Puzzle Madness

Chapter 103 Mirror and Circle
A moment ago, Doudou was crowded in the utility room with other students—
If it weren't for this, he would almost have an illusion:
I was actually teleported to a handicraft competition held in an elementary school; the works worn by everyone on their heads were so similar and absurd that they seemed to be real but were not.

There was no sun overhead, or any other constellations—the sky was filled with a light that came from nowhere.

The clouds were puffy and the waves were rolling; there seemed to be an invisible dry ice machine in the corner, continuously spewing out thick smoke.

It is somewhat similar to the Heavenly Palace in the TV series Journey to the West, but much more crude; even as a set for a film or TV series, it is disgusting and inferior.

Beyond that, there was repetition—the same scene, stretching to the very end of the sight; it seemed not to be a sphere, and there was no horizon.

What is certain is that this place is indeed not the reality I am used to.

The students scattered with a bang and ran in the mist, their joints making sharp friction sounds.

There are no odors and no natural noises.

Doudou's "head" spun 360 degrees, facing the [Crystal Man] who should be Ai Xi:

"Eh? Ai Xi! What's that on my face?"

He raised his front legs and fumbled around on his mirror, but couldn't touch any bumps: Doudou found that his voice sounded so strange, completely different from what he usually heard.

The sound is muffled and wrapped in a layer of noise like electrical interference; it even changes every moment.

The crystal figure that looked like Ai Xi turned comically, the mirror embedded in its neck moving closer; it was as if the portrait sticker that had been burned by fire really was her facial features:

"Hey—are you Doudou? Weird, the top of your mirror is empty?"

Doudou moved to adjust his position. He glimpsed his current "face" through the gap between Ai Xi's head mirror and the photo sticker.
There really is nothing.

It was empty, just a complete and uncovered mirror; it was now reflecting Ai Xi's portrait.

This feeling is very wonderful——
Doudou could still see, but he couldn't feel his eyeballs, and his eyelids no longer itched. When he opened his mouth, there was no airflow.
"You [faces]—can you choose yourselves?"

Ai Xi's profile pictures snapped and changed, one after another, each one showing a different expression; with a strange sense of fluidity, like the animation on TV that had been cut out:
"It should be automatic? I tried it with them last night, and it was like this when I came in."

Ai Xi in the photo now has one eyebrow raised and his lips tightly pursed, as if deep in thought:
"I don't understand the mechanism, maybe it has something to do with each person's personality."
-
If you don't understand something, don't think about it first--
Doudou's curiosity turned to a new direction:

"Never mind my face, this place is really fun! I've never seen a place like this before!"

"What's going on here? Is this a collective hallucination, or have we been teleported to another dimension?"

Ai Xi's thin silhouette walked up to Dou Dou; her voice was full of noise, as if she was talking through a walkie-talkie:

"You'll find out when we're done—I left something in the utility room."

"Well, it's mostly the same as yesterday, but there are a few differences."

She raised her square "hands" and tapped them together:

"My body is blurrier than yesterday, and the colors are lighter. My voice has also changed."

Doudou raised his upper limbs and poked the mirror with a grunting sound; but there was no sign of it breaking.

During their last social practice, the head teacher took them to visit an art museum - there was also a similar mirror on the wall, which was an installation art.

At that time, Doudou was just confused; now that his head had turned into a mirror, he found it quite amusing:
"Has there been any change? That feels more like an illusion! Could I be hypnotized by brain waves?"

"[Different] Maybe it's because the signal is more unstable? If it's a radio broadcast mechanism, maybe my participation has affected the signal reception—"

"It's not like I've traveled to another world. It's so empty here, there's nothing."

He placed his hands on both sides of the mirror and pressed them against his imaginary temples.

"Wow—my own voice sounds weird, like it's not the same voice I hear through bone conduction."

Before Ai Xi could answer, Dou Dou suddenly realized something important he had just overlooked:

"Hey, wait, wait! Where's the Taro King? Isn't everyone the Taro King's friend?"

