Infinite Game Ch.66.2

Chapter 66.2 – Bringing to a Conclusion

Using a dried branch in his hand to pry open strange species’ corpses, Jiang Yujin thrust a branch into the yellow sand. Beyond the sand was a mountainous structure, and as the branch penetrated, it didn’t feel like piercing into soil but rather encountering some fibers.

With a bit more force, a large gap in the fibers appeared, revealing the yellow sand and other things consumed within.

The ground here was not just ground; it was a living entity—at least, it had once been alive and had dietary requirements.

Unfortunately, it emerged in the heart of the desert, an inhospitable place for any organism. There weren’t enough strange species bodies for it to consume, and additional nutrients were inaccessible. Swallowing sand for several years in a row, it had died silently, its body becoming a haven for plants.

Jiang Yujin searched within the sand it had swallowed. Apart from desiccated animal corpses, he found nothing.

He then opened another gap, and another.

When he exerted more force with the branch in his hand, there was movement above, accompanied by the immense stretching sound emitted by the plants.

Someone had begun cleaning up the strange species.

At this location and time, there was only one person who would come to clean up the strange species.

It wouldn’t take Xu Tonggui much longer to arrive here.

His hands quickened their pace, opening another fissure. He circled the stick in the yellow sand, and suddenly, it was caught by something.

Peeling away the sand with his hands, he bent down to take a look and saw a glass block entangled in the plant fibers.

Even now, the glass block remained intact, showing only slight signs of wear.

Tossing the dried branch aside, Jiang Yujin reached out and took the glass block, applying a little force—

The glass block didn’t shatter; he stopped his force at the last moment.

Looking down at the cold, transparent glass in his hand, he slowly sat on the ground.

The rustling of strange species leaves above gently tapped on the eardrums, and the previous roars of strange species seemed to still echo within the giant pit.

The flickering light of fire and weapon explosions flashed incessantly, the surrounding stench and the sticky substance from the abyss overlapping.

Dull, gray pupils reflected a fiery sun, blood soaking through the entire clothing, and a gradually cooling body.

Reality and the past overlapped, memories that were thought to gradually fade away still deeply imprinted in the mind.

The dark and cold bottom of the pit remained silent for a long time.

The sounds from outside disappeared.

Gently clutching the glass block in his hand, Jiang Yujin leaned against the wall and stood up.

In the darkness, the glass block eventually returned intact to its original place, and within the darkness, the figure vanished.

The desert was cold at night.

Having dealt with the strange species on the ground and confirmed there were no other significant threats, Xu Tonggui began to walk towards the depths.

In the central area, he discovered a giant pit, an area not covered by yellow sand, charred to a crisp.

A massive fire had occurred here before, evident from the bullet holes on the ground. Something significant must have happened here.

As he looked into the seemingly bottomless pit, something seemed to flash through his mind, causing a faint ache.

He descended into the deep pit, and as his feet touched solid ground again, the smell of decay rushed into his nose.

Without paying much attention to the already deceased strange species, Xu Tonggui turned on the illumination.

The ground was covered with a layer of yellow sand, bearing footprints that had been partly scattered by the swirling winds. Only a small portion remained, gradually dissipating.

Someone had been here recently. The giant pit was vast, impossible to take in at a single glance, but he could sense that there was no one else here besides him.

The person who had just been here had already left, both boldly and silently. In this brief period, the footprints that had lingered on the ground were completely blown away by the wind.

His head was still throbbing faintly. Xu Tonggui glanced at the strange species corpses on the ground and the sand piles nearby that didn’t match up. He then turned the corpses over.

Behind the corpses were fibers with gashes made by someone, and not just in one place. He checked every spot, leaving no room for oversight.

Continuing forward along the wall, he encountered another gap, where he used a knife to pick away the accumulated yellow sand.

Inside, there was a piece of seemingly ordinary transparent glass.

*

Early in the morning, a passenger with a hat appeared in the station near the town near the Zhai Mountains. The sunlight was intense here, and residents needed to cover their exposed skin when going out during the day. He didn’t seem out of place among them, quiet and silent.

Near the station were people wearing SIU uniforms, holding phones, as if inquiring about something. He glanced at them and then withdrew his gaze.

It took several hours from the town near the Zhai Mountains to the nearest transfer station. Without a phone, Jiang Yujin occasionally opened his eyes to the golden landscape, but most of the time, he slept through the journey.

From the transfer station to the airport, then from the airport to the A City airport, when he got off the plane, Citizen Jiang took the lead and faced the airport wall for half an hour before slowly suppressing the nausea.

This time, he didn’t try to endure public transportation and instead took a taxi directly from the airport to the downstairs of his home.

When he returned, the barber shop owner was still open, and there was a lady inside admiring her new hairstyle. He stood at the door, smiling and shouted, “Aunt Zhang, your new hairstyle looks great.”

He genuinely seemed impressed, and Aunt Zhang was delighted. The smile on her face didn’t fade as she left the shop.

The barber shop owner watched the person standing in front of the shop, his gaze gliding over a small tuft of white hair peeking out from under the hat, and his eyes twitched fiercely.

