Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 969 I Can

"I—cough!"

Ma Ming spat out the remaining blood in his mouth; his throat hurt terribly.

"Brother Lin is overdrawing his mental energy... cough cough—"

Li Ye coughed several times and muttered something.

He didn't think much of it; he was just saying it casually.

"..."

Mulanzhi silently wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, the gentle expression on her face long gone.

She stared expressionlessly at Yu Shijiu, who was enveloped by a mental barrier, and gripped the Emei Dagger tightly in her hand.

Besides completely eliminating the remaining contamination, there is another method: killing Yu Shijiu, who has already absorbed all the contamination into his body.

Anjie noticed Mulanzhi's change in mood almost immediately, turned around, and looked at Mulanzhi with icy eyes.

Mulanzhi, noticing Anjie's gaze: "..."

She turned her hand and put the Emei dagger back into her palm, smiled gently at the other person, and said nothing.

Anjie stared coldly at her, raising the short blade in her hand meaningfully in her direction.

Magnolia ignored it completely.

After all, the two teams are currently in a "cooperative" relationship, so it's best not to expose it if possible.

Within the mental barrier, the mental energy that Lin Hai had deliberately inserted into Yu Shijiu's left arm felt like an ice pick piercing a boiling oil pan; after a few seconds of stagnation, excruciating pain arose.

The intense pain briefly cleared Yu Shijiu's chaotic mind.

Once Yu Shijiu regained consciousness, her eyes turned cold, and she bit her tongue hard.

An even stronger taste of blood exploded in his mouth, and the more intense pain added a touch of his own crazy yet excited rationality to the satisfied light dancing in his eyes.

"Get out..."

Yu Shijiu muttered to himself, not to himself, but to the greedy and violent source of pollution deep in his left arm, and to the countless chaotic thoughts of humans surging in.

The contamination deep within his left arm began to twist and distort after he finished speaking, even darting back and forth through his flesh as if in a show of defiance, as if demonstrating against Yu Shijiu.

"..."

Yu Shijiu's lips curled into a cold smile.

Then, relying on the sharp pain and bloody taste on the tip of the tongue, it began to forcibly "sort out" the negative energy that had surged in.

Those parts that belonged to the passenger NPCs' fears were brutally torn apart and ground down by the same polluting power in the beast's claws, turning them into more basic nourishment.

However, he forcibly rejected and gradually dispelled some of the remaining strange and resentful fragments that were too sharp and might damage his mind.

This process is painful and difficult.

Yu Shijiu's body began to spasm uncontrollably again. The strange curves surging under his skin looked like countless tiny insects wriggling wildly. The beast claw on his left arm swelled up again, almost two-thirds the size of his entire body.

At this point, he no longer looked like a human being.

More like... a half-humanoid monster controlled by the claws of a giant rat.

Xu Han finally suppressed his fear and looked up. Just one glance was enough to make him tremble and stand up, wanting to run towards Yu Shijiu.

Yes, he can... He can use the healing technique again. Just one more use might restore Shi Jiu's sanity...

Xu Han, who was running forward, was stopped by Chen Yi and An Jie.

Xu Han looked up with red eyes and trembling lips, "Sister An'an, Brother Chen, I, I have to, I have to go and treat Shi Jiu."

This is his responsibility as a healing assistant, so why are Anjie and Chen Yi stopping him?

As he spoke, Yu Shijiu let out a suppressed, painful howl from his throat.

Immediately following was the claw tip digging deep into the carriage floor, producing a series of scraping sounds that made one's teeth ache and back tingle.

"Brother Chen!"

Xu Han was on the verge of tears!

"Make way! Make way! I'm the only one allowed here—"

Xu Han's pupils widened suddenly, "Brother Chen?"

"Brother Chen, what are you going to do? You can't heal Shi Jiu!"

Chen Yi didn't turn around. His obese body walked towards Yu Shijiu, and the floor seemed to vibrate with every step he took.

Xu Han was extremely anxious. "Sister An! Hold onto Brother Chen! Why are you holding me back? It's really useless for Brother Chen to go!"

Anjie gripped his arm tighter and tighter, and after a few seconds, she said in a hoarse voice:

"……it works."

Xu Han's struggle lessened, and he murmured repeatedly, "Was it useful?"

What is the use?

Chen Ge's innate skills can't be used effectively inside the car. Besides, isn't Chen Ge's innate skill a defensive type, like a shield?

What good would that do?

