Madness ecstasy

Snap, snap.

At this moment——

The sudden noise made Doudou stop.

A figure stepped out from the empty arcade. The footsteps sounded damp and sticky, yet not very loud.

It was a girl in a school uniform. She was tall, her head even higher than her pockets; her sleeves and trouser legs were rolled up completely, and her body was covered with dried red marks.

She walked from the hazy colorful mist to the fluorescent light of the dance machine -

It's like growing an extra pair of hands and feet:

The middle finger and index finger were split apart by something sharp, from the palm to the forearm, with one half still attached to the arm bone, and the other half detached and limp.

There was no blood oozing from these wounds, as if they had dried up. Due to blood loss, the cross-section of the muscle appeared grayish pink.

The same thing happened to his legs. His shoes were taken off and the soles of his feet were cut all the way to his knees, with the wounds directly touching the ground. His limbs were already slender, and now they looked like a stick insect.

In his left "hand" was a pair of household scissors, and in his right "hand" was a fire axe - the blade was covered with red and brown spots; on his shoulder was a plastic bag with the arcade hall's logo printed on it, and there was a ping-ping sound inside.

It looked like it came straight out of Silent Hill; Doudou knew that Parapsychology had no reader rating, and the editors didn't like this guy with an overly scary look.

The girl walked hurriedly, with worry and deep thought between her brows. Even with such strange limbs, she still looked like a student rushing to class.

Snap/crash!

When she saw Doudou, she suddenly stopped in her tracks, her whole body trembled, and the plastic bag flew up: her eyes suddenly widened, and she raised the weapons in her "hands" to her face, making a clumsy defensive gesture.

The girl's face was very round, not shriveled due to the loss of blood, and looked very gentle; the tip of her nose was raised with fear, and her short trimmed hair revealed her ears.

There are clearly demarcated tan marks between the upper arms and neck, evidently from frequent exercise under the scorching sun.

Doudou and she looked at each other in surprise.

The face was familiar yet strange, but he felt that there could only be one person here at this moment:

"Ruan Jingbo? Are you Ruan Jingbo?"

Doudou looked at the panic and terror emanating from the other person's nightmare-like body—and quickly pointed at himself:

"Do you remember me? I'm your classmate! I'm a real human being."

call.

The girl in school uniform suddenly let out a sigh, nodded seriously, and the corners of her tightly pursed lips relaxed; her body was trembling with excitement or nervousness.

She raised her split hand, the scissors hanging from her thumb; it must be a greeting:

"Oh! Uuuu. Uuuu!"

She opened her mouth, revealing two sections of her tongue that were cut at the root, just like her hands and feet. The frenulum was cut off, making her tongue look much longer than that of an ordinary person. The tip of her tongue should be able to lick her neck.

Ruan Jingbo's face was already pale from blood loss, and now, in the flickering light of the screen, her skin was almost pierced through, revealing her skull. She tapped her tongue with her fingertips:

"Hmm."

"Can't speak?"

She closed her mouth again, looking less interested in talking.

According to Doudou's physiological knowledge, Ruan Jingbo should have been dead long ago given his horrible appearance.

But this is a dream after all: no matter how close it feels to reality, the internal logic may still be different.

Ah, it seems like I have to ask those "yes" and "no" questions again. 】

Doudou looked back at the dance machine, then back at Ruan Jingbo's strange appearance. He clapped his hands and feet:

"You made it yourself? You modified the axe and scissors you have?"

"Is it because—it's so that I can control my body more easily with the dance machine?"

Ruan Jingbo raised his eyebrows, as if he was surprised by Doudou's quick reaction; then he nodded quickly and raised his arm -

The severed hands were incredibly flexible, even able to swing lightly and dance in wave-like shapes; the muscle tissue showed no signs of dysfunction or even inactivity:

She split one hand into two, as if making a "yeah" gesture, and also as if making a "2" gesture.

With a rustling sound, Ruan Jingbo took out several pieces of broken mirror from the plastic bag; no one knew where they came from.

She shook the mirror, then waved her hands towards the sprawling dance machines.

After a while, he understood what Ruan Jingbo wanted to do.

If you fix the mirror on the dance machine and adjust the angle, you should be able to see the content even if you are not facing the screen directly:

"Oh, you've figured it out too. Great minds think alike! Humans only have two hands and two feet, which is not enough."

Doudou thought of the wish he had just dreamed of yesterday, that of having three heads and six arms, and for a moment he couldn't help but feel a sense of sympathy for the hero:

"The hands and feet are split in half. Are you trying to play two dance machines at the same time like this? How clever."

Although the flow of time in the [Electronic Dungeon] is slower than outside—perceived to be about two to one with reality—

But if each dance machine controls different body muscle groups.

It is indeed necessary to operate multiple dance machines at the same time to make the real body move slightly like a normal person.

In the past two days in the real world, Ruan Jingbo has been motionless like a statue: now it seems that the reason is that she is busy transforming her [body in the dream].

Doudou roughly estimated Ruan Jingbo's height and the length of her limbs - based on her current "form".

I can almost play Dance Dance Revolution and Beat the Beat at the same time (using the forked tongue to flash the left and right front flashlights), but if I add a Korean-made Pump It Up, I probably won’t be able to step on that weird diagonal arrow:

It depends on the distance and layout between the dance machines, as well as the "real parts" that each dance machine is responsible for.

