Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 781 Head

Yu Shijiu ignored the increasingly cold temperature near his ear and carefully discerned the silent shape of Thumbelina's mouth.

"...Quick...Quick...Run..."

Run!

Is Thumbelina telling herself to run?

What are you running for?

Yu Shijiu was startled, and just as she was about to get up, she suddenly felt a cool sensation on her cheek.

A cool, sticky drop of water, seemingly from nowhere, landed on his face.

Yu Shijiu reached out and touched his face, only to see Thumbelina across from him looking terrified. Her beautiful face was twisted into a jumbled mess of chaotic and blurry features, like a completely broken program creature.

"..."

Yu Shijiu realized something.

He slowly lowered his head, and opened his hand, which he had just used to wipe his face, revealing the thick, twisted blood between his fingertips.

It really was...blood.

Almost instantly, Yu Shijiu turned his head slightly, dodging the blood droplet that was about to fall.

pat- pat-

pat!

Almost the instant Yu Shijiu dodged, blood beads began to fall one after another, like blood pearls from a broken string.

Yu Shijiu looked up in the direction the drops were falling.

On the edge of the tall flowerpot, a pale human head peeked out, its deep pupils filled with twisted resentment and fear.

Yu Shijiu stared at the head that was peeking out from the edge of the flowerpot for a few seconds before suddenly turning around.

Not far away, Thumbelina remained in a broken, distorted state, with crystal-clear tears continuously dripping from her twisted, crisscrossing eyes.

Just like the head dripping with blood and tears in front of Yu Shijiu.

The human head peeking out of the flowerpot had a face that looked incredibly familiar.

Yes... Thumbelina.

It was Thumbelina, who was busy trying to help Yu Shijiu escape from not far away.

No.

Yu Shijiu paused, his foot poised to leap off the match bed. He stared at the "Thumbelina" on the edge of the flowerpot for a few seconds before slowly looking behind it.

Behind the "Thumbelina head," green stems and leaves moved slowly, like writhing green snakes. As the stems and leaves moved, a head with equally beautiful long hair appeared.

Under Yu Shijiu's gaze, the head turned slightly, and soon it tilted and turned to reveal an identical face.

It's Thumbelina's face.

Then came the third... the fourth... the fifth... the sixth...

More and more human heads are "growing" in the flowerpot, their mouths wide open, with thick, blood-red pearls dripping down from their eyes.

"..."

Yu Shijiu was shocked when he realized that all the heads in the flowerpot were actually Thumbelina.

Do they all share the same face?!

Isn't this being too generous? — No.

Yu Shijiu suddenly spotted a face that looked familiar yet was unfamiliar in the writhing head.

It's Xiaonan.

It's Xiaonan, the female player from the game "Eye of All Things" who was killed by her adoptive mother because of pollen allergy.

The "Little Nan" inside the skull seemed to sense that someone was watching it, and it slowly turned its head, scanning back and forth between the "Thumbelina" skulls laid out on the ground.

Finally, her eyes, which were almost bulging out of their sockets, stared intently at Yu Shijiu's face.

"Hee hee hee……"

Amidst countless cries, the laughter of female player Xiaonan rang out.

She stared at Yu Shijiu, who still wouldn't turn her head, and slowly said:

"You saw it..."

"Xiao Nan" smiled, but deep in her eyes lay endless pain and resentment. She said:

"Then stay here, stay here and be buried in the soil with me as fertilizer."

Yu Shijiu: "..."

He stared at Xiao Nan, who had a resentful look on her face, for nearly five seconds, and finally silently took a step back, the axe slowly appearing in his right hand.

It would indeed be difficult to fight against a foster mother of such a large size—but with "Xiao Nan" in this head-and-shouldn't I be able to split her into five, six, seven, or eight pieces?

Xiao Nan herself would probably feel a little "sad" seeing this from the outside.

As "Xiao Nan" tried to speak again, the sound of the axe flying from the boy's hand came out first.

Hey!

The axe struck the flowerpot with a crisp sound, and "Xiao Nan" was clearly startled, jumping up on the spot, and even the resentment in her eyes lessened considerably.

The surrounding "Thumbelinas" seemed to be frightened as well. Their heads were pressed tightly together, and they made soft whimpering sounds. Compared to Yu Shijiu, who was pulling hard with the axe, they sounded like they were begging for mercy.

