Puzzle Madness

Chapter 161 Rain Rust (Part 4)

DouDou crossed her knees, turned her head, and tossed her hair back to show AiXi her mouth on the back of her head; her rotten teeth felt sharp and prickly to the touch.

He could close the wound anytime he wanted, making it as good as new—simply pull out the tooth, then squeeze it tightly with both hands, pressing it together like he would with playdough or chewing gum.

Just like many of the strange things that happened to DouDou; he knew that if he wanted to, he could do it, especially some subtle changes in his body.

But DouDou didn't do that: he really wanted to test whether this mouth could swallow memories through other people's brain tissue; it's just that there isn't a suitable opportunity yet.

DouDou could feel the sensation coming from the dura mater—AiXi was reaching out and poking the opening with her fingertip; unlike the area around the opening, the dura mater was very sensitive to changes in pressure.

It's strange, really: since reading "The Secrets of Humanity" until now, my mouth has changed many times; at first, I remember having absolutely no sensation there.

Ai Xi rummaged through the drawer, pulled out a plaster from a box of rheumatism and bone pain patches, and carefully placed it on the back of Dou Dou's head, sealing the opening:
"You should cover it up first. Even though you probably won't get infected, it's not good for dirty things to get in."

Dou Dou didn't turn around, letting Ai Xi busy herself behind him:

"In short! After I watched that really prank videotape, this thing grew out; and then this bright red, bloody thing crawled out of it; amazing, right?"

"But now it's normal again, I can only touch my own brain."

No matter what kind of bizarre murders are happening in Mong Cai City right now, they are nothing compared to the strange things I've encountered tonight; I just don't know why they happened at this chaotic juncture.

"Did you bring the videotape with you?"

DouDou pulled the disc of "The Secrets of Mankind #9734" out of her schoolbag, reached behind her, and placed her hand on AiXi's lap.

Ai Xi patted the rheumatism and bone pain plaster twice more, then picked up the videotape and examined it back and forth, but didn't open the plastic casing; then she picked up the Yacht Boy 400 radio and compared it with the videotape:

"The specifications are all normal, just a regular VHS. As for the radio—I've never used this model or brand before, but apart from the fingerprints on the casing, it seems fine? However, it's heavily rusted, as if it's been soaked in water."

"I don't understand, there's too little information. What's certain is that some fanatics can exert influence remotely through objects?"

"That's really troublesome, it's impossible to guard against; what's the underlying principle?"

"What should we do with this radio? Keep it or take it apart?"

DouDou waved his hand, covered his mouth, and yawned.

"It's better to leave it with me for now. In case some monsters or ghosts crawl out of the radio, or a pirated Sadako, I can beat them up and ask them what's going on."
-
The sound of raindrops hitting the transparent raincoat grew louder; the damp night wind even made people feel a little chilly.

DouDou stood up, put her face close to the iron window frame, and looked worried:
"With this much rain, will we still be able to have classes for the next few days? If we don't have any classes for the rest of the week, the teachers will have to catch up on the material later; otherwise, I won't be able to understand anything in class."

Ai Xi picked up the knives from the ground one by one and put them back into the cardboard bag; leaving only the switchblade with its brightly colored, cartoonish handle:

"It's hard to say. The typhoon hasn't made landfall yet, so it'll probably take another day or two to end; but as long as the wind isn't too strong, classes will resume, and rain shouldn't be a problem."

DouDou slapped her forehead, her thoughts drifting elsewhere:

"Oh right! I broadcasted it over the radio earlier with that cataloger's name on it, I don't know how far it can be heard; did you hear it clearly at the time?"

Ai Xi picked up the switchblade with a Doraemon design on the handle and placed it between her wrist and fingertips; she seemed lost in thought.
"When I heard that sentence, I was at the pawn shop in the Cha Valley district. It was about two kilometers away as the crow flies, right?" "If this mental broadcast weakens with distance—I think it could cover the entire Mong Cai city, because it was really noisy at the time; it sounded like someone was yelling something like '[I have to go to class]' right next to my ear."

The two looked at each other and then chuckled.

DouDou sat back down on the concrete floor.
"Ugh, it's been a few days since school started and I'm just starting to get used to it; being interrupted by a holiday and then having to go back to class is so annoying."

“But you’re right, there might have been someone spying on us before; but—I think we can ignore it for now, since they’re busy fighting amongst themselves.”

DouDou recounted everything she'd heard today—the network proponents, the Eurasian Post, and the three-way conflict she'd just encountered at the Human Cataloging Center; her mouth was practically dry from talking.
"Let them keep causing trouble like this, they might as well not go to school at all; let's see if this motivational broadcast works first, and if not, then we'll see."

Although that's what she says now, DouDou was actually quite happy watching the cataloger's dazzling performance earlier.

Ai Xi didn't reply. She was just intently examining the blade of the switchblade, lost in thought.

The rain pounded against the tin roof. No one lived on the second floor of Ai Xi's house; it was just used to store odds and ends. She didn't know if it would leak.

DouDou cupped his face in his hands, elbows resting on his thighs. He reflected on everything he had seen and heard that day, and realized something important:

"Speaking of which, Ai Xi, don't you ever feel like you have superpowers or anything? I heard about a theory today."

"If you stay with me long enough and close enough, your obsession will become even stronger; even those who aren't obsessed might awaken."

"Look, we're deskmates again. We must have spent the most time together in the past few years, right?"

Unfortunately, there is no good quantitative standard for the intensity of frenzy, and if there is, it is not visible—DouDou doesn't know whether the cataloger's frenzy is enhanced by his proximity.

Ai Xi paused for a moment, then put the switchblade away and stuffed it into her pocket.

"Am I delusional? If I follow your method of observing unusual celestial phenomena, then I really can't see anything; tonight there was a typhoon, and I looked at the sky for a while, but all I saw were rain clouds."

"There might be some key points that we haven't figured out. After all, we don't know exactly how it works."

"However--if you can make other people's madness stronger, then that explains why so many people have come to Mong Cai. After all, you've only dealt with Asia-Europe Post before."

DouDou nodded in deep agreement:

"That's what I was thinking too: which side should have a key fanaticism? But they want to amplify it. Oh! It should be something like [Taro Dream], which others just call [Dream Network]."

"I heard from a friend tonight that this thing is actually similar to a telephone or a logistics system for sending and receiving packages. It's a kind of network? It seems like everyone is obsessed with this thing, but I don't know why."

"Even the guy who popped out of my head was pagering a bunch of times saying 'No internet, no internet,' which left everyone confused."

He repeated the strange tales Richard had told him at the planetarium:
"In short, Mong Cai is like an arcade hosting a chaotic fighting tournament, with many parties causing trouble here."

Ai Xi put away the switchblade, but couldn't resist rubbing the lighter in her hand:
"This is not necessarily a bad thing; the more forces there are, the more they can check and balance each other."

"Could that murder case be related to you? Maybe it's a superpowered criminal, a superpowered serial killer or something. It's quite possible. Perhaps you triggered some kind of frenzy in him?"

(End of this chapter)