Beep
Beep
Beep
Lu Chen opened his eyes to a steady, electronic beeping that was definitely not coming from his phone's alarm. The sound came from a monitor that beeped beside him, on its screen was a green line jumping against the dark.
The smell hit next. That sharp, and sterile hospital smell. He had always hated that smell since when he was a kid.
As he lay still with wires tugging at his chest. He felt a throbbing dull headache. It was a a COD player that had decided to camp.
He tried to push himself up, but that movement immediately sent out a fresh wave of pain stinging all over his body, forcing him back down on the bed with a groan.
The nurse who was at the doorway gasped and immediately scurried out, her shoes squeaking on the floor. Moments later, a doctor in a white coat entered with a clipboard, and a practiced, calm smile.
"Easy there, take it slow. A hero needs his rest, you know," the doctor said, checking the vitals on the monitor.
"Hero?" Lu Chen croaked, his throat dry.
"The little boy, the truck," the doctor said. "You pushed him out of the way and took the hit yourself. You've been in a coma for several weeks, and to be honest, we had predicted years or even a persistent vegetative state. This is a wonderful surprise." The doctor wrote something down on his chart. "We'll still need to run some tests, of course. So you don't feeling like you're going crazy, it's actually quite common to feel disconnected or to have some scrambled memories in your head after coming out of a coma. Things might feel little off or not line up correctly. Are you experiencing any illusions or false memories you'd like to report?"
Lu Chen felt a heavy, absurd weight in his chest. The question spilled out, clumsy and raw. "So… my transmigration to a cultivation world… that was all just a dream?"
The doctor let out a warm, booming laugh. "Transmigration! Now that's a vivid imagination. That's the head injury talking, and nothing more. Don't worry you'll be back to normal soon enough." He gestured around the room at the crowded windowsill. "Look at all this support! Your colleagues have been sending their best."
Lu Chen looked around and then saw a small mountain of get-well wishes cards on the table, next to it was a huge basket of different fruits, a vase of sunflowers, it unknown if it was fake or fresh, and even a plush bear wearing a tiny doctor's coat. It all felt meticulously arranged, but a faint sense of wrongness still nagged the back of his mind.
Strange, he thought, A little alarm bell started trying to ring in the back of his skull, but his headache just reached over and bitch-slapped the 'snooze' button on it.
A few days later, he was discharged and he returned to his apartment, and then, on Monday, he was off to work. Now standing right before the familiar glass doors of the building a strange wave of inexplicable annoyance hit him, the kind of irritation that felt entirely very unwelcomed. This was his life, his safe and normal life, so why did he feel so grudging about stepping back right into it?
He pushed the door open and he was immediately assaulted by noises.
"SURPRISE!"
A party popper or rather gun banged, ejecting a scattered cloud of glitter, and his ears rang with the cheers of what looked like the entire department. A massive sheet was on the central desk, its red icing had the words "WELCOME BACK, HERO!". It was so red that any one diagnosed with paranoia would instantly feel that it's a big red danger sign from the heavens, well luckily no one had that or noticed. The baker is safe. Then Manager Zhao whose face which was already flushed with excitement, clapped him on the back so hard that he stumbled.
"Lu Chen! Our office hero! Welcome back! We're taking the afternoon off to celebrate orders from the higher ups!"
There was laughter and more applause, and people swarmed around him with their phones shoved in his face taking selfies pictures and making videos.
"Look surprised,Lu Chen!"
"Okay,now look touched and grateful!"
"Hold the cake knife higher!Look determined! This is for the internal newsletter!"
He smiled, he posed, he held the knife. This was the picture of a perfect moment. This was what winning looked like.
And everything was supposed to feel perfectly, and overwhelmingly fine
But instead it made the deep, nagging feeling that something was profoundly wrong even more and more unsettling. And this wasn't just his social battery draining. This was a gut level feeling you would get when you think you forgot to put off the stove, but the house is already miles behind you.
The so-called celebration went on into the evening with a mandatory, full-team yànjiǔ, a boisterous dinner Manager Zhao insisted firmly was non-negotiable. The private restaurant room was very loud and fully packed, its round tables was already groaning under the weight of food and drinks pilled on it. Peking duck, steaming dumplings, and a whole fish staring at the ceiling as though it was staring and cursing the heavens for it's sad fate. Bottles of beer and báijiǔ circulated with a relentless, and aggressive cheer, each new toast feeling less and less like a celebration and more like a siege.
"A TOAST!" Zhao boomed, shooting to his feet and sloshing his drink. "To Lu Chen! His sacrifice is the grease in the great engine of our corporate family! Anyone that refuse to drink now is aims to throw a wrench into the gears of our progress!"
