Puzzle Madness

Chapter 211 Heavenly Fire (Part 1)

Like frosted glass, or like gray fog. So hazy, it enveloped the top of the observatory, occasionally flashing a few points of bright white light; like some inferior replica of the starry night.

It's as if someone has peeled off the real sky and replaced it with a layer of cheap plastic.

Ai Xi's eyes were almost bloodshot, and the corners of her mouth twitched. She spoke slowly and deliberately:
"What kind of person I am is none of your business. Saying this, you—oh, you're trying to provoke me."

Suddenly, she pulled a utility knife from her sleeve, flicked the blade out with a hiss, and pressed it against the back of the gunman's hand.

Without hesitation, the blade sliced ​​through, opening like a small mouth, and blood dripped down like beads.

But as his breathing gradually calmed, the blood-red rage slowly faded; only a faint echo of anger remained in his narrow eyes.

The pain seemed to awaken a sense of calm, and that calm brought back reflection. Ai Xi spoke as if to herself, yet also as if addressing a tourist:
"Ah. But—why do you want me to be angry?"

"What's certain is that my being alive is useful to you; my anger is useful to you."

The tourist rubbed his nose with his fingers. Now it's clearer; there's some kind of thin fabric separating his physical contact with the old man on his back.
"Don't say that: I'm a follower of his, just like you. I've never seen anything I can't kill. Of course, I can't kill abstract concepts; I can't kill lifeless mountains, rivers, lakes, or human creations either."

"But DouDou—he's somewhere between a human and these things; he combines the characteristics of both. Isn't that interesting? It's really fascinating."

He patted his pockets, and behind him, an old man swayed like a rag doll.
“I know the mechanism of the transmitter you have. Double insurance, right? It was disguised by the human cataloging center once, so you changed the mechanism after that.”

"If you don't send a signal for a period of time, DouDou's pager will sound an alarm; so interfering with or blocking the signal is useless. Making you press the transmitter will, of course, have the same result."

"The only way is to decode and simulate the signal in your transmitter to maintain the spoofed transmission. But obviously, I don't have time to do that right now: so why don't you press the button and summon that walking flame to our side?"

"Isn't this a better way? Better than you brandishing swords and spears in front of me?"

It was hard to tell whether Ai Xi was actually listening. She was holding the cut on the back of her hand up to her eyes, examining it closely.

The tourists, however, didn't seem to care. He opened his arms as if giving a speech:

"the reason is simple."

"Because your faith isn't strong enough, and you question his power. You think—I'm so fearless because I might have a way to hurt DouDou, right? So you don't dare to gamble."

"You think this is a trap and want to step in to test the waters first."

"Just like I'm sure you'll come running over on your own. You crave sacrifice because you feel worthless."

"You want to be a martyr, don't you? To glorify pointless actions and exaggerate your sacrifice. To exchange seemingly noble deeds for a little bit of self-worth and control."

Click.

"From now on, you'd better not waste your time trying to provoke me. Let's get straight to the point."

Ai Xi raised the pistol, made sure the safety was off, and then pressed the muzzle against her chin; the utility knife in her other hand was pressed against her neck.

Her voice no longer held the previous rage and agitation; it was as cold and hard as iron.
"Ten minutes. I'll listen to you for ten minutes. If you can't convince me after ten minutes, I'll commit suicide, and the transmitter will activate. Once DouDou arrives, there's no need for any reservations: I don't understand your intentions, and ignoring it will only make things more dangerous; but I also won't let my vulnerability harm me."

Ai Xi didn't finish speaking. She simply shook her head and added very softly:
"I know you envy me, that's why you said so much."

The tourist's wrinkles knitted together from laughing, his sunglasses bobbing up and down. He raised an eyebrow, as if he hadn't heard Ai Xi's last words; but a vein throbbed on his forehead.

"Alright! Ten minutes is enough—so I told you, didn't I? What a beautiful relationship. A disordered God and His most fervent martyrs."
-
Clap clap! The tourist snapped his fingers twice:
"The Asia-Europe Post has two plans, and the Link Renewal Movement also has a set of guidelines: even the Human Cataloging Center has a contingency plan to force things into action, although they have failed and been eliminated this time."

"The key point tonight is that we need to make a small decision: which path to follow."

"I'll leave the choice to DouDou, but I'll explain something to you first so you can understand."

The tourists stood ramrod straight. The massive, box-like tower beneath their feet shimmered with a cold light, casting a huge, double-headed shadow upon their diminutive figures.
"Do you want to know what 'hysteria' is? Ha! You definitely do. You're in luck, I'm one of the people who knows this damn thing best; although I don't have hysteria, just like you."

"From the time the first modern human closed his eyes forever until now, I've seen data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there are at least 100 billion people who have been born, experienced meaningless lives of varying lengths, and finally died. That's a terrifying number."

Do you know where they all went? Do you know where the afterlife is?

Tourists twirled and danced, raising their hands to draw large circles upwards. It was a dance full of childlike innocence:

"Right above us, in the sky. Not heaven! To be precise, in the stratosphere."

"That is where the [Sea of ​​Bitterness] is located. It is where all humans go after their lives end. And the [Sea of ​​Bitterness] is overflowing with..."

"Overflowing with waves of longing, karma, etheric heart, spiritual essence, the three souls and seven spirits—you can call it whatever you want, depending on which research institution or laboratory you work at."

"The names may differ, but the things are the same: they are the essence of humanity, the product of death."

"They float in the stratosphere and condense into oceans: of course, that's a rather abstract way of putting it. As far as I know, no one can really see these things, can you call them matter? I'm not a scientist, I don't know what these things are."

"Anyway, the world after death is not under people's feet. It is poetically called the [Sea of ​​Bitterness], but it is not a vessel of invisible water that submerges the entire human world; rather, it truly floats in the sky."

"The Earth we live on is a world that only has [heart]."

"Feeling better now? Even if you die, there won't be any hellfire for you to bathe in; this is great news."

"In the sky... ah. A dream suspended in the air... that dream... so..."

Ai Xi parted her upper and lower lips slightly, her teeth chattering within them—no one knew what she was saying, but the gun remained steady.

She frowned and then relaxed, her facial muscles twitching. Whether true or false, the news was clearly impacting and stirring Ai Xi's mind.

The tourists rubbed their hands together, practically sparking with excitement. He was simply giving a passionate speech, pouring out everything he knew:
"You're very smart, you should understand now, right?"

There should have been a dramatic silence, but the tourists only paused briefly and didn't wait for Ai Xi's reply at all.
"Yes! That's how the craze started."

"When you commit sins, the etheric heart in the sea of ​​suffering is drawn in and falls; it surrounds you. The heavier the sin, the greater the amount—"

"Hey, I don't know the sentencing standards! Don't ask me. Apparently, the standards are a mix of all the laws in human history, plus some weird moral and ethical considerations."

"Who knows the truth? Scientists just talk nonsense; there's no chance to verify it now."

"Anyway, this is one of the cases—the so-called sinner."

"And if you don't pay attention to your mental health: if your heart develops cracks, if there are open wounds—when you have mental illness, a part of the sea of ​​heart etheric suffering that has fallen to earth will flow into your heart and fill those wounds."

(End of this chapter)