Infinite: Dawn Game

The fat cat meowed when it was called, glanced lazily at Yu Shijiu, and slowly dragged itself several steps toward him.

"So nice."

Yu Shijiu hugged it and rubbed it generously, then sat down on the ground and leaned against it, admiring the dark night sky above that was free of additives and pollution.

He Lingling and the others were a little tired and decided to go back to rest first... after all, they still had to go back to draw lots.

"go?"

He Lingling glanced at Yu Shijiu, who seemed to be engrossed in watching, and then looked at Sun Qin.

Shi Yuan didn't need to look; she was already preparing to leave.

However, before leaving, He Lingling noticed that she took out her camera and took several pictures of the starry sky.

The camera looks outdated; it was probably a used item bought from a town store. It was cheap but required points to purchase, so it's very likely that it's been gathering dust for a long time.

He Lingling never expected that Shi Yuan would buy such a useless thing.

Sun Qin looked down at the photos in her camera, carefully selecting a few of the best ones to keep. She noticed He Lingling's gaze and nodded slightly.

Sun Qin's response came at the same time: "Let's go, let's go back quickly."

Sun Qin shivered from the sea breeze on the deck, sneezed, and then wrapped her coat tighter around herself.

"Why is it so cold?"

"..."

Having received a response, He Lingling left first, followed by Sun Shi and the other two.

Only Xu Han, who wanted to leave but hesitated, and Yu Shijiu and Feifei, who were already comfortable enough to lie down and admire the moon and stars, remained on the deck.

Xu Han hesitated for a moment about whether to leave, but after thinking it over, he decided to stay.

"I'm a man with plenty of energy, I'm not actually that cold..."

Yu Shijiu glanced at him and said lazily, "You can go back first, I'll look around for another five minutes, then I'll go back too."

Xu Han: "..."

Xu Han turned her head, walked over to him, sat cross-legged, and looked at the night sky, stubbornly saying:

"It's not cold at all, haha, Shi Jiu, you don't know, this little breeze on the deck isn't cold at all! It's not even half as cold as I felt just now!"

"..."

Yu Shijiu responded with an "oh," pretending not to notice the other person's trembling arm, and continued to admire the moon with narrowed eyes.

Xu Han coughed, covering his mouth. He glanced back at the dark cabin door behind him and sighed softly:

"They're all the same ship, why are you making such a big deal out of it..."

The second floor is luxurious and beautiful, even the staff have their own private bathrooms... In contrast, the first floor—wait a minute?!

Xu Han suddenly remembered something and exclaimed in shock, "Shi Jiu! Where do we go if we need to use the restroom?"

They wandered around the ship's cabins for a long time, but it seemed they couldn't find even a room that resembled a restroom...

"..." Yu Shijiu was slightly taken aback, and also surprised:

"Yes, what if we need... convenience?"

Xu Han was so anxious that he felt hot all over and no longer cold. "That's what they said! What's going on? The environment is terrible, and they didn't even provide a place for someone to relieve themselves—"

"Shhh."

Yu Shijiu suddenly sat up straight and turned around, interrupting Xu Han's吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for complaining/criticizing), and whispered:

"somebody is coming."

anyone?

Xu Han shivered and quickly turned around.

A drunken crew member emerged from behind the door, staggering and hiccuping as he walked toward the deck.

Perhaps due to the effects of the alcohol, he didn't see Yu Shijiu and Xu Han sitting on the deck admiring the moon and stars. He muttered some swear words and walked towards a corner of the deck.

Yu Shijiu and Xu Han exchanged a glance behind them and followed silently.

Then the two of them quickly regretted it.

Because they noticed that the crew member started taking off his pants—

Xu Han's face turned green instantly, and he quickly pulled Yu Shijiu to the back.

Yu Shijiu also saw the drunken crew member's actions and obediently stepped back.

"Depend on!"

After getting some distance away, Xu Han roared angrily, "This is so inconsiderate! Does this mean we can be so immoral in a game instance?!"

"..."

For the first time, Yu Shijiu didn't know how to respond.

What did he say? Did he say that since they were already risking their lives, they shouldn't be thinking about public morality, or did he join Xu Han in condemning the immoral behavior of that NPC crew member?

He always felt that something was off no matter how he put it...

Just then, the NPC crew member who came out to release water behind them suddenly started muttering curses under his breath.