Chen Yi had already walked up to Yu Shijiu. He looked worriedly at Yu Shijiu, whose body was half-disfigured, and reached out to touch his head.

“…Sister Lingling…Sister An…Brother Chen…Brother Han…”

Yu Shijiu's hazy gaze fell on Chen Yi in front of her.

He gritted his teeth, suppressing the wailing of men and women echoing in his mind, and called out his teammates' names intermittently.

"Brother Chen, I can... I can control it... I definitely can... I... I don't want to... I don't want to be controlled by it—"

Before he could finish speaking, Yu Shijiu suddenly raised his left arm with a beast claw, the sharp claw tip slashing towards his right arm!

"Shi Jiu!"

Xu Han screamed and desperately lunged forward to grab him, but An Jie grabbed her arm again and shoved her back onto the seat.

"..."

He Lingling's pupils had dilated to their maximum, leaving only a deep, dark color in her entire eye socket.

At the critical moment, a fat figure blocked Yu Shijiu's way.

It was Chen Yi.

He used his own body to block Yu Shijiu's self-harming beastly claws.

puff!

The sharp claws pierced Chen Yi's shoulder, and blood gushed out instantly.

"Brother Chen!"

Xu Han, who had awkwardly sat up from his seat, stared with eyes blazing with fury.

Anjie's gaze was also somewhat distorted, but she still didn't move. However, the churning hunger in her stomach surged up to her throat again, making her feel like gagging.

Chen Yi groaned, his face pale, but he gripped Yu Shijiu's beast claws tightly with both hands, and squeezed out a gentle smile on his fat face.

"Shi Jiu, wake up...look carefully...it's Brother Chen..."

Chen Yi gently called for Yu Shijiu to regain her composure.

Through his blurred vision, Yu Shijiu saw the warm, bright red blood gushing from Chen Yi's shoulder.

Crimson blood rolled down Chen Yi's shoulder, dripping onto the dirty carriage floor and spreading a small patch of dark color.

Yu Shijiu's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

It wasn't polluted black mist, nor was it the slime from a monster's body; it was warm, bright red blood belonging to a living person.

It was he... who caused the bloodshed.

“Brother Chen…”

"Brother Chen..."

The boy's throat bobbed, his voice hoarse and broken.

The claws of his left arm were still deeply embedded in Chen Yi's flesh. He could even feel the muscle fibers being severed by the claws, and feel the warmth of the blood flowing through the claws.

This is not an illusion; it's real.

A wave of nausea surged up her throat, and Yu Shijiu couldn't help but gag.

It's not an aversion to the smell of blood, but an extreme, instinctive rejection and self-loathing arising from the fact that "I am hurting the people who are protecting me."

Why...why is this happening?

Fragments of memory were pried open by the crimson before my eyes and exploded with a bang.

It wasn't the corrupting thoughts that gleefully seeped into his body, but rather earlier, more distant images, almost forgotten in the deepest recesses of his heart—

blood.

Once again, a sea of ​​blood enveloped Yu Shijiu's vision.

On her slender, pale wrist, a gruesome, swirling wound gushed blood, staining the white tiles red, dripping, dripping, into the spinning drain.

Inside the bathtub, the mother, her face and arms as white as paper, looked at him with a mournful expression by the glass door. Her gentle, weak voice echoed in the bathroom.

"Shi Jiu... Mom... Mommy hurts so much... Mommy hurts so much... Please help... Please find a way to help Mommy..."

Yu Shijiu wanted to rush in, to call for help, to stop the bleeding wound, but her body felt like it was nailed to the spot.

His throat felt like it was blocked by something, unable to utter a sound. He could only watch helplessly as the red patch grew larger and more glaring...

Then came more red, and more sounds.

"Is that the crazy little brat who angered his own mother to death and then tried to kill his stepmother?"

"She looks so innocent, how can she be so cruel..."

"Is he crazy? Isn't he mentally ill? No wonder Mr. Liang told us to keep an eye on him; it turns out he's a complete lunatic..."

"From what Mr. Liang is saying... his mother seems to have a mental illness as well?"

"Mental illness is hereditary? Doesn't that mean his mother is like that too?"

"So it's a family trait, tsk tsk tsk, Mr. Liang is really unlucky to have run into this mother and son who are both mentally unstable..."

"..."

More and more sarcastic, even unacceptable and maddening words kept crawling into Yu Shijiu's ears, like disgusting soft worms, making him feel like he was going crazy.

