Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 919 Golden Thread

"Thanks to Fang Youhua."

Yu Shijiu casually wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and said with a smile, "These claws don't seem to be aggressive anymore."

“Shi Jiu,” An Jie frowned, “how do you feel right now—”

"Shi Jiu! How are you?!"

Xu Han's excited shouts came from behind them.

Yu Shijiu didn't answer. He staggered forward a few steps, his gaze once again locking onto the crimson vortex not far away, and asked in a low voice:

“Sister An, Fang Youhua is inside. I can sense what she’s doing. She’s calling upon the resentment of all the ‘Thumbelinas.’ What does she want to do? Does she want to use those resentments to leave the cave?”

Behind the two, three footsteps grew louder and louder, indicating that He Lingling and the other two had caught up.

He Lingling's "Ghost Eyes" were forcibly activated again. She stared intently at the blood-red vortex in the distance, her tears of blood flowing even more fiercely. But she forced herself to see through the layers of resentment and memories.

"She...she wants freedom."

He Lingling's voice was hoarse from overuse of her abilities. She swallowed the blood in her throat and whispered:

"It's not just about leaving the burrow...it's about...her wanting to destroy all the 'burrow tunnels' that bound Thumbelina in one fell swoop."

As soon as He Lingling finished speaking, the blood-red vortex in front of everyone suddenly expanded!

At the center of the vortex, Fang Youhua's figure reappeared—no, it could no longer be considered Fang Youhua entirely.

Just like when she was sucked into the vortex before, Fang Youhua's body was translucent, with countless light and shadow flowing inside. Each light and shadow was a face belonging to "Thumbelina", whether crying, angry, numb, or desperate.

The old straw bracelet in Fang Youhua's hand transformed into a golden "dotted line," one end connecting her to the other...

The other end was connected to Yu Shijiu's completely mutated left arm.

"???"

Yu Shijiu was taken aback.

He looked down at his left arm in surprise, utterly bewildered.

How is this related to him?

"What the hell is this?"

Xu Han exclaimed in surprise, instinctively reaching out to tear off the "golden dotted line" in front of him.

Anjie and Chen Yi simultaneously raised their hands to stop them.

"hold on."

Chen Yi wiped the sweat from his face and forced a smile, saying:

"The dungeon is almost over, and this path is unlikely to be anything that will harm the players."

Xu Han: "...Okay."

As for He Lingling, her gaze remained fixed on Fang Youhua in the vortex, and despite her tinnitus and blurred vision, she forced herself to continue examining the other party's "past" and "future" through her "ghost eyes".

"Pollution...is also a conduit..."

Fang Youhua's voice came from all directions inside the cave, as if countless versions of her were speaking at the same time.

“Yu Shijiu, the pollution within you… is connected to the ‘taming system’ at the deepest part of the cave… and my memories… are also connected to the resentment of all the ‘Thumbelinas’…”

Fang Youhua suddenly laughed for no apparent reason. Looking at Yu Shijiu, who looked puzzled, she whispered:

"Now... let's connect the passage... to Thumbelina......"

The golden dotted line connecting the two suddenly lit up, like countless candlelights shining a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times brighter, almost illuminating the dark, collapsed cave as if it were daytime.

Yu Shijiu felt a tearing pain in her left arm, but this time it was not the pain of pollution and erosion, but the feeling of something deeper being forcibly opened up.

Through that ray of light, he "saw"—

No, it was the remaining greedy desires of the "claws" in the contamination of his left arm that were forced open to him.

Yu Shijiu saw countless invisible "golden threads" spreading out from his and Fang Youhua's bodies.

These "golden threads" extend from the depths of the cave, connecting different "rooms" in different locations in the distance—no, they look more like "cages."

The mole's so-called luxurious underground palace, the toad's muddy pond, the Lilliputian king's exquisite castle...

In each "cage," there is a "Thumbelina" who is either numb, desperate, or has just rekindled her hope.

Each of the "Thumbelina" in the cage wears a straw bracelet, some new and some old, on its wrist.

Those "threads," through straw bracelets, connect the "Thumbelinas" to all the creatures in the burrow, continuously drawing upon their remaining life force, hope, and even fragments of their souls, and sending them to the burrow to nourish the burrow's owner, the old field mouse, his "minions," and... the "husbands" who "bought" Thumbelinas.

"So...that's it..."

