Infinite: Dawn Game

"Earthworm" is just another name for earthworm, why get so worked up?

The old woman's eyes were somewhat fanatical as she stared at the giant earthworm, most of its body already buried in the soil. Suddenly, almost nervously, she clasped her hands together, bowed deeply, and repeatedly prayed to the giant earthworm.

"The Earth Dragon, the Earth Dragon is our one and only divine master. As long as it exists, Changsheng Village will exist forever, and our lives will be extended indefinitely..."

The rest of the words mysteriously disappeared, and Yu Shijiu felt a headache coming on. The old lady's words in his ears seemed to boil over like some kind of incantation that he couldn't understand at all.

Yu Shijiu frowned, covered his ears, and glanced sideways at the giant earthworm, which now only had its tail remaining inside.

As the old lady bent over again and again, it seemed to grow bigger again.

Upon seeing this, Yu Shijiu rubbed his eyes. He stared at the pit left behind after the giant earthworm had completely disappeared, and blinked slightly.

Did they grow up relying on faith?

As the giant earthworm disappeared, a hazy mist began to slowly emerge from the river surface not far away.

Crimson drops mixed with sticky liquid fell... Soon, the entire area around the river became barely visible.

The old lady seemed completely oblivious to this, and she continued to pray—until Yu Shijiu interrupted her.

"Grandma, your ancestral spirit has passed away."

Yu Shijiu said lazily.

The old woman paused in her bending motion, slowly raised her head, blinked her grayish-white eyes covered with white film, and only straightened up slowly after confirming that there were no giant earthworms not far away.

She looked at Yu Shijiu, who showed no respect, and something seemed to flash in her eyes, so quickly that Yu Shijiu couldn't catch any emotion at all.

"If you continue like this, you will not receive the protection of the earth dragon."

The old woman suddenly spoke, her tone sinister.

"Bless me?" Yu Shijiu pointed to himself and smiled.

"I'm not a local from Changsheng Village, what kind of protection do I need?"

The old lady fell silent.

She gazed silently at Yu Shijiu, and sighed softly:

"Never mind, never mind," the old woman waved her hand, her words strange and unsettling.

"As long as you won't regret it later, you don't need to respect the gods."

After saying that, the old lady ignored Yu Shijiu's response and turned to leave.

Yu Shijiu stood there, gazing at the old lady's hunched back. He wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt that she seemed to have straightened her back for a brief moment.

After the old lady had gone far away, Yu Shijiu looked down and exchanged a glance with Feifei.

The latter guessed what he was going to do, let out a helpless meow, and finally let go.

Yu Shijiu immediately chuckled and ruffled its head, his tone becoming affectionate:

"Oh, don't be angry, everything's fine now, isn't it? I just wanted to take a look, oh no, two looks, okay? Really, just two looks?"

Fatty: "..."

He seemed to glare at Yu Shijiu, then turned his head and walked towards the riverbank not far away.

The riverbank was now a crimson red, with an eerie red mist enveloping the entire river. Even though it was broad daylight, the strange environment sent chills down one's spine, not to mention the huge pit... the crater left behind by the giant earthworm was still there.

Feifei was a little irritated. He tugged at Yu Shijiu's clothes and meowed twice.

This is a reminder to Yu Shijiu that he can only look at it twice.

Yu Shijiu, completely unaware that she was deceiving the cat, nodded without any guilt and then walked towards the river.

After the giant earthworm disappeared, the huge pit opened up a tiny "river channel" along the riverbank. It was very narrow, with water flowing into the soil in thin streams, making the originally dry soil soft and moist.

This was probably intentionally created by earthworms because they prefer moist soil.

But this also illustrates a very serious problem.

That earthworm possesses intelligence.

Yu Shijiu walked to the edge of the earthen cave and squatted down. Looking down, the earthen cave was bottomless. At first, he could see the surrounding soil, but later it was all dark and bottomless.

Around the burrow, the strong earthy smell mixed with the sticky, fishy smell unique to earthworms was, to be honest, very unpleasant.

The chubby nose that followed kept trembling, and several times it had the urge to sneeze and get away, but it managed to hold it back.

Yu Shijiu was no exception. He wrinkled his nose and scanned the area around the earthen cave inch by inch. Finally, his gaze lingered on the countless tiny earthworms wriggling and twisting in the soil at the edge of the cave.

These earthworms look normal; they are slender, pale pink, dark purple, and other different colors. They wriggle on the surrounding soil walls, or more precisely, on the slime left by the giant earthworms as they move.

Yu Shijiu squinted; under his gaze, the tiny earthworms seemed to be slowly growing—

Snapped!

Suddenly, Feifei rushed forward and slapped down Yu Shijiu's outstretched hand, meowing softly.

Yu Shijiu looked at it innocently, "I have to check if they've become monsters, Fatty. I didn't do anything else."

"..." Fatty stared at him, her eerie green pupils gleaming faintly in the hazy red mist:

"Meow!"

Feifei barked again, and then, right before Yu Shijiu's eyes, it stretched out its claws. The sharp armor that had been hidden in its fur suddenly emerged, and with a flash of cold light, a tiny earthworm was instantly pierced through its body by the claws.

Because of the pain, the earthworm curled up and twisted into a ball, and the ligaments at the punctured spot seemed to tremble, its ring-shaped body twitching and curling into circles.

Feifei handed the earthworm to Yu Shijiu and coldly meowed.

Yu Shijiu exclaimed "Wow!" instantly, giving Feifei plenty of face, her almond-shaped eyes wide open:

"Feifei, you're so amazing! I love you so much!"

"..." Fatty tilted his head arrogantly and made a gurgling sound from his throat.

Yu Shijiu smiled and leaned closer to observe the earthworm that was struggling desperately to escape.

The earthworm strung up by Fatty actually looks quite similar to that giant earthworm, only much smaller. Its entire body is purplish-red, just like the giant earthworm, with slightly pink and transparent rings. Now that it has been pierced by Fatty's claws, it seems to be in great pain, its whole body curled up like a mosquito coil, desperately wriggling to escape.

As they got closer, Yu Shijiu seemed to hear the familiar hissing sound again.

It must be an auditory hallucination.

As Yu Shijiu thought about it, when Feifei arrogantly turned its head to the side, he took advantage of its inattention and reached out to touch the head of the earthworm, which was obviously its mouthparts.

The next second, the already injured earthworm seemed to be enraged by the boy's actions. As it wriggled, its head suddenly straightened and it rushed towards Yu Shijiu's fingers at an extremely fast speed.

In an instant, even though the earthworm's body was far smaller than that of the giant earthworm, Yu Shijiu was still able to see the specific details of its head.

The most striking feature is the dense array of tiny, sharp teeth inside the earthworm's wide-open mouth.