He didn't forget the slogan everyone was shouting:

The fat mascot of the snack bar chain must have an important position here; perhaps he is the core of this wonderful world.
-
The Taro King stood upright in the center, with the lower part of his body immersed in the mist.

As soon as Ai Xi said that, Dou Dou saw it.

It's strange, really: it's so huge and magnificent, yet DouDou didn't notice it at all. Around the Taro King are rows of ceremonial fences, with bright red ropes hanging between metal poles: there are three sets in total, like the partitions used for security checks at airports; and mist swirls around them.

Although they had all been shouting slogans about the Taro King, no students came over here.

Everyone is doing their own thing, looking for their own fun.

Compared to the inflatable mascot at the gate of Mong Cai No. 5 Middle School, the Taro King is obviously much bigger.
The pure white, glass-like triangular pointed hat pierces straight beyond the sky.

Now, if you look closely, you will find that the light that shines on the entire zenith and illuminates the world comes from this triangular spire.

The dark purple head is round, and the face has eyes and a simple brush tip; there is no neck, and the body below is even more round and large.

Only the Taro King was so clearly identifiable that most of its textures and details could be seen; except for its body which had been magnified countless times, everything else was exactly the same as Doudou remembered.

At this moment, the Taro King was speaking—his voice was rumbling:

"Melts in your mouth? Melts in your mouth. Melts in your mouth."

When Doudou and the others approached, the Taro King lowered its perfectly standard spherical head - just like the one seen outside the school gate, it still had no mouth, but it couldn't stop mumbling to itself.

The voice was low and humming, with a reverberant resonance; but the content was only these four words: "melts in your mouth".

Doudou slapped his two front legs on the fence:

"Wow, it moves! And it talks. How come it's like Disneyland?"

Ai Xi followed Dou Dou. The two of them leaned against the fence and didn't come any closer.

"Is it necessary to collect information about the Taro King store?"

"I explored the area yesterday and apart from this giant taro king, there's nothing else that stands out."

“I wonder if this so-called [Taro King] created this place.”

Doudou didn't answer, but raised his colorful and glowing hand:

"Well, wait a minute—Ai Xi, take a look over there."

Ai Xi looked in the direction of Dou Dou's finger--
In a corner of the Taro King's huge and fat body, there was a vague, dark mark, as transparent as paper soaked in grease.

The surface was pitch black, and a few numbers and handwriting could be vaguely discerned. But on the majestic body of the Taro King, it was particularly obvious:
"Did you see that dirty thing when you came here yesterday?"

Ai Xi's silhouette leaned forward, and the eyes in the profile picture narrowed:

"Eh? Are these your words? They're quite conspicuous. There wasn't any of them yesterday. Oh, you mean..."

Doudou, acting as a mirror for his head, swayed back and forth, perhaps nodding:
"I accidentally stained my math notes with the bag of taro you brought me. The packaging was so oily that I spent a long time wiping it off."

"But the math notes were printed on the oil paper. There was a picture of a Taro King on the oil paper, and the ink was printed in the middle of the body."

"If it wasn't there yesterday, then this trace must have appeared because of my arrival—in other words, it must have come from my impression of it?"

"Then I tend to think there's nothing mysterious about the Taro King itself! This super purple chubby guy is probably a collective fantasy of the other students and us."

As he spoke, he began to move:

"Let's test it, let's test it; you can't verify it just by talking."

Doudou lifted his feet and flipped over one set of red rope isolation belts after another with exaggerated movements; strange crystals replaced Doudou's original joints, and every time he moved, there was a squeaking sound.

Ai Xi followed behind him, climbing over the fence with him. The photo sticker on her head mirror flipped and she was also very excited:

"Walk slower, walk slower, wait for me to get off!"

Doudou walked to the side of the Taro King - the head on its tall body was spinning:
"Melts in your mouth. Melts in your mouth. Melts in your mouth."

Doudou moved his limbs and stretched carefully for a while according to the movements in the daily radio gymnastics.

Then he raised his hand--
A slap was uttered, hitting the Taro King's round fat belly.

　I have a big project to work on these days, so I may need to take a day off tomorrow so I won’t be able to update.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)