The cars rumbled down the road. By the street, two strange men looked at each other through a distance of 10 steps. An auntie walked by and glanced at the two of them. She hurried away from fear of her own safety. These two cut a strange figure, one was in dirty clothes, like he had just rolled in the mud; and the other needed a good shaving, his expression was that of a madman. ‘Is this going to escalate into a fight?’ The auntie moved quickly away.
“I am right…” The bearded man said excitedly, “Those are not illusions, I did not suffer from PTSD…”
Gu Jun’s face was void of emotion but his heart rippled with excitement. The man’s rambling made perfect sense to him. However, he maintained maximum caution. This man could be another disguise taken by the witch.
“Who are you?” He asked, “Where have you seen me before?”
“Ha ha, I know you belong to a mysterious government organization, me too.” The man laughed. “I know you are not a bad person, because neither am I.” Gu Jun listened to him cautiously. “At our place, the mysterious organization is called Mysterium. Many things happened in the recent years, it should be the same over at your side, right? I saw some of them.” The man’s voice picked up with excitement like he had found the answer which eluded him for so long. “I know you have your suspicion, I understand. I am in the same field as you do after all. I am the best in the field, well, was… At this place, I am probably the only one who can confirm your real identity, we are the same type of people…”
Mysterium? Gu Jun thought about it. There was no harm in meeting them. “Then call the people from Mysterium to come fetch us.” Only when the official cavalcade arrived then Gu Jun could affirm the man’s identity.
“No, we mustn’t include Mysterium in this.” The man shook his head hurriedly. His bushy brows pleated together. “We have to keep this to ourselves or else the signal will weaken. This is the confirmation I need that my research is on the right path. We need to gain contact with that signal, that is the most important mission.”
Gu Jun narrowed his eyes slightly, “What are you talking about?”
“That signal!” The man lowered his voice so the pedestrians could not hear them, “The split cross.”
Gu Jun was surprised the man knew that much. “Oh?”
“You have to trust me, we don’t have time to waste…” The man pulled at his hair, which honestly did not help with his persuasion. “How can I make you believe me… Okay, you see that flyover over there? We’ll meet up there in a bit but for now you must go into hiding. I will call the people from Mysterium over for you to see for yourself…”
“Make them stay longer.” Gu Jun said. He wanted to see what was really going on.
“I know, I know. I know how your brain works.” The man took out a phone from his pocket, “I will prove to you that they are from the government.” Gu Jun walked a distance away. He was a bit too conspicuous but he came up with the perfect disguise to blend in. He sat down by the street, took out a marker from his backpack and wrote ‘Donation to help with medical bill’ on a cardboard and placed it before him.
“Send some people over now!” The man shouted urgently into the phone, “It’s serious. I’m not being crazy. Send as many people as you can…” The man gave his location. “Quick, quick. Send all the armoured cars you have… Just think of all the contributions I’ve done in the past, will I lie to you… There’s no need to evacuate the crowd, that will alert the enemy… I’ll keep the public safe.” Gu Jun was studying the man closely. He was a prime example of someone who suffered from PTSD.
Suddenly a young woman, who passed by, dropped 50 RMB into his open backpack. She glanced at Gu Jun’s face and sighed.
“Thank you, thank you for your kindness.” That was all he could say. It was ironic because when he was splurging away his money, many of his friends predicted that he would one day end up begging on the street.
“Brother, I am just a university student, I can’t help you that much.” The young woman said. She continued, “Do you mind telling me what happened to you?”
“You won’t believe me but I was stabbed twice by girls.” Gu Jun explained as he paid close attention to the man. About half an hour later, a large cavalcade rushed down the street and blocked off the road. There were many armoured cars, trucks and quarantine vehicles. The shop owners and pedestrians on the street looked on with confusion… Seeing the scale of the cavalcade and the numerous agents that descended from the vehicles, he already came to a conclusion. Even though the agents dressed in the same uniform, he could easily identify their background and corresponding department. Investigation Department, Action Department, Medical Department, once you stayed in them long enough, you’d adopt their culture and mannerism.
“Please do not move!” The bushy-beard man pleaded. “Just stand right here. Wait for a moment, it’ll be over soon.” The group really heeded his order. They looked at each other but stayed on alert. About another half an hour passed. Gu Jun was reminded of his own PTSD experience. If he requested the same thing from Phecda, they’d probably do the same thing so this man was of a high ranking as well. Same type of person was what he said…
“Captain Yu, what have you sensed this time?””Is it really wise for us to just stand here and do nothing?”
Just as the agents came up with complaints, the man walked towards the flyover. “It’s gone… It’s fine now… I think…”
Yet another false alarm? Gu Jun saw the people from Mysterium shake their heads and sighed. Their expression spoke of helplessness and disappointment. A muscular man punched at the side of an armoured car and groaned in pain. “Why did this happen to Captain Yu? He deserves better…”
It was clear that these people were annoyed but it was the opposite for Gu Jun. He finally understood the excitement that coursed through Captain Yu when the latter encountered him. They could cooperate to produce greater power. But what was this ‘research’ that Captain Yu spoke of? Why was he given visions of Gu Jun?
He sat there in his disguise until the cavalcade dispersed. He stood up and he had earned 200 RMB for his stint. Thanks to these kind people, this was the only asset he had in this parallel universe. Gu Jun approached Captain Yu while he kept an eye on his surroundings just in case someone from Mysterium stayed behind to watch over Captain Yu. This appeared not to be the first time Captain Yu ‘acted up’ so no one accosted Gu Jun on his way to the flyover.
Pedestrians moved up and down the flyover. The man with the beard did not draw too much attention but he was not hard to find. Gu Jun looked at him and Captain Yu looked back at Gu Jun. His eyes were shining. “Now you believe me? I am Yu Chi, the leader of the Icebreaker Team from Mysterium’s Special Mobile Force. I’m an archaeologist.”
“I’m Gu Jun.” Gu Jun nodded. “The leader of the Problematic Team from Phecda’s Special Mobile Force. I’m a doctor.”