He Lingling murmured, a hint of understanding flashing in her bloodshot eyes.

"The so-called 'cycle'... is not a repetition in time... but a parallelism in all parallel spaces... The old field mouse in the burrow is simultaneously 'nurturing' countless 'Thumbelinas'... and 'selling' them to different 'buyers'..."

"And the swallows..."

He Lingling suddenly turned her head to look at the swallow that had stopped crashing into the wall and was looking at everything in front of her in horror.

"And you, Swallow."

He Lingling: "The job you are responsible for... is similar to 'logistics' and 'after-sales service' in the real world. Is it to collect unsatisfactory 'goods' or to send 'damaged goods' to the next buyer who is willing to take them over?"

“…” Yu Shijiu suddenly laughed when he heard He Lingling’s words.

“Sister Lingling,” Yu Shijiu coughed up the metallic taste rising deep in her throat and said with a smile, “It’s not just a porter, you know. With a brain as clever as a swallow, it should be able to compete with the old field mouse for business, right?”

His words shocked even Xu Han, who was standing there dumbfounded. Xu Han exclaimed in astonishment:

"My goodness! So the swallow tricked those Thumbelinas by saying she could take them away from the burrow, but actually she wanted to get past the old field mouse and get more food or resources?"

“Hmm,” Yu Shijiu nodded as he looked at the increasingly dense golden threads in the cave, “That’s it.”

Xu Han: "..."

Why are all these animals so bad? Have they encountered a single good animal yet?

It seems not?

Anjie and Chen Yi's gazes also fell on Yanzi.

Just as He Lingling and Yu Shijiu said, the swallow, which had stopped futilely crashing into the wall out of fear, let out a sharp cry.

"Choo Choo Choo--"

The swallow frantically flapped its wings, trying to escape, but the increasingly dense golden light had gradually enveloped the entire cave, leaving it nowhere to run no matter how much it cried out and retreated.

Deep within the golden threads, Fang Youhua, bathed in a golden-red light, revealed a smile that was almost one of pity.

"Now... it's time to end this."

She slowly clasped her hands together, and the old straw bracelet on her wrist, transformed into a golden thread, suddenly burst forth with dazzling light!

Yu Shijiu and the others were so blinded by the dazzling golden light that they immediately closed their eyes.

The next second, the golden light flowed backward from the contaminated area on Yu Shijiu's left arm into the hidden corner of the cave, and then through those invisible "golden threads" to all the "cages" connecting parallel universes and the "Thumbelinas" trapped inside who could not escape.

"Do not--!!!"

The old field mouse, the owner of the burrow, let out a piercing scream. No longer afraid of the golden light, it frantically and desperately lunged at Fang Youhua in the vortex, but its body began to disintegrate the moment it touched the golden light—

"Zi-"

The old field mouse, like ice and snow exposed to sunlight, slowly turned to ashes starting from its limbs.

“My home…my food…my beloved granddaughters…no…it shouldn’t be like this…I did it for their own good…I…I found them such good husbands…I provided them with food and shelter…they should be grateful to me…they should be obedient…they should…they should thank me…”

The old field mouse's unrepentant voice grew fainter and fainter in despair, until it finally disappeared completely.

Even the swallows cried out in anguish amidst the golden light, their feathers peeling away piece by piece to reveal their withered and shrunken bodies beneath.

Those once calculating black bean eyes were now fixed on endless fear, and then his entire body, like an old field mouse, turned into a pile of ashes, mingling indistinguishably with the collapsed earth and rocks.

"...Serves you right."

Xu Han showed no sympathy for the two animals' deaths, shrank back behind He Lingling, and then, trembling, reached out to grab Yu Shijiu's hand.

"Shi Jiu, shall I treat you?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Shijiu shook his head. "I'm fine. I think Sister Lingling seems to need your treatment more right now, Brother Han."

"?"

Xu Han was taken aback. Just as he was about to say that he hadn't treated He Lingling specifically because he wanted to treat him, his shoulder suddenly felt heavy.

Xu Han was shocked and exclaimed, "He Lingling?!"

He Lingling completely fainted at this moment. The high-intensity use of "Ghost Eye" caused her body to tremble continuously after losing consciousness, and blood was coming out of the corners of her eyes.

Xu Han was so frightened that he immediately grabbed her arm and began to treat the side effects of her talent skill, sweating profusely.

