Infinite Game Ch.2

Chapter 2 – Species B607

Then Xu Gao saw the other person raise an eyebrow, perhaps a bit surprised, wondering why he was on the ground.

Xu Gao: “…”

Feeling momentarily complicated, he took the opportunity to gather strength and swiftly stood up, stepping back.

The creature from earlier, the strange species, was no longer in its original place. That shot must have hit a crucial spot. It had created a large hole where it had been, causing the steel reinforcements in the floor to bend at an eerie angle. The large creature had clearly gone downstairs.

“…”

Xu Gao looked at the gaping hole leading downstairs and the debris around it. His fingers trembled for a moment. Then, regaining his composure, a sense of foreboding emerged. He took the gun Jiang Yujin handed to him but didn’t seize the chance to pursue downstairs. Instead, he quickly ran toward a room, saying, “Let’s save people first!”

Though the gunshots and screams from earlier still rang in his ears, he remembered the chewing sounds he had heard before.

Jiang Yujin was asked not to follow into the room and stood waiting outside.

Xu Gao entered and came out quickly, his face drained of color.

He held a large, bloodied pearl in his hand. His lips trembled for a moment, and only then did he swallow hard and say, “This fell from the clothes of the deceased.”

It seemed he had found the person he had been searching for all along.

Though their condition might not be ideal.

Jiang Yu Jin glanced at him.

He guessed what was on Xu Gao’s mind.

Xu Gao clenched the gun in his other hand.

The confidence Xu Gao had previously exuded crumbled in an instant. Tears welled up, and he said, “I was a nominal substitute, essentially a clerk in the Fifth Unit. This is my first assignment after being transferred to the Third Unit.”

The first mission was supposed to be a routine surveillance, but it unexpectedly led to the current situation, and they couldn’t save the deceased.

Jiang Yujin took out a pearl of the same size from his pocket, still covered in paper, and said, “This was given to me by the employer.”

Xu Gao’s gaze paused on the paper in his hand for a moment, then he compared the two pearls a few times.

They couldn’t be said to be exactly alike, but they were identical.

It seemed the person claiming to be Sister Xu was casting a wide net.

From the people Sister Xu had contacted to the given address and even this house, it seemed likely that she was involved in the disappearance of the people from the East District.

While the investigation of the truth was temporarily on hold, the primary task now was to protect the innocent around and eliminate the anomalies.

Though his heart raced, in this situation where they couldn’t call for backup and couldn’t leave, Xu Gao had no choice but to take action. He carefully preserved the pearls as evidence and readied his gun again, turning to Jiang Yujin. “Do you want to go down together or stay here?”

Earlier, it wasn’t clear, but faced with the gaping hole nearby, it was hard to say which was safer.

“Down,” Jiang Yujin looked at the hand that had taken the pearl and said, “I’m afraid to stay alone.”

He appeared serious, speaking with conviction.

This explanation also indirectly clarified why he hadn’t stayed in the room downstairs earlier and had suddenly appeared at the staircase.

Xu Gao nodded. “Stay close to me.”

The two descended the stairs slowly.

Downstairs looked entirely different from what they had seen before. Furniture was damaged, curtains along the corridor were torn apart, and the previously dark areas were now lit.

There was a meandering trail of blood in the middle of the living room, extending all the way to the corner.

Around the corner was where they initially hid, near the entrance.

Earlier, the lack of light prevented them from seeing everything, but now, it was easily visible.

Everything else in the entrance had been moved aside, and a large basin, looking out of place, had been placed near the door, with the blood trailing up to its edge.

The thing they were searching for was on top of it—one bleeding eye, its other pupils contracted, shaking uncontrollably and appearing quite pitiful.

Suddenly, in an instant, the shaking stopped, and the mass of flesh relaxed.

Underneath the exposed tail, there was an additional glistening pearl.

“…”

Thinking for two seconds about where the pearls came from and recalling what he had touched earlier, Xu Gao raised his gun decisively.

The out-of-place large basin turned out to be an oversized cat litter box.

Jiang Yujin remained silent on one side.