"Ganbei!" Glasses clinked all around, and Lu Chen drank the báijiǔ, feeling its fire a familiar and pleasant burn down his throat.
The drinking games started then, with finger-guessing and shouted numbers and even laughter that grew louder and sloppier. Lu Chen played along, smiling when he should and drinking when he was told, but his mind was stuck on a loop. I forgot something important. What is it? Why can't I remember?
He leaned toward Xiao Wang from IT, who was now three beers deep. "Do you ever feel like you've forgotten something huge? Like something… life-changing?"
Xiao Wang just belched and waved a dismissive hand. "Brother, if you can't remember it, then it definitely can't be important! Come on drink!"
He even tried asking Li Jia from Marketing, but she just giggled and pushed a plate of braised chicken feet towards him. "Just relax and enjoy the moment, Lu Chen! Have some more food!"
This moment. This was it, the clinking glasses, the sticky table, the noise, camaraderie. This was the life he was supposed to want, and he should feel a happy, but the entire scene felt surreal like this isn't his life and everything is all in his head, and that nagging feeling of having forgotten something important.
Much later, the world had softened already into a blurry, drunken haze. Lu Chen, who was now clinging to his last thread of lucidity, tried to usher his wobbling colleagues into taxis outside.
"I'll get you a car, Manager Zhao."
"Nonsense! I can fly!" Zhao slurred, attempting to embrace a streetlamp.
After considerable effort, most of the group was dispatched. Two colleagues from the design team, Mei and Lin, lingered. They lived in his apartment complex, they reminded him with bright smiles.
"Come on, Lu Chen," Mei said, linking her arm with his. "One more drink at our place? A proper, quiet celebration."
"We have good wine,"Lin added, taking his other arm. "And better music."
The walk was short, and their apartment was modern and clean. The wine was indeed produced, and the music was low and suggestive. The professional cheer of the dinner melted away, It was like someone had flipped a switch from 'Colleague' to 'Seductress.'
Lu Chen's brain felt like it was wrapped in five thick layers of fuzzy wool. Mei and Lin seemed very determined to smother it with a sixth. Lu Chen also felt a familiar warmth in the center of his chest, like a small, warm stone holding a thin line he couldn't cross. It was a faint resistance, but it was there.
Mei sat close, and Lin closer. A hand rested on his knee, and a laugh sounded a little too perfect. The air smelled like perfume and sweet wine.
"We've always thought you were remarkable, you know," Lin murmured, her breath tickling his ear.
"So strong and quiet,"Mei agreed, her fingers tracing the rim of her glass. "A real hero."
This was the fantasy, the perfect reward. The admiration, the connection, the beautiful, normal end to his heroic return. The warmth in his chest gave a weak, final pulse, a last warning he couldn't interpret.
But the tide of alcohol, exhaustion, and the overwhelming weight of this perfect normalcy was stronger. His resistance was crumbling, and the script was clear. He was just about to follow it.
Mei leaned in, her lips parting. Lin's fingers brushed his jawline.
Just as the last of his control was about to vanish, something small, hard, and smooth tinked off the crown of his head and bounced onto the glass coffee table with a sharp clink.
Everyone froze.
Lu Chen looked down. A pebble. Ordinary, grey, and utterly out of place, that's what you would think but it was shiny and tad bit familiar. He picked it up, and it was cool against his skin.
"What the…?" He looked at the pristine white ceiling, then back at the stone. "Where did this come from?"
"Lu Chen?" Mei's voice was a purr edged with impatience. "We're waiting."
He didn't answer. He stared at the pebble, and a memory, sharp and violent, tried to pierce the fog. A shiny rock, raining night, blinding headlights, and the blare of a horn.
Then came a sound, it was not in the room but in his chest.
CRACK.
And it was followed by a sharp, psychic SHRIEK that tore through his mind from the inside out, a sound of reality ripping apart at the seams.
The fog in his mind shattered into pieces.
.
THE SYSTEM.
He had forgotten the System.
He screamed it internally SYSTEM! STATUS! REPORT!
Then world exploded into fragments.
The apartment, the women, the pebble, everything fractured like a shattered mirror and then dissolved into a swirling mist.
The feeling of the plush carpet vanished, and he was plunged into a sudden, immersion.
He forced his real eyes open in the greenish darkness
He was submerged in a thick, viscous, and unnaturally warm liquid. But it wasn't water it was a gel-like, sticky substance that clung to him and immediately began to burn his skin
Panic, pure and electric, jolted through his nerves, and he tried to thrash against the corrosive goo.
He was trapped at the bottom of a pit, in absolute darkness, and he realized to his horror that he was being slowly digested alive.
[TO BE CONTINUED…]