Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 936 Lin Hai

Although he could only see the eyes clearly, Yu Shijiu was certain that those unique, tiny pupils, which made people feel extremely uncomfortable at first glance, were the only thing he could recognize.

The moment Lin Hai met Yu Shijiu's gaze, he seemed to smile. The smile was cold and playful, and for some reason, an unease rose in the hearts of the three of them.

Yu Shijiu felt strangely uncomfortable under his gaze, and inexplicably felt an itch to touch him.

Hmm, I always feel like I should take something out and use it.

Lin Hai lowered his head again, disappearing back into the heavy shadows.

The other party was indeed in the car, and had been observing them from the beginning.

Yu Shijiu gestured to An Jie and He Lingling to look at the back of the carriage.

Following his gaze, the two also noticed Lin Hai sitting in the back row and another "person" who hadn't looked up at all.

"We've found Lin Hai."

Anjie mouthed silently, "In the last row, there are two people, one is Lin Hai, and the other... it's not quite certain whether he's a person or an NPC."

"Let's wait and see."

He Lingling also mouthed, "If they don't move, we shouldn't move first either. We should prioritize whether there are any faces outside the car window."

"..."

Chen Yi and Xu Han also glanced at the corner of the back seat of the carriage. Just one glance sent a chill down Xu Han’s spine.

He touched his arm, which was covered in goosebumps, nudged Chen Yi beside him, and whispered:

"Brother Chen, I don't think the person sitting next to Lin Hai is a 'Echo' player..."

Chen Yi was taken aback. "Why do you think that?"

“…I have a feeling,” Xu Han rubbed his hands awkwardly, “It sounds a bit strange…but it’s definitely my intuition.”

Chen Yi: "..."

Chen Yi didn't know whether he believed it or not, but he gently patted Xu Han's arm and said softly:

"Don't be afraid. Whether they are players from the 'Echo' event or NPCs, they pose no threat to us for the time being."

Xu Han: "...I know, I just feel something's off."

"Okay, got it."

Chen Yi nodded.

After the brief commotion subsided, the carriage returned to silence.

The bus continued its bumpy journey through the rainy night.

The darkness outside the window grew thicker, the lights became fewer, and the rain seemed to intensify.

The raindrops, as big as beans, pounded against the car roof and windows like broken beads, making a crackling sound, as if countless tiny fingers were frantically scratching at something.

Xu Han, who was already leaning against the car window, was terrified by the wild thoughts running through his mind and leaned closer to Chen Yi.

Chen Yi opened his eyes and looked at him, then closed them again and continued to feign sleep.

For some reason, as the scenery outside the car window grew darker, his eyelids felt heavier and heavier, as if the plot of a game was forcing him to fall asleep.

The air inside the carriage gradually became more damp and chilly, with a lingering musty smell and a faint fishy smell from the rain, making people feel dizzy and lightheaded.

The couple, who had been quite frightened by the "face" seen through the car window, gradually calmed down, embraced each other, and leaned back in their seats, falling back into a restless sleep.

The other passengers remained silent, and those who had glanced up at the "fun" continued to lower their heads quietly, their expressions unreadable.

However, Yu Shijiu's discomfort in his left arm continued to intensify.

It wasn't just because of the woman in the floral dress next to me, whose friend or foe I didn't know, but also because of the environment of the entire carriage.

That omnipresent, chilling resentment, like a damp, sticky, fine spider web, wrapped around him layer by layer, trying to seep into the strips of cloth wrapped around his arm and merge with the filth remaining inside his arm.

Although he was reluctant to admit it, Yu Shijiu did begin to "hear" some subtle, incoherent murmurs.

From every corner of the carriage, from the gaps between the seats, and even from the shadows along the edges of the roof, the murmurs of men and women could be heard everywhere.

"go home……"

"Why can't we go back..."

"It's so dark...it's so cold..."

"Who's next...?"

"so cold……"

"..."

These indistinct murmurs do not directly affect the sense of hearing, but are more like a kind of mental noise projected directly into the level of consciousness, carrying despair, confusion and subtle, omnipresent malice.

In the rear of the carriage where Lin Hai was located, the mental noise seemed particularly concentrated, even forming a low-frequency, regular fluctuation, like a silent tide, slowly spreading throughout the carriage.

Is Lin Hai actively releasing spiritual pollution?