Chen Yi checked on He Lingling's condition with concern, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's nothing serious. Her talent skill has been active for too long, and Lingling's physical condition can't keep up, so she's exhausted."

Anjie opened her eyes from the still blinding golden light, looked at He Lingling's pale face, took out a sweet towel from her pocket and wiped away the bloody tears that were gradually stopping flowing from the corners of He Lingling's eyes.

“Take good care of yourself after you get out,” Anjie said. “And get some more exercise.”

Xu Han, who was working hard to treat He Lingling, said: "...Sister An, I really have to say something fair about He Lingling. She usually works out quite hard, but the results don't seem to be very obvious."

Anjie glanced at him, "Did you slack off with Lingling?"

Xu Han felt a chill run down his spine and shook his head repeatedly: "No! No! How could I possibly let her slack off! I swear to God! I didn't! I'm such an honest and upright person..."

As Xu Han hurriedly explained, everyone's attention was drawn back to the golden threads inside the cave.

With the deaths of the old field mouse and the swallow, changes began to occur in all the "cages" connecting the burrows.

In the mole's luxurious underground palace, Thumbelina, who was dressing up in front of the mirror, suddenly saw her straw bracelet turn into fluffy golden particles of light and begin to dissipate.

She paused, a look of confusion flashing in her eyes, then suddenly covered her head as countless repressed memories flooded in—the burrow, the old field mouse, the swallow, countless recurring images…

Thumbelina, having regained her memories, screamed in agony, smashed the mirror, and rushed out of the room.

In the house by the toad pond, Thumbelina, forced to wear a wedding dress, looked down at her deformed, green hands and, as she wept, suddenly noticed that the bracelet on her ugly wrist was gradually dissipating into a fuzzy, luminous mass.

Tears fell drop by drop onto the hem of her red wedding dress. Thumbelina suddenly smiled, but then she started crying again.

Amidst the scattered, fluffy golden particles of light, she quickly removed her cumbersome bridal attire and stepped barefoot outside.

In the petal castle of the Lilliputian king, Thumbelina, who had just been forced to wear a crown, suddenly stood up and, to the astonishment of the king and his ministers, smashed the crown on her head, which symbolized her becoming queen, to the ground and crushed it to pieces.

"I am not your queen."

Thumbelina coldly replied, "I am myself, and you have no right to force me to become someone I don't want to be."

"..."

Inside the cage, all the "Thumbelinas" were simultaneously "released" at that moment.

Inside the cave, the golden light slowly began to recede.

Fang Youhua's transparent body became even thinner within it. She looked at Thumbelina (the one with Ange and the others) standing motionless in the underground passage, and her face showed the same gentle smile as before.

"The last Thumbelina... Now, you are free."

"No...not the last one."

Thumbelina, who had been stunned, suddenly spoke and took a step forward.

Under the watchful eyes of all the players, she stepped forward, stopped in front of the vortex, and reached out to touch Fang Youhua, who was becoming increasingly transparent within it, but her outstretched hand passed right through Fang Youhua's transparent body.

A tear rolled down Thumbelina's cheek, and she whispered:

“You are also ‘me’, right? I feel the same pain and despair as I do in you.”

Fang Youhua smiled, a warm and genuine smile, no longer feigned, no longer burdened by pain.

"you're right."

Fang Youhua's voice grew softer and softer, as if she were murmuring a prayer:

"So... forget the memories of what happened between 'us'... live well... freely... on your own..."

The next second after saying that, Fang Youhua's body completely transformed into scattered golden specks of light, merging into the body of Thumbelina in front of her.

Thumbelina shuddered and slowly closed her eyes.

At the same time, the system notification sounded again.

【Ding. 】

[The number of players in the Eye of All Things has decreased by one – Player Youhua has died.]

Anjie and Chen Yi's expressions immediately became complicated.

Chen Yi said in a low voice, "Fang Youhua's gains this time... won't be much less than the high amount of points gained."

“…” Anjie narrowed her eyes slightly and said, “She never intended to win from the beginning.”

Upon hearing this, Yu Shijiu raised an eyebrow, "So this time we win for free?"

Xu Han, looking completely bewildered, asked weakly and confusedly, "Huh? What? Didn't want to win? Who?"

"..."

No one paid any attention to Xu Han, who was still oblivious to the situation.