Infinite Game Ch.30

Chapter 30 – You actually dislike white hair!

The next morning, Jiang Yujin had buried himself under the covers when the ringing of his phone, placed at the edge of his bed, woke him up.

Without opening his eyes, he reached out, feeling around the bed until he found the phone. He then tucked his hand back under the covers and answered the call based on instinct.

It was a call from the Special Investigation Unit, asking for a brief inquiry and record-keeping regarding the events from yesterday for documentation.

Still in a state of sleepiness, Jiang Yujin didn’t retain any impression of what was said on the other end, except for the mention of the SIU and two keywords in the inquiry. After hanging up, he drifted about like a wandering soul.

The high schooler in the kitchen hadn’t prepared his breakfast. He seemed surprised when he saw him leaning against the door in the living room, then fetched a bowl from the cabinet.

That morning, Jiang Yujin himself couldn’t recall what he had eaten. After finishing the meal, he drifted out of the house.

Having made a good amount yesterday, he didn’t feel the need to hold back. He hailed a taxi and slept through the ride.

The consequence of that nap was that by the time he got off the taxi, he had completely lost his sense of direction. He walked straight towards an unfamiliar bureau across from the SIU until a security guard timely pulled him back.

Inside the office building, after finally locating the correct office, he sat down at the desk and yawned.

The person contacting him appeared quite young, holding several sheets of records and a pen. Perhaps not yet proficient in the job, they seemed oddly nervous. Standing beside the young officer was someone who appeared relaxed. He even turned and handed a glass of water to Jiang Yujin, saying, “Please.”

The person handing the water was Hu Li, but not dressed in a floral shirt.

Jiang Yujin didn’t drink the water. He looked at the officer, hoping for a quick question-and-answer session to conclude promptly.

The officer seemed tense but had decent professionalism, aided by Hu Li’s reminder. It was efficient. Jiang Yujin selectively disclosed some facts consistently, responding fluently.

What he said aligned with the confessed details from Li Ying and the other three people. No issues arose.

Once the inquiry concluded, the officer began packing up, preparing to escort the citizen surnamed Jiang back. However, after standing by for quite some time, Hu Li straightened up and said, “I’ll take him back.”

Jiang Yujin didn’t say anything, just got up and walked out.

It didn’t matter who escorted him; he just wanted to get back soon to watch the morning news replay.

The building wasn’t bustling in the morning. Hu Li glanced at the person next to him and remarked, “You’re quite good at finding people.”

Jiang Yujin modestly replied, “Just decently good.”

A hint of a smile appeared on Hu Li’s face as he continued, “Can you help me find someone?”

Jiang Yujin looked at him.

Hu Li said, “I’m looking for a person with white hair. Have you come across anyone like that?”

“White hair?” Jiang Yujin shook his head. “That’s too broad.”

He patted his pocket and said, “I’ve received enough commissions recently. Wait until I run out of money.”

As they reached the building’s main entrance, the man in a wrinkled shirt found another taxi and got into the car.

Hu Li stood at the door, watching the person leave, then turned around.

It’s like finding a needle in a haystack, but sometimes, you just have to try.

*

Due to eavesdropping on the gossip from the aunties downstairs while he was buying groceries, Jiang Yujin ultimately missed the replay of the morning news.

With his wallet temporarily full and himself comfortably laid back, he shut his door for an entire week. It wasn’t until the high schooler returned home with a receipt for the data fee that he became slightly aware of the situation and reopened the door.

During the weekend, when the high schooler mentioned going to the municipal library to study, Jiang Yujin lounged on the couch with a plush toy goose, watching a melodramatic urban drama. Just when it reached a thrilling part, an advertisement popped up, and the doorbell rang, marking his first commission after reopening the door.

The person lying on the couch with the plush goose got up to open the door. A figure with a tightly-covered head wearing a hat appeared at the doorway.

This person seemed quite young, with clear yet melancholic eyes.

Jiang Yujin moved aside to let the person come in and offered water to both of them.

After taking a sip of water, tears started rolling down the other person’s cheeks when they put the cup down.

