ecstasy

Snapped.

"Hahaha, I told you not to be so nervous!"

Doudou gently patted Richard's shoulder, but still pressed him so hard that he almost fell.

"Hey! Relax, relax! There's no need to be so jumpy. It's all you, why are you suddenly calling yourself an agent? It makes me want to imitate the suspicion in spy movies. Hahahaha! I'm just trying to scare you."

"Actually, it doesn't matter whether you're telling the truth or not—it doesn't matter at all. The most important thing is! I'm still on summer vacation. You don't look dull like the doctor, you should know how important summer vacation is to young people, right? Old Li, you've made a good start and made tonight quite interesting."

"So - if you could make tonight a little more fun, a little more interesting; if you could make some summer memories for me, that's fine: I know there's a thing called a 'white lie'. Right? Right? I'm easy to talk to."

Chapter 45 Late Night Snack

The food stalls were still bustling with noise. Women carrying guitars, small speakers, and microphones walked past each table, holding up wrinkled, plastic-wrapped playlists and asking customers to request songs. Someone, after a series of losses at the dice table and unable to drink any more, pretended to order "Sunshine Always Comes After the Rain."

Amid the distorted singing voice with noise coming from the speakers, no one noticed the agent who had just been on the brink of life and death.

Richard squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again, his eyeballs bloodshot like spiderwebs. He suddenly took off his glasses, stuffed them into the breast pocket of his casual suit, and wiped the sweat off his face with his palm.

This time, he was finally able to look directly into Doudou's eyes; but perhaps because of astigmatism or myopia, and because he had taken off his glasses, Richard's eyes were a little blurry and wandering:

".Really? That's good, I understand your needs. Doudou - I can promise you, I won't let you get bored. Please rest assured."

The mathematician shifted the arms of his glasses on his ears, as if he wanted to say something, but he swallowed his words back.

Why hadn't I thought of this? As long as he took off his glasses, Doudou's face looked a lot blurrier, and his eyes didn't seem so scary anymore; they even looked a little friendly.

Thus, the division of labor temporarily established by the small group became clear - one person was responsible for completing the difficult summer homework, and the other provided unforgettable summer entertainment.

At this moment, the owner of the food stall brought out the dishes they had ordered earlier:

There were fried eggs with five willow leaves, sugarcane shrimp, raw pickles, a local favorite of Jiaozhi Autonomous Prefecture, a plate of sour food, and a plate of conch. Although beer bottles were clinking everywhere, they didn't order any alcohol.

Doudou carefully arranged the disposable dishes and chopsticks to prevent them from breaking into pieces in his hands:

"Come on, eat! Tonight looks like it's going to be quite long. Great! This is how it feels like summer vacation. Don't be shy, don't be shy. Whoever has the most money will treat. So, I'll start eating first."

Snap: Richard opened the disposable chopsticks and picked up the food first.

No one touched the raw pickles, save the mathematician who had ordered them. Doudou spent a long time setting the table, only to reach for a dish when his chopsticks snapped in two. He got another pair, only to have the same fate. Soon, the table was covered in broken wood. Finally, he ran to the food stall's sterilizer and grabbed a pair of iron chopsticks: they were slightly warped by a squeeze, but at least they were usable.

On the contrary, Richard had a big appetite and even talked more - I don't know what kind of intense exercise he did during the day, but he also ordered two bowls of white rice; he kept picking up dishes and stuffing food into his mouth; he looked like his head was going to be moved if he didn't eat.

Along with his appetite, his talkativeness also increased:

"My friend Doudou, there's something very interesting about that Iron Butcher I mentioned earlier. Do you want to hear about it?"

Richard added a strange suffix and title after [兜兜], and then continued to eat his meal with big mouthfuls.

Doudou rested his elbows on the table and held his face in his hands:

"Ah, isn't that the iron ruler killer you just mentioned, using a triangle ruler to split bullets - and also using a triangle ruler to smash cement? I can smash cement too! Sometimes when I'm in a good mood, my strength goes all over the place; look at all the broken chopsticks on my table."

"Are you saying that someone in the Asia-Europe Post has special abilities? Is that what you mean? It sounds like a science fiction movie."

The mathematician swallowed the raw pickled shrimp - clear muscle traces of swallowing could be seen on his withered neck:

"You know him. You know Doudou's situation. Is that why you brought the topic up this way?"

Richard frowned. The politeness and caution at the beginning of the conversation had disappeared. He looked like he had known the two of them for many years.

"What are you talking about, Doc? I think we all know: there's no need to be so secretive. Didn't you see that Doudou's eyes can rebound bullets? And he dug through a concrete wall with his bare hands?"

