Puzzle Madness

Chapter 143 The Noisy Pager (Part 2)

The seaside was shrouded in swirling, iron-gray "fog" that resembled television noise—but it was actually raindrops in a storm, which blurred into a hazy mass in the night due to their frantic flight.

DouDou had never been to Changshan Beach during a typhoon before.

Many tourists from mainland China or abroad confuse this place with another famous attraction in the Co Chi Autonomous Region – Cham Son Beach in Cham Son City; however, this has brought more tourism revenue and popularity to Mong Cai.

He picked up the pager and checked it again:
The screen displays [A21].

According to the reference sheet Ai Xi gave him a few days ago, this code name refers to Truong Son Beach. Mong Cai's most famous and only tourist destination:
However, this beach is a total of seventeen kilometers long from beginning to end.

Along the beach, on the high, dam-like platform, there are densely packed self-built bungalows and shacks—these are all coastal restaurants, bars, surfing venues, and guesthouses, forming a long line; however, they are mostly closed in this kind of weather.

DouDou slung his schoolbag inside his raincoat, making him look like a hunchback. He jumped and bounced on various rooftops throughout the city many times to readjust his bearings before finally landing on the beach.

Where is everyone?

The pre-assigned location number is far too broad, making it difficult to determine exactly where Ai Xi was sending the signal from on Changshan Beach.

Compared to the churning, ring-shaped rain clouds, the waves on the beach were almost calm.
Did Ai Xi fall into the sea?

He immediately dismissed this possibility: if he was going to have that thought, he might as well just go home.

It must be said that this distress signal was far too vague; such a large location should have been further subdivided into smaller sections.

The raindrops pattered against the rain hat, making a rattling sound that tickled the ears.
Water flowed along the inner edge and slid into her hair; DouDou was so scared that she quickly covered herself: if it flowed into the back of her head, it would really be water getting into her brain.
-
Let's start looking for it first.
[It should be in the most iconic area! Otherwise, AiXi might add a numerical suffix to the code name, like A21-1; then I would start searching from the beginning or the end, we have that kind of understanding.]

Changshan Beach naturally has its most scenic and popular section; it's a bustling pedestrian street that was only built in the last two years. Even the roadside is often lined with various tour buses.

DouDou started jogging along the main road on the embankment; though it was called jogging, the speed was still like that of a motorcycle—the rain was too heavy, and any faster and she would miss the details around her:

"Huh? Who put up these figurines?"

After running two steps, DouDou saw a row of roadblock-like things lying across the middle of the pedestrian street, swaying in the wind.

The base is a long, metal flowerpot; there are also some on the roof of DouDou School, which the gatekeeper uncle grows to pass the time.

These pots, however, are noticeably more refined. They feature silver paint, streamlined and curved edges, and a smooth, white circle in the center of the outer shell. The design is simple, and it's unclear which home decor brand it comes from.

These flowerpots show no color difference from sun exposure and oxidation, nor any salt stains from the sea breeze: apart from the constant dripping raindrops, they look as if they were just moved from a department store and placed here.

"Wow, so ugly."

These flowerpots, however, do not contain plants—
It is the hand, the human hand: to be precise, starting from the fingers and extending to the entire forearm.

There were two hands in each flowerpot, the deepest part of which didn't reach the elbows: these hands were still wearing sleeves, and they were all different; some were clearly wearing shirts, while others were wearing thermal underwear or long-sleeved T-shirts. One wrist even had a Casio Bandai gaming watch on it, the dial of which was gleaming.

And they are all constantly moving.

Rather than depicting a severed human hand being planted in the soil, it resembles a scene from a zombie movie, where the deceased is attempting to break through the earth; the arm naturally leads the way, waving wildly towards the sky. However, the flowerpots are only thirty or forty centimeters high and quite narrow; they certainly don't contain zombies or living people.

Moreover, the movements need to be more detailed and complex, not just meaningless scratching:
Each pair of hands was constantly gesturing, their ten fingers interlacing and twisting, dazzling the eye; the speed was so fast that it seemed as if they were translating tongue twisters or rap music in sign language.

DouDou slowed down and walked around the flowerpots several times, clicking her tongue in disapproval.
Mong Cai is getting weirder and weirder—no wonder even the editorial office of "Super Psychological Exploration" is located here; it's really interesting.

"Hmm, never mind. Finding Ai Xi is more important."

DouDou didn't dare open his mouth too wide, lest he drink his fill of rainwater in one gulp—he temporarily gave up his plan to take a pot home and keep it as a pet.

[That's right, that's right, since we've encountered something strange, this is the direction we should be heading.]

Just like in a regular RPG, the presence of enemies will naturally trigger story events.
"Uh, what's that?"

I had just taken two steps on the wet wooden planks of the pedestrian street and turned a corner
DouDou covered her forehead with her hands and squinted her eyes:

On the distant beach, several orange figures moved and circled a huge object that looked like a stranded ship; there were also several construction lights around, illuminating the rain falling from the sky.

He quickened his pace, circling around a barbecue stall with its shutters tightly shut. This time, DouDou could see clearly:
The figures were wearing orange jumpsuits and transparent masks with gas mask-like vents in the center; they were pacing around the giant object.

Flashes of light appeared intermittently and then went out; it seemed like someone was taking pictures.

Some people were even writing and drawing in notebooks. I don't know how they could write in this weather.

However—I have actually seen this style on TV before:

It seems to be protective clothing for dealing with biological hazards. Is it called a NBC protective suit or something similar?
This color is particularly eye-catching in the dark; just like the one DouDou is wearing: the bright yellow raincoat was designed to make her more visible on rainy nights, reducing the probability of traffic accidents.

But then he saw that enormous thing lying on the beach, surrounded by a bunch of people in orange jumpsuits—
Although it resembles a stranded whale, DouDou can still recognize it clearly:

That was a person—
A man, neatly dressed but unusually large, lay motionless, letting the storm and waves pound against him; he must have drowned.

The clothes were nothing out of the ordinary: a plain black suit with a striped tie; Richard Chuck seemed to have worn similar clothes before.

But this guy on the beach: even his sweat-stained, yellowed collar was the same size as the canvas of the sunshade.

I've heard that if a drowned person has been in the water for a long time, coupled with phenomena like gigantism and the soft tissues becoming swollen from putrefactive gases, their body will become distended.
But how could it be so big?

DouDou had previously read the Jurassic Park novel, which stated that the Brontosaurus was about fifteen meters long; the Brachiosaurus was even more magnificent.
The thing in front of me seemed to be as huge as a dinosaur; its hair was as thick as an electrical wire, wet and twisted together.

His suit, also enlarged to the same size, was soaked through, a dark, murky mess; he lay sprawled on the beach, like a statue.
But his lower body wasn't human-shaped; instead, it gradually tapered from his ribs towards his back until it became a long, round tail; he wasn't even wearing trousers. His tail even coiled and curved, like a tadpole's tail, only many times larger.

[It looks a bit like the genie in Aladdin! But the genie's lower body is more like smoke, this one is probably made of flesh.]

The very last "tail" still floats on the sea, rising and falling.

(End of this chapter)