fictionpage Chapter 1 First Meeting
Chapter 1 First Meeting
In March of 1949, with the conclusion of the three major battles, the situation in Shanghai was turbulent, and the secret agents of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics entered their final frenzy!
Inside an apartment on Musen Road.
Lin Wan was dressed in a black mandarin jacket and cloth shoes, with a felt hat on his head, looking like a small-time gangster from Shanghai.
He loaded the bullets one by one into the magazine and tucked the M1911 pistol into his waistband.
I'm going to the black market tonight to buy medicine, and I'm likely to be questioned by secret agents, so I have to be careful.
He adjusted his hat in front of the mirror, then resolutely turned the doorknob and walked out of the bedroom.
suddenly!
The room was bright as day. A young man wearing a vest and shorts was leisurely leaning back on the sofa, his legs propped up on the coffee table, smoking.
She was humming a strange tune: "A little girl who eats rice, can eat a whole basketful a day..."
"No!" Lin Wan was blinded by the bright light, and her right hand instantly went to the gun handle at her lower back.
As a professionally trained underground party member, I am extremely sensitive to changes in the environment.
Sensing something amiss, they immediately took precautions.
It's 8 PM now, and it's completely dark.
Even if the living room lights are on, they should be warm yellow incandescent bulbs, not brighter fluorescent bulbs.
The sudden appearance of a strange man made her more alert.
A question arose in my mind: Was it the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics? Or the Party's intelligence agency?
As her eyes adjusted to the bright light, Lin Wan was able to see the furnishings in the room clearly.
The space, which is about 20 square meters, contains a beige sofa, a white striped square coffee table, cigarettes, and a large glass ashtray.
A black-framed object was hanging on the wall next to us, emitting strange singing.
At that moment, the young man standing by the coffee table also saw her and muttered, "Thief!"
Then he grabbed the large glass ashtray from the coffee table and pounced on it without saying a word.
If a thick glass ashtray were to hit you on the head, you would definitely get a bloody head wound!
boom!
Faced with the sudden attack, Lin Wan didn't bother to distinguish whether the attackers were from the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics or the Party's Intelligence Bureau; he decisively drew his gun and pulled the trigger.
After a deafening gunshot, the glass ashtray shattered instantly.
The young man who had rushed over also stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide with disbelief.
A gun that can shatter a one-centimeter-thick glass ashtray instantly is definitely a real gun!
If this happened in free America, where shootings happen every day, it would be considered basic stuff.
But if this happened in China, where guns are banned, it would be an unbelievable event.
If you were to walk down the street in America with a gun, pedestrians would be terrified and avoid you.
But if you walk down the street with a gun in China, people will just treat it like a toy and won't even give it a second glance.
Even if a deafening gunshot is heard, people would only assume it's someone setting off firecrackers or a car tire bursting.
They wouldn't even associate it with gunshots.
Chen Huai'an held half of a broken glass ashtray in his hand, his palm numb from the impact.
"Real guns!"
As a single young man living alone, I know very well that only a real gun can make such a deafening noise, because a typical otaku would only let out a low growl when firing a gun.
A thug dressed as a member of the Axe Gang, with a felt hat covering a third of his face, entered his rented room carrying a gun. Such a niche vocabulary!
Chen Huai'an hurriedly threw away the half-smoked ashtray in his hand: "There's three thousand yuan hidden behind the TV, take it! Don't worry, I definitely won't call the police!"
When speaking, he spreads his hands, striking a pose that's very straightforward and absolutely cooperative.
The other side has a gun, a real gun. Only a fool would risk their life at this moment.
He earns 5800 yuan a month, but after paying more than 2000 yuan for rent and utilities, and then deducting food and drink expenses, he's broke by the end of the month.
This three thousand yuan was the prize money I won from buying lottery tickets last month!
It was hidden behind the television set, meant for emergencies.
Now, if someone breaks into your home with a gun, it's a real emergency.
But I also found it strange. Usually, these large-scale armed robberies are only for rich people. Only someone insane would rob a rental house in an old neighborhood.
Moreover, upon closer inspection, one can see that the high, straight nose and delicate skin under the felt hat clearly indicate that he is a tomboy dressed as a woman.
Chen Huai'an blinked, vaguely sensing that the other person didn't seem like a thief.
At the same time, Lin Wan was also observing the young man opposite her and the situation inside the room.
The man was in his early twenties, tall and handsome, and his clothes had a cartoon duck pattern printed on them.
Especially when she saw the TV hanging on the wall, following the direction of his finger, her big, watery eyes widened in surprise.
It's actually in color, and it's at least 30 inches!
Lin Wan remembered seeing a television when she was studying in France two years ago. It was the size of a floor-standing cabinet, with a 7-inch screen in the middle, and the screen was black and white.
The enormous television screen, at least thirty inches in size, was simply astonishing!
But the television in front of me was thinner than a book, and its vibrant colors were indistinguishable from reality.
This is definitely not your own living room!
And judging from what the other party said, it seemed that they regarded him as a robber?
Lin Wan took a barely perceptible step back, pressing her back against the wall to avoid being attacked from behind.
He was alert, ready to pull the trigger at the slightest sign of something amiss.
Their eyes met, and both of them looked puzzled.
The air seemed to freeze, with only the sound of the news broadcast echoing in the room.
"...A grand military parade will be held in Tiananmen Square tomorrow, September 3, 2025, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the War of Resistance against Japan."
Instantly, a look of horror flashed in Lin Wan's wide eyes.
Her public identity was that of a reporter for the Shen Bao newspaper, and she was most sensitive about dates.
This morning's front-page headline was still about her.
I clearly remember that today is March 6th, 1949 (the 38th year of the Republic of China), which is 3 in the Gregorian calendar.
But the time I just heard on TV was September 2025.
It's 76 years different from the year I remember!
"What... what's going on...?" Lin Wan's heart was in turmoil, and even her right hand holding the gun was trembling slightly.
Staring at the man opposite him, he asked again, "What...what year is it now?"
Chen Huai'an blinked, a look of confusion on his face.
I can't understand why someone would ask such a strange question.
Although curious about why the other person was dressed like a member of the Shanghai Axe Gang, he was so excited that his body was trembling slightly.
If someone doesn't even know what year it is, are they an idiot?
However, with the dark muzzle of a gun pointed at him, he didn't have time to think much.
He hurriedly said, "Didn't they just say on TV that it's 2025 now?"
Hey... bro, be careful not to accidentally discharge the weapon, I promise I won't fight back!
"Could we put the gun down first? Your hands are shaking so much, I'm really scared."
Gurgle.
Chen Huai'an swallowed hard, his heart pounding with panic.
Anyone would be terrified to have a dark gun barrel pointed at them.
What's more, the little hand holding the gun was trembling constantly, as if it might accidentally discharge at any moment, which made it even more frightening!
"2025..." Lin Wan murmured to herself, her eyes filled with confusion and bewilderment.
How could simply walking from the bedroom to the living room take 76 years?
The giant color television playing the video and the towering buildings outside the window all prove that this is the future!
Lin Wan took a deep breath, her long experience on the covert front allowing her to force herself to calm down.
The most important thing right now is to find out some useful information!
He slowly lowered his gun, speaking in as gentle a tone as possible, "If I said... I meant no harm, would you believe me?"
The gunpowder still smelled of gunpowder on the pistol, and even he himself found it absurd to say such a thing.
Unexpectedly, the man opposite him nodded in agreement.
"I believe you!"
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
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