Madness ecstasy

"Remember the Neckrider? With this level of fanaticism, the company won't act rashly. They'll keep their distance until they find a profitable model. This is a major profit growth point, so everyone will definitely handle it with extreme caution."

"And it's clear that Doudou isn't the type of ecstasy that can be safely approached at close range."

"So, there could only be one reason why the Section Chief came to Mong Cai—to bring the Mong Cai branch under control and prepare to handle the test area. If your thinking is correct, then you cyber promoters really need this test area."

"If you think in this direction, a lot of things make sense."

"For example, the building we're in now, Shouzhu 151, is designed to increase the flow of people throughout Mong Cai. So, they're first developing it commercially, and then promoting it as a tourist destination, attracting tourists from surrounding areas."

"This is what we call a [complex division], using the city's most densely populated areas to support intensive development while generating a certain amount of profit to reduce overall costs. It's the marketing department's three-pronged strategy."

"The larger the population, the greater the probability of a mania. This has been proven time and again; statistics generally don't lie."

"Then your superiors asked you to bring the package to Mong Cai for the same reason: to coordinate with the section chief."

"Think about what this looks like. Cyber ​​pushers stole special packages from the Asia-Europe Post and ended up in Mong Cai, a sensitive location that was to be turned into a testing area."

"Company executives might think there's something undiscovered in Mong Cai City and accelerate the process of establishing a test area. They might also have the Special Package Management Section allocate resources to establish an intelligence network in Jiaozhi Autonomous Prefecture, making it easier for the section chief to get involved and making things more logical."

"No matter what the outcome is, there are benefits."

"Then you can hand over the stolen passwords intact to the cyber pushers, because the section chief is already working with them."

"So, the question now is... what exactly do the Section Chief and the cyber pushers want to gain from this?"

Chapter 73 Skeleton

Richard poured out his conclusions like a bamboo tube pouring beans:

"Let's not worry about what you cyber pushers are up to for now—I know what the section chief wants. She desperately needs this testing area, too."

"You've been in our department for too short a time: even as the head of the department, there are things you must do."

"She's looking for a kind of ecstasy—something that can help her complete the project at hand; that's why she wants control of the experimental area."

"Many colleagues in the department have been sent to Africa and Latin America because there are more experimental areas there—"

The mathematician finally spoke, interrupting Richard—but his voice was halting, and the little man in his heart was trembling restlessly:

"Uh, the project at hand? You're not talking about that thing."

Richard nodded solemnly and wiped the sweat from his forehead:

"Yes, [Witch in the Building]. You're a support, and you've read a lot of files. You should know that it's one of the few ecstasy objects that's close to being weaponized."

The little man in the mathematician's chest opened his mouth wide, stiff as a puppet:

"She brought it here? Brought that thing here?"

Richard shrugged and tapped the window glass with his fingers:

"She takes it with her wherever she goes. And the section chief will definitely release the [witch in the building]—maybe she can even be dragged around for a while."

"Let's put it this way. She's just looking for a way to kill the witch in the building."

The mathematician began to move back. What Richard said seemed to no longer matter to him:

"--Why bother with all this?! Still here researching? Run away! Once the [Witch in the Building] starts performing sacrifices, how will we survive?!"

-

Doudou paced back and forth, his fingers crossed and resting behind his head:

The pale corridor that seemed like a dream has disappeared, replaced by doors and windows; the door numbers have not been installed yet, only transparent rectangular slots.

Aside from the sudden, improvised incinerator out front, this place looked more like an ordinary office building. It lacked the technological sophistication Doudou had imagined, only a repetitive feeling of depression.

Offices, offices, and more offices; arranged in a grid-like pattern, similar to the classrooms in his own school, Doudou was reminded of a library without bookshelves, but only with various reading rooms and terminals.

The most lethal weapon Doudou has seen so far seems to be just a stapler.

"What's going on? Hey. Why is there no one here? There's nothing fun to do."

Doudou scratched his nose and turned his head around:

There are a lot of brand new terminals here, stuffed into the booths - the keyboards, knobs, and buttons are all spotless, obviously not yet put into use.

Unlike the provincial library he often visited, where the terminals were all grease-covered and polished to a gleaming shine by human hands:

"Hey—maybe I can find a mainframe computer here? I guess big companies have them."

There is a large computer in the provincial library, but you have to pay to use it in exchange for a voucher - the price of one hour is enough to buy many magazines.

However, some game discs cannot be run on the terminal; Doudou always feels sorry for the money in his pocket, so he has never exchanged the coupons.

Just when Doudou's mind was full of random thoughts, a sudden sound broke the silence.

Even the repetitive sound coming out of the speakers in the corridor was so ordinary:

"B-Section-3-2: Drop. Drop. Drop."

[Hey! There's a sound!]

Doudou became excited and waved his hands left and right at the monitor:

"Hey, hey! What are you putting out? Is anyone there? Hey!"

But the speakers in the corridor were silent, and no one responded to Doudou.

Ka Ka Ka Ka

There was a creaking sound from the ceiling, something was being moved between floors -

Doudou walked quickly toward the sound, chasing after the strange noise. He raised his hands and danced around like a ghost playing hide-and-seek.

"If you don't answer me, you'll be in trouble if I find you."

-

Click.

Doudou had just turned a corner when the trapdoor on the ceiling at the end of the corridor opened again, and what popped out was--

A skeleton.

Bang!

The skeleton vibrated with every joint in its body, making crisp thuds: although there were no muscles or ligaments, there was still something connecting the skeleton, preventing it from falling apart.

