Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 939 (Next and Previous Chapters)

Despite his thoughts, Xu Han, who had just eaten candy to alleviate the feeling of being watched everywhere, still felt a bit pale from the heavy atmosphere and He Lingling's pupils. He unconsciously moved closer to He Lingling.

He Lingling glanced at him but didn't move.

It's better to be close together, so we can run together if something really happens.

He Lingling thought.

Sitting next to him, as the bus slowed down, Chen Yi slowly clenched his fists, his breathing becoming more rapid.

Yu Shijiu felt a dense, itchy sensation surge up in his left arm again.

Despite the continued influence of candy, the pull that subtly resonated with the surrounding environment and the "black fog" seemed impossible to completely remove.

"..."

Yu Shijiu lowered his head, his gaze falling on the back of his right hand.

On the back of his right hand, a layer of fine, raised goosebumps had appeared without his noticing.

It's not cold.

It's a feeling that you've been "marked" by something.

Yu Shijiu raised an eyebrow, amused by his own guess.

What can "mark" you? There are probably too many... like the forest, and that woman in the floral dress who left the cave...

As Yu Shijiu was making wild guesses in his mind, the bus came to a complete stop under the driver's control.

This time, the platform outside the train doors was not empty at first, unlike the previous station.

Under the still dim and broken streetlights, shadowy figures stood on the platform, waiting for the bus to stop.

Their figures appeared blurred and distorted in the rain, and everyone stood quietly, all staring in the direction of the bus door.

The driver in the red hat coughed several times and pressed the door open button.

The car door opened with a hiss.

A cold wind, carrying a strong earthy smell and the stench of rotting aquatic plants, suddenly rushed into the entire bus.

Inside the carriage, three or four more passengers who had been looking down stood up.

They stiffly picked up their bags and silently walked towards the car door.

Yu Shijiu's gaze fell on their backs, watching their movements gradually change from stiff to agile and tired, before he thoughtfully looked away.

Like the middle-aged couple at the previous stop, the passengers who get off the train will regain their "vitality".

Just like any other normal person getting off the train at their stop.

but……

Yu Shijiu remembered something, and her gaze quickly fell on the seats of the couple in the front row not far away.

So, will they choose to get off the bus or not?

Yu Shijiu was somewhat curious.

In the front row seats, Xiaojuan and her boyfriend exchanged a glance, their eyes flashing with struggle and fear. But in the end, the fear of the eerie atmosphere in the carriage overwhelmed their fear of the unknown platform.

"I...we should...we should get off the bus..."

Xiaojuan gripped her boyfriend's arm tightly, and the two of them stood up as well, staggering behind the passengers getting off the bus, seemingly trying to take the opportunity to leave this suffocating vehicle.

"and many more."

Anjie, sitting in the front seat, suddenly spoke up. Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable calmness.

Yu Shijiu, Chen Yi, He Lingling, and Xu Han all looked at An Jie's standing figure with surprise, feeling somewhat annoyed that she would suddenly interfere with the couple's actions of getting out of the car.

The storyline of the instance has barely progressed yet, and this couple getting off the bus might bring some clues... Why is Sister An suddenly so "enthusiastic"?

Xiao Juan and her boyfriend A Hao, who were already standing in the passageway ready to leave the cave, were also startled by her voice. Holding hands, they subconsciously turned around to look at An Jie.

Anjie's gaze swept over the young couple, their faces showing confusion and fear, then over the shadowy figures of people waiting for the bus outside the car door, finally settling on the red hat on the driver's hat. She slowly said:

"Sir, how many people can get on at this stop?"

The driver didn't turn around; his hoarse voice came through the seat:

"Same as always, a few down, a few up."

Next, a few more.

Anjie pursed her lips and looked at the group of people in front of her.

...Four passengers got off, and together with Xiaojuan and her boyfriend, a total of six people were about to get off the bus.

In other words, at this stop, six people get off, and six more can get on.

Six, new passengers.

Outside the car door, the blurry figures who hadn't yet boarded seemed to stir collectively at the driver's words.

The four passengers who were getting off the bus have already started disembarking.

After staring at Anjie for a while, Ahao's expression changed, and he pulled Xiaojuan, trying to quicken his pace to catch up with them.

