“I want you to draw the inner reflection of your truest selves. Do not be limited by conventions. It can be abstract drawings or surreal paintings. You only need to look inside your hearts.”
After Fu San parted from the chief, he entered the newbie training room. He chased away the teacher and sat at the podium. The newbies had no idea who Fu San was. They saw the teacher respect him a lot, so they followed his orders. The paintings were sent to Fu San. He lowered his head and gave everyone his comments, “Trash and worse than trash. These can’t even be recycled. You have a life like plain water. How dumb do you need to be to draw something ?”
So far, the biggest compliment Fu San had given was, “Your painting is like instant noodles’ flavouring landing on your shoes. It has taste, but you need to kneel down to lick it.”
The newbies’ expression changed from the initial confusion to anger. They knew that a lot of difficulties awaited them inside the investigation centre. However, this teacher didn’t teach them anything. He insulted them for no reason.
About ten minutes later, Fu San narrowed his eyes and lifted his head for the first time, “Who drew this?” He raised the paper. It had the painting of a cock with five ‘fingers’.
“I did.” Xiao Yong stood up. In the past, he thought the centre was mysterious, but after starting the training, he realised the centre was completely different from what he had thought.
“Why did you draw a chicken?” Fu San burned the painting before Xiao Yong’s eyes. “Did all the chickens you ate look ?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I merely drew what I believe myself to be. The cry of a cockerel wakes up the sun. I hope the sun will return to Han Hai’s sky. I will inherit the dreams of the seniors before me and fight the ghosts to my death!” Xiao Yong said loudly.
“Do you think the sun will come up for a chicken?” Fu San smiled, “Tonight, you will patrol the inside of this building with me.” Xiao Yang wanted to counter, but he was pulled back by the person beside him.
“I have nothing to teach you. After all, most of you will not survive tonight. My suggestion is for you to use this last day to do what you want to do. Talk to your family, eat something that is normally too expensive for you, have sex with random strangers and so on. If you can survive, then you’ve earned the right to take my lessons,” Fu San tossed all the paintings to the ground. All the paintings he had marked had their lines wiggling. They seemed to wish to crawl into the newbies’ hearts.
“Is that what a teacher should say?” Xiao Yong couldn’t stand it anymore and stood up again, “We joined the investigation centre without fear, and is this how we are being treated? Does the investigation centre treat us as cannon fodder?”
“Not fodder but fresh paint that can bring colours to this grey world.” Fu San stood up and headed to the next classroom. He didn’t care about the newbies. He categorised the ‘players’ into different grades based on his own standards. As a mega supervillain, Xia Yang felt no pressure at all.
“Death was the most correct decision I had ever made. Without the limitation of a shell, my soul can touch the real world. Everything is so beautiful.”
Xia Yang wanted to ‘collect’ a player group to join his team, but at that moment, his black band vibrated. The remaining investigators received an emergency order to gather. The message came from Han Hai Headquarters. However, a few seconds later, all the core members at the East City investigation centre received a reminder from Fu Ning to follow the original plan and ignore the headquarters if necessary.
Out of curiosity, Fu San came to the corner of the third floor and looked down at the first-floor lobby.
The investigators sent by the other centres gathered at the first-floor lobby. They seemed to be waiting for someone. Half an hour later, a black car stopped at the entrance. After the driver parked the car, he came down with an umbrella to open the passenger door to ensure the passenger wouldn’t get wet.
A pair of white gloves reached out of the car. A clean-looking young man got out. His uniform was different from the other investigators. He wore a badge of a brain inside a vat on his left shoulder. The white band that represented a researcher’s identity was bound around his wrist.
“Jing Tuoshen?” Fu San studied the man, “He is about 50 in real age but looks around 20…”
The investigators in the lobby automatically cleared a path. The young man walked to the end of the lobby. His driver and two security members dragged a giant chest and followed behind him. The investigators heard strange noises coming from the chest, and they wanted to know what was inside it. The driver opened the chest with the signal from the young man.
Zuo Bo, in a patient’s garb, was fixed inside the chest. A hole was punctured in his skull. Something was implanted through the hole.
The scene caused some newer investigators to shiver. However, they knew this was how the researchers conducted their work.
“Yesterday night, the headquarters had released a list of dangerous personnel. After one night, seven of them have been sent to the researcher’s lab centre. After our research, we confirm that all of them come from Han De Private School Class 13. Any student from that class will become the source of danger and attract the shadow to get close to them at night. They will trigger the anomalies.” The driver injected a large needle into Zuo Bo’s body. The pain caused his face to twist.
When Zuo Bo was in intense pain or anger, his shadow would twist. It was trying to spread and drag everyone around him into the shadow world.
Stepping on Zuo Bo’s shadow, the young man grabbed Zuo Bo by his skull and pressed his finger into the wound on the back of Zuo Bo’s head.
He admired Zuo Bo’s painful wails and said coolly, “The cleansing will continue. All the free investigators will join the other departments in the mission. No matter what you do, you have to find these people from Class 13 before dark.”
The security members projected the map of the east city on the lobby wall. All the main streets and buildings in the city had been sealed up. The headquarters had turned the east city into a prison. They swore to cleanse the tragedy there.
“For Han Hai, for our family! Go!”