Now, the question of 'most dead, few alive' is once again in Martin's mind. As an anti-religious man, Martin felt that any reasonable person would find the rule unreasonable. Nor did he think it was for any diabolical reason. Rather, he wondered why there should be such a rule as the old priest might have described as diabolical. In a society where people are encouraged to strive for greatness, it certainly seems extremely contradictory. For example, in the face of the barriers to survival caused by ageism, it is impossible to change one's age by trying! In particular, if most people are only getting closer to death by working, what hope is there for them to work hard?
How long, Martin recalls, has it been since he asked that question? In his native England, at least, the question of age 35 seemed to be rarely heard. Even in Japan, where there are limits on the age at which people can work, no one over 35 has trouble finding a job. A Japanese friend of his, over drinks in an izakaya, told Martin that most people have little chance of getting rich in Japan, because there are so many policies to limit the widening gap between rich and poor. It is often preached that work is the cornerstone of stability in all people's lives, and hard work is a noble artisan spirit. As a defense of that spirit, the government undoubtedly provides stability, which is seen as essential to social stability. After Japan's experience with the bubble economy, however, that Japanese friend's attitude towards the current system is somewhat ambiguous, especially when it comes to the topic of getting rich, and even a little complaining. Still, Martin could imagine how a country like Japan, which relies heavily on fisheries and imports and exports, would be devastated if the 35-year-old age limit issue prevented workers from working for an income, depriving ordinary people of hope in life. Aside from the so-called developed countries in Europe or the Americas,even Thailand and India, where age discrimination in the workplace is rarely heard, age are key. Even a killer like Martin can see that, unless there is way of providing an way to support people's life needs freely, providing people with a fair way to earn a living is essential for social stability. This balance reflects the level to which human civilization has developed. This is the basic common sense of any social economist.
When it comes to solve certain age restrictions on employment, countries around the world have plenty of experience. In addition to strong legal measures such as fines, labor unions can sample the proportion of the age structure of each company, exercise management control, and limit income differences within companies, promoting a truly free market economy and reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Instead of using age as a standard of qualification, give everyone a fair shot, no discrimination, and so on.
Martin would love to forget the number 35 and stop thinking about issues that are not relevant to his task. It soon became apparent that doing so was futile. Especially recently, he had been feeling an indescribable unsecured feeling and uncontrollable anxiety, the exhaustion of the day's work and the endless internal conflict of the company, which had strengthened the pressure of losing his source of funds. Along with the slight man in the attic, there was some suspicion that came out of him, a strange feeling that often gave Martin nightmares. Every time he awoke from his dreams, Martin began to have uncontrollably vague thoughts and even lost sleep,he had to begin taking some sleeping pills .
In thinking about it, Martin had reason to believe that the strange force that was closing in on him must have a power enough to compete with an entire nation, which even the Illuminati might not have. He even recalled the stories his father had told him before his death, about the gods and devils mentioned in ancient Chinese myths. But he tried to push those absurd thoughts out of his mind. He knew that his state had become so bad that he often felt as if someone had invaded his thoughts, and even had the illusion that he was being watched from an abyss. After beginning to hear voices slightly and talking to himself uncontrollable in his room a few times, the unexplainable feelings led Martin to suspect that the power might come from the devil, although this was also what Martin intuitively told himself. Those logically unexplainable phenomenon, at least, can be explained or acknowledged in the old priest's diabolic view. However, his reasonable mind still told himself, "That is impossible, because there is no God or devil, it must be the Illuminati, the remnants of the Nazis, or..." . Before long, the situation became unmanageable, and it had never occurred to him that these thoughts would post any real threat to him, much less that they caused him to hallucinate.
One night, a vague consciousness took him to a place very similar to the present world, and he did not know how long ago a dark shadow had been floating behind him. By the time Martin realized it, as if it were too late, the foul-smelling shadow had completely enveloped him. Though he had struggled with it once, it was evidently of no use. As he began to find it harder to breathe, Martin, perhaps by a combination of good sense and good fortune, almost relying on his instinct for survival, touched an object on the table. He caught hold of it and threw it behind him with all
his might. It was at this crack that Martin woke up. Then he looked at the object he had smashed, a ceramic cup, which now lay in pieces. Martin broke out in a cold sweat.
