Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 816 Dragon-Slaying Girl?

"Alright, alright."

"Stop showing off your mediocre knowledge," He Lingling rolled her eyes and said quickly, "Well, I'll tell you, the 'Ghost Eye' was activated for a short while just now, not very powerfully, and only revealed some information about the toads' past."

He Lingling spoke quickly, swiftly recounting the scene she had perceived using her "Ghost Eyes," her brow furrowing deeper and deeper:

"I find it a bit strange. After all, based on what I saw, if the toad's mother is a stepmother, then it can only be the human girl that the old toad stole back in the scenes I saw..."

"..."

The expressions of the four people, including Yu Shijiu, became somewhat solemn.

Anjie: "Can you confirm that they are the same product category?"

She paused for a moment, then continued, "It's about that human girl and the mother toad who were stolen."

"...My initial assessment is that they are the same person."

He Lingling hesitated for a few seconds before nodding: "Although it sounds a bit unrealistic—"

"I feel so too."

Yu Shijiu suddenly interrupted, leaning closer and saying:

"I've been wondering something strange lately. Why do the female toads seem more mature and composed than the younger ones? Um, I guess that's a valid way to put it? I mean, do the female toads actually remind me more of humans?"

After Yu Shijiu finished speaking, she knelt down on the flower stamen and whispered, "And you?"

"..."

The four of them were silent for a few seconds. Xu Han scratched his head and nodded, "...Actually, I also think it's like someone."

“…” Anjie took a deep breath and asked, “…”

"So here's the problem we're facing: why did the stolen human girls turn into toads, and... if all stolen humans turn into toads for some reason we don't know, what are we, the group of people who were also stolen by toads, supposed to do?"

"..." Upon hearing this, He Lingling's face turned a little pale. In fact, she was somewhat hesitant, and a possibility kept repeating in her mind.

If... her guess is true, then they...

"Sister Lingling."

Yu Shijiu suddenly spoke up, looking at He Lingling's pale face, he narrowed his eyes and said:

"Have you guessed something?"

From the beginning, Yu Shijiu felt that He Lingling's overall condition seemed a bit off.

It felt a bit like fear, and a bit like hesitation, as if afraid that my thoughts were wrong.

Upon hearing this, An Jie and Xu Han's gazes immediately fell on He Lingling's face.

He Lingling felt a chill run down her spine from being stared at. After hesitating for a long time, she finally spoke up.

"I suspect it's related to marriage."

After speaking out, He Lingling was noticeably more relaxed. She was just worried that her wrong guess would lead An Jie and the others to think the wrong way, but at the moment there were almost no other possibilities. Perhaps... perhaps her guess was true?

“The human girl didn’t look much different when she was first stolen,” He Lingling said. “She was probably gradually assimilated by the toads.”

"..." Xu Han sniffed, "Why does this process sound a little familiar?"

Yu Shijiu asked curiously, "Familiar? How so?"

"...a little bit."

Xu Han hesitated and said:

“When I was in junior high school, I watched a documentary with my mom. It was one of those mockumentaries that looked real but was actually staged.”

He Lingling and An Jie were also intrigued: "What kind?"

Xu Han recalled somewhat embarrassedly, and said, "It was roughly about a teenage girl who was trafficked to a small mountain village. At first, she went on a hunger strike, crying and begging, then she was insulted and abused... In the end, she compromised and lived with all the villagers in that small mountain village, and even, even..."

Xu Han was speechless as he thought about the ending he had seen back then.

"Even what?"

He Lingling was extremely anxious. Her pupils, which had only recently returned to normal, seemed to be dilating again, which frightened Xu Han, who quickly said:

"Don't get excited, don't get excited. In the end, the ending is that the trafficked girl is completely assimilated by her environment, and even begins to 'tame' the innocent girls who have been trafficked, along with the villagers..."

Xu Han's voice was very soft, and it trembled slightly, yet it sent a cold sweat down the backs of all three of them.

Yu Shijiu had the mildest symptoms, but she still frowned, and her habitual smile disappeared.

He Lingling asked somewhat awkwardly, "So this is some kind of horror story about a dragon-slaying girl who ends up becoming a dragon herself?"

Xu Han choked, then retorted, "What dragon-slaying girl? This isn't a dragon-slaying boy—"

"Almost, almost," He Lingling's heart was pounding, which made her tone a little harsh. "Teenage is a general term for both young girls and young boys. I told you you're illiterate and to read more books, but you wouldn't listen."

