Eat Everything Your Teammates Drop, Are You a Poet or What

"Wait... is this thing really that easy to catch?"

Zhou Yue stared in utter disbelief at the docile, glimmering Mischief Cat standing behind Zhou Qiaoling, sinking deep into self-doubt.

Being wanted meant the bounty would only clear upon death, and after respawning, the soldiers who had been chasing Zhou Qiaoling were gone.

Mu Yawen and Zhong Yi were out exploring and leveling up, so Zhou Yue had no choice but to drag Zhou Qiaoling along to capture that special Mischief Cat.

He had expected a grueling battle.

But before he knew it, barely halfway through the fight—the glimmering Mischief Cat's health still over half—Zhou Qiaoling tossed a Pal Sphere and caught it outright.

"Haha, bro, you finally caught a break! This glimmering Mischief Cat is adorable!"

Zhou Qiaoling stroked the Mischief Cat's chin, beaming with satisfaction.

"Check what skills it has. Why did it hit so damn hard..."

Zhou Yue looked at the glimmering Mischief Cat, his brow furrowed, still unable to figure out how it had one-shot him back then.

"Cat Punch, Air Cannon... whoa! The third skill is purple! It's called Dark Laser... sounds pretty awesome!"

Zhou Qiaoling opened the status panel and gasped in delight.

She'd thought this glimmering Mischief Cat was just bigger than normal—turns out there was a surprise waiting.

"No wonder... What about the traits? How are the traits?"

Zhou Yue pressed on.

"Timid—that's the Mischief Cat's innate trait, right? Little scaredy-cat..."

"Rare! It's a rainbow trait! Attack, defense, and work speed all boosted! That's insane!"

"Brainy—more attack but less work speed. No wonder it looks so... not bright..."

"Uh, and there's one more..."

Zhou Qiaoling's eyes twinkled mischievously, then she grinned and patted the Mischief Cat's head before turning to Zhou Yue.

"Hey bro, the Mischief Cat says you hit it really hard earlier and wants a hug from you!"

"Me? I hit it hard???"

Zhou Yue's lips twitched as he pointed at his own nose.

Just now, when he was fighting the Mischief Cat, the thing had fired off another Dark Laser and nearly vaporized him again.

"Do you even wanna look at my health bar? It's been shredded to almost nothing!"

"Oh come on, a hug makes everything right~ Mischief Cat, he agreed! Go on~"

Zhou Qiaoling giggled and sent the command to the glimmering Mischief Cat, which grinned dumbly and leaped up.

The instant it jumped, Zhou Yue inexplicably felt the ground tremble.

"Wait... hold on..."

Zhou Yue instinctively stuck out his arms to catch the colossal beast.

The next second, an immense pressure crushed him straight into the dirt.

[No Break, No Stand: Crushed to death!]

"Whoa, old Zhou, how do you keep dying in more and more ridiculous ways? First killed by the Mischief Cat, and now you died from falling?!"

Zhong Yi instantly appeared at the front of the spectator crowd.

"Damn it!! I didn't die from falling—I was crushed! Crushed by this damn Mischief Cat!!!"

Zhou Yue completely lost it.

"Oh, so you got double-killed by the Mischief Cat huh... That's so like you, old Zhou!"

Zhong Yi cracked up.

"But seriously, why did the Mischief Cat crush you to death?"

"Hahaha, this Mischief Cat has the Heavyweight trait—super duper heavy!!"

Zhou Qiaoling doubled over laughing as she explained.

"Dammit! You dare laugh?!"

Zhou Yue spawned back at camp, face black as coal.

"Oops, I didn't know it'd crush you, okay... whatever, don't worry—I'll bring your stuff back for you."

Zhou Qiaoling rubbed her hands together and started digging through Zhou Yue's bag.

"No no no, I'll get it myself, don't you—"

Zhou Yue's eyes went wide, a terrible feeling creeping up on him.

"Pfft, gross, this bag tastes awful... How do you even stomach carrying this stuff... Oh? Herbs and tech tomes? Bro, did you hit a dungeon again?"

