Puzzle Madness

Chapter 205 The First Dream War (Part 11)

The car parked on the side of the road was split in two, its smooth edges gleaming gold-red, the high temperature distorting the air; the charred leather seats mixed with the metal frame emitted an indescribable pungent smell.

"Ah ya ya ya ya"

Perhaps due to the excruciating pain, Marie Inoue shook her head wildly; the crimson rays moved with her, also waving in the chaos, melting everything in their path.

The faded white paint on the zebra crossing was torn and cut, and the damp, foul stench of the sewer seeped out from the gaps; more and more dark, long streaks appeared on the road, one after another.

DouDou had bought a laser pointer before—mainly to tease the cats at the entrance of the neighborhood. The beam of light that Inoue Marie condensed in front of him reminded him of that feeling of being able to control something as easily as using his own arm.

But the scorching cylinder moved a little slower than Marie Inoue's head, as if there was a slight delay.

"Where are you? DouDou, where are you?"

Her gaze swept over Doudou's head, where a streetlamp pole was sliced ​​in half, spinning and crashing to the ground; the beam of light then thunderously cut into the shops behind it, slicing them open like a cake.
"Ah...over there."

In the distance, faint screams of amazement could be heard – they came from pedestrians who had turned to look earlier, seemingly thinking there was a fireworks display going on.

The sound attracted Marie Inoue's attention.

She turned her head:

A crimson torrent swept across the distance, piercing the night. The figures suddenly shrank by half, their remaining legs collapsing to the ground with a thud, without even a final twitch, leaving only a few dark shadows on the sidewalk.

"Here, here. Don't wander around."

Dou Dou clapped his hands and pointed out his location to her—at the same time, he secretly decided that when he got back, he would submit an article to the newspaper, advising the citizens of Mong Cai that if they saw anything strange on the street, it would be best not to stop and watch.

"--I...I can't feel my face anymore: Amazing, I'm so amazing. I've never been this amazing before."

Marie Inoue, suspended above the ground, spun in the air, a horrifying wound on her shoulder splashing out a wave of blood like a single wing; but there was no smell of iron in the blood at all.

Buzz.
As it turned, the thick red line drew a fan shape, heading straight for DouDou's head—
He raised his arm and shielded his face with his hand:
The rotating, rolling beam of light shone on my palm, making my skin glow.

It felt warm and damp to the touch: just like the molten steel that DouDou secretly scooped up during their summer camp visit to the steel mill—
boom!
He took a step back, stomping his foot hard into the asphalt and nearly falling over.

The beam of light even carried impact kinetic energy, as if it had been hit head-on by a truck; it contained terrifying force that could not be detected from the outside.

Hearing the sound of Doudou stomping on the ground, Inoue Marie's head shifted nervously. She seemed to want to listen carefully to pinpoint the exact location, but couldn't actually turn her head to change the direction of the beam.
"How does it look? Is it very destructive?"

The surrounding area had been shattered by strange high temperatures and kinetic energy—it looked like it had been bombarded by artillery fire.

DouDou turned her head to the side and looked closer at the beam of light that was blocked by her palm; it was like water droplets, scattering in all directions after the impact and disappearing into nothingness in the air.

"You know what, the visual effects are actually quite scary."

First came the smell of burning fat, like roasted meat, then it was masked by the pungent odor of charcoal. Marie Inoue's skin gradually cracked from the burning, her eyebrows and blisters disappeared, and clusters of black charcoal marks covered the upper half of her face; the fork stuck in her mouth was slightly red, as if it held flames.

Her appearance was so nauseating that it made one want to vomit, and it was impossible to discern her expression:

Do you like it? Do you like my laser eyes?

His voice was hoarse and dry, and his lips drooped as if they were about to fall off; the same was true of the doll that had been burned by a blowtorch many times.

In just a few dozen seconds, Marie Inoue's face was completely unrecognizable.

"The visual effects are pretty cool, but it's not a matter of liking or disliking it. It's not like it was shot out of my eyes!"

Marie Inoue has lost her sight and will soon lose her entire face: this [laser eye] is almost a one-time infatuation—unless she can reactivate the ability in a blind state in the future.

Perhaps: This is not generated through human organs, but the emission point is so close to the face that the side effects seem particularly horrifying; however, without visual guidance, the hit rate is obviously not high.

[What did she fire? It wasn't a laser, was it? The impact was quite strong; it's better to call it a thermal vision device or something.]

If it were truly a laser weapon, DouDou shouldn't be able to see this magnificent yet terrifying light: the naked eye of a normal person cannot capture such a high-energy beam; at most, one can observe deformation caused by mechanical damage and burning caused by thermal damage.

Comics and literary works often use exaggerated descriptions to enhance expressiveness.
Therefore, DouDou believes that what was spraying out "in front of her" was actually some kind of high-temperature jet or plasma, which is why it had such fierce destructive power and shocking visual effects.
[They call him Superman, but the principle behind him might be more like that one-eyed guy from Marvel Comics? Maybe he draws on some kind of extradimensional energy—oh dear, isn't that a bit too far-fetched?]

Is this considered a composite type of superpower? A bit of floating ability, a body more robust than the average person, greater strength, and that heat jet is really strange. I thought everyone only had one superpower at most, so this would be more distinctive.

Or is it something like a transformation? After undergoing a ritual, her abilities gravitate towards the superhuman qualities she imagines herself to be; like in comics and movies where her eyes "shoot out beams."

Indeed, as Marie Inoue herself said, her obsession was like a low-budget, cheap version of Superman; only her body couldn't withstand the consequences of her own destructive power.

This is difficult to investigate at present—he suspects that even Marie Inoue herself doesn't know the answer.

More importantly, DouDou couldn't understand the other party's motives at all.

"Are there any disputes within your Asia-Europe Post Office? Are you divided into two or more factions?"

Given the intensity of Marie Inoue's fanaticism, it's entirely possible to design equipment and tactics around her and fight in a safer way.

If it's about fighting yourself, there's absolutely no need to engage in such a hasty skirmish—whether she enjoys the battle and the pain itself, or truly wants to destroy or kill DouDou; this decision is anything but rational.

"So, you're just trying to prevent that [dandruff manager] from revealing any key information. Is it really necessary to make such a fuss? Why not just tell some false information? I can't verify it right away; you can drag it out for a long time anyway."

Or is it based on the principle of that [gun-type detonator]? This silly girl is pretty strong—though very fragile. And she just said it's similar to my Madness: both are self-operating. Could it be that they'll just explode in the middle of a fight?

(End of this chapter)