"I suggest you don't get off the bus."

This time, it was He Lingling who spoke.

Her face was pale, her dark pupils fixed on the figures of people waiting for the bus outside the car door, her voice carrying an eerie restlessness.

“The platform outside may not be a place for you to stay.”

He Lingling said.

Xu Han and Chen Yi looked at her in surprise, especially Xu Han, who tugged at He Lingling's arm slightly, "Your eyes don't hurt anymore?"

He Lingling ignored him, her gaze still fixed on the couple in the aisle.

Her words indeed made Xiaojuan and her boyfriend stop in their tracks.

At the same time, the four passengers who were walking in front of the two, who were about to get off the bus and whose limbs had regained their normal flexibility, had already stepped out of the bus.

The instant their feet touched the wet floor of the platform—

Outside the car door, the group of blurry figures that had been standing quietly in place suddenly moved.

Instead of heading towards the car door or bending down to pick up what looked like luggage at their feet, they pounced on the disembarking passengers like indistinct humanoid hyenas that had caught the scent of blood.

The figure moved so fast that it left only distorted afterimages in the dim light of the platform.

Yu Shijiu's gaze also changed.

He looked at the four passengers being bitten by the swarm of shadowy figures, and twitched the hand on his knee.

Do you want to get off?

Like everyone else, I'm waiting—

"Ah—Ugh!"

Xiao Juan's scream was cut off by her boyfriend covering her mouth, turning into short, gasping sobs.

There were no sounds of fierce fighting, not even screams. There was only a tooth-grinding, faint sound, like a wet cloth being torn apart by a wild beast, mixed with the sound of liquid being rapidly sucked by a tongue, which, along with the sound of the cold rain outside the bus, faintly reached everyone's ears.

The four passengers who got off the train, along with their luggage, were like drops of ink thrown into murky water, instantly swallowed and dissolved by the crowd of people rushing up on the platform.

In less than thirty seconds, a small section of the platform seemed to have emptied, but it also seemed... that a few blurry shadows had quietly returned to their positions in the crowd.

The restless figures who were about to rush to the car door to get on board calmed down briefly.

"..."

All the players slowed their breathing.

Including Lin Hai, who was always secretly plotting and stirring things up in the back seat.

Lin Hai looked through the car window at the crowd of people on the platform whose faces he couldn't see, and felt a chill run down his spine.

The train doors remained open, letting in a blast of cold air. On the platform, the remaining blurry figures continued to silently "stare" into the train, as if the terrifying scene from just moments ago had never happened.

The driver seemed oblivious, impatiently urging them on.

"Those who want to get off, get off now! Hurry up! Don't dawdle!"

The carriage was deathly silent.

Xiaojuan and her boyfriend stood frozen in place, their faces ashen, their legs trembling like leaves.

They trembled as they glanced back into the depths of the carriage, at the passengers still with their heads down, at the five faint purple figures in the back row, and at the solemn faces of Anjie and the others. Finally, they looked again with fear at the silent platform outside the train door, which seemed ready to devour them...

dilemma.

Xiao Juan wanted to say something, but she swallowed the words back down.

What to do... what to do... what to do... what to do? How could they dare to get off the bus in this life-threatening situation? How could they dare to get off the bus?

"Come back and sit down first."

Anjie's voice carried a comforting tone as she spoke softly:

"At least on the bus... there are still many people like you."

They're stuck, unable to get off the bus, caught in a dilemma with no way to choose their next step.

"Yes, yes...you're right...at least, at least there are still some normal people on the bus..."

Xiao Juan's boyfriend, A Hao, murmured repeatedly, but in the end, fear overcame the urge to run away.

He practically dragged Xiao Juan, whose legs were trembling, back to their original seats.

The cold wind, carrying rain, kept blowing into the bus, making the already frightened couple huddle together tightly, no longer daring to look up at the wide-open door.

Yu Shijiu and the others' gazes fell on the driver's back.

The driver seemed completely unconcerned about the two fewer passengers getting off, or rather, he was only concerned with the "number".

There are four seats left.

The driver urged on in a hoarse voice.

"Those who want to get on the bus, get on the bus quickly."

