Infinite: Dawn Game

Who is the final boss in Chapter 914?

What does "concentrate" mean?

Yu Shijiu thought for a moment and then changed his words, saying, "You could say it's more intense, a bit like an enhanced version of that hidden cave."

He Lingling: "..."

He Lingling suddenly felt like she was having trouble breathing.

Enhanced version... This sounds like they're going to a monster's lair in a cave to fight a boss.

Could I really be that unlucky?

The stairs seemed endless, descending, descending, ever descending, as if leading to the Earth's core.

The further they went, the colder the air became. The sweet, rotten smell even began to mix with a rusty, bloody odor, and a... subtle, whimpering echo, as if countless women were weeping at the same time.

The more He Lingling listened, the more wary she became.

These women's voices... all belong to "Thumbelina".

Finally, the "Thumbelina" in front of us stopped.

At the end of the stairs was a space slightly larger than the hidden cave that Yu Shijiu had discovered before.

There were no candles here, only the faint green light from the hand of "Thumbelina" that led them here, which barely illuminated the space they were in.

Before the two could look at anything else, their eyes were immediately drawn to the ground where "Thumbelina" was standing not far away.

Scattered at Thumbelina's feet are even more numerous, densely packed straw bracelets, some new, some old, many completely rotten, mixed with the filthy soil.

In the center of the bracelet were also human-shaped, small, pale skeletons, far more numerous than those Yu Shijiu had seen last time.

Some of the skeletons even appeared in extremely contorted positions, as if they had experienced great pain before death.

In the center of the cave, instead of hanging chunks of meat, there was...

He Lingling gasped and covered her mouth.

It was a small bed made up of countless tiny bones, broken clothing fibers, dried blood and mud, and tangled black hair...

A human-shaped figure was sitting on the bed.

It had the outline of Thumbelina, wearing a tattered pale yellow dress (the same color as the dress worn by the Thumbelina in the main room at this moment), but its "body" was made up of more pale bone fragments, wriggling dark red flesh buds, and thick black blood that were barely held together.

Its face had almost no features, only a smooth, waxy, pale skin, and on its head grew long, thick, messy black hair like withered grass.

What's most chilling is that this "human-shaped" woman is holding a head tightly in her arms.

That head was the very same one Yu Shijiu had seen in the blood-red swamp, embedded in the center of a chunk of flesh on the ceiling of a hidden cave—a woman's head with long, flowing hair and the same face as Thumbelina!

At this moment, the woman's eyes were tightly closed, her face was pale, but there was a strange, stiff smile on her lips.

Thumbelina, carrying a lantern, floated to the bed of bones and slowly knelt down. She stretched out her pale hand and gently stroked the knee of the faceless "human" figure on the bed, her movements filled with pain and sorrow.

Then, she turned her head and "looked" at Yu Shijiu and He Lingling with her empty eye sockets.

A hoarse, broken female voice, seemingly composed of countless faint sounds layered together, resounded directly in their minds:

“Look…this is ‘us’…all the ‘disobedient’, ‘failed to escape’, ‘disliked’ Thumbelinas…in the end…forming ‘me’…”

"They are the 'fragmented remains' of countless failed escapes... the 'meaningless waste' that has been discarded... the 'Thumbelinas' that have been forgotten..."

He Lingling felt a chill run down her spine. She understood the meaning behind the "Thumbelina's" words almost instantly. The cave they were in was the final resting place for all the "failed products" or the resentment and remains of the "disobedient" Thumbelinas.

That faceless "human figure" is a terrifying entity formed from the collective resentment of Thumbelina after her death, symbolizing the "failed elopement."

The woman's head might be a particularly strong individual among them, or one that was ultimately "left out," becoming a "monster" that could briefly appear in the player's sight within this aggregate.

Yu Shijiu narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the "faceless humanoid" in front of him.

Could it be... that this "faceless humanoid" is the final boss they all have to face?

Weren't they supposed to be dealing with moles?

"You...brought us here, what do you want to tell us?"

