Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 847 Distraction

"...Didn't you all hear what I just said?"

The old field mouse, despite being "cared for," showed no improvement in expression. She adjusted her reading glasses, frowned, and whispered a rebuke:

"When can't we have sweet soup? The most important thing right now is that one of you is missing—"

Click.

Xu Han, straining behind the wooden door, finally managed to pry open the wooden latch, which was almost as thick as his waist, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead from exhaustion.

Holy crap... why is this thing so heavy?! Is this really something an old field mouse could handle?

While complaining, Xu Han pulled the open wooden door back—whoosh!

A biting, icy wind, carrying countless snowflakes, swept in from outside the door, instantly making Xu, who was behind the door, sneeze.

Liu Zhonghao and his brother, who were sprayed in the face, were speechless.

They blinked slowly, raised their hands to awkwardly wipe the wet, melted snow from their faces, and whispered:

"We're so cold, can we come inside and get out of the snow?"

Polite, quiet, and even perfectly in line with the image of Thumbelina knocking on the door of the old field mouse's burrow in the original story.

Xu Han was shivering from the cold, and even though he felt that the two people in front of him seemed a little strange, he still moved aside.

Now that the "Eye of All Things" group has found his location, there's no point in him trying to stop them.

After all, the old field mouse will definitely open the door.

"……come in."

Xu Han sniffed and took a step back. "You guys are way too late."

Liu Zhong and Hao Ge didn't say anything. They walked into the cave and headed towards the earthen stove where the old field mouse was, seemingly preparing to warm themselves by the fire.

Xu Han: "..."

These two are pretty bold... but why do I feel like they smell bad?

It's that kind of stench, like something half-rotten?

Could it be that these two are secretly hiding something on them?

"It's troublesome."

Behind Liu Zhong and the other two were Fang Youhua and Yang Hua.

The person who spoke up to thank her was Fang Youhua. At this moment, she was so cold from the wind that her whole body looked bluish-purple, and her lips were deathly white. She looked like she was about to freeze to death.

Xu Han was startled by her condition and subconsciously wanted to reach out to help her, but then remembered that he and they were currently "enemies" and silently withdrew his hand.

"……come in."

Xu Han felt sorry for Fang Youhua's current appearance. He looked at Yang Hua—although Yang Hua also looked quite cold, he didn't look like Fang Youhua, who looked like she was about to freeze to death.

"Thank you."

Yang Hua helped Fang Youhua, whose joints were stiff from the cold, into the warm doorway. Seeing Xu Han's expression of wanting to reach out but not wanting to, she gave a dry laugh.

To be honest, Yang Hua didn't expect Xu Han to come and open the door for them. She thought that, like in the original story, Old Field Mouse would open the door.

"..."

As soon as they entered the house, Yang Hua could barely support Fang Youhua. She mustered her strength to help Fang Youhua sit up against the door and breathe heavily.

The cold wind was howling outside, and the tiny snowflakes falling from the sky stung Yang Hua's face, let alone breathing—she felt like her internal organs were about to freeze with every breath of cold air.

Yang Hua wiped the snow water off her face and turned her head to feel Fang Youhua's breathing rhythm.

Fang Youhua is the player with the best chance of fighting against "Living". She can't be allowed to get hurt... But then again, why is Fang Youhua so afraid of the cold? She's actually in pretty good physical condition.

Yang Hua was completely baffled, but all he could do was rub the frozen areas of Fang Youhua until they were warm.

Xu Han glanced at Fang Youhua and the other person lying on the ground with complicated emotions. After hesitating for a few seconds, he turned and went towards the earthen stove.

Over there, the old field mouse stopped talking when it saw Fang Youhua and Yang Hua.

It quietly squinted and carefully examined Fang Youhua and Yang Hua's faces and bodies, then put its reading glasses back on.

"Ugh……"

Anjie and the others watched as the old field mouse brushed away the sweet biscuit soup offered to him and stood up, leaning on his recliner.

"Poor children...you must be freezing...sigh...it's so cold outside..."

Anjie, holding a bowl behind her: "..."

She exchanged a glance with Chen Yi and He Lingling, and her lips twitched helplessly.

—Is there something wrong with the old field mouse's brain?

This is Anjie's current thought.

