Henry tried to say something, but before he could, the nurse gently held his hand and guided him back to his room. She asked him to sit on the bed and then tapped on the smartwatch around her wrist. To Henry's shock, the same kind of holographic screen appeared in the air from her device—just like the one he had seen earlier.
As she started operating the floating screen, she initiated a call to the doctor. Henry watched her with a mix of confusion and fascination, unable to process what was happening. Am I really in the future? he thought. But how is that even possible? How could I be alive after 250 years?
His mind was reeling, lost in a storm of thoughts, when the nurse noticed his troubled expression and asked gently, "Is everything alright, sir? You seem a little... uneasy."
Henry looked at her with furrowed brows and asked in a low, hesitant voice, "Please... just tell me the truth. Are you guys playing some kind of prank on me?"
The nurse blinked, visibly puzzled. "Prank? I don't understand, sir," she said.
Before Henry could say anything else, a man walked into the room—clearly a doctor—smiling warmly. "Good evening, Sir Daniel. How are you feeling now?"
Henry looked at him, utterly confused. Daniel? Why did he just call me Daniel? My name is Henry...
And then, a horrifying thought struck him.
What if this isn't a hospital at all? What if they're part of some illegal organization and I'm just a test subject in one of their secret lab experiments?
As that idea rooted itself deeper in his mind, Henry felt something snap inside. He was almost convinced now—something was definitely wrong.
The doctor came closer to Henry and politely asked him to take off his shirt. Henry hesitated for a moment, uneasy with the request, but then slowly complied.
The doctor then picked up a bundle of thin wires attached to a large monitor-like machine. At the ends of the wires were ultra-fine pins, which he carefully placed on various acupuncture points across Henry's chest.
"Take deep breaths," the doctor instructed.
Henry obeyed, inhaling deeply again and again. As he did, the machine beside them lit up, displaying a full-body scan—every detail about "Daniel's" physical condition flashed across the screen in real-time. Blood vessels, blood flow, fat percentage, stamina, strength... it was all there.
Henry stared at the monitor in disbelief, his confusion only deepening.
I've seen this in novels and TV shows, he thought. These people run experiments on humans... God knows what they do. They have tech like this—machines that can scan a person down to their soul.
Panic started to bubble inside him. He began to plan an escape in his mind, visualizing every step to get out of that room and run far away. But just as he was about to shift his focus toward the door, the doctor's voice snapped him back to reality.
"What the... how did the mutunt cells revert back to normal?" the doctor said, clearly alarmed.
Henry's eyes widened.
Mutunt cells? What the hell does that mean?!
The doctor's voice snapped Henry out of his spiraling thoughts. He blinked, confused, and stared at the doctor, the words mutant cells echoing in his head.
Mutant cells? he repeated to himself in shock. That's it. I'm sure of it now—they've been running some kind of X-Men-style experiment on me. What if they turn me into someone like Deadpool? Hideous but with superpowers… actually, I wouldn't mind the powers. That would help me escape.
A sudden panic struck him.
Wait… what if they've already turned me into some rotten-looking creature?
He immediately raised a hand to touch his own face, heart pounding. Then, frantically, he began searching the room for a mirror or anything reflective. His eyes finally landed on a polished glass panel on one of the machines nearby.
What he saw made his eyes go wide with shock.
He was looking at himself. Or rather—at someone who looked like him but... wasn't him.
It wasn't the face he remembered.
Though he didn't exactly look like a "rotten gourd" as he feared, it was definitely not his original face. His features were different, unfamiliar, sharper in some places, broader in others.
Did they perform plastic surgery on me? he wondered in disbelief. They've changed my entire face… but honestly, I look kind of good. If I can just lose a bit of this weight, all the girls will be crushing on me. First things first though—I need to get out of this secret lab.
Then another thought struck him.
Why do they keep calling me Daniel?
Maybe that's my experiment name… or maybe they don't know my real name at all.
He glanced toward the doctor and the nurse again.
They seem like decent people, he mused. And that nurse… she looks more like a model than a medical worker. What's someone like her doing in a place like this?
Just then, the doctor spoke again, pulling Henry out of his whirlwind of thoughts.
"Sir Daniel," he said calmly, "your mutant cells have reset. That means you'll have to start everything from the beginning. There's nothing to worry about otherwise, but you'll need to come in for regular checkups. Mutant cell reset isn't exactly common… in fact, I've never heard of it happening before. We'll need to monitor this closely."
He gave Henry a reassuring smile and walked out of the room, leaving Henry in stunned silence.
The nurse stepped forward, holding out a small duffle bag. "These are your clothes and personal belongings," she said gently. "Please change and complete the discharge formalities. If you need any help, just call."
With that, she turned and exited the room, leaving Henry alone.
He immediately jumped up from the bed and rushed to the door, cracking it open just enough to peek into the hallway. Nurses moved by, patients rested in nearby rooms, and the entire environment seemed like a normal, well-maintained hospital—except everything still felt... off.
He quietly shut the door and locked it from inside.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he turned back to the bed and stared at the bag left behind.
"What the hell is going on here?" he muttered to himself. "None of this makes any sense. First, I wake up in the future, then find out I have mutant cells… and now I look like someone else?"
Shaking his head, he dropped to the edge of the bed and pulled the duffle toward him.
"Let's just start by checking my phone."
Saying this aloud as if trying to anchor himself to reality, he flipped the bag over, dumping its contents across the bed.
Clothes, a pair of sneakers, a sleek metallic ID card with the name Daniel A-7, and finally—a device that looked like a futuristic version of a smartphone slid out.
Henry stared at it.
"…This doesn't look like any phone I've ever seen."
He reached for it, heart beating fast, and picked it up with trembling fingers.
The screen lit up instantly at his touch.
A glowing interface flickered to life, pulsing softly like it was breathing.
"Okay," he whispered, eyes fixed on the device. "Let's see what secrets you've got hidden inside."