Puzzle Madness

Chapter 151 Circle (Part 1)

Accelerating towards the summit: the wind howled, and the "fist" swinging out from the fresh ruins suddenly grew even larger—
The emerging spheres, clutching broken cement bricks, intertwined their legs even more tightly; their former fleshy hammers were now covered in concrete fragments, appearing rough and ferocious.

DouDou shook her head, crossed her arms, and stepped aside.

boom--
As the meat hammer accelerated, it swept past DouDou like a pirate ship in an amusement park, and he could see his own reflection on the [sphere]'s outer shell.

The enormous fist slammed into the ground, scattering wood chips everywhere; the air currents whipped his raincoat and the ends of his hair, making them rattle violently. A splash of rain swept over him, nearly soaking him to the bone; this was the most damage the fist had ever caused.

call!
The fist swung back to the cataloger in the blink of an eye; it rose slowly and steadily to a high place, seemingly brewing the next impact.

DouDou was quite dissatisfied. No matter how many times such attacks came, they would never touch him.
"No way. It's too slow and not accurate enough. You think you can beat me up like this? You might as well not use this move at all. That sound wave was much more interesting."

"Besides, attacking with something this big would require smashing it to cover the area!"

The movements of the [spheres] at this moment were not more difficult than the march they had just performed; nor did they have any new tricks that would impress DouDou.

The only remarkable thing is the strength of the limbs of these [spheres]: the joints of the ones at the very back that play a stabilizing role bear an immeasurable amount of pressure.

Moreover, this row of bungalows and shops does not only contain old brick buildings; there are also newly built reinforced concrete buildings, as well as rusty swings in the children's playground.

Bumping in and out of so many hard and sharp building materials:
How could fleshy limbs remain unharmed if those metallic spherical shells were removed?

DouDou seems to be noticing that the physical strength of these [spheres] is increasing, exceeding the limits of what a normal human body should have. The reason for this is most likely the rotating palm and index finger on the cataloger's face.

[Is it that kind of ritualistic behavior? Then he's a sinner. No, it's more like a hybrid, both a patient and a sinner; he can't control his telepathy, otherwise he wouldn't need to tell me everything.]

Aside from that, there haven't been any major changes—its performance is basically on par with the circus-like agile movement, without any groundbreaking improvements.

The eerie atmosphere just now had initially filled DouDou with considerable anticipation:

It seems this "operation mode switching" feature only makes the integration process faster?

It looks more like a minor optimization or coordination change; it's not quite an upgrade yet.
-
DouDou pouted – the cataloger had disappointed him somewhat. Perhaps he needed to apply some pressure? Or perhaps he should get closer. That might intensify the cataloger's fervor.

"Find one. Find a suitable one."

DouDou lowered his head and searched through the ruins; his hands waved in a blur. In an instant, a shower of rubble erupted around him, shooting in all directions.

"Ah! This one will do."

He got his wish and tore off a fist-sized, barely round piece of cement.

DouDou held the cement in her palm, while her other hand's fingers danced: fragments flew and scattered; like peeling an apple, the cement deformed in her hand. Wherever her fingertips touched, it became smooth through friction and scraping.

He carefully parted the rough, protruding parts of the cement block—in the blink of an eye, it was shaved into a gray baseball; its surface was smooth and shiny, and rainwater slid down its sides.

It's just two sizes larger than a normal baseball. If the initial velocity is too high and the size is too small, those [balls] will definitely not be able to catch it.

The force is really hard to control: if you throw it even slightly too hard, you'll shoot the cataloger right through and the game is over; but if you throw it too lightly, it's even less fun.
After thinking for a moment, he began waving his arms to signal to the other person:

"Hey, I'm going to throw you! Watch your step and make sure you don't die."

While DouDou was still gesturing and trying to warn the other party, the "fist" had already dispersed again, and the enormous thing had once again broken into individual pieces in the blink of an eye.

The spheres ran on their hands and feet, circling around the cataloger who was rapidly changing positions.

He glanced at the cataloger, thought for a moment, and then stiffly raised his hand in a greeting gesture. He held the cement baseball in his palm, then slightly flicked his wrist—
Buzz.
Sizzle: The curtain of rain that stretched between heaven and earth was suddenly cut off in the middle, splitting into two halves.

