Puzzle Madness

Chapter 133 This is how we humans are (Part 2)
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Beep beep beep~
The image freezes, the action stops. The cheerful music starts again, the melody rising higher and higher; the loud drumbeats mixed with trumpets sound like the accompaniment I hear every day when I do radio calisthenics, intense and uplifting.

Not only are names and titles displayed horizontally, but the duo also swipes in from the left, scrolling past the still duo.
Here is the list of producers: This episode is coming to an end.

"--Hey, that's weird."

Unlike typical program credits, these titles don't contain many complicated names.

Executive director, script designer, cinematographer, sound engineer, production planner, props coordinator—all these positions are described with the same three words:
[PhD]

Even the [Big Cuckoo] with the pigeon headgear has an "actor" listed after him—also the same Dr. Big Cuckoo; as for the puppet named Little Brain, it doesn't appear at all in the production credits.

"Um, so it's all that pigeon-head guy? He's doing the show all by himself, so energetic."

The credits completely disappeared from the screen, and then two small lines of text, larger at the top and smaller at the bottom, appeared on the edge; they then rotated, enlarged, and finally came to rest in the center of the screen.

[Each episode will share a different little-known human secret:]
Thank you for watching.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
The text and images all disappeared; only the noise of white noise remained on the snowy screen.
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DouDou rested her chin on her hands and waited a moment longer:
It seems there isn't a female ghost crawling out of the screen in this videotape—
"You've put them all out? Is that all?"

The entire videotape contained only such a short amount of content; it was such a waste of space. If DouDou had paid to rent such a thing from a video rental store, she would probably be furious.

The production credits don't include the recording date, but judging from the props, bitrate, and costumes, it shouldn't be that old.

This episode lasted less than ten minutes—so ten thousand episodes would only take 1,666 hours?
Leaving aside pre-production and planning, just considering the recording time alone, it seems possible that there have been over nine thousand episodes.

If it's just that one eccentric guy, [Dr. Human], in charge...
"This kind of name is too perfunctory even as a stage name. No wonder I have to change it to this name [Dr. Big Cuckoo] when I'm hosting; although it's not much better."

"Dr. Ren" sounds more like the name of a cosmetics brand—selling moisturizers, toners, and lipsticks.

Dou Dou scratched his nose and let out a dissatisfied yawn; he was about to stand up—
"Oh?"

Feeling top-heavy and unsteady, I swayed back and forth. My head felt swollen, and my forehead felt heavy. DouDou raised her hand and touched the sides of her head; she couldn't help but grin.

"Wow, I knew it!"

He turned off the television; using the dark screen as a mirror.
"Hahaha, my head has become so big."

DouDou's head looked like an onion, wide and swollen; especially his forehead and upper part, which were almost as wide as his shoulders, bulging like an evil doctor in a cartoon.

The number of hairs did not increase with the expansion of the scalp; instead, they became sparse due to the separation between the hair roots. It looked as if many hairs had been plucked out, leaving only wisps.

He stepped back a few paces to get a better look at himself: now, in comparison, his body looked like an extra part of his head; his proportions resembled those of a cartoon character.

Ptooey, ptooey, crackle, crackle.
A strange noise came from behind my head, and my scalp felt wet and cold; it seemed that the rain I had been caught in earlier hadn't completely dried yet.

But DouDou knew what it was. He reached out and touched it:
A wide, moist cut appeared on the back of his head, soft and fluffy inside, like tofu to the touch—with hard, smooth square edges.

It's a tooth.

Another mouth: just like in the videotape, this is a mouth that can swallow and spit out memories.
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DouDou raised her fist and gently tapped her head a few times with the knuckles—two soft taps, no different from usual. "Oh dear, I thought it would sound like hitting a watermelon."

The mouth on the back of the head—let's call it that for now—I don't know if that's even a good name; but this comical big head...
"Hmm, it suddenly got so big, I wonder if the density of my skull has changed? I hope I don't have osteoporosis!"

"It's hard to say, it's hard to say; let's get it back quickly."

It's inconvenient and ugly; if Ai Xi sees it, she'll be in big trouble: she'll probably be laughed at for a long time.

"Hey—hey!"

DouDou slapped her head hard with both hands, covering the widest part of her head with both palms; she squeezed her arms inward with force.

Cluck cluck cluck
A strange friction sound—
His own head didn't explode or burst open like the heads he had handled before; it simply began to deform little by little, accompanied by a teeth-grinding sound.

DouDou kept changing the direction of the squeeze, causing the skin on her face and scalp to fold and then spring back to flat.

After a breath--
DouDou turned her head left and right in front of the screen, carefully checking for any omissions:
He patted his cheeks with satisfaction. Although his head had expanded and then compressed rapidly, his face was smooth, without the stretch marks that usually appear when someone suddenly gains or loses weight.

Now, the shape and size of my head have returned to normal. Only the crack on the back of my head remains, and I can still feel the moisture on my scalp.
This was specially left by DouDou—just squeeze it a little tighter to prevent the brain from spilling out.

"This plate of scallops—hmm, not bad!"

Based on what Richard had previously told me about the Asia-Europe Post's obsessive theory, there must be someone's obsession using videotapes as a [medium] and [transfer]—perhaps it's this [Dr. Human]:

"Isn't this called 'intermediate sexual ecstasy'? It seems to be more than that, it feels like a mix of many things; it's not just effective through the videotape, it can also affect other people's bodies through the videotape."

"I wonder if burning another copy will have the same effect? ​​What if it's broadcast on TV? Hmm..."

When this video, "The Secrets of Humanity," first introduced the [back of the head and mouth]—by briefly considering the openings on the back of the heads of those Asian and European postal workers outside, DouDou understood roughly what was going on:
Once you watch this videotape, you'll become what it "explains," and you'll possess the "little secret" mentioned by that pigeon-headed guy.

The change happened silently: he didn't notice anything unusual while watching the video.

What I don't understand is...
There are also nearly 10,000 other videotapes. Will watching them turn me into something else strange?
And another thing: why did all those Asia-Europe postal workers die? And why did they die in such strange ways—their heads weren't even that swollen. Face down, each one neatly arranged; like some kind of ritual.

DouDou watched the videotape and also underwent a mutation; but now she is alive and well, and has no desire to put her face on the wet, dirty floor.
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DouDou stuffed the videotape into her schoolbag and pushed open the warehouse's iron gate again.
Even with the stench of corpses lingering in the air, the air in the exhibition hall was still fresher than in the warehouse. He walked briskly, still pondering:

"Hey—growing an extra mouth to eat memories and spit out memories; this kind of thing is clearly closer to symbolism or imagery! Real life isn't Doraemon."

Even the "Memory Bread" from the Doraemon cartoon requires you to write the contents on it before eating it so you can remember it.

"This is really unscientific. It feels like something comes to mind on a whim—or are visions and symbols inherently important?"

DouDou shook his head and circled the corpses that were still in place. The rain outside the window continued, and the thunder, along with the falling rain, finally added a touch of chill to the summer night.

(End of this chapter)