It wasn't the adjective Doudou had used to describe mathematicians before, but a real skeleton:

There was a long rope tied around the neck, hanging the skeleton, swinging back and forth.

Its limbs were long and thin, and its skull was covered with traces of oxidation; the top of its head was pointing crookedly at eleven o'clock: it looked a bit like the mannequins in the biology classroom at school, except that it was fully clothed.

It was a gray dress that was too big for her skeletal figure, its hem covered with canvas patches; the cut was odd, as if it were handmade.

"Eh? What are you doing? Is this a secret base, an underground laboratory, or a haunted house?"

Strange mechanisms, fire-breathing, and hanged ghosts suddenly falling from the ceiling—

There is a children's park on the street next to Doudou's house, and the cheap rides there are just these boring things.

It's like the funny variety shows you see on TV - those people will run into the office on Halloween to play pranks and place plastic corpses and ghosts everywhere.

"Hey. This is the real thing, not a plastic model or something."

This was not the first time that Dou Dou had seen a completely decomposed corpse in real life: the social practice organized by the school two years ago was to visit the Mong Cai City Museum; behind one of the glass cabinets was a complete human skeleton.

But it's clear now that Doudou's face has other, more subtle, and distinctive features:

Across the entire corridor, one could see that its cervical vertebrae were wrapped with brightly colored ropes and trembling ribbons; at the same time, they were twisted into a thick bundle, bearing the weight of the entire skeleton.

-

[It's Resident Evil again! Hmm. That's not right; this isn't a zombie, it's a skeleton, and it doesn't move.]

He remembered that the games he had played before were different from the thing he saw in front of him - somehow, "Resident Evil" kept lingering in his mind tonight.

His mind was racing with thoughts, but Doudou didn't say a word: he didn't want to miss even the tiniest detail in the bizarre scene before him. What if the corpse was whispering something?

Although I was a little disappointed before, Richard said that this is the new branch of Asia-Europe Post in Mong Cai City - he wouldn't be so bored as to show me the biology teaching aids, right?

No matter how you look at it, there should be something unusual about it.

But now, Doudou is more annoyed--

Why didn't he save up his money and buy a camera?

There is an electronic game store at the entrance of the alley next to the school; it sells stationery, models and game consoles; Dou Dou naturally goes there often.

The shop owner had wanted to sell his Canon film camera at a low price, but Doudou didn't buy it because he felt bad about it. Not to mention he had seen a camera commercial on TV a few days ago. Looking back now, it was all a hint from heaven:

Opportunities are indeed reserved for those who are prepared!

If I had a camera, I could take pictures of all the interesting things I'm going to see and submit them to "Parapsychological Exploration" -

Crash, crash.

Doudou's wandering thoughts were interrupted by the continuous noise.

The bones suddenly began to shake, and the rope bent and shortened, forming an S shape; like breathing, it sometimes stretched and sometimes curled up.

As the noose stretched and retracted, moving up and down, the skeleton seemed to be suspended in mid-air.

-

Doudou's eyes widened, unable to bear it any longer--

"Okay! Okay! That's right!!"

He clapped his hands and hopped cautiously on tiptoe: if he clapped too hard, his head might hit the ceiling—

This time, it's finally worth the money.

Floating corpses that can move around! This is much more interesting than a bunch of soldiers with rifles or a sudden incinerator.

Doudou propped up his eyelids with his fingers, started moving his feet, and walked towards the corpse:

It's rare to see something like this, and you'd be in big trouble if you don't take a closer look—

He should have been able to see the details clearly, but his attention was drawn to the mottled and oddly shaped bones.

It is not ribbons or colored ropes that are wrapped around the neck bones:

There were colorful rubber wires, twisted together in a spiral to form rough ropes; occasionally the rubber was broken, exposing the blackened copper wires inside - they were wrapped around the corpse's cervical vertebrae, closer than the skin, muscles and blood vessels.

Now it was a skeleton: but if it had still been flesh and blood, the wire would have worn the neck to pieces.

Snap: The ceiling flap closed again, but the rubber wire that served as a sling was still hanging in its original place.

Doudou looked up and down:

"Eh? Where is this rope hanging?"

The closed flap did not catch the wire; where was the hanging rope fixed?

Doudou was still frowning, thinking about this strange question -

Zizizi!

The top wire suddenly leaped forward, stretching the entire noose straight.

The rubber wire twisted into a noose slid across the ceiling, sending up a trail of sparks. It accelerated along the ceiling, then slid past the walls and windows, drawing a diagonal trajectory that spanned half the corridor in the blink of an eye:

The dry white bones were dragged by the electric noose, at a 45-degree angle to the ground, and the skirt fluttered.

The ceiling at the top of the corridor was still spotless, with only scorch marks left on the white walls; the wires that seemed alive were either nailed to the ceiling or driven by mechanisms, moving along tracks.

It seems to be able to cling to any surface and move at high speeds:

squeak!

The electric noose's forward momentum came to an abrupt halt, and the skull became a battering ram, swung out diagonally by inertia—

It's like a swinging pendulum or a meteor hammer; and the skull is the heavy object tied to the end.

Shala la la la!

The corpse's stiff legs dug into the wall with a bang, then dug out a long trench like an axe - the wall's internal structure exposed sheet metal, steel bars, concrete and sponge layers, which were obviously specially reinforced - particles and fragments burst out, splashing like a fountain.

The walls were torn apart as easily as cardboard, and the broken glass windows stirred up waves.

Boom! There was a muffled sound.

The withered lower limbs of the corpse broke through the debris and hit Doudou's head.