The First Madness at Unit 701

This thread follows the cryptographer whose illness turns the dangers of cipher work into a living warning for Rong Jinzhen and his colleagues.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Brilliant Recruit

A Brilliant Recruit An early record of skill A gifted cryptographer works for the Nationalist military and cracks a Japanese military cipher. His success makes him valuable to the new state after the political transition. A return to service Unit 701 tracks him down and brings him back to cryptographic work. His abilities offer promise, but his knowledge also makes the institution reluctant to expose him to ordinary medical care.

The PURPLE Obsession

The PURPLE Obsession A consuming assignment The cryptographer becomes intensely absorbed in PURPLE, a cipher that has already frightened other specialists. Its difficulty concentrates his attention until the work and his sense of self become hard to separate. A profession without respite Colleagues see how a task meant to serve the institution can consume the person assigned to it. His case becomes part of Unit 701’s private knowledge of cryptographic risk.

Illness Mismanaged

Illness Mismanaged An attempted treatment After he develops severe schizophrenia, the unit keeps him at its own clinic because he knows classified information. Surgeons try to calm him without appropriate psychiatric expertise. A new fixation A doctor introduces elephant chess during recovery, and the patient’s attention fixes on the game. The treatment quiets some symptoms but deepens his withdrawal into a single consuming activity.

A Chess Companion

A Chess Companion A meeting in the woods The former cryptographer repeatedly finds Rong Jinzhen to play elephant chess. Others avoid him or shout him away, but Jinzhen treats him without unusual warmth or rejection. Companionship without cure Their games give the ill man company and give Jinzhen a way to remain apart from colleagues. The relationship reveals Jinzhen’s quiet compassion, but it also feeds suspicions that he is avoiding his work.

A Warning Repeated

A Warning Repeated A fate imagined in advance The chess player’s collapse stands as evidence that cryptographic work can be psychologically destructive. His fate shadows Rong Jinzhen as BLACK becomes a prolonged and increasingly personal assignment. The institution’s contradiction Unit 701 recognizes the danger but continues to depend on exceptional specialists. The warning is not enough to protect Jinzhen from a burden that the organization believes only he can carry.

before the founding of Unit 701

before Rong Jinzhen joins Unit 701

around two years before 1957

soon after Rong Jinzhen arrives

after the PURPLE breakthrough