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The doctor hurried off with the treatment device in hand.

Xie Mingzhe was left sitting alone on the hospital bed, utterly bewildered.

At that moment, he really wanted to ask the classic three questions—Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?!

But before he could finish asking, the doctor pushed the door open again. This time, he carried several devices that looked remarkably like robots. The doctor lightly pressed a button, and the "robots" immediately began working at high speed. Like a lab rat, Xie Mingzhe was surrounded so completely that not even water could pass through. He could only lie flat on the bed, powerless to resist as the "robots" fussed over him.

Xie Mingzhe realized that something was very wrong.

First, he had always been healthy and could hold his liquor well. He had been perfectly sober when he returned to the dorm last night, so it was impossible that his roommate had suddenly sent him to the hospital in the middle of the night without him knowing. Second, this hospital looked rather different from the ones in his memory. The monitor by the bed, as well as these robots the doctor had brought, all seemed extremely advanced, as though they were not products of his era...

Xie Mingzhe's back jolted—he had read plenty of transmigration novels. Could it be that he had transmigrated too?

The doctor quickly finished the examination and smiled at him. "You're incredibly lucky. The probability of a vegetative patient like you waking up is less than one percent. I've carefully checked your body, and everything is normal."

Xie Mingzhe took several deep breaths to steady his racing heart, then gathered his courage and asked, "Doctor, what year, month, and day is it today? What's my name? My mind is a complete mess—I can't remember anything."

The doctor answered patiently, "Your name is Xie Mingzhe. Today is August 1st, Star Calendar 3001, and it happens to be your eighteenth birthday. It's all written on your information card." He opened the electronic information card by the bed and showed it to Xie Mingzhe, seemingly proving that he was not lying.

Xie Mingzhe: "..."

It was clearly the year 2018 AD. What kind of bizarre era was Star Calendar 3001?

Xie Mingzhe's mouth twitched violently. Thinking of the possibility that he had transmigrated, his head hurt so badly it felt as though it might explode. He could not help raising both hands and pounding his head hard. The doctor immediately grabbed his hands when he saw this. "Don't move around. You were unconscious for a month and only just woke up. It's perfectly normal for parts of your memory to be damaged. It will slowly recover."

Xie Mingzhe stared blankly at his pale fingertips before asking, "Then... do I have any other family?"

The doctor looked at him sympathetically. "The records showed that you had been an

orphan

."

Xie Mingzhe: "..."

How had he still ended up an orphan after transmigrating?

Seeing the boy's pale expression, the doctor reached out and patted his shoulder comfortingly. "Don't lose heart. Waking up was already no easy feat. Get your health back first. There will always be a way later."

Xie Mingzhe forced a smile and said to the kind doctor, "Thank you, Doctor."

After the doctor left, Xie Mingzhe struggled out of bed and went to the bathroom in the ward to splash some water on his face, hoping to calm himself down.

His face was clearly reflected in the mirror.

Because he had been bedridden for so long, the young man's complexion was somewhat sickly pale. However, his features were unmistakably identical to his original self. Only, this face looked far more youthful—he should have looked like this at eighteen, just after graduating from high school.

Xie Mingzhe buried his face in the cold water, his head aching. He truly hoped this was a dream within a dream, and that he could wake from this nightmare soon.

After a long while, he lifted his head...

He was still in the same bathroom. The youth in the mirror still looked exactly as he had at eighteen.

Could this Xie Mingzhe be himself from another spacetime?

Not only did they share the same name and appearance, but memories belonging to this body's original owner were gradually beginning to surface in his mind.

The original owner had been an orphan since childhood, relying on government aid to get by and living extremely frugally. However, government assistance for orphans only lasted until they reached adulthood at eighteen. Xie Mingzhe was already seventeen and a half. This summer, he had earned admission to the Fine Arts Department of Imperial Capital University through his own efforts. Afraid he would not be able to afford tuition after starting college, he had left his hometown and come to the Imperial Capital early to find work.

However, in this era, physical labor such as washing dishes, sweeping floors, and hauling bricks had all been replaced by robots. A student who had just graduated from high school found it difficult to get a job. He had lived in the Imperial Capital for a week, staying in the worst slums and running everywhere in search of work, enduring countless cold looks.

Once, during an interview, he accidentally fell from a window. Fortunately, he had not been very high up, so he was not smashed into pulp, but he was still badly injured. His brain was severely damaged, and an ambulance had rushed him to the hospital for emergency treatment. He became a vegetative patient and remained unconscious for a month.

The Xie Mingzhe of this world was a serious, hardworking young man, but clearly, he had not been as fortunate as the Xie Mingzhe who had lived in the twenty-first century.

The Xie Mingzhe who had lived in the twenty-first century had also been an orphan, but during the year of his college entrance exams, he had placed first in science in the entire county and received quite a few scholarships—enough to cover all his university expenses. He had also lived frugally during college. Not only had he not spent all of that money, but he had even saved some through tutoring and odd jobs.

He had originally planned to find a job in a second-tier city with a low cost of living after graduation, save up for a small home, and live a stable, peaceful life from then on, happily enjoying the rest of his days. Yet after merely going out for drinks with his roommates, he had inexplicably arrived in another spacetime and seen another pitiful version of himself.

When bad luck came knocking, it kicked the door down—he was unlucky beyond belief!

Xie Mingzhe rubbed his pale face hard.

The vivid sensation beneath his fingertips seemed to tell him: Stop struggling. You've been dealt a new hand!

Just when his previous life had finally begun to turn around, God had thrown him into the body of this destitute young man. Was that reasonable?

If I killed myself now, could I return to Earth in 2018 AD?

Xie Mingzhe pinched his thigh hard. The sharp pain shooting through his leg woke him completely—this body belonged to a living, breathing human being. He truly did not dare risk suicide. What if he transmigrated somewhere even stranger after killing himself? Or what if he simply died? At the very least, this world seemed technologically advanced. It was far better than transmigrating into some chaotic prehistoric era, wearing leaves and eating wild grass.