Puzzle Madness

Chapter 215 Heavenly Fire (Part 5)
"The body has lost its meaning: the destruction of the brain will not affect your thinking ability, or even your ability to control your body - the mind ether has bypassed the nervous system and taken over your body."

"You won't go into shock from blood loss. If you stay here long enough, you'll find that you won't feel hungry, thirsty, or sleepy: that little kid who was running around so much just now, isn't he usually like that?"

"So this is what the sound is like when the carotid artery ruptures and is transmitted through bone? It really does sound like the wind. Interesting."

Ai Xi did not continue her attack, nor did she even glance at the tourists. She bent down, picked up her severed tongue, and threw it into her mouth, covered in dust; then she turned around, preparing to rush out of the observatory's iron gate.

The iron gates were wide open, but the night view of Mong Cai was not visible. Instead, the empty spaces were filled with blurry, hazy mosaics, like frosted glass: exactly like those on the observatory's dome.

Ai Xi reached out without hesitation, wanting to pass through directly like Ruan Jingbo had done before—but instead stumbled.

It feels wet and warm to the touch, like putting your hand into your mouth and touching your oral cavity; however, it is tough and elastic, and you can't push it through at all.

She picked up a piece of cement from the ground and forcefully struck the solidified, hazy mass. The result was like hitting a lump of rubber; it simply bounced back.

"Oh, you want to run away and die? That's a bit difficult—you can only get in, not out, right now."

"Just recently, didn't that chubby kid go to your school? He's here too, you just can't see him with the naked eye; we're all inside his stomach. It's like a greenhouse for vegetables, which better preserves the heart ether and prevents it from seeping out. You can't get out on your own."

"That fat guy—on the surface he has some kind of materialization ability, which isn't very powerful; but after dealing with him, I know this guy is useful."

"For example, his frenzied expression is an exaggerated form of childbirth, which is a reflection of the essence of his ability. In reality, it is closer to a kind of pipe and channel that can connect to the sea of ​​suffering more efficiently, allowing the heart ether to condense and take shape. After DouDou's two enhancements with these sinners, his ability has also undergone a qualitative change."

Ai Xi bent down, searching the ground for larger, more deformed blocks of cement, preferably with steel bars for handles—she needed a new weapon. The kind that could slowly crush a person until they were completely immobilized.

The constant stream of unexpected situations left her exhausted, and blood mixed with cold sweat covered her entire face.

Boom, boom.

Strange sounds echoed from the distance of the city, a mixture of collapses and shaking; the ground trembled slightly, responding to the distant roar of artillery fire.

The tourist scratched his neck, turned the back of his hand over, and gestured to the busy Ai Xi:

"And this old gentleman behind me can send anyone he touches high into the air. Strictly speaking: it's a precise point at the intersection in the center of Mong Cai, 9.9 kilometers above the ground; why 9.9 kilometers? Well, the main road is missing one, you can understand that, I'm just making it up."

The old man's jaw still swayed with the tourists' snickers. With half his head missing, it was hard to tell if he was still lucid; but like the other two present, he was now a "living dead."
"The old gentleman didn't name the fanatic. However, out of respect for his hobby, I'll temporarily call this fanatic '[Ascension]'."

"The stratosphere is about 10 to 50 kilometers above the ground. Most small and medium-sized passenger planes fly at an altitude of less than 10 kilometers: if they go any higher, the chances of them flying into the sea increase."

"Meeting this old gentleman was a real surprise. According to Asia-Europe Post, the [ascent vehicle] greatly reduced the cost of the entire project - the docking side mentioned that Asia-Europe Post originally considered launching the entire Mong Cai into the stratosphere."

"After all, asking DouDou to ride a rocket is an impossible mission, right? This way, we won't need such a long preparation period."

"Now all we need to do is set up a platform with vertical launch capability at a precise point 9.9 kilometers above the ground in the center of Mong Cai; that will suffice."

The tourist adjusted his fisherman's hat. The blood on his neck had stopped spurting, only trickling out in small streams; his originally dark face was beginning to turn pale.

But his voice remained strong and clear; the contraction of his vocal cords was completely unaffected by blood loss and decreased oxygen supply.

