Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 879 The Sound in the Soil

That sudden thought about "staying forever" pierced Thumbelina's chaotic thoughts like an icicle, bringing a sharp pain and an unprecedented clarity.

Didn't I just arrive last night?

Why... why do I feel like I've been here for a very, very long time?

So long that... it almost became part of this eerie cave?

Thumbelina's hand holding the broom trembled slightly as her gaze swept blankly across the dark and oppressive main room.

The candles hanging on the wall, the pungent, rotten smell in the air, and the soft, cold earth beneath her feet... all of this was so familiar that it belatedly made her feel suffocated.

This feeling wasn't like spending a night in a strange place; it was more like... having repeated countless days and nights here, to the point that it was almost erasing all memory of the "outside world"...

"Shi Jiu..."

Thumbelina murmured unconsciously, her voice carrying a panic she herself was unaware of.

Yu Shijiu was wiping a stool made of twisted tree roots when he heard this and turned his head.

"how--"

His voice trailed off when he saw Thumbelina's pale face.

In the candlelight, Thumbelina's eyes were no longer a complex mix of fear and dependence, but rather a deeper horror stemming from cognitive confusion.

"What's wrong?" He put down the "rag" in his hand and walked over.

"I...I feel like something's not right..."

Thumbelina was rambling incoherently, gripping Yu Shijiu's arm tightly, her fingertips icy cold.

"Time...time seems off...I feel like I've stayed here for more than one night...I feel like I've been here for a long time..."

Yu Shijiu's eyes flickered slightly.

Have you lived here for a long time?

Has Thumbelina's consciousness malfunctioned again? Or... is this hole distorting Thumbelina's perception?

Yu Shijiu thought of the candles on the wall that would automatically refresh, and of the old field mouse's seemingly recurring "eat" and "clean" commands from last night and today.

Is this not just about getting them to work, but also a form of... subtle assimilation?

Why do I feel like I've been here for a long time?

Yu Shijiu felt a bit of a headache. He hated things that were roundabout and required thinking, so he asked:

"Didn't we run away from that pond with the toad together? How come it feels like we've been here for so long?"

Thumbelina tried hard to recall what she heard, her brows furrowing tightly, and a look of pain and confusion appearing on her face.

“I…I remember…I remember all of this, we ran away from the pond together…and then, then it started snowing, and we went together to knock on the field mice’s doors…before that…before that…”

As she spoke, Thumbelina's voice grew softer and softer. She felt as if her memories were shrouded in a thick fog, and everything about "before" was somewhat blurry at this moment. Only the details of life in the burrow (especially the food and the humming outside the door last night) were exceptionally clear.

"Don't force yourself if you can't remember."

Yu Shijiu stopped Thumbelina's increasingly distorted face by patting the back of her hand and pretending not to see her ever-growing eyes.

“The important thing is now,” Yu Shijiu said. “Don’t you think the timing is wrong? Then let’s find a way to confirm it.”

After saying that, Yu Shijiu looked up at the burning candle on the wall:

"These candles might just be a marker."

He also remembered that He Lingling hadn't given a very clear guess.

The refreshing of candles may represent a certain cycle.

If Thumbelina's perception of time was indeed distorted, then the burning of the candle is likely the only "timer" that can serve as evidence.

Although Yu Shijiu didn't understand how to tell how many times the candle had been refreshed from the candle... that didn't stop him from fooling Thumbelina.

“We can keep track of how many candles have burned,” Yu Shijiu said in a low voice. “We can ask Anjie and the others when we meet them.”

Yu Shijiu quickly shifted the blame onto An Jie and the others.

Thumbelina nodded, seemingly understanding.

Yu Shijiu's calm attitude calmed her panicked and helpless heart a little.

She subconsciously followed Yu Shijiu's gaze to the candle, the flickering flame reflecting a faint yellow light in her strangely shaped eyes.

Is it enough to just focus on how long the candle burns?

The two lowered their heads again and continued cleaning the main room.

Most of the main room had been cleaned. Yu Shijiu glanced back at Thumbelina squatting on the ground sweeping the dust from the corner of the wall, then quickly looked at the cabinet with its doors tightly closed.

He hesitated for a moment, the look in He Lingling and Chen Yi's eyes before they left flashing through his mind—hmm, Brother Chen and Sister Lingling must be telling him to look for clues carefully.

Yu Shijiu, who deliberately misinterpreted the meaning of Chen He's glances, felt no guilt whatsoever. She strode to the cabinet and pulled the door handle without even hesitating.

Just then, a faint rustling sound, like countless tiny claws crawling on the soil, came from all directions.

The sound was very soft, almost imperceptible, yet it sent chills down the spines of both the person and the NPC in the main room.

Thumbelina in the corner stiffened, the fear that had just subsided surging back up. She nervously looked around, her voice trembling:

"They're...they're here again...they're here again..."

Yu Shijiu heard it too.

This time, the sound wasn't as focused and targeted as the humming outside the door last night; it was more like... background noise throughout the entire cave?

He remembered what Thumbelina had said earlier.

It took... a very long time...

Could it be that this old field mouse's territory is filled with countless unseen, small, singing monsters that cling to the soil and darkness?

They are asleep during the day, but they are awakened when the "bait" (Thumbelina) has a drastic mood swing.

And at this moment, is the old field mouse that He Lingling and the others called away still using Thumbelina and those "foods" to control these things that have not yet shown themselves?

"fine."

Yu Shijiu pulled the Thumbelina who had run over closer to her, her eyes scanning excitedly in the direction from which the sound came. "They seem to be just 'watching' us right now."

—Of course, it would be great if these things came out.

Thumbelina gripped his clothes tightly again, just like she had the night before.

The rustling sounds around us gradually subsided, as if the things hidden in the darkness were lying dormant again.

Thumbelina's grip on the hem of her clothes loosened a little.

Have they all left?

she thinks.