Doudou was still putting food into his bowl. He had a fixed eating routine—stuff it into his mouth, chew it three times, and swallow it. It was unclear whether he could even taste the food.

"Why? You can't say bad things about others to their faces. Are you saying bad things about me?"

The mathematician turned around with a strange look of indignation on his face:

"Who would see you and ask if they could kill you? And now they're trying to steer the conversation in the same direction: This guy must have known about your superpowers—er, why you're so...strong."

"Although he's acting very generously now, I don't think we can fully trust him."

Doudou ate the conch—he didn't even use a toothpick to pick out the flesh, but stuffed a handful into his mouth like candy, chewed the shells together with a crunching sound, and swallowed them directly into his stomach—while mumbling in response:

"Oh! That makes sense—I was so happy before that I didn't even notice. But it seems like I don't need to hide things like my great strength. Don't you all know it?"

Richard's meal finally came to an end. He didn't seem to care much about the mathematician's aggressiveness:

"There are only three of us, are we still forming a clique? The 'we' you mentioned should have included me. I don't harbor any ill will towards Dou Dou. Not to mention that I simply don't dare to harbor any; even if I did, there's nothing I can do to him."

"But you, Doctor, you got him into this mess, didn't you? Why are you still so sanctimonious?"

Without Doudou's support, the mathematicians also lack the confidence to respond:

"No, no. Why are you suddenly yelling 'we we' and are you in cahoots with us? You—I don't even know who you are. How could a normal person hold a medical examiner hostage in a police morgue?"

Doudou bent down and took out the strange-looking surveillance camera from the mathematician's cardboard box. Before leaving the police station, he didn't forget to take away this expensive-looking device.

"Hey, Doctor! Let's not worry about this mess for now. Lao Li is an agent. It would be strange if he didn't do strange things in strange places."

"So, Lao Li—you were the one who set up the surveillance cameras in the ventilation ducts in the police station, right?"

Richard took the monitor, checked the batteries and videotape, and put it back into the mathematician's box.

"Yes. It's an all-in-one monitor that doesn't require external power or storage. It's mine. Leave it over there for now."

"Like you, I sneaked in through the ventilation duct first. There was a body of one of my colleagues in the morgue, and I wanted to find some clues on him."

"But I have no autopsy skills or training, so I had to seek help from professionals. The surveillance camera is used to record the autopsy process so as not to miss any key clues."

"If I were to arbitrarily open and cut the body myself, I would only damage it; I wouldn't be able to obtain any useful information. It's just that the timing is bad; the autopsy report hasn't come out yet."

Chapter 46 Partner

The mathematician blew out his breath and snorted:

"Ask for help? Isn't that coercion and kidnapping? Do you mean that this counts as asking for help?"

Richard, his face full of seriousness and sincerity, spread out his hands; the mathematician's hands were as weak as if hitting cotton:

"I had no intention of harming him. Look, I was wearing a mask and a hair cap at the time—right? That was enough to conceal my identity, so there was no need to kill the medical examiner to silence him. I didn't intend to cause any more trouble. It would be a waste of time."

Richard didn't give the mathematician another chance to interrupt and continued the previous topic:

"Anyway—the reason I went to the police morgue is also related to the interesting story I want to tell you; Doudou, my friend."

"But there's something I didn't get to say before. I need to be frank with you now to avoid affecting our subsequent conversation and to prevent any misunderstandings."

"I'm not sure what exactly happened, but I had a colleague who might have had some conflict with you a few days ago? Or maybe an argument? Anyway, he ended up dead. So, Doudou, I knew from the beginning that you were no ordinary person. If he did anything to offend you, please believe me: I absolutely do not approve of his behavior."

Doudou scratched his head, bewildered. He closed his eyes and seemed to search his mind carefully before finally answering:

"Who?"

Richard's mouth twitched, and he immediately brought his hands to his face, outlining the shape of his beard:

"Gray hair and gray stubble? A foreigner? He's wearing a black windbreaker, a white shirt, and hard-soled leather shoes. He's middle-aged, probably in his forties, almost 1.9 meters tall; he's very strong and looks fierce."

Doudou folded his hands in front of his chest, his expression becoming more serious:

"Oh! I see! You're talking about that one, that someone, um, I don't remember him."

The mathematician raised his hand to adjust his glasses and suddenly said:

"You don't look like a local."

Richard nodded and gave the mathematician a perfunctory response—his patience seemed endless.

"Well, I'm mixed-blood—that's Doudou's friend, a colleague of mine who died in an elevator. If you still can't remember, he was a heavy smoker, never leaving his cigarette."

Doudou's eyes suddenly widened, and the iron chopsticks in his hand bent into an arc:

"O-oh! Smoking in the elevator! Now that reminds me, that's abominable; I had almost forgotten. Do you smoke?"

