Chapter 296: The CIA dared to steal from the Public Security Bureau. We will never allow it...
Unlike the friendly expression he showed when they met last time, Toru Amuro now seems to have turned on the defense + counterattack mode. If anyone pokes him, he will immediately extend his claws to fight back.
Zhu Fu Jingguang also felt his hostility, but for some reason, perhaps because this person really made him feel familiar, he did not feel scared or offended by his hostility.
"Morimoto Hiroshi is a pseudonym," said Morifushi Kagemitsu. "I remember it wasn't my name, but I can't recall the specific name—but I know you, senior, must know it."
Toru Amuro shook his head.
"You're too trusting," he said calmly, "both to Lin Xi and Punch. It's always been like this. That's why you can't go undercover."
Zhu Fu Jingguang was shocked, then delighted.
So, he really knew his own identity.
"You're right, Senior. But no matter what, I can't help but trust you," Zhu Fujingguang said. "Come to think of it, I don't think I should call you Senior. It feels weird to me—there should be a more intimate name between us—like..."
He stared at the blond man, and his memory instantly went back to the spring many years ago, and the many springs, summers, autumns and winters before that spring.
In countless flashbacks, he could see someone whenever he turned around, someone who had always shared countless hardships with him. He knew that someone who could wear countless masks, and also knew how sincere a heart lay beneath those masks...
That nickname he had called countless times...a nickname that was unique to them...
“Zero.”
He remembered, his name was Furuya Rei... and his name was Morobushi Kagemitsu.
“…” Amuro Toru clenched his jaw, was silent for a few seconds, then relaxed and sighed deeply.
"Isn't your memory almost back?" he complained. "I've been pretending to be a bad guy in front of you... Seeing me like this, you're not laughing in your heart, are you?"
"How is that possible?" Zhu Fujingguang smiled, his eyes curved. "I've only recently been able to recall some fragments of my past. However, I believe that if this trend continues, I will eventually regain all my memories."
"No wonder Punch handed you over to me at this time." Amuro Toru used the heated kettle to make tea. "As you gradually recover your memory, it will also be a dangerous thing for her in the organization."
"I just want to ask this." When talking about Punch, Zhu Fujingguang became more serious. "When I lost my memory, was it her who sent me to the United States? I am an undercover CIA agent now, was it also her-"
"What?" Amuro Toru's hands trembled as he made tea. "You're an undercover CIA agent?!!"
"Huh? Wasn't I an undercover agent originally?" Zhu Fujingguang scratched his head. "I remember you and I were organizing undercover operations together. But, strangely enough, I don't feel a sense of belonging to the CIA..."
"Hiro." Amuro Toru looked at him with burning eyes, "Are you interested in being a triple agent?"
Zhu Fujingguang: “……?”
Triple Agent??
Who, him?
He knew one side was the organization, the other side was the CIA. So what was the other side?
"Oh, forget it, I was just kidding." Between the public security and his friend, Amuro Toru finally chose his friend. "You'd better not be an undercover agent. I guess Punch means the same thing - she doesn't want you to get hurt again, I guess."
"So, what happened back then..."
"Well, let me explain briefly. Three years ago, we all thought you were dead," Amuro Toru said. "Your undercover identity was discovered (you were an undercover agent for the Japanese Public Security Bureau! Not the CIA!). As your predecessor and direct supervisor, she executed you personally. Now that I think about it, she must have found a scapegoat, disguised him to look like you, and captured Shuichi Akai and me as witnesses - to prove your death and her loyalty to the organization."
"Then she gave you a drug called APTX4869, which instantly regressed your body to the state it was in ten years ago. Three years ago, you were twenty-seven, but after taking the drug, your physical age became seventeen. You just said you were an undercover CIA agent? Haha... Punch must have reached some kind of agreement with the CIA, for example, allowing CIA undercover agents to operate within the organization in exchange for your safety. You should have been staying with the CIA for the past few years, right?"
Zhu Fushigi nodded. "If it weren't for this, I wouldn't have agreed to go undercover. The CIA forbids me from returning to Japan unless I'm undercover... I want to return home anyway."
Toru Amuro pushed the brewed tea in front of Keimitsu Morofushi.
"But there's a question here that I can't understand," said Toru Amuro. "If you're taking APTX4869 to reduce the risk of being recognized, then what's the purpose of giving you amnesia?"
Zhu Fu Jingguang lowered his eyes.
"I don't know," he said hesitantly, "but I can vaguely recall her emotions at that time... and some hallucinatory images. I'm not sure if they are real or have any reference value."
"Tell me about it, Hiro."
