Puzzle Madness

Chapter 209 The First Dream War (Fifteen)

It wasn't just a figure of speech—Aish's heart was pounding like a drum, each beat deafening. For once, she felt tense, and an anxiety rising up her spine.

Because something new and unusual happened that night.

On the cold floor of the house lay a map of Mong Cai, covered with messy annotations and lines—Ai Xi sat cross-legged on the floor, clutching several leaflets, all printed on shiny glossy paper:

[Celebrating 1997: Mong Cai New Year's Eve Celebration].

Ai Xi was all too familiar with this flyer. Ever since Dou Dou found it in her worksheet that day, she hadn't had a single good night's sleep.
These photos in front of me are not copies of DouDou's; they were collected by the students of the Taro Society after school today.

"If they start handing out flyers, does that mean the operation is all set?"

According to its members, a Jinbei van was driving very slowly, and the passenger in the front seat was handing out flyers to pedestrians on the sidewalk.
"The ice cream shop on Pingyu Road, the entrance to Haiyan Audio-Visual Store, the sports field on Jialong Road. Then I didn't drive towards the school."

These were the locations where the students received the flyers. Ai Xi marked them one by one on the map, connected them into a line, and studied the car's movement trajectory.

This Jinbei van didn't traverse the entire length of Mong Cai. In fact, its route was a simple, direct line segment—
From the Mong Cai Observatory on the outskirts of the city, all the way to the video store near Mong Cai No. 5 Middle School, then we turned back: avoiding the school and also avoiding the direction of DouDou's house.

Students on both sides of the road received flyers, which suggests that the van was doing the same thing on its return journey.

Goldfish Eyes made phone calls one by one, asking other members, as well as their classmates and even family members; only this one van was used to distribute the flyers, and none of the students living in other districts had seen the van distributing the flyers.

The van was operating in a swaggering, almost ostentatious manner; with only one vehicle on the road, and given the deliberate timing of the distribution, it wasn't actually handing out flyers or promoting this so-called New Year's Eve celebration.

Ai Xi knew what this was:
This is an invitation, an invitation that is almost undisguised.
An invitation extended to DouDou.
She didn't plan to tell DouDou, at least not until she was sure it was safe.

observatory.

Ai Xi rarely trusted her intuition, and she had never had any sudden, wonderful feelings.

thump.

But as her finger traced the map over this place she hadn't visited in so long, her heart suddenly sank; it was a strange, heavy weight that almost rose into her stomach, as if someone were pulling her down—
".Tsk."

She nearly vomited, until she pounded her chest hard with her hands several times; but the feeling of being covered by a sticky, heavy substance just wouldn't go away.

Let's go take a look.

Ai Xi didn't hesitate much—
She knew that DouDou had seen people from Asia-Europe Post at the observatory before, and that there might be something else hidden here, or something strange about it.
Perhaps it's a trap?

"Then we definitely have to go."

Stepping outside, Ai Xi took her IC card and found a public phone: after dialing the number, she waited for five beeps before hanging up, repeating this process three times.

The call was to Ruan Jingbo, telling her to get ready to meet him. Even after practicing for so long, it was still very difficult for Ruan Jingbo to speak normally.

Ai Xi kicked open the iron gate of the woodshed next to the alley and pushed out her electric motorcycle: most of the parts came from the junkyard, and electricity was easier to steal than oil.
-
When Ai Xi arrived at the observatory, he could even see the stars twinkling in the zenith. They were scattered and twinkling, and occasionally he could glimpse the lights of airplanes streaking across the night sky. It was cool, there was no rain, and the streets were quiet: it was so rare to find such weather in Mong Cai—the abnormality brought unease.

Ai Xi got out of the car and just casually tossed it aside. Anyway, ordinary people wouldn't come to the observatory to steal batteries at this time; and those guys from the Eurasian Post or other strange organizations couldn't be stopped even with the car lock.

She glanced around, pulled a thin earpiece from her collar, and spoke in a low voice:
"First, 'I Can't Stop Loving You,' remember to remove the chorus. When you're on standby, prepare 'Too Softhearted.'"

A blurry black shadow darted across the distant grass, moving like a rabbit or a locust, its limbs bent backward as it climbed up the red brick wall of the observatory and disappeared behind the dome.

Due to the screen limitations of the dance machine, issuing commands directly via voice is more efficient than letting Ruan Jingbo observe on his own.

The dance machine keypad and climbing moves in "I Can't Stop Loving You" are very similar, so it became a code word for seizing high places; "Too Softhearted" became a synonym for attacking vital organs for the same reason.

The telescope opening at the observatory hadn't been closed for a long time, making it a perfect entrance. While he couldn't climb up himself, Ruan Jingbo could easily; it was just right for her to lie in ambush there—
Ruan Jingbo's endurance limit has not yet been discovered: at least running these few kilometers with the electric motorcycle did not slow down her movement speed.

Ai Xi sniffed and climbed the steps; it was still quite cool after autumn, making her feel sluggish as if she were about to catch a cold.

So she put her hands in her pockets to warm them, and also gripped the cylindrical transmitter tightly—
Strangely, when Ai Xizhen arrived at the observatory:
That sticky, suffocating feeling actually disappeared.
-
Ai Xi pushed open the iron gate.

The observatory's dome is high and empty, shrouded in a thin, misty haze; from the outside, one would never guess how vast its interior truly is.
No, it wasn't like this before.

Standing in the observatory, it is at least tens of meters high and spacious, like a plaza.

The astronomical telescope, which should have been the absolute protagonist, has vanished without a trace.

Instead, a pyramid-like structure stood tall, composed of interlocking metal boxes.
"Oh my, hello! Isn't this my favorite little priestess?"

A greeting suddenly rang out from the top of the tower.

He was a short, stocky man, crouching atop the tower. He was dressed in a flamboyant short-sleeved floral shirt in the cool autumn air, and even wore sunglasses at night; like a drunken tourist.

At first glance, he appears to have two heads; in addition to his neck, there is also a head attached to his shoulder.

"I knew you'd guess it. Or maybe you just sensed it? Something like that: I hope you don't think my invitation is too hasty—I know you can tell it's more complicated, but... since you're coming anyway, why make it so complicated?"

Upon closer inspection, one can see that he is carrying another person on his back like a Viking wearing a bearskin, yet he moves freely; the person being "dressed" by this tourist cannot be seen clearly, but one hand is wrapped in bandages, and several fingers have been cut off.

"These boxes are strange? Oh, they're used to increase the concentration of heart ether."

"We borrowed from the practices of human cataloging centers: I heard that they had been looking for alternative methods for a long time—but they just couldn't figure it out, so they had to force it into a situation."

"The cost is just too high; only a normal person would do that. Big companies really have money."

(End of this chapter)