The charity gala's afterparty had spilled into the hotel's rooftop lounge, glittering with city lights below. Jiang Yue excused herself quietly, slipping away from the small knot of executives and their champagne flutes. She needed a moment, her head was buzzing, though she hadn't touched a drop.
The washroom was quiet, cool marble and faint perfume.
She turned toward the sink, but froze.
Her reflection… glitched.
Not like a trick of the light. Not like a shimmer from the chandelier above. This was wrong. Her face in the mirror stuttered and shifted, like a corrupted video file skipping frames. Her pupils dilated in the glass while hers stayed the same. Her lips moved slightly out of sync.
Her breath caught.
[Body Sync Unstable.]
[Core Soul Anchored.]
The system's voice was flat, clinical, but it sent ice through her veins.
"What… does that mean?" she whispered.
[Warning: Host survival depends on sync stability.]
[Probability of full collapse upon death: 100%. No second chance.]
Her stomach twisted. No respawn. No "try again" like the first time she landed here. This was it, one life left.
---
She splashed water on her face, trying to steady her breathing. The reflection steadied too, but the wrongness lingered, like a shadow just out of sight.
When she stepped out of the washroom, the music from the lounge drifted down the hallway, warm and soft. For a moment, she thought maybe she could just get back, sit somewhere in a corner, and pretend none of this was happening.
But then
A flicker of movement to her right.
Someone was there, leaning casually against the corridor wall. Expensive suit. Sharp eyes. A smirk that didn't reach them.
"Miss Jiang Yue, isn't it?"
She slowed, instincts screaming. "Do I… know you?"
He pushed off the wall, taking a slow step forward. "Not personally. But I know him."
The way he said it made her pulse spike. "You mean Li Zhenkai."
"You catch on quick." His voice was silk over steel. "I also know what happens when someone tries to hurt him. He… removes obstacles. Cleanly."
She took a step back. "If this is about business"
"Oh, it's always about business," he said lightly. "But sometimes, you can't hit a fortress head-on. Sometimes…" He smiled, cold. "…you find a crack."
He reached for her.
---
Jiang Yue's system pinged, an alarm shrilling in her head.
[Hostile Intent Detected.]
Her bad luck surged like a wave. The man's hand missed her shoulder by an inch when a waiter carrying an absurd tower of champagne glasses stumbled around the corner.
The tray collided with the man's arm. Crystal shattered, champagne spraying everywhere. The man swore, jerking back, but the sudden noise startled another guest coming out of a side room, who swung a door wide and caught him in the ribs.
The chaos spread instantly, glass crunching underfoot, voices rising, people spilling into the hallway. Jiang Yue tried to push through the confusion, only for someone behind her to trip legs stretching out and then she also misstepped
She felt her heel slide on spilled champagne. Her arm flailed for balance and then the world tilted.
Her temple hit the edge of a serving cart.
White-hot pain flooded her mind and then
And then… nothing.
When she opened her eyes again, she was staring at a white ceiling. The air smelled faintly of disinfectant.
But no, she wasn't opening her eyes. She couldn't move them. She couldn't move anything.
[System Suspension Mode Activated.]
She wanted to scream, but her voice wouldn't come.
Somewhere outside her frozen perception, voices spoke.
"…no obvious injury," a man said. The voice was unfamiliar, probably the doctor. "Vitals are stable. No brain trauma. It's like…" A pause. "…like she's sleeping. We'll have to wait and see."
"How long?" That voice was Li Zhenkai's, low and dangerous.
The doctor hesitated. "There's no medical reason she shouldn't wake. But cases like this can… take time."
Silence.
Then: "You're telling me she's in a coma, but nothing is wrong with her?"
"Yes."
A chair scraped. Footsteps moved closer, she could almost feel his presence beside the bed.
"Leave us," he said.
The door clicked shut.
---
For a moment, there was nothing but the faint hum of machines.
Then his voice came, quieter than she'd ever heard it.
"This isn't like you."
He stayed still for a beat, and she thought he might leave. But instead, he sat down, the leather of the chair creaking.
"You walk into trouble, but you walk out of it too. Always. And now…" He exhaled slowly. "…now you're just lying here."
There was a faint clink, ceramic against wood. A cup?
"Drink," he said suddenly, almost under his breath. And then, with a hint of dry humor she'd never heard in this setting: "If you wake up, I'll even let you spill it all over my suit. Once."
Her heart ached. She wanted to move, to tell him she could hear, that she was still here. But her body was locked, her system running silent except for the faint pulse of the anchored core.
[Warning: Stability 47%.]
She was slipping. And if she fell all the way, there was no coming back.
In the dim hospital room, Li Zhenkai leaned forward, his gaze steady on her face.
"I don't know who you really are," he murmured. "But you don't get to disappear without telling me."