Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 806 Useful Foxtail Grass

“…Ugh,” Yu Shijiu gurgled as he sat up, squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again and said:

"Me too, I didn't hear anything last night."

"Ah."

Anjie nodded upon hearing this, "I guess everyone feels the same way, after all, we've already finished the storyline about the adoptive mother."

Ange guessed that if they just repeated the same storyline for the rest of the day, they could move on to the next part of the story.

"That's good."

Yu Shijiu gave a perfunctory reply, squinted at the sunlight streaming into the courtyard through the French windows, then buried herself back into the matchbox bed, muttering:

"I'll lie down for a while, then I'll lie down a little longer..."

Anjie chuckled: "...It's okay, you can sleep a little longer. Your foster mother won't be here for another hour."

Upon receiving these words, Yu Shijiu immediately closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

Anjie looked at the back of his head, chuckled, shook her head, and then raised her head again, her expression returning to seriousness.

Unlike her casual tone earlier, Anjie's gaze as she looked at the flowerpot was now quite serious.

The color of the flowerpot became darker.

If the flowerpot initially looked like a slightly gritty reddish-brown, now it looks like a dye vat soaked in blood, with an overall eerie scarlet hue.

Even the taste has changed.

Anjie smelled the strong stench of blood emanating from the flowerpot, covered her nose, and took a step back.

Anjie's stomach churned again, the stomach acid and the hunger she felt upon waking fighting inside her body, making her feel so uncomfortable that she almost vomited.

She quickly took out the bread crumbs Chen Yi had given her yesterday and stuffed them into her mouth, chewing and swallowing them to barely suppress the discomfort in her stomach.

After confirming that the flowerpot had turned "red," Anjie, biting into bread crumbs, turned around and sat back down on her matchbox bed, head down, stuffing bread into her mouth while pondering what to do next.

They currently have no idea when the toad will appear, or how to follow the toad to the next plot point—but these are not the key concerns they should be worried about right now.

Their most pressing concern now is how to avoid falling into a deep sleep like they did last night.

Yes, asleep.

Anjie slept very soundly last night, and almost woke up to find it was already dawn.

Anjie even saw her legs dangling out of the match bed in a strange position.

I've always been a good sleeper, so there's no possibility that I would twist my sleeping position in the middle of the night—this can only mean that my adoptive mother chose me when she came in to select people last night.

Anjie had witnessed firsthand the violence her adoptive mother inflicted on her after choosing someone; the way she was violently thrown and tossed around made it impossible for her to still be sleeping so soundly.

This discovery instantly banished any lingering sleepiness from Anjie's mind.

She sat on the match bed for a long time before getting off and walking towards the flowerpot.

Unconsciously falling into a deep sleep and unable to sense external forces... Could this also mean that Gao Zhen's corpse last night, like Xiao Nan's corpse before, has become monstrous and is bewitching the living?

Is it because everyone is sleeping soundly that there is no movement?

Anjie's head ached a little. She hissed softly and rubbed her throbbing temples.

Tonight is a likely time for the toads to appear, and they absolutely cannot fall asleep, no matter what method they use.

Who knows how the players will be treated by their foster mother after Thumbelina, the protagonist, is taken away by the toad?

Judging from Anjie's guess, their only fate is death.

Well, the main characters are all gone. It's only because the adoptive mother was kind and benevolent that these outsiders weren't torn apart by her.

How can we stop falling asleep...? They were all wide awake the past two nights, what went wrong?

Anjie's mind, which was constantly pondering various clues and plot points, suddenly went blank.

and many more.

There are differences.

These three days... were different.

Anjie lowered her eyes and took out a plastic bottle filled with one-third milk from her system backpack.

The milky white milk in the plastic bottle swayed slowly with her movements, churning layer by layer, and you could even faintly smell the fresh aroma of milk.

It's milk.

They drank water for the past two days.

I only drank milk yesterday.

Only yesterday did they all sleep so soundly.

In a short time, Anjie slowly tightened her grip on the plastic bottle, which made a "crunching" sound that made one's teeth ache.

Not far away, Fang Youhua stared at An Jie's back with a pale face, his gaze lingering for a moment on the plastic bottle of milk in her hand.

There's something wrong with the milk.

Fang Youhua quickly realized this possibility.

If there were no problem with the milk, Anjie wouldn't be so angry.

