Puzzle Madness

Chapter 188 Levitation Technique (Part Six)
Similarly, the longer you stay in a dream, the deeper you dive into the "seabed"—whether the sand contains gems or tangled plastic waste remains unknown.

Moreover, every time I fall asleep or wake up, it feels like I've been soaking in the sea; I'm covered in sweat and feel completely soaked.

Following this logic, "swimming" or "going into the water" became synonymous with dreaming; some classmates who were not members overheard their chatter and thought they were actually called "Fish Head Society," causing quite a misunderstanding.

Thankfully, I didn't let them call me "taro person," or I would have been incredibly embarrassed.

Sometimes, this kind of lingering fear would pop into DouDou's mind.
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Goldfish Eyes is probably the "diver" who goes underwater the most in the Taro Society—even far more than Ai Xi, not to mention Dou Dou who only goes in sporadically.

Because the shared dream wasn't as fun as DouDou had originally imagined: it was somewhat similar to roguelike games on the terminal, with an inexplicable element of randomness, which didn't suit his taste. He was curious, but his desire to explore was much weaker.

Although we haven't had much contact, I can tell that Goldfish Eyes is very serious about his work, and even a bit old-fashioned than his age.

Seeing the notebook in Goldfish Eyes' hand, DouDou knew she had come to submit her materials; however, her face was filled with panic, and she even stared with her unusually prominent round eyes, and began to make complicated and dazzling gestures.

However, DouDou couldn't understand a single thing:
Wow, how come code words have become so complicated?! I don't understand.

DouDou was too embarrassed to admit it: to outsiders, he was considered a seasoned diver; naturally, he couldn't show his ignorance in this area, so he could only nod seriously and pretend to understand.

Judging from the speed of her gestures, she was in a hurry.

The members of the Taro Society kept repeating the phrase "going into the water." Sometimes it was during the ten-minute break between classes, or skipping an entire PE class, or even "swimming" all the way after school until the school closed—
The old security guard with the flashlight once saw this and reported it to the homeroom teacher, but after the teacher talked to Ai Xi once, nothing came of it: she always has a way.

In order to improve the efficiency and frequency of [going into the water], various supporting methods have gradually emerged over the course of a month; communication similar to sign language is one of them.

Sometimes, the dream environment they reach while "going underwater" is so strange that it doesn't support them communicating with their voices: they can't carry communication devices into the dream, nor can they change the content of the dream at will, so they have to communicate with each other through body language.

The perception of time in the shared dream is also different from reality. Sometimes it is very slow, slow enough that each dive causes a new iteration in the divers' body language.

Over time, the core circle of the Taro Society developed a set of sign language that was barely usable; it had a limited vocabulary, but its strength lay in its practicality and conciseness. Taking it to school added an extra layer of confidentiality.

Just like there are over three hundred different sign languages ​​around the world, gestures born from "water" are a kind of dialect of dreams.

These processes of [going into the water] were all roughly recorded. They basically included the number of participants, the content of the dream, the specific actions, and the changes that occurred.

That must be the notebook that Goldfish Eyes is holding, already filled to a thick stack; in another month or so, it might even need to be replaced with a new one.

DouDou has read it a few times—Goldfish Eyes' writing is surprisingly excellent, vividly describing the content of dreams; however, the themes are a mess, and each dream is hard to understand, with reality mixed with inversion and confusion.

Of course, there are also many common patterns. Based on the experience summarized by the Taro Society:
The fewer "divers" involved each time, the closer the dream and reality become. With only two or three people, the body in the dream doesn't undergo much alienation; it's exactly like it is in school, even wearing a school uniform. But if there are more people—the self in the dream becomes "abstract," looking like a Kandinsky painting, with everyone appearing neither human nor inhuman.

The more people in a scene, the more bizarre and fantastical it becomes; or it goes to the other extreme, stripping away all the elements of reality to make it exceptionally simple.

DouDou has a lot to say about this: the first time she had that taro dream, there were about ten people in it; in the dream, DouDou didn't even have a face, and her body was like a crudely pieced-together machine.

But if it were Ruan Jingbo and her [electronic dungeon], and I were pretty much the same as usual, the effects and harm from the dream wouldn't carry over into reality. Dou Dou even ripped her head off that time, but she was perfectly fine when she woke up.

As for the reason why this is the case, no one in the Taro Society can figure it out.
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Having finally escaped the drowsy thoughts that came with math class, DouDou nudged AiXi with her elbow and tilted her chin toward the back of the classroom:
"Ai Xi? get out of class is almost over, wake up. Goldfish Eyes from the club is here to see you, waiting outside."

Ai Xi rubbed her sleepy eyes, staring at the goldfish-eyed manipulator's complex and intricate hand gestures:

"Oh, the patriarch of the palace has arrived."

Upon hearing this nickname, DouDou was taken aback. In his mind, the goldfish-eyed look and this nickname were truly incompatible.

"Huh? What's your name? Your nickname sounds so fancy."

As the goldfish-eyed sign language became increasingly confused, Ai Xi's brows furrowed deeper and deeper:
"No, her surname is [Gong] from Guanghan Palace. The character [Zu] doesn't have a retroflex consonant; I pronounced it too fast."

She suddenly stood up and squeezed past DouDou from behind:
"Something seems to have happened. I'll go out for a bit."

While DouDou was still pondering whether to change this classmate's nickname from "Goldfish Eyes" to "Goldfish Princess," AiXi had already strode out of the classroom through the back door.

The math teacher slowly assigned homework on the blackboard, occasionally wiping his mouth to check if he had missed any saliva: perhaps because he had choked on water earlier, or perhaps because get out of class was about to end, his movements were very sluggish; he simply watched Ai Xi leave the classroom.

He didn't say anything about Ai Xi.
Due to some unwritten consensus, the teachers didn't restrict Ai Xi much; even this new, elderly teacher was no exception.

Perhaps it wasn't just because of her grades, but DouDou didn't bother to find out; anyway, they didn't really care about DouDou either.
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As soon as Ai Xi stepped off the back door, Goldfish Eyes squeezed out an urgent shout from his throat:
"--Boss, this is bad! I've told you countless times, don't go swimming during class! This mess is definitely not my fault."

The goldfish-eyed woman hurried off, her words rambling and echoing down the corridor. She walked further and further away, oblivious to her surroundings, until her voice faded into the distance.

Ai Xi turned to Dou Dou, put her hand next to her face, pointed to the other end of the corridor, and winked; then her figure disappeared outside the door frame with the sound of clear footsteps.

(End of this chapter)