New World

BEEP.

BEEP.

BEEP.

A relentless, monotonous rhythm pounded in Xiao Luning's ears, shattering her peace. She groaned, gradually emerging from the haze of unconsciousness.

'Wait, didn't I… die?' Her thoughts raced.

She tried to open her eyes but it felt heavy. Stretching her fingers, she felt the familiar sensation of hot blood pumping through her veins.

'I... survived?'

Xiao Luning couldn't believe it.

'Even God spared me? Ugh, that stench of alcohol...'

Beep.

Amidst the fog of confusion, hurried footsteps could be heard nearby. Next thing she knew, a voice, tinged with professionalism could be heard.

"Her vitals are stable. She should regain consciousness soon," the nurse's voice echoed in the room.

With a bit of desperation, Xiao Luning summoned her strength and pried her heavy eyelids open. She met the gaze of a tall nurse, with violet eyes, who sported a peculiar rectangular monocle.

"Good. You're awake," the nurse greeted in an almost indifferent manner.

"Where... am I?" she rasped, throat dry.

"You're in the First District Hospital. If you're feeling better, please come to the nurse's station. We need to discharge you immediately. The hospital can't afford to let you stay any longer. No one came to cover your bills. Gotta go," the nurse briskly replied, heading for the exit.

"Wait!" Xiao Luning's cry almost made the nurse stump her feet in annoyance.

"Anything else?" The nurse said with a fake polite smile.

"How long have I been here?" she asked.

"You've been here for a week. Since you didn't have any identification or means to cover your expenses, we can't keep you any longer. It's not the hospital's responsibility. You need to leave now," the nurse bluntly stated before disappearing down the corridor.

Xiao Luning felt her chest tightened. She always carried her ID and emergency essentials, and she would never skip payments on her insurance. How on earth did she end up in this situation?

As she slumped back onto the bed, weak. Her eye roamed around and the peculiar features of the room caught her attention.

The advanced monitoring devices were seamlessly integrated into the room's design. The holographic interface floated near the bed allowing an intuitive interaction. The whole room might look too simple and lacking in color but the technology-laden in it was jaw-dropping.

'Have I been asleep for more than a week? Why does everything feel so... advanced?'

Xiao Luning decided to get off her bed and approached the pivoted window. The window was adorned with smart privacy glass that could transition between transparency and opacity with a mere touch.

Upon touch, a huge dark silhouette of a hovercar welcomed her.

The hover car was not there anymore but Xiao Luning's gaze was still stuck through the window. She was not dumbfounded by the hover car, but rather something else.

"What in the world..." she whispered. 'Who was that?'

An alarming feeling gnawed at her mind. With unsteady steps, she ran towards the bathroom. Inside, she became even more confused, struggling to comprehend its unconventional design.

The lid of the toilet smoothly lifted as she approached it. The warm lit up and gave a soft tone to the atmosphere of the whole bathroom.

Desperation guided her as she searched for any telltale signs of how to operate unfamiliar equipment. It wasn't immediately obvious, but her logical mind refused to accept failure.

First, she clapped, and the lights turned off. She clapped a second time but it wasn't enough to turn it on. Xiao Luning clapped twice and that managed to turn the lights on again.

Next, she tried to stomp. It created subtle vibrations that triggered the toilet's flushing system.

Lastly, she spoke hesitantly, "M-mirror."

In response, a hidden contraption slid into motion, revealing a full-length mirror. Around it reflected a touchscreen UI interface with different functions in a white neon light font.

"Oh my goodness..."

Xiao Luning was already utterly drained from her trial and error in the bathroom. But nothing could have prepared her for the shock when she saw her reflection in the full-length mirror.

"Did I... die?" she wondered, as she tried to catch her breath.

"Let's…" breathe.

Before she could complete her sentence, Xiao Luning crumpled to the ground. Her eyes tightly shut, measuring her breathing. Each inhale and exhale was marked by a mental count, 1, 2, repeat.

The onslaught of information was almost too overwhelming to bear.

After a few moments, Xiao Luning managed to calm down and summarize the facts before her.

"So, I probably died in my previous life," she mused, gingerly touching the injury on her head. "I entered this woman's body, probably because she died the same way I did."

Xiao Luning closed her eyes in pain and said her innermost thoughts. "I'm probably in the far future, and I don't know who I am."

She blinked and softly repeated, "I don't know who I am?"

And then it hit her, a shock that rippled across her reflection. "Who am I? This... I-!"

A surge of panic gripped her. Xiao Luning clutched her head, hugging herself tightly. "If I don't know who this woman is, what am I supposed to do? Aren't they discharging me from this hospital, and immediately at that? Didn't the novels say that one can have their past life's memories and the memories of the previous owner of the body they possessed? Why is it that I can recall my past so vividly as if I still have my eidetic memory, but this girl's is..."

