Madness ecstasy

"It's terrible, so rudimentary. I thought it would be more—more universal; with some cartoons or something to make it easier to understand and brighten the mood. Have you ever played Fallout? It had the Pip-Boy or something in it, and that would be easier to understand."

"It's a strange classification, and not very clear; it's not what I expected. It feels like: very sticky."

Richard hugged his arms tightly, as if he wanted to break his chest:

"After all, it's not a promotional campaign for the general public, so there's no need to put too much effort into aesthetics or memorable features. The main application scenarios are temporary training and reviewing some information."

Doudou propped his chin up with his fist, and pointed with his other hand:

"It could also be that your company's team isn't professional enough, and their skills aren't high enough. It doesn't have to be a commercial video, but it could be made to look good."

Richard lowered his head, his chin almost touching his collarbone:

"I can't really comment on that. Based on my experience, the marketing department probably outsourced the marketing plan. After all, everything has to be cost-effective."

-

[The fourth type of miracle:]——

drop!

Just as the words slid onto the screen along with the large colon, the entire image suddenly stopped:

"what?"

Doudou also opened his mouth wide as his colon stagnated.

drop!

A crisp sound—the content that filled the entire TV screen suddenly turned into a warning about traffic safety:

[A flashing red light costs a life; a moment of luck leads to lifelong regret. Obeying the rules and laws is the fastest way home.]

Doudou stared at the screen, his eyes looking as if they were going to burn holes in the picture tube:

"That's it? There's nothing after this? Huh? We haven't even talked about the fourth type of miracle yet, why is there no beginning or end?"

Richard clicked the buttons on the console slowly and methodically:

"Oh, sorry—this kind of external emergency training material should end with these few sections."

From this angle, only Doudou's profile can be seen. He has no expression on his face and doesn't blink:

"So what's the fourth type of miracle? You should know. Leaving a tail is annoying."

Richard's fingers seemed busy, but the content of the video did not change:

"The fourth category—I'm not sure about the rest either. I didn't remember it."

"To be honest, when I was training, there weren't such detailed classifications—but I know there are actually more than four. It seems that now that it's changed to ecstasy, the classification is even more detailed."

"There are probably at least seven or eight categories in total. One of my classmates later won a mentor position and stayed in the training department. He mentioned it in the local specialties he sent me before."

Doudou held up his hand beside him, with three fingers raised:

"So you don't know what's behind it?"

Richard shook his head, his face full of sincerity and innocence:

"I don't know. I told you I didn't remember it."

"This stuff evolves very quickly; new terms appear every few years. A general understanding is enough; only clerks need to master everything."

-

Click!

Richard pressed the control panel, picked up the "1993 Traffic Safety Warning" that popped out from the wall, and put it into the shopping cart; but he did not replace the remaining videotapes.

He walked from the side of the screen to the sofa next to the coffee table and sat down heavily. Richard casually picked up his chopsticks and untied the rubber band of the plastic lunch box.

"All right; that's all."

“The videotapes here aren’t complete – maybe they weren’t properly implemented during the last iteration; Mong Cai City is indeed a bit too remote.”

As the pause button was pressed, the box became darker; the image on the screen distorted and trembled, remaining at the moment before the videotape was ejected.

Even Doudou, who was sitting in the front row, had his entire face hidden in the shadows and could not be distinguished:

".Is that really all? Are they all finished? Don't you have a few tapes in the basket over there? Didn't you add more?"

Richard picked up a piece of Buquan sour fish carelessly, stuffed it into his mouth and chewed it, his cheeks puffing up continuously:

"No, originally, this disc, '1993 Traffic Safety Warning,' might be the only one that has the content you want to see. I brought them all here just for convenience; I'm not sure which batch the company produced, so I don't have to go back and forth to get them."

He spoke in a long string; I don't know why he could speak so fluently and quickly with something stuffed in his mouth:

"So the remaining tapes, if they have any content at all, are mostly repetitive: if you want to learn more about ecstasy, I can't help you."

Richard's posture was relaxed, his eyes were determined - the sense of relaxation brought by his body movements did not make him look like he was lying:

"But according to my speculation, Asia-Europe Post may have a new branch in Mong Cai. It's probably a temporary office or base. They should have what you're looking for there; at least they've sent a lot of materials for storage."

