Infinite: Dawn Game

Lu Chusheng had just come out of the game. He pressed his sore temples, patted off the non-existent dust on his body, and walked towards where Yu Shijiu and He Lingling were.

“He Lingling,” Lu Chusheng was very tall, and when he walked over, it was as if he blocked the sun, and the light instantly dimmed.

"What are you doing here?"

Despite being a renowned player on the leaderboard, He Lingling is actually only twenty years old. She is a difficult character who enjoys manipulating people's hearts. She looks innocent and cute, but in reality, she has no respect for life.

He Lingling clutched her chest and exclaimed dramatically, "Seriously, Captain Lu? Can't I even come out for some fresh air?"

Lu Chusheng ignored her exaggerated response, looked down at the boy beside her, and frowned slightly.

When I glanced at them casually earlier, I only thought they were thin. But when I got closer, I realized they were more than just thin; they were clearly just skin and bones, with only a little bit of flesh on their cheeks.

He had never seen this boy before; he was most likely a new player who had just entered the Dawn game.

"Don't bring new players to cause trouble."

Lu Chusheng reminded him.

He Lingling's eyes widened, and her huge, dark pupils seemed to have grown even larger, giving her an eerie and sinister look.

"What? Am I that kind of person?"

As she spoke, He Lingling patted Yu Shijiu's shoulder with a grin:

"Come on, say hello to our Captain Lu Chusheng. If you get along well with him, you can walk around town with your head held high."

Yu Shijiu looked up, seemingly a little embarrassed: "Is it okay?"

What can be done?

He Lingling was also taken aback, and subconsciously nodded:

"sure--"

"No."

Lu Chusheng reacted quickly and refused, but then he looked at the boy's eyes, which were clearly downcast because of his refusal, and suddenly had the illusion that he was bullying a minor.

Minor?

Lu Chusheng frowned. "Are you an adult?"

Yu Shijiu was stunned for a second when suddenly asked the question, then realized that the other party was asking about his age.

Are you an adult yet...?

Yu Shijiu roughly calculated the time since his death and concluded that he would be an adult in one hour.

“Soon,” Yu Shijiu nodded, “I’ll be an adult in an hour.”

After this hour, it means he has become an adult.

Lu Chusheng: "..."

He glanced at the inspector standing in the shadows beside him and waved.

The other person quickly ran up to ask for instructions.

“Buy him a cake,” Lu Chusheng said, turning to Yu Shijiu and asking, “Does he like sweets?”

Yu Shijiu was genuinely stunned this time, and before she could react, she nodded: "Liking someone is—"

“Sure, he likes sweets,” Lu Chusheng said decisively.

"Buy him a ten-inch cake."

Inspection team member: "...Yes."

Yu Shijiu swallowed back the words "What do you mean?" that were about to come out of his throat.

"Why didn't you buy one for me too?" He Lingling clicked her tongue in disapproval.

"Is it because I'm old?"

Lu Chusheng ignored her. He bent down and reached out to touch Yu Shijiu's hair, his touch very light, and his cold expression relaxed considerably.

"Take the cake and go home to rest early."

Yu Shijiu doesn't like others touching her casually, but Lu Chusheng seems to be an exception.

The previous irritation and urge to escape, even the thought of cutting him off, didn't arise now. Yu Shijiu only felt that Lu Chusheng's hand was warm, and carried a faint smell of blood that hadn't been washed off, as if... she had smelled it somewhere before...

A sudden pain shot through the depths of her brain, and Yu Shijiu instantly dodged Lu Chusheng's hand, taking a few steps back.

Lu Chusheng didn't pay any attention, assuming it was just a child who didn't want others to touch him. He withdrew his hand and said to He Lingling:

"I'm reminding you one more time, don't lay a hand on the child."

That being said, Lu Chusheng actually knew that He Lingling wasn't a bad person. It was just that her young age and the fact that she had lived in this place for a long time could indeed make her mental state somewhat abnormal, which made her like to tease other players.

As long as no one dies, Lu Chusheng usually doesn't have time to deal with it.

He only needs to maintain a general sense of peace, which is the limit of what he can do.

He Lingling pouted: "Okay, Captain Lu, has the cake arrived yet?"

Lu Chusheng glanced down at the clock on his wrist and said succinctly:

"soon."

Yu Shijiu smiled innocently, her eyes gleaming, and bowed her head to thank him in a sweet voice:

"Thank you, Captain Lu."

“No need,” Lu Chusheng seemed to like obedient children. Upon hearing this, his expression softened slightly, and the coldness between his brows dissipated considerably.

After the cake was delivered, Lu Chusheng exchanged a few more words with Yu Shijiu before being hurriedly called away.

"He looks very busy."

Yu Shijiu stood there, holding the cake, watching Lu Chusheng's back as she spoke.

"Pretty much, I've just been quite busy lately," He Lingling said, leading Yu Shijiu into a restaurant next to the square.

"There are many guilds in the town. You know what a guild is, right? Like different factions in a game... In this town, there are things like the Surveillance Team, the Black Robe Church, and so on, as well as some scattered small groups. Every year, the game holds competitions. The winning guilds get a lot of points, and the losing guilds don't lose points, except that a few insignificant players might die..."

"Last year, the inspection team won against all the guilds, so they won town management this year."

"Managers are bound to be busier."

After finding a seat, He Lingling gestured to the waiter and ordered two cups of milk tea before clearing her throat:

"I quite like the inspection team managing the town; they are reasonable and don't kill people randomly."

Even among players, most are unwilling to return to a safe zone only to witness people killing indiscriminately.

Yu Shijiu thought of the few troublemakers who had been killed in the square and became skeptical of that statement.

Seemingly guessing what Yu Shijiu was thinking, He Lingling explained:

"After playing many games, you'll find that there are always a few crazy people in towns who want to take everyone down with them, so the surveillance team has no choice but to kill them on the spot before a terrorist incident occurs."

After all, only the dead can solve the problem once and for all.

"But don't worry, players can't kill each other in town. Most people just want to live a normal life."

Yu Shijiu nodded as if he understood. He slowly untied the wrapping thread on the cake and was stunned when he saw a group of lifelike cartoon cats sculpted with butter inside.

In my memory, he seemed to have kept a thin orange cat in a mental hospital, but the cat somehow managed to escape...

Another memory crack appeared deep within his brain. Yu Shijiu patted his head, his eyes suddenly turning bloodshot.

Have I ever actually owned a cat?

"what happened to you?"

A questioning voice came from in front of me: "Headache?"

Yu Shijiu was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.

“It’s normal,” He Lingling said, taking a sip of her milk tea. “Everyone gets a headache when they first come out of the game. You seemed perfectly normal just now, and I was thinking how amazing you are.”

He Lingling hesitated and said, "Should I find you a place to rest?"

Yu Shijiu didn't speak. He looked down at the cartoon kittens playing and chasing each other on the cake, and without hesitation, he cut the connection between the cream cat's head and body with the knife.

“It’s nothing,” the boy said, raising his eyes, his pupils gleaming with a faint red light under the lamplight.

"It'll be fine once you're an adult."