Madness ecstasy

Chapter 129 The Back of the Head Blossoms

We were just outside the city, nearing the observatory; the air outside the window smelled earthy and musty.

Arriving at this stop, there were only a few passengers left on the No. 600 bus; most of them took their unfinished legends with them when they got off the bus:

When only a few passengers remained, the voices became lower—turned into whispers beside the head, which were completely inaudible.

The car radios also changed programming, switching from traffic news to prime-time dramas. To promote RoboCop 5, they were playing Murphy the Living Dead in Chicago; the voice actors were all using dubbed accents, making your head ache.

However, Doudou heard that there seemed to be only tornadoes in Chicago, so this radio drama was not appropriate at all.

There was still thunder and heavy rain outside the window, and lightning occasionally illuminated the water lines that ran between the sky and the earth.

-

Mong Cai Observatory: The full name is Mong Cai Youth Observatory - as part of the social practice in the first semester of sixth grade, Dou Dou's class was originally going to visit; but at the last minute they went to the museum instead.

Dou Dou skipped up the stone steps; the wind brought rain water into the gaps of his Huili shoes, and soon his socks were wet.

The observatory stood on the edge of a hill, its dome resembling a cut-open boiled egg, a giant mushroom, or a single eye. The moss-covered concrete walls exuded an aged, sour smell, barely perceptible in the storm.

The iron fence creaked and swayed in the wind, and the "Welcome to Visit" sign on the doorplate had almost fallen off, leaving only the words "Happy to Watch" hanging on the rusty screws; the window was dark, without a trace of light.

Even if it is not a typhoon day with heavy rain, the Mong Cai Observatory will not be open to the public at this time -

Doudou knocked twice symbolically on the big iron door, then dug his fingertips into the wall and began to climb:

Since the lights were off—even if there were people there, they must be doing something sneaky; it would be better to just crawl in and scare them.

The walls were covered with moss, and rainwater flowed down endlessly; it felt cold and slippery to the touch.

He climbed into the air vent at the upper corner and slid down the wall like a gecko.

-

The space inside the observatory is larger than it looks from the outside; part of it is embedded in the mountain, perhaps it was converted from a previous observatory.

The concrete walls are exposed, painted with light green paint, most of which are mottled; portraits of people and famous quotes are hung on the walls, one every meter.

Such as "The structure of the universe is not designed for human pride." -- Copernicus, or "Astronomers observe the changes of yin and yang and study the movements of the stars." -- Zhang Heng. The picture frame was covered with a thick layer of dust, and the ancients saw only darkness.

Compared with scientific research, this is more meaningful as a science and education project; it is mostly used for students to do social practice courses.

The astronomical telescope stood alone in the center of the hall; compared with the huge hemispherical dome, it looked very thin.

As lightning flashed, white light poured in from the air vent.

Rumble!

When Doudou's gaze shifted away from the astronomical telescope—

"Eh? Why are there so many lying here?"

Doudou muttered softly, squinting his eyes. This was something he had not expected to see tonight.

On the ground were neatly arranged figures, motionless, surrounding the telescope:

There are quite a few corpses.

Their postures were exactly the same: all lying straight down with their faces facing the floor and their heads pointed at the telescope; their feet were together and their hands were pressed against their trouser seams.

There were at least a dozen of them, arranged like cut fruits, surrounding the astronomical telescope.

The floor was wet, and it was hard to tell whether it was blood or rain.

[It’s broken, I didn’t bring a flashlight! ]

Although Doudou could see every detail clearly, without the light of the flashlight, he could only rely on his own imagination to feel the lack of atmosphere.

Fortunately, there were occasional flashes of lightning, which added a little embellishment to the night: death is not good, but at least it is more interesting than dullness.

Dou Dou walked closer, squatted down, supported his knees with his elbows and supported his face with his palms.

He carefully examined the body closest to him. He didn't know the exact cause of death, but the wound was extremely obvious:

The skull cracked open--

There was a gaping wound on the back of the corpse's head, the sticky scalp had been neatly cut open, and the blood had already solidified and turned black.

From the ruptured skull, a grayish-white foam, like steamed buns, emerged. That was the brain, strangely enlarged, bursting out from the wound, a tangle of cotton-like brain tissue and hair.

-

It looked a bit like a crab with its shell broken open. But how could crab meat be able to open its hard shell by itself?

Not to mention the soft and tender tofu-like thing called brain tissue—

Doudou stood up and walked around:

Several bodies were identical: a gaping wound at the back of their heads, their scalps bloodied and their pink-gray brains wedged through the hole.

Doudou sniffed hard: the fishy smell was very faint. It was similar to the smell of frozen meat taken out of the refrigerator and left to thaw for a while; perhaps it was because of the typhoon.

Rumble!

Lightning struck outside the window, and light came through the air vents, making the wounds on the back of the head sparkle.

What else is there.

Doudou looked around—then shrugged, reached out, and brushed aside the hair from the wounds:

Between the cracked scalp and the foamy bulging brain tissue, there are some rectangular, shiny white block-like things arranged in an orderly manner.

"Oh my! How come there are teeth growing out of the wound? This is even stranger. Has it been mutated by radiation?"

Doudou scratched his head subconsciously—then quickly put his hand down and wiped it on his raincoat.

There was no doubt that the objects embedded in the edge of the wound were teeth; judging by their shape, they were mostly incisors and front teeth. With their decoration, the wound looked like an upright mouth, but without lips.

He parted the hair of several more corpses - although the density varied, each one had similar teeth growing out of the wounds on the back of their heads.

Doudou put his hands to his mouth and raised his voice:

"Hello—is there anyone alive? If there is anyone alive, please answer it. Thank you!"

The observatory was not loud enough to cause an echo; but apart from the pattering of rain outside the window, there was no response.

-

Dou Dou rubbed his palms together, and his heart, which had been bored by the typhoon before, began to burn again.

So what exactly happened here?

[Could it be the Pleiades Mantis who did this? ]

He couldn't help but think of the magical creature he hadn't found at the end of summer vacation: but the clues were still too scarce.

After searching around, he turned over the faces of each of the dead bodies - the process was not smooth, as they had already developed rigor mortis and their neck joints were stiff; if he used a little force, his entire head might be twisted off.

[Everything is already hard, which means I've been dead for at least an hour or two. I left without eating dinner. It was so hard.]

That is to say, before Doudou decided to set off for the observatory, these people on the ground had already lost their lives.

There was no Richard, no mathematician. In fact, every face here was strangely unfamiliar:

"Hey, who are you all?"

Doudou counted and found a total of eleven bodies; their clothes were all neatly arranged, with no signs of fighting or obvious external injuries - but Doudou did not lift up their clothes, so he did not know what was inside.

Like a United Nations General Assembly, the bodies were of every race: mostly foreigners. There were no men of Doudou's age; the youngest looked to be in his twenties; the older ones had graying beards covering their cheeks.

Maybe someone organized a tour group to visit Mong Cai City, but ended up getting scared to death by the typhoon.

The possibility is not high, but it does not mean that it does not exist:

Doudou stood up and prepared to look for clues around.

My good friend is getting married tomorrow, so I have to go back to my old job and shoot some wedding photos. I have to go shoot the bride in the morning, so I don’t think I’ll have enough time to shoot tomorrow.