When he confirmed that the piece of candy on his chest was actually real, Li Huowang's heart pounded furiously, and the very first thought leapt unbidden into his mind. "I have to tell Doctor Li!"
But as soon as he lifted his right foot, it hung in midair—other thoughts flashed through his mind.
He knew that it wasn't just candy in his hallucinations—there was other stuff as well, stuff far more valuable!
Savoring the sweetness dissolving in his mouth, Li Huowang paced slowly around the hospital room.
"This is an opportunity! A chance for Yang Na and me to get rich overnight! I might even reach the pinnacle of my life!" Excitement surged in him as this certainty took root.
"No way I'm telling Doctor Li. I don't want to end up in a lab getting sliced to bits, and besides, this isn't his business." Li Huowang muttered to himself.
"But I can't jump to conclusions yet. I have to get to the bottom of this and really figure out what's going on." He made the silent decision in his heart.
Just as he was thinking this, the surroundings began to twist and shift—the neat hospital room began to recede.
Li Huowang had long since gotten used to things like this. First, he quickly stuffed his worksheets and books into his satchel and tossed it to the far corner, to keep himself from shredding them when the hallucination hit.
Next, he pressed the red button beside the bed. A few seconds later, the last thing he saw was several nurses walking in and strapping him to the bed with restraints.
When he opened his eyes again, the cold, shabby cave environment had returned, and the physically deformed "junior brothers and sisters" nearby were staring at him with curiosity.
Sitting up from the cold stone surface, Li Huowang once again surveyed the vividly real surroundings with his special perspective.
This might be a hallucination, but to him right now it looked like a treasure vault, piled high with riches.
Maybe he wasn't sick at all, but had awakened an extremely rare Special Ability. It's just that those quacks couldn't detect it.
"Maybe I'm not sick at all. Yeah, that's right, I'm fine."
Over the years, he'd had more than enough of the "mental patient" label—everybody looked at him with weird eyes.
It was as if, the very instant he became ill, he stopped being human and turned into something alien.
Just imagining a future where he could shed that label made Li Huowang tremble with excitement.
In high spirits, he reached out to pat the big bald head of someone crowding close, spinning it playfully. "Haha—this is actually pretty fun."
"What are you all hanging around here for? Get to work! If you lot don't get Master's Medicinal Guide ready, you'll ruin his ascension plans and he'll have your skins flayed off while he's at it!" An obnoxiously unpleasant voice rang out from the cave entrance.
Li Huowang turned his head and saw the speaker—it was that aloof Daoist from before, still wearing his arrogant face as if just speaking to these Medicinal Guides would dirty his eyes.
Li Huowang remembered this guy's name—the hallucination's Daoist title was apparently Xuan Yang.
Faced with Li Huowang's open, defiant gaze, Xuan Yang clearly sensed the provocation. He shook his horsetail whisk and strode up to Li Huowang. "Junior Brother Li, didn't make Master's Medicinal Guide this time, that's really a pity."
Li Huowang couldn't be bothered to pay attention to his snide comments—his focus was entirely on the round Jade Pendant hanging at the guy's waist.
"That thing must be an antique, right? If I bring it back to the real world and sell it, it'll be worth a fortune."
"But how do I do it? Just snatch it up like I did with the candy, and stick it on my chest?"
After speaking a few words and seeing Li Huowang unresponsive, Xuan Yang figured he'd scared him, gave a contemptuous tilt of his chin, and stalked away from the Medicinal Guides' corner.
Watching his retreating back, Li Huowang made up his mind. That Jade Pendant would be his next candidate for a teleportation experiment.
As for how to get it, that would be easy: just steal it at night. "That Jade Pendant's nice, but it'll be mine pretty soon."
A small, almost reflective white hand reached out from beside him, gently tugging Li Huowang's coarse sleeve. Soft, sticky words sounded at his ear.
"Senior Brother Li, hurry up and get to work. If you don't finish, you won't get to eat."
Li Huowang turned his head—it was the albino girl he'd helped out before.
Thinking it over, he dug out the half-melted molasses from his chest and handed it to her, then walked over to his spot and picked up the medicine pestle to get to work.
For now, whether here in the cave or back in the hospital, he decided not to push things too far.
This shocking situation was something he couldn't tell anyone—he'd have to figure out the whole pattern before making any further moves.
That day's work ended under the dull sound of grinding medicine. Late at night, as he listened to the snores and teeth-grinding around him, Li Huowang opened his eyes while lying on the shared sleeping platform.
In the windowless cave, he couldn't see his hand in front of his face, so Li Huowang groped his way toward the entrance.
He headed first to his work station and picked up a piece of ground Green Stone. Its slight glow kept him from stumbling around blindly in the pitch-dark cave.
Sure, walking around with such a glowing rock in the dark was a little conspicuous, but Li Huowang couldn't care less.
"If anyone catches me, worst case, I snap back to the hospital. I've got an out—so who cares?" As he wandered the cave alone, he boasted to himself.
This whole hallucination existed because of him—why would he be afraid of his own creation? Even if he couldn't control it for now.
The cave system had been expanded hugely—Li Huowang had spent some time here, and he knew his way around.
Soon, he slipped into Xuan Yang's chamber. Although it was still simple, the big bed for a single occupant showed the fundamental difference between him and the Medicinal Guides like Li Huowang.
But to Li Huowang's surprise, Xuan Yang wasn't inside. The man was gone, his clothes were there, and Li Huowang didn't bother with details; he just reached into the Daoist Robe and yanked the Jade Pendant free.
After sneaking out of the cave, using the glow of the Luminous Stone, Li Huowang inspected the round Jade Pendant in his hand.
The Jade Pendant was perfectly clear and smooth, intricately carved with a cloud motif; even someone clueless about jade could see it was top-quality.
The more Li Huowang looked at it, the happier he became. If he could really bring this thing into the real world, its value could easily cover all four years of college tuition for him and Yang Na.
"Hehehe—Yang Na, oh Yang Na, get ready to be a little rich lady." Li Huowang finished speaking, tucked the Jade Pendant back into the cave, and headed back.
Everything was going smoothly, but some things can't stay smooth forever. Just as he reached the entrance, rounding a stone step, he ran smack into a bunch of people.
It was a group of teens about Li Huowang's age—their fearful faces flickered in the light of their fireboxes, by turns bright and shadowed.
Both sides were startled, frozen for a long moment without a word.
Finally, Li Huowang spoke up, pointing at the group with his Luminous Stone, singling out Xuan Yang in his coarse clothes: "Senior Brother Xuan Yang, that outfit—did you get exiled to the pantry?"
It wasn't just Xuan Yang—there were several Daoist Boys responsible for other tasks; one of those who fanned the Alchemy Furnace was here too.
No matter what they'd done before, now they all wore the same coarse shirts and pants. Nothing else on them.
This time, Xuan Yang didn't have the arrogant, smug look from daytime. His expression flickered, and then he walked up to Li Huowang, lowering his voice.
"Come! Come with us! We're escaping this hellhole! The gatekeeper's brother has already been bribed."
"Escape? Oh! So you all are—"
The word 'escape' hadn't even left Li Huowang's lips before Xuan Yang clamped his hand tightly over his mouth.