"Hmm, your recovery these past two months has been excellent," the doctor concluded optimistically after examining Gu Ya's physical condition.
Gu Ya nodded calmly, turning his head to the window and murmuring, "Is this really a hallucination?"
The world felt so real, leaving Gu Ya confused.
A middle-aged woman, carrying a silver lunch pail, walked in briskly. Seeing Gu Ya in good condition, a relieved smile spread across her thin, sallow face.
This was Gu Ya's birth mother, Yang Xiaoqin, from before his transmigration.
Yang Xiaoqin said with delight, "Lunch I just bought. Try eating with chopsticks yourself."
"Thanks, Mom." Gu Ya forced himself to sit up, shakily picking up the disposable chopsticks and starting to eat.
Two months ago, Gu Ya had woken up from a vegetative state.
He had been stabbed several times by assailants when he went to rescue a little girl abducted by human traffickers. He didn't die, but remained in a coma for a full year.
During that year, his parents cared for him tirelessly, turning him over every two hours and providing four hours of assisted muscle activity daily, preventing muscle atrophy.
After two months of rehabilitation, he was now capable of simple movements.
Looking at the silver strands in Yang Xiaoqin's temples, Gu Ya felt a wave of deep sadness and complex emotions. His mother had aged so much more than he remembered.
She had quit her job to take care of him, while his father worked day and night to support the family.
But Gu Ya couldn't tell if any of this was real.
"Mom, I want to be discharged," Gu Ya said.
"Don't worry, your dad's medical insurance covers 80%. If you cooperate with the treatment, you'll be discharged one day," Yang Xiaoqin said with a smile, peeling an apple.
After lunch, Yang Xiaoqin took the lunch pail to the adjoining restroom to wash it.
Listening to the gurgling water from next door, Gu Ya sank back into his bewilderment.
"Did I transmgrate back, or am I in another illusory world? Why is everything here so real?"
He found no anomalies in the news from his year-long coma, covering technology, military affairs, entertainment, and more.
"My over a year of transmigration experience, Ye Ying, Liu Feng, Zeng Lang, Dou Mei—was that a dream during my coma, or did it really happen?"
Yang Xiaoqin returned from the restroom with the wet lunch pail, wiped the water drops with tissue paper, and said with a smile, "Mom's going downstairs to help. You just lie here and don't go anywhere, so the visiting nurse can find you."
Gu Ya nodded and said with concern, "Remember to eat."
Yang Xiaoqin smiled and patted Gu Ya's head, "I know."
Since he woke up, his mother's burden had lessened. As he no longer needed constant care, she found a temporary job as a cafeteria worker downstairs to help lighten the family's financial load.
As soon as Yang Xiaoqin left, the elderly man in the next bed smiled and asked, "Young man, your mother is truly remarkable. She doesn't forget to turn you over even in her sleep."
"Grandpa, was I in a coma for a year? Was there anything unusual?" Gu Ya asked.
"Unusual? Heh heh, you speak quite formally, young man. What could be unusual? Oh, right, sometimes you'd talk in your sleep, mumbling nonsense. Let me think... you often said 'Kill!' and 'Mecha!' Oh, your mother would be so happy every time she heard you talking in your sleep, thinking you were waking up."
Gu Ya nodded calmly.
"Young man, what were you dreaming about?"
"Just some dreams, forgotten upon waking." Gu Ya lied, his heart filled with unspeakable complexity.
That world was too real; it was definitely not a dream.
Gu Ya thought to himself, "If I truly transmgrated back, is the 'me' from that world alive or dead?"
"Did I really die by shooting myself in the hallucination? Does dying lead to transmigration back?"
"Or am I still in the hallucination?"
"It's too real. The pain, the muscle weakness, everything around me is too real."
Gu Ya laboriously sat up from the bed, put on his slippers, and, leaning on the bed frame, slowly stood up. He moved to the wheelchair and sat down, then painstakingly pushed the wheels out of the ward.
A visiting nurse saw Gu Ya and walked over, smiling, "Don't go too far! Your mother will worry. Oh right, let me finish my rounds in your room first, then you can go."
After the nurse came out of the ward, she said to Gu Ya, "Where do you want to go? Shall I push you?"
Just as Gu Ya was about to refuse, his heart suddenly leaped!
His whole being felt enveloped in darkness, with only a girl in front of him shining brightly.
"Ye Ying!?"
The chance of encountering a mixed-race woman in this city wasn't low, but that girl looked almost identical to Ye Ying!
"That girl is the attendant for bed 38, her name isn't Ye Ying, it's... what was it?" the nurse said casually.
Gu Ya pushed the wheelchair and slowly moved forward, arriving outside ward 19. Watching the girl inside diligently feeding her mother, Gu Ya's heart melted.
He hadn't expected to see a girl identical to Ye Ying in his original world.
Only when the girl unconsciously turned her head to look at him did Gu Ya lower his head and push the wheelchair away with force.
"This is too strange. Although Xianxia people look no different from us, the probability of meeting someone identical is almost zero, right?" Gu Ya murmured as he pushed the wheels into the elevator.
The surrounding pedestrians were all taller than Gu Ya. This perspective reminded him of his childhood memories at the cinema when everyone around him was an adult.
