The Unruly Immortals

Feeling the force of the satchel hitting his face and hearing the pain in Yang Na's cries, Li Huowang also felt as if he was suffering with her.

The equally pained Huowang reached out with both arms and tightly embraced the young girl before him.

"Nana! Don't be like this, I'm begging you!"

Feeling the long-missed embrace, an agitated Yang Na gradually calmed down, resting her head on Li Huowang's shoulder as she silently wept.

At this moment, they seemed to return to the school rooftop of years past, where they had similarly clung foolishly to each other until daybreak.

As time passed by, second by second, Yang Na clung to Li Huowang, wishing for this moment to last a little longer.

However, she soon felt a pair of hands on her waist, slowly applying pressure, trying to push her away.

Yang Na wrapped her arms tightly around Li Huowang, trying not to let go.

But her strength was clearly no match for Li Huowang's, and she was eventually pushed away.

Looking at the young girl's reddened eyes, Li Huowang opened his mouth and then stopped, his expression showing difficulty.

After a long hesitation, he finally spoke calmly, "Nana, promise me, okay? If one day I'm no longer here, you have to keep living well."

"No way!" Yang Na answered resolutely.

"I don't want you to decide my choices, my thoughts are my own! What I choose has nothing to do with you!"

"If you never wake up, I'll just keep waiting!"

Having said that, Yang Na picked up her backpack, turned around, and stormed out.

Just as she reached the doorway, her slender body stopped again.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Yang Na turned back around, walked over to the bedside, and took out a small bag of chocolates from her satchel, extending it with a cold face to Li Huowang.

Looking at the small bag of exquisite chocolates, Li Huowang asked Yang Na, "What's the date today? Why are you giving me chocolates?"

Yang Na, with tears still on her eyelashes, clearly did not want to pay attention to Li Huowang and forcefully tore open the chocolate wrapper.

After pulling out a piece of liquor-filled chocolate, she pinched Li Huowang's cheeks in an unladylike manner and shoved it into his mouth.

Feeling the sweetness in his mouth, Li Huowang laughed, "Nana, what are you doing?"

He didn't want to try to persuade her anymore; since it was all a hallucination, there was no point in persuading anyway.

After all, since he had come here, whatever happened on the other side was beyond his choice.

With Li Huowang's laugh, the previously tense atmosphere in the hospital room eased a lot.

"What are you laughing at? Don't laugh!" Yang Na picked up her satchel and hung it on Li Huowang's shoulder.

"Ouch! Be gentle, it hurts!" Li Huowang gasped and covered his shoulder with his hand.

"Tch, you're afraid of a little pain after a hit, but when you were shot in the face, you didn't feel pain then? Look at what your face has become now."

Yang Na took out a small mirror used for putting on contact lenses from her satchel and disdainfully held it up in front of Li Huowang.

This was the first time Li had seen his face on this side.

In the hallucination, he was still that green youth, but the vibrant face was now torn in half by a scar.

The fierce scar ran from the upper left to the lower right, spanning the entirety of Li Huowang's face, utterly transforming his entire countenance.

Li Huowang touched the scar with his hand, feeling its uniquely coarse texture.

He knew where this scar had come from. It was the mark left by a sniper bullet that day in the kindergarten.

"Heh, this hallucination is quite logical," Li Huowang thought to himself.

The small mirror was taken back, and Yang Na's delicately furrowed brows examined the Li Huowang before her.

"What are you thinking about? Do you think I despise you for being disfigured? I don't even despise a lunatic, so you think I would care about that?"

Li Huowang smiled and shook his head, reaching out to grab the chocolate bag from the white sheets and stuffing one into his mouth.

Immediately after, he took out another one and offered it to Yang Na, "Have one too. I remember you used to love snacks."

Yang Na shook her head, "You eat. I can buy anything I want outside whenever I feel like it. It's not so easy for you to get this in here."

Li Huowang nodded, pulled out a liqueur chocolate, popped it in his mouth, and gently bit down, instantly enveloping his tongue with its sweet embrace.

"Indeed, I haven't tasted this flavor in a long time, a very long time..." Longing shone in Li Huowang's eyes.

He could never go back, only able to alleviate his homesickness through these false illusions.

Hearing this, Yang Na's face showed a tinge of sympathy as she held his hand, "If you want to eat, I'll buy it for you every day. I'm in university now, and my dad gives me quite a hefty allowance, all of two thousand five! Plus, I work part-time during holidays."

"Whatever type of chocolate you want, I can buy for you. It's just that I don't know if you will still be coherent when I bring chocolates next time..."

Yang Na's words caused the previously brightening atmosphere to swiftly cool.

After a few seconds of thought, Li Huowang swallowed the chocolate in his mouth, looked at the young girl deciding to say something, but unexpectedly began to cough.

"Ouch, eat slower. I told you back in elementary school, don't talk while eating, see? Have you choked? I'll go to the water room and pour you some water."

As she spoke, Yang Na took the teacup from the table and walked toward the outside.

"Cough! Cough!!" Li Huowang coughed violently, feeling a searing pain blazing from his stomach to his throat.

"Something's wrong, something's definitely gone wrong in reality!"

Thinking this, Li Huowang suddenly looked up, his eyes coldly fixed on Yang Na's departing figure.

"Who the hell are you? What have you fed me!!"

"Ah!" A piercing pain exploded in Li Huowang's stomach in an instant, feeling as if a frisky hedgehog was bouncing around his belly, rampaging everywhere.

Amidst the excruciating pain, everything around began to destabilize—the warm sunlight, the bright hospital room—everything began to fade.

When Li Huowang realized he had once again returned to the inside of that cave, he found everything in front of him covered in blood, the blood he had vomited out.

His face flushed red, veins bulging, he clutched his neck with both hands, kneeling and curling up on the ground.

"Vomit~~!" A large amount of matter was vomited out once again.

Mixed with a bit of black blood were tiny fragments of flesh, small broken black tendrils, and some rusted nails.