1 Mental hospital

A blurry image entered Max's vision along with some voices. But his mind was still a bit groggy, thus making him unable to understand what was going on around him.

Max, that was his name. He was an orphan who grew up in St. Martha Orphanage located in Texas. From a young age, Max knew that if he wanted a good life he needed money and for that he needed a good job.

That's why he studied hard since the middle school and was finally living his desired life. Max was a doctor by profession. After working hard for many years, he finally managed to get himself a degree and successfully opened his own hospital.

Everything was going well for him and he felt like his life was finally on track. But he still felt like something was missing from his life.

Yeah, his passion was not being a doctor, that was only his profession. Instead, it was being a mystery novel writer. In his childhood he used to read a lot of mystery novels which inspired this dream of his. Among the many novels he read, his favorite ones were Sherlock Holmes' series and 'Then There Were None ' .

That's why after settling down, Max decided to finally pursue his passion and started writing in his free time.

Today was the day Max was finally going to publish his first novel - Detective Max 007. He was on his way to the publication house to discuss some minor things regarding the same. But at that moment a truck coming from front seemed to have lost control and then...

*Bang * *Bang* *Boom*

Suddenly his head started hurting even more. He couldn't remember anything after that at all and fainted.

...... 

Max had a long dream. In fact it was too realistic to be a dream.

Although his name was still Max, but in his dream, it was no longer the Earth he knew.

It was a planet called The Blue Star. Everything was almost same in the history of this world but then suddenly it took a different turn from that of the Earth. There were no longer hundreds of countries all over the world. Instead the whole world was ruled by the Democratic Alliance whose members were choosen by voting all over the world.

But some things still remain the same. The social structure here was almost similar to that on Earth . Max was an orphan born and bred in Rawa city .

Rawa was a big coastal metropolitan city. It was surrounded by sea from all around. Although it is called a city but it's land size and population are almost equal to that of Japan from his past life .

But interestingly Max was no longer a doctor or mystery novel writer in this dream.

Instead, after leaving the orphanage he went on a completely different path. Even after many twists and turns, Max was still unemployed at the age of twenty three. He lived in a rental house and barely supported his daily expenditures by doing some part time jobs. Also his personal life was relatively dull without any relatives and friends.

But the dream ended here abruptly and Max finally woke up, though he was still a little drowsy.

After Max opened his eyes, he saw the tiles under his feet retreating at a constant speed one after another.

He shook his drowsy mind, the last image in his memory was a truck rushing towards him, followed by the sound of bones breaking mixed with the noise of the car.

Max froze for a moment, his head was crushed, so what happened to him now? More importantly, how the hell was he still alive? 

Unable to suppress his curiosity Max raised his head with difficulty and found that he was being supported by two strong men to move forward.

In fact, it is better to use "drag" to describe his current situation, because at this moment, he was like an unconscious drunk, with his feet rubbing against the ground, his face facing down, and his body tilted at 45 degrees, being dragged forward rather roughly. 

"Eh, where is this?"

Max asked, enduring the severe pain in his head.

But no one answered him. The strong man on the left glanced at him from the corner of his eyes and there was no emotion in his eyes. He was wearing a blue and black outfit, which looked like some kind of uniform.

The 'opening eyes' action lasted for about one minute and almost used up all of Max's strength. He closed his eyes uncontrollably and he was dragged for another five minutes in the dark. In the end, Max felt that he was dragged into a room, pushed onto a chair, and his hands and feet were tied up.

During this period, he heard the conversation of the people next to him. But instead of calming him down it made him even more anxious. 

"Has he been sedated?"

"Just fifteen minutes ago."

"Then he must be confused for a while. You go out first."

"We're right outside the door, call us if you need anything."

"Okay."

After that, there was the sound of the door being closed, and the room turned quiet. At least, Max finally figured out that it was probably because of the sedative that he felt himself getting dizzy.

While half asleep and half awake, Max pondered.