He pulled the door and was about to hit someone when Jiang Yujin called out urgently: “Wait a minute!”

In just two seconds of pause, the person with the hat instantly bolted.

The barber shop owner’s temples throbbed rapidly as he stood there waiting.

After two minutes, the person who had fled finally came down again.

The door was pulled shut, temporarily closed for business. The barber shop owner pulled up a chair, sat down, and with forced patience, asked, “What’s going on?”

Jiang Yujin took off his hat, revealing his conspicuous white hair.

“…”

The barber shop owner, who had just sat down, stood up again, took a cigarette from the pack, lit it, and put it in his mouth. He went to the cabinet, grabbed hair dye, and returned to his seat.

With the phone back in his hand, Jiang Yujin explained slowly.

After looking at that photo earlier, he was slightly concerned, so he decided to make a trip to the desert. However, he sensed that Hu Li had been investigating him closely, so he found someone to deal with Hu Li and went to the desert himself.

He explained it casually, as if it didn’t require much thought.

The barber shop owner asked him, “Where did the person come from?”

From the moment he saw the person living upstairs, he realized that the person was fake, but he never expected that person to look and sound exactly the same.

“You’ve met him too.”

Jiang Yujin pulled something out of his pocket.

A scale, with a gentle and beautiful iridescent light under the sunlight. The barber shop owner recognized it; it was a merman king’s scale.

The merman king’s scales could transform into the appearance of anyone it had seen, including their voice.

Before the barber shop owner could speak, Jiang Yujin preemptively said, “I never said he was dead.”

Everyone had assumed he was killed after seeing the crack in the seabed, but Jiang Yujin had never explicitly stated so.

The barber shop owner’s mouth twitched.

“Didn’t I tell you before that I went to the Aquarium?”

Jiang Yujin smiled and added, “He works there as a caretaker and seems to be doing well.”

The little fish might not be very smart, but they had profound respect for the king of the ocean. If the king told them to eat, they would eat; their daily mission was to swim and have fun without the slightest negligence. Others praised him for raising the fish well, claiming they became more energetic every day, attributing it to his organizational discipline.

The barber shop owner had some recollection; previously, he had received many ugly pictures of fish from this person.

“But he’s a strange species. Being a caretaker requires identification and…”

The barber shop owner stopped midway, lowered his eyes, and said, “Liu Cheng is still alive.”

Jiang Yujin praised, “So smart.”

Then he got hit on the head.

Retracting his hand from the strike, the barber shop owner figured it out.

The merman king needed an identity to integrate into human society, and the only person they knew capable of flawlessly forging identities was the information broker Liu Cheng. He could buy and sell information and was adept at forging it without leaving any traces.

Yuan Sanshui asked, “So where is Liu Cheng now?”

“A convenience store a few streets away,” Jiang Yujin said. “I told you, the things I mentioned are cheaper there than anywhere else.”

It was also the place where he had previously bought a wig.

Everyone wanted to get involved in finding Liu Cheng, to extract all the secrets he knew. To facilitate future endeavors, they could only make him become a dead man. To completely evade others’ investigations, a small price had to be paid. For Liu Cheng, that cost was one of his arms. Having his body parts at the scene would make the faked death more convincing.

As long as he escaped others’ pursuit, Liu Cheng had his own way of surviving. He changed his face and opened a convenience store in this place, the most dangerous yet safest place.

“By the way, Hu Li could suspect me because of Liu Cheng.”

Finding it suspicious that Xu Tonggui lost his memory, Hu Li had bought information about Xu Tonggui long before Lu Yiyi bought information about him, discovering their connection. Through the hotel incident, he deduced a series of speculations.

Previously, the SIU couldn’t find anyone who had made a transaction with Liu Cheng, and that was also Hu Li’s doing. If one person was found, a whole chain of events would be uncovered, and he didn’t want the transaction between himself and Liu Cheng to be exposed.

Everything began to fall into place. The barber shop owner realized something, lowered his head, and asked, “Have you been planning this from early on?”

Citizen Jiang remained silent, took out the phone that had been separated from him for several days, and opened Xiaoxiaole.

In an instant, the faint smile at the corner of his mouth disappeared. The barber shop owner asked what was wrong.

“I’m going to kill that big fish monster.”

Holding the phone, Jiang Yujin was visibly annoyed, his eyebrows twitching rapidly. He turned to the barber shop owner and complained, “He made me play over a hundred levels!!!”

“…”

Citizen Jiang received another hit on the head, which successfully quieted him down.

The barber shop owner asked, “So what did you do in the Lacuo Desert?”

“I didn’t do anything.” Playing Xiaoxiaole without a pause, Jiang Yujin said, “I decided to leave the choice to him.”

The barber shop owner lowered his head, looking at the stinky white hair.

While everyone thought Xu Tonggui was the most reserved, the person in front of him was actually the best at hiding emotions.

Now, he spoke casually, but he had spent several years searching the world for a dead person.

<< _ >>

**TN
Lu Yiyi is Lu Dongcheng, Lu One-hundred Million