Puzzle Madness

Chapter 82 Flying
By the time the pursuit was temporarily halted, Doudou and the section chief had reached the 45th floor. The air was filled with the smell of paint, and the only remaining traces were a few tin paint buckets in the corner, scraped newspapers flying everywhere, and paintbrushes with dried-up tips.

The spacious surroundings are dotted with dirty glass windows.
The deep pit left by the chase was just a series of dark, crooked cracks that stretched from bottom to top, forming a long and narrow snake shape; it seemed bottomless.

It was almost dawn, and the city lights had already gone out: the two men's feet were on an elevated tempered glass floor, making them feel like they were floating on a lighthouse on a sea of ​​no light, with dark waves that could not reflect any light rolling in the distance; the deep night had no interest in the violence and pursuit taking place here.

"How's it going, Doudou? This is my new ability, my new obsession. You're a great testing partner, Doudou: very efficient and no dragging your feet."

The section chief landed on the ground, and the swelling from the scrapes, the proliferation of connective tissue, and the suture marks left by the blood vessels were slowly fading. But other than that, Doudou's attack hadn't hurt her.

Even though her face was completely disfigured, she still wore a faint smile; her high heels, made of white bones, moved forward and backward. The section chief tilted his head back, staring blankly at the ceiling, his chin tilted towards Doudou:

"Without you, I'd probably have to complete a whole series of tests to find out—and it's not just you, I've never seen a madman who can fly before. Although the distance is short, it's a very practical and good skill."

"Do you have any new discoveries? If you are interested, you can share them with me."

Doudou put his hand on his chin, followed the section chief's gaze upwards, and seemed to be thinking about something--
What is this aunt looking at? Is she planning to continue the chase game on the next floor?

He had never expected to encounter such a situation: it was the first time he encountered a guy he couldn't hit:
[Is she wearing an invisible rocket pack?! Is that her superpower?]

It wasn't what Doudou had initially imagined, a free and easy flight like flying against gravity.
Although it can be said to be extremely flexible, its movement trajectory and various details are extremely abrupt, stiff, counterintuitive, and even have an indescribable weirdness.

The most important thing is the section chief's body movements: it's as if her body isn't moving as a whole, her limbs uncontrolled. Like a bungee jumping machine, she's at the top and then falls back down, and if she doesn't hold on to the seat firmly, she'll dart around like a noodle; even in mid-air, with no support at all, she can turn at will.

Doudou put all the clues together, pondering the underlying patterns and anomalies. His eyes swirled fiercely, rolling in his sockets—
He thought about it and said what he was sure of first:
"Why don't you just run away, Auntie? Isn't that strange?"

"You can fly, even faster than me—if you run away now, I definitely won't be able to catch you."

"Are you sure you can beat me if you don't run? Probably not. If you were stronger than me, you would be chasing me and beating me right now."

"After all, you're so much faster than me that I can't even touch you. But you don't even make a tentative attack? I don't think you're that conservative. You could even fly around me and throw rocks at me."

"A rock thrown that fast should have the power of a bomb. I'm very strong and very fast, and I know that very well."

"And now that I can suddenly fly, I'm going to fly around like crazy! It's so exciting to be able to fly. Auntie, why are you standing so still? It's weird."

"Although you spoke of testing partners and seemed quite enthusiastic, I don't believe you stayed here just to ask for my help and to continue to discover your new abilities."

Doudou didn't attack again, but stood still. He picked up a piece of gravel left behind by the previous collision, tossed it in his hand, and threw it very lightly towards the section chief.
Pah. The section chief, like he was playing baseball with Doudou, caught the gravel he threw in his palm.
"Ah, you see. The discovery was made quickly. I thought it would last at least five minutes. So what's your conclusion, Doudou?"

Doudou looked up and down, then slightly bent his knees and tapped the ground with his toes:
"As expected—you can't actually fly [actively]. Right?"

By the time he mentioned [Active Flight], Doudou had already disappeared from the section chief's sight: He stomped his foot hard—
Clang clang clang.
The tempered glass floor shattered, and a wave of debris suddenly rose from the ground, exposing the steel and concrete of the floors below. This huge wave rushed towards the section chief, swallowing everything in its path.

Cluster-cluster-cluster-cluster-
Doudou pulled out the steel bars from the building one after another and threw them out:

The steel bars he threw tore through the air, swirling and emitting a terrifying whistling sound. Each spear-like bar was pre-aimed directly above the section chief, landing in a dense cluster. If the section chief continued to move at the same speed as before, he would be caught in the path of the bars.

call!
The section chief suddenly rose into the air before the glass tsunami arrived, and was about to collide with the steel bars.
Gah, gurgle.
The surface of the section chief's shirt and trousers was printed with circles of fingerprint-like lines; his body suddenly deformed and twisted: his torso bent into an irregular shape, and his hands and feet were broken into curves.