Now, even if the two of them were unwilling, they had no choice but to sneak closer to this side.

"grass!"

After emptying the water, the NPC crew member let out a burp and cursed something obscene while fastening his belt.

"This is such a damn stupid job! We work ourselves to the bone every day and all we get to eat is so little. It's just bread, bread, bread, bread all day long... All they want is for us lower-class people to eat the cheapest food and barely survive?"

"If it weren't for... if it weren't for the fact that I still have a wife and kids to support, I would have quit long ago..."

The NPC choked up as he spoke, wiping away the tears welling up in his eyes and muttering curses.

"They don't treat us like human beings at all, we eat worse than dogs! And we still have to work our butts off for them! This world is a complete mess!"

"..."

After eavesdropping on the NPC crew member's grumbling and cursing, the two watched as the NPC crew member stumbled to the cabin door and went inside, exchanging bewildered glances.

"...It seems," Xu Han swallowed, "that I haven't heard any useful clues either..."

"Well."

Yu Shijiu rubbed the chubby head and asked earnestly:

"He...did he wipe his tears without washing his hands after that?"

Xu Han: "..."

Xu Han spat angrily, "Shi Jiu! You've gone bad!!"

Yu Shijiu: "?"

How did he become bad? That's what he really wanted to ask.

After this little incident, the two lost interest in stargazing and led Fatty, who was still dozing off with his eyes half-closed, into the cabin.

"...Um," Xu Han whispered on the way back, "Shi Jiu, can I sleep next to you later?"

"sure."

Yu Shijiu looked at him in surprise: "You're not sleeping with me. What if you get unlucky and get arrested tonight?"

Xu Han: "...!"

Xu Han grabbed Yu Shijiu's hand, deeply moved: "I'm so happy! Really, so very happy! As expected, Shijiu, you're the best to me!"

Yu Shijiu exclaimed, "Actually, I—"

"No need to explain, you're the best to me!"

Yu Shijiu: "...Well, that's fine too."

Although his attitude towards Xu Han, He Lingling, and the others was no different at all...

-----------

Second-floor cabin.

Back in the waitresses' room, He Lingling and the other two were drawing lots.

He Lingling took out a long skewer and cut it into three pieces. She arranged the shortest piece to be the same length as the other two. After turning her back and tidying it up again, she finally said:

"To be fair, I won't draw lots; you two can draw lots."

As the person who sorts out the lengths of the sticks, He Lingling herself is indeed not suited to drawing them... well, she knows which stick is the long one and which stick is the short one.

Seeing her like this, Sun Qin's face flushed even more, feeling embarrassed by her initial suspicion.

She stepped forward somewhat shyly, "Then I'll take it first."

"can."

He Lingling reached out her hand, gesturing for her to pick one at random.

This time, Sun Qin didn't waste any words. She looked at the several similar wooden sticks and chose the one in the very middle.

When the lottery ticket was drawn, He Lingling raised an eyebrow. "Not bad luck."

It's a long stick.

Sun Qin was very happy, but her smile only lasted for a moment before she stopped laughing, as it would be very impolite and offensive to laugh in this situation.

She held back, even wishing she could slap herself twice.

That's so stupid, really.

She drew the long slip, so the remaining odds are one in two... No one would be happy to draw that one.

She would have been really out of her mind if she had laughed out loud just now.

"I choose the first one."

Shi Yuan followed closely behind, not paying attention to what Sun Qin had chosen, and said indifferently:

"Is it long or short?"

"..." He Lingling let go of her hand, and the skewer placed in the first position was obviously shorter than the second one.

Shi Yuan didn't show any expression. She nodded and said, "Okay, I'll sleep in the same bed as the NPC."

Sun Qin looked at her with admiration, her eyes practically sparkling.

She also longed to be like Shi Yuan, fearless of nothing.

In fact, Shi Yuan wasn't without fear... she just felt that there wasn't much difference between being alive and being dead.

He's dead... who knows, maybe he can keep Wang Xiaoling company since she didn't leave for long.

What a pity... Shi Yuan thought as he made the bed. If she hadn't promised Wang Xiaoling that he would live well, he probably would have committed suicide in the next dungeon.

Wang Xiaoling saved her life; she can't die... At the very least, only a death after struggling to the bitter end and being unable to escape can bring her peace.

"Then, I'll make the bed."

