to fruit knives or such things.

"Your condition seems largely stabilized," Yi Donglai observed Li Huowang for a moment and said: "It appears the gas explosion didn't affect you too badly."

"Yes, thanks to Dr. Yi's help," Li Huowang swiftly peeled the apple's skin, the flesh untouched by oxidation. "After I'm discharged, do I still need to go to Kangning Psychiatric Hospital?"

Yi Donglai shook his head. "No. You can try returning to normal life."

Li Huowang sliced the apple in half, offered one half to Yi Donglai, then glanced at the bandaged hand. "Shall I feed you?"

"Thank you," Qing Wanglai said.

In the past, Li Huowang would have been thrilled at the prospect of returning to normal life and shedding his identity as a mental patient—but now, he felt no strong emotion.

In this ward, Yi Donglai suffered from cognitive delusions, Qing Wanglai was nearly half-mad, and only he himself was truly sane.

"Qing Wanglai, have your memories returned?" Li Huowang asked.

Qing Wanglai, who had fallen from a cliff, was said to have suffered head trauma; from an initial vegetative state to now being able to converse, it was already a medical miracle—except he claimed to have lost his memory of the past few months.

Falling off a cliff, amnesia—it was almost like finding a divine cultivation scripture.

"No," Qing Wanglai bit into the apple and grinned.

"Except my advisor called to ask about my thesis topic, nothing else was affected."

"When the boat reaches the bridge, it will naturally pass. We'll deal with the future when it comes."

It seemed the note could never be investigated. Li Huowang said nothing more, simply finished feeding Qing Wanglai the apple, then began packing his belongings.

"Li Huowang, I heard about your story from Dr. Yi," Qing Wanglai said from his bed.

"Have you ever considered that the world might be a vast illusion, a reflection of some greater existence? Like our shadows—we are merely shadows of something else."

"The world you saw before was actually some—"

"Mr. Qing, his illness has just improved," Yi Donglai got out of bed and picked up a thermos box. "If you want to talk sci-fi, let's wait a few years."

"You're right," Qing Wanglai didn't argue. He smiled at Li Huowang. "Meeting is fate. Let's add WeChat."

Li Huowang shook his head. "I don't have WeChat. I don't have a phone. Just give me your number."

"Fine," Qing Wanglai recited a string of digits.

Pack up. Today, at last, I can be discharged.

"Li Shixiong, do you have much to pack?" Bai Lingmiao asked.

"Not much," Li Huowang handed Bai Lingmiao the storage bag filled with artifacts and talismans. "I've taught you how to use them. If you meet enemies, just pull them out and throw them."

"I heard a new sect called the Erjiao has recently emerged," Bai Lingmiao tried to tell Li Huowang what she'd overheard.

"I already know," Li Huowang interrupted. "Jingcheng isn't under curfew today. Lingmiao, let's enjoy the Shangsi Festival with Sui Sui—no more talk of such matters."

Bai Lingmiao paused, then whispered, "Understood, Li Shixiong. I'll start packing."

Bai Lingmiao hugged the squirming Li Sui, closed the door, and left.

In her eyes, Li Huowang had grown even more mysterious than before—vanishing and reappearing without warning, foreseeing events, sometimes producing unfamiliar delicacies that left him noticeably stronger after eating.

"Mother, are we going out soon?" Li Sui wriggled his black tentacles, chirping happily.

"Mm," Bai Lingmiao replied. "Li Sui, are the places your father goes to… real?"

Li Sui answered: "Yes! There are so many interesting things there!"

Hearing this, Bai Lingmiao's spirits sank. Her voice grew even quieter. "So… Li Shixiong isn't ill? Then… have you ever met someone named Yang Na?"

"No. Never heard of her."

"Mother, isn't that just Father's hallucination?"

Li Sui's answer left Bai Lingmiao momentarily stunned. She patted her chest, relief washing over her.

"Yes. It was just a hallucination."

Inside the room.

Li Huowang's enhanced hearing had caught every word between Li Sui and Bai Lingmiao. His expression was complex, but finally, he exhaled in relief.

