Puzzle Madness

Chapter 117 Provincial Map at Noon
The fireball rolled endlessly thousands of miles away from the earth, almost burning people through and leaving them with black spots.

At noon, when the sun is scorching, few students who have just finished school hold umbrellas - the self-esteem of youth can provide better protection from the sun than an umbrella.

Ai Xi, Dou Dou, and Ruan Jingbo walked together on their way home from school; the sun in the sky was slightly obscured by thick clouds:

Ruan Jingbo looked like a zombie from a horror movie. His shoes scraped against the ground, his ankles twisted, dragging his entire body forward; the soles of his shoes made a crackling sound.

He remained silent, his eyes wide open, his waist twisted into a strange curve. When he walked, his body bent sideways into a "C" shape, and I didn't know how he kept his balance. His schoolbag drooped, hanging in the air like a pendulum.

But compared to the locusts on all fours on the first day of school, now it is like a triple jump in technological revolution; it has progressed directly from the Stone Age to the steam engine.

The distant sirens stopped, but there were still patrolling police cars on the street; no one knew where they were heading.

There was no class in the afternoon, but Doudou was feeling a bit depressed:
The head teacher pulled other teachers together and assigned a large number of homework - threatening that if they failed to hand it in tomorrow, they would be punished by copying the class rules hundreds of times.

Doudou yawned; he could tell what the teachers were thinking:

"He wants us to stay home and do our homework, and not run around."

But having said that, the densely packed homework list is enough to give me a headache:
【Otherwise, let's go to the provincial library and play games. 】

The school's back door was sealed, preventing students from entering or leaving - probably because of the multiple murders that occurred that morning.

"The homeroom teacher is quite responsible, but I don't know what he did. He even suspended classes. Hey, I'll go to the Provincial Library and use the air conditioning."

He accompanied Ai Xi home today, not just because of the school's requirement that three people must go home together.

Moreover, the Provincial Library is in the same direction as Ai Xi's home and not far from Ruan Jingbo's home: since there is no class in the afternoon, I might as well go to the Provincial Library.

Today is not the weekend; while there are few people around, it’s a good opportunity to exchange some provincial library computer time coupons.

Ai Xi held a basketball in his hand, occasionally dribbling it a few times to avoid the potholes on the sidewalk bricks; this was something Dou Dou borrowed from the physical education teacher, and he planned to give it to Ruan Jingbo to practice on his own.

Doudou always thought that his deskmate had excellent athletic ability: in addition to winning the 100-meter championship in the school sports meet, he was also quite good at playing basketball; it was just that he didn't join the school team.

Someone wearing a blue and white No. 46 Kings jersey was walking slowly towards them - but when he saw Ruan Jingbo's terrifying posture, he was so scared that he grimaced and quickly accelerated to pass them.

Ai Xi spun the basketball in his hand and held it close to his chest; his eyes followed the "Michael Jordan" printed on the back of his jersey:

"The Kings are moving from Kansas City to Sacramento. Do you think Jordan will continue to play there?"

Doudou scratched the tip of his nose. He knew Ai Xi was a Jordan fan; he would occasionally buy a couple of issues of "Basketball News" to read:
"He was supposed to move to the Chicago Bulls this year and change his jersey to No. 23, but he didn't go in the end."

"I probably won't leave. It's nice to spend the rest of my life with the Kings. I played for over a decade in Kansas and won a lot of championships. I'm almost ready to retire. Why not collect sports cards now?"

Ai Xi likes to buy low and sell high - Pokémon cards, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, basketball and football star cards, and the 81 monster cards from "Journey to the West" that come with instant noodles.
No matter what trendy things are popular in school that can make her pocket money, she will get involved.

Ai Xi shook his head and dribbled the ball again; the sound was thumping:
"No, it just feels like things are changing so fast these days. I don't know if I can always be happy."

Doudou couldn't understand her sudden melancholy, so he shrugged:

"Change is good, maybe everything will get better and better."

Ruan Jingbo followed behind without saying a word; the soles of his shoes dragged on the ground, making a rustling sound.

Doudou originally had to reach out his hand from time to time to support her and prevent her from falling; but this classmate with long arms and legs seemed to be getting more and more skilled at walking.

But no one spoke, which made Doudou feel a little embarrassed:
"Mr. Ruan's walking skills have improved so quickly, it feels like he's gone from a zombie to a zombie king. But why can't he talk yet?"

