This has to be a dream.
I stared at the wooden ceiling beams above me, willing them to transform back into the familiar drop tiles of my office cubicle. The beams remained stubbornly wooden. Ancient. Carved with symbols I somehow understood despite never having learned them.
*Wake up, Han-sol. You fell asleep at your desk again. The project deadline—*
But the name echoing in my head wasn't Han-sol anymore. It was Tie Hanxing. Iron Cold Star. And the memories flooding my consciousness weren't of debugging algorithms and coffee-stained keyboards—they were of a sickly boy who'd spent seventeen years slowly dying in this very bed.
"少主?"
I turned my head toward the voice and immediately regretted it. Even that simple movement felt like dragging my skull through molasses. A young woman knelt beside the bed, holding a ceramic bowl that steamed with medicinal herbs. Her face was kind, framed by practical dark hair bound in a servant's knot.
The strangest part wasn't that I'd never seen her before. The strangest part was that I knew her name.
"Liu Ruyan," I whispered.
She startled, nearly spilling the bowl. "少主 remembers? Your fever has been so high, we feared..." Her voice carried the careful deference of a lifelong servant, but I caught the relief underneath. "The physician said if it didn't break soon..."
*I would die.* The unspoken words hung in the air. In this world—in this body—death wasn't a distant concept. It was a constant companion.
I tried to sit up and my arms gave out immediately. Liu Ruyan set down the bowl and helped me, her movements gentle but efficient. Strong hands despite her delicate appearance.
"Slowly, 少主. Your strength will return with time."
*Will it?* The question echoed in my mind along with memories that weren't mine. Tie Hanxing had been born weak. Something about his meridians, his ability to cultivate internal energy. In a world where martial strength determined everything, he was essentially worthless.
And now I was him.
This had to be some kind of breakdown. Stress-induced psychotic break. I'd heard of people having elaborate hallucinations when they pushed themselves too hard. Thirty-two years old, still debugging other people's code for a living, no family, no relationships worth mentioning. Maybe my mind had finally snapped and created this elaborate fantasy world.
"What day is it?" I asked.
"The fifteenth day of the Iron Tiger month, 少主." She paused, studying my face. "You've been unconscious for three days."
Three days. In my real world, that would mean missed deadlines, angry clients, probably getting fired. Here, it just meant people had been waiting for me to die.
"The family..." I started to ask, then stopped. What was I supposed to ask? *How's everyone handling the prospect of my death?*
"They've been very worried, 少主. Especially your parents and brothers and sister." She reached for the bowl again. "Please, you must eat something. The physician said broth would help restore your strength."
I let her feed me, spoon by careful spoon. The broth was bland but warm, and I realized I was genuinely hungry. When had I last eaten? In either life?
Through the thin walls, I could hear voices from the main hall. Raised, sometimes angry, always strained. Even without the memories to provide context, I could recognize the sound of people arguing about money.
"...can't keep borrowing against next season's harvest..."
"...the Blood Serpent Gang isn't known for patience..."
"...maybe if we sold the ancestral swords..."
I closed my eyes, trying to process what I was hearing. These voices belonged to my family now, apparently. And they were discussing their financial ruin with the desperate edge of people who'd run out of options.
*This is all just my subconscious,* I told myself. *I always worried about money, about security. My mind is just creating a scenario where those fears play out.*
But Liu Ruyan's gentle touch as she wiped my chin felt real. The ache in my weak muscles felt real. The taste of the medicinal broth lingered on my tongue.
"Liu Ruyan," I said quietly. "How long has the family been in trouble?"
She hesitated, glancing toward the door. "This humble one shouldn't speak of such matters..."
"Please."
Something in my voice made her look at me more carefully. For a moment, her servant's mask slipped, and I saw the intelligence underneath. The worry. The affection.
"Years, 少主. Since before you were born, some say. The iron mines produce less each season. Our best smiths left for richer clans. The weapons we make..." She trailed off diplomatically.
"Aren't good enough anymore?"
She nodded reluctantly. "The Blood Serpent Gang has been demanding higher tribute each year. They say it's for protection, but everyone knows it's just extortion. And now..." She took a shaky breath. "They want double what we paid last year."
"How long do we have?"
"Two weeks, 少主."
Two weeks to come up with money they didn't have, or face the consequences from a gang that didn't sound like the type to accept apologies.
*This is just a stress dream,* I reminded myself again. *Any minute now I'll wake up at my desk with keyboard marks on my face and twelve missed calls from my manager.*
But minutes passed, and I remained stubbornly in this bed, in this weak body, listening to my new family's desperate plans in the next room.
"少主?" Liu Ruyan was studying my face with concern. "You look troubled."
"Just thinking." I tried to smile reassuringly, but it felt foreign on this face. "Liu Ruyan... have I been having strange dreams while I was sick? Saying odd things?"
"Dreams?" She tilted her head. "You spoke sometimes during your fever. Mostly in languages this humble one didn't recognize. And sometimes..." She hesitated.
"Sometimes what?"
