Chapter 2: Real Dream
"Nurse, what happened?"
Ren couldn't help but ask the nurse who had been waiting outside the door earlier.
"Probably... just a minor accident during surgery? Please don't worry about it. Your body has already recovered well, and you only need one to two weeks of rehabilitation training before being discharged."
The nurse's expression was peculiar, carrying a sense of forced cheerfulness.
Ren nodded to show his understanding.
After all, the nurse worked here and couldn't possibly disclose the hospital's internal issues to him.
Though quite curious, Ren considerately refrained from pressing further.
By the time he returned to his hospital room, it was already past 10 PM. The city outside the window was shrouded in deep night, with a bright moon hanging in the vast sky.
With the nurse's assistance, Ren began moving his limb joints.
Each joint required flexion-extension movements, rotations, straight leg raises, and bridge exercises to relieve muscle stiffness.
Ren's transmigration timing was quite fortunate.
It's worth noting that in healthy adults, muscle strength declines at a rate of 1%-2% per day after bed rest.
However, the first two weeks represent reversible loss—muscle fibers haven't undergone severe atrophy yet, remaining only in a temporary state of functional inhibition.
After two weeks, muscles enter the critical period of disuse atrophy, with reduced fiber count and tendon adhesions, making the recovery period extend exponentially.
Ren woke up on the 13th day since this body became vegetative. With just one week of rehabilitation training, he would be able to move independently.
After completing that day's rehabilitation exercises, Ren drank a bowl of vegetable puree with the nurse's help.
It didn't taste good, but he could only consume such semi-liquid food for now.
After the meal, the nurse helped Ren lie down before leaving the room.
The moment he lay on the hospital bed, exhaustion pressed down on him like a mountain.
Yet, Ren's spirit felt somewhat exhilarated by the tangible reality of rebirth.
Transmigration, severe injury, awakening... it all felt like a bizarre, fantastical dream.
However, his body's weakness served as a stark reminder that this was no dream.
But still, this was truly...
So wonderful!
An excited smile spread across Ren's face.
A new life, a young body—to him, this was nothing short of heaven's blessing.
Since this was the case, he would absolutely not waste this precious gift!
He must live a more brilliant life, must live better, making up for the regrets of his previous existence!
Immersed in the joy of rebirth, though his body ached with weakness, his heart overflowed with immense happiness.
His mental exhilaration temporarily overcame physical fatigue, but this excitement didn't last long.
His body, freshly awakened from severe injury, was ultimately too fragile. After intense emotional fluctuations, deep weariness gradually washed over him.
Ren's eyelids grew heavier, his vision began to blur, and the beeping of the monitor seemed to fade into the distance.
...
Almost the instant he fell asleep, Ren's consciousness suddenly "awakened."
One moment, he was still savoring the joy of rebirth.
The next moment, what appeared before his eyes was a familiar desk.
A glaring desk lamp illuminated stacks of reference books and test papers, the air thick with the scent of late-night coffee.
This was... his study from his previous life, during exam preparation?
What's going on? Wasn't I in the hospital?
Ren felt startled and confused, attempting to stand up only to find his body completely unresponsive.
His right hand was solving complex formulas on an exercise book while his left hand flipped through a thick dictionary nearby. His mind was filled with a familiar sense of anxiety that made him nauseous to the point of vomiting.
An exhaustion that penetrated deep into his bones overwhelmed both his body and mind.
He remembered this day clearly! This very moment!
This was the most torturous period of his life—studying late into the night every day to get into a good university, with pressure and anxiety nearly crushing his spirit.
Though he had eventually survived that time, he had nightmares more than ten times in the following years where he found himself back in that exam preparation period.
A dream!
Am I having another nightmare?
Ren realized what was happening and relaxed slightly.
When people become aware they're dreaming, they should wake up.
However, after a long time, Ren still couldn't break free from this nightmare.
Unable to wake up or control his body, Ren's consciousness felt like a spectator trapped in a marionette, forced to repeatedly relive that most stressful period.
Time lost its normal flow in this dream. Each tick of the second hand seemed to stretch endlessly, prolonging that anxious feeling infinitely.
One day, two days... one week, two weeks...
After what felt like an eternity, a faint calling voice penetrated through the layers of nightmare.
"...miya-san? Amamiya-san?"
Ren's eyes snapped open as he instinctively sat up, his hands searching for the exercise book and ballpoint pen.
However, intense exhaustion made his heavy body collapse back down the moment he sat up.
What met his eyes was a white ceiling and a nurse's concerned face.
"My notes? The entrance exam is coming soon, I haven't finished organizing my notes yet."
Ren had no energy to think about why he was in the hospital. He struggled to get up—for him, the most important thing right now was to review his lessons!
"What are you talking about, Amamiya-san?"
The nurse was momentarily stunned before showing an understanding smile.
"Amamiya-san, you're no longer in school. This is Morita Hospital, and you've just recovered and woken up. Did you dream about your exam preparation days? Those high-pressure dreams are quite common."
"Morita Hospital..."
Ren froze, looking around confusedly as memories from thirty days ago gradually surfaced from the depths of his mind.
That's right... I'm Amamiya Ren, I was in a car accident and just woke up... So, that was a dream? A dream that lasted... a month?
A strong sense of disorientation and unreality washed over him, making him dizzy.
Although he had only slept for a while, it felt like he had lived through an entire month. The exhaustion from a month of intensive review remained vividly real in his mind.
But why... do I remember it so clearly?
Ren had dreamed before, but this was the first time he had such a clear dream.
Not only had he been aware he was dreaming within the dream, but after waking up, he could still clearly remember everything that happened in it.
Normally, dream memories should become vague after waking up.
Yet now, he could still distinctly remember every minute he spent in that dream.
The high school knowledge points he had long forgotten years ago were now firmly engraved in his mind after a month of review.
What the hell? Could this be my cheat?
A month in the dream, just one night in reality—being able to completely remember everything that happened in the dream, what else could this be if not a cheat?