As Xu Gao raised his gun, the eyes all over the mass of flesh aimed at the muzzle.

It was a speed that human eyes couldn’t capture.

Xu Gao was knocked down, three claw marks appeared on his arm in the blink of an eye, and the black combat suit slowly darkened in color.

Weapons ultimately were slower than the speed of strange species.

He remembered Jiang Yujin’s action after hitting the strange species’ eye and, being pinned down, Xu Gao decisively holstered his gun and pulled out a specially made knife, aiming for the eyes atop the mass of flesh.

Once he struck, he slashed forcefully, leaving a trail of blood around the eyes.

The colossal mass emitted a high-pitched cry like that of a child. Jiang Yujin raised his hand to cover his ears, and a red rope flashed from his long sleeves.

The monstrous entity began to retreat, only to be tripped by a suddenly sliding chair.

The chair shattered, and it fell heavily to the ground.

Jiang Yujin, standing at one side of the room, nonchalantly retrieved his foot.

This time, Xu Gao reacted swiftly. While the strange species’ eyes were still struggling on the ground, he swiftly switched to his gun and aimed, repeatedly firing rapidly, leaving no time for any response from the other side.

None of the eyes could open again, and the high-pitched cry grew weaker.

Before the sound vanished completely, the door from the outside swung open, allowing a faint glimmer of light to filter in.

A person with permed hair, wearing small heels and carrying a bag on her arm with the handle of pliers peeking out, stood at the doorway.

It was the woman who had previously claimed to have other matters to attend to, Sister Xu.

The moment she opened the door, she glanced at the large basin and reached for the pliers in her pocket. However, halfway through her action, she noticed a sound coming from nearby, paused, and raised her eyes to see the collapsed mass on the ground.

The weak cry still lingered in her ears. Her eyes widened instantly, and disregarding everything, she ran towards the fallen mass:

“Xiao Cong!”

Possibly related to the weakness of the strange species, the partially open gate did not automatically close again this time.

Xu Gao, holding his arm, tried to stop her: “The strange species still pose a threat, please don’t get closer.”

“He’s not a monster, he’s my child!”

Xu Jie pushed Xu Gao aside and staggered, trying to hold down the bleeding eyes, but all the eyes were bleeding, and her two hands couldn’t press them.

Xu Gao approached: “It’s not—”

Xu Jie widened her eyes, staring at him tightly, “Listen! That’s Xiao Cong’s voice!”

As soon as she finished speaking, the crying disappeared, and the undulating mass of flesh stopped breathing.

The woman sitting on the ground looked down at her blood-covered hands, her pupils suddenly contracted. She turned to look at Xu Gao, who still held the gun, then took out pliers, shook them, and quickly ran towards him.

Xu Gao holstered his gun, preparing to block.

Xu Jie bypassed him and rushed straight toward Jiang Yujin behind:

“Did you call the police, huh?”

The conflict inexplicably shifted onto Jiang Yujin. He stepped back half a step to avoid the swinging pliers and asked in confusion, “How is this my fault?”

As the pliers swung empty, Xu Jie forcefully swung them down again, her voice sharp, “I’ve found so many people to feed Xiao Cong, but when I found you, there was a problem! Why didn’t you let Xiao Cong eat you obediently!”

Jiang Yujin: “Auntie, don’t you want to think about what you’re saying?”

In the moment before the pliers were about to strike his neck horizontally, Xu Jie twisted her body, unconsciously retracted her arm, tightly clutching her stomach, and the pliers fell to the ground.

She appeared to be in a lot of pain.

Clutching her stomach, Xu Jie looked up and stared at Jiang Yujin.

Ever since she left the agency today, her stomach had been aching subtly; it’s hard to say there wasn’t someone behind it.

Jiang Yujin was stared at for a long time. As if he suddenly remembered something, he said, “Well, it’s like this. We’ve been a bit tight on money at home recently, couldn’t afford gas to boil water.”

It’s widely known that water from the mountains is equivalent to fresh water.

He also apologized sincerely, with a completely genuine attitude.

Clutching her stomach, Xu Jie clenched her fist a couple of times.

