Puzzle Madness

Chapter 162 Rain Rust (Part 5)

A criminal with superpowers?

While Mong Cai may not be the most livable city, its public safety is generally acceptable; at most, there might be some brawls after a meal. Serious crimes are not frequent: at least not in previous years.

However, Richard also stated that the number of psychic users in Mong Cai City is reaching a peak. It's not surprising that some of them might be interested in doing bad things.
Superpowered individuals commit evil deeds and even murder: Who would have thought that Mong Street would have such a day? Real life isn't some superhero comic.

Dou Dou scratched his head, pondering the veracity of such a thing.

Mong Cai City is becoming increasingly strange, but it's not in the direction he previously imagined—he used to think that Mong Cai City was hiding all sorts of monsters; but now it seems that the first thing to appear might be a superpowered serial killer.

Crack, crack.

Ai Xi rubbed the lighter a couple of times, then suddenly looked up, her pupils shining in the firelight:
"If it's one of those psychopathic killers, then I'd rather not investigate. Although not as terrifying as the ones you've encountered, they're still dangerous; how scary."

She will definitely continue to investigate.

DouDou knows AiXi very well. And no matter what she says, her long, narrow black eyes, which look like slits in the dim light, don't lie: she's not afraid at all.

But why get involved? Ai Xi has never been the kind of person with a strong sense of justice, and it's unlikely she'll gain much benefit from researching this kind of thing.

Although he didn't know the reason, he didn't intend to persuade Ai Xi—anyway, once Ai Xi made up her mind to do something, no one could stop her.

So DouDou just shrugged:

"Okay, I got it. Just remember to keep the transmitter with you, and call me if you need anything."
-
When DouDou got home, the package from "Super Psychological Exploration" was right at the door; it was probably a reply to his application to join the exchange group at the end of summer vacation.

It was wrapped in a layer of bubble wrap and leaned against the door; as the typhoon howled and tumbled back and forth, round and plump, it looked like a piece of trash blown in by the wind.

It must have fallen out of a pipe on the side. The surface was marked with the words "DouDou Shou" in large ink and the small suffix "Superpower Exploration Editorial Department".

The postal pipeline in Tianhu Community is sometimes in good condition and sometimes not; it depends on whether the deliveryman has time to deliver to the main pipeline outside the community.

In fact, there were only a few residents left in Tianhu Community, but it would take quite a while to deliver the goods to each household; moreover, bad news travels fast, and the reputation of the "haunted house" community had already spread throughout Mong Cai, so no one wanted to come in and get tainted by bad luck.

DouDou is quite impressed by their dedication even during a typhoon; the service quality of Asia-Europe Post is quite commendable, a stark contrast to their violent colleagues working in the special parcel handling department.

Another stark contrast is the dark security guard room at the entrance of the community, without a single ray of light: it's unclear whether the old security guard obediently hid in the guard room to sleep today, or simply skipped work and went home.

Snapped! Bang bang!

I pressed the light switch several times, but there was no response. Finally, the quintessential typhoon event for Tianhu Community arrived: a power outage.

He was too lazy to dig the candles out of the cupboard—after all, even in the dark, DouDou could see clearly. Candlelight might add some ambiance, but in this weather, it would be blown out in no time. He'd spent most of the day out and about, and hadn't even touched his homework. Should he finish his homework first? Or unpack the package first?
"No, no! I have to finish my Chinese homework first before I can open the package. No pain, no gain, no pain—"

Math can be copied tomorrow, but Chinese is a physically demanding task; there won't be enough time to do it during morning reading.

DouDou closed her eyes, pushed the package of "Super Psychological Exploration" aside, took out her pencil case and homework paper from her schoolbag, and neatly laid them on her desk.

It's time to write my second reflection of the year again: about that manned spacecraft called [Future Destiny].

It's a pity. Three years have passed since the spacecraft failed to land on Mars, but the remains of the astronauts have still not been found. Some say it exploded just after leaving the atmosphere, while others say it encountered some kind of problem when it was almost at Deimos.

To say that recovering the remains of these astronauts is like "finding a needle in a haystack" is a bit too optimistic—but these dead people, now hundreds of millions of kilometers away from Earth, are affecting DouDou's life, which he finds quite strange; he is also less resistant to doing his homework.

I wonder what it feels like to float in outer space? That sounds terrifying. Thank goodness I don't have to be an astronaut.

Although I just finished an 800-word essay as part of my summer homework, I still have to write several hundred words of rambling after school starts; I have to write two of these every year.

Unlike math, DouDou is quite good at this kind of writing: he's a verbose person by nature, and as long as he writes down the nonsense in his head, he considers the task complete; anyway, these kinds of essays aren't graded, they're just for getting by.

Confucius said: "Learning without thinking is futile; thinking without learning is dangerous." Uh, how do you write the character for "dangerous" again? Where did I put my dictionary?

"The shocking accident involving the Future Destiny also prompted me to reflect, and it reminded me of a small incident that happened during the summer vacation."

"It was a sunny afternoon. I was in the model airplane class at the children's palace, assembling the wings of a model airplane; but we had run out of glue."

As DouDou wrote, he read aloud, rummaging through his knowledge base to find all sorts of idioms; he also made sure to insert a famous quote every few paragraphs.

Anyway, the homeroom teacher didn't say whether to write a narrative or an argumentative essay, so I just thought about it and used the one I was most comfortable with, "One Day of My Summer Vacation".
-
But after writing only a few dozen words, DouDou's eyes involuntarily drifted towards the package, her attention drawn to it.
Anyway, I don't know if I'll have class tomorrow. Maybe... maybe I'll continue writing tomorrow morning?

"I'm not doing it anymore!"

He jumped to his feet, his curiosity easily overcoming his sense of responsibility to complete his homework.

DouDou put down her pen and paper, tore open the bubble wrap and the outer transparent tape, and opened the package of "Super Psychological Exploration": inside was a densely printed A4 sheet of paper, a cassette tape, and a promotional poster.

Set aside the A4 paper and promotional posters for now. Since I've received so many miscellaneous items, it means my membership application has been approved.

Especially this cassette tape—it must be the so-called "audio forum." It's somewhat like a journal, organizing and transcribing the audio submissions from members, selecting valuable content for discussion, and finally, members submit their replies.

The editorial team compiles the information weekly or monthly and then sends it to members of the exchange group; a single topic may be discussed for several months.

DouDou remembers that when she was little, she often helped her dad get the various forum tapes he subscribed to.
(End of this chapter)