Puzzle Madness

Chapter 136 Sincere Communication (Part 1)

squeak--
Another security guard slid to his knees as if sliding, sliding a short distance on the ground with the force of the impact: This one's voice was deeper:
"Um, uh; I received the title of 'Outstanding Student' from the Chiang Mai neighborhood in elementary school, and also, and a 'Little Muay Thai Expert' certificate from Tiger Boxing Gym."

The last person was a beat slower. Instead of falling down, he pushed off the ground with a snap and stood up straight:
"Report! Second place in the boys' 3000-meter race at the Nanyang Overseas Chinese High School Sports Meet! Eleventh place in the Southeast Asian 2x2 Rubik's Cube (under 60s)! The highest score in history on the math exam was 59... no, it's 85 points!"

The security guards who didn't rush into the planetarium immediately also dropped their weapons and, in the raging wind and rain, began to recite their student experiences as if counting off.

For a moment, the sound of resumes being read aloud rose and fell, filling the entire exhibition hall; the buzzing sound mixed together was quite annoying.

Huh? This?

DouDou was dumbfounded by this string of gibberish and was completely bewildered for a moment.

If this chaotic mess was to ensure their personal safety in front of DouDou, then they undoubtedly accomplished this task admirably.

[What are you doing, recruiting—applying to me for a job? Well, it's actually just like that white-haired Sidney said: chatting and interacting before a fight can really help you learn more about other people's interesting stories.]
-
Bang-smack.

The sounds of car doors opening and closing came from outside, along with the patter of hurried footsteps in the rain.

"Haha, DouDou! It's one of us! One of us! It's been half a month since we last saw each other, it felt like an eternity!"

The voice was loud and came from afar, but it always seemed to lack a certain energy; the joy in the words also felt somewhat forced.

Hey! That voice sounds so familiar.

A man wearing a long, black trench coat over a white shirt ran up the stone steps of the planetarium.

He was wearing frameless glasses, the lenses of which were covered in water droplets.
It really was an old acquaintance of DouDou's.
Richard.

He was carrying a large gift box with a handle, haphazardly wrapped in red and blue colored paper, which had been soaked through by the rain in the short distance he was carrying; there was also a roll of transparent tape hanging on it, clearly indicating that he hadn't had time to cut it while it was being packaged.

He strode into the observatory, soaking wet, without a raincoat over his trench coat.

"Haha, DouDou, I brought you a gift--sorry, I didn't have time to say goodbye last time before I went back to work; I'm so sorry."

The already loosely pasted colored paper was washed away by the water, revealing the wet, half-dangling packaging inside the gift box.

He was carrying a box of handheld consoles: DouDou recognized it immediately—it was the Casio-Bandai Magic Swan 2! She had been saving up to buy it.

Unfortunately, the official Casio-Bandai store in Mong Cai only sells a bunch of random electronic watches, and the grey market prices at video game stores are ridiculously high; so DouDou has never bought one.

But DouDou's attention immediately shifted to another direction—Li Chuke was holding the gift box with his hands, one above the other:

"Wow! Old Li, you've really changed your skills! Awesome! I told you, big companies have all that kind of high-tech stuff—how about it? Can yours launch missiles? Or shoot lasers? From now on, I can call you Mechanical Old Li."

Richard raised his right hand and wiped his glasses with his sleeve.

Compared to two weeks ago, his face was darker; his already thin face now had even more prominent cheekbones, resembling Michelangelo's David in an art classroom. It was unclear where he had spent some time exposed to the elements.

The polite smiles came and went quickly; in the blink of an eye, only silence remained.

"Oh, it doesn't have those violent functions. It's already amazing that it can be both biomimetic and practical: I'm glad to see you're doing well."

DouDou glanced at the torrential rain pouring into the room because the iron gate was wide open—
The security guards were taking advantage of a lull in their conversation to carefully retreat into the continuous rain.

"Hey, Old Li, you got promoted, huh? Not bad, that was fast. It's only been a few days, half a month already; are these your new subordinates?" It seems that after getting rid of that auntie—and getting rid of that annoying boss—Li Chuck's career advancement has been faster than a rocket.

However, in situations like this where everyone at a base is dead, with only one or two surviving to return, there are usually a lot of investigations, interrogations, and background checks. That's how it's always portrayed in movies.

[How come he didn't seem to encounter any trouble at all, and was back at work immediately after the robotic arm was installed? That's strange.]

Before Richard could reply, DouDou changed the subject again:
"Oh—where's the doctor? Didn't you say you took him to see a doctor? How's it going?"

Richard suddenly covered his mouth with his fist and coughed several times forcefully:

"Well... I definitely want to tell you everything that happened without reservation, but—it would be best to do so in a less crowded and more secluded environment."

DouDou glanced at the security guards who were slowly inching their way up the stone steps using their hands and knees, unknowingly making their way through the rain:
"Oh! A new broom sweeps clean, and he doesn't dare to trust his subordinates at all? How typical. Never mind, we'll talk about it later."

He muttered this aloud, but his index finger tapped the back of his other hand, then his ear and mouth; the meaning was clear:

[Is the fake gun equipped with a listening device?]
DouDou thinks this is more likely--
Judging from the way those security guards looked like they wanted to vanish on the spot, DouDou had no doubt that as long as Richard casually gave a hint that it was safe to evacuate, they would all dart out 500 meters away.

Moreover, this prosthetic arm looks incredibly flexible, even more so than what's shown on TV; it's quite normal for Asia-Europe Post to implant a recording device or something similar inside it to monitor and record the situation.

Richard raised an eyebrow, then simply shrugged; his response was ambiguous.

DouDou scratched the corner of his mouth, neither confirming nor denying; he simply changed the subject:

"But... what were they saying about [performing appeasement procedures]—and then they started whispering amongst themselves? What's going on?"

"This attempt at appeasement isn't really to comfort me, is it? What's going on? Are they treating me like Godzilla? They're being so distant."

Richard shook his head vigorously, like a dog shaking off water droplets from its fur:
"This...this program is indeed mainly to appease you; however, I assure you there is no malice intended."

"The main purpose is to avoid some unnecessary misunderstandings, so they need to report to you in a timely manner what skills they have mastered; it might be useful to you."

"For example, it can help you complete some mechanical homework assignments, so that you can fully immerse yourself in a pleasant student life."

"It's best to avoid tragedies caused by information asymmetry: our company is also facing tight budgets lately, and not everyone can afford a new prosthetic limb—you agree, right?"

DouDou nodded thoughtfully, looking like she deeply agreed.

"Oh, that kind of value demonstration, I see. And the content he talked about was all from his student days, was he trying to get closer to me psychologically? Ugh, it's like I have no empathy at all; did the PhD student say something bad about me to you?"

"But there's no need for that. I sneaked into the planetarium anyway; I can't be the only one who can sneak in and not let you in, can I?"

He suddenly moved closer, startling the security guards nearby.
"Old Li, did you design this appeasement procedure?"

Richard nodded, the beads of sweat on his forehead unreadable – it was hard to tell if they were sweat or rain.
Yes. Because--

DouDou waved his hand, interrupting the other person who was speaking halfway through; then he picked up the packaging box of the magical swan with both hands:
"Oh! It's nothing. You're going to give me a gift—I can't just beat you up because you're giving me a gift; that would be too impolite."

"But! Could there be a tracking device or something inside this magical swan?"

(End of this chapter)