Infinite Game Ch.47.2

Chapter 47.2 – No.6 Middle School (3)

Except for what Liuling had fabricated in the darkness, there was nothing else on the second floor. Xu Tonggui ultimately dismantled the stairs leading to the second floor using physical means, without any additional tools—a kick, and the stairs disappeared.

With the stairs damaged, the second floor vanished too. When they looked up again, they could see the warehouse’s arched roof.

The two students stood outside the warehouse, the door closed, only hearing intense sounds from within. When the door was opened again, the stairs were gone, replaced by a pile of rubble inside.

The first thing Jiang Yujin did upon exiting the warehouse was retrieve his helmet, cradling it carefully.

The student’s gaze shifted between the two and then toward the wreckage inside, asking, “Excuse me, are you…?”

Before Xu Tonggui could speak, Jiang Yujin chuckled, “We’re from the demolition office.”

The student seemed to have more questions, but then the distant bell signaling the end of class rang. It was time for assembly during the break, and not daring to linger further, they hurriedly ran toward the playground.

The space at the entrance of the warehouse began to distort. It sounded like whispers echoing in their ears, continuously cycling, persisting.

At the center of the distorted space by the entrance, a red eye gradually emerged, with a massive pupil moving up and down before locking onto them.

Jiang Yujin silently took a step back.

He knew clearly from seeing it that these were Liuling’s eyes, but they were not the eyes that stored things that he was looking for. To describe it accurately, they were more like a wanderer and guard protecting the real eyes.

Perhaps the consecutive destruction had angered Liuling, prompting retaliation.

As he backed away, he muttered about how terrifying it was. Finally, he patted Xu Tonggui’s shoulder and said, “I’ll leave it to you.”

Handing over the guardian eye to Xu Tonggui, Jiang Yujin swiftly made his escape.

From a distance, he saw the once huge eye instantly burst, its fluids splattering in every direction.

The moment the massive eye was taken care of, more eyes, big and small, emerged endlessly.

Jiang Yujin couldn’t help but feel a shallow sense of pity for his Xiaoxiaole friend who was still busy attacking the eyes.

He didn’t solve this thing in the dungeon before because it took too much time to finish. Now, the responsibility has fallen onto the shoulders of his Xiaoxiaole friend, so it should be able to drag on for quite a while.

After eliminating all the eyes, Liuling would eventually appear on its own. What he needed to do was to get rid of Liuling before Xu Tonggui finished dealing with all the eyes.

When the guard eyes appeared, finding Liuling seemed relatively simple. Jiang Yujin crossed the playground, walked past the teaching building, and finally stopped at the edge of the school where a circle of bungalows was enclosed.

This was the school’s oldest teaching building, constructed several decades ago. After the school built the current teaching building, they didn’t have the heart to demolish this place, leaving it abandoned. It was almost deserted, overgrown with vines and ferns growing wildly in the yard.

Someone stood amidst the waist-high weeds, their figure almost entirely concealed.

—Arguably not even human, the thing in the bushes turned its head. On its pale face were six eyes; apart from the normal pair, there were four slightly smaller eyes below.

Or, more accurately, it should be said there were six eye sockets; five of them had no eyes, only the left eye remained, its red pupil staring straight ahead.

“Hello,” Jiang Yujin pushed open the courtyard gate and said, “I want your eyes.”

His expression was no different from usual, his tone flat, as if commenting on the weather.

Liuling, half the height of a person, laughed. Its mouth gradually stretched behind its ears, in a physical sense.

The last eye disappeared from its eye socket, and the surrounding bungalows continuously twisted and deformed. The entire space turned blood-red, the weeds on the ground vanished, and a series of liquid surged up from the ground out of nowhere, gradually spreading, twisting, connecting, eventually forming the shape of an eye.

The moment the eye formed, numerous strange species surged out from within, almost filling the entire space.

These were all one-to-one replicas based on the subconscious cognition of the person within the illusion. Before more things emerged, Liuling’s expression suddenly froze.

