Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 872 Unexpected Changes Promote

Anjie didn't speak. She walked to where the tools were piled up, picked up a chipped shovel, tested the blade with her finger, and frowned.

In her opinion, these tools were too old and inefficient for work, and not very practical as weapons either...

Just then, a faint, sticky crawling sound came from the passage they had come from. The sound was very soft, but it was exceptionally clear in the silent cave.

Everyone fell silent instantly, looking warily toward the entrance.

The sound disappeared.

A feeling of being watched, like a cold spider web, enveloped everyone's heart.

Yu Shijiu seemed oblivious to the movement behind him. Curious, he walked to the air beneath the swallow, looked up at the frozen, immobile bird, and his face showed pure curiosity:

"Oh dear, it's injured, how pitiful."

His voice echoed in the empty warehouse.

Suddenly, the shadow at the warehouse entrance began to twitch.

Anjie and the others instantly got goosebumps and subconsciously turned around to look.

Thumbelina's figure suddenly appeared at the warehouse entrance.

She held an empty wooden bowl in her hand, and a trace of brownish-red stain remained on the edge of her rosy lips.

Her eyes were even more vacant than before, and the strange blush on her cheeks had deepened considerably.

He Lingling's gaze quickly swept over Thumbelina from head to toe, and she felt a little uneasy.

Although Thumbelina didn't seem to be acting too strangely... she felt that Thumbelina seemed a little different, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what had changed.

Thumbelina quietly observed the people in the warehouse, especially when she looked at Yu Shijiu and the swallow. Her empty eyes suddenly flickered, carrying an indescribable complex emotion—dependence, confusion, and a trace of… a very faint, almost imperceptible hatred.

"What...are you doing?"

Thumbelina's voice was soft, with an inexplicable sticky quality, "Grandma Field Mouse sent me to tell you that you need to get to work quickly."

As she spoke, her gaze swept over the swallow, her brows furrowing slightly, as if she were looking at an object she disliked or found obstructing her view.

He Lingling noticed her gaze, and her unease deepened.

No...no.

Thumbelina shouldn't have looked at the swallow like that... She should have been kind, crying and trying to find a way to wrap the swallow in a blanket and give it food...

Chen Yi and Xu Han also noticed something strange in Thumbelina's eyes.

The two instinctively retreated towards where the swallow was.

Ange gripped the broken shovel tightly, stepped forward, and stood in front of Thumbelina, her tone calm and unwavering:

"We just found the right tools and immediately started cleaning and tidying up."

"Oh."

Thumbelina gave a soft reply, but her gaze remained fixed on the swallow, past Ange's shoulder, and she murmured:

"It...sounds noisy, and Grandma Field Mouse doesn't like noisy things."

These words sent a chill down the spines of everyone present (except Yu Shijiu, who was still busy looking for where Yanzi's head was hidden).

In the original story of "Thumbelina," the old field mouse did indeed dislike the noisy swallow. He thought the swallow was about to die and found it troublesome, in the way, and taking up too much space.

But coming from Thumbelina's mouth at this moment, it sounds particularly eerie.

Everyone who has read the fairy tale "Thumbelina" knows that the old field mouse didn't like the swallow, but Thumbelina did.

She loved swallows so much that she secretly carried the old field mouse to deliver blankets and food to them, and practically saved their lives... Besides, Thumbelina just said that swallows sound noisy?

Didn't the swallow make the slightest sound at all?

At that moment, everyone felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over them from head to toe. The wind blowing in from the gap behind the swallow was no longer as refreshing as before, but instead carried a chilling coldness.

Upon hearing this, Yu Shijiu turned around to face Thumbelina, his smile still gentle and harmless:

"No, I think its cry is very beautiful, and it looks injured and needs our help, Thumbelina."

He looked at Thumbelina with clear eyes, as if stating a very simple truth.

Thumbelina met his gaze, paused, and the emptiness and coldness in her eyes seemed to dissipate for a moment. She nodded subconsciously.

"……help?"

"Yes, help."

Yu Shijiu stepped forward and naturally took Thumbelina's hand—as if he hadn't noticed at all that her hand had become even colder.

"Let's look together and see if there's anything that can help heal its wounds, okay? Once it's healed, spring will come, and it will be able to fly out and see the sunshine and flowers."

Yu Shijiu's tone carried a seductive longing.

Thumbelina was pulled along by him, her eyes struggling for a moment, and an unhealthy blush seemed to flicker uncertainly on her face.

Sunshine...flowers...these words seemed like distant and vague fantasies to her at this moment.

"……it is good."

Thumbelina finally agreed, letting Yu Shijiu lead her as they began searching through the messy warehouse, temporarily ignoring her hostility towards Yanzi.

Anjie, Chen Yi, and the other three watched as Yu Shijiu easily "comforted" and guided Thumbelina, who was clearly beginning to change, and felt somewhat complicated.

Yu Shijiu's ability to sense and respond to danger is frighteningly sharp.

No, you could also say that Yu Shijiu is like someone who always dances on the edge of a knife, yet always manages to precisely avoid the most fatal traps.

Of course, if he can't avoid it, he'll choose to confront it head-on.

"……alright."

Anjie pinched her brow wearily. "Let's look for it together."

Xu Han was the fastest; he practically jumped out immediately and started rummaging through the "warehouse."

He Lingling and Chen Yi followed closely behind. Only He Lingling looked up at Yu Shijiu and Thumbelina during a break from searching, her eyes filled with complicated emotions.

—The way Thumbelina looked at the swallow just now, combined with her strange expression and state at the time… seemed to carry a cold, almost cursed pain.

Are you overthinking it?

He Lingling was somewhat flustered, but she could only continue to look for things in the "warehouse" with her head down.

However, the crisis was not actually over, and everyone forgot one thing.

That is……

—On the live broadcast platform, Lu Chusheng stared intently at the split screen showing Yu Shijiu holding Thumbelina's hand, as well as the writhing shadow at the warehouse entrance that seemed to come alive, his heart pounding like thunder.

The odds for option C had quietly dropped a little more on the betting screen in front of him.

The strange changes in Thumbelina continue.

As observed by onlookers, it was clearly the old field mouse's "breakfast" that accelerated Thumbelina's bizarre journey.

What made Lu Chusheng even more uneasy was the area representing the players of the "Eye of All Things" guild in another split screen.

Fang Youhua and Yang Hua seemed to have triggered something in the main room.

A blinding light flashed on their screens, followed by the sound of earth and stones falling, and a suppressed cry of pain.

Yang Hua's hand was bitten by something.

Yang Hua retreated with a pale face, but Fang Youhua calmed her down.

"Do not be afraid."

Lu Chusheng saw Fang Youhua's gentle smile on the screen.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you."

Fang Youhua said.