Chapter 37: Reaction Too Fast
An elevator long since out of service, a building whose staff had already been cleared out.
So, who—or perhaps what—would come out of that elevator?
Han Su did not know.
When he asked the question, the chubby boy visibly pursed his lips, but his expression did not suggest unwillingness to answer; rather, it seemed as if he didn’t know either.
Han Su somewhat understood the mission of disaster management bureau field agents: no matter how strange or absurd the task, they must carry it out strictly, and that was all that was required.
However, a thought suddenly struck him: if it was only about execution, perhaps people like Camouflage Man and strictly trained agents would be better suited.
Why would the bureau recruit outsiders?
Could it be related to some deeper issue?
Was his task simply to wait there, and if something emerged from the elevator, was he really supposed to open fire?
Or was it more than just shooting? Could the spell he had learned also be used in a critical moment?
Thinking this, Han Su’s head was about to explode.
Carrying out such a bizarre mission easily led to more questions piling up.
“Time’s up.”
But not all questions had answers.
The chubby boy answered when necessary and shook his head in silence when not, just as he had said.
It was only when the clock struck exactly ten that he spoke up, gripping his gun and aiming it squarely at the elevator, falling silent.
Han Su and the other trainees followed suit, turning in that direction and aiming at the elevator.
For a moment, the air seemed to grow still.
The lights around them were already dim, and now an awkward, rigid atmosphere permeated their surroundings.
The feeling made Han Su feel uneasy all over.
He stared fixedly at the elevator as the mission required, feeling that the more ordinary the thing, the stranger it seemed at that moment.
As if those elevator doors might open at any second, he even began to feel that no matter what crawled out, it would not surprise him.
But time ticked away, second by second.
Over the radio, every half hour they were reminded of the time and precautions.
The chubby boy responded when prompted, but Han Su and Camouflage Man remained silent, as if they had turned into statues in the night.
Their hands stayed on the gun grips, the cold metal gradually warmed, then dampened by sweat seeping from their palms.
The mission briefing did not forbid bathroom breaks.
But after the mission started, none of the trainees had moved.
The strangeness of the mission and the weight of the rating had pressed on them.
They stiffened, choosing to suffer silently and remain vigilant in the bizarre environment.
Until three o’clock in the morning.
Nothing appeared.
“Mission complete. All field agents return to base immediately.”
Only when the hoarse voice crackled through the radio did Han Su and the others exhale slightly.
He glanced at the chubby boy.
The boy had already stood.
Han Su then stretched his stiff waist and numb buttocks, his expression a mix of surprise and doubt.
“This is it?”
“Why… we watched all night and nothing happened?”
…
The other trainees shared the same thoughts; their strange gazes still kept them tense, unwilling to relax.
They all felt that the assessment couldn’t be this simple—something else must be going on.
“What did you expect?”
The chubby boy’s eyebrows twitched. He looked at Han Su oddly and said, “This kind of nothing-happening is our normal work, alright? If something really did happen, you wouldn’t know if you’d ever get off work.”
Han Su paused, then understood. He stood, pounded his waist, and said, “So, we can go back now?”
“How will our evaluation be determined?”
The chubby boy said, “I’ll submit a report based on your performance, but I’m not the one making the final call. All I know is that the mission is finally over. Let’s go get some late-night food.”
As he spoke, he tucked his radio into his backpack.
At this moment, perhaps because they had been staring at the elevator for too long and were too exhausted, everyone finally had the chance to move.
They quickly got up, stretched their backs, twisted their stiff spines, and coincidentally all turned around.5
Behind them, that unattended elevator—with its pitch-black control panel—suddenly flickered with a dim red light, without anyone noticing when it began.3
Like an eye silently opening in the dark.
The elevator cabin quivered slightly.
There was a faint sound of steel cables being pulled and bouncing back.
Silently, the elevator they had been guarding all night, somehow, without anyone noticing, slowly opened a narrow crack.
Inside, it was pitch-black. Nothing could be seen.
But a pale hand slowly reached out from within the elevator.
Slowly, slowly, it moved toward the shoulder of the chubby boy...
