Infinite Game Ch.85

Chapter 85 – Everyday Life

Today, the soon-to-be college student and his friends went to another city to volunteer. Calculating the distance from the SIU to home, Jiang Yujin decisively chose to go to the place where he used to live before joining Captain Xu.

Sitting in the car with nothing to do, Jiang Yujin leaned over to look back and saw several paper bags on the back seat.

Xu Tonggui, who was driving, said, “I saw it when passing by today and bought it on a whim.”

Jiang Yujin took the bag and looked at what this person had bought.

“…”

He opened it and just took a glance. His expression became indescribable, and he put the paper bag back on the back seat.

When they returned to the neighborhood, Xu Tonggui carried the paper bags upstairs. Jiang Yujin pretended not to have seen anything, holding hands with someone on one side and busy with Xiaoxiaole on the other.

When he went inside to drink water, between Boyfriend Xu and Xiaoxiaole, he chose to let go of his boyfriend’s hand to pick up a water cup.

…

Jiang Yujin focused on Xu Tonggui’s clothes here, not intending to buy pajamas. He randomly selected a lucky piece of clothing as pajamas. All of Xu Tonggui’s clothes had been worn by him almost.

This time, he wore a shirt, and after taking a shower, he came out holding a large goose, watching TV.

There was no particularly exciting replay of soap operas tonight, but it was still passable. When the soap opera advertising time ended, the sound of water in the bathroom also stopped. Xu Tonggui, who went to take a shower after him, walked out of the bathroom.

Jiang Yujin’s eyes shifted, and he saw the other person pulling out a small black box from a few pockets.

There was nothing special inside the box, just a thin red ribbon, similar in color to the red string on his hand.

“I saw this today,” Xu Tonggui said, holding the red ribbon close, “I thought it suited you.”

Jiang Yujin held the large goose on the sofa, his brows twitching slightly as he tilted his neck upward. “You bought so many pieces of clothing just for this ribbon?”

Xu Tonggui responded and bent down to look at the person on the sofa.

Some people’s silence was deafening.

Facing the other’s gaze, Jiang Yujin gave up struggling, nodded haphazardly, and cooperatively tilted his neck upward. “Alright, go ahead, have fun.”

The thin ribbon wound around his neck. The bright red ribbon starkly contrasted with the white neck. Xu Tonggui bent down, lowered his eyes, and earnestly tied a bow.

The ribbon was quite long, even after wrapping it a few times and tying a bow, the end still slipped into the shirt, hanging in the middle of the snow-white back.

Curious, Jiang Yujin took his phone and used the screen as a mirror to sneak a peek. He discovered that the person behind him still had the same poor bow-tying skills as always.

However, he upheld his boyfriend’s pride and reluctantly complimented, “Looks good.”

That night, Citizen Jiang unexpectedly had to work overtime and tried on all the new clothes. Boyfriend Xu indeed knew him well; all the clothes fit perfectly.

The next morning, when Xu Tonggui quietly went to work after preparing breakfast without waking up the person still sleeping with the large goose, someone in the office greeted him.

After the greeting, the person glanced behind him, didn’t see the person they were looking for, and asked, “Captain Xu, where’s Boss Jiang?”

They seemed somewhat disappointed.

Hu Li, entering the office after Xu Tonggui, replied, “He took a day off yesterday.”

This time, the people in the office looked visibly disappointed.

To be honest, the unprecedented sense of security during the mission yesterday had gotten to their heads. Coupled with the prospect of enjoying melons together, they had hoped to do another mission together today while casually eating melons.

“The SIU couldn’t afford to hire him,” Hu Li said as he put down the files in his hands. “His daily wage from yesterday alone is more than your monthly salary.”

This person even extorted a sum for work-related injury compensation and additional bonuses on top of his original salary.

The others fell silent.

*

When the soon-to-be college student returned from volunteering in another city, more than half of the summer vacation had already passed, and it was time to pack up and prepare to go to school.

Chen Jing packed his luggage in the room, while Jiang Yujin, outside, used gestures to show Xu Tonggui how he had raised a little sprout, shorter than him, into the current college student. He looked visibly reluctant to part ways.

After his gestures, before Xu Tonggui could console him, Jiang Yujin turned around and entered the room, determined to help with the packing.

His idea of helping was to stuff things haphazardly into the suitcase. After mentally preparing himself, he even thought about squeezing the large goose into the suitcase.

The large goose couldn’t fit in the suitcase. Xu Tonggui lifted the goose and said, “This won’t fit; you keep it.”

So, Jiang Yujin carried the large goose away again.

The soon-to-be college student had always been independent and knew how to pack, but with the help of two parents, he had to find a corner to stuff all kinds of beautiful but useless little things.

On the day of enrollment, Xu Tonggui took a day off from the SIU to drive the college student to school.

Perhaps due to the start of the school year, the road to the school was congested, making progress difficult.

Although it was already the beginning of autumn, the weather was still hot. While others in the traffic were getting impatient, the three people in the car remained leisurely.

Driver Xu watched the person beside him playing a mobile game, while Chen Jing, who was to speak as a representative of the new students at the opening ceremony, was quietly reading his script.

The car moved slowly, stopping and starting again, gradually making its way into the school.

