ecstasy

Doudou was a little confused by this series of words. He put his fist to his chin and thought carefully before answering:

"Ah. Huh? No. Does failing a test count? I botched last semester's final."

Ping Pong Pong!

A drinker at the next table knocked over a beer bottle, which rolled on the ground and scared the mathematician.

But Richard didn't even blink, staring at Doudou's face:

"If you fail the test, it might count. Are you feeling any pain? Sadness? Depression or anything like that?"

Doudou pinched his brows with his hands, thinking hard - when he was thinking, he looked more like a teenager of his age:

"Oh! Not really! I feel like as long as I study hard, it's okay. If I don't do well on the test, it's not my fault. If you want to be happy, it's best not to put pressure on yourself."

"What's this called? Oh, it means don't waste time on your own. Hahahaha, just have a good attitude."

His mouth widened, his eyes narrowed—the smile couldn't be more genuine.

As if infected by the joyful atmosphere, even the mathematicians became bolder:

"Is that so? Doudou, aren't you worried about not finishing your summer homework?"

Doudou continued to smile and replied, not taking any offense at the mathematician's words:

"Of course it's different from taking an exam! If you don't finish your homework, you'll feel like something's hanging in your heart. I see my classmates all feel that way, so I do the same."

[imitate].

The mathematician and Richard looked at each other, which was rare; this word came to their minds.

Richard withdrew his gaze and examined his fingers with interest.

"Then let's ignore this for now."

"Okay. Let's move on to the next question."

Doudou seems like a studious student in class—except when school actually starts, he's not like that:

"Wait a minute, you're being so vague, Lao Li. Are you saying that as long as there's pain, sadness, or depression, then there's going to be this kind of madness?"

Richard made a circle with his hands:

"It's hard to say—this question is only part of the entire questionnaire. Only after we ask all the questions as a whole can we get a rough idea of ​​the result."

"But I saw case studies during my training. Shame is the most common negative emotion associated with ecstasy. Some people develop very obvious symptoms after farting in public, while others are convicted of serial murders and yet appear to be no different from ordinary people."

He paused for a moment, but there was no laughter from Doudou or the mathematician. So Richard continued:

"So we still need to look at this more holistically. No rush, let's continue."

"For young people, especially those who grew up in a relatively normal environment, this question is not particularly relevant."

"We can skip this one and ask the next one."

Chapter 50 Sky View

Growing up in a normal environment?

The mathematician felt that this was not a correct judgment: Doudou did not look like a guy who grew up in a "normal environment".

Moreover, when Richard and Doudou were communicating, they kept trying to blur each other's age - why was that?

Doudou clapped his hands, his face full of sudden realization:

"Oh—I think I understand a little bit. Oh, no, I still don't quite understand."

Richard nodded in agreement:

"That's normal. I don't quite understand it either. Besides, I've been dealing with these things for a while—there are quite a lot of intricacies involved. I'll explain them to you one by one."

"Come on, second question:"

"Have you lived in an administratively organized area above a village or town for a long period of time within the past three to five years? If so, does the city have a permanent population of over one million? What's the crime rate? Never mind, I know the answer to that question myself."

"Mang Cai City is just above the threshold, just over a million. It's not bad in Jiaozhi Autonomous Prefecture; after all, it's only been returned to China for about 20 years, so it can't compare to the mainland."

"Doudou, are you from Mong Cai?"

Doudou unzipped his yellow raincoat. Inside was a white T-shirt with the "I Love Mong Cai" logo, though it had faded slightly from washing. He shook the T-shirt and zipped it up again.

"No, I moved here around the time I was in elementary school. My family used to live in Singapore, in Chinatown. Oh! We also lived in Malaysia. But I don't know where I was born."

The mathematician continued to stare at Richard—but his expression didn't seem to change at all after hearing his answer:

[Does Doudou's situation have little connection with Singapore and Malaysia? ]

"You're saying—is the emergence of this so-called [symptom] related to the population of the city? And what about the crime rate? You haven't explained this clearly at all."

Richard's eyes were filled with concentration, as if he was completely unaware that the mathematician was staring at him:

"I don't know either. After all, while this system is called a self-test, the actual results still need to be submitted to the department for analysis. However, it can be said that the probability of the occurrence of the [symptom] is roughly positively correlated with the local [population]."

The mathematician raised his hand high—but in the end he only dared to lightly tap the table:

"That's nonsense! If we're talking about probability, then naturally the more people there are in a place, the more people with superpowers there are; and the greater the likelihood of exposure. So, naturally, they're more likely to be counted!"

