Drip, drip, drip.
The sound of the heart monitor becomes more distinct. Eugene groggily opens his eyes and sees the hospital ceiling.
Pain throbs throughout his body, and fragments of memory rush into his mind. Eugene vaguely recalls the incident before he passed out—
He was struck on the head by a Terminator robot, his skull fractured. Relying on the last shred of his consciousness, he released the Phantom Shifting and barely escaped death, being carried onto an ambulance.
Thinking of this, Eugene turns his neck and looks around. At this moment, he is lying in an ICU ward, his upper body and head tightly wrapped in bandages, especially his face feels numb and stiff.
On the LCD TV right across the hospital bed, a late-night shopping program is being aired.
"You're awake."
The door of the ICU room is pushed open from outside, and a slim tall youth with orange hair, dressed in a black kimono and carrying a long sword, walks in.