Fang Youhua has always had a very strong perception of human emotions—this is closely related to her innate skills.

As someone with the innate skill of "rebound," Fang Youhua is able to perceive the emotions of all kinds of creatures, including affection, flattery, and anger.

For example, Anjie now.

Ange was angry, worried, and even a little... barely perceptible fear.

Ange... is in fear.

Fang Youhua rubbed her cold face, stared at An Jie's back for a few seconds in confusion, and then looked away.

A few minutes after she looked away, she heard rustling sounds coming from the match bed not far away.

A few minutes later, Yang Hua sat up from the match bed, irritably ran his hand through his messy hair, and squinted at Fang Youhua who was sitting there.

"Sister Fang."

Yang Hua had just woken up and her drowsiness was quickly dispelled by the fright. She instinctively greeted, "Good morning."

"You too."

Fang Youhua nodded, considered her words carefully, and then sat down next to Yang Hua.

"If it's still milk today, then don't drink it."

Yang Hua rubbed his sore eyelids vigorously, and upon hearing this, exclaimed in surprise, "Ah!" not quite understanding:

Why? Milk provides more energy to the body.

Yang Hua wasn't stupid. Most of the players who could enter the guild competition weren't idiots. She quickly realized what was going on, and her face turned deathly pale.

"Sister Fang..." Yang Hua swallowed hard and whispered:

"Cow, the milk is here, but is there a problem?"

The suspicion that the milk was problematic was like a blow to Yang Hua's head; she said in disbelief:

"How could there be a problem with the milk? That shouldn't be possible. My foster mother wouldn't put drugs in the goat's milk, would she? Oh my god, if my foster mother really did put drugs in the milk, wouldn't that mean—"

"Keep your voice down."

Fang Youhua interrupted Yang Hua's fear and whispered, "Our initial suspicion is that it's just a little bit of medicine that can make us sleep very soundly at night. Of course, we can't rule out that it's a game instance setting. We can let it go last night, but we can't sleep so soundly tonight."

Yang Hua's eyes widened: "Tonight? Tonight, maybe the toad will come—"

"Shhh."

Fang Youhua quickly covered Yang Hua's mouth, frowning, "Don't shout so loudly."

Yang Hua nodded quickly, and after Fang Youhua withdrew her hand, he adjusted his tone and lowered his voice to say:

"Then, what should we do, Sister Fang?"

Fang Youhua pondered for a moment and said, "Let's pretend we don't know anything, let's pretend we have no idea that the toad might come tonight."

"what?"

Yang Hua was taken aback. "Sister Fang, are you afraid they'll hear if you're 'alive'?"

"That's not there."

Fang Youhua shook her head and said, "The main thing is that we have to pretend to know and then see what they plan to do."

Yang Hua: "..."

Yang Hua's heart was pounding. She glanced cautiously at the newly formed "Living" guild not far away, swallowed hard, and whispered:

"This, this isn't quite right... This isn't a good thing... We, we're not in a competition, it was supposed to be a competition..."

"Then go find it yourself."

Fang Youhua's gentle voice came over.

Yang Hua fell silent instantly.

Fang Youhua ignored her little thoughts, lowered her head and silently counted the usable items in her system inventory, then let out a long sigh.

If she could, why wouldn't she want to win fair and square?

But it's all fate, fate that determines whether she can be "resurrected"...

--------

After Chen Yi and the others woke up, An Jie quickly pulled them aside and finished explaining her guesses. She then scanned everyone's faces and finally said:

"If it's still milk today, then don't drink it. If we don't wake up tonight, then we're all out."

"……I agree."

He Lingling yawned and held out her hand in agreement: "I don't like drinking milk either, so it's okay if I don't drink it."

"If there's something wrong with it, who would still drink it?"

Xu Han rolled her eyes. "I'm not drinking."

Yu Shijiu blinked her eyes obediently and said, "I'll listen to Sister An."

“Shi Jiu is right,” Chen Yi, the ever-friendly man, still had that cheerful expression. “Listen to you, Sister An, we won’t drink it. Besides, this milk doesn’t taste very good. Yesterday I even wondered if it had been sitting for several days, because the taste had started to look a bit strange…”

Seeing that Chen Yi was about to talk about popular science about food, He Lingling quickly changed the subject:

"By the way, will today's food still be bread? If it is, we need to grab more. I remember there wasn't much food on our escape route at the next plot point."