However, seeing the old field mouse being attracted by Fang Youhua and the others, Anjie and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Whether the old field mouse has a mental problem or not, as long as it doesn't think about where Yu Shijiu is right now, it'll be fine...

Thinking of Yu Shijiu, the four of them sighed as they looked at the holes in the room, which were almost all the same.

I wonder where Yu Shijiu went... Is it even possible to go back the way we came...?

At this moment, Yu Shijiu, who was pacing back and forth in the underground cave, returned to the same underground cave with the same gate. His frustration was so great that he almost took out an axe and smashed through the nearby underground cave wall.

What kind of place is this? Why do all the burrows look almost exactly the same? And dust keeps rising up as you walk through them... Is this really not some shoddy construction project that the old field mouse deliberately slacked off on?

Yu Shijiu was extremely annoyed and was about to swing the axe in his hand at the wall next to him—but he managed to pull back his strength in time.

"..."

Forget it.

Yu Shijiu looked at the crudely made dirt particles on the wall and unhappily put the axe back into his system inventory.

It seems my plan to "see Yanzi" ahead of time has fallen through...

As Yu Shijiu pondered, she decided not to waste any more time. As she slowly walked out of the winding burrows, she saw the old field mouse trembling as it walked toward Yang Hua and Fang Youhua.

"Ok?"

Yu Shijiu looked at Fang Youhua and Yang Hua with surprise, somewhat astonished that they had arrived so quickly, but since they were both here, then...

As his thoughts raced, Yu Shijiu quickly stepped out of the cave and scanned the not-so-spacious room. Sure enough, he spotted two figures squatting by the earthen stove, heads bowed, trying to keep warm.

It's Liu Zhong and Hao Ge.

They ended up following the old field mouse into its home.

Are they really okay?

Yu Shijiu frowned, and before he could figure it out, a slightly hurried footstep approached him quickly from the side.

"...?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Shijiu turned her head to look and saw Xu Han's hurried and distorted face—wait, distorted?

Yu Shijiu thought that the other party might also be corrupted by some unknown monster, and subconsciously prepared to subdue the other party—then he was punched hard on the shoulder by Xu Han.

After a muffled thud, Xu Han's deliberately lowered voice rang out: "Where did you run off to all by yourself? I was scared to death—no, we were all almost scared to death!!!"

As Xu Han spoke, her voice choked with sobs, "Shi Jiu! Do you know how scary that was? Waaaaah... That old field mouse was so terrifying..."

"...?"

Yu Shijiu was stunned. He thought Xu Han had been bullied by that old field mouse, and frowned, saying:

"Then I'll go and cut its head off."

Yes, it's a declarative sentence, not a question.

Xu Han's throat tightened, and the sour feeling that had just risen was immediately dispelled by Yu Shijiu's terrible words.

"No, no, no, don't be impulsive!"

Xu Han swept away his previous dejection and grievance, grabbed Yu Shijiu's wrist and pulled him towards An Jie and the others.

"Come here, we were so worried about you! Sigh, the dungeons are so dangerous. We still need to help each other and find clues together in the future..."

An Jie interrupted Xu Han's rambling as he approached: "Have you found any clues?"

Of course, Anjie just said that offhand.

After all, if Yu Shijiu were to find a clue, he probably wouldn't be looking so unhappy right now.

Sure enough, Yu Shijiu's lips unconsciously twitched for a second before she honestly shook her head and said, "No."

"The cave was clean—oh, not really clean. There was a lot of dust everywhere, a thick layer. If you stayed there for a long time, you might even get a lot of dust on your clothes."

Yu Shijiu briefly recounted everything he had seen in the cave, then suddenly tilted his head to look at Thumbelina standing by the recliner, as if he had just thought of something.

Thumbelina was very quiet and had an eerily low profile. It was as if everyone present would subconsciously ignore her if she didn't speak.

Yu Shijiu looked at her and smiled: "Thumbelina, do you think it would be hard to clean Grandma Field Mouse's house?"

"..." Thumbelina, suddenly mentioned, subconsciously looked up, blinking somewhat blankly, "Hard, hard?"

"Yes."

Yu Shijiu's smile made him look even more docile. The candlelight hanging on the wall flickered, casting a dim yellow glow on his face and outlining his smiling features.