Upon reaching the first floor of the hospital building, Gu Ya didn't go anywhere else but directly to the back garden his mother often took him to.
It was almost noon, and most patients and their attendants were at lunch, so it was relatively quiet here.
Gu Ya picked off a few leaves from an holly tree and used a twig to prod at a spider web. Seeing that the spider wasn't coming out, he bent down and picked up an ant from the ground, placing it on the spider web.
Watching the spider emerge from its thumb-thick web hole, bite the ant, and drag it back into the hole, Gu Ya smiled happily.
The midday breeze brushed against his face, making everything feel peaceful and content.
"It seems I've truly transmgrated back," Gu Ya took a deep breath and murmured.
Just as he was enjoying the warm sun and gentle breeze, the girl who looked so much like Ye Ying appeared again.
Carrying a bag of lunch boxes, she hurried out of the hospital building and sat on a bench not far from Gu Ya, eating lunch alone.
Perhaps she was so engrossed in her meal that she didn't notice Gu Ya staring at her for a long time.
After she finished eating, she wiped her mouth with a tissue and let out a happy sigh. As she glanced around, she finally noticed Gu Ya.
Their eyes met for a few seconds, and then the girl stood up and walked over.
"Hello, do you need any help?" the girl asked politely and cheerfully with a smile.
Gu Ya shook his head and said, "No, thank you. You're the attendant for bed 38, right? I'm Gu Ya, from bed 73."
The girl seemed to have plenty of time, so she pushed Gu Ya to a bench and sat about a meter away from him, smiling as she said, "Yes, my mother fell from a ladder while working at home and hit her head, but she's recovering quickly. My name is Hu Na."
They sat awkwardly for a while, then Hu Na spoke first, "Did you injure your nerves too?"
"I suppose so. I was in a coma for a year and just woke up two months ago."
"Oh, you're Ms. Yang's son, aren't you? I remember now, hehe."
They chatted casually for a few more minutes, and then Hu Na had to go to school.
She pushed Gu Ya to the elevator by the hospital entrance, they made plans to chat again in the evening, and Hu Na hurried away from the hospital.
Watching Hu Na disappear into the crowd, Gu Ya sighed.
"This is too much of a coincidence. If this is an illusory world, I can't delay too long. I must find a way to break through this world."
"Considering the first fantasy world, contacting Ye Ying would trigger memories. This Hu Na is my breakthrough."
"Who else could it be, given how much she resembles Ye Ying."
Just after dinner, Gu Ya insisted Yang Xiaoqin put him in the wheelchair and pushed him to the entrance of ward 19.
Yang Xiaoqin, being experienced, saw her son chatting with Hu Na and wisely walked away.
Of course, the most crucial factor was Hu Na saying, "Don't worry, Ms. Yang, I'll push Gu Ya back later."
Moreover, they were chatting on the large balcony on the same floor, not far from the ward, which put Yang Xiaoqin at ease to return to her room.
"You're still in school? Senior year?" Gu Ya asked with a smile.
After their first encounter, both of them were clearly more relaxed this time.
Hu Na brought a small plastic stool and sat next to Gu Ya, watching short videos on her phone while saying, "No, I'm in my third year of vocational college. Hey, look at this, it's so funny!"
Gu Ya looked at the short video app on the smartphone Hu Na handed him. It showed a small Corgi struggling to pass between two pillars with a long branch in its mouth, a scene that was genuinely hilarious.
For Gu Ya, he would never play on his phone while chatting with someone; he considered it impolite.
But Hu Na didn't seem to care about such things. She was natural, frank, and carefree, not putting on airs just because it was their second meeting.
"It is indeed very funny. The Corgi is so silly." Gu Ya said with a smile.
"Not at all, Corgis are very smart. My roommate's Corgi even helps pick up packages. This one in the video is just a bit stupid. Hey, look at this one!"
She handed Gu Ya the phone again. It was a beauty tutorial video where a female streamer transformed from bare-faced to a stunning beauty with the music. The cuts were like magic.
Gu Ya nodded appreciatively, while also observing the elements of Hu Na's appearance.
There was no scent of perfume or makeup, not even the smell of shampoo or body wash.
She wore no jewelry. The only highlight was her phone case with a cartoon character.
This girl was like plain water, colorless and tasteless.
"I love watching makeup transformations. Even though I can't do makeup myself, the girls in them are all so beautiful," Hu Na said with a smile.
Gu Ya returned the phone to her. While she was engrossed in the short videos, he asked softly, "Do you have a boyfriend?"
"I've dated, but it felt too tiring, so we broke up," Hu Na said indifferently.
"Is your father foreign?" Gu Ya asked again.
This time, Hu Na finally looked up at Gu Ya and asked with a smile, "Are you asking for my personal details, hehe? You're really bad at chatting. Talking like this will quickly annoy girls. Don't you know how to flirt?"
"How... how do you flirt? Like a scummy guy, with doting words? Or say some cheesy pick-up lines?" Gu Ya pressed.
"What are you talking about, hahaha!" Hu Na covered her mouth and giggled softly. "Are you naturally this stiff? No wonder your surname is Gu. It's just joking around between friends, don't be so tense, relax."
Gu Ya took a deep breath and relaxed a bit, then asked, "Be my girlfriend."