"..."

Yu Shijiu also realized this, and somewhat embarrassed, he pulled the axe out of the chipped edge of the flowerpot, explaining to the terrified heads of "Thumbelina":

"Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you."

Yu Shijiu pointed to Xiao Nan, who was also retreating in terror among the group of "Thumbelina" heads, and said with a smile:

"I just want to cut her up."

Xiao Nan: "..."

Xiao Nan, who had just been resurrected and woken up after double the crying, was shivering in cold sweat in the audience outside the screen: "..."

The player next to her, who was also a player with the Eye of All Things, patted her shoulder with some concern and whispered:

"Maybe we shouldn't watch it. Watching your own head get split open later will leave you with psychological trauma..."

Xiao Nan: "..."

Xiao Nan was soaked in blood from head to toe. She stood up with some difficulty and whispered:

"I'll go back and take a shower and change my clothes first, then I'll come back later."

"it is good."

His companion nodded. "We can come later."

She was a little worried about whether Xiaonan's mental state was peaceful.

Xiao Nan nodded somewhat slowly, and limped out of the live broadcast square amidst the stares of the players around her.

After leaving the cool area of ​​the live broadcast square, Xiao Nan felt dizzy and lightheaded under the scorching sun outside the town.

Xiao Nan's full name was Li Nan. She was 28 years old and died in a car accident. Her death was horrific. Before she lost consciousness, she saw blood spurting out of her body after being hit—yes, her head was broken off and flew into the air.

Li Nan clutched her neck, which still seemed to be throbbing slightly, her face pale and covered in cold sweat.

She never expected that she would die in the same way she did before entering the Dawn Game again; it was too painful and too desperate.

The pain of death being nearly ten times greater is indeed unbearable for most people, and Li Nan was in that state right now. She raised her elbow to wipe the cold sweat from her face and limped toward the Eye of All Things stronghold.

...It's better to be the first to die, at least then I won't have to suffer any more.

----------

The next second after Yu Shijiu finished speaking, the heads of "Thumbelina" were clearly stunned. Then, all the heads with pretty and well-behaved appearances slowly turned their heads to look at "Xiao Nan," who was frantically burrowing into the ground.

"what?"

Yu Shijiu noticed that one of the "Thumbelina" girls, whose cheek was injured, tilted her head to the left, as if she were a little curious:

Why does her face look different from ours?

Upon hearing this, even the Thumbelina heads that hadn't quite caught on turned around.

They carefully observed "Xiao Nan" burrowing into the soil, and one of the heads reached out a broken hand to pull "Xiao Nan's" hair, somewhat displeased.

Click.

Xiao Nan's already broken neck made a cracking sound as it broke again. Accompanied by Xiao Nan's screams, Yu Shijiu watched as the "Thumbelinas" forcefully turned its face around, wiped the dirt off its face, and revealed its true appearance.

"Really not!"

The heads began to whisper in surprise, the muffled sobs in their throats disappearing without a trace. As if they couldn't see the boy holding the axe under the flowerpot, they huddled together and whispered about "Xiao Nan's" face.

"It's so ugly."

A head with half its scalp cut off whispered, "This face isn't pretty at all, it's not the face Mommy liked..."

"Yes, yes, Mom likes pretty girls, obedient girls, and girls with smiling faces..."

"She looks completely different from us, I hate her, Mom must really hate her..."

"How annoying! Let's tear off that nasty face of hers."

"Yes, yes, if we tear off this face that's different from ours, Mom won't be able to see it anymore..."

"Mom won't be angry if she can't see it, we're so clever, hehe..."

"Then let's get started."

"No, no... We are the same, we are the same—"

"Little Nan's" pleas for mercy were interrupted by the heads of "Thumbelina," who shouted in unison:

"How could someone as ugly and disobedient as you be the same as us?"

No! We really are the same!

Xiao Nan's face was being bitten by the heads, and bright red blood flowed down from its torn skin, as if soft flesh was being violently ripped apart.

"We're exactly the same! We're all children who are hated and disliked by our mothers—Ah!!!! It hurts so much!!!! Ah—it hurts—it hurts so much!!!!"

Xiao Nan's face was completely torn open by the heads, and thick, scarlet blood spurted out—the amount of bleeding was obviously wrong, how could anyone's face bleed so much?