With her strangely deformed body, she suddenly moved a short distance in mid-air.
Blood spurted out from the broken parts, but the body just happened to fit through every tiny gap and contour - bypassing the steel bars, air currents, and glass fragments flying like stray bullets.

The section chief seemed to be playing a game of [posing through walls]; first he twisted into a strange posture, then shifted, finding the only position that could pass through this "bullet screen" without being harmed by external forces.

Boom: The glass tsunami smashed open the window behind the section chief, and along with the dozen or so steel bars, flew out of the building and into the dark night.

She didn't lie flat again until the section chief was completely free from Doudou's attack.

Click, click, click, click—
With the teeth-grinding sound of joints turning and bones making unusual noises, the section chief returned to her human form again - a little blood splashed out of the corner of her mouth and was licked back by her tongue.

The blood in her body seemed endless. The blood she had lost so far was enough to cause a normal person to go into shock seventy or eighty times. Similarly, this kind of pain could also cause a normal person to faint and wake up.

But the section chief's face only showed surprise and a smile:

"A well-prepared and meticulous attack." Looking at his section chief, who was "completely unharmed," DouDou couldn't help but scratch his nose.
"Ah, this doesn't work either? I thought this trick was fine."

He had clearly blocked the section chief's vision with the broken glass before launching his attack; but he still failed at the last moment.

[Either her eyes are incredibly good—like X-rays or something? Or, it's not her own observation at all.]

What kind of trigger mechanism is this "passive flight"? The gentle cement I threw at her didn't react, so it seems quite intelligent. But at least one thing is certain: if she encounters danger, she can move at super-fast speeds.

If my actions don't hurt her, then it doesn't mean she's dangerous? Or does she need to determine that she's in danger before she can activate her ability to fly?

[Hmm, there must be something I haven't discovered. This is too complicated! I feel like there should be a simpler answer.]

Doudou shook his hands, but he didn't feel much frustration. He remembered the days when he played "Dr. Sloppy Modern Detective" at home at the beginning of summer vacation:
Although this raid was not successful, we did get some clues.

This auntie can even transform! She's quite impressive, like she's playing with plasticine—hmm. Playing with plasticine?

It was a long time ago when Doudou played with plasticine, but he still remembers the touch, especially the softness at his fingertips:

The section chief's deformation just now also seemed to be caused by external force.
-
Doudou's gaze wandered over the section chief's head:
"Auntie, why were you always looking up before? And now you don't even raise your head. Is there something up there?"

Doudou squatted down, picked up the stone, and threw it gently. The cement fragments flew upward in a high and long arc, falling over the head of the section chief.
pat.

This time, the section chief didn't reach out to catch it. She let the fragments fall to the ground beside her. But the smile on her face grew even wider, like the Cheshire Cat in the book illustration:
"Any new discoveries?"

Doudou felt like he had solved the first layer of the puzzle—the thoughts in his brain were flowing freely.

"Ah! I see! So that's how it is, Auntie!"

He took a deep breath and then uttered the following difficult words as if speaking a tongue twister:
"There's something above you that I can't see, right? That's what's making you fly. I can't see it, but you can: so when I throw a rock higher, you just don't catch it—because the arc of the fall is blocked."

“But what could this thing be?”

He thought of playing Theme Hospital on the library terminal, where he would just use the mouse to drag the selected characters around, dropping them off at new locations—
"You're not really flying! There's something holding you up and swinging you around—is it a wire? An invisible rubber wire? Like the rope holding the witch in the building?"

"That's not right! It must be something bigger."

He raised his hands and gestured towards the head of the section chief:

"The cement block I threw this time was quite far from you; a wire shouldn't have blocked your view. So it was a thick mass of wire? It doesn't seem so."

Doudou turned his gaze back to the section chief: the red and swollen circles on her body that appeared when she dodged the attack gradually faded until they disappeared; as if they were pressed by a huge finger.

When the section chief stopped suddenly to avoid the airflow from Doudou's mouth, it was like she had hit a transparent wall - at that time, palm-like lines also appeared on her body.

[Ah——that’s it!]

Doudou opened his palm and pointed it at the head of the section chief:

"I know: it's a hand. A huge, giant hand—transparent to me! This hand is carrying you around!"

"And—not only can I not see it, the hand can't touch me. The only person it can affect is you, Auntie. It just squeezed you around like playdough to avoid my attack."

"And, uh, when you were mending your wound, it was actually this hand that was doing the work, right?"

"That's what I was saying! Even though we've merged, how come your regeneration ability is different from your daughter's?"

"Is that so, Auntie? It's quite funny. But actually, now that I think about it, this kind of reluctant effort can be considered flying. I'm a little envious of you."

(End of this chapter)