Puzzle Madness

Chapter 63 Welcome
The mathematician fell to the very end. He kept rubbing the floor tiles with the sole of his shoe, sweeping away dust and leaving a long streak:

"Ah, this place is almost finished."

Richard no longer looks like a corporate field representative, but has become a tour guide:

"The plans are pretty much set: floors one through seventeen will be department stores and shops, with a hotel, revolving restaurant, and clubs above. There will also be a portion of office space, rented out. Overall, it's a fairly common setup, but it's quite new here in Mong Cai."

"Actually, as you can see, the interior is basically finished. But I remember the deadline given by the higher-ups is still a while."

Doudou opened his mouth into an "O" shape in a serious manner and exclaimed exaggeratedly:

"Oh—so that's how it is!"

The mathematician who spent the whole night with Doudou finally learned to show his support:

"What was it?"

Doudou pointed his hand to the ground:
"Oh, a secret room! They must be building a secret room or something, a secret base. Right, Old Li? Otherwise, why would he mention the delays? He must have something else to say. This guy never finishes what he says, leaving only half of it."

The mathematician lowered his head and stared at the smooth ground beneath his feet.

The further they walked into the lobby on the first floor, the less light came in from the glass windows: there was no bright green light from the emergency exit, and they were going deeper into this man-made cave.

Because the room was too dark, with only a little moonlight; Richard didn't even bother to nod:
"What Doudou said is correct, but not entirely. Besides the 151st floor above ground, Shouzhu 151 also has underground space, but it's not a secret room; it's all approved. The application materials state it's for maintenance of municipal infrastructure pipelines. Um, or is it an earthquake-resistant shell structure, included in the structural safety budget? I kind of forgot, but it's one of those two reasons."

"It's just that this space is a little bigger than what was reported in the materials."

The mathematician stood on tiptoe and stomped hard down:

"So that combat branch is right under our feet? Is the Asia-Europe Postal Service so secretive?"

Richard listened attentively to Doudou's footsteps, so that he could roughly follow behind him:
"When my partner and I were working on orders here, we noticed that the transportation vehicles involved far exceeded the materials listed. So it's really just speculation. It's not a secret. The scale and building materials are all publicly available, and a simple comparison will reveal it."

"Many companies do this, it's not a big deal; I've always been curious why they chose Mong Cai."
-
Chuck Lee was not lying - Shouzhu 151 had even begun preparations for its opening.

They passed the bare stage scaffolding and stepped into the first-floor atrium. This giant structure wrapped in red cloth was stuck in a corner of the lobby, waiting for Shouzhu 151 to welcome the surging crowd.

When it officially opens, this stage will be used for ceremonial activities: but now it is empty. There are not even spotlights or speakers, only exposed interwoven rectangular steel frames - the metal reflects the little moonlight and gleams faintly, making it the clearest object in the lobby.

Shadows clung to every corner like a thick liquid. As far as the mathematician and Richard could see, there were only a few outlines drawn by the moonlight.

Only Doudou could see everything clearly, and the remaining two could only follow behind him:

"Alright, alright, Lao Li. Take us inside this branch, please? How do we get there?"

As Richard spoke, he pulled out a pistol from the clip under his armpit; even though this was not his dominant hand, his movements were still smooth and skillful:
"I don't know the way. I don't even know if there's a branch here."

The mathematician looked at Richard, who was checking the magazine with one hand:
"Huh? What then? Are you going to punch through the floor and go down—"

boom!
The mathematician didn't have time to finish his words. The sudden explosion from the gun barrel blocked his words back into his throat.
Clang! The bullet shot diagonally upward, and no one knew what fragile object it hit.

Doudou grinned as he pulled the still smoking barrel from Richard's hand and pressed it against the side of his head. The muzzle should have made Doudou's hair smell burnt, but there was no smell at all.

"Doctor, you can be really dull sometimes! I can see that Agent Li is a lazy guy. He can't walk, but you can shoot and call for your colleagues who can walk to come over and take us down."

The sudden flash of light brought by the gunfire made the mathematician rub his eyes:

"Oh, so he's just pretending he's caught us, right? Then he's going to offer us treasures or something, and take us captive inside the base—but what if the Eurasian Postal Service really pulls the same trick and subdues you?"

Doudou's voice came from the front, and it was even a little harsh in the silence:
"Don't worry, don't worry. Lao Li knows my level, but this way, if I really get caught, he will have a way out."

"Besides! He knows I won't mind him trying to have his cake and eat it too. The agent is really cunning."

The mathematician's mouth dropped open. It wasn't clear if he was worried about his own safety, or if he simply didn't understand Doudou's logic:

"Then I--"

Doudou raised his hand and patted his shoulder:

"If my neighbor dies, I will avenge you. I will definitely make you smile in your grave, okay, doctor? I will also burn my math homework for you later to keep you from getting bored."

Richard turned his face slightly. He raised his gun-holding arm, just in time to block his mouth:

"Don't talk directly to the lobby. The ground floor should be equipped with non-eavesdropping cameras, but I'm not sure if the support department is in place yet: they have lip-reading experts."

The mathematician's head was spinning around in confusion. He couldn't see at night and could only follow behind like a blind man:

"Didn't we all come in before the shots were fired and the conspiracy started? Wouldn't everyone know it was a trap? And it was so quiet, how could anyone not hear anything?"

Richard glanced helplessly in the direction of the mathematician, then scanned the cold and silent lobby again and again.

"I wanted to tell you before I came in, but things change."

Doudou, the biggest culprit of the change, shrugged nonchalantly:
"What's the difference?" The mathematician scratched his head, tightening his grip on the cardboard box in his arms.

