Puzzle Madness

Chapter 64 Missiles
Click.

Amidst the continuous firing of the crowd, there was a slight sound of a compressed air device - a flat-shaped projectile net flew out from the catapult mounted on the shoulder of a security guard and rushed towards the chaos in the atrium covered by gunfire.

The net bullet flew and unlocked, and unfolded into a large net in mid-air; the net surface made of aramid composite cable and mixed copper alloy wire pulled out a circle of slightly undulating arc.

The net with hooks on the four corners is like an artificial flying squirrel, covering the target that should be stopped by the strong light and noise; behind it are several highly flexible wires, extending to the back of the security guards, deeper into the second floor: directly connected to the power supply system of the entire Shouzhu 151 building.

The barbs and grounding plates embedded in the edges also enclosed the entire target area. As the variable frequency boost module operated—
High voltage electricity was instantly introduced into the net, wrapping the electrified net with bright blue snakes:

Sizzle—crack!

The crackling of electricity and the flashing of dazzling arc lights even drowned out the fireworks from the spotlights that almost burned through the retinas; the smell of burning filled the entire atrium lobby.

The slight gaps caused by sensory interference are for the capture attempt at this moment; the continuous suppressive shooting proves that the target's physical integrity is not within the security guards' consideration.

Thirty thousand volts and four amperes of instantaneous pulse current—enough to penetrate an elephant's skin and fat layer, disrupting the nervous system and severely interfering with muscle tissue; quickly destroying the target's coordination and reaction ability.

only.
There is no elephant in the room.
-
Perhaps it was because the mall's public address system was overloaded with interference; amidst the flashes of lightning, there was no sound of bullets hitting, tearing flesh, or even the screams of someone being shot.

The pale blue electric fire crackled and became a blur under the direct spotlight, and even the security guards could no longer make out what was going on.
Until the awkward words suddenly sounded:

"Oh, no! I'm not old enough to go to a dance hall or disco."

Suddenly:

The net, entwined with lightning, suddenly broke apart in the center and went out.

Wow! Wow! Wow!

One after another, the stage spotlights suddenly exploded, and the coated glass fragments flew all over the sky and landed on the security guards:

The dazzling, iridescent light was no longer blinding—intentionally or not, two spotlights remained, making the atrium lobby no longer as dim as it had been a moment ago.

The remaining lights became hazy and dim, more like a slow disco than a moment ago.

At the same time, the terrifying sound that seemed to penetrate the skull and boil the brain also disappeared:

The speakers in every corner of the first floor atrium and those hanging on the second floor also fell down with a sharp crackling sound, leaving only the rustling sound of electricity.
-
The originally electrified fishing net had long been torn into pieces and scattered; Doudou was still standing there, with the mathematician and Richard behind him covering their eyes with their elbows - I don't know if it was because they were held open by Doudou that there was no contact surface; the high voltage electricity on the fishing net just now did not hurt the two of them.

cluster!
With a thin, sharp sound--
A bullet spun from above, tearing through the air and flying with a pale white tail, about to hit Richard's eyebrows: although it had not yet made contact, the impact was like a transparent chopstick, squeezing the skin between his eyebrows into waves.
Doudou reached out and used his index and middle fingers to grasp the bullet that was supposed to have cracked Richard's skull. The rotation gradually stopped. The dazzling brass felt slightly slippery between Doudou's fingers.
"Are you not done yet? Your pockets are almost full."

The pockets of Doudou's raincoat were bulging with bullets he had caught before, which he carried around like glass marbles.

He picked one up at random, pinched it between his middle finger and thumb, and flicked it out:
Bang!

With a crisp sound, only the last spotlight remained - just enough to illuminate the entire lobby atrium.
-
Pop, pop, pop.

Doudou clapped his hands, his eyes sparkling. His hands moved gently, yet he still had enough energy to deflect the incoming bullets. To the onlookers, he seemed to have several translucent arms, blurry and trembling at the edges—but that was merely the afterimage left on his retina by the high-speed movement.
"Wow! Aside from this high-tech-looking... uh, high-voltage fishing net, the other equipment isn't anything special. So was this a spur-of-the-moment trick? Really, really! This could be a Home Alone movie. Such a prank: Who came up with this? Tell me."

"Who is it? Is it the auntie who was speaking on the radio earlier?"

No one answered, only the continuous sound of gunfire continued, occasionally interspersed with the crisp sound of magazines falling to the ground.

It was still that metallic female voice—this time it wasn't coming through the mall broadcast, but from the security guards' headsets, calmly reciting the order:
"Give up the capture."

The gunfire never stopped: the security guards on the second floor continued to fire at a steady rate - even in the face of such a completely unreasonable situation, they remained organized; they worked in pairs, filling in the gaps in their shots when each other was reloading.