Xu Han was furious: "You! Do you think I don't know? I'm talking about how this phrase is used in real-world online contexts—"

"Were the girls who were trafficked in the documentary teenagers?"

He Lingling retorted, "You can just say whether it's right or not."

Xu Han choked: "...Well, that is indeed true."

"So is there something wrong with the saying 'The girl who slays the dragon eventually becomes the dragon herself'?"

"...No, no."

"Alright, talk less in the future."

Xu Han: "..."

He was dying. He felt that if he stayed with He Lingling for a few more days, he might shorten his lifespan, and not just by a day or two.

Anjie ignored He Lingling and Xu Han's bickering, and after her gaze lingered for a few seconds on He Lingling's trembling hands hanging on her knees, she moved away without making a sound.

"Shi Jiu".

Anjie turned to look at Yu Shijiu, who seemed lost in thought, and asked, "What do you think?"

Yu Shijiu snapped out of his daze, met An Jie's gaze, and honestly said, "I feel very sad."

Anjie was taken aback.

sad?

She hadn't expected Yu Shijiu to reply with those two words.

"sad?"

Anjie repeated Xia Yu Shijiu's words, "Why are you sad?"

"Because she is no longer herself."

Yu Shijiu's tone was very calm, so calm that the furrowed brows he had just furrowed seemed to be the illusion of the three of them.

"She is... no longer herself?"

Xu Han silently repeated it, then pursed his lips.

He Lingling looked up at Yu Shijiu.

When Yu Shijiu is quiet and not smiling, his age is not very obvious, and even his usually curved eyebrows and eyes look somewhat handsome and indifferent.

He was quite different from the boy who usually had a well-behaved smile.

"I think so."

Yu Shijiu lowered his eyes, gradually fleshing out the image of a trafficked girl in his mind. As he connected the girl's experiences after being trafficked, his voice was surprisingly calm.

"Sister Lingling just said, 'The girl who slays the dragon ends up becoming the dragon herself'? That statement doesn't really apply to the girl in the documentary."

Yu Shijiu: "She didn't have any chance to raise the knife, or rather, maybe she did, but were her limbs broken? Or was her tongue cut out?"

“I’m sorry, that’s just my personal guess,” Yu Shijiu smiled, but there was no sign of relaxation between her brows. “That’s why I say she can’t slay the dragon at all.”

"She was merely a 'beast' forcibly assimilated in an environment of oppression, abuse, and insults."

"livestock?!"

Xu Han's eyes widened in disbelief that Yu Shijiu would use this word to describe a pitiful, abducted girl. "How could it be livestock—"

"Brother Han."

Yu Shijiu looked at him: "I don't think she's 'livestock,' and neither do you. Of course, I believe Sister An, Sister Lingling, and even Brother Chen wouldn't think so... but what I meant was—the people in that small mountain village think she's 'livestock.'"

Xu Han was momentarily stunned: "..."

Anjie's gaze paused involuntarily.

He Lingling's wildly beating heart and the spreading pain in the corner of her eye seemed to be briefly soothed and calmed down by something unseen.

“Yes,” He Lingling said in a low voice, “Only animals are traded. In the eyes of those villagers, the value of the female protagonist in the documentary is no different from that of the cows that farm, the dogs that guard the house, and the cats that catch mice at home.

“Perhaps there is a slight difference,” Yu Shijiu said. “Humans are a bit more expensive than real animals.”

"..."

Xu Han's spirits completely collapsed. He couldn't help but lean closer to Yu Shijiu and whispered, "...I...I feel a little uneasy listening to this."

"Huh?" Yu Shijiu was taken aback. "Was what I said really that scary?"

He Lingling and An Jie: "..."

“It’s alright,” Anjie said first, “It’s mainly because I feel the female protagonist is too pitiful.”

Xu Han nodded frantically, "Yes, yes! They're still alive, what's the point of them being alive—"

Why not live?

Yu Shijiu looked at Xu Han in surprise and asked, puzzled, "It's normal for her to want to live, right? Who doesn't want to live? Especially since she was so young when she was abducted. Oh, by the way, how old is she, Brother Han?"

Xu Han felt like his throat was stuffed with a sponge. He felt that these words coming from Yu Shijiu's mouth were really breaking his image—Yu Shijiu, do you even remember who was the one who was always courting death as soon as they entered Dawn Game?!