No, no! Mom wasn't murdered! Mom, Mom didn't either, it wasn't suicide! It was that woman, that Liang Guodong with whom he had such a disgusting blood relation!

My mother was driven to her death by them... It must be, it must be...

The little boy was forcibly tied up by the doctors and nurses, his mouth was gagged, and he was thrown onto the hospital bed and locked in the ward.

The ropes binding him were very tight, and the rough ropes tightened more and more as he struggled, until finally they cut into his flesh, causing a burning pain.

Fine, red beads of blood oozed from behind the rope, staining the pure white sheets.

He struggled and screamed, but all he got in return was tighter restraints and cold injections.

The blood-stained ward door was closed by the doctors and nurses, cutting off all light and sound, leaving only boundless darkness and the incessant, malicious whispers in one's ears.

No...no...you're not...neither is Mom...we...we're not crazy...none of us are...

Yu Shijiu was panting, his lips trembling, uttering syllable after syllable that only he could understand.

No...no...that's not how it is...

The blood gushing from Chen Yi's shoulder was a stark reminder of the dark red stains his mother left in the bathtub, the bloodstains left by the ropes on the hospital bed, and the scarlet stains on Ah Xiu's floral dress...

All the crimson hues overlapped into an even deeper scarlet at that moment, flooding into Yu Shijiu's mind. He laughed silently, and even his beast claws began to tighten.

Ha ha ha ha--

"Shi Jiu! Look at me!"

A sharp shout, like a thunderclap, resounded in Yu Shijiu's chaotic and frantic mind.

Yu Shijiu shuddered suddenly, and his unfocused pupils refocused.

What came into view was Chen Yi's chubby face, pale from blood loss and pain.

The eyes on that face, which were usually so gentle, now held only utter worry and unwavering determination.

"Let go, Shi Jiu."

Chen Yi's voice was soft, yet it carried a strange power that overwhelmed the noisy evil thoughts and auditory hallucinations in Yu Shijiu's mind.

"Shi Jiu, you can control it, I believe you can. Don't let it control you, okay? You're strong, you won't lose to a blob of pollution that can't even take on a human form, right?"

"right……"

Yu Shijiu's eyes stung, and a tear slowly rolled down from the corner of his eye.

"Brother Chen...I, I can..."

Deep within the left arm, the dark red corrupting power seemed to momentarily become disordered due to the host's intense emotional fluctuations.

Soon, the movement within the dark red keratin layer beneath the hair gradually slowed down, appearing much more sluggish.

"You can do it, you definitely can."

Chen Yi comforted him.

Yu Shijiu slowly lowered his eyelids, and his left arm suddenly pulled the beast claw out of Chen Yi's shoulder, bringing with it a string of blood beads.

Chen Yi grunted, bracing himself against the ground but failing to block it.

The moment the beast's claw was pulled out, the dark red streams on it wriggled wildly, as if countless tiny mouths were greedily sucking up the bloody smell lingering in the air.

At the same time, Yu Shijiu's fingernails had dug deep into the intact flesh of her right hand, and blood flowed down her wrist, mixing with Chen Yi's blood, and dripping onto the floor.

Yu Shijiu trembled all over, and the changes in his left arm were intensifying, but his eyes were becoming clearer and clearer.

pain.

It hurts……

The sharp, familiar pain from self-harm, like an icicle, pierced through the chaotic and noisy screams and insults of others in my mind.

"Brother Chen...I'm sorry..."

Yu Shijiu opened his mouth, his voice hoarse, and looked at Chen Yi's pale face due to blood loss, feeling even more furious and wanting to destroy everything around him.

These damn... damn mental pollution people have no sportsmanship whatsoever. They resort to dirty tricks when they know they can't beat someone!

“It’s okay… Shi Jiu, look at me… You can control the pollution… Take it slow, we’re not in a hurry, not at all.”

Chen Yi pressed his shoulder wound, his obese body swaying slightly, but he still stood firmly in front of Yu Shijiu, quietly comforting him.

"It's fine…"

Despite the excruciating pain, Chen Yi's voice remained gentle, "Don't be afraid, we'll figure something out together..."

But before he could finish speaking, Yu Shijiu's left arm began to tremble uncontrollably again.

The dark red keratinous layer, which had greedily sucked the blood of living people, had spread to the left shoulder and was beginning to spread towards the chest.

Chen Yi stared in horror at the dark red trickles beneath the stratum corneum, feeling a chill run through his body and even contemplating killing Lin Hai.

Did Lin Hai lie to them?!