The heads became even more displeased, muttering to themselves as they tore at the heads:

"How could that be? We're clearly different... You're the bad kid that Mom doesn't like, we're not..."

“We are all good, sensible, and obedient daughters...Mom loves us so much…”

"..."

Xiao Nan's screams grew fainter and fainter. Yu Shijiu looked up at the blood flowing down the edge of the flowerpot, and lowered his hand holding the axe in a daze.

What's going on... He just casually told the truth, so why are they starting to fight each other? What should he do now?

Yu Shijiu suddenly reversed and raised the axe in his hand, slashing fiercely at the figure that had approached him from behind.

The figure—that is, Thumbelina who had unknowingly approached Yu Shijiu—took a step back in shock and fell to the ground, tears quickly streaming down her large, watery eyes.

Yu Shijiu, holding the axe: "..."

He didn't retract the axe; its sharp blade remained pointed directly at Thumbelina's head as she fell to the ground.

What are you doing coming near me?

Yu Shijiu ignored Thumbelina's silent tears and stared into her eyes, saying:

"Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Yes, shouldn't the obedient and well-behaved Thumbelina be asleep by now?

A point of doubt that Yu Shijiu had overlooked finally began to surface – Thumbelina, as her adoptive mother’s favorite child, should be the one who sleeps the most soundly among them.

“…Yes,” Thumbelina, who had fallen in another city, said with tears in her eyes, raising her hand to wipe her eyes and choking back sobs, “I was asleep…but, but I was worried about you.”

"...Worried about me?"

Yu Shijiu's grip on the axe didn't loosen at all. He looked at Thumbelina, tilted her head, and asked in confusion:

"Why are you worried about me?"

Thumbelina blushed a little when asked the question, and blinked as she replied:

“I’m afraid you’ll be pulled away by them too.”

Yu Shijiu: "?"

they?

They are—oh, I mean, the human heads in the flowerpots.

Having figured this out, Yu Shijiu's expression softened. He smiled, put away his axe, jumped off the bed, walked to Thumbelina, and stretched out his hand.

"I misunderstood you."

Yu Shijiu's smile is very sweet and charming; it's the kind of smile that everyone would love to see.

"Let me help you up, sis. Hmm, Thumbelina, you must be a little older than me, right?"

Yu Shijiu asked hesitantly.

Thumbelina was clearly taken aback for a moment, then shook her head and nodded.

"I'm nineteen years old."

Thumbelina looked shyly at the boy's outstretched hand, and timidly placed her delicate, fair hand into his.

Yu Shijiu couldn't quite understand the girl's blushing face, her cheeks streaked with tears. He pulled her up with force and said:

I am eighteen years old.

Yu Shijiu: "Can I call you Thumb Sister?"

"..." Thumbelina's expression visibly stiffened when asked the question, and she hesitated before saying, "No, I think it's better not to."

“Oh,” Yu Shijiu lowered her eyes in disappointment, “Alright then.”

Thumbelina: "..."

No... don't you really think the name "Thumb Sister" sounds a bit eerie?!

Thumbelina's flushed cheeks slowly faded. She rubbed her face, glanced cautiously at the gnawing sound coming from above the flowerpot, and finally remembered what she had come to say in the first place.

"Go to sleep."

Thumbelina tugged at Yu Shijiu's arm, saying with a mixture of fear and worry:

"Don't stay awake, Mom said it's time for us to go to sleep..."

Yu Shijiu belatedly realized something, met Thumbelina's terrified gaze, and narrowed his eyes:

"Should we all be good children?"

"Of course."

Thumbelina looked at her with a puzzled expression. Her fair and delicate face appeared somewhat pale in the dim light. "We all have to be good children who listen to our mothers so that we can get their love."

"..." Yu Shijiu thought of the trial instance she had entered and remained silent for a few seconds.

Is she yet another "mother" who forces her child to obey her?

wrong.

Yu Shijiu turned her head and looked at the blood flowing around the edge of the flowerpot, her gaze suddenly stopping.

The blood belonging to "Xiao Nan" was still flowing along the edge of the flowerpot. The bright red blood congealed for a moment as it flowed over the patterns around the flowerpot, and then began to flow again...

That's not a pattern.

Yu Shijiu finally saw clearly what those dense, crooked "patterns" all over the flowerpot were.