Yang Na saw Li Huowang's sudden movement and stepped back a little in a panic. "What are you doing? The nurses at the station can hear us talking in here."
As soon as she finished speaking, the speaker above the bed crackled with nurses' snickering voices. "Hehe, it's fine! We can't hear you. Little Li, good luck~"
"Come on, ladies—can you not be so nosy? Put all that extra attention into the ICU instead."
After shouting at the headboard, Li Huowang grabbed Yang Na's hand and pulled her into another corner of the room.
He took the Jade Pendant from his pocket and shoved it into her palm, then leaned close, whispering in her ear. As Li Huowang spoke, Yang Na's eyes grew wider and wider.
"How is that possible, that—" She didn't finish the sentence. Li Huowang reached out and clapped his hand over her mouth.
Their eyes met, Li Huowang staring at Yang Na with fierce longing.
"Help me. I swear everything I said is true. Nobody on the outside even my own parents trusts me. They all think I'm crazy. You're the only one I have left. You're the only person in the world I trust. I'm really not insane!"
Yang Na studied Li Huowang for a few seconds, then finally bit her lip and nodded. When she left, her eyes were red, and she looked back at him three times, clearly worried about his mental state.
Li Huowang's emotions were a tangled mess as he watched her disappearing figure. He didn't care what others thought of him anymore, but Yang Na was different.
"Nana, just trust me this once, just once!"
The waiting always felt endless. Li Huowang paced anxiously back and forth inside the room.
During that time, he experienced hallucinations again, but snapped himself out of it as fast as possible. The doctors said that was bad, but Li Huowang was scared he'd miss Yang Na's return.
One day, two days, three days—time passed slowly and Li Huowang's mood grew shakier and shakier.
"Little Li, your girlfriend came to see you~" Upon hearing the nurse's announcement, Li Huowang leapt off the bed with a somersault and bolted for the hospital entrance.
In the hospital's garden, Li Huowang met up with Yang Na again. The two of them hugged each other tightly in excitement.
Yang Na tried to keep her voice down as she yelled in his ear, "Huowang, it's real! The Jade Pendant is real!"
"I'm not sick!! Hahaha!! I'm not sick!!" Li Huowang lifted the girl by her slender waist and spun her around and around in midair.
After a long while, the pair finally managed to calm themselves down.
"I asked you for help… Did it mess up your life or studies at all?" Li Huowang asked with concern, looking at Yang Na sitting on the edge of the flowerbed.
But Yang Na didn't answer directly. She changed the subject, holding up four delicate, pale fingers. "Guess how much that Jade Pendant is worth? This much!"
"Four… thousand?"
"Four hundred thousand! And I'm sure the guy lowballed it. If we asked a few more places, it could be even higher."
"Four hundred thousand… Four hundred thousand…" Li Huowang grinned stupidly. Not only could he pay off all those years of medical bills, he'd still have plenty left over—plus, this was just the beginning.
"Yang Na, are you ready to become a little rich lady?"
Li Huowang's teasing made Yang Na's cheeks turn a little pink. "Stop joking around! This is so weird… Are you sure it won't hurt you?"
"It's fine! What could happen to me? I'm great, actually. If that's the case, my treatment might need to slow down a bit. This is treasure—I can't get cured too fast."
When he said that, Yang Na's expression got tense. She anxiously pleaded, "Huowang, that's different. I don't want money—your treatment cannot stop. You can't stop taking your medication. Promise me, or I won't help you again."
Li Huowang came up with a hundred ways to argue back, but when he saw the worry and care in her eyes, a wave of warmth rose up inside him. "Okay, I promise you."
Yang Na smiled, reaching out to gently pat him on the head. "That's better, you good little brother."
Just as the two were discussing how to cash out the Jade Pendant, a few burly middle-aged men rushed past, carrying riot forks.
"What happened with Master Zhao? Did something go wrong?" Li Huowang asked one of the familiar men, confused.
"Don't ask! Little Li, get back to your room quick. And if you run into Old Liu, report it right away. He definitely snuck his meds again." The guy hurried off toward the stairs.
"The ICU has two layers of iron bars, doesn't it? How could that scrawny old Liu escape?" Li Huowang wondered, glancing over there.
Back when he couldn't tell hallucination from reality, he'd lived in that area for a while—a memory he didn't care to revisit.
Watching the other patients being rounded up and taken back by nurses, Li Huowang turned to Yang Na. "It's getting chaotic here, you should go. Call the hospital tonight and we'll talk by phone."
"Okay. You take care, and remember what you promised me." Yang Na said, walking away toward the hospital gate.
"Four hundred thousand…" Li Huowang murmured as he headed back toward his room. Knowing that Jade Pendant was actually worth that much, a flood of new ideas started bubbling up inside him.
Hallucination or reality, who cares… If stuff from over there is worth that much, does it even matter if it's real or not?
He'd barely taken a few steps when a familiar, piercing scream rang out behind him. Li Huowang turned to see a bald, shriveled old man tackling Yang Na to the ground.
Seeing this, Li Huowang's blood rushed to his head. His face twisted with rage, teeth bared, as he charged toward them. "Old Liu! That's my girlfriend—get off her!!"
"Whoosh!" With a sudden roar, a loose hexagonal paving stone flew through the air and smacked Li Huowang right in the head.
The world spun—Li Huowang crashed to the ground, his vision flooding red. His head was bleeding.
Through the crimson haze, Li Huowang saw a pair of fat, swollen feet wrapped in patient scrubs shuffle past him, heading for the screaming, struggling Yang Na.
Hearing those heavy footsteps moving toward Yang Na, Li Huowang's mind went blank, only one thought left: I can't let them hurt Yang Na!!
Trembling, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a pill from Master, and shoved it into his mouth, blood and all.
Instantly, an intense burning warmth surged from his gut into his limbs, flooding him with power. His foggy head cleared in a heartbeat.
BANG! He swung a fist hard, landing it on a fat man's jaw—yellow teeth flew everywhere, and in seconds, barely any were left.
Bloody all over, Li Huowang ignored the knocked-out fat guy and strode over to Old Liu, stomping him in the skinny chest.
CRACK CRACK. The sound of bones snapping again and again. Old Liu's bloodied body flopped away like a limp noodle,
Looking down at Yang Na, crying into her torn sweater, Li Huowang clenched his teeth so hard his gums began to bleed.
His bloodshot eyes fixed on the two men collapsed nearby. He slammed a foot onto the concrete, then pounced at them like a hunting leopard.
"Huowang!! Stop!! What are you doing!"