Death Spiral [Infinite Flow]

Consciousness is like floating in water, swaying, not knowing where you are.

It was utter darkness, bottomless, and no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't make out anything. However, unlike before, this time the darkness did not make people feel scared, but very reassuring.

As if in the warm amniotic fluid of the mother.

Xu Rendong tried to stretch out her hand, but could not perceive the existence of the arm. It is also difficult to concentrate, and the consciousness can't help but drift away. If you don't try to stay awake, you will probably fall asleep again in the next second.

Although she didn't feel tired at all, her consciousness oscillated between lethargy and awake.

Wake up? Or just sleep like this?

Honeysuckle thought in a trance. The strings of reason cannot continue. He is like a child with candy in his hand, not knowing whether to eat the one in his left hand or the one in his right hand.

Suddenly, something in the dark caught his attention.

Hey, what is it?

Honeysuckle was unconsciously attracted to that thing. When he tried to get closer, the spot of light suddenly expanded. Immediately afterwards, a warm and dazzling light enveloped him.

“…!”

As if falling from a height, Xu Rendong was shocked and suddenly opened his eyes.

The dilated pupils could not focus, the eyes were blurred, and nothing could be seen clearly.

He rubbed his eyes, his vision was still blurry, and he could vaguely see a warm yellow object in front of him, emitting a soft light.

Honeysuckle subconsciously reached out to the thing. The fingertips touched the slender and hard texture, which was somewhat familiar.

The water vapor in the eyes gradually dissipated. Honeysuckle held the thing, brought it closer, and finally saw it clearly, it turned out to be a brass key. The shape is simple and unadorned. Only three words are engraved on the key handle.

"Xu Rendong".

…this is my key?

How come I also have a key?

Wait, the key appears, does it mean that you have cleared the customs? !

Honeysuckle was refreshed and sat up suddenly. When he got up, there was a light "click" under his body, which made him suddenly startled.

Looking around, his horror deepened.

This is a strange and dark space. Countless circular gears meshed with each other and hung silently in the air. The gears are large and small, the large ones are more than ten meters in diameter, and the small ones are only a few centimeters. They are connected to each other at various angles, filling the entire space.

The number of gears is huge, and it is impossible to see the end. Beyond the gears is endless darkness. That kind of darkness has no sense of boundaries, like the end of the vast universe, deep enough to contain everything.

However, the strange thing is that some gears are inlaid with ... people.

It was undoubtedly human, with eyes closed and a calm demeanor, like a peaceful sleep. Those people lay in the deep indentations in the middle of the gears. Some of the gears were standing upright, but they could still fit tightly with the gears, as if attracted by some invisible magnetic force.

Each gear angle is different, and some people just stand still in an inverted state. However, the people who stood upside down didn't show the appearance of red face, red ears and brain congestion, so Ren Dong couldn't judge whether it was a living person or a corpse...or a prop?

The surroundings were almost silent. Honeysuckle retracted his gaze from far to near, only to realize that he was also on a huge circular gear. There was also a deep indent where he sat, just the right size for him to lie down alone.

Looks like he's lying still on the gears like everyone else before he wakes up.

…But why is he the only one awake?

Is it because of the key?

Also, the "click" sound I heard when I woke up...

Honeysuckle recalled, the sound was very crisp, like the sound of metal. Could it be that…

He stood up holding the key. Just as he got up, there were several "clicks" and "clicks" around him. At the same time, the gears under him slowly turned.

Honeysuckle bowed her head, stood still, and the gears under her feet also stood still.

When he took a step forward, the huge gear also turned, making a crisp "click" sound again.

If you look carefully, the sound seems to be concentrated behind you. Honeysuckle looked back and found that another huge gear was tightly fitted with his gear. As soon as this gear turns, it drives the one on the side to rotate together.

And in the gear, there is also a person.

A man he knew so well.

"Lian Joe?!"

Lian Dong was startled and hurried to Lian Qiao.

As soon as he ran, he moved his whole body, and the whole world seemed to come alive. The sound of clicking is endless, not only Qiao's gear is driven, but other gears around it are also turning.

Lian Qiao's teeth are the same as his, the two gears are closely connected, and the rotation angle is exactly the same.

Honeysuckle ran to Lian Qiao's side, knelt down on one knee, and reached out to hug Lian Qiao.

Contrary to what he imagined, Lian Joe was not pressed into the gear notch by some strange force. He easily lifted Lian Qiao from the ground and shook Lian Qiao's body gently.

"Lian Joe? Can you hear me? Wake up, wake up!"

Lian Qiao still closed her eyes tightly, but the eyeballs under her lids trembled slightly, as if she was struggling to wake up.

The surrounding gears are still turning slowly. This time, although Ren Dong held Lian Qiao in his arms and didn't move, the gears started to move spontaneously.

The step where he crossed the gear and came to Lian Qiao's side was like the first driving force of the entire universe. Time begins to flow again, and the world wakes up from its dark silence.

But Ren Dong didn't notice it at all, just called Lian Qiao over and over again.

"Um..."

I don't know how long, Lian Qiao struggled to wake up. He opened his eyes, the mist in his eyes was confused. The out-of-focus pupils were scattered and unable to focus, and his eyes were erratic, as if he had woken up from a thousand-year-old dream, and he was in a trance and didn't know what was going on.

Seeing that he finally woke up, Ren Dong finally let go of his anxious heart and hugged him hard. The voice trembled.

"You're awake...great...you're awake..."

Although I don't know where I am, at least, Honeysuckle knows that he is no longer alone.

No matter what awaits him, he is no longer alone. Even Joe is still by his side, still his support.