Sun Qin was a little at a loss. She saw Shi Yuan cleaning the bed and quickly bent down to make the bed before He Lingling could start.

He Lingling didn't try to take it from her. She stared at Shi Yuan, who was making the bed with his back to her, for a while, then walked towards the wardrobe.

She opened the wardrobe door, and the row of identical white dresses reappeared before her eyes. She squinted slightly, and the sea breeze swept in through the open window behind her.

wow-

The clothes hangers draped with white dresses swayed in the wind, the dresses fluttering and rustling under the lights, like girls in white dresses dancing in the breeze—

He Lingling's eyes suddenly hurt.

[Ghost Eye: Current Status: Activated]

He Lingling's huge black pupils suddenly expanded, and as the boundless blackness spread from the edges of her pupils, she saw a distorted scene with an eerie red blush.

She was a girl... wearing a tattered white dress.

The girl was covered in blood, like whip marks or twisted knife wounds from being slashed by a dagger. There was a lot of blood, and it dripped down her thin, trembling body, gradually distorting the chaotic, blood-soaked scene around her.

Did she faint?

An unfamiliar male voice appeared in He Lingling's ears.

How could someone not faint after losing so much blood?

It was a somewhat familiar male voice: "Don't worry, how could she not faint after being beaten like that? She can't take that much pain."

"She's really good at enduring things."

A strange woman's laughter rang out: "Don't forget, this little girl was able to stay on the second floor for so long not because of her hands that can play the piano."

"..."

This sentence seemed to have pierced the window, and countless voices of men and women mingled together at the same time, noisy, chaotic, and disorderly... A multitude of laughter and chatter assaulted He Lingling's eardrums and brain like a gust of air. She couldn't help but groan and subconsciously grabbed the wardrobe in front of her.

He Lingling's eyes started to blur.

The sounds around her were chaotic, like a jumble of electrical noises, indistinct and unrecognizable, which made her instinctively want to turn off "Ghost Eyes".

Just then, the girl who had been trembling, who should have been unconscious, covered in blood and wounds, and whose back was to her suddenly let out a sharp scream.

The screams drowned out the chaotic conversations of the men and women, the shrill laughter and taunts, and gave He Lingling's tormented eardrums a brief moment of peace.

He Lingling blinked hard, and some warm liquid began to drip down the corner of her eye.

She saw the white-dressed girl lying on the ground, her head slowly twisting... He Lingling's heart suddenly started racing, and cold sweat broke out on her back from fear.

No, don't turn around.

He Lingling refused silently.

Unfortunately, the girl in the white dress not far away wouldn't turn her head because of her thoughts.

Click——click——

The sound of her neck bone snapping reached her ears, and He Lingling's pupils were completely shrouded in darkness.

—She saw it.

The girl in the white dress, covered in wounds and bleeding profusely, turned her head, revealing a familiar face that was pale and bluish, but whose features were still delicate.

It wasn't the girl playing the piano that He Lingling saw... but rather, her own face.

This girl, who was beaten unconscious and was no longer human, had the face of He Lingling!

A silent fear completely overwhelmed He Lingling's brain nerves at that moment. She subconsciously tried to back away, but found that she couldn't move.

Not far away, the girl in the white dress, whose head was twisted 180 degrees and had the same face as her, suddenly trembled all over and crawled rapidly toward He Lingling, her body contorted in a grotesque manner.

"call!!!"

He Lingling, who was almost kissed on the face, was grabbed from behind and pulled to the side. Her body went limp and she collapsed onto the bed that Sun Qin had just made.

Sun Qin stared blankly at Shi Yuan, who was expressionless, holding her pillow. Remembering how he had just roughly grabbed He Lingling, she shrank back slightly.

"What, what's wrong?"

Shi Yuan stared intently at He Lingling, who was limp on the bed, and closed his eyes.

"She was just possessed by a nightmare."

Sun Qin was shocked: "Nightmare, he's having a nightmare?!"

Shi Yuan hummed in agreement, his expression complex: "She probably has a prophetic talent skill. While such talents are very good, they also make players more susceptible to strange and unusual creatures..."

In short, He Lingling was targeted by some strange creature lurking in the shadows.

Sun Qin's face turned deathly pale. She looked at He Lingling, whose pupils were still wide open, and asked softly:

"Then, what should we do?"

"us--"

Boom boom boom!

Shi Yuan's voice abruptly stopped.

Someone knocked on the door.