Ai Xi stuck her tongue out of her mouth and gestured with her hand: "The tongue is not just a single muscle; it is actually composed of eight muscle groups. If Whale Wave used a dance machine to control the muscles, speaking would be quite difficult."

"Being able to speak a word last time was impressive, but walking and talking at the same time is still too difficult."

She raised her hand and pointed diagonally across the street:

"Here! The Provincial Library is here, go ahead. I'll take Jingbo back to rest first. If anything happens, I'll send a message to your pager."
-
The exterior of the Provincial Library is clad in red bricks, and the sign on the archway is plated with bright gold; it looks like it was written in calligraphy by some celebrity.

There are also some vertical signs such as [Mangjie Remote Forum Development Center], [Jiaozhi Branch of the Perceptual Mechanics Research Association], and [Changshan Community Comprehensive Service Station]; these are all black letters on a white background, but they have turned yellow due to wind and sun.

Doudou passed the library card counter and hurried inside. The rows of bicycles parked in front of the Provincial Library gave him a sense of foreboding.
It seems that not only Mong Cai No. 5 Middle School, but other schools also had a holiday this afternoon: I don’t know what big thing is going on -
“Why are there so many people?!”

Doudou was stunned, and felt that the sky had darkened a little: the worst possibility had indeed happened!

There was a long queue in front of the time voucher redemption window, stretching all the way to the door. Most of them were young boys and girls in various school uniforms; they were chattering and there were middle school and high school students.

They all come to redeem the provincial library computer usage time--
The functional configuration of a large computer is naturally not comparable to that of a home terminal; not to mention that the self-developed games of the Jiaozhi Cultural Bureau can only be played on this huge machine called [Cluster No. 17].

However, large computers can only accommodate a few people at a time; so you can only buy a "time ticket" first and then register for an appointment.

Most of the people who usually come to buy tickets are individual scholars or researchers, as well as college students who failed to get a seat at their own school; they need the help of machines for analysis and calculation.

Doudou wanted to secretly exchange for two hours during the class break - but now it seems that it will be evening by the time he gets to the queue.

Originally, he could play games and do his math homework with [Cluster 17] at the same time. But now, all his careful plans were ruined.

Going to the library is more cost-effective than going to the arcade: it seems that Doudou is not the only one who understands this truth.

If Ai Xi were here, he'd definitely jump at the chance. He'd probably set up a cart and sell drinks and snacks at a premium, making a small profit while waiting in line.

Doudou went around to the tape lending window next to him - as expected, the entire set of [Little Playmates] and [Happy Wenquxing] series game tapes had been borrowed out first; now he couldn't go to the electronic reading room to play with the terminal.
-
Doudou bought a bag of instant baked rice cakes from the vending machine and ate them as he walked; the soft rice cakes stuck to the paper bag, just like his plan for the entire afternoon.

Nowadays, these vending machines have built-in microwave ovens that can help heat up the food on the spot. Doudou was not in a very happy mood, and his appetite was also not very good:
The terminals in the reading room were also fully occupied - it seemed that I would have no chance to use the library's electronic equipment today.

"Hey"

Now that he was here, Doudou was too lazy to leave: he wanted to take a nap when he got home, so in the end he didn’t play any games or do his homework.

Dou Dou shrugged and decided to change his afternoon entertainment.

He walked from the audio-visual section to the humanities section, scratching his head as he looked at the shelves to see if there were any new comics or novels.

Not far away, the aunt who was registering books was yawning and wiping her tears; there were also some guys who looked like college students, leaning against the bookshelf and flipping through the pages.

Doudou also picked up a copy of "Happy Robot 2137" and started reading——
"hey-hey."

Just after turning two pages, someone came over and spoke softly: It was the first time someone spoke to Doudou in the library.

Doudou turned his head and was faced with the face that was crowding towards him--
It was a foreign girl, holding an open book in both hands: her exact age was hard to tell, probably in her early twenties.

Her skin was so pale it was almost transparent, and pale blue veins could be seen on her cheeks. Her hair was curly, and its color was even whiter and colder than her skin, covering her shoulders. Only the roots showed a rusty color; it must have been dyed.

The strangest thing was the headband around her forehead—a collection of round plastic bottle caps in red, white, blue, and black. Holes were drilled sideways in them, and wires were threaded through them; they were worn on her head like a garland.

(End of this chapter)