Does the bullet even work? That question was thrown to the back of their minds. The security guards had long since stopped trying to shoot at DouDou's joints and instead aimed their sights at Lichka and the mathematician behind him. This suppressive fire seemed more effective and efficient: at least the targets remained in place, protecting the two clearly defenseless [attendants].

Training and orders masked fear. No one had the luxury of thinking about what would happen when the target was no longer controlled in the center of the first floor.
As the order to [abandon capture] was issued, amidst the flashes of muzzle fire, weapons with even greater firepower quietly appeared:

A security guard was carrying a long, black tube with a trumpet-like opening at the rear. A long, narrow rocket was launched from behind.

The security guard knelt on one knee and aimed his eyes at the extended scope; the round tube clamped on his shoulder supported the railing handrail and aimed at Doudou from diagonally above.
-
"Ah! Look, look! It's an RPG!"

Doudou raised his hand and pointed, shouting in surprise and joy - bullets were still falling like rain; but he caught them all in his palm and threw them aside casually.

"That's not an RPG"

Richard covered his mouth and whispered his objection. He and the mathematician, who was shaking and almost convulsing, hid behind Doudou, like pedestrians sheltering from the rain under the eaves, and couldn't help but feel a strange sense of security:

In fact, it was not the cheap and widely used RPG-7 handheld anti-tank grenade launcher; it was the Swedish-made M2CG individual multi-purpose recoilless rifle.
Richard knew this simply because the latter was more expensive: even if he was considered a traitor to the Asia-Europe Post and was hunted down, the sense of superiority that the procurement department felt from having ample funds for weapons would not disappear immediately. If it weren't for the complexity and versatility of the use cases, the procurement department would have filled every stall in the company's restroom with stingers and javelins.

Similarly, if Shouzhu 151 had not just been completed, the Mong Cai branch might not have been in place yet; the firepower that Doudou faces now cannot be limited to this, and the tactics cannot be supported by these hastily assembled scrap metals--
Emergency-modified stage spotlights and shopping mall broadcasts? With the benefit of hindsight, Chuck Lee thought these toys were a bit ridiculous.

Of course, Chuck would not express these thoughts out loud.

He finished his words and tried to curl up, huddling his limbs. Richard didn't think the rockets could hurt Doudou: being able to control the speed of a flying bullet, he could easily escape the blast radius of a rocket.

But Richard didn't want to break several bones in his hands and feet while being dragged at high speed.
"I know! It loads from the back end."

Dou Dou turned his head and glared at Richard; the other party's words did not escape Dou Dou's ears.

Just like other widely circulated things, Doudou couldn't help but use the most prominent symbol to refer to all similar things -
Chudong!

As Doudou turned around to speak, a somewhat dull voice suddenly rang out:

The rocket slowly burned through the air, leaving a serpentine flame; the crackling sound had the graceful beauty of fireworks. The oval high-explosive warhead reflected the moonlight, tinging it with a pale white. The remaining security personnel gave up firing when the rocket was fired and sought cover on the second floor.

when! when!
Two gas tanks that looked as clean as new were thrown out from the second floor at the same time, fell to the ground, bounced and swayed twice, and rolled to Doudou's side.

The stabilizing fins at the tail of the rocket reminded Doudou of the model airplanes he made at the Children's Palace - but even the works of the teachers in the model airplane class could not maintain such a smooth and elegant flight trajectory.

This is an anti-personnel high-explosive round:
When it explodes, the fragments of the bullet will be scattered on every inch of the floor tiles in the first floor hall - and the blood and flesh of these three people should also be spread on it.
At the very least, create space for evacuation during the chaos caused by the explosion or while the target is dodging.

Many people present imagined and hoped that the ending would be like this.
-
"Hey! I've been wanting to try this for a long time."

Doudou pinched the corners of his mouth with his index and middle fingers, pulling them left and right:
"what--"

He made the sound that doctors ask patients to make when they use a depressor to press down on their tongues.

It was like a funny scene in a cartoon, not something that would appear in reality - with the movement of the hands, the mouth of the pocket was stretched and opened unlimitedly: until the arms on both sides were stretched straight.

The corners of his mouth didn't tear with this horrible transformation. Doudou's lips became thin and long, and his teeth, gums, and tongue were completely invisible in the pitch-black night.

In a flash, Doudou's mouth had become like a bottomless black hole - he moved his feet left and right, as if trying to use a bucket to catch the gold coins falling from the sky.

Sizzle.
The sound became smaller and smaller until it became nothing - the high-explosive bomb flew into Doudou's mouth and disappeared.

(End of this chapter)