Chapter 1: Waking to a Blank White

Gu Sijiu woke abruptly, a wave of nausea forcing her out of sleep. She coughed, her throat dry and raw, and winced at the sharp ache that seemed to ripple through her whole body. A faint whimper escaped her lips. As her vision cleared, all she could see was an expanse of stark white, so bright she initially thought something was covering her eyes. She reached out, wanting to push it away, only to realize the glaring white was actually the wall she was staring at.

Perplexed, she blinked a few times, trying to gather her bearings, and soon registered she was lying in a hospital bed.

The room around her looked luxurious—the bed large and soft, the furnishings sleek with a touch of elegance. She frowned as a sharper pain pulsed at her temple. Instinctively, she reached up and felt the rough texture of bandages wrapped across her forehead. Confusion washed over her. She had no idea how she'd ended up here or what had happened to her.

The last thing she remembered was wrapping up a drinking session the night before. She had called for a designated driver to take her home afterward. Her memory stopped there, the image frozen of her sliding into the backseat of the car.

Then what? Had she been in an accident? Was that why she was in the hospital? Her memories were fragmented and blurry, unable to recall anything beyond random flashes from the night.