The cement baseball burst forth like a cannonball, enveloped in rainwater that had been cleaved into diagonal lines; in the blink of an eye, it was already close to the [spheres] beside the cataloger, the wind pressure blowing away the water droplets on their surfaces.

[Too fast/Stop it?/Run?/Can't dodge/Can't run away/Help me block it block it block it block it]. The [sphere] at the very front suddenly adopted the starting stance of a volleyball: squatting down with both legs, crossing both wrists, aiming at the flying cement baseball, and forcefully flicking it upwards.

It doesn't seem like the intention is to block the impact. Rather, it's to change the direction of the "shot" at the moment of contact, sending it flying upwards—
Unfortunately, the plan did not succeed.

With a hissing sound, the spinning cement baseball became an angle grinder. The moment it touched the palm of the hand, it shredded the five fingers into flying fragments—then it churned the bone fragments, skin, and blood of the arm into a ball, which traveled unimpeded all the way.

Keng: A loud and high-pitched impact.

The outer shell of the sphere suddenly caves inward, squeezing out large clumps of liquid from the gaps where the limbs extend; from the side, it looks like Pac-Man.

Clang, clang, clang, clang.
It flew backward, crashing into its companions with a crisp impact; the [spheres] behind it were flung away by the terrible shock and slammed into the cataloger.

The cataloger was knocked down, flipped over, and rolled on the ground by these "bowling balls".

DouDou lightly tiptoed and jumped, drawing a semicircle in the rain, before drifting down to the cataloger's side.

Ping! DouDou stepped on the ball that the cataloger was using as a shoe, fixing him in place, and then squatted down.

The cataloger was trembling, his hands scratching wildly at the ground. Fear had returned to him once more.

[Help me/Help me/Stop/I was wrong/Oh God].

The spheres, which had just been thrown into disarray, suddenly sprang to their feet and regrouped—the closest sphere braced itself and lunged at DouDou's back.

Without turning his head, DouDou casually raised his hand and slammed the back of his hand against the outer shell of the [sphere].
"Don't be so scared, let's chat first."

Thump-swish!
A loud crash resounded, and the water mist exploded.

The raindrops were jolted into pale white rings by the shockwave, spreading outwards; the water droplets traced the curves of the impact, the collisions loud yet melodious. The [sphere] launched like a rocket, whooshing obliquely into the sky with a whoosh, crashing into the rain cloud, and disappearing completely from sight.

[Don't come any closer/Stop/Wait/Don't do this/Stop for a moment].

It was unclear who the target of this spiritual broadcast was, but the remaining movable [spheres] cautiously formed an outer circle and did not approach any further.

DouDou remained squatting beside the cataloger, staring at the water droplets on the cataloger's index finger.

"Let me see, we're pretty close now, face to face. Can you feel your superpowers getting stronger? You know what? It seems the closer you are to me, the stronger your frenzy becomes—"

"Any new tricks up your sleeve? Are you brimming with power, like you're about to mutate and enter the second stage? Or have you suddenly come up with a new move?"

He waited a while but received no reply.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid; I'll help you think of something."

"Oh, I've got it! What about that giant on the beach? You can try him out—look, you can get these cute little balls to help you: and if you put in a little more effort, even the dead can come to your aid!"

"Or do you have any new tricks up your sleeve? Like, showcasing your character's unique traits or something? Is that what you mean?"

[He's crazy/He's crazy/He's the craziest/What should we do?/Or should we use/Really?/I might die/If only I had known. If only I had known].

The thoughts flowed by at an astonishing speed. Before DouDou could continue her rambling, the cataloger had even more random thoughts popping into her head:
[No, no! / I can, I can, I can, I can / The circle can encompass everything, the circle can encompass everything / I beg him to save me, I beg him to save me / This is the only way, this is the only way].

Distinguish a person's thoughts and intentions from a jumble of fragmented ideas.
DouDou is only now realizing the difficulty involved: the cataloger's thinking was relatively easy to understand before, but now it's like a storm of garbage.

But immediately, the cataloger cleared his mind of all other thoughts; only sharp, fixed ideas pierced straight into the minds of the others:
[Remove Restrictor Remove Restrictor Remove Restrictor] —
[All All All All All All]!

(End of this chapter)