Chapter 648

My name is Li Huowang.

I don't have a mental illness, and I'm not crazy.

Bai Yu Jing and the modern world are real; my parents, my girlfriend Yang Na, and my wife Bai Lingmiao are all real.

Real, real, all real!

I'm completely sane—it's the previous world that was sick, and I, the normal one, just looked insane!

I really like Song Shuhang's line: "When the entire world falls into deep slumber, the only awake person becomes a lonely one!"

Isn't that line actually not from Brother Shuhang?

But whatever—it's such a profound sentence; only someone cultured could say it.

I've said all this, but the truth is, many people still hold prejudices against me; their impression remains stuck in the past, even those who call you brother, drink with you daily.

"Bed A21, Li Huowang, it's time for your medicine." The orderly walked over with a pile of pills.

"I'm not sick, why the hell should I take any?!" Li Huowang shouted at the orderly, strapped to his restraints: "You've got shit for brains!"

The orderly glanced at him and said: "Increase the dosage."

Li Huowang couldn't understand why, after entering Kleine's dream world, he ended up in a psychiatric hospital—was he still seen as a lunatic in Kleine's mind?!

This internal impression made him feel sad.

"God of Light, I want to have a child with you!"

On the opposite wire bed, the patient wearing a sign labeled 【Sex Addiction】 moaned continuously, sometimes shouting, "God of Light, I want to have a child with you!" and other times, "Mr. Fool, I want you to give birth to a child!"

To the right was a man with deep black, thorn-like tattoos circling his head, imitating Jesus, his entire skin a grayish-blue, like a zombie.

Li Huowang didn't know what was wrong with him, but the guy kept screaming "Restart! Restart!" as if his brain had crashed.

On the left, a woman held a lightbulb aimed at the ceiling, singing, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are."

There was also a naked man painted entirely pale gold, wandering the corridor, asking others, "Want to touch my magic lamp?"

This one was even more heavyweight.

They're all fucking lunatics, and I've been stuck with this bunch for two days.

In the past, Li Huowang would've seized the chance to punch the orderly who fed him pills—but

"It's fine, Lingmiao, look how well I acted out my episode? Hehehe, your cooking is delicious!"

"Hey hey hey, don't be mad—I didn't mean to scare you!"

Li Huowang opened his mouth and swallowed the black, goopy liquid—tasting vaguely like Banlangen herbal medicine—along with the white tablets.

After eating, he stared straight ahead—at the sex-addicted woman with pink hair like dead tree branches, neither clearly male nor female—and said:

"Lingmiao, I already told you, having a child isn't urgent. Okay, let's have a child tonight."

The woman across from him instantly froze.

She stared at Li Huowang for a long moment, swallowing as if ravenous, but gradually her eyes grew hazy.

Shhh—!

The pink-haired woman snapped back to awareness, her face twisted in terror as she curled backward: "Who am I? What am I supposed to do?! Do I have a child? Do I not have a child?"

"Tonight. Daytime's no good—there are too many people in the village." Li Huowang gently reached out, as if caressing an invisible lover—actually, he was speaking to Da Nuo on the other side.

All the psychiatric patients around stopped their movements and mad mutterings; deep in their eyes, a faint sorrow of shared doom emerged.

The orderlies walked toward them with black herbal decoctions and white tablets.

Soon, the windowless large room grew quieter; after completing their task, the orderlies left.

"What a bunch of fucking lunatics," Li Huowang muttered under his breath.

These sedatives must really work on mental illness—thankfully, I don't have any, so taking them just made me sleepy.

But today was odd—perhaps because they confirmed Li Huowang was cooperative, or because they thought the dosage was sufficient, the orderlies removed his restraints after he took the medicine.

When the door shut.

Li Huowang rolled off the bed and stretched comfortably.

He walked to the door, peering closely through the bars—nothing but pitch-black outside.

'This must be a basement or several levels underground.'

'Following the airflow, there's probably only one corridor.'

'Meals are delivered three times a day—breakfast and lunch are done; dinner is an hour away, but a guard will accompany it.'

'The door's still locked. My strength is normal human level—if I had tools, I could peel my skin, turn it into a resurrection artifact, throw it outside, then resurrect again.'

