Following closely behind Hu Wenjun, Pei Yan listened patiently as he introduced, "You’ve seen these two in the warehouse before; this is Elder Lin, and this one is Wang Wenze, who is a bit older than you. You’ll be in contact for a long time, so just call him Brother Wang."
Pei Yan hastily greeted and bowed to the two, as the four of them entered the building and took the freight elevator all the way down. Hu Wenjun glanced at Pei Yan’s excited face reflected in the elevator door and asked with a smile, "Looking forward to it?"
"Yeah!" Pei Yan nodded like a pecking chick, fantasizing in his mind about the elevator doors opening to reveal a scene from a movie with all kinds of high-tech equipment, a busy crowd, and himself soon to become one of the capable and handsome agents.
"I hope you won’t feel too uncomfortable later." Wang Wenze, who was leaning against the elevator next to Pei Yan, said quietly while adjusting his hairstyle.
Pei Yan glanced at Wang Wenze, confused, wondering, "Uncomfortable, why would it be uncomfortable?"
Ding, after a slight shake, the elevator doors slowly opened. Hu Wenjun stepped aside, allowing Elder Lin and the others to exit the elevator first. The dimly lit corridor was hot, humid, and filled with the musty smell of moldy objects, quickly pulling Pei Yan back to reality from his fantasy.
The corridor wasn’t very long, and before long, they reached the end. Hu Wenjun casually pushed open an unlocked door at the end and walked in first.
Glancing around the empty room devoid of any furnishings, Pei Yan then looked at Hu Wenjun, who was kneeling on one knee with a hand touching the ground. As his palm made contact, faint yellow lights appeared beneath his feet.
"Isn’t this a bit too rudimentary? Aren’t you worried someone will accidentally wander in?" Pei Yan asked in surprise, looking back at the door that wasn’t even locked.
Elder Lin, who rarely spoke along the way, patiently explained, "Budget is limited, and besides, what’s the point of making it fancy? This place isn’t accessible to the average person. You might not have noticed when pressing the elevator button earlier, but the button leading to this floor is invisible to outsiders, more like a small diversion."
"Even if someone does accidentally end up here, they’d just think they’ve stumbled into a storage room. This room’s setup can’t be activated by anyone outside our agency; normally, it’s just an empty room. Most of the Teleportation Array rooms arranged by our agency across the country are ." Wang Wenze chimed in, hands in pockets, before taking out a piece of gum and handing it to Pei Yan. "Chew it; it’ll help you later."
Taking the gum and putting it in his mouth, Pei Yan chewed mechanically, bewildered, and asked, "Teleportation Array?"
"Yes, it’s only for internal agency use, since spatial rifts could occur anywhere in the country. With our limited manpower, we can’t cover everywhere, so we have to rely on this technology borrowed from other-dimensional planes. However, to use the Teleportation Array in our world, we’ve modified it so that only those with internal energy sources can be teleported." Wang Wenze explained, then both he and Elder Lin gave Pei Yan, who was in shock, a meaningful look.
Moments later, a huge circle of light filled the entire room under Hu Wenjun’s continuous energy input, appearing before Pei Yan, inscribed with all sorts of indecipherable characters and dazzling designs.
Hu Wenjun stood up, wiped the sweat off his forehead, nodded at Elder Lin, and then turned to Pei Yan, instructing, "During teleportation, you may feel some discomfort. Elder Lin will hold your hand, and no matter how painful, you must not resist, nor let go of Elder Lin’s hand! Do you understand? Absolutely not allowed!"
"Oh!" Pei Yan saw Hu Wenjun’s exceptionally serious expression, knowing he wasn’t joking.
As they spoke, Elder Lin had already grasped Pei Yan’s right hand. His thin, dried hand emitted a strength inconsistent with his appearance, gripping Pei Yan’s hand like iron pincers. Remembering Hu Wenjun’s words, Pei Yan silently endured, chewing the gum in his mouth to distract himself.
Once ready, they stood within the Teleportation Array, and at Elder Lin’s signal, Hu Wenjun crouched again, hands to the ground. Instantly, the room flared with a dazzling light, and amidst the dazzling radiance, the four figures gradually blurred and vanished.
Three minutes later, the room’s light gradually faded, and the runes on the ground dimmed until they disappeared back into the floor. The room returned to silence, as if nothing had ever happened here.
Simultaneously, in a secret room in the underground parking lot of a capital city office building, Elder Lin crouched down, looking at Pei Yan, who lay beside him with eyes rolling, convulsing, and foaming at the mouth, yet a smile crept onto his face, "Sure enough, even though his internal energy source is different from ours, he can still withstand the pressure of energy from another dimension. Our judgment was correct."
Hu Wenjun frowned, "It’s just that the reaction is a bit strong..."
"Captain Hu, it’s just a bit strong, but actually, anyone’s first time using the Teleportation Array is similar. I remember I wasn’t any better off back then; a few more tries, and it gets better." Wang Wenze bent down, forcibly prying Pei Yan’s hand off Elder Lin’s, lifted him onto his back, and said with a smile.
"Alright, you take him back to the dormitory first. I checked earlier; there’s nothing wrong with his body. Let him rest for a while to recover, and his training will begin the day after tomorrow." Elder Lin patted Pei Yan’s back, advising.
When Pei Yan woke up again, he felt like his whole body had been taken apart. Though the entire teleportation process was maybe just a minute long, it felt interminable, with the pain of tearing flesh and soul making his body spasm uncontrollably. Fortunately, at his most painful moment, a warm current surged from within his body, enveloping him and helping withstand the unbearable pain.
Forcing himself up and taking deep breaths, Pei Yan leaned on the bed edge to stand but collapsed when his legs gave way. Just then, Wang Wenze, holding food, opened the door and returned to the dormitory. Seeing the scene, he promptly set down the tray on the table, hurried over to help Pei Yan back to the bed. "Hey, my brother, although we’re at the capital’s foot, such a grand gesture from you is too much for me."
"Ah! Are we at the capital already? What time is it now?" Pei Yan asked in shock, twisting his sore neck.
"Yes, just noon. I just finished eating in the cafeteria and didn’t know what you’d like, so I brought some Northeast specialties, fried meat slices, and triple delight stir-fry for you to make do with." Wang Wenze lay on his bed with interest, sizing up his new roommate.
"Oh, thank you, thank you! Wow, now I understand what you meant about feeling uncomfortable in the elevator! How come you all seem fine?"
"This is your first teleportation; everyone goes through it. With more experience, it’ll get better."
Pei Yan nodded in sudden realization. Once he felt his strength almost fully returned, he placed his hands on the bed, stood shakily, walked around a bit, and then plopped down at the table, sighing in relief.
After all the commotion, Pei Yan’s hunger was unbearable, so he unabashedly grabbed some chopsticks and began to eat heartily. While eating, he asked, "Brother Wang, when can I go on missions with you?"
"Ah, what, you want to go on missions?"
"Yeah, isn’t that what I was recruited for?" Pei Yan put down his chopsticks, swallowed the food in his mouth, and asked, looking at Wang Wenze as if he were a fool.
"Hey buddy, it’s good to be enthusiastic about work." Wang Wenze sat up, patted Pei Yan’s shoulder, and then, adopting a wise tone, said, "But we won’t send untrained recruits to the battlefield as cannon fodder. So, pray, for you’ll undergo a transformation-like training."