Chen Jing originally packed only one suitcase, but with the help of his enthusiastic father, one suitcase successfully turned into two.

The trunk opened, and Xu Tonggui took out the suitcase. His hand and arm muscles were smooth, and the box, which was originally full of things, suddenly felt much lighter in his hands.

Once again, there was no escaping motion sickness. After getting off the car, Citizen Jiang squatted on the roadside for a while and felt much better. So, he stood up, placing a hand on the shoulder of his big son.

On the way to the enrollment, they encountered Zhang Xin, who was also admitted to A University. She walked with her backpack on her back, chatting with her dad carrying the suitcase. Her face was bright. Upon seeing the three people, she waved and greeted them.

When she raised her hand, her long sleeves slipped, revealing the small scars on her arm from previous injuries.

Chen Jing also greeted her, and the two families met but headed in different directions.

After walking a distance, Chen Jing turned his head again to look at the three people who were about to disappear into the crowd. Then he looked at the person quietly walking on the other side, carrying a suitcase.

It turns out there has been a change.

Regarding Xu Tonggui’s inclusion, he initially thought it was just a change in family structure, an addition to the household to take care of a severely disabled patient. But now, he finally realized that this change was not only about the paralyzed patient but also involved him.

Someone to pick him up when he returns late, someone to accompany him when school starts.

—It seems he has indeed become the son of two parents.

Two parents could only accompany him to the dormitory building’s entrance. The suitcase was taken over by a kind senior.

The senior introduced himself as Zhao Lin and then asked, “Which floor are you going to, little brother?”

Chen Jing said the top floor.

Zhao Lin was stunned, but since he already took the suitcase and couldn’t put it down, he gritted his teeth and continued to carry it upstairs. Midway, he smiled and asked, “Little brother, do you want to get a card?”

Chen Jing declined.

The senior loosened his grip on the suitcase, but he managed to hold onto it in the end. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Zhao Lin said, “There have been strange occurrences in this building before. There was a strange species that specifically targeted people’s hair. It would strip all your hair overnight.”

Lowering his voice, he continued, “Although that thing has been eliminated, there’s no telling if there’s anything lurking in this building, waiting to snatch the hair of new students at night.”

The senior who couldn’t sell the card began weaving a fabricated story as a form of retaliation.

However, the new student was not frightened by his words. He was indifferent and casually responded with, “Is that so?” Then, he asked, “Senior, have you been attacked by this strange species?”

Zhao Lin: “…”

Feeling his newly grown hair, Zhao Lin ultimately chose to remain silent.

After escorting the freshman to the top floor, he hadn’t even caught his breath when he quickly ran downstairs. He thought he was fast, but when he turned around at the bottom of the stairs, he realized that the freshman who didn’t buy a card had followed him. The freshman seemed to have no sweat on his forehead and his breathing was steady.

On one side of the bottom floor, two people were standing. Zhao Lin scanned them and unexpectedly found one of them to be familiar—the boss of the agency he had hastily turned to when he was bald before.

Then, he watched as the freshman who was originally behind him stood next to the familiar person.

“…”

The familiar person obviously recognized him as well. His eyes slightly widened, and his gaze focused on his hair. Looking surprised, he commented before he could say anything, “Your hair has grown.”

“…”

Facing the gaze of the freshman, Zhao Lin closed his eyes in pain.

After the enrollment process, there was a freshman induction ceremony on the second day, something the two parents missed.

There were no sudden appearances of strange species, and the antisocial organization secretly capturing test subjects was gone. Everyone smoothly entered the school, embarking on a new life, heading towards a brighter future.

The sky was clear, without a cloud in sight.

On the second day of the big son’s school, Captain Xu found himself working overtime again. And the left-behind father, left alone at home, happily headed to the local pub.

It had been a while since he last visited, and the pub owner, seeing him in high spirits, handed him a glass of alcohol.

In the corner of the pub, the same television was still placed, its screen illuminated as it played the evening news. The news mentioned the recent eradication of the last remnants of the anti-social organization, with all members either dead or injured, none escaping.

The SIU discovered numerous missing citizens in the organization’s hideout, some alive, some dead, and some living in conditions worse than death.

Though the news didn’t show on-site photos, the blurred images were nauseating enough. Discussions in the pub grew louder as patrons reacted to the shocking information.

Jiang Yujin remained silent and took a sip of his drink.

Due to the large number of people involved and the proximity to the city center, it was impossible to keep this incident a secret. Instead of letting the public speculate, the authorities decided to release a comprehensive news report, focusing on the aftermath of the affected citizens.

In the news, there was an unexpected glimpse of a blurry figure with white hair.

“…”

Citizen Jiang, who had just taken a sip of his drink, was momentarily taken aback but managed to hold back his cough. He raised his hand and touched his now dark hair.

Fortunately, the pub owner didn’t notice anything unusual and continued, “I remember your friend is from the SIU, right?”

The friend mentioned by the owner was Xu Tonggui.

Citizen Jiang nodded.

“Be careful,” the pub owner looked around and whispered, “There might be people specifically targeting family members of the SIU personnel for retaliation.”

Unlike that friend, this person was similar to them, an ordinary person who enjoyed a bit of alcohol. If someone were to retaliate, they might not be able to withstand it.

Jiang Yujin thanked the pub owner for the warning.

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