“I just went to the cave and took a look. It’s huge, really huge, and very dirty.”

As Yu Shijiu spoke, he wrinkled his nose and sighed dramatically:

"I roughly calculated the time. If we have to exchange cleaning and housework for a place to live, I estimate that apart from sleeping at night, we'll have to spend all our time doing housework?"

After all, the walls and ceilings of those caves were all made of untouched, unpolished earth.

Putting everything else aside, just the dust they generate just walking around inside is enough to give them a hard time.

Thumbelina was taken aback. She belatedly realized the meaning behind Yu Shijiu's words, and her face turned pale: "Is it dirty?"

"Ah."

Yu Shijiu nodded, seemingly oblivious to An Jie and the others, and continued talking to Thumbelina.

"But we're all friends, so it'll definitely be easier to clean if there are more people."

"..." Thumbelina fell silent.

Her pretty, fair, and delicate face wrinkled almost instantly, and her skin even seemed to turn slightly yellow from the candlelight in the room.

"...Is it this dirty...?"

Thumbelina lowered her head and muttered to herself, even unconsciously raising her hand to irritably eat her fingernails until she tasted blood before letting go.

Anjie and the other three waited silently until Yu Shijiu and Thumbelina finished their conversation before they all breathed a sigh of relief.

Yu Shijiu seemed to only then notice their gazes on her, blinked obediently, and whispered:

Why are you all staring at me?

"No pretending to be cute."

Xu Han, who had pulled him over, showed no trace of the anxiety or sob that had been on his face. He made a big "X" with his hand.

"Shi Jiu, it's against the rules to always try to get away with acting cute."

Xu Han said.

Yu Shijiu remained silent for a few seconds, then looked away at He Lingling sitting in the corner. The latter gave him a weak and feeble fake smile.

Yu Shijiu: "..."

He then turned to look at Chen Yi.

Chen Yi, usually good-tempered and always smiling, sighed deeply, shook his head at Yu Shijiu, and said with a sigh:

"...Shi Jiu, we'll worry about you going alone..."

"..." Yu Shijiu ignored Chen Yi again, hesitated for a few seconds, and then looked at An Jie.

The woman with short blue hair smiled broadly, even giving Yu Shijiu a thumbs-up in praise:

"awesome."

The other three stared at Anjie in disbelief.

No, has Anjie gone mad with anger? She's started talking nonsense!

Yu Shijiu's heart skipped a beat, and just as he was about to continue An Jie's words, he saw the other party's smiling face suddenly fall off.

"?"

Yu Shijiu was utterly shocked and instinctively called out, "Sister An, you—"

"Too dangerous."

Anjie closed her eyes, pinched her brow, and said, "What if you were alone in danger and there was no one behind you?"

Yu Shijiu was very confident about this: "There won't be any danger—"

"Shi Jiu".

Ange interrupted him, her face contorted in a strange, even unsettling way.

No one can face danger alone forever.

Anjie's expression turned somewhat sad again, and her eyes suddenly reddened for some reason, causing Yu Shijiu, who was looking directly at her, to have his heart skip a beat.

Anjie, this is...

Before Yu Shijiu could figure out what the other person's gaze meant, An Jie had already completely regained her composure.

"Try not to go alone next time."

Anjie said, "If two people are in danger together, at least one of them can help shout for help or something."

Yu Shijiu: "..."

Xu Han, Chen Yi, and He Lingling: "..."

Okay, stop worrying about it. He Lingling must have been driven mad by Yu Shijiu to say something so absurd...

The conversation among the group didn't last long. By the time they finished talking, the old field mouse, who was not far away, had just straightened up, trembling, holding Fang Youhua and Yang Hua's hands.

"Sigh, they've all suffered..."

The old field mouse gently patted Yang Hua's hand, then patted Fang Youhua's hand, its small eyes filled with affection and sadness.

"Isn't it very cold outside? In the dead of winter, who, whether human or animal, can stay outside? Wouldn't that freeze a living being to death?"

The old field mouse sighed and said, "You all just need to help me clean the house and prepare meals every day. I have plenty of rooms here, enough for all of you to stay in."

Yang Hua, whose hand was being held, got goosebumps all over his body.