A sharp, mind-piercing pain struck, to the extent that it couldn’t even perceive that its own eye, nose, or ears were bleeding profusely. Its skin began to crack.

It replicated what it couldn’t replicate, something unknown and beyond its capability.

Jiang Yujin hadn’t even done anything yet when it suddenly started bleeding. His initial reaction was that Liuling was trying to fake an injury.

Later, when he saw a small piece of black, surging sludge-like substance coming out from the eye, he realized what Liuling had tried to replicate.

Liuling had replicated a strange species within the unknown dungeon that exceeded its own abilities, daring to challenge its own existence.

Jiang Yujin stepped over the eye and squatted beside Liuling. “Who let you casually read people’s minds?”

However, this thing had to stay alive, at least until Xu Tonggui saw it.

He reached out and crushed the black sludge, patting Liuling’s head. “Behave and hand over the eye.”

Still reeling from the massive shock, Liuling had completely lost consciousness. So, Jiang Yujin had to take matters into his own hands.

The tree branches scattered on the ground were the best disposable weapons available. He picked one up, weighed it in his hand, found it satisfactory, and then aimed it at the eye on the ground.

As the branch pierced towards the eye, it encountered resistance. The eye resisted his approach, but it was clearly a feeble struggle, ultimately pierced through.

With a “crack,” the sound of shattering filled the air. The blood-red space vanished, the eye on the ground disappeared, leaving only small red fragments. Even the hole made by the branch had vanished without a trace.

Jiang Yujin pieced together the shattered eye on the ground and forcibly fit it back into Liuling’s left eye socket, attempting to make it look as though it had always been that way.

It was a bit crude, but passable. Once the task was accomplished, he withdrew his hand.

Liuling seemed somewhat precarious in its state, but still holding on. Satisfied, Jiang Yujin clapped his hands and got up to leave.

*

After dealing with the last appearing eye, in the distorted space, something half the height of a person dropped down.

It was a person with six eye sockets on their face, five of which were empty. Only one eye remained hardened in one of the sockets. As it fell to the ground, it shattered upon impact.

The eyes shattered, and Xu Tonggui immediately bent down to pick up the fragments, completing the task even if it meant returning with the broken pieces. As he picked up the shards, the strange species beside him made a slight movement. He swiftly dealt with it.

He couldn’t discern whether the weakness of the other was due to losing too many eyes or some other reason. He glanced briefly and then averted his gaze.

The SIU’s requirement was to secure the eyes before midnight. Even shattered, the eyes counted. Task completed.

After disposing of the strange species’ body, he left the school and happened to see Citizen Jiang washing hands at the water tap in the small park across the street from the school.

When washing his hands, there was no place to put the helmet, so the other person wore it on their head. After washing hands, they took off the helmet, their disheveled hair adding to their individuality.

It wasn’t early anymore. Distant purplish-red clouds hung in the sky, casting a dusky red light, painting the world with color.

Xu Tonggui walked briskly towards the person across the street and stopped. Jiang Yujin also noticed him, first acknowledging his efforts and then asking, “Is everything resolved?”

Looking at the disheveled hair on his head, Xu Tonggui nodded, confirming it was resolved.

Jiang Yujin gave him a thumbs-up, praising him, “Our little Comrade Xu is excellent.”

After the praise, he noticed the other person’s gaze still on his head. His mouth started running without his control, “This is the latest trendy hairstyle now.”

He asked, “Does Captain Xu want this hairstyle?”

The tall man quietly lowered his head.

Jiang Yujin hesitated for a moment, then burst into laughter, reaching out to ruffle the man’s hair playfully.

After his mischief, he looked at his handiwork and laughed heartily. Xu Tonggui, seeing him laugh, smiled in response.

But the result of being too carefree was that Citizen Jiang lost his grip, and the helmet flew out of his hand, landing steadily into the wide-open trash can next to the water tap. A passerby conveniently tossed a bag of garbage into it.

“…”

From extreme joy to sudden despair, laughter abruptly ceased. Citizen Jiang turned blankly to Captain Xu, tears welling up, “My 3.0, it’s gone.”

Xu Tonggui: “…”

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