Puzzle Madness

Chapter 153 Circle (Part 3)
The bright red human figure continued to sway overhead, acting like an umbrella to shield the rain falling from the sky.
He swayed and moved clumsily, his hair a mess; but perhaps because his teeth were stuck at the back of his head, he struggled to move.

DouDou shrugged, letting the "person" on his head twist and try to break free—it has to be said, this thing is much better at blocking the rain than a rain hat.

[It didn't crawl out of the TV, but instead popped out of my head? In a way, it's like Sadako! Haha!]

DouDou wiped his face, quite pleased with the lame joke he'd come up with on the spot—he hadn't expected that the "Secrets of Mankind" videotape would bring such a new surprise.

The children's playground was reduced to ruins by the catalogers and the [spheres], with only half a rusty swing still swaying and creaking in the sea breeze.

The crimson-clad crowd neither wandered nor attacked; they simply stood silently, letting the raindrops pound against the clean, severed neck. Judging from their chests, they were all "watching" Dou Dou, yet showed no intention of attacking.

So it seems that the cataloger's earlier inner scream of "unlocking the limiter" wasn't referring to the hand with its index finger raised on his face:

The ones that are truly restricted are actually the [spheres] and [sticky mouse traps], right?
[Is the circle the most inclusive shape? But is "inclusive" actually a form of sealing or limiting?]

Now DouDou understands what the so-called "controllable" subspecies refers to; they are not naturally docile, but are probably processed and encapsulated so that catalogers can control them.

However, in DouDou's view, these balls are more like "eggs" or "ovules"; the current scene is also more similar to hatching. They are inflatable and grow up quickly.

I wonder if other catalogers also have this obsession? Perhaps there are different subspecies that work with them—not just these tongues and balls, so monotonous.
DouDou raised her hand to count the number of people, not forgetting to ask the silent cataloger a question:
"That's a bit strange. These bloodied people don't have heads, so why can they hear your telepathic commands? How do they think?"

Moreover, in the earlier, fleeting conflicts, the instructions conveyed by the cataloger were very simple, mostly consisting of a jumble of short sentences or even words; but most of the complex actions of the [sphere] clearly require intelligence to execute.

There was no response to the pounding of the rain.

Dozens of "blood men" with bright red torsos stood in the rain: the rainwater fell on them, turned red, and then flowed into the puddles at their feet.

They remained silent, and after the initial commotion and pushing, these headless creatures all became statues.

The cataloger remained rooted to the spot, his index fingers clenched so tightly around his face that they turned white and his skin was about to burst. The once noisy public address system fell silent, as if even thought had stopped, and there was no intention of satisfying DouDou's curiosity.

Blood continued to spurt out through the gaps in the mask, seemingly without end.

The situation was getting increasingly bizarre—DouDou decided to leave the cataloger in the meantime. This masked guy was quite amusing; if they waited any longer, his madness might intensify.

Dou Dou rubbed his nose, focusing his attention on the headless bodies:

"How about I call you [Blood People]? It's fitting, isn't it? No one's saying anything, no objections? Then I'll call you that from now on."

Since we couldn't use names like "Dr. Human No. 1/2/3" or "Dr. Human Clones," DouDou used the simple and straightforward nickname "Blood Man."

He tiptoed, causing the blood-covered figure stuck on his head to sway violently.

DouDou noticed that the blood-soaked person was very light: even if a body suddenly crawled out of the mouth at the back of his head, he didn't feel any weight like when riding a horse or fighting. He didn't even feel anything when it crawled out—the opening on his occipital bone had no nervous system and was not sensitive at all.

Maybe it's just a shell? Like those inflatable advertising dolls swaying at the supermarket entrance; that could explain why they can be compressed so small.

The blood-covered figure atop the head, similar to those emerging from the sticky rat traps, was entirely covered in red clothing. The others sealed within the [spheres] wore bright red clothing that only covered their torsos, without sleeves or trousers.

He swung his head around once, but quickly grew tired of it.

"Alright, alright, come out now; it's kind of scary to keep getting stuck behind my head."

DouDou raised her hand, grabbed the collar of the blood-soaked man above her head, and ripped him off: the collar felt soft and warm; it didn't feel like fabric, but closer to skin.

Like examining a toy—DouDou held the blood-soaked figure in her hands, turning it over and over to scrutinize it. It was indeed light. It could never weigh an adult, even without its head:
"Could it be hollow? Let's take a look inside."

DouDou muttered something softly, then held the blood-soaked figure's body at both ends with her hands.

Squeak. With that soft sound, he grabbed and pulled with his ten fingers, tearing the foreign object in two from his waist.

DouDou lifted one side and examined it closely: there were no organs or bones, nor any splattered blood; it was just a mass of red colloid, like congealed blood jelly, trembling slightly.

The real human body is definitely not structured like that. I've seen plenty of those things:
"Well... let's just say you're hollow."

He brought the cut surface to his nose and sniffed it, then casually tossed the bloody figure aside: there was no strange smell, not even a fishy odor. The mannequins used to test firearms and sharp weapons on television seemed to be the same.

"That's not right. Those balls have bones and muscles in their arms and legs; I saw them earlier: it seems they can be further subdivided."

The bloodied man, split in two, lay silently on the ground, motionless; DouDou touched the broken surface with her toe, and it was limp and yielding.

It won't leak air or anything.

He squinted, scanning the other blood-soaked figures who remained unresponsive: their exposed arms and legs were of varying skin tones, some with loose, tattered skin, others with leg hair as thick as a sweater.
The torsos are all the same, but the limbs are all different. Could these hands and feet actually have been taken from living people?

Given the distress signal received by the pager, could it be that Ai Xi has also been arrested and had her hands and feet chopped off?

[Oh dear! I forgot about the important matter again. Where did Ai Xi go?]

The thought only briefly crossed Dou Dou's mind; she wasn't particularly worried. Ai Xi was very clever; at the slightest sign of trouble, she would immediately run far away.

After dealing with the chaotic Human Cataloging Center, he had a new guess—the distress signal was most likely not sent by Ai Xi, right?
From receiving Ai Xi's distress signal on the pager, to encountering the researchers on the beach, to playing a ball-throwing game with the cataloger, and the unsealing of these strange blood people.
How come I just finished watching "The Secrets of Mankind" at the observatory and then bumped into researchers from the Human Cataloging Center?

While it's true that stories don't happen without coincidences, too many coincidences, with all sorts of mechanisms piled up together, forming a fragile causal system—that could only be the work of human hands.

"Someone must have lured me here? There's definitely a conspiracy. I knew it! Why would Ai Xi come to Changshan Beach in the middle of the night when it's a typhoon?"

"There are so many cunning people. I was too careless."

Looking back now, it seems that most of Ai Xi's ramblings about eavesdropping and surveillance were true.

At least the SOS mechanism of pagers is known to some people—and it's even being exploited now.

Since it was modified with the help of teachers from the Children's Palace, replicating it shouldn't be too difficult: I'm clumsy, but there are definitely many people who can do it.

However, until I can confirm this with Ai Xi in person, it's still just a guess; I'll go to Ai Xi's house to check it out after I'm done here.

DouDou rubs his hands together:
"Alright, let's see what's going on first—the cataloger? Cataloger, are you still alive?"

He thought for a moment, then, mimicking the tone of catalogers and researchers, added another sentence:
"Wake up! Because, uh, this—the circle is the most inclusive shape."

"Ugh--"

Suddenly, the cataloger let out a long, phlegmy groan that drowned out the sound of the rain: and the blood-soaked people began to move.

(End of this chapter)