The Tram's Unlikely Trio
In the economy class of the tram, three old men sat in a row, watching a television showing "Tom & Jerry."
"Why do we have to watch such childish cartoons?" the man in the middle, who looked like he might be of Chinese descent, asked in a low voice. His full beard and the mismatched black and white suit he wore made him look rather comical.
"We're supposed to be Alzheimer's patients, please cooperate," the old man dressed like a painter next to him replied. His shabby attire made one suspect he might have boarded without a ticket.
"I've never seen any Alzheimer's patient watching a cat chase a mouse like that," the man in the middle continued to grumble.
"Who knows? In everyone's impression, every Alzheimer's patient regresses to childhood and loves eating ice cream," the man dressed like a painter shrugged, looking both resigned and mischievous.
"Doesn't everyone love ice cream?" sighed the man in the middle, touching his head.
The blond young man sitting on his other side remained silent, just watching "Tom & Jerry" with them.
"To think the great world thief Peter Justin would stoop to being an old man with Alzheimer's," the man in the middle shrugged.
"Don't get too into character; I'm still young," the man dressed like a painter playfully punched the man in the middle's chest. He was, in fact, the Peter Justin mentioned earlier.
"Don't casually say the names of others; there might be someone with sharp hearing around," the blond young man finally spoke, his voice deep, sounding like that of a 40-year-old man.
"You can relax. Everyone around criminals is deaf. Some even control their own hearing," Peter Justin remarked.
"Don't voice out the parts you dislike in spy films; saying so won't make readers like you," the man in the middle admonished.
"What do you know? This is a democratic society; people can voice their opinions," Peter Justin emphasized, pointing with his index finger.
"But only 'privately,'" the blond young man sneered.
"Relax, it's already good enough that he can voice out his opinions 'privately,'" the man in the middle said, looking amused.
"You're indeed understanding," Peter Justin chuckled, catching the subtle mockery in the man's words.
As the blond young man listened to the laughter of the two 'old fools,' he quietly fell asleep.
"Hey, we're getting off the tram," the man in the middle suddenly whispered in the ear of the blond young man.
"Now?" the blond young man was a bit surprised.
"Oh well, nature calls; I need to use the restroom," Peter Justin, or rather the man dressed like a painter, suddenly stood up and rushed to the tram door, heading straight to the restroom after opening it.
"Darn, I need to go too!" the man in the middle immediately caught on and pretended to head to the restroom, rushing to the tram door.
"Aren't you two going to be okay? I'll accompany you," the blond young man sighed, standing up too.
"Up to you," the man in the middle said after opening the door, then rushed to the restroom door, followed closely by the blond young man, who politely closed the door behind them.
***
"Hey! You've been in the restroom for too long! Hurry up!" a burly man pounded on the door, trying to force the two old men and the blond young man out.
But no matter how hard he knocked, there was no response from inside.
The burly man felt something was amiss, so he started turning the doorknob, but it didn't budge. It seemed locked from the inside. Growing more anxious, he shouted a few more times and pounded harder, but there was still no sound from within.
"Shit! Where are the attendants!" The burly man felt that something wasn't right inside. He forgot about his urgent need to use the restroom and began frantically running through the corridor, hoping to find someone to help pry open the door.
However, the burly man never expected that when he finally found someone to open the restroom door, the scene in front of him wouldn't be a murder scene as he imagined. Instead, it was an lifeless, white little room.
On the wall, there was a note that read, "Peter Justin was gone."
***
Jackson, as a member of the Disciplinary Committee, naturally had to fulfill his duties and investigate the mysterious disappearance of Peter Justin. Along the way, he also encountered Michael, who was having a confrontation with a water dispenser, so they went together.
Upon reaching their destination, they were puzzled by how this empty room had been transformed. The attendant had no idea what was going on either, only that the boss had said someone wanted to renovate the room and didn't allow them near it.
Michael walked into the room, picked up the note stuck to the wall, and examined the words "Peter Justin was gone."
Why would they deliberately leave behind such a note?
Michael realized suddenly, and his face showed a perplexed expression, mirroring Jackson's.
"Why did you come back?" Jackson turned to the attendant who helped open the door.
"What do you mean?" the attendant asked.
"If you wanted to disappear, why didn't you find another way and instead stayed here?" Jackson got straight to the point.
The attendant smiled, took off his hat, removed his glasses, peeled off the fake skin on his face, revealing his true face. He looked beautifully feminine, yet exuded masculine elegance, with a smirk that made him appear a bit like a rogue. He rested one hand on his hip, reverted to his original voice, and said, "Because I thought you guys needed a chance to become famous."
That was successfully capturing the world-renowned thief, Peter Justin.