"..."

Outside the car door, as the driver urged them on, four blurry figures slowly walked past the surrounding blurry figures and "walked" aboard.

As they lifted their feet toward the bus, Yu Shijiu noticed that their gait looked a little strange.

Each of their feet landed lightly on the ground, as if they had no weight at all.

Yu Shijiu thought of the four passengers who had just been swallowed up by the crowd.

The four passengers didn't even have time to scream before they were swallowed up.

Yu Shijiu felt a little uncomfortable.

It's not that I feel particularly sorry for those four passengers, but this instance is just too illogical—there's no plot, and it just starts by creating a terrifying atmosphere... Is this instance just a simple, brutal horror movie?

Yu Shijiu didn't quite understand—which of the four of them, or the four people in "Echoes," would have memories of this kind of horror movie?

Is memory a horror movie?

Who exactly is watching horror movies in the real world every day?

After boarding the bus, the four light, murky figures solidified at a visible speed. They were three women and one man, and judging from their figures and attire, they were all quite old, probably in their fifties or sixties.

They didn't speak to the driver, but silently paid their fares, walked straight to the back of the carriage, sat down in two empty seats in the middle of the back, and then lowered their heads like the other passengers.

From beginning to end, no one could see their faces clearly.

*Swoosh—thud!*

The doors closed, shutting out the cold rain, and the bus started moving again, leaving "Huailu Station".

Yu Shijiu glanced at the platform gradually receding into the distance behind the car window.

On the platform of Huailu Station, the densely packed, blurry black figures still "watched" the departing bus.

"..."

Yu Shijiu only looked away after the faint streetlights behind him had completely disappeared.

After the four new passengers boarded and sat down, the air in the entire carriage seemed to freeze, as if something indescribable had been added to it.

To be more specific, the temperature inside the carriage felt colder... and even the lingering musty smell in the air seemed a little stronger.

He Lingling had closed her eyes to rest, but even with her eyes closed, Xu Han could still feel her body trembling slightly.

Xu Han hesitated for a moment, then secretly turned his back and took out a green hooded jacket he had bought while shopping from his system backpack.

He liked it so much that he always carried it with him—and Chen Yi and An Jie teased him about it.

Because the green coat is too bright in color.

But Xu Han really liked this color.

The color green always reminded him of the first time his mother took him out of his room to go on a spring outing in the countryside.

Xu Han pursed his lips, suppressing the sadness welling up inside him, and carefully covered He Lingling with his coat.

He Lingling's hands were so cold they were practically ice cubes... It was really necessary to cover herself with some clothes to keep warm.

Xu Han thought.

He Lingling felt a weight on her body and guessed that Xu Han had covered her with a blanket, but she didn't have time to "thank" him at the moment—her eyes were in too much pain.

It wasn't just the tearing pain, but also the player's illusion that their eyeballs were about to burst.

The reason was that just now—when she tried to use her "Ghost Eye" to check the four newly boarded "passengers," all four of them turned to look at her at the same time.

In an instant, the thick black mist surrounding the four passengers surged toward He Lingling's location as if it were a tangible substance—in desperation, He Lingling had no choice but to forcibly shut down "Ghost Eyes".

This shutdown is what caused her to lose some of her mobility.

Similar to being temporarily unable to speak, with pupils dilating in excruciating pain and unable to open.

Fortunately, before she closed the Ghost Eye, she saw some things that would happen soon.

Inside the swaying, dimly lit carriage... all the passengers, heads bowed, leaned back in their seats, seemingly asleep. Wisps of thick black mist emanated from them, drifting towards Lin Hai and his companions, as if being drawn in and absorbed by an invisible force...

Is Lin Hai absorbing the power of this "black mist"? Or is he... collecting it?

He Lingling felt a surge of anger and a strong urge to rush to the back row and strangle Lin Hai.

Why do they have to do this to them?!

Just as the entire carriage fell silent again, a sharp throbbing came from the hair on Yu Shijiu's left arm.

Yu Shijiu was almost used to it. He quickly realized that the throbbing was not pain or numbness, but a kind of... tremor of finding a kindred spirit.

For a moment, he could clearly sense something of the same origin as the pollution gradually "awakening"...