"Good thing I followed Brother Su Lin's advice and coordinated with Sui Sui. I always felt he was too practiced at this…"

Li Huowang looked toward the empty air and said:

"By the way, Brother Zhuge, let's return to our earlier topic—do you think Qing Wanglai is truly amnesiac?"

In the illusion, everyone except Zhuge Yuan had been ordered by Li Huowang to pin Hong Zhong to the ground and gag his mouth.

Since entering other universes, Hong Zhong had grown increasingly restless, meddling in everything—his information was rarely useful, but he always set things up just to stir chaos.

Zhuge Yuan paused to think, then said:

"Whether his amnesia is real or fake is beside the point."

"The real question is what he'll do next—and what lies behind him will do."

"Though I'd prefer to avoid contact, he'll inevitably come to us. So we might as well gather information proactively."

Li Huowang agreed. In the modern world, he was completing his discharge paperwork, planning to buy a phone and contact Qing Wanglai after leaving.

He had no intention of confronting Qing Wanglai yet—he still cared for people in this world and didn't want to drag them into this mess.

"The situation favors us. We hold both the key information and the initiative," Zhuge Yuan fanned himself, analyzing.

"But there's one critical problem: the future has changed, yet the crisis in this world remains unresolved."

Even after detecting the variables, we do not know what strategies those entities will employ—only that they will turn their gaze upon you.

Li Shixiong, our greatest problem is insufficient trump cards!

Indeed, Zhuge Yuan spoke truly: though I had accumulated much beyond the realm and my strength had reached a point where no mere multitude could overwhelm me, my trump cards remained far too few.

After Da Nuo went mad, everything in this world inverted and twisted. The techniques passed down among mortals were manageable—given my status as Xin Su, I had many ways to cope—but if we turn our attention to Confused Siming and such entities...

That...

The Dao controlled by Confused Siming is no easy foe, especially while I remain within this realm.

"To summon Ji Zai, I must follow the original path and contend once more with Dou Lao." Li Huowang began planning his next moves.

"Are you all mentally defective? Ugh—what the hell, why won't you let me speak?!" Hong Zhong, relying on his status as an illusion and thus immune to death, split his head apart: "Just connect this world directly to the Light Universe—embrace the Light and everything's solved!"

"Can illusions be corrupted too?" Li Huowang asked, puzzled. "Brother Zhuge, you don't feel this urge, do you?"

Zhuge Yuan shook his head with a strange expression; the illusionary Hong Zhong, ever since witnessing Su Lin's true form, had become obsessively fascinated and constantly urged Li Huowang to invite Su Lin into this world.

Nine out of ten sentences he spoke each day revolved around this matter.

"It's better not to trust the Dao of Forgetting lightly." Li Huowang tapped the table twice, then paused to ponder:

"What if he's deliberately provoking my resistance?"

"Tsk. Peng Longteng, give him two slaps."

Watching the illusionary Hong Zhong's head get slapped twice and then kicked like a ball, Li Huowang immediately felt considerably better.

"I've actually considered asking Brother Su Lin for help—if he came over, this whole mess would be resolved. But I have nothing to offer him in return."

"He must have paid a price when he opened his door."

Li Huowang sighed and said:

"Besides, I've already received too much aid from them. This situation is already a heavenly hand for me."

"If all else fails, I'll go see his true form again!"

He's unlikely to die, but he'll surely give those bastards a hard time.

And once transformed into that twisted form of life...

To simply dissipate would be a kind of happiness.

At least Li Huowang's mind held no memory of that time—the memories had been utterly shattered, even his soul could not recall them. He had a premonition: if he accidentally remembered, the corruption would return.

"Don't be so extreme," Zhuge Yuan said helplessly.

"The price need not be paid now, nor need you pay it yourself."

"Think carefully—our world must have some valuable things. For instance... the Dao?"

Li Huowang was stunned. Zhuge Yuan seemed to be reminding him, yet he was revealing a stance: "Brother Zhuge, even you?!"

"I understand myself, but I do not understand Qing Wanglai."

"I am Qing Wanglai's heart pact; he is the Three Pure Ones; Zhuge Yuan is the past of the Three Pure Ones—but not the Three Pure Ones themselves."

