The time was 13 minutes to 7:30pm. The only clues to that confusing center square were probably going to come from the bystanders, and I didn't want to run through an entire Class A college. I hadn't even moved much on the plane and felt stiff.
After briefly conferring with my two siblings we split up and head towards the three groups. My target was the three men, two white and one black, who were chatting at the intersection over there.
"Excuse me, may I ask where the center square is?"
"Class A's or B's?" The black guy seemed to be a little friendlier, "Class A goes this way," he pointed with his index finger, "If it's class B go this way."
"Mike are you stupid?" A man next to us interrupted abruptly, "My God, must have drowned your brain cells in all that damn horse piss last night. Listen lad, Class A Plaza is in that direction, don't listen to him."
His finger pointed in a whole new direction again. I locked eyes with him for a second and didn't see anything in those aquamarine eyes, instead there was a calm murderous aura in them forcing me to lower my head. I winced not daring to continue my stare, "Really?"
"Of course it's fake!" The last man voiced, "I swear on my Saturday party how could Dylan be telling the truth! Don't you believe him, the square is that way?"
Another new direction. I lowered my head and listened to them argue as shadows clustered on the ground.
"Halred! When have I ever lied to anyone? I'm going to court to sue you for libel!"
"What? Your credibility stinks like Katerina's pizza! Mike, you tell him where the center square is!"
"Oh, God!" The black man groaned and held his forehead, "I can't remember! Maybe I did overdose on brandy last night!"
"So I was right again!" Dylan turned to me, "Lad that's the way to go!"
"No no no pick that would be wrong!" Halred tried to gain my trust, "This way, this is the way I remember! You've got a job to do, don't you? It's too late if you don't go this way!"
"Guys can we stop this? My head is going to crack!" Mike groaned loudly, "Maybe I need a doctor!"
"This way!"
"This way!"
"Just be quiet, okay?" The three men began to bicker aimlessly and I peeked down at my watch, eleven minutes to go. My purpose had been achieved.
I turned around and quickly left, "Bye!"
With those words I ran in the same direction with Ji's siblings, the three men looked at our departing figures in disbelief.
"Hey, did any of you warn him? How did he find the right direction?"
"I didn't do anything," Halred took a boozy swig from his military canteen from his belt, "I swear. But my coworker swears it must have been Mike's overacting."
"I shucks!" Mac looked disgusted, "Is that all you got? Truth be told he saw it coming! And it wasn't just him, his two companions saw it too! And it's not like it's a hard trick to do!"
"Learned that trick?" Haredale pondered, "Do you think it could be someone from one of those schools ..."
Dylan shook his head, "No way. He's not trained in that area or he would have reacted when I tried him just now."
Mike was instantly furious, his entire black face seemed to squeeze together revealing teeth that looked extra white due to the contrast in skin color, "And you have the nerve to say that! You don't try he'll get a chance?!"
"OK don't argue guys," Haredale gestured to the two with his eyes, ''The kids' are noticing things are out of the ordinary ... "
A large number of students poured out of the entrance to the cafeteria, and finally the larger group noticed the obvious error on the map after all, a cacophony of different languages, and the riot explosively began to spread in all directions starting with a certain person or a certain group. That's why all three of us were uncharacteristically silent when we realized the problem, no one wanted to take on the consequences of a riot of that magnitude. Already, staff members were starting to go forward to keep order.
Dylan glanced at his watch with his palm facing upwards, military personnel usually have their watches pointed inwards so they can see the time first time even when holding a weapon: "Twenty-three minutes, Mike, remember to pay up."
"Got it." Mac didn't look back as he stared at the fastest running student rushing towards the place putting on a friendly smile, "Yi Tran Public Administration. Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Thank you, thank you," the student gasped, "May I ask where the center square is?"
"Uh ... Class A is in this direction and Class B is in this direction." Mike pointed his finger in both directions.
"Are you stupid?" Dylan interrupted Mike once again.
...
Mike is right, I do have something special.
Did anyone here ever look through the so-called "hot titles" on their classroom shelves in elementary or middle school? I did. When I was in middle school, there was a red-covered copy of FBI Applied Psychology on the shelf. I showed a keen interest in that book (because of the instinctive male love of the subject), and social studies was really boring. You get the idea.
I still couldn't learn most of it after countless hours of flipping through it, but the relatively easy-to-understand tips on body language and interrogation are still etched in my brain.
Human language and action can be controlled by the brain, but no matter how much training you have received, you can not control your most instinctive reactions ... the conflict between the subjective consciousness and the subconscious mind, which is the origin of psychology!
There is an episode in that book that struck me; when the police questioned the old woman about where her fugitive son was she claimed she had never seen her son, but pointed involuntarily with both feet toward her own storehouse, leading to the capture of her son by the police, who had been steadfastly convinced ever since that it was his mother who had betrayed him. However the latter was not trying to betray her next of kin, it was just her body that preceded her in making the right answer.
So there is one of the reasons for my frequent bowing of my head. Whenever I brought up the concept of "Center Square" to the three men, their toes tilted in the same direction in unison. This is a physical instinct, and although it is sometimes possible to avoid such small mistakes by taking precautions, who would have thought that a student would do this?
"It's this direction right?" I asked Jiling as I gasped for air, my newly half-filled stomach coupled with the airplane ride only made me feel as if my body was vibrating inside and out as if it were split into two parts, and the dryness of a frantic craving for water came from the tip of my tongue.
It's been running for a while now, and should be getting close, Ji Han is already starting to run out of stamina. As the only female member of the three, some of the exercises were really strenuous for her.
Ji Ling had a face of : "I don't know ah, I followed you guys to run."
In an instant I killed this second generation's heart: "Then what did you ask to come!"
"Nothing ah." Ji Ling's face was rightful, "Those women didn't pay any attention to me."
Me: "?! Why?"
Come on, I let you go to the place with the most females just because you're handsome, okay, and you didn't explore anything? You're the one on their side - no you already are, bye.
"I, I," Ji Han gasped with a red face, "a - like."
"You're not single until now for no reason." I gave Ji Ling a blank look then looked at his sister, "Are you okay?"
Ji Han shook her head with some difficulty, the young girl's entire body's skin was white and red due to the exercise, her delicate little face mountain beads of sweat drenched in water soaking her green silk. Under my gaze she suddenly stopped holding her legs to catch her breath, "That, that."
Unsure of the reason, I looked in the direction her head was facing, and the humble plaza in front of me made the corners of my mouth twitch. The ground was only perfunctorily paved with cement, and due to the unevenness, it looked like an abstract oil painting with dark and light colors, and there were traces of processing on it. Next to the plaza, there was a high platform filled with various equipment, the same as the one the principal used to give speeches on Mondays in middle school.
However, the square was not located in the direction that any of the three potholes were pointing. Now that I think about it, if I had been smart enough I would have just gotten the word out of them and gone in a direction that hadn't been mentioned.
There were a few green military tents at the entrance, and soldiers with loaded guns were in a circle around the square. I pretended to glance at them without thinking as I walked by, and the light brown transparent magazines revealed golden 5.56 NATO rounds.
The soldier looked at me indifferently, the expression on his face unchanged.
At the entrance I picked up another ID card, though I wondered what the point of this was with that same software as Nailed.
There weren't many people in the field, scattered about in bits and pieces, and we were probably the seventh group to arrive. I looked around for a few moments and then gathered in a small corner somewhere with Ji Ling Ji Han. It's strange, I don't know many people here but I always feel like someone is staring at me.
It's now 7:27.