Before she could clench her fist again, Xu Gao handcuffed her.

Her hands restrained, she continued to resist, kicking forcefully at Xu Gao with her heels, screaming, “Xiao Cong has always stayed in this house, never went out, he hasn’t done anything wrong, why did you kill him!”

Xu Gao ignored her words, instead, he adjusted his earpiece and contacted the team, reporting the location and a brief summary of what had occurred.

Based on his report, the team sent over a file containing information about the Species B706.

Species B706, a parasitic type, originally slightly larger in size, multiple-eyed in the head, swift in movement, aggressive, possessing the ability to mimic sounds and exhibiting territorial behavior. It can transform human bones into pearl-like structures and its weak point lies in the eyes on its head. Five of these have been discovered so far.

The cause and effect were now clear.

After the family’s pet cat went missing and returned mutated from a game world, it first attacked Xu Jie’s child, Xu Cong, imitating the screams of Xu Cong. Xu Jie mistook it for her own child and, to prevent B706 from going out in search of food and being discovered, used the pearls it produced as a reward, luring people from the agency to the villa as prey. This cycle led to today’s incident.

After the report, Jiang Yujin and Xu Gao finally left the gate and stood in the yard, incidentally opening the mobile game, Xiaoxiaole.

Jiang Yujin indeed seemed to have good mental composure; he played the mobile game seriously, as if nothing had happened moments ago.

Xu Gao glanced down to check his gun, making a few crisp sounds, remembering something, and glanced at the person beside him, saying, “You shot quite accurately just now on the stairs.”

Briefly lifting his head from the mobile game world, Jiang Yujin replied, “Know the shooting doll game? I’m quite good at it.”

He chuckled, “Just didn’t expect the real deal to be so shaky.”

As his game energy exhausted, his smile vanished from his face.

Smiles don’t vanish; they just shift.

Unable to hold back, Xu Gao smirked, but when Jiang Yujin looked over, he pretended to adjust his earpiece, and said in a serious tone, “The rest of the team will arrive shortly.”

Jiang Yujin pocketed his phone, yawned, and said, “I’ve told you everything I know, so I’ll take off now.”

Xu Gao asked, “Why so sudden?”

Jiang Yujin casually replied, “My ex-boyfriend is in your unit, not keen on bumping into him.”

He seemed to nonchalantly drop something quite explosive.

Xu Gao’s eyes widened. For a moment, he didn’t know which aspect of this news was more explosive, so he didn’t dare to stop him, watching as the person left.

Ambulances and the Special Investigation Unit arrived promptly. They set up a yellow police line at the scene, red lights flashing. Onlookers surrounded the area, while informed journalists arrived but were kept at bay.

The body parts found at the scene were covered by white cloth, obscuring the view, but emitting an indescribable odor.

The body of B706 was handled by specialists from the team responsible for investigating the bodies of strange species. It was packed into an opaque box and taken away; no one could see what was inside.

Someone crossed the police line and entered the yard.

Xu Gao, still in conversation with his teammate, turned his head and saw that the person was already approaching.

The man wore a combat suit, his arm muscles defined, the black tactical pants creating a gust of wind as he walked. He exuded a strong aura.

A few people were caught off guard when they noticed him, their hearts skipping a beat as they exclaimed, “Captain Xu!”

Xu Tonggui, also known as Captain Xu, led the Special Investigation Unit for strange species. He was tough, spoke little, and could break the neck of a strange species without showing any expression, making everyone feel frightened.

Someone asked, “Why has Captain Xu come?”

Xu Tonggui took off his bloodstained combat gloves, saying, “Just passing by to take a look.”

Glancing around, he then inquired, “Wasn’t there supposed to be another person?”

“Oh, him…”

Faced with Xu Tonggui, Xu Gao didn’t dare to fabricate, speaking truthfully, “He mentioned his ex-boyfriend was in the team and he didn’t want to meet, so he left.”

“What’s his name?”

Xu Gao truthfully provided the name.

Xu Tonggui didn’t respond, simply stating, “When the scene is handled, wrap up the team.”

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