"Like, for example, more detailed classifications, more specific cases? And that [Iron Ruler Murderer] I mentioned at the food stall. My section chief said, 'Do you remember? She should have been there too.'"

The mathematician picked up the cardboard box at his feet and walked over to the two of them. There was no extra seat at the coffee table, so he could only stand aside.

"So where is this temporary branch? Is it heavily guarded? Is it a dangerous place?"

Richard shook his head and spat the food in his mouth towards his feet. They still had a lot of food left from the food stall.

"I don't know—after all, I've lost contact with the company."

The mathematician looked at the filth with disgust and swept it under the coffee table with the edge of his shoe.

"Well, that's all we can do. We've been talking for so long. What are we going to do now?"

Richard chewed something in his mouth, and spat out a mouthful with a "Puh" sound:

"Perhaps we can consider this matter in the long term. Let's wait a few days. I'll gather some intelligence and then notify you and Doudou."

Doudou picked up a pair of disposable chopsticks, tore off the plastic wrapping, and held them in his hand. As the video paused and the lights dimmed, his entire face was hidden in gray-black shadows:

"Wait a few days? Okay, Lao Li, just tell me what you want."

Richard picked up another piece of Buquan sour fish, put it into his mouth and chewed it carefully, then spat out the bone spurs on the ground:

"I'm sorry, Doudou, I misunderstood you. I didn't mean anything else; I just didn't want to reveal uncertain information and affect your actions."

Ga--ga-ga

The sound of metal stool legs rubbing against the ground:

Doudou moved the heavy sofa chair under him, walked around the coffee table, and moved to the side of Richard; the bottle caps, coins and cans originally hidden under the sofa clattered, leaving a long dirty mark.

Richard was about to say something, but Doudou first raised his left index finger and placed it on the center of his lips:

"Shh! Lao Li, don't speak. If you speak now, you will die."

Click.

Doudou's right hand, still holding the chopsticks, grabbed Richard's left hand on his waist at some point.

Click--

Doudou began to clench his fingers: slowly.

The slight crackling sound could be heard clearly in the quiet box filled with only white noise - the disposable wooden chopsticks first broke, then shattered; then they pierced into Richard's skin and muscles, and rolled into a ball with the broken and deformed finger bones.

Doudou still put his index finger in the middle of his mouth:

"Shhh."

Chapter 58 Pain

Richard raised his good right hand and slapped it against his mouth. His fingers dug into his flesh, deforming it, but they did suppress all the screams back into his throat, leaving only a vague humming sound.

"I have a good friend who loves watching FBI or CIA documentaries. Oh, she's my deskmate I mentioned earlier. She said that documentaries contain a lot of cold reading, psychological analysis, topic manipulation, and other things."

Originally, Richard's hand was much larger than Doudou's, but now it was completely encased in Doudou's fist, and dark red blood began to flow from between his fingers and drip onto the ground.

Boom!

Richard suddenly grabbed the wet towel roll on the small coffee table used to wipe his hands, stuffed it into his mouth and bit it tightly; the overturned plate fell to the ground.

"Hey, hey; I know you're not an FBI agent, but a corporate agent. But don't play hard to get or speak half-heartedly with me. It's annoying. Only my friends can play tricks on me. Just because you say you're my friend doesn't mean you're my friend, okay?"

"If you have to jump back and forth between my friend and my enemy, I will feel annoyed. The things that annoy me must be eliminated from the world I can see and touch."

"You've been testing me all along, haven't you? Huh? You've been testing my boundaries, back and forth? Isn't that a bit insincere? Because you think there's something I want to know, you want to take this opportunity to determine what I can do? To what extent?"

"No way, are you treating me like a donkey with a carrot dangling from its nose? You told me it was a 'fun thing', but now you're trying to trick me with only half of it: So the rest of this fun thing is exactly where you want to go?"

"Oh—no, no. You think I'm actually still a child and you want to control my immature mind?"

The mathematician saw what was happening, and his body trembled like a sieve; but he also followed Richard's example and covered his mouth with his tiger's mouth to prevent any sound; his teeth left deep marks on the edges of his palms.

Outside the video room, the night was still bustling, but no one paid any extra attention to the closed booth. Only the green glass bottles of soda reflected their distorted faces.