Despite his hesitation, Xu Han replied, "Nineteen years old."

“He’s a year older than me,” Yu Shijiu said naturally, “He’s still very young. It’s normal that he doesn’t want to die. Life has just begun.”

Even He Lingling and An Jie couldn't help but look at Yu Shijiu with strange eyes.

Yu Shijiu is a representative of those who are reckless and young and court death... Does he really know what he just said?

"Don't look at me like that," Yu Shijiu said calmly, accepting all gazes. "I don't want to die now."

"..."

"Cough cough cough-"

Anjie and the other two were choked by these extremely frank words, and they coughed with their mouths covered, their faces turning red.

On another lotus flower, Thumbelina, lying on the stamen and gazing at the sky with her eyes open, listened to the suppressed conversations and coughs not far away. She turned her body with a mixture of unease and envy.

...I'm so envious.

Thumbelina quietly watched the four people whispering to each other through the gaps in the petals, and bit her lower lip.

I'm so envious... so envious that they have people to talk to and chat with...

So envious, so envious, so envious, so envious...

Thumbelina stared at the four people on the lotus flower, her heart pounding through her thin skin below her chest.

She lowered her head, clutched her chest, felt the rhythm of her heartbeat, and slowly closed her eyes.

At that moment, Thumbelina seemed to understand the envy, jealousy, and hatred of her "sisters."

So this is what it feels like to be so uncomfortable, sad, and bittersweet?

Thumbelina curled up, wrapping herself into a circle, and gradually fell asleep.

-

"But that doesn't make sense either?!"

Xu Han finally found the problem and quickly said:

"The protagonist was eventually assimilated and became just like those villagers."

"correct."

Yu Shijiu looked at him in confusion, "So it's possible for human girls to be assimilated into toads by the toads, isn't it?"

Xu Han: "..."

Xu Han's face instantly turned a deep purplish-red, then turned deathly pale after realizing the hidden meaning behind Yu Shijiu's words.

"Wait, wait a minute, so it's not a wedding?"

"maybe."

Yu Shijiu licked his dry lips and looked at He Lingling: "Sister Lingling, what do you think?"

He Lingling nodded in agreement. "Yes, documentaries are meant for an audience, so they'll definitely take a long time to allow viewers to empathize with the protagonist's painful fate. But our situation is quite different from the protagonist's. It's highly likely that marriage will be used as a medium to 'assimilate' us."

He Lingling spoke slower and slower. The mere thought of being assimilated into a toad sent chills down her spine, not to mention the possibility of eventually losing her self-awareness and becoming nothing more than an animal driven by the instinct for reproduction.

The mere thought of such a possibility is disgusting; it's more terrifying than death.

Xu Han was also disgusted, and slapped the goosebumps on his arm hard. "My God, this is even worse than—"

"Xiaohan."

Anjie slapped Xu Han on the back and said coldly:

"Don't say certain things all the time, to avoid making a self-fulfilling prophecy, understand?"

Xu Han yelped as he was slapped, wincing and hiding behind Yu Shijiu. "Shijiu! Ouch...it hurts so much, my back, my back, it hurts so much..."

Yu Shijiu subconsciously took his arm, "Does it hurt a lot? But I saw that Sister An patted it very gently, how could it hurt so much..."

Xu Han choked up: "Shi Jiu! Whose side are you on?"

Yu Shijiu looked bewildered: "Me? Me? Of course I'm on my own side."

Xu Han: "..."

Anjie pursed her lips, trying to suppress a laugh.

"Stop howling."

He Lingling was amused by Xu Han's joking manner and felt compelled to contradict him again:

"They keep howling and howling without getting tired."

Xu Han: "Hey, that just means I'm in good health. You try howling a couple of times? You'd be exhausted after just one howl, wouldn't you?"

He Lingling feigned anger: "Say that again?"

Xu Han: "I knew it..."

"..."

The two whispered and bickered for a while, occasionally interspersed with Yu Shijiu's bewildered words of advice. An Jie looked up at the sunlight, glanced at He Lingling and Xu Han's trembling hands and legs, and then cleared her throat.

"Since everything's alright, I'll head back now."

The chaotic conversation between the three people instantly ceased.

Yu Shijiu returned to her usual well-behaved state, blinked, and nodded.

"Ok."

After saying that, she sighed at He Lingling and Xu Han, "Stop arguing, look, even Sister An has been driven away by the noise."