Jiang Yujin was taken aback, his action of drinking water pausing abruptly as he immediately handed over some tissue.

“…”

“Shhh—”

The person sitting across wiped away their tears, and with it, their runny nose, finally stabilizing their emotions before introducing themselves.

They said their name was Zhao Lin, a student from A University, who came here to investigate the hair disappearance incident.

Jiang Yujin took a sip of water, then glanced up.

Zhao Lin took off his hat.

“…”

Such a shiny bald head!

Even under the lighting, that head was gleaming. Jiang Yujin held back the water he had just sipped, managing not to spit it out.

—Well, not entirely bald. There were a few remnants of white hair left on the head, a trace of remaining dignity.

Zhao Lin began to recount his painful ordeal.

The anomaly had already appeared at the beginning of the month. At that time, a student went to the bathhouse late at night and inexplicably passed out in the restroom. The next morning, they were found sleeping soundly in the middle of the road. Upon waking, they claimed their hair seemed sparser than usual, but others dismissed it as an excuse for hair loss and didn’t take it seriously.

However, a few days later, the second incident occurred. Another student went to the bathhouse late at night and similarly fainted, but the difference this time was waking up with a large chunk of hair missing.

Then, he became the third student involved in the incidents. Upon awakening, all of his hair… except for a few remaining white strands, had vanished.

He reported this to the school authorities, but they didn’t believe him. The dorms lacked surveillance due to student privacy concerns, and he couldn’t provide evidence. Eventually, he had to give up seeking official help and turned to a private agency.

The prominent agency charged too high a fee, and he didn’t have enough money. That’s how he ended up finding his way here.

As Zhao Lin recounted the heartbreaking events again, his nose reddened once more. Before he could start crying again, Jiang Yujin asked, “Are there any other unusual occurrences?”

Zhao Lin fell silent for a moment and then said, “There were also underwear disappearances on our floor. Several people mysteriously lost their underwear.”

Calculating the timing, it seemed to coincide with the emergence of the anomaly.

Before the advertisement break ended, he accepted the task.

After finishing a glass of water, Zhao Lin, understandingly polite, didn’t intend to disturb further. He put on his hat, preparing to leave, when the TV suddenly blared:

“I really have nothing going on with him, and you’re the same, getting close to her!”

“I only treated her like a little sister! She’s been through a lot before, can’t you understand?”

“…” The college student stayed, “Actually, it’s not that urgent.”

He stayed and watched an entire episode of the show. After finishing, still immersed in the melodramatic excitement, he repeatedly contemplated it on his way back to school.

Jiang Yujin followed him into the school. To blend into the dorms, he even washed his face and tidied the stubble on his chin, wore a white T-shirt, looking even more like a college student than the college student.

—Then he got stopped by the dorm manager.

The dorm manager behind the counter glanced up casually at him and said, “Non-residents aren’t allowed in.”

Jiang Yujin tried to argue, “How am I a non-resident?”

The lady raised her eyes, “Are those the eyes of a college student?”

Jiang Yujin turned to look at the actual college student’s eyes.

Clear, bright, without a hint of gloominess, utterly innocent.

Citizen Jiang abandoned the disguise of being a college student.

In the afternoon, a janitor dressed in a blue uniform entered the dormitory with their tools.

Wandering through the floors, the janitor casually opened a window on one floor, pretended to mop a bit with the mop, then propped it against the wall, opened a soda, and left with their tools, exhibiting a completely lackadaisical work ethic.

Outside the dorm, the negligent janitor Jiang removed his hat, revealing disheveled hair, and handed over his equipment to the real janitor resting nearby.

Late at night,

The dormitory lights gradually dimmed, and the noise within reduced.

The window in the empty hallway was left open as a figure smoothly climbed in.

Jiang Yujin, still wearing today’s white T-shirt, reached for the bathhouse door handle when a shadow appeared beside him. He turned.

It was Zhao Lin, still wearing a hat even at this hour, whispering, “I also want to see what’s really going on.”

He couldn’t afford to lose his hair without a proper explanation.