"Oh! This is one of the plans from the Asia-Europe Post Office; they call it [gun-type detonation]. Have you heard of that term before?"

Ai Xi paused slightly. Although she couldn't speak, her eyes darted around nervously; it was a sign that she was thinking.

She also found a steel bar with cement at the top and carried it on her shoulder like a sledgehammer. The tourists, still absorbed in their endless torrent of words, pounded their fists with extra vigor:
"Anyway, it's something like nuclear weapons, I won't go into the principles. You just need to know: not only around him, but also the condensed and concentrated ether within his heart is an astronomical figure—if it could allow him to enter the Sea of ​​Bitterness from the earth?"

"So, it's like two highly concentrated etheric entities colliding directly, producing some kind of reaction; similar to that thing that often comes out of science fiction movies, the atomic bomb."

thump.

Ai Xi swung the crude and simple "hammer" with both hands, drawing a crescent-shaped arc before smashing it into the square box at his feet; but it only left a slight dent, the edge still gleaming.

She shook her head and began to climb up the boxes, half of her tongue stuck in the opening of her lower jaw.

"Boom! A huge explosion, but not like a real bomb; nobody knows what the specific effects will be, only speculation."

"The most ideal guess is that the sea of ​​suffering will disappear from the heads of mankind, and everyone can develop technological progress without restraint; the Internet will no longer bring any monsters and demons."

"After a person dies, they can find a new place to go: who knows, there might actually be some kind of soul or ghost in the future."

"After all, you won't be sucked into the sea of ​​suffering anymore. Troubles like superpowers will naturally disappear; these things are a menace to most people."

call.

Ai Xi pushed off the ground, spun around, and swung the concrete sledgehammer at the tourist's waist—but missed completely, nearly losing her balance. The tourist simply stepped back, dodging her slow-moving attack; then he sidestepped, avoiding the utility knife Ai Xi had concealed in her hand.

"It's also possible that the heart ether was shattered and completely subsided, and there was no longer a boundary between life and death. Just like us now, the decay of the physical body no longer represents the decay of the mind. Both scenarios would be great things for humanity, close to immortality; the radicals on the Asia-Europe Post Board of Directors would be overjoyed."

"Well—strictly speaking, DouDou's [equivalent] shouldn't reach that level. So this is more like a pilot program; at most, it can only affect the Jiaozhi Autonomous Prefecture, and further afield, the entire Southeast Asia. If it succeeds, then it can be rolled out to the whole world; if it doesn't, then forget it, and let the unlucky head of the Southeast Asia branch clean up the mess."

"So this isn't a big deal, don't overreact."
-
Bang, whoosh--
The tremors from the collision at the far end of the city gradually stopped, but a new, strange sound came—an explosive impact and a sound like fireworks shooting into the sky.

Tourists skipped and hopped nimbly down the steps made of boxes, leaving Aisi, who nearly fell, behind:

"Ever since I learned of the existence of the Sea of ​​Bitterness, I've wanted to kill a [real thing]. Do you understand?"

“You see, even if we walk out of this observatory now and die on the spot, our souls are not truly annihilated, but will fly to the sky and drift into the sea of ​​suffering; that is, they still exist in the world.”

"How should I put it, this matter makes me very uncomfortable: my job is said to be hiring murderers, but it is more like cleaning for clients, cleansing their souls, removing objects that they hate so much that they are willing to violate morality and law to get rid of; of course, it also costs a lot of money, or special items."

"In other words, it's about helping clients get rid of the troubles in their lives."

"The key here is the emotional value on both sides. Not just the client's, but mine too; have I truly helped those who need help? After all, I only have the talent of killing."

"After all these years, we found out that the garbage was just rotting in the corner and hadn't actually been disposed of at all; it was even floating in the sky. It's like sending people on a trip to the sky—it's ridiculous."

"It feels like my entire career has been negated; it's really uncomfortable. If a person dies, it's better to disappear completely."

boom!
The sound of a heavy object falling to the ground was like a thunderclap.

The loud noise was nearby, just outside that frosted glass-like barrier—
Something is approaching.

(End of this chapter)