"Sometimes you seemed to be arguing with someone who wasn't there. About numbers and... and something called 'data optimization'? This one doesn't know what it means."
My blood went cold. Those weren't fever dreams. Those were memories from my old life bleeding through.
*This is real,* the thought hit me like a physical blow. *This is actually happening.*
As if responding to my shock, something flickered at the edge of my vision. Translucent text, glowing faintly blue:
**[記憶寶庫 - MEMORY TREASURE VAULT]**
**CONSCIOUSNESS INTEGRATION DETECTED**
**CALIBRATING...**
**ERROR: MULTIPLE PERSONALITY MATRICES FOUND**
**WARNING: INTEGRATION INCOMPLETE**
I blinked hard, but the text remained. Liu Ruyan was still watching me, apparently seeing nothing unusual.
"少主? Your complexion has gone very pale."
The text was shifting, changing:
**AVAILABLE SEARCHES: 3/3 (DAILY LIMIT)**
**WARNING: UNTRAINED USAGE MAY CAUSE SEVERE NEURAL DAMAGE**
**RECOMMENDATION: BEGIN WITH SIMPLE QUERIES**
"Search?" I whispered without thinking.
The world exploded.
Information flooded my consciousness like water through a broken dam. Historical data about Chinese feudal economies. Metallurgical techniques from the Song Dynasty. Supply chain management principles. Statistical analysis methods. Programming languages. Quantum physics. Medieval European agriculture. Everything I'd ever learned mixed with things I'd never studied, all of it crashing into my awareness at once.
I screamed.
Or maybe I tried to scream. The sound that came out was more like a strangled gasp. Blood ran from my nose, hot and metallic. Liu Ruyan's face swam in my vision as she pressed a cloth to my face, her voice seeming to come from very far away.
"少主! Should this one fetch the physician?"
"No," I managed, gripping her wrist with surprising strength. The flood of information was receding, leaving me with a splitting headache and the metallic taste of blood. "Don't... don't tell anyone. Please."
She stared at me with wide eyes. "What happened? You spoke in that strange language again, and then..."
"I don't know." That was the truth. I had no idea what this system was or why it was in my head. All I knew was that Liu Ruyan couldn't see it, and that using it carelessly could apparently cause me to hemorrhage.
"Promise me," I said urgently. "Don't tell the family about this. About the strange languages or the nosebleeds. They have enough to worry about."
Liu Ruyan looked conflicted. "But if 少主 is ill..."
"I'm not ill. Not in the way they'd understand." I met her eyes, trying to convey a confidence I didn't feel. "I need time to understand what's happening to me. Can you give me that time?"
She was quiet for a long moment, studying my face. Finally, she nodded. "This humble one serves 少主, not the clan. If you ask for secrecy, then secret it shall remain."
Relief washed over me. "Thank you."
She helped me lie back down, adjusting the pillows with practiced ease. But before she could pull away, I caught her hand.
"Liu Ruyan... in your opinion, what would it take to save this family?"
The question seemed to surprise her. "少主 shouldn't trouble himself with such matters..."
"But if you had to guess?"
She was quiet for a long time. When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. "A miracle, 少主. It would take a miracle."
After she left, I stared at the ceiling and tried to make sense of my situation. Either I was having the most elaborate stress-induced breakdown in history, or I'd actually been reincarnated into the body of a dying boy in a world that seemed to blend medieval China with martial arts fantasy.
Both options seemed equally impossible.
In the main hall, my family's argument had died down to the low murmur of exhausted people who'd talked themselves in circles. Soon they'd disperse to their separate quarters, each carrying their own burden of worry and guilt.
I closed my eyes and tried to will myself to wake up in my cubicle. When I opened them again, the wooden beams were still there, and the translucent text was flickering at the edge of my vision:
**[記憶寶庫 - MEMORY TREASURE VAULT]**
**DAILY SEARCHES REMAINING: 2/3**
**STATUS: INTEGRATION 34% COMPLETE**
**NEURAL PATHWAYS: STABILIZING**
**NOTE: USER LEARNING CURVE DETECTED. SYSTEM ADAPTING TO PREVENT OVERLOAD.**
*A miracle,* Liu Ruyan had said. It would take a miracle to save this family.
I looked at the floating text that only I could see, felt the foreign memories mixing with my own in ways that shouldn't be possible, and wondered if maybe—just maybe—I was looking at one.
But first, I had to figure out how to use it without killing myself in the process.
And before that, I had to accept that this was really happening.
*Tomorrow,* I promised myself. *Tomorrow I'll start trying to understand this world. Tonight, I just need to accept that I'm here.*
The voices in the main hall finally faded as my family retreated to their own chambers. In the silence that followed, I could hear Liu Ruyan moving quietly in the adjacent room, preparing for sleep.
For the first time since awakening, I felt something other than confusion and terror.
I felt curious.
---
**[記憶寶庫 - MEMORY TREASURE VAULT]**
**DAILY SEARCHES REMAINING: 2/3**
**INTEGRATION STATUS: STABILIZING**
**USER STATE: ADAPTING**
**NEXT CALIBRATION: 18 HOURS**