Jiang Yujin didn’t respond. He gestured for Zhao Lin to step back against the wall. Zhao Lin was about to say something, but Jiang Yujin silenced him with a hushing gesture.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor, and a third figure emerged.

Zhao Lin fell silent, his heart pounding a bit faster as he cautiously peeked around the corner.

The figure that appeared in the hallway wasn’t the humanoid creature he had imagined; it was a genuine person.

One side of the corridor housed the dorms, while the other side held the balcony where everyone dried their clothes. He watched as the person walked toward the balcony, looked around, rummaged through the clothes, grabbed something, then swiftly left, returning to the dorm.

Zhao Lin: “…”

Jiang Yujin remained unfazed, saying, “It seems like your hair disappearance and the underwear vanishing might not be related.”

Zhao Lin realized it too but couldn’t articulate anything. He remained in a state of inexplicable shock, lacking any joy of solving the case, even as they entered the bathhouse.

After Jiang Yujin closed the bathhouse door behind him, he scanned the area.

It looked almost the same as when he scouted it in the afternoon—damp but tidy, showing no apparent abnormalities.

Though fearful, Zhao Lin revisited the spot where he had collapsed earlier, hoping to find some clue.

He couldn’t find anything unusual, not even after circling the bathhouse or examining it thoroughly.

Returning to the starting point, he turned to Jiang Yujin. “Seems like there’s nothing here.”

As if the previous events had never happened, Jiang Yujin remained remarkably composed.

Jiang Yujin’s gaze shifted away from the corner drain, offering no response. His phone vibrated in his pocket, and as he checked it, he found a message from the high schooler, inquiring about dinner plans and when he would return.

He lowered his head to reply to the message.

Unnoticeable black, thread-like substances appeared from the corner, crawling up the wall and onto the light fixture.

Subtle electrical crackling echoed, and suddenly, the entire space went dark. The sound of droplets from the faucet hitting the tiles resonated, unnervingly eerie for no apparent reason.

Eyes adjusted to the darkness, with moonlight seeping in from the window, Zhao Lin could now discern the outlines of various objects in the room.

He shifted his gaze and saw something emerging from the drainpipe that Jiang Yujin had been watching before, threads and strands of it, multiplying and surging, pushing the drain cover aside.

Hair-like black entities ascended the wall, reached the ceiling, and gradually descended, nearing Jiang Yujin who was still focused on composing his message.

It was evident that this entity had caused the series of events before.

Realizing he had been attacked while unconscious in such an oblivious state, goosebumps covered Zhao Lin’s arms. He summoned unknown strength and instantly pushed the person still standing beside him, engrossed in the dinner menu, to the side.

Aware of the movements of the black strands, Jiang Yujin was taken aback by the sudden push. Protecting his phone first, he swiftly sent a message.

As he placed the phone back in his pocket, he looked up to see the dangling black strands momentarily stop, then start bending and heading towards him. This time, they approached much faster than before.

With Zhao Lin’s hair already taken by the entity and avoiding entanglement, he made a dash for the door, attempting to open it and escape. However, through the corridor’s faint light, Zhao Lin noticed the door crack was filled with strands, sealing the door and frame tightly shut, even extending to the windows, completely sealing them off.

Jiang Yujin slightly sidestepped, evading the attacking strands, and instead of heading towards the door like Zhao Lin, he moved calmly toward the corner drain.

As he approached the drain, the strands above him multiplied, nearly enveloping his entire body.

The strands in front of him grew thick enough to make one’s scalp tingle. His expression remained unchanged as he scanned through the dense tangle of hair.

Amid the entangled hair, he found a strand with the thickest diameter, housing tiny eyes on its surface, densely packed together.

When Zhao Lin, attempting to open the door, glanced back, all he could see was the hair enveloping the person in the corner. His pupils quivered in an instant.

Just as he was about to collapse to the ground, the constantly moving strands suddenly stopped, freezing the entire space.

The strands entangled around a few white hair strands were forcibly detached, revealing a segment of white hair.

Before Jiang Yujin could sever the thickest strand, the entangled hair that wrapped around the white strands retracted, quickly retreating to the corner from where it emerged.

