Chapter 83: Strayed One
Going mad is considered a relatively better outcome for a Strayed One? Is that going to be my future ending as well?
Li Huowang had always thought that others calling him a Strayed One was because he had some rare gift, something akin to the unique talents he had read about in cultivation novels. However, the Abbess was telling him it wasn’t anything good. The name ‘Strayed One’ itself seemed to carry other problems.
Li Huowang took a moment to calm himself, then took a deep breath and said, “Abbess Jingxin, I have previously eaten Black Taisui to cure my hysteria, and it was rather effective. Have you used it for your son before?”
Li Huowang was hoping to hear that she hadn’t used it before, but was immediately disappointed.
“Yes, of course. But Black Taisui cannot be eaten just willy-nilly. Something like that can be eaten quite easily, but it is very difficult to get it out of your body. It will stay in the stomach for a long time, sucking your blood and consuming your flesh. It’s manageable if consumed in small amounts. However, if too much is eaten, it will occupy your entire stomach and burrow out from within your body,” Abbess Jingxin graphically described the situation, almost as though she had witnessed it firsthand.
Hearing this, Li Huowang touched his stomach, his expression growing even more ugly. There was a mass of tentacle-covered Black Taisui currently nested within his stomach. At the same time, he reaffirmed his understanding of Dan Yangzi—he was always up to no good. Even the medicine given by him was full of such serious side-effects.
But these small matters had to be set aside for now; he had more pressing matters to ask about.
“Abbess Jingxin, could you tell me exactly what being a Strayed One entails? And why is it that the Strayed Ones end up descending into madness?” asked Li Huowang.
Li Huowang’s anxiety drove him into asking this question. He really needed an answer to this, since it concerned his future life and death.
Abbess Jingxin had been scarfing down her food when she heard his voice, and then looked up toward Li Huowang with her hollow eyes.
“What is a Strayed One? You are a Strayed One and you are asking me? Can’t you tell what is different about you compared to others? Then let me ask you, where are you from?” asked Abbess Jingxin.
Li Huowang almost blurted out an answer, but stopped himself warily. The matter of him transmigrating here from the modern era was an extremely confidential affair. He could not just tell about it to this strange old nun without any preparation, especially when he considered that he had just met her. Who knew what thoughts this fat old nun would have after learning this secret.
Yang Na, my mother, the hospital, my school.Are all these non-existent? Is it possible that that world never even existed? Does a modern world even exist?
In that instant, Li Huowang felt that everything around him was unreal and illusory.
What is real? What is fake?!
Did I not transmigrate here? Was I originally someone from here, and there never was any modern world in the first place? Everything I believed to be true was just something made up by my imagination? No, this is not right. There must be some mistake somewhere!
Li Huowang gradually began to lose control of his emotions. His breathing quickened, and his expression grew more and more menacing.
At this moment, his sense of self was crumbling, and he needed to find an outlet for the massive amount of stress built up within himself.
Suddenly, his gaze hardened, and he glared fiercely at Abbess Jingxin.
However, before he could even say anything, the plump woman pointed her greasy finger at him and mimicked his voice, "No! You're trying to deceive me~! You have sinister motives toward me!! Everything you're saying is fake! You want to harm me, don't you?! It's not going to be that easy!!"
After speaking these words, she looked at Li Huowang, who was frozen in place. A gentle smile was once again plastered on her plump and swollen face. "Hehe, you were just about to say these things to me, right? In fact, my own son said the same things to me before. Ah, thinking back, it feels like it was just yesterday. I really do miss those times."
Chacha and Char's Thoughts
Yeah it's pretty fucked up not knowing which side is real and which is not, but hey that makes the novel entertaining