Infinity Flow: The Man Assigned by the Game Cannot Be Wanted! - Chapter 4

“Shopkeeper! Shopkeeper! This is bad!”

The shopkeeper, currently deep in sleep, was jolted awake by the urgent knocking on the door, a lingering sense of unease settling in her heart. “Dammit.”

Outside the door stood two shadows, one tall and one short, and a wave of sour, foul stench drifted into the shopkeeper’s nostrils. This stench forced her to push down the unease, replacing it with impatient annoyance as she tugged at her outer robe by the bedside, slipping it on as she went to open the door.

“He… he escaped!” stammered the guard assigned to watch Lin Chubai.

The shopkeeper gently covered her nose, as if trying to shut out the stench, but upon hearing those words, she dropped her hand. Even the last shred of sleepiness vanished completely with the news. “Then why aren’t you out looking for him? How long has it been?”

“Half… half an hour.” The guard’s lips trembled uncontrollably as he spoke.

“What use are a bunch of useless trash like you? Go find him!” By this time, the shopkeeper no longer cared about the sour stench clinging to them. She shoved the guard hard on the head, sending him staggering sideways.

It turned out that the burly man, having woken from his stupor in the middle of the night and relying on his meager wits, had recalled the afternoon’s events and rushed over to the room where Lin Chubai was locked up.

Sure enough, the room was empty, leaving behind only a guard tied tightly to a chair with vines and a sock stuffed into his mouth. After questioning, they learned that Lin Chubai had escaped half an hour before.

Armed with torches and weapons, the people of the Explorer Inn rushed out into the woods surrounding the inn, determined to capture the escaped Lin Chubai and bring him to justice.

Meanwhile, the other two people had followed the waiter through a maze of twists and turns toward the woodshed. During the journey, the unlucky waiter had even tried to lead them back toward the inn.

Had they not spotted the golden hairpin stuck in the ground earlier, they truly would have been led right back, only to be forced into a state of near-death by tightening vines before they finally learned to obey.

Peering through the window, they saw a figure locked up with iron chains inside the woodshed. Although his features were hidden in the darkness, his broad shoulders and long legs immediately allowed Lin Chubai to recognize him as the boy from No. 6 Middle School.

Lin Chubai turned and reached out to touch the waiter’s clothes, desperately trying to find the key to the woodshed.

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Clang!”

A loud crash echoed from behind Lin Chubai. He whipped his head around to see Song Siyun holding a rock, the original lock already shattered into pieces across the floor.

Lin Chubai thought, This kid is really not afraid of attracting attention.

The sound of the smashing lock not only startled the birds and beasts in the forest but also woke the man lying inside. The moonlight streaming through the doorway shone upon the man’s face, revealing him to be none other than the boy from No. 6 Middle School.

He was injured, his complexion slightly pale, and his aura carried an even more unapproachable coldness.

Yet, the moment he recognized that the newcomer was Lin Chubai, that unapproachable aura mysteriously faded away, replaced by a strange mix of shock, relief, and a trace of tender attachment.

Lin Chubai took in every detail of the complex emotions in his eyes. The question that had lingered in his mind ever since he was rescued surfaced once again: Why did he save me?

Time was pressing, and there was no spare moment to ponder this question. Lin Chubai watched as Song Siyun kept smashing the iron chain with a rock, and let out a dry laugh. “Stop smashing it. You can’t break it this way, and you’ll attract someone soon.”

Lin Chubai picked up an iron chain thicker than his wrist, felt around until he found the keyhole, and was relieved to find that the hole was relatively large. Channeling power into his palms, two vines sprouted and shot straight toward the keyhole.

While Lin Chubai was busy picking the lock, Song Siyun, keeping watch outside the door, noticed a faint reddish glow pulsing in the distant part of the woods and felt a wave of panic. “How much longer? It looks like someone is coming.”

“Almost done.” Lin Chubai sped up his movements, a thin layer of sweat beading on his forehead.

The group outside moved as if their legs were powered by motors. A few seconds ago they had seemed far away, but now they were practically upon them, led by none other than the burly man.

“They’re coming! The inn people!”

“Click.” The lock trapping the No. 6 Middle School boy finally sprang open, and the three of them rushed toward the woodshed window, preparing to vault outside.

Just as the inn guards rushed to the entrance with torches, a whistling stone hurled through the air and slammed fiercely into Lin Chubai’s knee as he brought up the rear.

Driven by the surge of battlefield adrenaline, Lin Chubai gritted his teeth and leapt outward despite the blinding pain in his knee.

The moment he vaulted out, blade-like leaves sliced through the exact spot he had just occupied, embedding themselves deeply into a wooden stump outside.

As his feet hit the ground, his injured knee buckled, and he pitched forward.

Just as he thought he was about to have a very intimate face-to-face meeting with Mother Earth, he felt something gently support his waist, saving him from a faceplant.

Meanwhile, Song Siyun threw up an earthen shield within a 1.5-meter radius around them, blocking out the frantic mob outside.

Squinting closely, Lin Chubai saw that the person who caught him was the No. 6 Middle School boy, though the movement seemed to aggravate his arm injury, turning his face even more deathly pale.

Lin Chubai tried to move his leg, only to find that his left leg from the knee down had temporarily lost all sensation, causing his body to list to the side as he started to fall again.

