Chapter 363: School

"This is an illusion, this is an illusion!!"

In the gloomy bridge underpass, Li Huowang knelt on the ground, his head bleeding. He trembled and repeated the words over and over, as if trying to solidify his conviction.

This scene scared Huanhuan to tears. The soup dumplings in her hand rolled onto the ground, and she turned and ran out of the underpass, crying loudly.

Li Huowang knelt there, thinking for a very long time. The surrounding environment alternated between dim and bright.

After the scenery shifted between the underpass and the forest three times, he walked to the river, washed the blood scabs from his face, and turned to walk out of the underpass. A cold glint emerged from between Li Huowang's fingers.

On the ground, only Sun Xiaoqin's name remained, while the other name was completely covered in blood.

Li Huowang remembered where Yang Na's school was. She had happily described to him the delicious food available at the nearby snack street. At the time, she had even promised him that once he felt better, they would go and explore it together.

Li Huowang always remembered details about Yang Na vividly, even if she had only mentioned them once.

A sharp blade scraped against Li Huowang's head, shaving off his matted hair and revealing his scalp, which had stopped bleeding.

He took off his filthy old clothes and put on a fresh set of clothes that someone had left hanging out to dry.

Looking like this, Li Huowang appeared completely normal. He walked through the crowd, and no one pointed at him anymore.

Under the cover of night, he slipped into the train station and then boarded a train by posing as a relative accompanying a passenger with luggage.

When a dazed Li Huowang finally became fully aware again, he found himself in Yang Na's city.

Glancing at the sign on the bus stop, Li Huowang walked with heavy, difficult steps toward the university town.

He walked very, very slowly, as if wishing this long journey would never end. Yet, no matter how slowly he walked, there was always a day when he would reach his destination.

Li Huowang sat on a plastic stool at a barbecue restaurant, staring blankly at the distant campus gate. His unusual behavior drew some puzzled glances.

"What are you waiting for! This is an illusion, Yang Na is fake! Get up and act! I can't abandon reality for an illusion! Do you really want Miaomiao to become that inhuman, ghastly thing?"

"I've crossed over, I've already crossed over!! Yang Na will be fine, she'll live well in that world! No madman will bother her or hinder her happiness!"

"What are you waiting for! Go! Go! You've caused Miaomiao to become this monstrous thing, don't you want to save her?!"

Li Huowang struggled painfully within himself. At that moment, he desperately wished for something to help him overcome his hesitation, allowing him to stand up decisively.

Just then, the chubby-faced proprietress from the side approached. "Ahem, young man, are you alright? You look a bit pale."

Li Huowang remained indifferent, completely absorbed in his own world.

The proprietress wiped the table in front of Li Huowang with a rag, then turned to attend to her own business.

Suddenly, a scream erupted from inside the campus gate, instantly drawing the proprietress's attention. A moment later, she saw men and women rushing out of the campus in a panic. "Huh? What's going on?"

As others hurried past her stall, the proprietress reached out and stopped a male student who frequently ate at her place. "Hey, Xiaopang, Xiaopang, what happened at the school?"

"Sister Liu, call the police quickly! The bank robbers have come here! They've already rushed into the girls' dormitory! One of them even has a gun!!"

Hearing this, Li Huowang slowly turned to look at the student who spoke. He suddenly smiled.

"Could it be any more fake? For such a low-probability, ridiculous thing to happen to me, it must truly be an illusion." At that moment, Li Huowang, shedding all his reservations, finally stood up and walked towards the campus gate, moving against the flow of people.

Li Huowang walked along the main road of the university, constantly observing the girls fleeing around him, trying to spot a familiar face.

The deeper he went, the more intensely his body trembled.

To alleviate the uncontrollable trembling, Li Huowang continued searching for people while addressing the blossoming magnolia tree to his left: "Miaomiao, after I obtain inner pain, if I'm too much in pain to move my hands, please help me achieve ultimate physical agony."

"Do you remember how that person dug out his throat when we were on Reed Island? Just do it like he did."

Then, still uneasy, Li Huowang spoke to a bicycle lying on its side: "Li Sui, if Miaomiao really does that, you must not stop her, understand? She won't be hurting me; this is about whether we can get out of this dreadful place."

"No matter what happens then, remember to stick close to me. As for the people from the Bureau of Celestial Supervision, I'll save them if I can, but if not, then so be it."

The entire campus was vast, and Li Huowang searched for a long time but still didn't see Yang Na. By the time he reached the girls' dormitory, police sirens could already be heard from outside the campus.

Looking up at the tall building before him, Li Huowang heard angry shouts coming from the middle floors. It seemed hundreds of girls on the upper floors were trapped.

"This is all an illusion, this is all an illusion!" Li Huowang muttered to himself as he stepped through the iron gate and entered.

The first and second floors were empty; everyone had run out. As Li Huowang continued up the stairs, he came face-to-face with two men dragging a girl down.

Li Huowang nodded at them and briefly stepped aside to let them pass, intending to continue upstairs.

"Stop!! I told you to stop! Don't come any closer!! Don't think I don't know what you're up to! You're an undercover agent, I saw through you a long time ago!"

A bald man held the blade of a knife directly against the girl's neck in his arms. He seemed very nervous; even his breathing was erratic.

"We want three SUVs! Full tanks! And five million! No! Ten million! Then get everyone out! You have one hour to prepare! Hurry!! For every thirty minutes over, we'll kill one more person!"

Li Huowang ignored him and asked the girl in his arms: "Student, do you know Yang Na? Which room does she live in?"

The girl was clearly terrified speechless by the situation in front of her. She could do nothing but sob.

Li Huowang was unconcerned and prepared to continue upstairs.

"You f***ing stand right there!!" An old pistol emerged from around the corner at the top of the stairs, pointing at Li Huowang.

Footsteps followed, and a tall man with a grim expression walked down the stairs, holding the pistol.

"See what I have in my hand? It's a gun!"