Puzzle Madness

Chapter 190 Levitation Technique (Part 8)
Having a club space at Mong Cai No. 5 Middle School is not easy:
Although there is no strict registration, the use of classrooms during off-duty hours is all under the teacher's responsibility; if any tricky or strange problems arise, the teacher is naturally the one in charge, and no one dares to give authorization easily.

Therefore, apart from the school basketball team and basketball club, most interest groups are like rootless duckweed; they need to find a base to operate in, and most of the time they huddle in a corner of the playground under a tree, or in the back row of a member's class.

The Taro Society was much better off, almost like aristocratic treatment.

Ai Xi paid two bags of taro and twenty yuan a month to obtain the right to use the corner storeroom on the elevated floor from the school's cleaning grandpa—of course, they were also responsible for its hygiene.

So compared to the last time I came, the storage room is now clean and tidy; they even secretly moved two chairs from the classroom and put them in the corner. The musty smell has also dissipated a lot, and everyone usually leans against them to fall asleep.

Of course, Ai Xi received sponsorship from the Taro King restaurant near the school gate—so there were still a few Taro King posters on the wall, with round, purple snowmen that could just cover up the cracks in the wall.

Without any hesitation, DouDou began rummaging through the fat man's pockets. The fat man seemed trapped in a nightmare, his fingers trembling intermittently.
"You guys keep talking, I'll come and take a look."

As soon as DouDou finished speaking, AiXi raised her hand and gently patted the back of the goldfish-eyed girl to help her catch her breath.

“Patriarch Gong, let’s not talk about anything else for now—tell us the whole story from beginning to end, take it slow.”

How did you find them? Were you told beforehand?
-
Goldfish Eyes pounded his chest twice and cleared his throat:

"Didn't everyone have a really bad neck just now? The announcement said that if you feel uncomfortable, you should go to the infirmary. A lot of students were running around everywhere! That's crazy."

"Then the moon surface appeared on its own, all smiles! I figured it was because it was trying to sneakily dream without registering. So I quickly told the teacher, 'My stomach hurts, I need to go to the toilet!' and came out with it."

As DouDou listened and was searched, her memory became clearer. Lunar Surface and Goldfish Eyes were in the same class and were the most active members of the Taro Society; ironically, at the time, only the two of them questioned AiXi's "unauthorized seizure of power".

"Then I wondered, who is he going to dream with? I want to catch someone else too. But after walking around the corridor, I didn't see anyone."

"I just arrived at our base—as soon as I opened the door, I saw the two of them lying on the ground! I don't even recognize this fat guy, it's so weird! I rushed to find you, afraid the teacher would arrive before get out of class ended."
-
Before the chattering goldfish eyes could finish explaining the whole story, DouDou had already found a pleasant surprise:
"Hey! We're kindred spirits: this fat guy's a player—look, Ai Xi, it's a character card from 'Blood Feast of the Immortal Palace'!"

He opened his hand, and in his palm lay a piece of cardboard he had pulled from the fat man's pocket. The form on it was filled with densely packed small print, as well as checkmarks, crosses, and various other symbols.

"Let me see, he's still using [Red Taoist]. Oh dear, why do adults like using these stat monsters? This class is still too strong: tsk, look at how he allocated his stats. It's all random, and the skills are all randomly matched too."

Although DouDou talks like a veteran player, ever since he bought the "Immortal Palace Blood Banquet" starter pack at the provincial library during the last typhoon, he has only completed the tutorial level of the single-player campaign. He hasn't had time to use those game cards and stamps, nor has he joined other players' game progress—there's no way around it, he's spent all his time on the second generation of Magical Swan.

"Strange. I didn't bring a wallet, keys, or room key or anything. Why would I only bring these things with me? That's a bit weird. Wait a minute."

The obese man's T-shirt was soaked with sweat, especially his chest and abdomen: under the semi-transparent fabric, the messy, blurry pattern inside was visible. DouDou casually lifted the fat man's T-shirt, and his belly jiggled out like a lump of pudding—
But aside from the hair around the belly button, some things are even more noticeable.
"Huh? There are words written on it."

DouDou squinted, examining it closely. It was painted with oil or pigment, now dried and crusted over; the dark green handwriting was ugly and somewhat crooked, but still barely legible.
[pipeline].

The meaning is unclear; two large, incoherent characters, one above the other, encircle the fat man's navel.
Above the navel, roughly where the stomach is, there are even finer words written in ballpoint pen:
[Please press].

DouDou pinched her chin with one hand, clearly having no intention of following the instruction:

"Something's definitely not right! Hmm, let's not press it for now. Hey, did they sew some kind of bomb into her stomach? I think there's a movie where they did that, it's kind of scary."

"Or is it because you've been constipated for too long? I heard that pressing your stomach can help you pass stool: just kidding, just kidding; it can't be that far-fetched."

If he were the only one here, DouDou would definitely press the buttons a couple of times to try; but with AiXi and the other classmates—who are much more vulnerable than DouDou.

Ai Xi pulled the goldfish eyes back and walked behind Dou Dou, ready for him to press down.

DouDou turned her head to the side, her eyes still fixed on the fat man:
"Hey, you, Goldfish... Goldfish-Eyed Princess? Did you just say this fat guy came here on his own initiative? I've never seen him before?"

As she spoke, her goldfish-eyed eyes bulged even more. She pointed to herself, seemingly surprised and embarrassed by the nickname:

"Uh, goldfish eyes? Are you talking about me? Oh right! I didn't see anyone from the Moon Surface picking up people at the school gate. Anyway, it seems like Fatty was waiting here. I don't know how he sneaked into the school."

"I think he's one of those weirdos who deliberately seeks out middle school students for fun."

Ai Xi lowered her arms, her brows furrowed so deeply they could crush a mosquito. She rubbed her hands in her pockets and slowly paced back and forth.
"No—this isn't a prank, nor is it perverted. It should be."

She shook her head, her lips almost pressed into a thin line:
"Gong Zu, you go out first. Guard the door and don't let your classmates get close; if other club members come, ask them to help you. Remember the contingency plan? Follow that—Gong Zu?"

The goldfish eyes didn't respond; instead, they opened wider and wider, almost bulging out of their sockets.

She clutched her diving notebook tightly to her chest, her other hand trembling as she pointed at the obese man:
"It's smoking! His stomach is smoking—"

Indeed, several wisps of almost imperceptible smoke were rising from the obese man's navel; in the dim light of the storage room, they appeared as thin threads.
Even before touching it, it was as if some kind of switch had been flipped, and the obese man's already bulging belly grew larger and larger. Until the skin was almost transparent from the inside, and the blood vessels and veins under the skin could be seen; it looked like a woman about to give birth.

(End of this chapter)