Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 900 A Sumptuous Dinner

In the dim candlelight, Fang Youhua lowered her eyes and whispered:

"Animal sense of smell is very sensitive, Xiao Hua. Once any creature is marked by them, it will most likely emit a strong 'assimilation' scent from behind. I remember Yu Shijiu is very fast, right? And his skills seem pretty good too?"

Yang Hua blinked and nodded: "More than that, Yu Shijiu is not just fast and good at fighting, his innate skills are amazing."

"is it?"

Fang Youhua smiled upon hearing this: "Alright, then let's say his talent and skills are amazing. But Xiaohua, once you're hooked on something, it's not so easy to get rid of it."

"Do you think that if those five members of the 'Living' guild were to court death by running out late at night and getting targeted by those savages, wouldn't the free time they had while they were busy fighting back be our opportunity?"

Yang Hua's eyes lit up. "Sister Fang! You're absolutely right!"

Fang Youhua smiled gently: "So don't rush. What we need to do now is continue to play the 'good child,' gain the old field mouse's deeper trust, and then..."

Her voice suddenly became very low, as if she was afraid of being overheard by something.

Yang Hua crouched down and subconsciously moved closer to her.

"...when the mole arrives, it adds some interesting variables to our 'rivals' and this disgusting cycle of running away from marriage."

"..."

Yang Hua looked up at Fang Youhua's terrifyingly gentle profile and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

She had always felt that Fang Youhua was becoming increasingly strange, but now it seemed that this "strangeness" far exceeded her imagination.

Fang Youhua seemed to have a more profound and calmer understanding of the truth about the underground cave and those terrifying beings than she thought.

Now that all the other players in "Eye of All Things" have "died," only he and Fang Youhua remain. Even though Fang Youhua has made it clear that she will not send him to his death... Yang Hua still feels uneasy.

"So... what do we need to prepare?"

Yang Hua suppressed the fear rising in his heart and asked in a low voice.

Fang Youhua lowered her head again, continued wiping her fingers, and said softly:

"Be prepared to 'obey,' and also be prepared... to 'disobey' when necessary. And, pay close attention to any information about 'swallows' and 'medicine,' Xiaohua. That bird is the key to everything."

As she spoke, Fang Youhua looked up at the burning candle.

Her gaze seemed to pierce through the candles and walls, finally landing in the direction of the main room—the corner where the sleeping swallows slept.

The burrow remained quiet and dark, and countless field mice continued to make noise deep in the soil with their paws. The "joy" of matchmaking continued to spread as the old field mice quietly brewed their own plans... Similarly, the silent pollution continued unabated.

There are only a few days left until the arrival of Mr. Mole, the "guest".

Five days passed slowly in the tedious work of cleaning the underground cave.

For the past five days, all five of them had been sleepless because of the countdown to the mole's arrival and the heavy burden of clues and speculations weighing on their minds, resulting in dark circles under their eyes.

"...I'm so tired."

Xu Han muttered as he squatted down to sweep up the layer of dust that had settled in the corner of the hole, sighing as he said:

"The mole is coming the day after tomorrow... We haven't figured out a way to get Thumbelina to a place where the old field mouse can't hear or see her for a chat..."

“…” Anjie glanced at him: “We’ve already discussed this over the past few days, tonight.”

Yu Shijiu nodded in agreement and said cheerfully, "Yes, we've pretty much discussed all the details."

Xu Han responded with delight and continued to sweep the dust in the corner.

It wasn't that he necessarily wanted to get involved—definitely not because he was afraid.

He Lingling and Chen Yi exchanged a glance, their gazes then falling on Thumbelina, who was bending over wiping a table not far away.

Thumbelina had been very quiet these past few days, hardly talking to anyone. At this moment, she was wiping the table clean with her head down, bending down to pick up the suspiciously colored mushrooms she had taken from the storage room and carefully sorting them on the table. Her fingers would occasionally tremble and freeze in place.

He Lingling tried several times to break the silence with lighthearted topics, such as asking about the uses of a certain grass root or lamenting the difficulty the old field mouse had in storing food, but Thumbelina's answers were always brief and perfunctory, and her gaze was always shifty, more often scanning the surrounding earthen walls warily, as if afraid that something might suddenly stick out from those walls.

After whispering to Xu Han for a while, Yu Shijiu became somewhat absent-minded.

He scratched his arm, feeling a persistent, increasingly intense itch on the area where the cloth strips were wrapped around his hairy arm, and even a slight, strange sensation as if something was wriggling under his skin.

What both frustrated and excited him was that what he could "hear" was becoming clearer and clearer.

Deep in the soil, the subtle, dense scratching and rustling sounds were no longer the meaningless noise they had at the beginning.

Yu Shijiu could sometimes even vaguely sense a kind of... "attention"?

Countless faint, chaotic thoughts came from all directions, focusing on the storage room where they were.

That chaotic thought was a mixture of curiosity, greed, a kind of dullness in following some kind of instruction, and... a restless desire for a certain "taste".

Yu Shijiu wasn't stupid; he probably knew that the "smell" was likely himself—the source being the severed claw in his pocket and his arm that was being contaminated and assimilated.

Thinking about this, Yu Shijiu secretly glanced at Thumbelina.

A few days ago, when Thumbelina was humming that strange lullaby, Yu Shijiu felt that the hair on his arms was growing faster.

"Okay, that's enough for today."

After an unknown amount of time, Thumbelina slowly straightened up and let out a soft sigh. Her face was still very pale, but the continuous labor had brought back some of her usual gentleness and docility.

"Let's finish the rest tomorrow. Grandma Field Mouse said dinner will be more plentiful tonight, so let's go back early to wash up and go to the main room."

"rich?"

Xu Han repeated it subconsciously, but a sudden thought struck him.

The old field mouse's talk of a "sumptuous dinner" always gave people a sense of foreboding.

Xu Han didn't think the old field mouse would make anything "good" for them, the players, to eat.

“Hmm,” Thumbelina nodded, without looking them in the eye, “They said they wanted to prepare in advance… to welcome the guests who are coming soon.”

When she mentioned "guests," everyone's calm voices trembled almost imperceptibly.