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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Value
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Chapter 6: Value
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Yang Na took half a step back in panic at Li Huowang's action. "What are you doing? The nurses at the station can hear us talking here."
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No sooner had she spoken than laughter from the nurses came through the speaker by the bed. "Heh heh heh, no worries, we can't hear a thing. Go for it, little brother Li~"
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"Sisters, can you stop being such gossips? Focus your extra attention on the ICU instead."
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After shouting at the speaker by the bed, Li Huowang took Yang Na's hand and led her to the other corner of the room.
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He pulled the jade pendant from his pocket and pressed it into her palm, then leaned in close to her ear and whispered his instructions. Yang Na's eyes grew wider and wider as she listened.
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"How is that possible? This——" Before she could finish, Li Huowang clapped a hand over her mouth.
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Their eyes met. Li Huowang gazed at Yang Na with intense longing.
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"Help me out. Everything I said is true. No one outside believes me, not even my parents. They all think I'm crazy. You're the only one I can turn to. You're the only one in the whole world I trust. I'm really not crazy!"
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Yang Na looked at Li Huowang for a few seconds before finally biting her lip and nodding. Her eyes were red when she left, glancing back at him every few steps, clearly very worried about his mental state.
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Li Huowang watched her retreating figure with mixed emotions. He didn't care what anyone else thought anymore, but Yang Na was different.
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"Nana, trust me just this once! Just once!"
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The waiting was always interminable. Li Huowang paced anxiously back and forth in the room.
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During that time, hallucinations appeared before his eyes again, but Li Huowang snapped back as quickly as he could. The doctors would say that wasn't good, but he was afraid of missing Yang Na.
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One day, two days, three days—time dragged on, and Li Huowang's anxiety grew more intense by the day.
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"Little Li, your little girlfriend's here to see you~" At the nurse's announcement, Li Huowang leaped off the bed in a flash and bolted toward the hospital entrance.
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In the garden inside the courtyard, Li Huowang met up with Yang Na again. They embraced excitedly.
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Yang Na whispered urgently in his ear, her voice muffled. "Huowang, it's real! That jade pendant is the real deal!"
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"I'm not sick!! Hahaha!! I'm not sick!!" Li Huowang hugged the girl's slender waist tightly and spun her around in the air over and over.
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After a long time reveling in excitement, they finally calmed down.
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"Did helping me out mess up your life or your studies?" Li Huowang asked Yang Na, who was sitting on the edge of a flower bed.
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Yang Na didn't answer directly and changed the subject instead. She held up four slender white fingers in front of Li Huowang. "Do you know how much that jade pendant is worth? This much!"
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"Forty thousand?"
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"Four hundred thousand! And I think he lowballed it. If we check a few more places, it'll probably be even higher."
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"Four hundred thousand... four hundred thousand..." Li Huowang grinned foolishly. Not only would this cover all his treatment costs over the years, it would leave plenty extra—and this was just the beginning.
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"Yang Na, ready to be a little rich lady?"
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Li Huowang's teasing made Yang Na's cheeks flush slightly. "Quit joking around. This whole thing is too weird. It really won't hurt your body?"
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"No problem. What could happen to me? I'm doing great. If that's the case, I might have to delay my treatment a bit. This is treasure—I can't let them cure me so fast."
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At those words, Yang Na's expression grew tense. She looked at Li Huowang with concern. "Huowang, these are two different things. I don't want the money. Your treatment absolutely can't stop, and neither can your meds. Promise me, or I won't help you with anything ever again."
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A thousand arguments flashed through Li Huowang's mind, but looking into her caring, worried eyes filled him with warmth. "Alright, I promise."
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Yang Na smiled and reached out to pat his head gently. "That's my good little brother."
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As the two were discussing how to cash in the jade pendant, several burly middle-aged men hurried past with riot forks in hand.
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"What happened to Master Zhao? Something go wrong?" Li Huowang asked one familiar face.
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"Don't ask so many questions, Little Li. Get back to your room quick. And if you spot Old Liu Head, report it right away. That guy's definitely spit out his meds again." The man finished hastily and rushed toward the stairs.
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"Isn't the ICU surrounded by two layers of iron bars? How's Old Liu Head's scrawny build getting out?" Li Huowang wondered, glancing that way.
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He'd stayed there for a while back when he couldn't tell hallucination from reality. Not great memories.
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Seeing the other patients being ushered back to their rooms by the nurses, Li Huowang turned to Yang Na. "It's getting chaotic here. You should head back first. Call the hospital tonight, and we'll talk on the phone."
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"Mm. You take care here. And remember what you just promised me." With that, Yang Na turned and walked toward the distant hospital gates.
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"Four hundred thousand..." Li Huowang murmured as he headed back to his room. Now that he knew the jade pendant was really worth that much, new ideas began bubbling up in his mind.
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Hallucinations or reality, what did it matter? Things from over there could fetch this kind of price—hallucination or not.
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He hadn't gone far when a familiar scream rang out behind him. Li Huowang whipped around to see a bald, gaunt old man tackling Yang Na to the ground.
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Rage surged through Li Huowang at the sight. Gritting his teeth in a savage grimace, he charged over. "Old Liu Head! That's my girlfriend! Let her go!!"
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"Whoosh!" A howling sound cut the air as a loosened hexagonal floor tile came flipping through, smashing straight into Li Huowang's head.
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The world spun. Li Huowang crashed heavily to the ground. His vision filled with red—his head was split open.
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Through the crimson haze, Li Huowang saw a pair of swollen feet in hospital slippers shuffle past him toward the struggling, screaming Yang Na.
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Hearing those heavy footsteps closing in on Yang Na, Li Huowang's mind went blank with a single thought: He couldn't let them hurt Yang Na!!
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Trembling, he fumbled a pill from his pocket—the one Master had given him—and shoved it into his mouth, mixing it with his flowing blood.
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In an instant, a scorching heat bloomed in his stomach and surged into his limbs. Strength flooded him. His foggy head cleared sharply.
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"Thud!!" His fist swung out, smashing into the fat man's flabby double chin. Yellow teeth flew loose in a spray; moments later, hardly any remained.
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Blood-soaked Li Huowang ignored the fallen fat man and strode to Old Liu Head, stomping down hard on his scrawny chest.
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"Crack, crack." Bones snapped repeatedly. Old Liu Head, spewing blood, flew back like a limp noodle.
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Looking at Yang Na on the ground, clutching her torn sweater with tear-filled eyes, Li Huowang clenched his teeth so hard his gums bled.
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His bloodshot eyes glared at the two men on the ground. He stomped the concrete hard and pounced like a leopard.
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"Huowang!! Stop!! What are you doing?!"
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(End of chapter)