It’s hard to describe, but there was an inexplicable sense of disdain lingering in the air.

Jiang Yujin recalled the few remaining white strands on Zhao Lin’s head.

This entity seemed to harbor a strong aversion to white hair.

Jiang Yujin: “…”

The strands withdrew into the drain, and the previously lifted drain cover returned to its original position.

Zhao Lin, standing by the door, rushed over and found the person previously enveloped by the hair was unharmed and intact, letting out a sigh of relief.

Jiang Yujin stood in front of the drain, his eyelids drooping, and after a while, he diverted his gaze.

Having encountered the strange species, Zhao Lin promptly dialed the SIU hotline on his phone.

The previously sealed windows and doors were now accessible again. Jiang Yujin, realizing he shouldn’t be there, willingly retraced his steps. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Zhao Lin, having learned from Jiang Yujin’s approach, selectively concealed the presence of the other person at the scene, merely stating that he accidentally witnessed the appearance of the strange species.

Jiang Yujin departed but didn’t completely leave. With a swift support, he climbed over the courtyard wall and made a call to Shi Bu.

As the call connected, he lowered his eyes and said, “Do you know about hair bleach?”

Shi Bu arrived before the SIU did.

Breathless, he handed over what he was holding.

*

The SIU worked late into the night. The vehicles turned off their lights and quietly entered the school.

Despite the low profile, it still managed to alert some students.

The team borrowed a drainage pipeline map from the school. They traced the incidents back to the original drainage cover and eventually pinpointed the convergence point of all the pipes.

Students from the related dormitories were awakened, temporarily leaving their rooms. The school provided classrooms for them to wait in, although they were too anxious to observe and just stared out of the windows.

After locating the convergence point, the team sent someone into the sewer. When movement was detected, a vast amount of tangled black hair emerged, much larger than anticipated.

Watching from a distance, Zhao Lin was suddenly frozen in shock.

Not only was the strange species much larger than he had imagined, but its color had also changed. It turned white, stained with dirt, slightly tinged with yellow, and had nothing to do with black hair.

He suddenly realized that this thing could change color.

Perhaps due to the attack, even from a considerable distance, he seemed to sense the despair and pain of the strange species.

*

Jiang Yujin thoughtfully used Shi Bu’s exclusive powerful hair bleach for the long-haired strange species. After the incident, Jiang Yujin returned home contentedly and even received a commission from Zhao Lin on the way back.

The SIU seemed to have resolved the strange species. It wasn’t as fast as expected, but still quicker than anticipated.

Jiang Yujin took a taxi back.

Originally, Shi Bu wanted to accompany him and see where he lived, but Jiang Yujin directly refused and sent him back.

He had no intention of letting Shi Bu meet Chen Jing.

With the habit of never keeping secrets, this silly fellow would definitely spill the beans to Chen Jing, giving some material to dig out the family background and help count it by the way.

When Jiang Yujin opened the door, the high schooler was still studying in the living room, and the aroma of food filled the air. The dishes were already laid out on the table.

With finals approaching, the high schooler visibly stayed up later each night.

Noticing Jiang Yujin’s return, Chen Jing put away his books and stood up. “Wash your hands; dinner’s ready.”

Being the parent, Jiang Yujin went along with what the high schooler said and enjoyed the meal.

The table was filled with dishes he had ordered. He took his seat at the table, and after the high schooler took his papers back to his room and returned, he sat down with him.

As he passed by Jiang Yujin, Chen Jing glanced casually, then abruptly stopped, his steps halted.

Among the pile of black hair on the person sitting at the table, there were a few strands of white hair, stark against the black. The roots were black, but the ends were white.

He noticed it and voiced it out.

Jiang Yujin swallowed the food in his mouth and casually said, “Maybe I bumped into something.”

Rubbing his hair, he added, “A wash later should take care of it.”

His attitude was relaxed, his expression unchanged. Chen Jing simply took a glance and didn’t pay much more attention, sitting down across from him. It was a very ordinary and yet delicious dinner.

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