Li Huowang turned his gaze inward, thinking about how to escape.

I entered this dream world to wake up Zhou Ge, not to relive my suffering—this is like when my parents took me and Na Na last week to eat wild vegetables at that restaurant.

As he thought, the naked man wandering the corridor suddenly vanished.

Li Huowang rubbed his eyes, staring intently outside—not an illusion—he's really gone?!

Scritch!

"Want to touch my magic lamp?" The pale-gold man suddenly appeared before Li Huowang, speaking softly: "I can grant your wish—but I can't find it."

His clenched fist nearly swung out.

"Wish? Magic lamp?"

He had studied some of Zhou Ge's dream world rules: anything appearing in his memory manifests as "real" in the dream.

This nutjob… could he be the Genie? But how would a Genie appear in Zhou Ge's dream?

Li Huowang suddenly realized something was off—he turned and walked to the bed of the gender-ambiguous, now dazed pink-haired sex-addicted patient.

He rummaged through the bed and found a stack of medical records.

"Yuwen Mushi. Psychological gender, free sexual orientation, inclusive. Hometown: Rongcheng."

Yuwen Mushi—Desire Mother Tree?!

Li Huowang returned to the psychiatric patient holding a lightbulb and singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," when suddenly a hand emerged from beneath the bedding, gripping his wrist.

"Let me out of the barrier… I won't come to Earth anymore…"

He looked down and saw an emaciated old man murmuring in his sleep, babbling about how your king has returned…

Li Huowang easily broke free of the man's grip, picked up the lightbulb, and realized it wasn't glass at all—but a shining supernova.

"Are you the Supernova Sovereign?!"

How could these Outer Gods be here?

That shouldn't be possible!

"Supernova Sovereign?" A dazed young woman repeated the name, confusion flashing in her eyes: "I am the Supernova Sovereign. I'm Liu Xing! I can't tell anymore, aaaaaah!!!"

Hiss. That's the vibe.

Li Huowang's pupils contracted; he stared at this inexplicable scene and instinctively stepped back two paces.

He looked down at the lightbulb in his hand, pondered deeply, then spoke to the air: "Zhuge… Qingwang, what's the phone number for Zhao Shuangdian?"

I could think with Hong Zhong's mindset, but it's too taxing and not necessarily correct—better to hear the analysis of someone clever.

But then…

He asked the Lamp God standing in the corridor: "If I wish for you to open the door, can you open it?"

The Lamp God, whose body glowed faint gold and resembled the Eighteen Bronze Arhats of Shaolin, smiled. He was about to speak when Li Huowang turned his gaze behind Him.

From the pitch-black corridor, light began to emerge.

The Lamp God turned around and saw a flat, round creature, like mochi, seemingly formed of pure light, with white wings, crawling toward them.

Soon, the creature stopped before Him and opened its mouth: "Did you drop this mask, or this monocle, or perhaps this die?"

The Lamp God stared blankly and shook his head.

"You're honest. Then take them all."

……

……

The name "Old Hospital" made Zhou Mingrui feel strange—it sounded as if all the patients inside were Cthulhuoid entities receiving treatment.

"Mr. Zhou, didn't I ask you to make time to come see me?" Audrey's voice carried a hint of reproach, yet without pressure—instead, it radiated deep concern:

"You're too tired. Sometimes, just talking to me can help you relax."

For some reason, everyone else had pulled away from both Zhou Mingrui and Dr. Audrey, as if misunderstanding something, deliberately giving the two space.

"No… I've been swamped with work lately," Zhou Mingrui said truthfully—the new luxury car bought by Boss Huang was proof.

But there was another key reason: after checking Dr. Audrey's fees online, he found them too expensive.

Two hours cost him a month's salary.

"We're all in the same group—you haven't chatted with us lately," Audrey said, pouting slightly.

"I haven't had time to go online…" Zhou Mingrui smiled awkwardly.

It was a mysticism discussion group called the Tarot Society; Audrey's online name was Justice, from the Tarot cards.

It was strange, really—such a huge city, and yet his blind date was a netizen from a chat group?

