Chapter 868: Negotiation

Just as Li Huowang began to exert force with both feet, a phone rang, interrupting his movement.

"Hold on a moment," Ba Nanxu said, pulling out his phone and sliding it to his ear. "Hello? It's me. Yes, he's right in front of me."

"No, I'm not going, no matter what. I don't know what's gotten into him; he changed his mind after we'd already agreed. Do we really need to find someone like this? Aren't you afraid of contagion?"

"Fine, you tell him."

Ba Nanxu tossed the phone to Li Huowang. "Catch. Zhao Shuangdian wants to talk to you."

Li Huowang reached out, caught it, and hesitantly placed it against his ear. A familiar, pleasant voice emanated from the receiver.

"We know more than Qing Wanglai. Only by joining us can you truly understand what's happening to you."

"I know what's happening to me. The doctor told me I have a mental illness. You don't need to repeat it."

"Really? Do you truly believe you're mentally ill? Then how did your girlfriend get those earrings? Can someone with a mental illness conjure things out of thin air?"

Hearing Li Huowang's silence, Zhao Shuangdian continued, "You don't need to lie to me, nor to yourself. This isn't something that can be explained by mental illness."

"Discard the information others have forcibly implanted in your mind. That's merely order and rules attempting to correct your discord."

"But you need to understand one thing: you are you. You are your own Li Huowang, not the Li Huowang others want you to be."

This time, Li Huowang finally spoke. "I don't understand. If you say I'm not mentally ill, show me proof! I want irrefutable evidence! Not about me, but about you! I can no longer distinguish between illusion and reality!"

"If that world exists, I can't be the only one this unlucky!"

"Irrefutable proof? Yes, there is. The motorcycle Qing Wanglai gave you was quite expensive, right? He's very rich, isn't he? What do you think he uses to get so rich?"

Li Huowang turned to look at the motorcycle lying on the ground. "Don't let it fool you; it's just a motorcycle, but it's more expensive than a car, over a million, right?"

"He's not a rich second-generation, yet why does he have so much money? Haven't you ever wondered about that? Think about the earrings you gave your girlfriend, and your family's gold. You're not the only intelligent person around."

"Want to know more? Li Huowang, let's talk face-to-face." Zhao Shuangdian stopped abruptly, clearly intending to entice Li Huowang.

Hearing the phone's dial tone, many thoughts flooded Li Huowang's mind at once.

Did Qing Wanglai get all that money from that other world? But the problem is, he didn't go crazy like I did. How did he manage it?

Was Qing Wanglai's world the same bizarre world I was in? Could it be that I've even met him in that world?

All sorts of questions swirled in Li Huowang's mind at once. He was desperate to know what was going on.

Whether it was illusion or reality, all he wanted now was the truth!

"Let's go, take me to Zhao Shuangdian!" As Li Huowang pulled open the black car door and got in, the siblings, feeling a sudden pang of disappointment, got back into their seats.

The buildings outside the car window rapidly blurred past. Li Huowang kept replaying his past experiences, reality and illusion intertwined, his mind in a state of confusion.

"Is it possible that what Zhao Shuangdian just said was an illusion?" The thought crossed his mind, and Li Huowang quickly turned to look at the two people beside him. "Could these siblings be illusions too?"

Next, he ran his hand over the seat cushion beneath him. "Could this car also be an illusion?"

Watching Li Huowang's strange actions, Ba Nanxu felt uncomfortable. "What an idiot."

"No, this won't do. I need a method. If this continues, I'll go crazy sooner or later. I need some way to distinguish everything around me, whether it's real or an illusion."

Li Huowang closed his eyes and began to ponder, trying to think of a method for discernment.

But this method proved difficult. He still hadn't come up with a solution even by the time they reached Ba Nanxu's Blood Ritual Tattoo Shop.

Li Huowang ultimately had to put it aside for the moment. He got out of the car and walked down the stairs into the tattoo shop.

As soon as he entered, Li Huowang saw Zhao Shuangdian. She was dressed as before, but her behavior was completely different from their first meeting.

She was currently leaning back on the shop's sofa, drinking baijiu and watching a TV series on a tablet. "Sit," she said, patting the sofa beside her.

Li Huowang walked over and sat down next to her. The TV series on the tablet was a romance drama.

He couldn't recall its name; if Yang Na were here, she might know, as she typically enjoyed watching such dramas.

The thought of Yang Na immediately dimmed Li Huowang's eyes.

"Troubled? Want some whiskey?"

Li Huowang ignored the glass, picked up the deep blue bottle, tilted his head back, and took a direct swig. The next moment, he felt like he was drinking fire.

After a few more gulps, as the alcohol took effect, Li Huowang felt much better. "Alright, tell me what's going on."

"You need to ask specific questions before I can answer."

"Was what you said on the phone just now really true? Did Qing Wanglai's money truly come from there?"

"Yes, that's how it came. However, I don't know the exact details; it's merely a conclusion based on reasonable speculation."

"So, that world truly exists, without a doubt? And I am indeed the 'Si Ming'? And Yang Na is also real?"

Zhao Shuangdian gazed at the clear liquid in her glass. "Do you know the story of the blind men and the elephant?"

"Of course I've heard of something so well-known. And you even mentioned it once before."

"A group of blind men who had never seen an elephant went to touch one. One touched its leg and said, 'The elephant is like a large pillar.' Another touched its tail and said, 'The elephant is like a broom.' One who touched its ear said, 'The elephant is like a winnowing basket.' The blind man who touched its tusk said the elephant was like an ox horn. And the blind man who touched its trunk said, 'The elephant is like a thick rope.'"

Here, Zhao Shuangdian paused slightly, then tilted her head and looked at Li Huowang with a smile. "Which part of the elephant do you think you've touched now?"

"What I'm experiencing is a world, a real world! Although that world is bizarre and grotesque! But that world is real!"

"I'm not saying your world isn't real. It's just too one-sided, like the shadow of this wine bottle."

Zhao Shuangdian picked up the wine bottle, and its shadow fell onto the ground. "Do you see that shadow?"

"Yes."

"This is your world: real, yet one-sided." Zhao Shuangdian slightly changed the bottle's angle. "And this is someone else's world: also real, yet one-sided."

"But you've always only seen the shadows. No one has looked deeper to see the most authentic world."

As Zhao Shuangdian spoke, she placed the deep blue wine bottle in front of Li Huowang.