Richard used his index finger to draw an upward slash on the plastic tablecloth:

"No, they are different things. If a person moves from a remote and uninhabited mountain area to an international metropolis, the likelihood of him or her developing [symptoms] will increase—and the larger the population base of the place, the greater the likelihood."

"And according to your idea, Doctor: No matter where the person I used as an example lives, it will not affect the probability of him showing symptoms."

The mathematician waved his hand, indicating that he couldn't find a direction to attack at the moment:

".Forget it, go on. This thing seems very counterintuitive."

Doudou's eyes were darting around, and no one knew where he was looking.

"Uh-uh, really? Very counter-intuitive!"

He felt his mind was in a mess and his scalp was itching. Fortunately, Doudou had mastered a secret to participating in a conversation - repeating the other person's last sentence.

Unlike his treatment of mathematicians, as soon as Doudou opened his mouth, Richard immediately became serious:

"Is it counterintuitive? It does feel a bit that way. But it could just be that I'm not very good at expressing myself."

"However, there's also a very intuitive aspect. In fact, we privately rely on this question to determine whether symptoms have appeared. It's much more convenient than messy questionnaires, and it's also easy to verify."

“That’s the last question:”

"Outdoors, in an open area without high obstructions, while observing the sky—do you see any unusual objects or phenomena? If so, what is the approximate size of the object or phenomenon? You can also describe it in terms of the approximate proportion of the field of view."

When the mathematician heard the first half of Richard's question, he looked up at the sky.

It's strange; this action is perfectly normal, but he rarely has the leisure and time for it. Who would stare upwards for no reason? Especially during the day in Mong Cai, when the sunlight, even through the clouds, can pierce your eyes.

Through the dirty lens - there are no thick clouds, but there are no stars either: the flickering city lights have already obscured these distant celestial bodies; even in a small town like Mong Cai, it is the same.

Only the moon was bright and clear, with a hazy white jade halo; it hung abruptly in the oblique angle of midnight. Although it was not full - it was still a few weeks away from Mid-Autumn Festival - but apart from that, there was nothing else.

The mathematician smacked his lips and shrugged. He had always felt that he had no connection with these strange and supernatural things.

"Why is this included? It feels strange; it's like mass hysteria. What will we see? UFOs?"

No one answered. Richard was looking at Doudou, observing his reaction, but Doudou didn't even look up:

"Oh! There's nothing strange in the sky, only my mom and dad. I told the doctor, my parents are in heaven."

The mathematician suddenly realized that

When I was still in the apartment building, I didn't really understand what Doudou meant.

The mathematician leaned forward, almost wanting to press his entire body against Richard. At this moment, he desperately wanted an answer:

"What does it mean if you see something unusual in the sky? If you can see it, it means you have special abilities, right?"

Richard did not answer the mathematician's question, but continued to ask Doudou:

"Doudou—can you see the moon tonight? Are there any stars now? Are there any clouds in the sky?"

The mathematician saw it: Richard gripped the disposable chopsticks tightly, making a clicking sound. Even if his expression didn't show it, his body couldn't suppress the tension.

"What? Oh, let me see."

Doudou suddenly raised his chin, his hair hitting the back of his neck. He turned his head left and right, looking up at the sky for a long time; suddenly he waved his hand toward the sky, then turned back:

"I can't see the moon. And I can't see a single star either. The whole sky is blocked by my parents; they're thrashing around like they're pantomiming, so I can't see anything. And it seems there aren't many clouds today, right? Usually it seems fine."

The mathematician saw Richard's face turn pale—perhaps just the poor lighting in the food stall; but the trembling of his lips was perfectly real, revealing something about Richard's emotions at the moment. The mathematician leaned closer to Richard:

"What do you mean? What did Doudou mean?"

Chapter 51 Doubts

Richard scratched his face. His eyes, blurry without his glasses, trembled and spun around at the sky, as if a meteor shower was about to fall at any moment.

"Well, Doctor, what you asked earlier is correct. As long as we can observe the scene in the sky with the naked eye, we can basically confirm that the signs have appeared."

"Then, the larger the entity, the more active and complex it is, the stronger its representation should be. In other words, is it more powerful? More powerful? A wider range of influence? It's hard to say."

"But—the entity witnessed was able to completely obscure the entire field of view directly above. How—how is this possible?"

The mathematician then looked up: he intuitively felt that this was the moment when Richard would reveal his inner thoughts most tonight.

Doudou raised his thumbs and pointed them towards himself, his mouth wide open to reveal his gleaming teeth:

"Eh? So, am I really that good? I think I'm pretty good!"