Richard and the mathematician both shook their heads quickly, their speed almost twitching.

"No." / "I have bronchitis."

Looking around, there are naturally many smokers and drinkers in the food stalls:

"Well, smoking is fine: you see, there are many people smoking in food stalls now. But don't smoke in places like the elevator; and don't throw cigarette butts around casually—oh! Your colleague seemed to be hitting someone in the elevator at that time? But I was angry, so I went home first."

Richard reached out and rolled up the plastic tablecloth. He lowered his head, as if carefully observing the wrinkles on the disposable plastic tablecloth.

"Beating someone. Do you remember what happened? Did the person being beaten say anything special?"

Doudou pinched his chin with two fingers, frowning in thought:

"No, that older woman said she doesn't smoke—ah! No, she seemed unable to speak, she just kept mumbling. I sniffed her mouth, but there wasn't any smell of smoke, so I left it alone."

"Hey, Lao Li, why are you asking this? Wait, wait, I get it! Your colleague is here to kill the doctor!"

Snapped!

Doudou's head snapped and turned ninety degrees in the blink of an eye, turning to the mathematician:

"Just after Lao Li's colleague started smoking and beating people up, you moved in, Doctor. Didn't you say that the people who helped you told you that the most dangerous place is the safest place? I guess the guy who was beaten up by his colleague was one of the people who helped you—oh, one of them!"

"Normally, there aren't many outsiders visiting our neighborhood, let alone so many of them coming in a row! So there must be a connection, it's not a coincidence. Otherwise, why would I specifically ask you to move next to my house?"

"I understand what that meant. That's why I asked you to move here! It means: Although this neighborhood is dangerous with people randomly beating people up and smoking in the elevator, it's still safe because there are enthusiastic residents like me who help maintain order!"

The mathematician was completely unable to keep up with Doudou's rapid progress. He felt as if someone had injected a whole tube of suppositories into his head, leaving his entire brain ridges slippery.

"Huh? Is this what it actually means? I thought it meant..."

The mathematician was speechless - he almost said the words [Doudou is the most dangerous].

"Please wait, Doudou friend—and you, Doctor."

Richard raised his hands solemnly, palms facing outwards:

"I have no idea what we're talking about; but I haven't received any orders regarding the Doctor, let alone hunting him down."

No one could figure out whether the mathematician really meant it, or was simply trying to escape the strange and nerve-wracking conversation he had with Doudou:

"Doudou. What Doudou said makes a lot of sense."

"Li Chuck, I don't know if what you said is true. Or maybe you're just afraid of death. First, tell Doudou why you want to know what was said."

Richard frowned, not liking the hostility the mathematician had been showing:

"I think Doudou has his own ideas, and he doesn't need anyone else to speak for him. Besides—I now believe that we are actually on the same side, and even facing the same enemy."

"Especially you, Doctor. You and I have the same enemy, don't you? My colleague's [beating someone] in the elevator might have just been a conflict caused by a misunderstanding. After all, it has nothing to do with me. I just want to stand from Doudou's perspective and help him organize more intelligence and information."

"Besides—now the company isn't just after you. They want to kill me too. At least, if we only look at Asia-Europe Post, that's true. So is there any need to question whether I'm lying out of fear?"

"Besides, I went to the police morgue just to examine that colleague's body. I thought there might be some clues that I hadn't discovered in time. As for the Asia-Europe Post—"

The more Doudou listened, the more his eyes wandered. He finally couldn't help but interrupt the long-winded Richard:

"Eh—that seems to be the truth. But, didn't you say you had something interesting to tell me before? Could that smoking guy be your colleague? Is this interesting?"

"Alright, alright, Lao Li, let's finish the fun stuff I was going to say earlier!"

Chapter 47 Representation

Richard glanced at the mathematician who had finally calmed down, then turned his full attention back to Doudou.

"Indeed, I have quite digressed now—allow me to return to the subject."

"My deceased colleague must have been quite similar to you, but he can't be compared with you."

"Doudou, have you noticed that you are actually different from ordinary people?"

This time it was the mathematician who stared at Richard with wide eyes as if he were a fool; he also moved the red plastic stool with white inlays back to be further away from the two men.

Doudou glanced at the diners around him who were immersed in alcohol and food, then turned around and patted himself all over, as if looking for something dirty.

"Huh? How do you mean different?"

"Are you saying I'm not that smart and need to go to a school for the intelligentsia? I'm just not good at math, not that bad."

"And then—ADHD? Autism? I don't seem to have any of those."

Richard waved his hands repeatedly, his ten fingers leaving afterimages:

"No, no, no, Doudou, you misunderstood."

"Here's something fun I'm going to tell you—and it'll satisfy you: I was into this when I was your age."