Such nightmares plagued Martin for some time afterwards. It was as if he had been under some kind of curse ever since he had come to this place. However, he would have liked to have gone back to England to breathe the fresh air of home and enjoy the simple relationships there again. However, he was not willing to let his mission end. He wanted to carry on. But even his iron will was tested again by reality. Around this time, the company he pretended working at was about to make another round of layoffs, and Martin didn't know when he would be on the list.
Martin seemed to feel besieged from all sides, but he still didn't want to call the organization and ask for any help. Because he began to feel that the problem he was facing was not something that could be solved simply by human power. More and more he felt that unnatural force, more and more manifest, and he began to feel a little suspicious. He knew that he could not tell the organization or anyone else what he felt -- that telling them would probably result in backtalk or even ridicule.
Martin began searching through local rumors, gossip, and other stories of similar experiences to find out the truth. He wasn't disappointed. There were a lot of them. There is no shortage of accounts of ghosts and even conspiracy theories behind irrational anxiety, such as insomnia, addiction, ghosts and so on. But for many people, the phenomenon and the troubles it brings are just a part of life. He also saw in this part of the narrative,there are some discussions of God and the soul. Martin is no stranger to cultures that deal with religion. In order to feel the precious spiritual comfort from religious culture, he once even tried to pray like those who have found faith, hoping that he would be able to escape from these invisible troubles and chaos as soon as possible.
It must be said, Martin had grown increasingly resentful of his work here. The experience here was a purgatory compared to back home: the repetitive, fruitless meetings, the culture of endless overtime working, and the Wolf culture encouraged by some leaders. He desperately wanted to kill the stupid boss who constantly wore down all these subordinates, including himself. In his opinion, this superior of his is obviously worse than some of his fellow killers who only work for the bounty. At least those killers sometimes gave their targets a quick death, rather than a soul-starting torment. There were even moments when he began to wonder if he was doing in a living hell. For now, he can only suppress his anger because he still needs the income from his job.
Although most of his feelings are one of hatred, more often he feels weirdness. The company itself looks like in a curse: His colleagues, who looked miserable and twisted during the day, began to look pale and lifeless at night. In particular, he increasingly noticed that employees over the age of 35 were slowly disappearing from the company. They were leaving so quietly, most of the time without saying goodbye. So where did they go? And what are they doing now? These strange phenomena made Martin instinctively aware that the office was becoming more and more dangerous, and after the experience, he had to start to trust his intuition.
At 12 o 'clock one night, Martin began to feel dizzy and began to vomit. He suspected that his body was reacting to several days of all-nighters. When the boss ordered Martin to finish the copy before 9 a.m. the next day,and he used the midlife crisis threat to do the order, Martin couldn't hold back his anger. He couldn't understand why these people were so stupid and didn't appreciate life. From a scientific point of view, Martin is no doubt, whether the people here been infected with a new unknown virus, for the relationship between the parasite and the host, since the previous outbreak of the new coronavirus, he also has a new understanding, at least from the behavioral pattern, Martin felt that this asshole is very matching. The carrier of this virus, often inadvertently spread, will everyone, even including themselves to the grave, and some viruses are worse, they will control the host, in order to achieve the purpose of reproduction. If such a virus exists. Martin also suspected that he had been infected, so that he could feel hovering on the edge of life. However, he later contradicted his conclusion because it was difficult for him to think of work culture as the virus. But he also knew that it was getting harder for him to understand, especially when, for a moment, When Martin was in anger, he appeared to see a huge shadow behind his boss, a parasitic phantom that was moving back and forth between the body and nose of that chattering, performance-talking boss. But when Martin rubbed his eyes tried to see what the shadow looked like. The shadow had vanished again.