“It should still be bread,” Yu Shijiu was the first to be swayed. He licked his lips, feeling a little hungry. “Bread is delicious too.”

Xu Han complained, "It's definitely bread. With my foster mother's stingy ways, what good food could she possibly give us? I don't believe she'll bring anything delicious today. Yesterday, she treated even a blade of grass like a treasure to Thumbelina—"

Xu Han's eyes lit up when he mentioned this meal.

Yu Shijiu turned to look at him, tilting her head in confusion.

That foxtail grass, isn't it a good thing? Why is Brother Han suddenly saying that?

"Oh right, right!"

Xu Han hurriedly pulled the foxtail grass out of his system inventory and said urgently:

"I was thinking of saying this last night, this foxtail grass is a good thing, it can heal, it's a tool that can heal the pollution situation in Gao Town yesterday!"

The moment Xu Han finished speaking, He Lingling, An Jie, and Chen Yi's expressions changed.

"Can it treat pollution like that in Gaozhen?"

He Lingling's eyes widened. "How did you get it?"

"Um," Xu Han looked at Yu Shijiu somewhat guiltily and whispered, "I didn't get it, Shijiu got it..."

"..."

Facing the gazes cast upon him by An Jie and the other two, Yu Shijiu nodded, then shook his head:

"Thumbelina didn't seem to like this foxtail grass, so I just picked it up to take a look."

The implication is that Thumbelina didn't like the foxtail grass her foster mother gave her at all, and turned a blind eye to letting them take it.

"..."

Anjie and the other two remained silent for a long time before He Lingling broke the silence and said:

"Let's keep it for now. We can't predict what we'll encounter in the next storyline. Since we can get it and it can only be used within this instance, it means we're likely to encounter a situation like Gao Zhen's later on."

Anjie: "Lingling is right. Since Shi Jiu got the foxtail grass in the first place, Xiao Han, give the prop to Shi Jiu to keep."

Xu Han responded and handed the foxtail grass to Yu Shijiu.

Yu Shijiu looked at the foxtail grass in front of her in surprise, frowned and shook her head: "I don't think I need it."

"You got it first," Chen Yi said with a smile, patting his shoulder. "Take it, Shi Jiu. Everyone's fighting over props, so why are you refusing to take it?"

"I have the props."

Yu Shijiu shook his head and looked at the three of them seriously, saying:

"I still have several items that I haven't used much, which is enough for now. Since the effect of foxtail grass is to awaken corrupted players... Sister An and Brother Chen, who do you think is the most susceptible to corruption among us?"

"..."

Xu Han, suddenly becoming the center of attention, jumped up instantly and said angrily:

"Damn it! Why are you all looking at me like that?! I'm really not afraid of... I'm not that afraid of ghosts anymore, okay?!"

He Lingling raised an eyebrow, her words carrying a hidden meaning: "Yes, yes, you're not afraid, you're not afraid—"

"He Lingling!!!"

Xu Han glared at her angrily and growled, his face flushed red:

"Don't forget the last time you went blind, I was the one who carried you to escape the monsters chasing us!"

He Lingling choked: "..."

She really couldn't refute that. In the "Fuling Hotel" instance, Xu Han wasn't actually that afraid of monsters... In fact, she survived only because Xu Han stayed by her side and wouldn't let go even if it meant death...

He Lingling felt a rare pang of self-reproach, but she didn't show it on her face.

Hmm... suddenly showing goodwill would be too much of a departure from his aloof persona.

He Lingling coughed lightly, ignoring the look Xu Han gave her through gritted teeth.

"Stop arguing," Anjie said, trying to break up the fight with a mix of amusement and exasperation. "Xiao Han has indeed made great progress, but the props were ultimately found by Shi Jiu—"

“It’s okay,” Yu Shijiu interrupted An Jie, “Give it to Brother Han. Brother Han is our most important healing player. Ensuring his safety will allow us to have no worries.”

Xu Han, who was just about to refuse, was speechless.

Xu Han was overjoyed by the compliment, his lips practically curling into a wide smile. He looked at Yu Shijiu with a grin, head held high, and said:

"Shi Jiu is right. I, Xu Han, as the only healing player among us, really have to ensure my own safety, haha, and try my best to avoid any harm or contamination! After all, if any of you accidentally get injured, you'll still have to rely on me..."