“You guys go…” Before Lin Chubai could finish, a sudden sensation of weightlessness interrupted him. The No. 6 Middle School boy exerted force with his arms, ignoring the agonizing pull on his wounds, and swept Lin Chubai up by the waist.

Behind them, Song Siyun shoved outward with both hands, sending the surging crowd flying back dozens of meters, before all three bolted deeper into the forest.

They had not run far before Lin Chubai noticed they seemed to be gaining elevation rapidly. Turning his head back, a pair of wings greeted his eyes.

“Pull your friend up.” The No. 6 Middle School boy’s voice sounded right beside his ear, carrying a hint of clenched-teeth strain.

Green vines seemed to blend seamlessly into the surrounding woods, but Song Siyun spotted them instantly, jumped up, and grabbed hold.

Just as he was clumsily hauling himself up, another vine wrapped around his ankle and gave a subtle tug, leaving half of Song Siyun dangling from the No. 6 Middle School boy’s leg.

The wounded boy could not hold on much longer; he could already feel the arms supporting him beginning to tremble slightly, and the color in his face had drained almost entirely.

After flying only about 500 meters, they were forced to make an emergency descent. The moment they touched down, they collapsed onto the ground as the belated burly man and waiters charged straight past them in the distance.

Once the sound of footsteps faded into the silence, Lin Chubai let out a soft sigh and turned his head slightly to look at the motionless No. 6 Middle School boy sprawled beside him.

Song Siyun flipped the boy’s wrist over and began taking his pulse. After a moment, he let out an exaggerated sigh. “Phew, he is not dead yet.”

Lin Chubai stared silently.

“Speak human.”

“Well, his condition is still not looking great. If we leave him alone, he might not last a day.”

While listening, Lin Chubai opened the game shop. Ignoring the high-end medical cards on the upper tiers that he could not afford, he locked onto the bottom-tier All-Purpose Rejuvenation Card, a restricted newbie special of three available for 19.9 points.

Lin Chubai thought, You really calculated this to the exact amount, huh.

[All-Purpose Rejuvenation Card used] [Remaining points: 0.1]

Though a bit pricey, this item was indeed effective. In less than half an hour, while the sky was still dim with the first hints of dawn, the No. 6 Middle School boy slowly regained consciousness.

Through a hazy blur, the phantom images before him no longer looked as refined as before, and his once immaculate hair had loosened into disarray.

Even the hair ornaments on his head were reduced to just a few stray pieces, not to mention his bright red ceremonial wedding robe. Yet, this figure gradually overlapped with the youth from many years ago.

He stared fixedly at Lin Chubai, who was bending over to bandage his wounds. Looking downward, his pupils suddenly constricted upon seeing the life-saving amulet hanging quietly against Lin Chubai’s chest.

Countless fragments of memory surged into his mind like a flood, causing him to mutter involuntarily: “Found you… It is you.”

Lin Chubai did not catch what he said, so he bent down slightly, bringing his ear close to the boy’s lips. “What did you say?”

Perhaps due to his severe injuries and lack of full recovery, after that brief murmur, the boy lapsed back into unconsciousness.

When the No. 6 Middle School boy finally recovered completely, half the horizon was painted with fish-belly gray light. They finally learned his name: his surname was Ye, and his given name was Zhou.

When Lin Chubai asked him what he had said earlier, Ye Zhou simply claimed he had just thanked Lin Chubai.

For some reason, Ye Zhou felt he shouldn’t tell Lin Chubai the truth, perhaps it was a man’s intuition.

Lin Chubai gazed suspiciously at Ye Zhou before him. The boy had clearly spoken more than two words earlier, but this was no time to dwell on it. The most urgent task was to figure out what they needed to do next.

So, he asked, “What happened after you entered?”

Ye Zhou sensibly began recounting his experiences after entering the game.

When he first entered, he tried to escape using his flight ability, but the moment he soared into the air, he crashed straight into an invisible barrier.

The barrier emitted a dull, echoing thud like an ancient centuries-old bell, startling the entire inn and leading to his encirclement, which ultimately ended in him getting beaten by a mob.

“They have abilities too, though not everyone has them,” Ye Zhou recalled the mysterious force that had yanked him down, along with the sharp, flying leaf-blades.

“What do we do now? Where is Lotus Village?” Song Siyun’s words brought the most critical problem back to the surface.

The three of them fell into deep thought. Lin Chubai toyed with a pebble he had casually picked up from the ground, then suddenly spoke up: “Let’s go back.”

Song Siyun did not understand and stared at Lin Chubai with a look of utter disbelief, as if silently asking: Bro, are you serious?

“They are sending people up tomorrow, and they’ll just find someone else as a replacement,” Ye Zhou spoke up first before Lin Chubai could explain.

With that, the three finally saw a glimmer of hope. Just as Lin Chubai was about to get up, he heard Song Siyun shouting from the side: “Your…”

“It’s fine,” Lin Chubai interrupted before he could finish, ignoring the piercing pain shooting from his knee as he forced himself to stand straight and began walking back toward the inn.

“I can carry you,” Ye Zhou said, noticing Lin Chubai’s stubborn endurance, feeling a heavy knot in his heart.

“No need, I’m fine.”

Hearing him say this, the other two dropped their persistence and walked alongside him back toward the inn.

As they watched batches of people being dispatched into the forest while complete silence reigned within, a rising wave of tension began to grip them.