Doudou's gaze passed over Richard and reached the text on the screen, which trembled constantly due to the pause. He studied the trembling interference pattern on the CRT screen with great interest:

"Didn't you see I was yawning the whole time? This part of the worldview introduction is over for now, it's time to move on to the next part."

"Okay, no need to hide anything, no information, or pretend I made the decision myself to keep the conversation going. I'm getting a little bored. Who do you want to kill? Just say it directly. It doesn't matter, but don't bore me, and do it quickly. It's summer vacation, okay?"

"Didn't you promise me before? Summer vacation is very important. It only comes once a year, and there are only a few days left. How many summer vacations do humans have before they finish their entire schooling?"

"So don't waste your time. You get what you want, the doctor clears his name, and I get some happy, wonderful summer memories. It's a win-win-win situation—oh, that [non-zero-sum game] you were talking about before. Okay, get this straight."

The veins on Richard's neck were bulging, and the wet towel he was biting was stained with blood, which was blurred by the cold sweat that kept dripping down: his gums were also bleeding.

"Also, don't spit in front of me. That's a lack of manners, eh?"

But Richard still tried his best to look directly into Doudou's eyes and nodded - perhaps the severe pain covered up his cowardice, or perhaps the fear inspired his courage.

Doudou loosened his grip: Crash! A small ball of blood mixed with sawdust hit the ground and seeped into the cracks between the tiles.

When Doudou loosened his grip, Richard raised his intact right hand. He quickly walked to the door of the box, hiding his bloodshot hand behind the wall.

"Waiter! Bring me a—a take-out bag, and some Red Sun liquor. No glasses, just a bottle."

Richard's left hand now looked more like a skewer of chopped, marinated, and kneaded meat, or an exaggerated chicken drumstick from a cartoon. Between the broken bamboo chopsticks, one could vaguely make out the fingers encircling them.

Curled up and bleeding; it seemed to be stuck in the fist state forever.

He leaned his forearm against the coffee table and poured the bottle of local Jiaozhi Autonomous Prefecture liquor into his left hand, which looked like it could no longer be used. He poured the remaining liquor into a wet towel, wrapped his fist, and tied it tightly with a plastic bag; the broken disposable chopsticks still remained inside.

Richard trembled and picked up another wet towel; he tied it around his wrist and pulled it tight to prevent the blood from continuing to flow out of the palmar and digital arteries -

Finally, he fumbled in his suit pocket and pulled out a short, round tube. He held it up in front of Doudou in a showy manner:

"The stimulant I was given. My hand hurts so much. I need to use it. Please wait a moment."

Richard tore open the plastic packaging with his teeth, rolled up his sleeves, and smashed the needle-free syringe on his forearm.

After taking a deep, long breath, he spoke again, his voice still trembling with pain:

".Doudou, I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me - my desire to survive led me to do these things."

"Because of some of the personality you showed, I thought we could deepen our relationship. You're so amazing, I wanted to take a gamble. I'm sorry."

Richard spoke very quickly, with just a hint of hoarseness and phlegm.

"We should go to Shouzhu 151 Building now. I've been assigned a few missions before, dealing with people who were disrupting the construction progress of Shouzhu 151. So, while it's officially a Shuguang Real Estate project, it's actually invested in by Asia-Europe Post. My basis for this judgment is: field staff don't accept external orders; they only handle their own affairs."

"According to Asia-Europe Post's custom, they should have reserved several underground floors, not rented out to the public, but reserved for internal flexible use—"

"And the investment in this construction is huge: perhaps they intend to establish a long-term branch in Mong Cai. I speculate so."

"I think you can find more in-depth information about ecstasy there—if you're interested! The other tapes do have some information, but not much: not much different from what I talked about at the food stall, about self-examination."

"And, and, and: my chief of section is in Mong Cai; she has something you've never seen."

"You haven't seen it, absolutely nothing. She's got a project going on, and the output is incredible. I don't know the exact figures, but—but the section chief has created something monstrous."

-

monster!

"Monster? What kind of monster? Not like a human—never mind, don't tell me yet! I want to keep it a little suspenseful."

Doudou's eyes seemed to suddenly light up, no longer wrapped in darkness:

"Okay! That is - go to the Asia-Europe Post branch in Mong Cai and help you deal with this section chief. Is that right?"

"Since you've asked me so sincerely and apologized to me, I'll go and see if she's a bad person. If she's okay, I'll help you talk things over with her."