"Am I reborn? "

Max doesn't know how long it has been. Suddenly, his eyelids were forced open, and a beam of light shot into his pupils.

The stimulation of the strong light made Max wake up from his confusion.

He tried to raise his head, observing his surroundings like a conditioned reflex.

"This is an office, it should be used by doctors, because there are some anatomical diagrams of the human body on the wall, and a model of brain slices is placed on the table in front of it. There are windows on the wall, but iron bars are welded outside the windows, so it's definitely not your normal hospital. It should be dusk now, weak sunlight coming in through the gaps in the railings, and shining on the sliced ​​model of the brain, which looks a bit weird. "

Max thought in his head.

A man in a white coat was walking back across the table. He was a man in his thirties, wearing rimless glasses, and looked quite gentle. He sat down on the chair in front of him a little tiredly and put the medical flashlight in his hands into his pocket.

"Are you awake?"

The doctor asked gently. 

"Yeah."

Max responded with difficulty, his throat was very dry.

"Then Mr. Max Bond 007, how are you feeling these past few days? Do you have a headache, stomachache, or any discomfort?"

The doctor opened a case book and asked a few questions as a matter of routine.

Max looked at his hands and feet tied to the chair:

"I'm feeling a little dizzy right now."

"It's the effect of the sedative, don't worry about it."

The doctor wrote something in the medical record without raising his eyes.

"Other than that, there is nothing uncomfortable."

Max replied again.

"Well, very good."

The doctor continued to nod casually.

"So... this Max 007, why are you calling me like that?"

Max asked weakly. Because to him, this seemed more like a code name from the movies or may be his patient number.

"Ah???!"

The doctor was taken aback by this question as though he didn't expect Max to ask such a question. 

However Max didn't expect that what seemed like a normal question to him, the doctor was a little stunned when he heard his question.

"What did you say?"

The doctor suddenly raised his head, and the tiredness on his face was replaced by surprise in an instant.

"Uh, I mean, what does Max 007 mean? Is that my code name?"

Max repeated his question.

The doctor's brows frowned, he lowered his head, quickly flipped through the case file in his hand, and then looked at Max seriously.

"You mean, you don't know what Max 007 is?"

Max shook his head dumbly:

"I probably don't know. Maybe I knew it before, but I have forgotten it now. But you can tell me if you know."

" Emmm "

The doctor pondered carefully.

After a moment, he said awkwardly,

"I'm sorry Max but I can't help you, because I don't know either."

" Huh ???"

Now it was Max's turn to be surprised.

The doctor didn't continue to speak. He seemed to be organizing his words, then he spread out the medical record, turned it upside down and pushed it to a position where Max could see it.

In that case file, Max saw a photo as soon as he glanced at it and he looked exactly like himself in his previous life, probably because the food in this hospital was not good, so he was a bit thin.

"It's like this. Your original name was Max and you're 23 years old this year."

The doctor pointed to the top of the case file. In the name column, it was indeed written [Max], which was the same name as his previous life. And the age is 23 years old.

"About 4 months ago, you had a sudden outbreak of some kind of mental illness. The specific symptom was that you started calling yourself Max 007 ."

" Max 007 ?"

"Yes, that's what you call yourself. Although its not your real surname or something like that but more like a code name from some mystery movie or novel. Your attitude is very firm and you have repeatedly emphasized that you are Max 007 . And if we don't call you that, you ignored us. So the hospital has no choice but to obey your wishes."

The doctor explained patiently. 

"Well, did I say, why did I give myself such a name?"

Max asked hesitantly. 

"You did, but it's very chaotic, sometimes you say you are a writer, sometimes you say you are a doctor, but most of the time, you are causing trouble everywhere, always wanting to escape the hospital, always saying that you do not belong to this world. Helpless, the hospital can only inject you with sedatives every day to calm you down."

While saying these words, the doctor had been paying attention to Max's reaction, and secretly put his hand into the pocket of his white coat. There is a recording pen there, recording the whole session. Of course Max didn't see these small movements since he is still immersed in this new information.