Though called a blind date, he hadn't actually volunteered for it—there were all sorts of complicated reasons and circumstances…

Last time, it was Boss Huang's daughter, Huang Beibei—a high school student—who, under Li Jiatu's mischief, became his blind date; him not getting fired was a miracle.

The time before that, it was Sharon, the doll shop owner; he accidentally accompanied her to the cinema to watch A Chinese Ghost Story; before that, it was Fei Er, the lazy writer who needed someone nearby to pressure her into writing faster.

And the ones before that…

One was a female executive from a multinational corporation… Armani… Sis something—Zhou Mingrui always felt a terrifying pressure during their meals.

It wasn't that these women were bad as dates; as a salaryman, many things were unrealistic, and many of these women were foreigners.

"Well then, you happen to have time today," Audrey smiled, gesturing toward the large dining hall filled with medical staff eating: "After you finish work, I can also give you psychological counseling."

"Our hospital's meal service isn't bad—if you're not picky, why not have dinner here?"

Zhou Mingrui began weighing how to respond.

No—the real issue was, where had Su Yuling, chairwoman of Taichu Group, gone? Wasn't he here today to tour the hospital?

Zhou Mingrui looked puzzled at Lu Mingfei and Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan and the others: "It's nearly night—Chairwoman Su…"

"I'll call and ask," Lu Mingfei raised his phone.

Zhou Mingrui nodded slightly and said: "I'll go to the restroom first."

He clutched his stomach and hurried toward the bathroom, looking unwell.

Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan watched his condition, then glanced at Audrey, who had been giving Zhou Mingrui constant subtle signals, and smirked: "Is your hospital planning a collaboration with the Dan Alliance?"

"Yes, we need some medicines," Audrey nodded.

"What kind exactly?" Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan asked.

Audrey smiled calmly: "Gender identity disorder—confusion over whether one is male or female."

Public restroom.

Zhou Mingrui washed his face slightly, then patted his cheeks—he felt better.

He raised his head, staring into the mirror above the sink, when suddenly he heard a zzzzz sound—the restroom plunged into darkness, then flared back to light.

Yet during this time, no fear or panic arose; it might sound funny, but being in this confined space actually calmed him.

Besides, assassins could hide within shadows, merging into darkness.

He adjusted his clothes, preparing to turn and walk out of the restroom—it should've been just a few steps—but something changed.

When he pushed open the door, the world twisted.

Floor tiles, walls, ceiling became smooth, like mirrors, reflecting his image.

The light was dim; in every mirror, there was a version of himself.

They cannot interfere in what lies between us...

You have no reason to resist...

From now on, I am your divinity...

Every Zhou Mingrui in the mirror urged him, their backs facing a series of kaleidoscopic abyssal illusions, countless black worlds and suns spinning within that abyss.

Zhou Mingrui paused, his spine gradually straightening, then he let out a silent sigh:

It's normal that Lu Mingfei didn't consider these things—besides, you can lower his intelligence. The things he said in the car, combined with the atmosphere at the time, were enough to trigger your defensive measures.

The Zhou Mingruis in the mirror wore faint smiles, but against the backdrop of those black worlds, they grew cold.

"Still, I am genuinely moved." After gazing at his reflection for a moment, Zhou Mingrui declared resolutely:

"So even for the sake of this feeling, I will not let divinity take control—besides, you may not even be my divinity, and I will never become the humanity of Yuanshi Tianzun."

"He cannot help you—in this world, and his condition is not good." The Zhou Mingruis in the mirror said, their smiles unchanged.

"Are you talking about Su Lin?" Zhou Mingrui looked at them.

The Zhou Mingruis in the mirror did not deny it.

"You're mistaken about one thing," Zhou Mingrui said: "I knew from the start you'd target him, so I never bet on him or Lu Mingfei."

"If you truly became me, you'd understand what I'm saying."

The Zhou Mingruis in the mirror gazed at him calmly, their smiles unchanged.

But at this moment, noise pierced through layers of deep darkness.

Li Huowang swung his baton, knocking over a guard, and charged into the cafeteria from behind the pursuing crowd.

He saw Lu Mingfei and Especially Especially Especially Xiao Yan and shouted: "This isn't the true dream world! This is reality!!!"