"I saw her covered in blood." Zhu Fujingguang lowered his head even more. "She also saw me die many times... She and I both died many times. That situation seemed to happen in a dream. Zero, I don't know, I..."
"Maybe it's not an illusion." Amuro Toru suddenly said, "I think I've experienced the feeling you described before."
"For a while, I kept dreaming of violent explosions, rising dust, and collapsing domes. Even after waking up, the feeling of reality still lingered in my skin and flesh... It was hard to believe it was just a dream. Moreover, in the dream, Punch was sitting next to me. We were in the same space, chatting to greet death."
The two fell silent.
"Mandela Effect?" Zhu Fu Jingguang laughed, trying to liven up the atmosphere. "Perhaps we have developed some collective memories that didn't exist before..."
"Memories..." Amuro narrowed his eyes. "Let's assume for now that all those dreams and hallucinations happened. They contradict our understanding—in the dream, Punch and we were both dead, and according to you, we died more than once, yet here we are, face to face, speaking as living people. If those dreams were reality, then that means we were once dead, but have come back to life."
"Ah, Zero." Zhu Fujingguang couldn't help but interrupt him, "People can't die and come back to life, right?"
"No. Maybe it's possible," said Amuro Toru. "I have a good relationship with Vermouth, and I once asked her about the organization's purpose. She said something that impressed me: 'We are both gods and demons. Because we want to reverse the flow of time and resurrect the dead.'"
"'Resurrect the dead'..." Zhu Fujingguang murmured, "In other words, Punch has the ability to resurrect the dead."
"This sounds incredible and unscientific, right?" Amuro Toru laughed. "But, Hiro, even you can stand in front of me ten years younger, which makes me feel that even the most unscientific things are possible in this world. Let's assume that she really has this ability. If so, the rest of the things we can't figure out can be explained. For example, why did she make you lose your memory? Why can't I remember the specific details before my death? Why do we all think that things that clearly happened are 'dreams'?"
"Our amnesia is one of the conditions for her to bring us back to life." Zhu Fujingguang's eyes lit up. "If we don't lose our memories before death, she won't be able to bring us back to life."
"I think so too." Amuro Toru nodded. "The next question is: What is the specific process of 'resurrection from the dead'? It's impossible for her to resurrect us as soon as we die, like the Messiah, because our memories so far are continuous - I mean, mine - there is no lost part in the middle. In other words, Punch turned back time to the state before we were injured, and then overwrote the memory of our death with our experiences before the injury."
"This... is even more incredible than coming back to life from the dead." Zhu Fujingguang said.
Amuro Toru smiled: "It's just a guess. And the part before 'resurrection from the dead', 'reversing the flow of time'... this is completely consistent with what Vermouth said, right?"
"That's true." Zhu Fujingguang pursed his lips. "In order to keep me alive, Punch must have flashed back many times... In those flashbacks, she was fatally wounded in different parts of her body several times."
Amuro Toru looked at him.
"Hiro, what do you think of Punch?"
"Ah, I..." Zhu Fujingguang's face turned red for some unknown reason.
What did he think of Punch? He thought... Punch lived up to its name, like some kind of syrupy, non-alcoholic juice. You thought it was going to destroy your taste buds, but in reality, it was just playing a little trick on your tongue.
Ah, what was he thinking? He couldn't even remember their time together, so how could he subconsciously use such an adjective to describe her? It wasn't objective at all!
"Although she holds a high position in the organization, she helps undercover agents like me. I think there may be a hidden story behind her life, and she could be used to win over someone."
"Really..." Amuro Toru pretended not to notice his friend Hong's ears.
Hey, why did he feel like his friend hadn't just physically regressed ten years? He was like a young boy, his face as red as a bubble teapot!
"What about Lin Xi?" he asked.
"Huh?" Zhu Fujingguang thought for a moment, "She's also related to the organization, right? I feel like she's someone I knew before. And it was because she gave me your photo that I gradually recalled our past..."
"Photo?" Amuro Toru narrowed his eyes.
"Hey, zero, it's just a Polaroid photo." Zhu Fujingguang reached into the inner pocket of his clothes, took out the Polaroid photo from his wallet, and handed it to Amuro Toru.
Amuro Toru knew where the photo came from at a glance.
Wasn't this the photo this guy secretly took when he and Lin Xi were sneaking into the factory on Yueying Island? ... He actually gave the photo to someone else... Really...
He didn't know why he felt a little annoyed: "Of course Lin Xi is related to the organization. To be more precise, she is related to Punch. That's why I asked you about your impression of them! Because Lin Xi and Punch, they are basically the same person!"
Zhu Fujing's eyes widened: "Huh?"
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