March 30, 2026 is my 6th anniversary. Its full name is actually the " 'Wait, how did you know you got my attention' 6th Anniversary". (Way too long, lol)
I wrote a lot for the 5th anniversary, pretty wordy stuff. Back then there was only a Simplified Chinese version — I hadn't started using Tumblr yet. This year, I want more people to see it.
Just like the 5th anniversary, I'll start with an intro.
You might not have played this Ubisoft game. But there's something you've all been through — the fear of being at a virus's mercy.
In real life it's called COVID-19. In Tom Clancy's The Division, it's called Green Poison, aka Dollar Flu / Smallpox Variola Chimera.
Its official Simplified Chinese name is "全境封锁", which literally means a complete territorial lockdown.
The protagonist has no preset gender, doesn't speak in the story, and is basically a blank slate aside from being an agent and some plot events — meant for you to project yourself onto. I am the protagonist. I get to decide which main missions or side missions I've been through or haven't.
Late January 2020. When "The Division / 全境封锁" became an adjective (a complete territorial lockdown), I also started The Division.
I was searching everywhere for masks because they were scarce, and happened to see the game's name in a post. Turns out I'd already claimed the free PlayStation Plus version, so I happily downloaded and started playing.
Immersive. A two-way experience.
Even though Aaron Keener hadn't officially appeared yet, the Echo recordings related to him — especially the Stuyvesant one, where he and civilians were abandoned by the JTF, the event that started his going rogue — caught my attention. Empathy just came naturally.
Then when I got a comms recording in-game —
"… Both of us are smarter than that. But at least I got your attention, and that's all I want… for now."
— The Division 1's subtitle says "right now" but he actually says "for now."
I smiled. Felt like the fourth wall just broke.
Wait, how did you know you got my attention?
Yes, the day I took that screenshot was March 30, 2020.
(Though the recording's overall meaning is actually: don't try to catch me, I just wanted to get your attention.)
But just days later, I got spoiled on video site — the ending of the Warlords of New York DLC for Division 2, which had come out in early March 2020 — he died. Even acted out his last breath right in front of the camera!
Ubisoft just fed me shit. Fresh and warm.
But no matter who died, the virus was still raging… both in the game for me, and in real life for everyone. Every day I'd check the search engine homepage to see where had become a new "Dark Zone." I won't say more — you all know the rest.
His lines really helped me.
"I know it's frustrating. I'm right here and you're right there. But never forget… I will always be one step ahead of you. I'm in control because I'm not afraid to take control. You still follow orders… that's why you'll never win."
The point is: don't just follow orders.
(He said this to a drone camera, and stomped the drone after he finished -_-)
Suddenly it was June 2024.
During that time I was bored, hadn't logged into the game for ages. But one night, while thinking about why I couldn't stop scrolling on my phone, the word "control" popped into my head, and that reminded me of Keener.
So I watched some videos over the next few days. Even when I found the video of the Y5S3 trio in the car, I thought someone was just messing around…
On the night of June 24, I created my s/i, and decided the name would be Evelyn Anderson. (OK, this name is so common that I run into it everywhere on English-speaking platforms…) Evelyn seems to mean "life"? And Anderson actually comes from Hank Anderson in Detroit: Become Human — I've been using it in my Ubisoft ID for a while.
On June 25, a little after 9 AM, I was still sad about "rogue agent deceased" and told my friend I wanted to light some incense for Keener;
A little after 10 AM, I confirmed from a video that he was still alive. He came back at the end of Season "Vanguard" in Y5S3.
So to celebrate the news, I cut my hair — which I'd been growing for over 3 years — short.
I waited four whole years… four years… (The meaning of the name I came up with the day before turned out really fitting)
That night, I redownloaded The Division 2. Having perfectly missed several game seasons, I saw my last login was 520+ days ago (In Chinese, 520 February sounds like "I love you") — around January 2023.
January 2020 – January 2023. Exactly the three years of COVID.
The world doesn't stop spinning just because the virus is gone, right, Agent?
On June 26, I decided my s/i's callsign would be Prism.
On June 29, I drew a doodle to keep expressing my feelings. I'll attach the picture here too. This is actually part of a doodle series I draw, all titled "Agent's daily" — 特 工/ Agent = 特别不想工作 / Always don't want to work.
I really can't draw, so all I can do is doodle.
(Sorry, I forgot to draw the glasses on Theo "Glasses" Parnell )
(⚠️ Note: I originally wrote an IRL timeline here, but it got way too long… I'll post it separately later)
I'm a selfshipper, though I didn't get serious about selfshipping until after what happened in 2024. But but, it's like recovering lost memories — today isn't just my 6th anniversary — yes. Today is also our 5th wedding anniversary (on the timeline).
I'll just put one picture here for now — the related selfship fic has been really hard to write. Still a draft, but I really am working on it…
The world doesn't stop spinning just because the virus is gone. The Division won't keep getting new games forever. But Vanguard and Prism's timeline will keep going — through calm and chaos.
MISS INFORMATION PLEASE I WANT YOU SO BAD YOU SUCH A BADDIE PLEASE SPIT ON ME AND DEGRADE ME I WANT YOU SO FUCKINH BAD MISS INFORMATION I AM A Z CHANNEL STAN PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