"Forbearance... Winter?" Lian Qiao's voice was hoarse. He raised his hand in confusion and touched Honeysuckle's waist, as if to confirm whether the person in front of him was real or an illusion.

Fingertips return a familiar body temperature. Lian Qiao stretched out his hands and wrapped his arms around Ren Dong's waist. That warm and familiar feeling made him want to cry all of a sudden.

The two embrace each other silently. The reunion after the catastrophe is so sweet, they quietly taste this unspeakable happiness and feel each other's existence.

After some time, both of them gradually calmed down.

Lian Qiao rested his head on the shoulders of honeysuckle, rolled his eyes to observe the surroundings, and asked curiously, "What is this place?"

"I don't know." Honeysuckle's fingers ran through his hair, stroking him fondly, "Wake up and be here."

The strength was just right, and even Qiao was so happy that she narrowed her eyes.

Lian Qiao was like a little milk dog, with two small paws on the waist of the honeysuckle, and his head buried deep in the neck of the honeysuckle. He hummed contentedly in his throat while enjoying the extremely gentle caress.

The two were tired and crooked for a long time, and then they cleared up and began to think about the situation in front of them.

"Is this the end?" Lian Qiao tilted her head and looked around, "I didn't see any exits, but there are quite a few gears... This scene looks familiar, like your butterfly copy, A bit of steampunk. But why gears?"

Honeysuckle pointed to the ground. Lian Qiao looked in the direction of his fingers, and saw that the two huge gears under his feet were tightly attached to each other, affecting each other. Those are the two gears that carry him and Honeysuckle respectively.

"Perhaps this is a metaphor for our connected destiny." Honeysuckle said.

Lian Qiao smiled: "Yeah. Our destiny is connected." Then he intertwined his fingers.

Since Lian Qiao woke up, the surrounding gears began to rotate spontaneously, and finally stabilized to a fixed frequency. The entire space is like the inside of a giant machine, but I don't know what the machine is doing.

Thousands of gears are turning on their own, and there is still a bottomless darkness outside the gears. The two observed and found that their two gears were closely connected, but independent of the other gears.

Other gears are also connected to each other, not all gears are connected. Despite this, there seems to be some kind of force between the gears that are close to each other, and they still affect each other to a certain extent.

"Should we wake the others up?" Lian Qiao pointed. The one closest to them was seven or eight gears away. Although these seven or eight gears are not closely fitted, the middle distance is not large and can be jumped over.

Honeysuckle narrowed his eyes, due to the limited angle, he could not see the man's face. Then he said casually: "Okay, go and have a look."

The two held hands, carefully jumping between the gears. It's not that I'm afraid of falling into the dark. After all, the gears in this space are very dense, and even if they stumble and fall, they will only fall on the next gear. You can still climb back in a circle, but it takes a little time.

Soon they came to the gear, and after seeing the face of the man, both of them were stunned.

"Aunt with long hair?" Lian Qiao blurted out, "Isn't she dead early? Is she here too?"

Honeysuckle frowned and said nothing. Lian Qiao said angrily, "This place can't be a morgue..."

Honeysuckle leaned down and reached out to sniff her. Lian Qiao subconsciously protected him: "Hey, don't move, leave me alone. What if she cheats..."

Honey Dong smiled: "It's okay. I'm still angry." Then he pushed the long-haired aunt.

But she never woke up. After a while, Ren Dong gave up, got up and shook his head and said, "No, I can't wake up."

What…"

"No. I lied to you." Honeysuckle said.

Lian Qiao: "...Okay. Then leave her alone."

"Hmm."

Lian Qiao said to ignore her, took two steps, but felt out of breath. Then he stepped back and stepped on the face of the long-haired aunt.

Honeysuckle: "...what are you doing?"

Lian Qiao: "Check whether she is pretending to be asleep or comatose. Well, she is really comatose. Let's go."

Honeysuckle: “…”

The two crossed the long-haired aunt and walked towards another man's gear. When they approached this time, they found that the monk lying in the middle of the gear turned out to be a monk.

The two were overjoyed and tried to wake up the monk again. However, this time, like the long-haired aunt, the monk closed his eyes tightly and fell asleep. His breathing is even, his chest rises and falls slowly, and he is undoubtedly alive. But no matter how you shake it, it won't wake up.

"No way. Isn't his gear turning?" Lian Qiao looked at the gear under him. This gear is a circle smaller than the two of them, and the rotation speed is about the same as theirs. In contrast, the gear that the long-haired aunt was in just now was smaller and the speed was slower.

"At least it's still alive." Honeysuckle sighed, "It seems that the players in this dungeon are scattered on gears everywhere. The question is how to wake them up?"

Lian Qiao asked: "How did you wake up?"

Honeysuckle: "I saw the light in front of me, so I reached out and grabbed it... That's right!" He took out the brass key after realizing it, "Forgot to tell you, I got it this!"

Lian Qiao saw the words "Xu Rendong" on the key, and his eyes widened immediately.

"How come you have a key?!"

"I don't know. When I opened my eyes, I saw this thing dangling in front of my eyes."

"Then... do you have a headache?"

"?"

"Try thinking about me, hug me, kiss me, and see if you have a headache?"

“???”

Although Honeysuckle didn't know why, she still did as he said, tilted her head and thought about him, stretched out her arms and hugged him, closed her eyes and kissed him.

Then say, "It doesn't hurt."

"Oh, that's good." Lian Qiao hugged him, sucked his lips knowingly, and said, "Kiss for a while."

Honeysuckle: “…”

Although those people on the ground are still alive, there is always a strange feeling of cheating in the morgue.

Stimulating.