Or is Lin Hai also using this chaotic environment to spread some kind of infection?

Yu Shijiu forced himself to calm down, and at the same time noticed that He Lingling's face seemed to have turned a little pale on the other side of the corridor.

Her eyes were closed, her brows furrowed, clearly indicating that she was also under immense mental pressure.

Xu Han, who had fallen asleep, began to break out in a cold sweat without realizing it. Chen Yi, who was awakened by inexplicable fear, sat in his chair and took deep breaths, trying to remain calm.

Anjie, who was sitting alone in front of the group, seemed to be doing fine. She leaned back in her seat, and her breathing sounded very even.

How come Anjie wasn't "infected" by the environment inside the carriage?

A sense of confusion flashed through Yu Shijiu's mind.

why?

Why does Anjie appear to be the only one unaffected?

Yu Shijiu's head was throbbing with thought, and in the end, she could only close her eyes and pretend to sleep.

Perhaps pretending to be asleep would be more in line with the current situation...

The bus drove for a long time through the increasingly violent rainy night.

So long that the area outside the bus window was completely shrouded in thick darkness, with only the bus's two dim yellow headlights shining through, like tired eyes, barely cutting through the thick night and rain curtain ahead.

Half-awake and half-asleep, He Lingling unconsciously curled up into a ball. The pain around her eyes made her breathing rapid even in her sleep.

In her dream, He Lingling looked at the murky sewage that was constantly spreading around her and couldn't help but take several steps back.

How can there be so much water...?

The engine sounded particularly heavy in the rainy night, mixed with strange noises coming from the bus chassis, whether from bumps or something else scraping.

Yu Shijiu closed his eyes to fight against the faint murmurs coming from the depths of his mind, and only slowly opened his eyes after those sounds completely disappeared.

As soon as he opened his eyes, Yu Shijiu's gaze fell on An Jie, who was sitting with her back to him.

Anjie's movements were different from what he remembered before he closed his eyes. At this moment, Anjie's fingers were unconsciously and rhythmically cracking her knuckles, making a "crack, crack" sound—a small movement that Anjie would only make when she was highly focused or agitated.

Yu Shijiu felt much calmer after seeing this.

This shows that Ange was not completely unaffected by her surroundings as he thought; she was simply using stronger willpower to forcibly suppress her "fear."

On the other side, He Lingling, who was fast asleep, had her eyes tightly closed, but her eyeballs under her eyelids were trembling rapidly, and her forehead was covered with fine cold sweat. She suddenly opened her eyes, panting, and leaned against the car window, staring in fear at the dirty dark blue seat cover in front of her.

Outside the car window, the rain continued to pour down, as if it would never stop.

"...Dream...water..."

He Lingling, who had just woken up, muttered to herself unconsciously.

The moment she woke up, she felt the endless flow of water piercing her body, even her mouth, nose, eardrums, and eyes. The extreme pain of drowning finally jolted her awake from her dream.

So much water... so much rainwater...

He Lingling's mind was in turmoil. She looked out the car window at the hazy fog, and only after she felt a little better did she turn her head to look at the seats where Chen Yi and Xu Han were.

Sitting in his seat, Chen Yi looked somewhat anxious. He occasionally whispered something to Xu Han, who was leaning against him and seemed to have just woken up, as if he was trying to comfort him.

appease?

The near-death pain in He Lingling's mind slowly receded from her, and she focused her attention on Xu Han, who was half-blocked by Chen Yi.

Under the dim light from the top of the carriage, Xu Han, leaning against Chen Yi, didn't look too well.

His face was slightly bluish, and his eyes were somewhat unfocused, clearly indicating that he was the least resistant to the mental pollution that permeated the carriage at that moment.

"Don't overthink it, Xiaohan."

Chen Yi's voice was very low, carrying a calm and guiding tone.

"What you see in your dreams is all fake; it's an effect deliberately placed on us by the game instance... Think carefully about the absurd things you encounter in those game instances; they're all fake..."

"I...I know..."

Xu Han, whose face had turned pale, suddenly bit his lip hard. The taste of blood on his lips made him more alert.

"I...I just...I always feel...I always feel like something is watching me, lots of eyes...on the roof of the car, under the seat..."

Xu Han's voice suddenly trembled uncontrollably.

“Brother Chen…no…it’s not that I think…” Xu Han grabbed Chen Yi’s arm and murmured, “I really saw it…”

Just then—

Sizzle...