Martin didn't want to associate any of this with himself, as if he'd seen a ghost story happening in the office. But he had to admit that many things seemed to be different during this period of his growing weakness. It seemed to him that the nights were becoming strangely quiet, and that shadows, like death, appeared and appeared in corners. The day, too, seemed to lose its common brightness, and even the warm sunshine became cold and bleak. Just when everything seems to be getting weirder and weirder, an incident makes Martin see the "dawn" again. It was a Sunday evening and he was wandering around the block alone trying to relax himself. Martin walked into a neighborhood. He remembered these days that he had been waiting here, hoping to see the mysterious man appear before. To his surprise, this time, he saw the man! At the moment, the man was moving around like a dead man walking, limping. For such a golden opportunity, Martin could not pass it up. He followed the man carefully. Although Martin did not think himself is slow, the strange thing was that the movement of the strange wriggling manner of the man which should have been slow became faster and faster, and from time to time the unidentified liquid dripping from his body to the ground made the man, who was glinting in the street lamp, look like a strange slug, and even gradually distanced himself from Martin at one point. Martin continued to pick up his pace, following the man around the neighborhood a few times. He wanted to see where the man was going, and just when he thought he had an idea, a crowd of square dancers of Chinese Auntie suddenly appeared around a corner and swarmed toward him like an avalanche. Martin was all prepared, but somehow he was still knocked to the ground. One of the chubby Chinese Auntie in the group finally noticed him and expressed her concern in a very warm tone: "Young man, are you all right? You look very weak. Do some exercises with us."
In spite of his anger, Martin felt a sudden wonder. When did his body become so weak? Why
were the old ladies so strong? As he looked carefully at the group of Aunties who seemed to radiate infinite power at night, he began to suspect that these bouncing people did not seem human. He had heard reports that some of the local people in England suspected that some of their neighbors were devils dressed in human skin. At the time, he didn't believe it.
But the worst of all was the accident, when he once again lost track of the mysterious man who disappeared in an instant. Faced with this opportunity lost in front of him, a succession of changes and his own exhaustion, Martin's anger was uncontrollable at this time, "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" 'he cried, and began punching and kicking uncontrollably into the air. His action was greeted by some onlookers, some people were talking around, some people began to take photos, but Martin did not feel that he was strange at the moment, In his view: these odd videos people hung their head to look down at on their phones, oddballs dancing and prancing about, and strange mutterings punctuated by loud noises and whispers.
Until he had calmed down, or had exhausted his strength, he broke away from the people around him who were filming video on their phones and sat down in a public seat in a secluded place. As he watched the evening unfold, he felt exhausted.
He looked back on his career and realized that he had never been in such a mess. At this point, he began to wonder about many things: He thought about the words of the feng shui master he had met on the plane to Hong Kong. His intuition told him that it was probabilistically certain that none of this was that simple. It was as if he had been caught by something he had never believed in, and he had some fear. Because he had killed a lot of people over the past few years. Although he thinks that most of the people he killed were bad or sinful people. But he thought about the Bible stories his parents had told him when he was a boy, about the Ten Commandments. Even his mother, who had joined his father in becoming a Christian, had told him about the ancient wisdom of China that causes-and-consequences. Now he seemed to be undergoing a test, because everything was going so unbelievably wrong. He felt that he was growing old in an imperceptible way, as if some strange object were sucking away his strength and life, even his soul. He even wondered if age could change depending on location, such as scientific reports that people who live in the middle of the Earth tend to burn off energy faster than those who live in colder regions. Is 35 really old in here? Is this the stage of life where he should enter early retirement? 'But even if I retires, will there be a pension? 'Martin smiled wryly. Reflecting on his experiences these days, he must admit his lack of knowledge of local law and culture. He believes that if he had been born here, he would never have chosen his current career. He was not sure that the gods would use repeated setbacks and barricade to persuade men to change their ways. At least he knew that his long-dead parents would never have wanted him to go down that path he chose. Because they were real people of faith. "Maybe it's all fate", he laughs ruefully again.
For the moment, Martin did not want to think much about what was true or false in his thoughts. By this time he was feeling quite weak. He just wanted to stay here quietly and close his eyes until dawn came.