He Lingling suppressed her heart palpitations and tried her best to keep her voice steady.

"The truth...and...the choice..."

The voice of "Thumbelina" in my mind was intermittent and filled with pain.

"The field mice's 'food'... cannot be eaten... if eaten... it will belong here forever... we will be bound by gratitude to repay that kindness... you have... you have already made a mistake..."

"The swallow's 'medicine'... is a 'key'... and also... a path to... the next 'cage'..."

“The mole…the king…are all guards of the ‘cage’…they…they are all just…just a part of it…”

“Break...we must...destroy all the 'doors'…”

“You…have a ‘smell’…but…you are also ‘different’…perhaps…it’s possible…”

The voice of Thumbelina grew fainter and fainter, and the figure of Thumbelina kneeling before the throne began to become transparent and unstable, as if it were about to disappear.

She raised her hand and pointed at Yu Shijiu... or more accurately, at his left arm wrapped in bandages.

“Your ‘contamination’…is a ‘vulnerability’…use it…get close to the ‘core’…but…be careful…to be…assimilated…”

"If...if they were assimilated, then...*****"

"what?"

Yu Shijiu took a step forward and asked definitively, "What would happen if we were assimilated?"

Thumbelina did not respond to his words. Before she disappeared, she turned her gaze to He Lingling, or rather, to the old straw bracelet in He Lingling's sleeve.

“She…is still…here…help…help her…truly… ‘leave’…leave this place…”

Before she finished speaking, Thumbelina's figure, just like last night, vanished completely into the eerie green halo, like sand scattered by the wind.

The pale green lantern also went out.

The cave was plunged into darkness, with only the faceless aggregate on the bone bed and the woman's head with its eyes closed in its arms emitting a faint, ominous, dark red glow.

Dead silence.

Then, the woman's head that was being held slowly, very slowly, opened its eyes.

There were no pupils, only a chaotic white of the eye, swirling with bloodshot veins and bloody flocculent matter.

An invisible surge of violent, desperate, and overwhelming hatred mental energy erupted, sweeping towards Yu Shijiu and He Lingling like a tangible tsunami.

"Shi Jiu!"

He Lingling instinctively reached out to pull Yu Shijiu, who was closest to the woman's head, but this time the impact was far more intense and concentrated than any before.

Almost the next second—"Ugh—!"

He Lingling screamed, clutched her head, and instantly knelt on the ground. Blood seeped from her tightly closed eyes. At this moment, her "Ghost Eyes" were about to open on their own, out of control.

Yu Shijiu, who was closest to the man, groaned as the strip of cloth on his left arm ripped apart with a "rip" from the suddenly bulging hair and the violently writhing muscles underneath.

In an instant, the black and yellow hair grew wildly as if it were alive, spreading over his shoulders and invading his neck and cheeks.

Beneath the rampant hair growth, the "flesh buds" finally broke through the pores, turning into tiny, dark red, tentacle-like things that swayed slightly... vaguely resembling the cracks and blood vessels on the arms that Yu Shijiu had seen in the blood-red swamp.

But what's even more terrifying is that Yu Shijiu's consciousness seemed to be torn in two at this moment.

Half of it belonged to him, as he frantically fought against the mental shock and the monstrous killing intent roaring within his body.

The other half, on the other hand, seemed to be forcibly dragged into a cold, dark "abyss of consciousness" filled with countless tiny cries and chewing sounds.

—That is the lingering pain of all the “Thumbelinas who failed to escape marriage”.

And this intense "pain," almost enough to drive one to madness, is now trying to assimilate him, to pull him into that faceless humanoid form, and to become new nourishment through the contaminated connections on his arm.

"Lingling... Sister... Let's go!"

Half-conscious and half-mad, Yu Shijiu squeezed out these words through gritted teeth, his right hand gripping his wildly mutated left arm tightly, trying to stay awake through the pain.

In the dim light, his eyes were sometimes bloodshot and sometimes flashed with a murky yellow light.

