Puzzle Madness

Chapter 189 Levitation Technique (Part 7)
Oh, they're going to have a meeting in the storeroom.

Even if she couldn't understand the Taro Society's sign language, DouDou still understood these simple gestures.
I wonder who ran off to daydream during class? It looks like they caused some trouble.
-
A strange flyer tucked inside an exercise book, a collective neck ache, and even a goldfish-eyed man suddenly rushing in to report Ai Xi's emergency:
These things were nothing unusual to DouDou.

What really puzzled DouDou
So far, no fetishists have been found in the Taro Society.

In fact, no signs of a psychopath have been seen in the entire Mong Cai No. 5 Middle School—including the six grades of junior and senior high school (although many students do not attend classes at this old campus); the only exception is Nguyen King Bo.

It is unclear whether it is because the moral education classes at Mong Cai No. 5 Middle School are exceptionally well-done, resulting in no students committing crimes or developing mental illnesses; or whether there is some kind of hidden restriction.

Even if the intensity of the infatuation is very small, being so close to DouDou should have allowed him to notice something.

Every few days, Ai Xi would have the members do an observation test, but all they could see when they looked up at the sky were clouds and sunlight.

Adolescents who are carriers of psychopathy are more dangerous—as Richard Chuck has said.

The reason may be due to the more impulsive behavior of teenagers, or it may be that adolescence can make the intensity of the obsession even more intense.

The latter is pure speculation, without any examples or samples to support it; it's just that we always see similar plots in cartoons: such as young people having pure hearts, which naturally inspires stronger power, and so on.

He rested his chin on his hand, completely oblivious to the math homework the teacher had assigned. Daydreaming was better than sleeping during class.

Not long after Ai Xi ran out of the classroom, the bell rang to signal the end of get out of class.

After math class, there was a long break: as the athletes' march played over the loudspeaker, the students hesitated in their seats, unsure whether to go down and do the morning exercises or follow the principal's instructions to stay in their seats and not move around.

The math teacher, on the other hand, was quite nonchalant, slowly picking up his teacup and walking out; despite having coughed so hard he almost had a spasm earlier, he now looked remarkably energetic.

DouDou tiptoed out of the classroom before the homeroom teacher walked in. She didn't want to do the exercises, so she decided to go to the storage room to see what AiXi and the others were up to.

The staircase was unusually quiet today; it seems most students took the opportunity to rest in their seats. The unusual neck pain I experienced earlier still makes me a little uneasy.

"Thank goodness I was the lifeguard! Anyone else would have been terrified and wouldn't know what to do. As a pillar of the gang, my first thought was to report to you, Boss."

When DouDou reached the storage room, Goldfish Eyes was still babbling on; her words drifted out muffledly through the iron gate. She spoke rapidly, unconcerned about tying her tongue.

Nowadays, the minimum number of people required for a Taro Society to form a dream group is at least three—and it's best to register before joining.

Besides the divers who enter the shared dream, there must also be a "lifeguard" outside: as the name suggests, the responsibilities are numerous and heavy.

Not only must we observe the external environment (to avoid being caught by the teacher) and ensure the safety of the divers (if they're sleeping too soundly, they might fall and stumble), the most important thing is to interrupt the diving process in time to prevent "drowning":
As the name suggests, it means being trapped in a shared dream and unable to wake up—students have all read various works of art and know the possibility of this danger.

There are several ways to forcibly interrupt the sound: a continuous sound source exceeding 60 decibels, such as a school bell; or to repeatedly pat the center of the forehead, but this method is very unstable.

The safest method is to separate the divers from each other during the dream and keep them at a distance; this will allow them to wake up from the dream.

However, such an extreme situation has not actually occurred yet; lifeguards are mostly there to prevent students from missing class and getting a phone call from a teacher at home. That would be the biggest harm to date, a cruel disaster that could endanger a life in school life.

Ai Xi insists that there must be at least one "lifeguard" on standby every time she goes into the water, and staying conscious is also a must: this is probably the only rule that the Taro Society currently has.

[Did someone really drown? Being trapped in a dream and unable to escape... huh, that's pretty cool. Ruan Jingbo was similar before.]

DouDou opened the iron gate and poked his head inside—he immediately understood why Goldfish Eyes was so flustered:

Aside from Ai Xi and her, there were two other people lying on the dirty floor of the storage room.

One of them was wearing the same school uniform as them, but his face was full of pockmarks—his cheeks were covered with pitted acne scars from popped pimples, looking like countless tiny meteorite craters; he was burly and tall, like an overturned motorcycle.

It was that "lunar surface": This tall guy was a familiar face in the Taro Society; they had dreamed together in the storeroom before, and he had even argued with Ai Xi back then.

Compared to her proper name, DouDou prefers to remember other people's nicknames—after all, a nickname is like a second name, only more condensed and generalized, a kind of condensation of characteristics.

However, everyone just calls the moon surface that, so DouDou followed suit; because apart from that, this tall guy has nothing remarkable to offer and few noteworthy features.

As for the other one--
"Who is this chubby guy? He's not a student."

DouDou stretched out her hand and pointed to the man lying next to the "lunar surface":

He was obese, with a protruding belly; his face was round, and he smelled of sour sweat.

Wearing a T-shirt soaked with sweat, she writhed as if in a nightmare, her movements revealing unease and causing the fat on her chest and abdomen to ripple.

Judging from his face, he is clearly not DouDou's classmate—unless he has repeated a grade for twenty years and refuses to wear a school uniform.

The two men, "Fatty" and "Lunar Surface," were sprawled out, completely blocking the floor of the storage room; there was almost nowhere to step.

Turning her head, her goldfish eyes caught sight of DouDou, and she suddenly paused, startled. She cautiously raised her hand and waved:
"Wow, DouDou! You scared me! You didn't do your exercises today?"

For some reason, she always seemed a little afraid whenever she encountered DouDou or JinYuYan. She quickly turned back to AiXi after saying that.

"Boss, what should we say? Should we... forcibly separate them? Or should we talk to the teacher? This person doesn't seem to be a teacher at our school."

DouDou squeezed into the storage room and closed the door behind him. He crouched down and rummaged through the stranger's pockets:

"Hey—wait a minute, it'd be best to search this person first; otherwise, if they wake up and run around, it'll be hard to catch them later."

(End of this chapter)