Meanwhile, on the other side.
Below the initial platform, on the plain where the three starter pals lived.
Zhou Yue was holding a wooden stick, fiercely brawling with a swarm of Mischievous Cats.
"Let you be greedy! Let you have a bottomless stomach! Let you be addicted to laziness!!!"
Zhou Yue didn't even summon a Pal, just swung the wooden stick at the Mischievous Cats' heads, not even using Pal Spheres.
He felt that seeing Mischievous Cats now filled him with irritation, nearly becoming a mental demon.
Even though he was killing Pals, Zhou Yue actually felt no guilt about it.
If it were another illusion, like the Phantom Alliance's "King of Beasts," a one-sided massacre would have made Zhou Yue feel somewhat uneasy.
But Palworld was different.
Palworld's art style was uniquely charming and cute, carrying a hint of fairy tale and dreaminess.
Whether Pal or human, when taking damage, there wasn't even any blood spray—only some very amusing reactions.
Even when a Pal died, it simply closed its eyes and stuck out its tongue, as if it had drunk itself silly.
So no matter how much one bullied the Pals, players never really felt strong guilt; instead, they found it entertaining.
Of course, there was only one situation that caused guilt.
That was the meat cleaver.
But Zhou Yue hadn't degenerated to that level yet.
"I'll hit, I'll hit! I'll beat you to death, you wicked cat!!!"
"Hit hit hit hit hit!"
"Awesome!!!"
Zhou Yue vented wildly. Seeing the plains around him covered with pink Mischievous Cats lying everywhere, he couldn't help but shout in delight.
"Ah, I can sleep well tonight, and now I can go capture Pals with peace of mind..."
Zhou Yue shouted with satisfaction, turning around and heading toward the extraction point.
In his field of vision, an enormous pink figure suddenly appeared.
A Mischievous Cat.
A giant Mischievous Cat, half a head taller than Zhou Yue.
Around it flickered sparkling glints, periodically emitting shimmering sound effects.
Its level was a staggering 18.
Zhou Yue's eyes went wide. After a long pause, he stiffly opened the squad voice channel.
"Holy crap!! Lao Zhong, there's a huge freaking Mischievous Cat here..."
"Okay, okay, I know. You found a giant rough Pal Egg and hatched a giant Mischievous Cat, right? As expected of you, Lao Zhou. From now on, you should change your name to Demon Lord of Mischievous Cats."
"Pfft! Why are you being so sarcastic... I genuinely saw a real Mischievous Cat! It's bigger than me, and it's glowing!!!"
Zhou Yue was overjoyed.
These novel discoveries were usually things they described in the voice channel. This time, it was rare for him to be the explorer, and he was in a great mood.
"Huh? Are you serious? Or did those Mischievous Cats drive you crazy? "
"Nonsense! I feel like this Mischievous Cat is not ordinary. I'll catch it and show you later!"
"Alright. You don't need backup, do you? You should be able to..."
"Stop stop stop! Lao Zhong, shut up!!!"
Zhou Yue reacted quickly and cut him off, then promptly closed the squad voice channel, afraid that Zhong Yi would interfere.
"What's there to be nervous about, really..."
On the other side, Zhong Yi, who was getting closer to the volcano, curled his lips and muttered:
"It's just a Mischievous Cat. How could Lao Zhou not beat it?"
...
Zhou Yue looked at the sparkling Mischievous Cat and swallowed hard.
"Whatever. Even if you're high-level and huge, you're still just a Mischievous Cat."
Zhou Yue returned the Pal Sphere he had already pulled out to his waist.
"Since I just made a vow to personally wipe out the Mischievous Cats today... I naturally have to keep it."
With that, he switched back to the wooden stick he'd used to hit the Mischievous Cats earlier, and grinned with confidence.
"Come on! Watch me beat you!!!"
Zhou Yue struck first, swinging his stick down. A [-21] indicator instantly appeared on the glowing Mischievous Cat's forehead.
