Value

Yang Na watched Li Huowang's move and took a half-step back in panic. "What are you doing? If we talk here, the nurse station can hear us."

The moment she finished speaking, suppressed laughter came through the speaker by the bed. "Hehehe, it's fine, we can't hear a thing. Little Li, you've got this~"

"Sisters, can you not be so nosy? Focus your attention on the ICU."

After shouting at the speaker, Li Huowang grabbed Yang Na and pulled her to the far corner of the room.

He pulled the jade pendant from his pocket and pressed it into her palm, then leaned in close to whisper in her ear. Yang Na's eyes grew wider and wider as he spoke.

"How is that possible, this—" Before she could finish, Li Huowang reached out and covered her mouth.

Their eyes met. Li Huowang stared at Yang Na with intense longing.

"Help me. Everything I said is true. The people outside, even my parents don't trust me. They all think I'm crazy. You're the only one I can turn to. In this whole world, I only trust you. I'm not crazy!"

Yang Na looked at Li Huowang for a few seconds before finally biting her lip and nodding. When she left, her eyes were red, and she kept looking back every few steps, as if deeply worried about Li Huowang's mental state.

Li Huowang watched her retreating figure with mixed emotions. He didn't care what anyone else thought anymore, but Yang Na was different.

"Na Na, trust me just this once. Just once!"

Waiting was always agonizing. Li Huowang paced anxiously back and forth in the room.

Hallucinations appeared before his eyes again during that time, but Li Huowang snapped back as fast as he could. According to the doctors, that was bad for him, but he was afraid of missing Yang Na.

One day, two days, three days. As time passed, Li Huowang's mood grew more and more unsettled, swinging between hope and fear.

"Little Li, your girlfriend is here to see you~" Hearing the nurse's announcement, Li Huowang sprang up from the bed with a Carp Roll and dashed toward the hospital entrance.

In the garden within the hospital grounds, Li Huowang met Yang Na. They embraced each other excitedly.

Yang Na suppressed her voice and shouted into his ear: "Huowang, it's true! That jade pendant is real!"

"I'm not sick!! Hahaha!! I'm not sick!!" Li Huowang hugged the girl's slender waist and spun her around in the air.

After a long while of excitement, they finally calmed down.

"Did my request affect your life or studies?" Li Huowang asked with concern as Yang Na sat sideways on the edge of the flower bed.

Yang Na didn't answer directly. Instead, she changed the subject and held up four slender, fair fingers. "Do you know how much that jade pendant is worth? This much!"

"Forty thousand?"

"Four hundred thousand! And I think he lowballed it. If we asked around more places, it'd definitely be even higher."

"Four hundred thousand... four hundred thousand..." Li Huowang grinned foolishly. That would not only cover all his treatment costs over the years but leave some extra. More importantly, this was just the beginning.

"Yang Na, ready to be a little rich girl?"

Li Huowang's teasing made Yang Na's cheeks flush slightly. "Less of your smart mouth. This whole thing is too strange. Are you sure it won't hurt your body?"

"It's fine. What could happen to me? I'm great. If this is the case, I might need to slow down my treatment. This is a treasure—I can't get cured too fast."

Hearing this, Yang Na's expression tensed. She looked at Li Huowang with concern and said, "Huowang, those are two different things. I don't want the money. Your treatment absolutely cannot stop, and neither can your meds. Promise me, or I'll never help you again."

Li Huowang thought of many arguments to refute her, but looking into her worried, caring eyes, a warmth surged in his heart. "Alright, I promise."

Yang Na smiled and gently patted his head. "That's a good boy, you brat."

Just as they were discussing how to cash in the jade pendant, several burly middle-aged men carrying Riot Forks hurried past them.

"Master Zhao, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Li Huowang asked one of the familiar faces in confusion.

"Don't ask so many questions. Little Li, get back to your room. And if you run into Old Liu, report it immediately. That bastard must have secretly spat out his meds again." The man spoke hastily, then turned and rushed toward the stairs.

"Isn't the intensive care area surrounded by two layers of iron fencing? Could Old Liu's scrawny frame really escape?" Li Huowang looked in that direction with confusion.

Back when he couldn't tell hallucinations from reality, he'd stayed there for a while. Those weren't good memories.

Seeing other patients being escorted back to their rooms by nurses, Li Huowang turned to Yang Na. "It's a bit chaotic here. You should go back first. Call the hospital tonight, and we'll talk by phone."

"Mm. Take care of yourself here. And remember what you just promised me." With that, Yang Na turned and walked toward the distant hospital gate.

"Four hundred thousand..." Li Huowang muttered as he turned back toward his room. Now that he was sure the jade pendant was really worth that much, new ideas began stirring in his mind.

Hallucination or reality, what did it matter? Things from over there could be worth this much—who cared if it was hallucination or reality?

He hadn't taken more than a few steps when a familiar scream rang out behind him. Li Huowang spun around and saw a bald, scrawny old man tackling Yang Na to the ground.

Seeing this, Li Huowang's blood rushed to his head. Gritting his teeth with a ferocious expression, he charged toward them. "Old Liu! That's my girlfriend! Let her go!!"

A whoosh cut through the air. A lifted Hexagonal Floor Tile tumbled through the air and slammed directly into Li Huowang's head.

The world spun. Li Huowang crashed heavily to the ground. His vision was slowly overtaken by red—his head was split open.

Through the red haze, Li Huowang saw a pair of bloated feet bound by a Patient Uniform walk past him, heading toward the struggling, screaming Yang Na.

Listening to the heavy footsteps moving closer to Yang Na, a roar filled Li Huowang's mind, leaving only one thought: he couldn't let them hurt Yang Na!!

Trembling, he pulled a Pill the master had given him from his pocket, mixed it with the blood flowing from his wound, and shoved it into his mouth.

In an instant, an intensely scorching warmth surged from his stomach into his limbs. He suddenly felt filled with power, and his groggy head became crystal clear.

Bang!! He swung his fist, slamming it hard into a fat jaw. In that instant, a mouthful of yellow teeth loosened and flew out. In no time, barely any were left.

Covered in blood, Li Huowang ignored the fat man collapsed on the ground. He strode over to Old Liu and stomped his foot onto the old man's scrawny chest.

Crack, crack. The sound of breaking bones rang out continuously. Old Liu's body, spitting blood, went limp like noodles and flew backward.

Looking at Yang Na on the ground, clutching her torn sweater with tears in her eyes, Li Huowang clenched his teeth so hard his gums bled.

His bloodshot eyes glared at the two people lying nearby. He stomped heavily on the concrete floor and lunged at them like a cheetah.

"Huowang!! Stop!! What are you doing!"