Half asleep, Martin seemed to feel the people around him thinning. The night was getting late. But he did not want to go back now. He did not want to go back to the old bungalow that he shared with the thin-little man. He always felt that since the communication with the that man, it was as if he had fallen into a strange swamp, no matter how he struggled, in the ominous mire, he would only sink deeper and deeper and could not extricate himself. This was how he wanted to sleep in the streets now, as free as the vagabonds he had seen in London. As for who the target of the mission, nicknamed "the 35-year-old Devil," was, Martin no longer wanted to doubt, he wanted to believe that it was the mysterious man who had just disappeared again. The stealthy weirdo who's been elusive and hard to track since the start. Who else could it be but this guy? But he could not help feeling that something was wrong. Since his arrival, Martin's trail has been mostly broken, and the constant distractions and troubles, the unexplained phenomena, have debilitated him. 'Is that man really a ghost? Something tells him there is unnatural weirdness here. His reason tells him that there are no ghosts, but his reason tells him that he needs to trust his intuition.
And so, in the cycle and silence of meditative thought, Martin could only feel that it was getting colder around him, that the air was beginning to freeze, that the sky seemed to him to have turned an eerie green, and that the earth began to tremble as if something ancient were coming. In Martin's dimmed consciousness, figures seemed to be slowly gathering from a distance, drawing closer. However, Martin's body seemed bound, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not move it. Except for the fact that his eyelids could be opened slightly, his body no longer seemed to belong to him. He had heard such things before, he had had some experience of the ghostly oppression or said as sleep paralysis paralysis of the body. But every time before, he had struggled to wake up from it. This made him not believe in them at all, but this time he felt something completely different. He had not felt such fear since his first assassination. He had thought that there was nothing after death, for he believed that death was peace, death was mercy. But now his view wavered because he felt threatened by unnatural forces. He knew that there must be something in the unnatural forces that he had never experienced in his life. Or were they facts that he had forgotten? He felt something terrifying approaching, and with a cold chill he vaguely felt something cold and black touch his face. At last Martin's mental limit was approaching, and perhaps the very edge of his mental limit aroused in Martin some strength for survival, he suddenly opened his eyes with all his might. Through his bloodshot eyes he saw the twinkling and whirling stars of space, and at the same time he saw around him several men in strange uniforms and hoods. Then he noticed that their outstretched black tentacles twisted were touching his face. Such absolute fear! Because what made him lose his voice in fear was that he saw those faces, flat and without any features! He was utterly despaired. "Devils..." He cried out, struggled to his feet, and ran away as fast as he could. He did not dare to look back until the blur in his eyes became clear again. At this time, he could no longer run, and felt lucky -- those "things" did not chase him.
Back in his room, Martin closed the door behind him. He did not dare to loose his tighten nerve. For he knew that the things were real, and that they were upon him. The night was unusually quiet, and Martin repeated every prayer he could remember of until the day came.
At 9 a.m. the next morning, right in the middle of business hours, Martin called his assassin organization, which he knew had ironclad office rules of not pick of phone until working time. Over the phone, Martin reported the situation in the code words. He could more or less predict the surprised look on the face of his familiar operator on that line. But he decided he had to go back. He did not want to stay in this place any longer, and he did not care if his mission failed. For he knew that there were more terrible things in this world than death. One by one, he began to piece together the pieces of data and information, and he was certain that there must be some powerful forces lurking here, though he reluctantly described them as a kind of evidence of God and devil co-existing. Of course, deep down, he also had his reasons for not wanting to leave Shanghai -- at least, he couldn't deny the beautiful scenery and street food -- but he knew he wouldn't be lucky to enjoy them. After being targeted by these things, he would only be unpeaceful to stay here. He thought it impossible to deal with them with his present abilities, not even the killer group could do that. But at least he believes he will be safe back home. Because there, he never felt that curse unnatural. "Maybe God will watch over me more there!" Martin remembered how the old priest had told him that his parents would look after him in heaven, including the good Lord, and he was sure of it. At the same time, Martin did not hesitate to send his resignation letter to the superior of his Shanghai office, and in the letter he kindly warned him to be careful of the devil's shadow behind him. He expected that the superior would dismiss the remark as a joke, but Martin believed that he had done all what he could do .