"Heh, getting tanky, huh?"
Zhou Yue raised an eyebrow.
His stat allocation was just as Zhong Yi had guessed—he'd put most of his points into attack.
The glowing Mischievous Cat in front of him had higher stats, plus a level advantage, so its health bar barely moved.
But Zhou Yue showed no fear.
"As long as it takes damage, even if it's a divine beast..."
"I'll kill it too!"
Zhou Yue instantly entered battle mode, glaring sharply at the Mischievous Cat's movements.
Each species of Pal had roughly the same combat moves and habits.
Zhou Yue wasn't just blindly slaughtering Mischievous Cats; he'd memorized their attack patterns and skills.
"Oh? That expression... is it about to use Meow Meow Punch?"
Zhou Yue chuckled, stopping his assault and rolling to the side to dodge.
The Mischievous Cat's rushing attack, swinging its arms, was easily evaded.
"That motion... it's about to fire an Air Bullet?"
After landing a few hits, Zhou Yue casually rolled back again, lightly dodging the Mischievous Cat's second round of attacks.
At this moment, he could only lament—if only Zhong Yi and the other two were behind him watching all these amazing moves, instead of him admiring them solo.
Thinking this, he attacked while reopening the squad voice channel.
"Lao Zhong, this Mischievous Cat is too weak. Its skills can't even hit me!"
Zhou Yue sighed dramatically, feigning disappointment.
"Invincibility is such loneliness."
"Nonsense! It's just a Mischievous Cat. What decent skills could it have?"
Zhong Yi replied with an annoyed tone.
"What???"
As if a trigger had been flipped in his memory, Zhou Yue instinctively felt something was wrong.
But looking at the Mischievous Cat's harmless face, he figured he was just overthinking.
"Better end this soon..."
Just as Zhou Yue was about to attack again.
The Mischievous Cat suddenly stopped still, a small purple-black energy orb gathering on its forehead.
"I..."
Zhou Yue took a deep breath, about to flee.
The next second, a fierce, fast, and powerful purple-black energy beam instantly pierced through his chest.
[-189]
[-323]
[-221]
...
A barrage of damage numbers blazed above his head. His health bar drained like a burst dam.
[Mischievous Cat killed Undying Resolve!]
"Lao Zhong, I curse you #$%@#%...@!#"
...
A Shiny Pal was a variant of Pals.
It had a larger body, glowed with shiny effects, always carried the [Rare] trait, and had a chance of possessing a high-tier skill.
Clearly, the Mischievous Cat Zhou Yue encountered was a Shiny Pal carrying a high-tier skill.
Zhou Yue respawned at the base camp, looking dejected.
"No way! That Mischievous Cat is seriously tough. I have to catch it..."
Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Qiaoling's figure suddenly appeared at the camp.
"Bro, save me!"
"Save you? I just came back from the dead—"
" No time to explain, RUN!!!"
"???"
Zhou Yue dumbfoundedly turned around, only to see a group of level 40 militia soldiers wielding spears, charging straight at them...
"You're framing your own brother!!"
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
iaobai: "Councilor Dad, front me some funds. I want to hire ten thousand professional miners for a project!" [Five-Star Mission Issued: Capture the leader of the Blood Heaven Pirate Gang, who is on the run in the Radiant Star Sector. It is said the gang has over a hundred members. Proceed with caution.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, lend me the family's hundred-thousand-strong Lu Army!" [Seven-Star Mission Issued: Subdue a juvenile Void Dragon Beast.] Lu Xiaobai: "Councilor Dad, I'm taking your tamed Void Dragon Beast King out for a family reunion!" I said, System, don't you have any slightly more challenging missions? You're just not up to par! [Nine-Star Mission Issued: Become the Human Councilor.] Lu Xiaobai: "Dad, there's a small matter I'd like to discuss with you..."
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