"It might scare them away! Wouldn't that mean the whole trip would be in vain?"

Richard shook his head and finally came up with a self-consoling statement:

"What Doudou said is also true."

"A disabled defecting agent, accompanied by a trance holder whose appearance remained unchanged, and a fugitive who looked like a starving ghost."

"We... they're a professional company. No matter how unusual the situation is, even if it looks like a trap, they'll make contact first, and ideally, interrogate first. Not to mention, the three of us look half-dead—not much danger."

"Shooting will speed things up. Even if the branch didn't notice us through the surveillance cameras before, they've definitely noticed us now. I'm afraid Doudou can't wait."

Doudou suddenly stopped and raised his hand. At either end of the atrium were inactive escalators and stairs leading to the protruding second floor.
"Oh, it seems there's no need to worry: someone is waiting for us upstairs."

They were furtive figures, hiding most of their bodies behind cover - a little bright moonlight streamed into the courtyard, and the second floor was still shrouded in darkness; but Doudou could see them clearly.

The guardrails on the second floor should have had gaps in them - but now they are all covered and blocked with metal plates: they have a deployment-support-fixation structure similar to a tire breaker, and are some kind of portable shelter.

And there were lots of round spotlights: their wiring was tangled in a mess, tangled in the handrails; they must have been temporarily removed from the stage scaffolding and moved here.

Doudou couldn't count how many rifles were pointed at them on the second floor: these security guards were like characters from "Spot the Difference"; apart from their weapons, they were only willing to expose a small part of their bodies.

"one two three four"

Doudou counted with his fingers for a long time, then gave up. He had discovered at least a dozen pairs of eyes, hidden behind helmets and goggles.

And those goggles have a dark coating, like sunglasses; I don’t know why they are trying to be cool in this dark place in the middle of the night.

"Well, that should be the company security. Wait a minute, I'll negotiate."

Richard narrowed his eyes, raised his voice, and hid behind Doudou intentionally or unintentionally:

"I'm an operative from the Special Package Handling Section of the Asia-Europe Postal Service, number SEA-spe-9928346! A high-value target has been discovered and requires immediate processing at the transit point!"

"I request a direct conversation and referral to management!"
-
A series of lengthy words went by, but no response was received; the security guards standing on the second floor were like mannequins, motionless behind the cover -
But DouDou saw the red dots on Richard and the mathematician. There were several overlapping dots on his forehead and chest; they swayed and flickered, like a drunken hallucination. He tried to roll his eyes upwards—of course, no matter how hard DouDou tried, he couldn't see his own forehead.

Lowering his head slightly, he could see the trembling red dots on his knees, ankles, and elbows; the security guards were targeting Doudou's joints:
[What a classic! Suddenly, a lot of red dots appeared in the dark.]

He thought for a moment, then quickly raised his voice and shouted:
"Oh, don't shoot, I'm a hostage! Don't kill me!"

But neither Doudou nor Richard received any answer——
But words were heard from the shopping mall's radio speakers.

It was a female voice. Hoarse and rough, with an accent in Chinese, as if there was an angle grinder stuck in her throat:

"Little one? Look at the second floor."

The moment he heard the female voice, Richard grabbed the mathematician next to him and pulled him behind Doudou.

Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!
As the power came on, in the deep darkness, a few cold suns lit up from the second floor:

It's the spotlights that disappeared from the scaffolding of the atrium stage—
The light they cast seemed tangible, and the floor tiles reflected a cool white, making the atrium seem to float above a pale sea of ​​fire; these lamps, originally intended to celebrate the opening, were crudely modified and temporarily used as tactical lighting units.

A sudden burst of strong light of nearly 10,000 lumens in the dark building: in the pitch-black environment, this is a stimulation that the human eye cannot bear.

Especially for those with extremely sharp vision——
Doudou, Richard, and the mathematician were drowned in the light, almost becoming stick figure outlines.

The pure white flame lasted only a moment. Then, the stage spotlights began to flash. The beam axis, frequency, and color temperature were constantly shifted by a central electronic control system: crimson, ocean blue, blush, and a variety of colors bloomed and rotated.

Then these suns began to rotate, began to flash, and began to turn into colorful fireballs; leaving burns and double images in the retina - even if you close your eyes, you can still feel the dizziness and anxiety.

Buzz buzz buzz buzz——
At the same time, the shopping mall broadcasting system of Shouzhu 151 also erupted with a rapidly rising sound: irregular high-frequency main noise, hoarse and howling human voices, echoes and reverberations that simulated a sense of space; the speakers removed from the stage were placed in various corners of the atrium, allowing the audio from all directions to mix together.

Strange and manic audio content - like it was sampled directly from hell, tormenting the living souls with afterlife pain.

At this moment, any creature in the lobby atrium will inevitably be affected or even deprived of vision; and the endless and complex noise will further disrupt auditory positioning and perception.

The two combined create a temporary trap with a clear purpose: to fight against superhumans with superior senses.

This building reaching into the clouds seems to be suffering from a high fever or even on the verge of death, and the lobby atrium is its brain.

All the targets who stepped on the atrium floor were drawn into this indescribable high fever hallucination.
However, the second floor was not directly exposed to the spotlight, and the security guards wearing goggles were not visually disturbed.

Puff puff puff puff:
Instantly, every rifle on the second floor opened fire; the muffled sound was like a packed boxing gym, each one punching a punching bag with all their might—the crisp patter of falling shell casings forming a fine rain.

Suddenly, a surprised cry emerged from the bright light, drowning out the surrounding noises that threatened to pierce the eardrums:
"Wow, opening a disco!"

(End of this chapter)