He Lingling, kneeling on the ground, endured the excruciating pain that felt like her head was about to explode. Seeing Yu Shijiu's strange condition, blood slowly dripped down her cheeks.

She knew she had to do something, otherwise Yu Shijiu might be completely corrupted immediately, or have her mind crushed by that mental shock—if, if Yu Shijiu was truly completely "assimilated and corrupted"... then they—

At that moment, He Lingling closed her eyes.

"……open……"

She stopped suppressing herself and activated her innate skill.

At the same time, a system notification sounded in He Lingling's ear.

Player He Lingling has unlocked the talent skill: Ghost Eye.

He Lingling's blood and tears flowed more and more. When she opened her eyes again, her already ridiculously large black pupils filled her entire eye sockets. Her cold, pure black, emotionless eyes were fixed on the head of the woman with her eyes open on the bed of bones.

In an instant, the woman's frenzied mental attacks seemed to have found a more "obvious" target, and most of them turned to He Lingling.

The moment their eyes met, He Lingling trembled violently, her face turned ashen, and she vomited, blood gushing from her nose and throat.

But at the same time, countless fragmented, distorted, painful, and dark images flooded her mind like a burst dam—

In the dim burrow, the old field mouse "kindly" offered a bowl and spoon, and chuckled as he patted Thumbelina's head:

"Good child, it must be very cold outside, right? Come on, if you're cold, eat more. Once you have food in your belly, you won't feel cold anymore..."

Thumbelina nodded shyly, took the wooden bowl from the old field mouse, and began to eat some of the stewed, mushy broth with a wooden spoon... She didn't notice that as she ate, the old field mouse's smile grew wider and more eerie.

"Eat...eat...eat more...eat more..."

He Lingling heard the old field mouse's excited, muttered laughter.

"Once you've eaten... you have to listen to me... sleep in my bed, come into my home... you're my granddaughter... cute and beautiful Thumbelina... have a little more..."

Immediately following, after a dizzying cycle of eating, sleeping, and cleaning, Thumb Girl embarked on her first blind date.

Thumbelina nodded shyly and nervously to accept her first blind date... but she didn't like the mole, didn't like his rude behavior, and didn't like the way he always looked down on her like a "pet"... so Thumbelina found the old field mouse alone and told him that she didn't like the mole.

The smile on the usually kind and friendly old field mouse's face changed. It stared intently at Thumbelina, its gaze cold as if it were looking at a dead person.

"You don't like it?"

Thumbelina felt a pang of fear, but she nodded nonetheless and whispered, "Grandma... Mr. Mole and I aren't a good match—"

"Why is it inappropriate?"

The old field mouse interrupted her, his voice as cold as the winter wind, silencing Thumbelina's astonishment.

“You are my granddaughter,” the old field mouse stared at her with a familiar, “kind and gentle” smile. “Be good, good child. Don’t you listen to your grandmother anymore?”

Thumbelina began to back away in terror, but the old field mouse grabbed her arm and viciously dug his sharp claws into her flesh, causing blood to drip down and soak the dry muddy ground.

“Good child… listen to your grandmother,” said the old field mouse. “I have already accepted the field mouse’s betrothal gifts. You have to get married whether you like it or not… don’t forget.”

The old field mouse's smile began to crack, its sharp teeth slightly parted, and foul-smelling yellow saliva dripped down its chin, as if it wanted to completely suck her marrow from her bones.

"Good boy..."

The old field mouse gripped her thumb's arm even tighter with its claws, completely ignoring her increasingly pale face and her increasingly painful expression.

"Listen to me... I saved you. I gave you the chance to survive the cold winter..."

"In return... you need to obey me unconditionally and listen to my every command..."

“Of course,” the old field mouse said with a smile, “if you really don’t want to marry Mr. Mole, I can introduce you to another ‘husband’.”

Thumbelina's pupils suddenly contracted.

Reintroducing the husband?

What is it...? What does it mean?

Thumbelina's "hell" has begun.

The old field mouse has started arranging her next blind date.