Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 343: Chapter 147: Is This Also in Bai Wu’s Calculations?

(Silver Alliance random bonus Chapter cannot be used; progress 32/100.)

Three members of the Abnormal Circus had discovered Lin Rui, who refrained from utilizing their inherent powers, their laughter instead becoming more wild and unrestrained.

The earth and sky reverberated with a laughter that incited fear, and Lin Rui’s heart filled with repulsion as he contemplated whether he should deal with them.

But the thought was quickly dismissed.

"The night is long and full of dreams... If I don’t leave now, I might turn into a cackling creature myself," he mused.

Although he often burst into laughter when he dodged his opponents’ killer moves in battle, the nature of the two kinds of laughter was completely different.

"Moreover, if the laughter could bewitch these people... they might not be malevolent at heart," he reasoned.

Lin Rui wasn’t saintly by any means, having dealt with Evil Fallen for seven hundred years without ascending the High Tower.

There were people in the world similar to the Abnormal Circus, with bizarre bodies and harsh living environments, impoverished backgrounds, yet with hearts healthier than most.

There were also a minuscule number of individuals cloaked in envy-inducing skin, unimaginable wealth, living in others’ admiration, who harbored a distorted soul and engaged in tax evasion and animal cruelty.

Given his immense strength, Lin Rui hadn’t gone to extremes to eliminate many Evil Fallen looking to mend their ways.

Sheathed in golden light, Lin Rui left the zoo within the cacophony of the three Evil Fallen’s laughter.

He was like a streak of light, crossing half of Baichuan City in a flash of thunder, returning to Baichuan Middle School.

The circumstances at Baichuan Middle School were far from optimistic. Jiang Yimi possessed vast spiritual power, and as a bearer of an Evil Fallen trait, she carried a freakish ability that enhanced her spiritual power by ninefold. In this world, Bai Wu had only seen Hong Yin surpass Jiang Yimi in terms of spiritual power.

Yet even so, Jiang Yimi felt agitated and disquieted. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

Sometimes she would give a bizarre smile to the small cat, which Bai Wu had named "Hei Wu."

This action would immediately erect the tail of the cat, endowed with the "Evil Thought Smell" trait.

And because of this, Jiang Yimi would snap back to her senses immediately.

Just as Lin Rui returned to the Baichuan campus, she once again displayed her peculiar smile.

"Hei Wu" bristled again, trying to scratch Jiang Yimi, not intending to harm the pooper-scooper who had accompanied her for seven centuries but rather to shake her into alertness.

The little cat was also affected by the laughter; it’s just that the intervals between episodes were different. The cat and its master helped each other, managing to withstand the assault of laughter for quite some time.

Bai Wu had entered another dangerous area, the Supernatural Tale Apartment, and Nie Chongshan had not yet returned from Shudu with a large number of Evil Fallen prisoners. It seemed that Jiang Yimi was the only one Lin Rui could consult.

So he went to Jiang Yimi’s house, which was easy to find. Despite Lin Rui’s poor sense of direction, he vividly remembered the peculiar tree in front of Jiang Yimi’s house.

This Spirit Possession tree, with fruits that resembled human corpses, was the perfect horror movie prop, deserving a top score.

Jiang Yimi also welcomed Lin Rui. Since the outbreak of the fusion sickness seven hundred years ago, although she felt very guilty, Bai Wu had enlightened her, and over seven centuries, Jiang Yimi’s control over misfortune had grown exceedingly adept.

Jiang Yimi had a strange feeling; she somehow intuitively guessed that Bai Wu wasn’t the same man from seven hundred years ago.

But Bai Wu had indeed taken her along to liberate the region, achieved what she hadn’t managed seven hundred years ago, and promised to rescue those students.

For a long time, Jiang Yimi believed that Bai Wu might truly be the Masked Strange Person.

Until... she met Lin Rui.

The first time she met Lin Rui, she had already felt a familiar aura about him.

But that meeting was brief, and as Lin Rui came to stay at the dormitory area, their interactions became much more frequent.

Jiang Yimi paid a lot of attention to Lin Rui, but the Masked Strange Person had never mentioned her to Lin Rui.

As for Lin Rui, who had undergone significant changes over seven hundred years, he was a man who stood on his own. The fact that a girl was taking an interest in him no longer stirred any feelings.

Life’s three greatest illusions rarely had a chance to manifest in him.

However, Lin Rui never inquired about it. He could feel Jiang Yimi’s attention, but it differed from a woman’s interest in a man.

Jiang Yimi was just puzzled; why did Lin Rui seem so familiar?

If Bai Wu was merely a fleeting sensation, then Lin Rui carried a familiarity as if it was something touchable.

Fortunately, both of them were very sensible, and each time they met, they talked about serious matters.

"The smile on your face... is very odd..."

In front of the low-rise building, Jiang Yimi held the Black Cat, looking at Lin Rui with some concern.

