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.
“Hehe, let me guess, you must think that you’re someone not from here? Someone from a different realm, a world completely different from this one?” asked Abbess Jingxin.
Jingxin’s words shattered Li Huowang’s psychological defense. “You actually know?!”
Unperturbed, Jingxin bent down to eat the sticky, yellow substance in her bowl. “No need to panic. A child really has no composure. Are you questioning how I know about this matter? Didn’t I tell you before? My son is also a Strayed One. He too used to think like that in the beginning.”
This made Li Huowang lean forward subconsciously, his voice trembling as he asked, “Your son is also from the modern world? Did he transmigrate here as well?”
Currently, his heart was beating extremely fast. The discovery that there were others like him in this bizarre world filled him with excitement. No matter who they were, male or female, as long as they came from the same world, he was not alone. He would finally be able to share the burden that was weighing down on him heavily with someone else.
More importantly, he couldn’t recall how he came to this world. Perhaps they would remember, and perhaps he could return to his original world through them!
Abbess Jingxin didn’t answer him immediately, and wiped off the yellow liquid from the corner of her lips. Then, she smiled and “looked” at the youth before her. “No, he didn’t. He came from my tummy. That much is certain. Also, young man, dreams may be reality, and reality may be dreams. Don’t think that things are all definite, including any matters in your own head.”
“What do you mean?” Li Huowang found that he could not understand what she was trying to convey.
“Why are you so certain that you must be from the other world? Why do you not think that you could be someone from this land? Who knows if those fantasy realms are fake, and all imagined by yourself?” asked Abbess Jingxin.
“Impossible! Definitely impossible! I know that some of the situations that happened in Zephyr Temple were hallucinations, but I definitely lived before in the modern world! I transmigrated from there! I am a transmigrator! I’m not some lunatic who concocted an entirely different world in my head!” Li Huowang’s eyes were bloodshot as he retorted loudly. His hands were trembling as he clenched them into fists. It was as though a sensitive nerve had been struck.
Jingxin did not dispute anything, and only slanted her face slightly, as though thinking of something. “Hehe, my son had said these words to me before. Like you, he could remain clear-headed at times. However, at other times, he would be confused and spout nonsense. But as his mother, I’m certain about one thing—ever since he came out of my tummy, he never left my side. He didn’t go to any other world. That was all made up by his imagination.”
Li Huowang became petrified when he heard those words, his breathing becoming erratic. Everything from his past started to rapidly flash through his mind.
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."
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