A sudden electrical crackling sound came from the front of the carriage, interrupting Xu Han's words.

Immediately afterwards, the already dim white overhead light inside the car began to flicker violently, its light flashing erratically, cutting the already dimly lit carriage into fragmented and bizarre scenes.

Everyone, including Lin Hai who was sitting at the back of the carriage, looked up at the carriage whose lights were suddenly flickering.

In the instant the stark white lights above suddenly blazed on, Lin Hai's gaze fell upon the pale or ashen faces of the passengers who had their heads bowed.

The passengers' ashen faces were briefly illuminated by the light, which then suddenly dimmed. In that instant, Lin Hai felt as if countless distorted human figures were writhing on the seats in front of him.

"..." Lin Hai narrowed his eyes slightly, and his heart skipped a beat and beat slowly several times.

There's no denying that the situation inside the bus looks rather bad... not to mention that his four teammates are nowhere to be found.

Lin Hai thought for a moment, then glanced at the "passenger" next to him who was looking down, and leaned closer to the window.

I'd better not move until my four teammates show up.

"what happened?"

Xiao Juan, the girl in the couple, woke up again in fright. Upon seeing this, she immediately hugged her boyfriend, who had also just woken up, tightly in terror.

"The electricity, the circuit is unstable..."

Her boyfriend, who was being held tightly in her arms, responded to her in a soft, fearful voice, lacking confidence.

"...Is that so?"

Xiao Juan hugged her boyfriend and swallowed.

"Good morning, I should have known better than to try and save money... I shouldn't have taken this bus..."

Xiao Juan felt like crying. Her exquisitely made-up face was a little smudged, and her eyeliner had sparsely fallen off at the corners of her eyes, leaving a dark mess.

In the flickering light, Anjie in the front seat slowly raised her head, her gaze falling on the driver's seat in front of her.

The driver remained silent, his red hat resembling a congealed blood clot in the flashing light.

Anjie's heart skipped a beat.

Because of my inexplicable description just now—the driver was clearly only wearing an ordinary red hat.

Why do I feel like it's a blood clot?

Sizzle—!

The lights inside the carriage went out for a moment while Anjie was lost in thought.

Instantly, all the conscious players looked up at the same time.

For nearly twenty seconds, there was absolute darkness, with only the reflection of rainwater on the car window and the extremely faint outlines of trees flashing by outside the window.

In the darkness, the stinging pain in Yu Shijiu's left arm reached its peak instantly. He lowered his head and pressed his left arm, and could almost feel the hairs on the beast's claws standing on end under the strip of cloth. A sharp, inhuman, shrill scream suddenly exploded in his ears.

It was the voice of the young female passenger named Xiaojuan.

"what--!"

Because of his poor mental state, Xu Han let out a short, sharp cry, which was immediately covered by Chen Yi, who was standing next to him.

"Shhh."

Chen Yi covered Xu Han's mouth, his forehead beaded with cold sweat.

Not right.

Although Xu Han was timid, he would never scream in fright in this situation... Why? Why is that?

Chen Yi felt his whole body begin to tremble, not only because of the dungeon, but also because of Xu Han, who seemed to have become even more "cowardly".

Like I said, Xu Han shouldn't be so scared... she shouldn't even cry out in fright.

Amidst the chaotic thoughts, the lights in the carriage came back on, appearing even dimmer than before, as if they were about to break down completely at any moment.

All the players froze in their seats, too afraid to move.

Apart from--

Yu Shijiu suddenly looked at the seat next to her, her breath catching in her throat.

He didn't know when... the woman in the floral dress who was sitting next to him had disappeared!

The seat next to him was empty, covered with a dark blue cloth cover, with only a small puddle of dark red, viscous water, which slowly seeped into the old foam seat as Yu Shijiu stared wide-eyed.

A stronger fishy smell and the stench of rotting aquatic plants slowly spread through the air.

Where has she gone?

Yu Shijiu's heart pounded, and his gaze swept quickly across the carriage.

There were none in the front seats, the aisle, the empty seats next to other passengers, or even the driver's seat.

There isn't one there either...

Finally, Yu Shijiu's gaze settled on the back of the carriage.

In the last row, next to Lin Hai, the passenger who was looking down, now had the vague outline of a woman in a floral dress, also looking down.