Lin Rui bit his lip and slowly quieted the voices in his mind.

"We’re in trouble, we’ve encountered a very troubling situation."

"Are you talking about... the laughter?" Jiang Yimi asked.

Lin Rui nodded and patted his face:

"This is clearly a powerful entry that can invade someone’s consciousness through laughter, through hearing! You and I might be able to resist for a while, but I’m afraid the school has already run into problems."

Jiang Yimi didn’t hide the truth:

"Indeed, in the dormitory area, a few have already... started laughing like madmen, just like those in the other districts, and their laughter infects people around them, spreading at an alarming rate. Thankfully, Uncle Gu and the others discovered it in time."

Lin Rui really wanted to say sister, you and I are seven hundred-year-old monsters, when you call Gu Hailin "Uncle," aren’t you sort of demoting yourself?

Of course, that was not the point.

Lin Rui asked:

"How did you deal with it?"

"We gagged them." freewebnovёl.ƈom

"Good idea."

Lin Rui slapped his forehead, wondering why he hadn’t thought of it himself. But then he realized, even if he had thought of it, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference:

"There are too many people around, the laughter has almost spread from the suburbs to the school, we can block a small area but not a large one."

"What should we do?" Jiang Yimi asked. She knew very well that if even her strong spiritual power couldn’t resist, the school would soon turn into a "hell within laughter."

"The situation is more urgent than we thought, I’m planning to notify the senior and go to that weird apartment to find him, he has many methods, maybe he can come up with a solution."

Jiang Yimi nodded, she too believed Bai Wu might have a method:

"Uncle Gu and the others... will they last?"

"Yes, if we don’t solve the source of the laughter, letting these laughs keep spreading, the disaster will reach the whole Baichuan City, or perhaps... something even worse."

"What kind of power is this, and why has it surfaced only now?" Jiang Yimi couldn’t imagine why such a powerful force had emerged only now.

Lin Rui said:

"I used to wander through many areas, considering finding a permanent home, but then I realized... it’s problematic. If I find it troublesome, not to mention a large refuge like this. It’s normal to encounter some difficulties, just solve them. As for why it has surfaced now... perhaps it’s related to the recent merging and disappearance of regions."

Lin Rui looked into the distance:

"I’ve never found the source of the mutations in this world, just like this laughter, as long as we don’t find its source, it will keep changing others. Living in this irregular set of rules, mysterious rules can appear around you at any time, and monsters might generate all kinds of unpredictable abilities."

This was undoubtedly a disheartening response.

Lin Rui, who had inherited the mantle of the Masked Strange Person in Food City, was no longer afraid of Evil Fallen, and sometimes to relieve his boredom, even talked to them.

But the next day, he discovered that the Evil Fallen had mutated, evolving from a level four to a level five.

It used to look somewhat human, but after the breakthrough, it became a pure monster.

It was from that time that Lin Rui felt incredibly alone, pondering that maybe he needed to adapt to this vast world devoid of "people."

In the seven hundred years, he found that the world outside the tower’s most defining characteristic was change.

What’s true today might change tomorrow.

Building a refuge in such a world was extremely difficult. But those ghosts and Wandering Spirits from the Investigation Corps still forged ahead without looking back for ninety years. So for him, who was already passionate, of course, he wouldn’t shrink from these difficulties.

Jiang Yimi seemed a bit disheartened.

As if troubles never come singly, at this moment, the Black Cat suddenly began to howl furiously, its mewing tone different from its usual wheedling.

Meanwhile, in the dormitory area of the school, a faint laughter could be heard.

"Not good... someone else has been infected..."

"I’ll go first."

Lin Rui vanished on the spot, with remnants of golden energy falling like sparks from mid-air; one second he was standing right in front of them, the next he was already in the dormitory area.

No matter how many times Jiang Yimi saw it, she found this power to be very shocking and yet somehow familiar.

...

...

Bai Wu had no idea about the series of events happening within Baichuan City’s school campus; he was currently looking for the third supernatural tale, initially aiming to find the tale about "looking up" or the one involving the TV, but he unexpectedly discovered a tale related to "dolls."

At this very moment, Lin Rui and Jiang Yimi were rushing to the dormitory area.

Bai Wu was still unaware of the unimaginable "laughter crisis" that Baichuan Middle School might soon face.

The gravity of the situation far exceeded everyone’s expectations.

When Lin Rui and Jiang Yimi arrived, the laughter, having spread, began to proliferate across a large part of the dormitory area, with students of the Evil Fallen starting to emit laughter continuously.

This laughter was, in turn, infecting people around them.

Lin Rui said,

"No way, it’s too late, the contagion of laughter has suddenly erupted and is completely out of control... It seems like the seniors from the Investigation Corps aren’t in this area today,"

Jiang Yimi hadn’t expected that within just a few short hours, the school could go from a mild disaster to a severe one.