The Camouflage Man reacted the fastest. In the corner of their eyes, the moment he caught a glimpse of something pale at the elevator’s location, his spine jolted.
Everything happened almost by instinct—he suddenly turned, pulled the handgun from his waist, and gripped it with both hands.
“Bang!”
He fired.
In a flash of gunfire, he aimed at the hand emerging from the elevator and pulled the trigger repeatedly.
Bullets fired continuously, hitting the hand with precision.
Both the palm and the arm were shredded by the bullets.
The sharp gunshots pounded painfully against everyone’s eardrums.
They heard the gunfire, and even the bullets bouncing off the elevator’s metal doors and the cement floor nearby.
But they did not hear any screams.
During this process, not to mention Han Su, even the chubby boy beside him hadn’t reacted in time. He was so startled that he took two steps back while covering his ears.
By the time the Camouflage Man emptied the bullets in his gun, he finally stopped, replaced the magazine with one hand, all the while steadily pointing the gun at the elevator, his expression calm and composed.6
The gunfire also triggered the voice-activated light in the elevator room, illuminating the scene before them.
They saw that the out-of-service elevator door was now peppered with bullet holes and metal fragments.
The smoke from the gunfire still seemed to drift faintly in the air. But other than that, there was nothing else.
No elevator moving on its own.
No abnormal hand stretching out from inside.
The Camouflage Man stared for a long while. Once he confirmed that nothing else was amiss, he tilted his head slightly and asked the chubby boy, “What happened?”
“You reacted really fast…”
The chubby boy also stared at the elevator for a long while before slowly replying, “And your aim was accurate too. Especially… you weren’t afraid. When you saw that thing, you didn’t panic at all. Drawing, shooting, reloading—everything was incredibly steady.”
The Camouflage Man remained expressionless, as if such praise was meaningless to him.
Then the chubby boy shook his head and said, “In the report later, I’ll suggest giving you a B rating.”
The Camouflage Man didn’t catch it at first.
Once he realized what was said, his stiff, clay-like face finally showed some reaction.
He blinked and turned stiffly, “What?”
“The mission’s over...”
The chubby boy was startled by his reaction and took half a step back, but still said, “Since the mission is over, everything that happens here is no longer our responsibility. We should retreat as quickly as possible.”
“Even if you observe an anomaly, the first response should be to report to the team leader and wait for orders before firing. Isn’t that right?”
“All of this is clearly written in the regulations. Didn’t you remember?”
The Camouflage Man still looked extremely bewildered and slowly shook his head.
Out of that thick stack of regulations, he had only memorized two sections.
The chubby boy wasn’t surprised. He shook his head and said, “Even if you didn’t memorize it, your instructor should have at least reminded you of two words.”
“Follow orders!”
His cautious gaze swept over the other trainees and he said, “During the mission, everything we do must be authorized by me.”
“So…”
He spoke all this in one breath, feeling he had explained clearly enough, then nodded at the Camouflage Man and said, “At most, I can only recommend a B rating in my report.”
“You all are different...”
He looked at the other trainees and said, “You didn’t break any rules during the mission. When faced with an unexpected but unclear anomaly, you also drew your guns, but seeing that I didn’t give the command, you didn’t shoot.”
“Very good performance.”
“……”
Hearing this, everyone couldn’t help but smile. But the smiles were a bit forced:
Is it possible... we just didn’t react?
“But the Disaster Management Bureau is really something. For field operatives, just understanding the procedures is enough. It’s just a grunt job, yet they actually used a hallucination to test you all...”
The chubby boy muttered while packing up his gear. He casually turned around and said, “Let’s go. Time for a late-night snack.”
Many of the others were secretly relieved, even a bit gleeful as they looked at the Camouflage Man. Just as they were about to follow him out—
“Ding.”
A clear and long chime rang out behind them.
The chubby boy froze and turned around, only to see all four elevators simultaneously flickering red, the displayed floor number now showing they had arrived at their location.
His expression turned a little odd: “Did one of you get handsy and press the elevator button?”
No one nearby said a word.
Everyone just inexplicably felt their bodies go stiff.
Inside the elevator shaft, it was as if winter had suddenly arrived.
An invisible chill had already started creeping up their backs.