Infinite: Dawn Game

Chapter 701 Cooking

Players who are completely corrupted and unable to possess personal rationality can only become newly added "goat-headed NPCs" within game instances.

Zhu Ge and Xu Han didn't dare to speak, hiding in the dark corner, using the stacked iron barrels to conceal themselves.

Dong-dong-dong——

When heavy, hurried footsteps sounded in front of the cafeteria, Xu Han and Brother Zhu saw the faces of the people who came through the gaps in the iron buckets.

It's Akin.

Ajin's face looked pale at that moment—a strange kind of pale, with a bluish-purple tinge, more like the color of poisoning—and then the two watched as Ajin quickly took the wine pouch from his waist, tilted his head back and gulped down several mouthfuls before stopping.

"...Ha...Hoo..."

Ah Jin's rapid breathing could be heard from the doorway. His pale and bluish-purple complexion quickly returned to normal, and he regained his dark and honest appearance.

"..."

Xu Han and Brother Zhu felt their scalps tingle and their skin tingle and swell. Goosebumps quickly spread from their necks all over their bodies.

Ah Jin outside the door seemed to be in a daze, or perhaps thinking about something. After a brief pause, Xu Han saw him glance into the cafeteria several times before leaving.

"……call."

Xu Han let out a shallow breath, her face flushed red, "What's going on? Why did he stay at the door for so long..."

I was so scared that I didn't dare to breathe loudly, for fear of being discovered...

Zhu Ge's gaze remained fixed on the area outside the cafeteria, and it took him a long time to speak—"Was that drink something you gave me?"

"..." Xu Han's face stiffened, and he nodded hesitantly: "Yes, right? I think so. He is the crew NPC who took me and Shi Jiu to milk goats a few days ago."

"...Only his appearance hasn't changed."

Brother Zhu whispered, "That's strange. Why is it that only his appearance hasn't changed? Is it because of the goat milk?"

“Definitely.” Xu Han nodded. “Goat milk can restore one’s sanity. The hoofed body and goat horns and eyes can disappear. Ah Jin must have drunk goat milk to avoid being completely corrupted—”

Xu Han suddenly stopped speaking, staring in horror at Zhu Ge's solemn expression, like a duck whose neck had been stopped.

"...You, you mean...is..."

Xu Han couldn't quite organize his thoughts for the rest of the sentence—or rather, he was too afraid to continue.

“He looks like just an ordinary NPC,” Zhu Ge’s voice was hoarse, “but this NPC actually knows that drinking goat milk can prevent contamination by goats…”

"Do you think this is right, Xu Han?"

Xu Han swallowed hard and stammered, "Definitely, that's not right."

As an ordinary NPC in the dungeon, why would Ajin know that drinking goat milk would prevent him from being contaminated... and why would he try so hard to stay rational and clear-headed?

This doesn't conform to the normal positioning concept of NPCs in dungeons at all.

No, no, no, no…

The word "no" kept repeating itself in Xu's brain, like living words constantly shuttling through his chaotic nerves—stimulating his mind to a complete blank.

Something's wrong with Ah Jin.

A huge, red exclamation mark appeared in Xu Han's mind as if it possessed sentience, and he involuntarily took a step back—

Brother Zhu caught him by the arm with lightning speed.

"careful!"

Zhu Ge's hoarse, urgent voice cut through the red exclamation mark in Xu Han's head like a knife—"There's a knife behind you!"

"!"

Xu Han's chaotic thoughts were jolted back to reality by those words. He turned around in a panic and saw the machete that had fallen out of the cabinet behind him at some point. The blade, gleaming with a faint silver light, was so bright in the dim light that it hurt the eyes.

It was so close... so close! If Brother Zhu hadn't grabbed him, his back would have been pierced by that machete, he would have been injured and bleeding...

Xu Han shivered and staggered as Zhu Ge pulled him back to another corner.

"This knife..."

Xu Han continued to stare intently at the gleaming machete, muttering, "Impossible, this machete wasn't here when we came in."

He remembered it clearly.

There is no such machete.

When did the machete fall down?

Was it when Akin appeared, or when Akin left?

“It must have been misplaced,” Zhu Ge’s words cleared up his doubts and fears: “I just saw it fall through the gap in the cabinet, and I don’t know why the sound was so quiet.”

Some things in the game's dungeons are simply "dead ends" crudely set up by Dawn Games—or you could say, bloody settings designed to create a sense of fear.

Without any source or reason, this pure, childlike malice is impossible to explain.

Xu Han is currently in this state.

He sensed the game's deep malice towards him.

Xu Han hugged himself helplessly, and in his mind, he cursed Dawn Games from every angle several times.

Xu Han's complexion finally improved after his anger subsided.

This game is trash; it lacks any sense of sportsmanship.

Completely unaware that being occasionally targeted by the game is considered "child's play" in Dawn of the game.

As for the other players who were occasionally targeted brutally by Dawn Games... which one of them didn't end up with missing limbs or even losing their lives?

After observing that his condition had improved, Zhu Ge continued, "I think there's something wrong with A Jin's condition."

Brother Zhu: "He looks completely different from those NPCs who are easily corrupted and assimilated."

An NPC with self-awareness, self-resistance, and a desire to find goat milk to alleviate the suppression of contamination... Is an NPC with this kind of consciousness really just an ordinary NPC?

Zhu Ge disagreed, and just as he was about to continue speaking, several heavy, suppressed footsteps sounded again at the entrance of the cafeteria.

A familiar male voice sounded from outside the door—"Have you hired someone to cook?"

It's Wang Ji.

"Have."

Another deep male voice said, "As and I are cooking today."

"it is good."

Wang Ji's voice sounded weak, and Xu Han thought it was because he had just fought with Brother Wu.

"Let's make it better," Wang Ji continued, "Everyone has been busy for so many days. Now that it's no longer raining, we can return to port at any time. Let's make something nice for everyone to relax and rejuvenate."

"Thank you, Brother Wang."

"No need to thank me," Wang Ji coughed. "I still have to go find Brother Wu. You guys go ahead and make your meal quickly, everyone will be here to eat soon."

"Okay, Brother Wang."

"..."

As Wang Ji's footsteps, weak and unsteady due to his injury, gradually faded into the distance, two other heavy footsteps belonging to other NPCs finally entered the cafeteria.