Chapter 767: Awakening

"You're siblings, he's named Ba, and you're also named Ba." Li Huowang decided not to follow their line of questioning anymore. He planned to ask them directly about their background and, if there was no important information, he would leave. Listening to their nonsense any longer was pointless.

Seeing Li Huowang change the subject, the other person wasn't shy about following suit. "That's right. I'm Ba Nanxu, and he's Ba Shengqing. We're twins."

"Twins? I really can't tell. He's so big, and you're so thin."

"Because we were conjoined twins. He absorbed all the nutrients, so of course, I grew up thin."

Seeing Li Huowang staring at her with wide, shocked eyes, Ba Nanxu pointed to the thorn tattoo on her face. "We used to be joined, but we separated later. These tattoos are actually just to cover the scars."

Li Huowang immediately recalled Ba Shengqing's similar scar. He had never imagined the tattoos on their faces came from such a origin. "So, that separation surgery must have been very dangerous, right?"

"No surgery, we didn't have the means. Our parents died young. We just cut ourselves open with scissors and then forcibly pulled apart."

Hearing this, Li Huowang's shocked expression gradually receded. "I don't believe you. If that were true, the pain alone would kill you, let alone the severe bleeding from such a large wound. You'd both have bled to death long ago without medical attention."

"Haha, you have a point," Ba Nanxu said, putting the cigarette back in her mouth and taking a deep drag. This woman's words always felt a bit strange, lacking focus.

After scanning the unique tattoo shop one more time, Li Huowang stood up, said goodbye, and headed for the exit.

"Ji Zai, something of yours was stolen."

A very familiar sensation made Li Huowang spin around abruptly, staring at Ba Nanxu, who was sitting there, with a shocked expression. "What did you just say?! Who are you really?!"

"Huh?" Ba Nanxu turned, looking confused.

"What did you just call me? Say it again!" Li Huowang rushed back and grabbed her arm tightly once more.

"Just now... I didn't say anything. If you're trying to flirt, that's a very unique approach."

"Ji Zai!! Why did you just call me Ji Zai?! What do you know?! Why do both you and Qian Fu call me Ji Zai?!"

*Why does everyone know me as Ji Zai? How do they all know the alias Zhuge Yuan once gave me? Could it be...*

Information he had received recently began to reconstruct itself uncontrollably in Li Huowang's mind.

Li Huowang tried desperately to shake off the terrifying thought forming in his mind, but it spread rapidly, like roots taking hold. Zhao Lei's previous words to him also resurfaced uncontrollably.

"Answer me! Why do you call me Ji Zai?!"

"Let go." A cold voice came from behind Li Huowang. Ba Shengqing was standing behind him, holding a tattoo gun, though Li Huowang hadn't noticed when he'd moved.

Li Huowang slowly released Ba Nanxu and looked at Ba Shengqing in front of him with intense scrutiny. Suddenly, another question sparked a strong sense of doubt in him.

"You were conjoined twins, so why are you both named Ba? Why *that* surname?"

"Because our father's surname is Ba, so we're named Ba. Is there a problem?" Ba Nanxu asked, crossing her arms and looking at Li Huowang quizzically.

"No!" Li Huowang exclaimed. He looked at their various tattoos, their forked tongues, their tongue, lip, and nose piercings, and at the flayed human skins with various designs displayed around the shop. His eyes suddenly grew brighter and brighter.

"Pain! Pain!! I understand now, I understand!!" He stammered, "You... you are..."

The words were on the tip of his tongue, but Li Huowang couldn't utter them. This feeling of being on the verge of a revelation, yet unable to speak it, was almost driving him mad.

At that moment, Li Huowang suddenly pulled out a military knife and plunged it fiercely into the palm of his hand.

The excruciating pain that wracked his body instantly brought Li Huowang into sharp focus. Trembling, he pointed at the two in front of him and excitedly shouted, "I understand! You are Bahui! You are projections of Bahui! Everything is fake!"

As he shouted these words, Li Huowang instantly felt the crushing pressure in his heart vanish.

It wasn't just Bahui. Li Huowang immediately remembered Chen Hongyu, who had asked him to buy snacks earlier. That person was also a Siming—the Siming of Master Jingxin. Perhaps everyone else was also a Siming, and he simply hadn't recognized them because he wasn't familiar with them. But while he might not be familiar with other Siming, Bahui was impossible for Li Huowang not to recognize. He had felt something different the moment they met today.

Seeing Li Huowang's bizarre actions, the Ba siblings immediately frowned and simultaneously took a few steps back. The customers in the partitioned booths were terrified by Li Huowang's bloody hand and ran out, grabbing their shirts as they went.

"So, the two of you are one person! No, the two of you are one Siming! I know you! I know you too well! That's why I had a feeling of familiarity! Bahui! I recognize you!"

"Why do you call me Ji Zai? Why? Who is Ji Zai?" Li Huowang's mind raced. Clearly, this name was more than just an alias; it signified something much greater.

"If you are projections of a Siming, then what am I...?" Li Huowang looked down at his own body. "Am I also a Siming? Am I also a projection?"

"Impossible! When did I become a Siming? When? What kind of Siming am I?"

As Li Huowang's memories resurfaced, some things he had deliberately avoided confronting gradually appeared in his mind.

"I cultivated my way into this. I'm a Siming. Does that mean... this world is all fake? These are all... projections?"

A spine-chilling sense of dread enveloped Li Huowang's heart. He no longer cared about Bahui in front of him; he bolted out of the tattoo shop and onto the sunny pedestrian street.

At that moment, Yang Na ran up to him, asking anxiously, "Huowang, what's wrong? What happened? What just happened?"

Li Huowang was in no state to hear what Yang Na was asking. His face was panicked, his breathing shallow, as he frantically looked around.

Suddenly, he squatted down and pressed his hand against the stone slab on the ground, feeling its smoothness and hardness. He even rubbed his face against it.

"It's so real, how could it be fake? How could it be a projection?"

Li Huowang, his pupils trembling, suddenly stood up and ran towards a nearby pillar.

He looked at a poster stuck to it, reached out, and tore off a large piece. He brought it close to his eyes and, with trembling fingers, ripped it into strips.

He felt the sensation and heard the sound of the paper tearing, watching the poster rip apart slowly and clearly before his eyes.

The conflicting thoughts made Li Huowang's expression turn to one of agony. "Is it possible I'm overthinking? Is it possible this is all real?"

Suddenly, he crouched down, picked up the torn paper strips, and chewed them vigorously, tasting them and feeling his saliva thoroughly soak the poster.

Suddenly, Li Huowang felt eyes on him. He sharply looked up and saw people gathering around, pointing at him.

"What are they? Are they projections? Projections of other Siming or other enemies? What do they want surrounding me?"

Li Huowang's expression gradually turned savage. He reached behind his back and gripped the handles of his two military knives tightly.