Zhou Qiaoling finally pulled out something decent from the bag.

These were the signature loot exclusive to dungeons.

"Not bad, not bad. Let me borrow a couple first—I'll pay you back next time I run a dungeon~"

"ZHOU!! QIAO!! LING!!"

"You eat your own teammate's bag?! Are you a monster?!"

...

...

After Zhou Qiaoling helped Zhou Yue capture the glimmering Mischief Cat, Zhou Yue then accompanied her to a small village.

"You're telling me... those soldiers earlier... were from some black-market gang in this village?!"

Zhou Yue pointed at the peaceful, friendly-looking village before him, looking at Zhou Qiaoling in disbelief.

"Of... of course!! That's where they started chasing me from..."

Zhou Qiaoling answered without so much as a blush.

"..."

Zhou Yue took a deep breath and extended a finger toward the village.

"Look at that villager at the village entrance feeding the Big Tomahawk Bull. Look at that drunkard in the tavern drinking with a Sprout Monkey. And look at that kind-faced old village chief in the center warming himself by the fire with a Ember Fox..."

Zhou Yue swept his gaze across the village, then squinted at Zhou Qiaoling.

"You're telling me... everyone in this village is a bad guy???"

"Yeah, yeah!"

"So? What did you do this time?"

"Nothin' much..."

Zhou Qiaoling's eyes darted away, her voice shrinking.

"I mean... there was a Trunkling back near the village giving the Mischief Cat a bath, so I pushed the Trunkling into the river to bathe together..."

"And, I wanted to bring one of those Big Tomahawk Bulls back to add some ambiance to our ranch... They just left them out in the open, so I figured nobody'd miss one..."

"But they caught me, and those soldiers in black started swinging at me."

"So I figured, well, since I'm gonna die anyway, might as well not die for nothing—I went to the village chief's table to grab some food..."

"Oh right, there was a merchant there too, so I thought I'd check if there was anything in their bags..."

"Old Demon Lu is such a troll. This time it's nothing like Minecraft—I couldn't steal... I mean, borrow a single thing from the villagers!"

"And..."

"Long story short, that's how it ended up."

After hearing the whole tale, Zhou Yue stared in sheer shock.

"How did our family produce a little gremlin like you..."

With the wanted status cleared and the misunderstanding resolved,

the village was now all warmth and harmony.

Seeing Zhou Yue and Zhou Qiaoling arrive, the villagers even greeted them with friendly smiles.

"Wait a sec... I think the main questline mentioned this place at the very beginning?"

Zhou Yue stared at the village, something stirring in his memory.

The world of Pal always had too many new things—they'd always get sidetracked by something else mid-task.

And with the way Lu Ze deliberately downplayed the main storyline while cranking up the open-world exploration elements, all four of them had completely forgotten about the quests.

But yes, the main quest had indeed mentioned that if you wanted info about this continent, the village chief of a small village might know something.

Getting info from the chief required earning his approval.

Which meant taming an Ember Fox and crafting its exclusive partner gear.

The Ember Fox had been carrying their early-game fights the whole time, so Zhou Yue and Zhou Qiaoling got the village chief's approval right away.

From the village chief, the two of them learned that the island they were currently on had long been under the control of a poaching gang. If they wanted to obtain key intelligence, they could go ask the poaching gang leader's daughter, Zuo Yi. At the moment, this girl named Zuo Yi was in the tower beside their base.

"So, we're supposed to go to that tower and challenge some woman named Zuo Yi?"

Zhou Yue announced the news in the squad's private communication channel.

"What woman? I don't want to fight a woman!"

Mu Yawen immediately objected.

"No way around it, we have to at least go check it out... Hey, Old Zhong, where are you? Come back so we can head to the tower together?"

Zhou Yue asked curiously.

"Hold on, I'll be right back..."

Zhong Yi's voice appeared, his tone full of surprise and delight.

"I've made it to the volcano... It's so hot here! So magnificent!"

"And..."

"So many Fire-type Pal eggs!"