Puzzle Madness

Chapter 198 The First Dream War (Part 4)
So, where should you look for people from Asia-Europe Post?

There must be so-called "field agents" like Li Chak active in Mong Cai now: but just like in the spy movies Dou Dou has seen, without information, you simply don't know where to look.

To catch these people, you need to intercept their communications.

Curing machines, mobile phones, letters, face-to-face meetings, and other coded messages—some more traditional ones might even send a telegram; these conventional methods of communication were completely beyond my reach.

Or perhaps they rely on some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder that allows for remote communication: that would be even more troublesome, with absolutely no idea where to begin. After much thought, it might be better to just find a venue that's openly available.

DouDou's house still has that Mong Cai map that imitates "The Wire" on it, but it hasn't been touched for more than a month and has accumulated a lot of dust; the printing is also rough, and it contains old information.

"Go to the old place? Go to that underground base?"

However, he vaguely remembered that Asia-Europe Post had a small branch in Mong Cai—not the honeycomb-like underground base of Shou Zhu 151, but a tiny store, not even an office.

Previously, the homeroom teacher had talked at length during a class meeting about how he went to Asia-Europe Post to seek redress after losing his package. However, the class monitor revealed that the homeroom teacher had actually just gone to the branch office to write a complaint letter.

DouDou picked up the yellow pages hanging next to the landline and flipped through them, looking for the address; it was a little closer to Shouzhu 151.

During the summer vacation, Richard said that Asia-Europe Post didn't have any branches in Mong Cai at all—but now that I think about it, it probably didn't have any of his field service branches.

DouDou thought it didn't matter:
"Shouzhu 151 or this one? Never mind, let's go to both; let's go to the closer one first. If they're smart, they should wait where I go first."

"Let's go, let's go out."

DouDou casually pulled the pager off his backpack strap, checked the battery level, and stuffed it into his pocket. After thinking for a moment, he also grabbed the Yacht Boy 400 and ran into the night.
-
It's impossible that Asia-Europe Post wasn't monitoring DouDou's movements:

Even if they didn't dare to install surveillance cameras or listening devices in his home, there must have been several observation teams closely monitoring Tianhu Community.

By observing the direction DouDou is heading, one should be able to discern his possible intentions.
Asia-Europe Post has few options for dealing with this situation.

Long guns and short cannons are waiting, ready to fire as soon as you walk in—that's unlikely; Asia-Europe Post has already learned its lesson twice, it's not that stupid.

DouDou sees only two possible outcomes:

When they ran over, the place was completely empty, with nothing inside except for a few clueless ordinary people. Those who actually knew the situation had already fled, not giving DouDou a chance to get in touch with it.

Another possibility is that before even entering, Asia-Europe Post would throw a grand welcome at them, spraying goodwill indiscriminately like perfume; this is more likely.

Because negotiation is not just a way to obtain intelligence, it is also a rare opportunity for Asia-Europe Post: a slight error or misdirection could give them an advantage in the chaos that may follow.

Moreover, this should be an area where they are more proficient.

DouDou would never skip a few days of class to go to the Asia-Europe Post headquarters—she didn't even do that during the summer vacation, so it's even less likely she'd do it after school starts; both sides should understand this, as there are no long holidays for the rest of the year.

Of course, this is assuming he's not angry. [Perhaps I'm overestimating their normality.]

Just like in "Mantis": with great power comes great expectations; especially considering that at the end of the film, Mantis was eaten by the Yellow Bird Man who came from the multiverse.

It's never wrong to be cautious.
-
It was cooler in Mong Cai than before, but there were fewer pedestrians on the streets.

When DouDou arrived at the address according to the Yellow Pages, only one shop on the entire street had its lights on, illuminating the oddly shaped device at the top of its signboard.

A dense network of transparent pipes crisscrossed and twisted into intricate knots—with blurry lines running through them, revealing an inflatable protective enclosure that was spinning rapidly in circles; the whooshing sound could be heard from the outside.

However, these parcels are not actually transported elsewhere; they are merely decorative display machines, with spheres in those pipes spinning 365 days a year. This is to demonstrate how sophisticated and efficient the Asia-Europe Post parcel transport system is.

The layers upon layers of pipes intertwine to form a complex knot:
Because it is an office located in the Autonomous Prefecture of Cochin, the decoration has naturally been localized and incorporated many strong Chinese characteristics; the rope-knot structure of other branch offices is different.

DouDou had seen their ads on TV before; they're different all over the world.

DouDou has never been to this branch; at most, she goes to the post office. There's no trace of Asia-Europe Post there, not even a logo.

He skipped and hopped closer, peeking half his head out from the side of the glass door and glancing at the scene inside.
A long red carpet greets guests at the entrance, extending from the depths of the room outwards, covering the steps and the puddles on the walkway.

The counters that should have been there seemed to have been emptied out, and there were still obvious traces of color difference on the floor; there were a few streaks of white paint on the wall, used to cover up the original stains, and there was a fresh smell of paint.

[All staff at Asia-Europe Post warmly welcome Mr. DouDou for his visit and inspection.]
A red banner with white lettering stretched across the entire ceiling; next to it were colorful balloons with the words "Warmly Welcome" printed on them, as well as the logo of Asia-Europe Post: a hand with five fingers together and an envelope in the center of the palm.

In the center of the sales office room stood a woman; she looked to be nearing the end of her twenties, with exquisite makeup on her face.

She wore a shirt and pencil skirt, a stiff, practiced smile on her face, and carried a beautifully wrapped bouquet of flowers at an angle. Beside her stood a television on a stand, its screen at head level, with casters at the bottom for easy movement; however, it was not yet turned on.

Although the temperature in Mong Cai had dropped slightly and it wasn't exactly hot, sweat kept sliding down the woman's face; her foundation and eyeshadow were smudged, making her look like she had been crying, and her eyebrows twitched spasmodically.

You don't need exceptional observation skills to tell how nervous she was; perhaps she caught a glimpse of the yellow of the raincoat out of the corner of her eye, and her body visibly trembled, the bouquet in her arms shaking slightly.

[Oh? Richard isn't here. But a new character has appeared: Who's this guy? Why is he crying so much?]

DouDou originally thought that Richard would be sent to deal with them, after all, Richard was the person she had the most contact experience with in Asia-Europe Post.

[They were quite quick. I was just walking over, and it took about ten minutes for them to get ready.]

The previous pomp and circumstance was changed to be handled by female staff to soften the tone; the absence of more people on the surface, to avoid sending the wrong signal, confirmed DouDou's earlier guess.

It seems they're not stupid after all.

(End of this chapter)