Puzzle Madness

Chapter 165 Autumn is the Hunting Season (Part 1)

The narration was calm, like telling a bedtime story; the tone and voice were neither hurried nor slow.

“There is a long air-raid shelter underground in Mong Cai. Several of my friends have gone missing in there, and we have been searching for them for weeks without success.”

"So I'm warning everyone not to go inside, there might be some danger."

[Disappeared? Is that really true? I've never heard of such a thing!]

DouDou pinched her chin: Even the aunties at the market didn't seem to care much about it.

Compared to the previous issues, this one isn't particularly bizarre; since people do go exploring air-raid shelters, the city has sealed off most of the entrances in the past two years.

DouDou has been there a few times, but she hasn't ventured too far in: one of the entrances has been converted into a bookstore—although it's not as big as Xinhua Bookstore, it's cheaper and often has discounts.

However, the air-raid shelters are too damp and the air conditioning is rarely used; in the summer, they are like a steamer. Customers usually buy their books and leave, and very few people stay inside to read.

It is said that there is an even wider space and a long, winding passageway deeper inside, but it is hard to say what is inside.

This topic is less of a warning and more of a temptation: readers who subscribe to "Super Psychological Exploration" are already quite curious, and those who join the enthusiast community are even more outstanding.

Why don't you go visit the air-raid shelter sometime?

Take DouDou for example. Although he felt that such things were either pure fabrication or just people getting lost and starving to death in air-raid shelters; they weren't exactly amazing or strange tales.

Unless a super-powered humanoid giant ant hatches in the air-raid shelter, swarms out, sweeps across the land, and tries to overthrow the entire human civilization, it can only be considered a casual topic of conversation.

As I listened, side A of the cassette tape was almost finished. Side B contained some of the [long-term topics] of "Superpsychological Exploration": at least that's what the promotional poster pinned to the A4 sheets said. Some topics could even be discussed for a year, going back and forth on broad topics like the true meaning of the universe and the ultimate truths of life.

But just like a serialized chapter in a magazine, reading only the middle part is incomplete; therefore, DouDou doesn't plan to listen to the B side tonight, because waiting will only make her restless and unable to sleep.

Towards the end of page A, there were still bits and pieces of gossip interspersed; everyone was expressing their emotions, chatting idly, or sharing tips for daily life and shopping.
"I'm making a complaint here, which is also a way of spreading the word. Please do not buy the 'Metal Gear' floppy disk imported by Zangjingge Publishing House. It contains many translation errors and the localization work is very poor."

"To give you the most outrageous example, I think the character '[Big Boss]' should be translated as '[Big Leader]' instead of '[Giant Boss]'; buying it is a guaranteed loss, and nobody wants to resell it."

"Okay, okay, I won't buy it then."

DouDou got sleepier and sleepier as she listened, yawning repeatedly. Actually, typhoon days are more suitable for sleeping and falling asleep to the sound of wind and rain, rather than dealing with all sorts of strange people outside.

"I'm not listening anymore! Remember to go to the observatory and bring back the Magic Swan when you have time. Anyway, it's probably going to be windy and rainy for the next few days, so there's no school; maybe we can go for a walk in the air-raid shelter?"

He yawned, jumped up with a thud, and collapsed onto the bed. The day had been far too long; even DouDou felt an overwhelming sense of drowsiness. Accompanied by the pounding of the rain and the whirring of the cassette tape as it finished playing, he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

However, DouDou's plan did not come true: the rain stopped before dawn the next day; the day after that, school resumed classes, and he completely forgot about his plan to go to the air-raid shelter.

Like other strange things in the world, they always seem most intense before they actually arrive; the same is true of the adventures that have been plaguing DouDou these days.

Tropical Cyclone [Willie] made landfall and then dissipated among the mountains—it caused little damage and was therefore easily forgotten.

Richard was sensible enough not to forget to retrieve the box of Magic Swan 2 that he had left at the observatory, saving DouDou the trouble of making a trip to get it; of course, it's more likely he sent one of his security guards to do the job.
Although it was just placed by the door during DouDou's class time, it's possible that Asia-Europe Post employees get a discount on internal mail delivery and had the deliveryman pick it up directly.

Even though it hurt to spend the money, DouDou, who had the bare console, bought a few secondhand game cartridges from a stationery store across from the school. The game content was more important; the condition of the casing didn't matter.

Mong Cai remained quiet for over a month—the Human Cataloging Center, the Network Advocates, and the Eurasian Post all fell silent: or perhaps they had moved their clashes and frictions to a darker corner? DouDou didn't know, but he felt that the mental broadcasts he had received through the catalogers had been quite effective.

He was quite satisfied with the apparent tranquility. The semester progressed normally, and after school, he rarely left the house, spending most of his time lounging in his chair playing "New Digimon Legend".

[Oh dear! I wonder if that cataloger is still alive? Have their medical expenses been covered?]
One weekend, while playing Magic Swan 2, this question popped into his head—but he forgot about it in the blink of an eye.

If Richard gave away the handheld console in an attempt to control DouDou's actions to some extent, then he made a very successful decision.

Ai Xi, on the other hand, has been sleeping longer and longer during class—I guess she's been playing Sherlock Holmes outside at night, hence the dark circles under her eyes; her trouser cuffs and shoe edges are also often dirty and grimy, I don't know what's smeared on them.

However, DouDou's pager never went off, and AiXi was more cautious about safety than expected.

Since Ai Xi didn't say anything, Dou Dou didn't ask either.

The dream world that can be created by two or more people continues, and is even becoming more and more fashionable and popular; it has replaced aerobics and square dancing in the hearts of some elderly people. Sometimes when I come home from school, I can still see a few old men and women meditating in the Youth Square, acting as each other's "dream partners".

The copy of "Human Secrets #9734" and the radio that he had pulled out of the box were put into a drawer and forgotten: midterms were coming up soon, and he hadn't even finished the game yet; who had the mind to study such trivial things?
Anyway, no one bothers him, which is good.

Thus began a period of calm in Mong Cai: until most traces of summer had vanished and autumn finally arrived.

Autumn is the hunting season.
-
At the start of this season, a few people came to explore the air-raid shelters in Mong Cai.

The air-raid shelters in Mong Cai City stretch out in a winding, abandoned ant colony. Most of the outermost shelters are rented out as retail spaces for electronics or books; some of the inner passages have been sealed off with concrete, but many entrances and exits remain.

It was cooler and more humid here than in the sun; although the mold and water stains were hidden in the shadows and not visible even with a flashlight, the dampness seeped into the clothes and dampened the body hair.

(End of this chapter)