Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 884 Abnormal Sound

Seeing He Lingling's puzzled expression, Yu Shijiu explained:

"This is what I found in the hidden compartment of the cupboard. Here it is."

Yu Shijiu pointed to the tightly closed cabinet.

Anjie's heart skipped a beat, and she subconsciously looked in the direction he was pointing.

That cabinet... isn't it the one where I found Liu Zhong's head after I opened it last night?

There was even a hidden compartment inside?

"Thumbelina said the bracelet looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place it."

Yu Shijiu was still talking, even tossing the bracelet up and catching it with some regret, making the others nervous, afraid that the straw bracelet, which looked rather flimsy, would fall apart.

He Lingling tried to accept the straw bracelet with a calm mind. It was dry and rough to the touch. When she looked down, the dried and black bloodstains on the straw bracelet made her heart tighten.

She looked at it carefully—especially the few pale yellow flowers on the edge of the bracelet.

He Lingling frowned, feeling as if she had seen a plant with similar "small yellow flowers" somewhere before.

"Okay, I'll look into it when I have time."

Out of the corner of her eye, He Lingling noticed Thumbelina looking over from behind her, and quickly and carefully put the bracelet away.

After the conversation, the group dispersed completely, like drops of water flowing into the darkness, disappearing into the intricate underground passages.

Inside the main room, He Lingling was symbolically cleaning (it was already quite clean, with only a little leftover porridge from the pot where they had just finished eating) while secretly observing Thumbelina's reaction.

Thumbelina was quiet, even numb, just mechanically wiping the table with her head down, even though the table looked like it was almost shiny from her wiping.

“Thumbelina,” He Lingling began casually, her voice gentle, “you said that straw bracelet looked a little familiar, didn’t you?”

Thumbelina paused in her wiping of the table and remained silent for a long time.

He Lingling was incredibly patient; she wasn't annoyed that Thumbelina wasn't speaking, and continued talking to herself:

"Since it looks familiar, could it be that someone special gave you a gift? Like that straw bracelet?"

She tried to awaken Thumbelina's memory in a more roundabout way.

Thumbelina paused again after resuming her wiping motion.

Then, that familiar look of confusion and struggle flashed in her eyes again.

She thought hard for a moment, then shook her head painfully: "...I don't remember...only snow...very cold...so cold...I just felt...so cold, so cold..."

It's so cold...

That's it again.

Thumbelina's memory gap seems to stop at the moment she was "rescued" by Grandma Field Mouse in the icy and snowy world before.

He Lingling stared at Thumbelina's furrowed brow and distorted face, as well as her beautiful eyes filled with pain and struggle—no, that's not right.

Her gaze as she looked at Thumbelina suddenly froze for a moment.

In the candlelight, Thumbelina's face, which should have been young, beautiful, fair, and smooth, seemed to have become somewhat rough.

It's like... Thumbelina worked for a very long time and looked haggard every day.

"..."

After regaining her senses, He Lingling stopped asking questions and simply kept the detail in mind.

With her back to Thumbelina, she took the straw bracelet out of her pocket and examined it carefully again by candlelight.

The shape of the little flower on the straw bracelet... He Lingling suddenly remembered.

It was in a corner of the warehouse.

Among the piles of hay and the dust of the messy items, I seemed to recognize similar, withered plants!

Could the raw materials for this bracelet actually come from this cave? Or could they have come from outside the cave, from that frigid winter covered in ice and snow?

If that's the case, then isn't it very possible that the owner of this bracelet was also a former "guest" in the burrow, or even... Thumbelina's "previous sister"?

This speculation sent chills down He Lingling's spine.

at this time--

"He Lingling...!"

From the [Whispering Vines] clipped to her collar came Xu Han's suppressed, terrified voice, broken and intermittent, accompanied by rapid breathing:

“Brother Chen and I…we…we seem to have…found the real…real ingredients…not the earthenware pot we use for cooking…it’s…it’s another one…lots and lots of bones…and…red…mud…bubbling…”

Immediately afterwards, a more urgent low growl came from within the vines:

"Back up! Xiao Han, back up quickly! It looks like something is about to emerge from that mud!"

Then came the chaotic sound of footsteps and a series of indistinct, eerie sounds of slimy, wriggling liquid!

He Lingling's expression changed drastically!

She quickly glanced back at Thumbelina, who had already bent down to continue cleaning, and then whispered to Yu Shijiu and An Jie, who were in the warehouse.

"Sister An! Shi Jiu! Something's happened to Chen Yi and Xiao Han!"

However, no sooner had she finished speaking than a strange noise came from the other end of the passage, from the direction of An Jie and Yu Shijiu.

From afar, it sounds like... like the chirping of swallows?