[Infinite] End Game

Time is no there, nordays, normonths, noryears.

An everlasting now of solitude!

——Robert Southey

(Here there is no time, no day, no years, only endless lonely moments!

—Robert Southey)

It's too cold here.

The cold air drills into the nasal cavity, extends along the trachea to the lungs, and freezes the alveoli.

Tang Yu opened his eyes, and what he saw was a blur of paleness.He moved his feet, only to realize that he was stepping on knee-deep snow, but what was colder than his body was the broken handcuffs on his wrists.

The metal section was smooth and clear. He had seen such neat cuts once in the corridor of Chunlei's apartment, but there was no one on the other end of the handcuffs.

Their bound props are broken.

Chang He didn't follow.

So now he is the only one standing in the snow by himself.

Tang Yu's eyes darkened, and he was stunned for a few seconds before moving his stiff fingers to remove the half of the handcuffs. He held it in his hand and checked it. After confirming that it was damaged to the point where he couldn't even put his personal terminal in, Tang Yu's heart ached. Suddenly, there was a surge of irritability, and he threw the handcuffs out with a flick of his hand, smashing a hole in the soft snow.

After throwing the things out, Tang Yu didn't feel relaxed either. On the contrary, the apex of his heart seemed to be scalded by something. He picked up the broken handcuffs and put them in his chest pocket.

...Fine, why panic.

Just be yourself.

The moment the cold metal touched his skin, Tang Yu shivered involuntarily. The handcuffs were still covered with snow, and after melting into water, it was even bitingly cold, but this coolness happened to dilute the restlessness in his heart.Tang Yu touched the hard feeling on his chest, took a deep breath of the cold air, and then raised his head to look at the surrounding environment seriously.

He was in a vast snow field, surrounded by a dark night, and the dark green dwarf pine was covered with a thick layer of snow, like a large and soft quilt.

Tang Yu guessed that it would not be too late now, but the sun had completely set at this time of the season, and the clouds on the dome were so thick that neither the moon nor the stars could be seen clearly, only the faint light was diffusely reflected by the snow, It seemed that it was extraordinarily quiet and desolate here.

Tang Yu hesitated for a moment, and finally took out the windproof lighter to light up the flame, using this light to illuminate the snow surface, and carefully searched for traces.

It was very conspicuous to light a fire in such a wide and dark snow field.

If possible, Tang Yu wouldn't be like setting up this bright target, but he didn't have Chang He's excellent night vision ability, so he couldn't see in the dark.Moreover, when he entered the dungeon, the climate in the dreamland was still late autumn. Although he was wearing a thick coat, it was obviously not enough in the vast snowy field.After only standing in the snow for a short while, he already felt that his body temperature was being lost rapidly, and if this continued, he would freeze to death within 10 to [-] minutes.

The shell of the lighter was held in the palm of his hand, which brought some distant heat. Tang Yu's eyes wandered on the snow, and soon, he found traces in some dwarf pine forests.

There were shallow depressions, intermittently connected into a line, with only [-] centimeters between each depression. Tang Yu understood after a few glances that this was a series of footprints.

Someone should have walked through this snow field before him, but the snow fell later, and the footprints were buried. The part near the tree was covered by branches, and the snow that fell was less, so it was not completely buried.

Tang Yu didn't hesitate anymore, and followed up on the knee-deep snow.After passing through the entire pine forest, a cluster of lights suddenly appeared in front of Tang Yu's eyes. The footprints stretched to the end of the light. An old castle filled with warm lights stood quietly between the snow-capped world.

The exhaled breath wetted the eyelashes, and formed thick ice beads when encountering the cold air. Tang Yu's hands and feet were already numb from the cold, and the exposed skin turned pale due to the slowing of blood flow. He walked up , knocked hard on the gate of the castle, and said loudly: "Excuse me, someone—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the two heavy brass doors opened inwards, and the light in the room flooded out instantly. Tang Yu had to squint his eyes, and after he got used to the light, he could see clearly the figure standing straight in front of him. In front of the figure.

It was an extremely old and skinny old man, so thin that his muscles could not support the loose skin, it was as weird as a skeleton with a human leather cover.He is about 1.8 meters tall, with a slightly curved back and a square face. His white hair is combed back meticulously with pomade. His face is covered with brown age spots the size of small fingernails, and his brown pupils are particularly cloudy.

The old man was wearing a slightly old but ironed tuxedo without a trace of wrinkles. After seeing Tang Yu, he bowed his body, and there was a glimmer of light in his cloudy eyes. He looked at Tang Yu and said coldly: "Ye Ann, sir, I am the steward of this castle, is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Ye'an, Mr. Butler." Tang Yu took a breath, his eyes passed over the butler's shoulder, and he saw the scene in the restaurant clearly.In the luxuriously decorated living room, there are three men and two women who are turning their heads to look at this place, their eyes are both scrutinized and vigilant, and their clothes are obviously out of place with this Victorian mansion.

Tang Yu felt confident in his heart when he saw it. He smiled lightly, faced the old Mr. Housekeeper, and said, "I am a traveler passing by and lost my way in the wind and snow. I want to ask the owner here to allow me to borrow a room. one night."

"...Welcome, honored guest, please come in and enjoy the fire." The old butler looked at Tang Yu, was silent for a while, then suddenly stretched out his hand, and helped Tang Yu brush off the snowflakes that were blown up by the wind from his shoulders. Greeted into the room, then fell behind him, closing the heavy brass door.

The fireplace in the living room was burning very vigorously. Tang Yu was directly brought to the sofa beside the fireplace by the housekeeper. The charcoal made a "crackling" sound under the flames. The continuous heat made Tang Yu's hands and feet gradually regain consciousness. Also accompanied by tingling when thawing.

"Little brother is also a player, how do you call him?" The oldest-looking man among the three men said with a smile.

"My name is Tang Yu, how about you, big brother?" Tang Yu smiled at him.

"My name is Liu Shucai. I just turned [-] this year. You can call me brother Liu or Lao Liu. It's fate to meet you in the dungeon. Please take care of me." smoothie.

Tang Yu didn't agree to his words, just nodded with a smile and lowered his eyes to concentrate on warming the fire. No one spoke in the living room for a while, and at this moment, the closed door was knocked vigorously again.

The eyes of the butler and all the players were attracted at the same time, and as the butler stepped forward to open the door, a tall and straight man covered in frost and snow stepped into the room, his eyes passed through the sea of ​​people, and immediately chased after the man who was warming up by the fire. young people.The eyes of the two met in the air, Tang Yu's body shook suddenly, his shoulders tensed unconsciously, and then he finally leaned back, allowing himself to sink into the soft sofa back, and finally relaxed completely.