Before leaving, he thought about it for a long time and decided he wanted to say goodbye to his upstairs neighbor. He tried knocking without success and assumed that the little man had not been in the house during the day. He returned the keys to the that old auntie who lent him the house and made up some rent for what he thought was a breach of contract. The old auntie lady was very kind. She did not charge more. She was just sorry that Martin couldn't stay longer in Shanghai, and when Martin talked to her about the skinny man upstairs, she told him there was no one there. She dimly remembered that there was young man who had left the city many years ago. It was quite possible that the old woman had forgotten him. And she told Martin that, if her memory was correct, she had heard that the man had died on the way to his homeland. At first, Martin thought that the old aunt, who was casually dressed and did not seem to know how to groom herself, was just making a joke. Until he saw the look of horror on the auntie's face when she heard Martin tell her about his relationship with that man during this period. Once more Martin was frightened. He had decided that he would never set foot on this land again as long as he lived. For here, indeed, he had met a ghost and devil.
The day after arriving in Hong Kong from Shanghai, Martin sat at seat in the economy class of a flight from Hong Kong to England. Before the plane took off, he briefly explained the situation to the head office in code. When he got back, he was going to write a report on his failure to complete the mission, and consider it his retirement report from his career as a killer. He even planned to end the report with a strong recommendation that the organization should not accept any more assassination missions to Shanghai in the future, because it was too dangerous. He thought, though, that headquarters would think he was crazy. Through the warm sunlight of the plane window, Martin felt the warmth of deja vu. He was going home at last. With the roar of the plane curling upward, Martin felt as if he were rising above the concrete floor into the sunny clouds, and he was relieved at last. He did not know if he could be saved, but at least he felt he had made the right choice this time. He even forgot to ask for a glass of wine or any fruit. He just closed his eyes and felt as if he had reached the blue sky and the white clouds and then fell asleep.
At this moment, in a distant plane from Hong Kong to Shanghai, an old man opened a crumpled morning newspaper and listened to the radio on the plane: "... Shanghai's unemployment rate continues to rise, many people choose to leave their city to other parts of China, or sea to find work opportunities, especially, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan are increasingly hungry for Chinese talent. since last year, while local institutions in various countries are absorbing talents, illegal migration policy of the black account management has become increasingly strict, experts warn that before entering each region, Please pay attention to handle the relevant procedures, and for any inspection of law enforcement personnel, please cooperate. With the handling of the black account found in Hong Kong before...
... With the economic recovery, the employment situation is expected to improve significantly in the second half of the year. However, compared with the past, flexible employment may become the mainstream in the future, which may provide some new options for those who used to work overtime on the Internet company, those who can not get home or even sleep in the company because of work.
... As consumption slows, the phenomenon of group renting is likely to continue to rise, but experts do not encourage it.
... Recently, with the trend of many chronic diseases in younger people, experts encourage people to do more exercise, and more and more young and middle-aged people are paying more attention to their health, night running, and fast walking is becoming a popular way of fitness..."
The old man flicked through the pages of the newspaper, skipping the international and economic headlines, which were often considered important, to the smaller sections at the back. Newspaper clip 1: "According to local police feedback, at about 11 o 'clock yesterday evening,
after a strange middle-aged man fell asleep on a public chaise, he was alerted by a team of urban management personnel and ran away very unexpectedly. At present, the man has been preliminarily eliminated from being involved in the criminal situation. It is initially suspected that the man may have suffered from mental illness due to excessive pressure from long-term overtime work. If relevant personnel encounter similar situations, please stay alert and try to avoid rather than stimulate the way to calmly deal with. If you find anything suspicious, please choose to call the police..."
Newspaper clip 2: "City workers have been asked to wear new hats, masks and gloves to work in order to better improve the city's appearance and ability to contain the epidemic. At the same time, in order to protect the safety of citizens, depending on the situation in different regions, some city administrators will be equipped with batons and related equipment when carrying out tasks. In order to ensure the vital interests and personal safety of the public, it is recommended that the public not stay out too late at night. It is hoped that all citizens will cooperate and jointly safeguard everyone's safety..."
After reading the newspaper, he took a sip of the green tea handed to him by the flight attendant and lifted his glasses, as if something suddenly occurred to him. He looked out of the window, and for a moment murmured to himself those "believe it, but don't believe it all" mutters, and fell asleep again into his own dream.