But the truth was...

Baichuan Middle School was just off a ways, but given the number of Evil Fallen at Baichuan Middle School, once infected by laughter, it would instantly become a severely disastrous area.

Lin Rui realized the severity of the problem:

"Find a way to get out of here. You and I aren’t restricted by this area. Try your best not to let yourself be beguiled by the laughter."

"What about you? Are you going to find Uncle to help?"

"Waiting for the seniors to act will be too late. I plan to go back to that area once more to find the source."

Jiang Yimi was very worried. Lin Rui’s thinking was not wrong, but the risk of doing so was significant.

"So far, only the Evil Fallen have been controlled, restricted by the area, so they haven’t been able to cause trouble. If you’re controlled by the laughter..."

Jiang Yimi’s worries were not unreasonable, but considering the urgent situation, many students in the dorm area were already in a state of Schrödinger infection—if not infected, all was well, but once infected, without immediate control, Baichuan Middle School would quickly suffer a catastrophic blow.

Even if they made the harsh decision to kill the infected student, it would still be a makeshift solution rather than a cure.

Lin Rui also knew that if he was controlled, he might be driven by the master of laughter... to cause unimaginable harm to Baichuan campus.

But he had to do it.

"You go find the seniors! I will go to the outskirts to find the source!"

As the duo within Baichuan Middle School who had the freedom to act, both experienced through many storms, Jiang Yimi nodded and said,

"Be very careful!"

It seemed that they had finalized their plan, even though the plan didn’t hold much chance of success.

But at that moment, the two witnessed a scene so extraordinary that neither of them moved to leave.

"That person is the one the senior sent, Captain Wu Jiu..."

The laughter grew louder, and the sky turned increasingly dark, but Lin Rui and Jiang Yimi still saw a graceful figure sprinting out of the dorm building.

Behind her followed many students with fierce expressions.

Lin Rui instantly positioned himself between this figure and the student Evil Fallen, knocking the Evil Fallen out with two clean, swift chops.

"Thank... Thank you..."

The girl clutched her chest, still in shock.

Yan Jiu’s dorm was arranged by Jiang Yimi, and although it wasn’t the first time she had seen Yan Jiu, she found it strange...

Just how many beautiful women could Uncle have around him...

She didn’t deliberately avoid Yan Jiu, thinking if the young lady got bored on her own, she would eventually come out, and it would be nice to have a chance encounter then.

But what was outrageous was that Yan Jiu seemed to adapt extremely well to life isolated in a room; since arriving at Baichuan City Middle School’s dormitory area, she had seldom come out.

It was only Lin Rui who would occasionally bring over some fruits from a distance. Most fruit plants had mutated, but Lin Rui’s survival experience of seven hundred years couldn’t be matched by Bai Wu, Wu Jiu, or even by the Evil Fallen.

At this moment, Lin Rui, Yan Jiu, and Jiang Yimi were gathered together for the first time.

"Are you alright?" Jiang Yimi spoke up, trying her best to appear as the lady of the school.

Yan Jiu, unaware of any ulterior motives, just looked bewildered:

"They seem to dislike me, but why are they laughing at me?"

In her understanding, laughter meant joy and happiness, so why would anyone laugh at someone they disliked?

Certainly, she understood the concept of mockery, but she had never seen anyone who seemed like they wanted to tear her to shreds yet kept laughing at her continuously.

Lin Rui was about to explain things briefly, to let Yan Jiu know what had happened and to tell her to hide away...

But suddenly, he felt something was amiss:

"Don’t you feel anything when you hear that laughter?"

Yan Jiu was a bit confused, staring blankly at Lin Rui and then said softly,

"Should... Should there be some reaction?"

She didn’t know the seriousness of the situation, even thinking it might be some kind of welcome ceremony from outside the tower; she wondered if she had been rude.

"Don’t you feel like there’s a voice in your head laughing, making you think of many violent things..."

"No, not at all..."

Yan Jiu was even more confused.

Jiang Yimi said,

"Have you heard laughter since you’ve come here?"

"Yes," Yan Jiu answered truthfully.

"Then, didn’t you feel the urge to laugh along?" Jiang Yimi asked in surprise.

Yan Jiu was even more taken aback,

"People laugh when they’re happy... But I can’t feel that emotion..."

Jiang Yimi and Lin Rui exchanged glances, looking at Yan Jiu in disbelief.

Yan Jiu lowered her head, thinking she had exposed her weakness and that the others might look down on her.

But she had no idea what Lin Rui was thinking.

At this moment... Lin Rui’s thoughts were unexpectedly coming alive.

"Could the senior have known?"

"Was this all part of his calculations?"

"So that’s why he arranged for this girl to come here?"

"Is this the intelligence behind the Investigation Corps! Terrifying indeed, so terrifying!"

(Although... still owe updates, it’s only right... But I still ask for a monthly ticket, after all, I braved two updates today)