Infinite: Dawn Game

"pat-"

The old woman's head, which had suddenly grown longer, fell to the ground with a thud.

The players who had just recovered from the shock in front of their screens were speechless.

They all stared at the old woman, whose behavior had become even more bizarre and unsettling, and for a moment they didn't know what to say.

Has it transformed into an earthworm?

The image of the giant earthworm by the river kept replaying in each player's mind, and a moment of silence ensued.

It's really, really hard to imagine humans taking that shape...

--------

On the muddy floor of the kitchen.

The old woman seemed completely unaware of how bizarre her "head" looked when it fell to the ground. She slowly crawled forward on the muddy ground and soon crawled to Yu Shijiu's feet.

Yu Shijiu looked at the old lady's suddenly bizarrely shaped head and her neck, which had clearly transformed into a worm-like ring, and lowered his eyes with interest.

"Grandma," he called out to the old woman's head, which was wriggling around his feet but seemed disoriented, sounding somewhat annoyed.

"Come on, teach me how to start a fire."

Earthworms have very poor eyesight, so is it the same reason why the old lady who transformed into half an earthworm shape is also like that?

The boy's soft, coquettish voice echoed in the cramped kitchen, and the old lady's head, which had been circling and wriggling on the muddy floor, finally found its direction.

Before long, a strangely soft neck wrapped around Yu Shijiu's knees little by little, and finally the old lady's "head" slowly lifted up, her gray-white eyes twisting stiffly, as if searching for the exact location to make a sound.

This bizarre scene made Fatty's hair stand on end.

Just as it was about to lunge forward with its wide green eyes, about to bark fiercely and grab the old woman's "head," Yu Shijiu slowly extended his finger to his lips and silently "shushed" her.

Fatty: "..."

Although it was completely incomprehensible, it immediately fell silent within a second.

Those green pupils, now vertical, were still fixed on the old woman's "head" wrapped around Yu Shijiu's knees.

"First, you need to find the matches," the old lady chuckled, offering her earnest advice.

"Come on, the match is in the crevice next to the stove hole, do you see it?"

Following "Tou's" words, Yu Shijiu lowered his head and groped around in the crevice, and sure enough, he found a somewhat flat matchbox inside.

"Found it."

Yu Shijiu laughed even more happily. He curiously opened the matchbox, looked at the few red-headed matches inside, and reached out to pick one up.

"Found it, that's good."

The old woman blinked the eyes on her "head," glanced sideways at the boy's hand holding the matches, and spoke in a gentle tone as if she were chatting with her own grandson:

"It's very simple. Just stuff straw into the hole, then strike the side of the matchbox with a match in the red direction, and it will light."

At this point, a tiny, worm-like tongue emerged from the old woman's mouth. The tongue twitched, and as the mucus dripped down, it nearly landed on Yu Shijiu's leg.

"You need to strike the match quickly, understand?"

Yu Shijiu's hands are beautiful, with delicate skin, slender fingers, and distinct joints. Every joint has a light pink hue, and the skin is thin and hangs on the bones. Apart from being thin, she has no other flaws.

He used his beautiful hands to strike the match head against the frosted side of the matchbox, just as the old lady had instructed, with a "snap" sound.

The matchbox made a soft tearing sound, and then the match quickly caught fire.

Yu Shijiu quickly threw a match into the hole in front of him, which was already stuffed with straw. He watched as the straw gradually burned, making a crackling sound.

As the smoke slowly appeared, the old woman at the small table seemed to have finally finished chopping all the vegetables and fresh meat, and stopped the continuous chopping sounds.

The old lady's "head" on Yu Shijiu's lap also let out a satisfied laugh. Her mouth was wide open because she was too happy, like the gradually tearing flesh.

"Great, you're very smart. Now all you have to do is remember to add more firewood later."

After praising Yu Shijiu, the old lady slowly loosened her grip on his neck and began to slowly pull away.

The old lady recovered quickly.

After this incident, she seemed even happier, slowly humming a song as she began washing the pot and pouring water. Under Yu Shijiu's gaze, she poured oil and stir-fried vegetables, even occasionally adding seasonings that had expired several years ago...

To be honest, Yu Shijiu didn't quite understand how long after the expiration date a seasoning shouldn't be eaten, but the steamed buns in the morning tasted pretty good... so there shouldn't be any connection, right? It's not like it's something you eat directly... it's just seasoning.

Having figured this out, Yu Shijiu continued adding firewood to the fire without any burden.

The fat cat next to him was choked by the smoke and kept sneezing, constantly touching its nose and licking its fur, and occasionally curiously peeking into the fire hole.

Yu Shijiu seemed completely oblivious to this, focusing solely on tending the fire, and even pursing his lips with anticipation as the old lady's dishes emitted their aroma.

It smells so good, it must taste even better...

Thinking of this, Yu Shijiu burned the fire even more vigorously, not even noticing that his face was blackened by the smoke.

----------

Inside the ancestral hall of Changsheng Village.

After checking all the memorial tablets, Zhao Xuan dusted off his hands and made a gesture to gather the other believers who were checking the four corners of the ancestral hall.

Upon seeing Zhao Xuan's gesture, the remaining players from the Black Robe Church quickly assembled, except for one player who was crouching in the west corner, looking down at the corner of the wall.

Zhao Xuan didn't notice the player at first, assuming that the other person hadn't seen him because their back was to him. However, it wasn't anything urgent, and Zhao Xuan didn't care that one person was missing.

“Everyone on the memorial tablets has the same surname,” Zhao Xuan finished recounting all the clues he had just examined, his bloodless lips moving slightly.

"Our initial assessment suggests that there are likely no people with different surnames in Changsheng Village, and there may even be a possibility of inbreeding. Have you found any other clues?"

The three black-robed church players who had gathered shook their heads. One of them had a festering sore on his left ear, and he hesitated, head down:

"Brother Zhao, I just saw earthworms in the damp soil in the corner. Is that a clue?"

Zhao Xuan glanced at him, a smile appearing on his pale, youthful face:

"Of course it counts. It's better than some useless people who see nothing at all."

The other two players, who had also seen the earthworm but thought nothing of it, were horrified and instantly knelt down.

“Brother Zhao! We saw it too, but we didn’t say anything because we didn’t think earthworms were a clue—”

"Newbie?"

Zhao Xuan interrupted them, a mocking expression on his pale face:

"Everything that appears in the game counts as a clue. What, don't you guys understand that?"

"this--"

The two men, kneeling on the ground, were sweating profusely. Just as they were trying to come up with a reason, a strange laugh suddenly came from the corner behind them.

"Hee hee hee--"