Richard covered his face with one hand, and through his fingers he could see his eyes, which were wide open to the extreme and his eyelashes trembling.

"I don't know either. I've never heard of such a—such a—I don't know how to put it. It would be better if the Department of Analysis could come and examine you, or maybe not."

The mathematician could not empathize with the shock Richard showed at this moment: in his opinion, Doudou's previous performance was much more terrifying than seeing the [size of the strange thing].

Looking at the densely packed tiny red lines on Richard's whites of the eyes, the mathematician decided that it would be better to continue thinking about the problem.

Doudou once again raised his head towards the sky, waving his hands as if in greeting:

"Oh, never mind. I'm really awesome, haha. Hi! Hi! I'm having a midnight snack. It's super hot in Mong Cai today. Oh, these two people? They're both new friends."

I don’t know who Doudou was talking to, but his voice got lower and lower, and in a moment he could no longer be heard.

But the other two present could not remain as relaxed as he did; the mathematician also followed Richard and immersed himself in thought:

"So this is some kind of indicator or index, positively correlated with the strength of superpowers; but it can only be verified by the superpower holder themselves. The colleague you mentioned earlier can also see it? What's the difference between what he sees and what Doudou sees?"

Richard regained his spirits, but his eyes kept gazing at the cloudless sky over Mong Cai. It seemed the mathematician's question had distracted him a little:

"Yes, of course he could see it. From the onboarding test to the final inspection before his death, the size of the observed anomaly remained around ten meters, and it remained in a fixed position, showing no signs of movement."

"The [Neck Rider] mentioned earlier also had very high-intensity representations. While the company didn't conduct direct testing with him, he did visit a psychiatric department and describe his hallucinations. Records show that the scale of his vision was roughly estimated to be several hundred meters, but it was only low-frequency activity."

"This is the most outrageous case I've ever read—it's like looking up every day and seeing a blown-up version of Godzilla or some other giant monster. It's unbelievable, but now I think it's child's play. It's hilarious. I wonder if there are other records with a higher visual percentage."

His voice became lower and lower, and his eyes began to look at the shoes; the hair on his forehead was soaked in the bowl, but he was unaware of it.

The mathematician moved his bowl and chopsticks on the table, gesturing with his fingers. The more he thought, the more questions he had:

"But why? What's the connection between these things? The so-called [image in the sky] sounds like an illusion: different observers get different results for the same object. In this case, it can only be an illusion."

"Also, this is easy to verify. Has anyone actually come into contact with something they saw in the sky? Not just seeing it. Like communicating—Doudou saw his parents, right? Could he talk to them?"

He lowered his voice and used his chin to gesture to Doudou, who was waving his hands around beside him:

"Look at him now, isn't that a possibility? Could this actually be a visual manifestation of some kind of mental trauma? Or perhaps a contagious form of schizophrenia that no one has ever discovered? Contagious mental illness sounds outrageous, but is there anything more outrageous than—well, you know—"

"Oh yeah, why can it only be seen outdoors? Do we view the sky as an abstract concept? Does a sky depicted in a painting or on a screen count? Does the time of day, place, or weather affect the hallucination? Perhaps it's a pre-existing mass hysteria?"

"And if it's not an illusion, can we achieve physical contact by approaching through an aerial vehicle? Does the distance between a person in ecstasy and these hallucinations remain constant? And what if we go into outer space—"

Faced with the mathematician's barrage of questions, even Richard was at a loss for words—it seemed as if he hadn't been given time to think, or even to answer. The mathematician's questions were so dense that it seemed as if he didn't need to leave any room for pause:

"Okay, stop! I don't know. I don't know anything. How should I know? I don't work in the Department of Analysis, and I'm not crazy."

"Those [higher-level offices]—people at higher levels—must have understood or deduced, or at least done a lot of experiments, but I didn't know. My former colleagues didn't know either: we were just small-time field staff."

"The Eurasian Post is a behemoth. And there are several other giants like it. No one knows how far the research and development of [Ecstasy] has progressed, but it's definitely not stopping. If you want to ask, just go ask the company yourself!"

The table fell into silence for a moment.

Doudou, who originally loved to join in the conversation, was making gestures and muttering to himself at the sky above his head. He seemed to be drunk like the middle-aged people with red faces at the next table, and he didn't care about the weird question-and-answer session between the mathematician and Richard at all.

The mathematician had a gloomy face and was scribbling on the plastic tablecloth with his index finger, but he didn't throw out any more messy questions; while Richard grabbed his hair with both hands, rubbing his upper and lower teeth together, and making a hissing sound while breathing out through his nostrils.