Consciousness returned to Lin Wei as a slow, painful tide. The last thing he remembered was the shriek of tearing metal and the blinding glare of headlights. Now, there was only a profound ache in his bones and the scent of dust and dried herbs.
He opened his eyes to a world of shadows and weak, pre-dawn light filtering through a paper window. Above him were rough-hewn wooden beams. This was not a hospital.
The crash... did I survive?
He tried to sit up, and a wave of dizziness forced him back onto a thin, lumpy pallet. His body felt alien—weaker, thinner. And his mind... was a chaotic jumble. The clear, precise knowledge of a modern surgeon was now tangled with a second set of memories: images of gathering herbs, of a quiet life in a small town...
A name surfaced through the fog: Lin Wei.
The shock of it cut through the disorientation. Lin. His name was still Lin. A bizarre anchor in the storm. In his previous life, he was Dr. Lin. In this life, he was Lin Wei. The coincidence was so profound it felt less like chance and more like a key to a lock he couldn't yet see.
As this realization settled, a cool, translucent interface flickered to life in his vision:
[Host Vital Signs Stabilized. Signs of minor dehydration and malnutrition present.]
[Neural Integration with host 'Lin Wei' estimated at 98%. Synaptic discrepancies aligning.]
[Primary Identity Confirmed: Lin Wei. County Physician, (Jiangxia County).]
[Temporal-Geographical Lock: Southern Song Dynasty. Jin Frontier Zone.]
"Southern Song... Yue Fei's time..." he whispered hoarsely, the historian in him surfacing alongside the doctor. The name alone evoked a sense of desperate patriotism and relentless war. He was not just in the past; he was on the fragile, bleeding edge of a nation fighting for its survival.
The door creaked open. An old man with a weathered face peered in, his eyes widening in shock. "Master Lin! You... you're awake! The fever... we thought..."
Lin Wei looked at him—Old Gao. He took a slow breath, pushing down the panic. He had to mimic, to adapt. His life, for the second time, depended on it.
"I... I am awake, Old Gao," he said, his voice raspy but firm. He was Dr. Lin. He was Lin Wei. The name was the bridge. Now, he had to cross it into a world poised on the brink of war.