Zhuge Yuan said:

"But one thing in his letter is certain: when you bear this influence, you walk always on the edge of danger. Once, twice—never thrice."

"If you treat bearing such influence as a routine method, one day it will bring some unknowable consequence."

"The Confused Siming Ji Zai must be born, and must return. This matter admits no failure, no flaw."

The room fell silent. Li Huowang withdrew his gaze and looked through the window toward the horizon, as if he could see through the drifting clouds to the Bai Yu Jing above.

Zhuge Yuan said no more. He knew Li Huowang bore too much—enough weight to crush a world.

No matter how others advised, the final choice must be his own—but for Li Huowang, even now, many things still could not escape the cage of fate—he was not his own master.

"Let me think," he said slowly.

Squeak—

The door opened. Bai Lingmiao had changed into a new outfit, timidly asking: "Li Shixiong, is it alright if I go out dressed like this?"

The garment was made of white silk, edged entirely with silver thread; pale dyes on the chest and sleeves resembled dawn and twilight.

Bai Lingmiao, with her white hair and pink eyes, looked like a goddess clad in the sky.

Li Huowang froze. He stepped forward, grasped her hand, felt the warmth in her palm, and smiled:

"Don't worry, Miaomiao."

Above the boundless gray mist, a grand palace stood in stillness.

"Moon" Emmeline White had just regained her sight when she saw "Justice" gazing toward the head of the scarred long table, cheerfully greeting:

"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool~"

But then, she paused, her voice tinged with delight:

"Long time no see—good afternoon, Mr. Priest!"

Emmeline White blinked, following her gaze to the left of the Fool, where the Mr. Priest sat with one leg crossed, fingers interlaced upon his knees.

He remained as handsome as ever, his features sharply defined, beautifully three-dimensional, his black hair combed back to his shoulders.

"I haven't returned in many years," Su Lin smiled at them all. "It gladdens me to see your faces again."

"Many years?" The Tarot members were puzzled.

The Priest, the Pope, and the Emperor had not attended Tarot gatherings for a long time—but it had been less than half a year!

"The time I experienced differs from yours," Su Lin said, a faint smile in his eyes, tinged with nostalgia. "Since our last parting, for me, it has been many eons ago."

"Since our parting long ago, it has already been many eons for me."

Could the Pope and the Emperor be the same?

Various suspicions surged through the members' minds, leaving them deeply shaken—except the Fool, seated on his high-backed stone chair, hidden in the mist, who rolled his eyes.

"Is it some form of slumber?" Audrey asked softly.

"Is this some kind of sleeping method?" Audrey asked softly.

"I've always remained awake," Su Lin said with a smile:

"Don't worry about me; fortunately, after such a long span of time, I still get to see my friends."

"Precious memories run through many moments in life; for me, the moments of parting are stretched infinitely."

"Let us raise a toast to our reunion today—I've temporarily quit drinking."

The Fool 'Miss Kelaien' drew his gaze away from Su Lin, tapped his index finger lightly against the ancient stone table, and said:

"I have further awakened; for a period in the future, the Tarot Club's meetings will be suspended."

He added, "At that time, you may contact Mr. Priest."

Meeting suspended? Did the Fool awaken Mr. Priest from that state merely for preparation? What important matter could he be undertaking that prevents him from contacting his believers?

As the Fool, who governs the two powerful True Gods—the Priest and the Pope—his every action naturally carries profound meaning in the hearts of the Tarot Club members.

After a moment of digesting this news, Audrey spoke first:

"Respected 'Fool'先生, I've found two more pages of Rosell the Emperor's diary~"

Her rising tone lifted the atmosphere.

"I have two pages as well," Alger said.

Rosell's diary materialized instantly, flashing into Miss Kelaien's palm; he handed two pages to Su Lin.

This act stirred fresh doubt among them—did Mr. Priest also take interest in Rosell the Emperor's diary?

Moments later, within the chat group.

Su Lin: "Can I laugh at this diary?"

Miss Kelaien: "What do you think?"

Su Lin: "I can't hold back—he played it so wildly."

Zhang Chu'an: "I have a friend."

Ge Xiaolun: "+1"

Lu Mingfei: "+1"

(End of Chapter)