Chapter 112: Five Blossoms in Bloom

[Restored to optimal condition, health permanently increased by 30%.]

Before he could marvel at the miraculous effect of that drink, a large hand suddenly covered Luo Hanya’s head. “Kid, are you feeling better now?”

Luo Hanya looked up and saw O’Sheldon’s face twisted into a lecherous grin, sending an inexplicable chill down his spine.

“Alright, then you can go.” O’Sheldon licked his lips and rubbed his hands together, clearly eager for the next move.

“Go? Where exactly?” A grim premonition solidified in Luo Hanya’s mind. Before him, he felt like a defenseless lamb, just waiting to be devoured by this ravenous wolf.

“Of course…” O’Sheldon grabbed Luo Hanya roughly and hurled him toward the distant sea. Just before being flung away, he saluted mockingly, “You’re off to the sea!”

With a splash, Luo Hanya plunged into the ocean like a cannonball. He struggled fiercely underwater, kicking with all his might until he finally broke the surface.

“Hey! You bastard, what the hell are you doing?” Luo Hanya gasped for air, flailing his right arm in protest, conveying his anger and frustration.

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you. Anyway, this sea will take you back to the Misty Inn. Haha, kid, enjoy the ride.” O’Sheldon chuckled as he watched Luo Hanya bobbing in the water, happily drinking on the shore, leaving him alone and angry amid the waves.

It seemed even the heavens were against Luo Hanya now. The pale sun ascended calmly, but the rain persisted like yesterday, and the damp, chilly sea breeze crept in at just the right moment. In no time, a fierce storm raged over the ocean’s surface. Suddenly, a towering wave crashed down, swallowing Luo Hanya whole. He thrashed desperately, finally breaking through the water’s surface.

“You bastard! You didn’t even tell me which way to swim. Do you want me to drift forever at sea?”

“Oh? Good point. Heh, swim down to the seabed!”

“You’re insane! How am I supposed to breathe down there?”

“Swim, just swim! Quit wasting time!”

…

Driven by some strange force he couldn’t explain, Luo Hanya braved the roaring winds and towering waves, swimming deeper into the ocean.

The depths were not entirely shrouded in darkness; instead, a faint, mysterious glow shimmered ahead. Strangely, even after several minutes without breathing air, Luo Hanya’s lungs remained filled with oxygen. The pressure underwater didn’t increase, but the temperature plunged steadily.

Unlike the turbulent waves above, beneath the surface lay a different world—eerily calm, almost unnaturally so. The chill in the water was so intense it seemed to crystallize, like an icy hell. Ignoring the eerie surroundings, Luo Hanya pressed onward, guided by the faint, dreamlike glow that seemed to beckon him toward the ocean’s secret heart.

Suddenly, a cold sensation touched his skin—he had reached the seabed. As he arrived, the glow expanded, illuminating a strange rock formation: a stone carving.

The sculpture was ancient and enigmatic, resembling a peculiar plant with five branches and five blossoms, each radiating a unique light.

“How could such a thing exist here?” Luo Hanya wondered, approaching cautiously. When he touched the carving, a bone-chilling cold radiated from it.

Looking farther down, he discovered beneath the stone plant a heart—not a stone carving, but a living, beating heart.

A shiver ran down Luo Hanya’s spine. Anyone encountering such a bizarre sight—a living heart entwined with a stone sculpture in the pitch-black depths—would find it terrifying.

The heart pulsed rhythmically, seemingly nourishing the plant above.

“What… what kind of nightmare is this?” Luo Hanya frowned, hesitating whether to touch the sculpture.

But there was no other way to break the deadlock; the sculpture was like Pandora’s box, irresistibly drawing him in.

“Enough dithering—here goes!” Without further thought, Luo Hanya pressed his hand onto the heart.

“Thump, thump, thump…” Whether real or illusion, the heart began to beat violently after his touch, astonishingly in sync with Luo Hanya’s own heartbeat.

“No! That’s not right!” Luo Hanya froze, horrified to realize it wasn’t the heart matching his rhythm—it was his own heartbeat growing erratic, chasing the heart’s tempo.

“Thump!”

“Thump… thump!”

The heartbeat grew louder, pounding like a war drum, a suffocating nausea suddenly overtaking him.

“Ah!” Blood slowly trickled from Luo Hanya’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth; his face turned deathly pale.

“Damn it! What’s happening? Why does my heart ache so much?” He felt as though something pierced through his chest, unbearable pain wracking his body. He could barely stand, collapsing to his knees on the frigid seabed, pounding the ground furiously in a desperate attempt to distract himself.

But the agony only intensified until everything around him blurred and faded into oblivion.

“Help!”

Strangely, just before his consciousness slipped away, Luo Hanya heard a piercing scream—agonizingly familiar, the voice that accompanied him every day.

“No! Don’t!” He instinctively wanted to save that voice, but his awareness could no longer hold on; all chances were gone.

The stone sculpture vanished. The icy water disappeared. Instead, he found himself back in the decaying room of the Misty Inn, with broken windows and a crumbling ceiling.

Luo Hanya struggled to sit up, rubbing his eyes hard, unable to believe what he saw. Everything felt strange—cold, unfamiliar, yet tinged with a sense of familiarity. The room remained dim, and he was still bare-chested.

“What… what does this mean? Have I never really left? Was it all just an illusion?” Luo Hanya’s head throbbed as he held his forehead, the memories of his ordeal vivid in his mind, especially that eerie stone sculpture with five blooming flowers—so unnervingly strange.

Morning light filtered through the window cracks, casting flickering patterns across the shadowed room, like the restless turmoil in Luo Hanya’s heart—unsettled and elusive.