Unless the limbs are cut off several times and more "tentacles" are grown, there is still a long way to go -

I just don't know. If I just chop the limbs off, will they still be able to move? Doudou thinks that would be more efficient.

"You know you're dreaming right now, right? And it seems like I'm in your dream too—can't you change the scenes or something? Or maybe use a different model?"

Doudou has never dreamed, but he has read articles about lucid dreaming: If you want to control your dreams, you must first know that you are dreaming.

Judging from the mechanism of the large group of "Dancing Machine Seaweed" behind it, this arcade should be Ruan Jingbo's dream.

"Ahh. Oh!"

Ruan Jingbo suddenly patted his head with his "tentacles," then expertly inserted the axe blade into the gap in his forearm and yanked it hard, widening the wound.

More blood gurgled out, it seemed that it had not completely dried up yet.

Ruan Jingbo dipped his fingertips in some blood, smeared it on the back of the mirror, and then turned it over:

[I know it’s a dream, I can’t change it, I can only play Dance Dance Revolution.]

She quickly wiped the writing clean with her elbow, as if to avoid being unable to write new content after it dried.

Chapter 111 The Reason Why We Have to Move

There was no more sound of Ai Xi coming from the dance machine. I wondered if she was looking for a louder sound source to try to wake them up.

Ruan Jingbo hurriedly scribbled on the mirror, and after finishing, he hugged the mirror and bowed:

[You understood what I said and still came to save me, thank you!!!]

She deliberately added several exclamation marks, and responded with a sound in her throat:

Do you know how to get out?

Doudou quickly waved his hands and bowed to her:

"Oh! We're all classmates, there's nothing to thank me for for such a small thing."

"Hmm—it seems that if the noise outside is loud enough to wake me up, it will be enough; or if I dream for a certain period of time, it will be fine."

"But your situation seems different?"

"That's strange. Why did you stay in the dream for so long?"

"Based on this amount of blood loss, he'd definitely be dead in reality. Wouldn't he wake up even if he died in a dream? Or would he never die at all?"

Bang!

The glass in Ruan Jingbo's hand suddenly fell to the ground and shattered into pieces. She paused, trembling, and took out another piece from the plastic bag; but she didn't write anything.

Glancing at the disappointed and depressed Ruan Jingbo, Doudou turned around and pointed at the tangled mass of dance machines:

"How about trying to blow up those dance machines? Maybe that's what's keeping you awake."

In Taro’s previous dream, Doudou slapped the Taro King to pieces - maybe there is such a thing as an [anchor point] or [center] in every dream.

"The dance machine isn't fun either. It's quite annoying."

But Doudou didn't do anything: if he smashed the dance machine directly, Ruan Jingbo would not wake up.

Wouldn't I be trapped in this arcade - an eternal security guard, observing the outside world from the dance machine forever?

[It doesn’t seem like such a bad thing?]

At least if it's Doudou, he won't mind too much.

After all, there are so many arcade machines here, enough to play for decades: I just don’t know if they can be powered on; this is quite critical.

But it seems that not everyone understands the joy of life as well as I do?

Hearing Dou Dou's words, Ruan Jingbo widened his eyes and shook his head vigorously; his blood-stained hair was thrown together.

She quickly picked up the broken glass, her fingertips dipped in blood, and danced quickly:

[Can’t take the risk. If I get smashed and can’t wake up, it’ll be troublesome!!!]

[At least I can still move now. I have to be able to move. I want to play basketball.]

The word "must" was painted extra large; she wiped the blood on the wound again, replenishing her "ink":

[I have a city tournament next month, so I have to practice well before then.]

She wiped the mirror and wrote something new:

[If I can’t move, I can’t play. I have to play.]

Ruan Jingbo glanced at Doudou secretly and added a line of small words:

[Dancing Machine is actually quite fun, I really enjoy it.]

"Ah, so that's how it is!"

Doudou patted his head with his palm, imagining it was a ball:

This confirmed his previous guess - Ruan Jingbo's body shape with long arms and legs is indeed suitable for this kind of ball sport.

He finally understood why Ruan Jingbo insisted on coming to school:

"I think you're on the school team? Volleyball? Basketball? Oh, basketball."

"No wonder you're so familiar with Ai Xi; I remember she loves watching the NBA."

He pursed his lips, his brows furrowed in seriousness; he had never thought of this before.

Since this was the motivation, Doudou immediately understood:

"You're so determined! Even though you're stuck here, you're still going to play the game?"

Doudou couldn't help but admire him. He felt a little embarrassed when he thought about how lazy he was every day at school.

"I understand! Since you can't get out, I'll find a way to help you gain control of your body!"

"Hey, I have an idea. Since you can't die from bleeding, well, whether you will die or not, we can only know by trying it."

"Wait a minute—the mirror isn't very useful. No matter how much I adjust the angle of the mirror, my field of view is still limited, making it difficult to properly observe the screen."

"Why don't you try my trick? Don't worry, I'll give it a try--"

呲!

Before Dou Dou could finish his words, he suddenly raised his hand, put his five fingers together, and tied his neck.

Honk! Honk! Honk!

Again and again, his hands were shrouded in a layer of blur caused by the high-speed movement; the sharp sound of the forging hammer hitting the metal resounded throughout the entire [Electronic Dungeon].

The surrounding arcade machines were shaking from the loud noise; the wind blew into the gaps, and the screens made crackling sounds like birds flapping their wings.

The neck was cracked by the fingers, and red waves rushed out and hit the ground with a crash.