Puzzle Madness

Chapter 187 Levitation Technique (Part 5)
DouDou waved her hand lightly, it was unclear whether she agreed or disagreed:

"Anyway, this neck-ache-inducing drug is definitely very important; it's crucial to their plans. It's more important than making a large sum of money every year, which is why Asia-Europe Post is willing to pay this price."

"They must be up to something again in Mong Cai. Ugh! They're like the Rockets, always getting defeated but never giving up."

"However, I don't think Asia-Europe Post will want to cause me any trouble now: they're trying to avoid me as much as possible. My agent friend surnamed Li wants to run away whenever he sees me. The Shouzhu 151 in the city center still hasn't opened, and the underground Hive base is still abandoned."

"I just don't understand whether it's for the [coverage range], the effect of causing neck pain, or some other feature? We just don't know yet."

Ai Xi picked up the flyer and pointed to the small print at the bottom:
"It's hard to say, there are too many possibilities. But look—[Location: Viewable throughout the entire city]. That's a strange statement, isn't it? There's probably something fishy going on."

DouDou had originally planned to draw a miniature map of Mangjie in the blank space of her textbook. But considering the difficulty involved, she reluctantly put down her pen.

“Yeah, that’s right. I was just thinking of saying that too. They didn’t mention the location of the main stage. You can’t exactly set up a four-sided stage in the city center. If it’s meant to be visible throughout the city, should we use the Mong Cai local station to broadcast it? A four-sided stage can’t go through walls.”

"Maybe it was done through hype? That's weird—ah, you mean, the [Neck Man]'s arrival in Mong Cai is related to this New Year's Eve party."

"This widespread frenzy can influence the New Year's Eve celebration: it's just a matter of whether it's meant to hinder or counter it, or to help."

"The last time I heard about it, the internet activists and Asia-Europe Post were fighting to the death; but that weird foreigner is saying something ambiguous in this letter, I don't understand."

DouDou rattled off a long string of words as if she didn't need to catch her breath, and AiXi finally flipped the flyer to the back; she then began to read the contents of Sidney's letter:

"A weird foreigner? Let me take a look at this letter. Right now, we can only guess and can't verify it; it feels like we're busy guessing every day."

During a break from the discussion, he tidied up the practice sheets and stuffed them into his drawer—he had no intention of taking them home. He figured he'd do half during his lunch break, copy the other half tomorrow morning, and that would be it.
"Interesting! It feels like—when I amplify the effect of someone else's frenzy, it's a comprehensive enhancement. It's not just the range of influence, but also the specific effects are improved."

"If anyone is obsessed with improving their grades, they can ask me to start a tutoring class together."

Ai Xi was still holding the flyer between her fingertips, examining every detail over and over:
"What kind of personality does the person who wrote this letter have?"

Dou Dou unscrewed the mineral water bottle and waved the dark blue cap at Ai Xi:
"Oh, some crazy foreigner, wearing a bottle cap headband; she said we live in a movie or a game. Didn't I tell you?"

“At the provincial library, she also pointed out some other people who were monitoring me to me.”

"They seem more like—free agents outside of any organization? Independent mercenaries or something. Their demeanor is quite different from those at the Asia-Europe Post or the Human Cataloging Center."

"They might just be neutral observers who enjoy watching the drama unfold, or the troublemakers; I have no idea what they're up to."

As Ai Xi read the letter, she silently repeated it to herself:

"[They messed up their home base in South America] Hmm, there's some jargon I don't understand. Is that so? The terminology doesn't seem like the pragmatic type; the ideas are rather far-fetched." "If that's the kind of person they are, they're quite likely to be telling the truth; it's just that they haven't given us all the information and intelligence, which makes them seem rather vague."

DouDou tightened the bottle cap again, but accidentally broke the bottle neck off.
"Right. Judging by her crazy logic, she's probably trying to create suspense or something; deliberately not explaining things clearly, it's annoying—"

Cough! Cough, cough cough.
The sound of the math teacher clearing his throat came from the podium, mixed with the dull thud of him slowly tapping the lectern. The old man had finally calmed down; the humming whispers that had filled the classroom gradually faded away.

Ai Xi acted as if she hadn't heard him:
"Then what do we do next?"

DouDou quickly laid her math textbook flat and spread it out on the table:
"Go to class first! Midterms are coming up soon, and I haven't studied much yet; I feel like I'm going to be in trouble this time, since we're not in the same exam room."

"Study, study, finish your studies first. Anyway, there are still almost two months until New Year's Day. Let's wait until someone makes trouble before we beat them up."

However, although that's what they say--
He was drowsy for the rest of the math class, and his notes were so illegible that even he couldn't understand them.
-
Sizzle—sizzle.

Just before get out of class ended, DouDou heard someone at the back door of the classroom making high-pitched, breathy sounds.

He turned his head: it was the girl with goldfish eyes from the next class—ever since they had a dream together in the storage room at the corner of the teaching building, she and Ai Xi had become close; Dou Dou didn't know her name, but in his heart he always called her [Goldfish Eyes].

Upon seeing DouDou, the goldfish-eyed man pointed at AiXi with his finger; with his other hand, he raised a thick notebook filled with slips of paper, on which were written the four large characters "[Diving Log]".

As one of the earliest groups in Mong Cai to come into contact with the "Common Dream," the Taro Society naturally maintained its vitality; Goldfish Eyes must have been the one who sneaked out of the classroom to "report on his work."

It's unrealistic to expect a group of middle school students to have strong discipline in their extracurricular activities. That's why DouDou knows that AiXi usually focuses on the big picture and lets go of the small details. They've discussed this management strategy before.

It may sound vague, but it's really just about managing the most motivated students who are most willing to spend time with you, indirectly through these key members; and letting them do their own thing most of the time.

Designing an organizational framework, structuring personnel hierarchy and systems, and establishing genuine discipline and rules—while Ai Xi could easily do it, Dou Dou felt it was largely unnecessary and practically impossible to implement; the cost-effectiveness was too low.

Taro Society is primarily a loosely organized extracurricular group focused on "dreaming."
Five or six of the most active students contributed over 90% of the "experimental output." At least DouDou felt that these people were conducting experiments, not just having fun—the passion mixed with rationality and pleasure transcended their age and was more commonly seen in scientific documentaries on television.

However, the Taro Society emerged early and gradually gained authority among students; it also gained some fame with the rise of the Dream Society. It was said that people from the neighboring middle school would come to Fifth Middle School for advice when they had problems with their dreams.

Having too many dreams leads to the emergence of all sorts of strange and unusual terms:

It is unclear when it started, but the students of the Taro Society often refer to themselves as "divers"; it is said that this is because every time they dream together, it is like entering the water hand in hand, and the seabed holds a vague and unknown scene.

(End of this chapter)