Xiao Luning paused, connecting the dots. "Eidetic memory? I can remember everything like I still have it. Did this woman have it too? If not, it's probably a brain problem, preventing me from retrieving her memories. After all, the brain is a muscle; it can be damaged!"

A sense of relief washed over her as she embraced this revelation. With newfound optimism, Xiao LuNing approached the full-length mirror.

"This girl... is undeniably attractive."

The previous owner's body may not have been model-like tall, but she was slim and exuded a distinct allure.

Xiao Luning hovered her long messy hair away and saw the previous owner's face. It was strikingly beautiful. She couldn't help but admire her new appearance.

"Even though I didn't have her memories, I can still make a living with her eidetic memory. With that, I can create new memories for both of us."

Beep.

The door swung open and the same nurse re-entered. Maybe because the footsteps came to a halt Xiao Luning decided to peek from the bathroom. The nurse saw her and heaved a sigh of relief.

Approaching with a bag in hand, the nurse gave it to Xiao Luning. "These are your personal items. They've been cleaned and repaired. You can change in the bathroom and then head to the nurse's station to complete your discharge papers."

Before Xiao LuNing could react or ask any further, the nurse had already left.

"Seriously?"

Despite her frustration, Xiao Luning opted to freshen up and change her clothes. When she looked into the bag, she saw a pair of seemingly new clothes, it was repaired and a couple of items that she could not figure out what.

First, they were all transparent and seemingly damaged.

Second, she was already briefed that she had nothing on her that could pay the hospital or identify her.

Lastly, she was forced to be discharged.

All in all, she could only abide by the rules, laws, and culture of this unfamiliar world.

With the bag of personal items, she proceeded to the nurse's station.

Walking through the open hallways of the hospital, she felt like a bewildered tourist in an alien land.

The walls were laden with holographic displays, showcasing not only intricate medical information but also extraterrestrial landscapes, creating a unique ambiance.

People of different races, diverse skin tones, and unique features blended and bonded with each other. They all bustle about with a purpose.

While the adults were engrossed with conversations that traversed intergalactic languages, kids with hover scooters playfully zip around. Their giggles echoed in the vast atrium, adding a playful element to what could be a heavy atmosphere.

"Bip bippitoo~ to pip pii~"

'Ugh, what's up with that sound? Is that music? What's up with the random beeping? Language maybe? Blegh. It's still weird,' she mused.

Xiao Luning's sensitivity to sounds was like a finely tuned instrument. If the sound didn't resonate with her, she'd often drag it through the mud, condemning the musician, and forcing them to abide by her standards. She might not be discriminatory but it didn't mean that she could let her ears suffer this undue injustice.

But in this unfamiliar environment, she decided to withhold her judgment based on her past standards. The aliens might've brought a different take on music in this era.

Upon arriving at the nurse's station, Xiao Luning was flustered. She was a Jane Doe and nobody knew her here. If she didn't know who she was, how could she fill out her name and other details?

Mulling over her thoughts for a while, the nurse just gave her an A5 see-through glass. The glass displayed her specifications as an unknown human in the English alphabet.

"Here."

Before she could ask, the nurse took out a brand new lancet1.

"Kindly put a drop of your blood in the glass with your index finger and spread it with your thumb so we can also have your thumbprint."

Xiao Luning thought that it was creepy but who was she to tell on them? She was just a lost little lamb in the city. As the saying goes, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do,' everything was a new experience.

When Xiao Luning stepped out of the hospital, the new world unfolded before her. Different races walking around, and unknown advanced technologies laden the whole picture. The air hummed with a gentle whirr of hover cars zipping through the sky. Their sleek design and contrasting colors passed her by.

She also noticed the air's peculiar smell. It was unlike anything she had ever encountered before. It was weird and hard to get used to but it was fine to breathe, so who was she to complain?

As she wandered through the streets, towering holographic billboards projected unsightly and nonstandard advertisements in Xiao Luning's opinion. It presented products and people in a way that wasn't screaming the fundamental theory of marketing in an advertisement, 'buy this'.

Xiao Luning couldn't help but be struck by the glaring differences in her timeline. All things that should be labeled as having 'entertainment value' seemed foreign and unappealing to her.

'How much stranger can this place be?'

The architectural design of the buildings blended sleek, metallic, and organic with otherworldly influences. Adding the big levitating pearl-like bulbs that would surely light up the sky in the nighttime.

While lost in thought, the world shifted once more.

She wasn't that far from the hospital's parking lot when a hover car sped erratically in front of her. The sheer velocity of the metallic vehicle was beyond her comprehension, and her body froze in trauma at the sight of this strange "car."

BOOM!

The impact sent her spiraling into the air, and she couldn't help but sigh in resignation.

'This is the second time. If I die, then perhaps it was meant to be. Karma, what a peculiar thing,' she reflected, plummeting to the ground and slipping into unconsciousness.