Infinite Paradise
Chapter 62: Since everyone is a pit, just leave it to the newbies.

Chapter 62: Since everyone is a pit, just leave it to the newbies.

Old players never imagined that Le Cheng merely went out for a fling and ended up hitting on a pivotal character in the plot... and even more so, it wasn’t even a girl.

Is this what they call the newbie halo?

The newbie halo is quite outrageous and mystical, some have it, some don’t, some blaze a trail with sparks and lightning, like Qin Shi Huang at the Magic Electric Gate, winning like crazy, while others can’t even catch up when eating poop, like Chen Rui chewing on peppercorns, getting totally numbed.

Just then, two villagers led the players into a wooden house.

Although they had known beforehand that the living conditions here weren’t going to be great, especially since they were the last group and had to pick after everyone else, leaving only the worst options, entering the house still shocked them... Not only was the door broken, the wall panels were drafty, and there wasn’t even a passable bed, just a few wooden planks haphazardly put together. This wasn’t fit for humans; it was too shabby even for pigs.

Seeing the expressions of the players, the villagers felt somewhat embarrassed and said with an apologetic smile, "Sorry about this, our village simply doesn’t have any spare houses. This is already the best one we could find."

If this was already the best, they dare not even think about the worse ones.

Alien Eye circled the house, then smilingly said, "Actually, this house isn’t too bad. We can fix the doors and windows later, making sure there’re no drafts, and then build a fire bed in the middle. It’d be at least warm enough to sleep at night. For emergency accommodations, it’s doable."

"Indeed, indeed." The villagers hastily nodded in agreement. "We’ll also bring more blankets and some food later, ensuring you all won’t go hungry or cold."

At this point, there wasn’t much the players could do but make do, and they watched as the two villagers left.

But as they walked some distance from the house, the two villagers started whispering to each other.

"Hey, do you actually believe those seven are siblings?"

"Believe my ass! Some are white, some are yellow, some are black, each of them a different color, not even a dog would believe they’re from the same mother!"

"Just because they are siblings doesn’t mean they are from the same mother. Plus, I think some of them don’t even look like they come from the West Continent."

"Who cares, as long as they’ve come to our village, they can’t think about leaving."

"Haha, you said it."

The two villagers laughed and walked away, the occasional gust of cold wind burying their voices. Unnoticed by anyone, there was a Snow Chicken hiding behind a rock not far from them. Its feathers blended perfectly with the surrounding environment. Once the villagers had gone far enough, the Snow Chicken scurried out from behind the rock and ran towards the dilapidated house.

The Snow Chicken squeezed through a hole in the door, ran straight to Alien Eye, and clucked several times. Alien Eye listened and nodded, then said to the others, "These villagers are definitely up to something; it seems they are planning to wipe us out."

"Bro, what level is your Beast Speech?"

"Holy shit, you can talk to chickens?"

Everyone was somewhat unsettled by this seamless interaction between human and chicken. Alien Eye, hearing their reactions, also lost his composure, "Holy shit, is that really what you’re focusing on?"

"What else?" Nikun spread his hands, "We’d already guessed there was something off about this village. It’s not like the villagers living here are nice people despite the village being problematic. Compared to this, I’m more curious about how you managed to communicate with the chicken."

"It is my animal friend, please don’t refer to it so casually as a chicken, the Tibetan word for chicken is..."

"Alright, alright." Edward cut him off, "I don’t want to know how to say chicken in Tibetan. I just want to know what those guys plan to do to wipe us all out. Can you get your animal friend to do some more spying?"

"No way, that’s too dangerous. Animal lives are lives too." Alien Eye firmly shook his head, gently stroking the Snow Chicken in his arms—it wasn’t a summoned beast, but a real chicken.

Edward glared and turned to Nabron, "Then you go."

Nabron’s face turned pale, "Aren’t human lives just as valuable? I won’t go!"

"Damn it, you can turn invisible, what’s there to be afraid of?"

"I can only become invisible when I raise both hands. What if I need to take a dump while I’m invisible? I can’t be taking a dump while holding up my hands, can I? Besides, I’m a coward, there’s no way I can do espionage in the enemies’ camp!" Nabron confidently declared, full of self-assurance.

"Motherfucker... with such a perverted ability, you’re still such a coward!"

"Had I not been a coward, you think I’d choose this kind of ability?"

"..."

Edward suddenly found himself at a loss for words, thinking it over, there actually seemed to be some damn sense in it.

Both people capable of gathering intelligence had their reasons, and the others clearly weren’t fit to be spies. Their participation would be useless, which left Edward speechless. So this is the so-called ’value’ of a wild team—everyone is greedy for life and afraid of death, everyone is timid and cautious, with no sense of collective honor at all. A wild team’s defeat often isn’t because the enemy is strong but because the teammates are so disastrously inept.

In Edward’s eyes, this team—apart from himself—was full of nothing but hazards!

Of course, that’s what most of the others thought too.

In the end, Edward helplessly turned to Le Cheng, "Gai Baonan, what’s your opinion?"

Le Cheng looked up, "I’m just slacking off, you asking me?"

"..."

Damn it... Edward suddenly felt an urge to defect to the enemy.

Life is so hard!

He gritted his teeth and said, "I meant to ask you about Caster."

"Why didn’t you say so clearly?" Le Cheng rolled his eyes at him and then elaborated carefully, "Caster is about fifteen or sixteen years old, petite in stature, with tiny hands, extremely cute looking, with an androgynous face leaning towards feminine, with large eyes, sky blue pupils, and even a concealed tuft of silly hair. He smells nice, and he has a little girlfriend..."

Bang!

Edward punched a load-bearing pillar in the dilapidated house, causing a shower of dust to fall.

"I’m not interested in your crush, I want to know about his background and identity!"

"How would I know that, I’m not the all-knowing Old Weasel."

"Then why don’t you go ask? Since you’re on good terms with him, strike while the iron’s hot and try to find out more." Edward tried to suppress his sense of impending breakdown and reasoned with Le Cheng. Since everyone else was unreliable, he might as well believe in Le Cheng’s newbie luck; two wrongs just might make a right.

"Now?"

"The sooner the better, of course."

"Fine." Le Cheng nodded without any resistance, and when he really accepted Edward’s request, it moved Edward somewhat. Newbies really are more teachable, he thought. Although this guy’s a bit off in the head, and who knew if he was from Saint Elizabeth, he seemed pretty decent—not like those other old-timers, each of whom was giving him attitude.

But then he saw Le Cheng stretching out his hand, "Venmo me 50."

"Ah?" Edward was taken aback, "What’s that?"

"Gifts, of course," Le Cheng said with righteous indignation, "It’s already evening now, and you want me to knock on a little guy’s door without bringing a gift? Anything will do, whether it’s food or drink. And don’t just stand there watching; you all chip in too. Do you want me to freeload?"

Damn!

How did a proper task suddenly become so sleazy after your pitch?

Speechless, everyone still found Le Cheng’s reasoning solid. Bringing gifts when visiting was common courtesy and could indeed facilitate the extraction of information.

So, each of them started taking out their items: a KFC family bucket, chubby nerds’ soda, cheese sandwiches, and even Jingxiang took out a pack of sanitary pads, saying it was for the little guy.

Le Cheng accepted everything without refusal, then opened the door in front of everyone’s expectant eyes.

He seemed to remember something, paused, turned back, and said.

"By the way, I may not come back tonight, so don’t wait up for me."

Damn!

Are you seriously treating it like you’re heading to a brothel?