Aunt Kaster Is Awesome

"...Have I seen you somewhere before?"

Green Skin, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, stared at Cheng Tian, who was in an Asian Squat, with a scrutinizing gaze.

"Who are you?"

Cheng Tian, who was fiddling with his Crystal Wingman, glanced over and immediately replied.

Not to mention he was wearing a mask right now, even without it, his expression and tone wouldn't have changed one bit—

Because Cheng Tian hadn't remembered what Green Skin looked like at all!

It was just green skin, Cheng Tian hadn't been on Space Island for long, and he'd seen all sorts of real and fake Otherworld races, even a few human-like Avatars. To him, someone like Green Skin with an ordinary face wasn't special enough.

Green Skin, on the other hand, was actually probing. He didn't actually know who Cheng Tian was.

In fact, from the fact that Green Skin could produce five Whiteboard equipment pieces from completely different dungeons at once, there were two main possibilities for his background.

One was an old hand who had already passed several fixed Heavenly Chosen Trials, and the other was someone with a Community/Guild/Team behind him.

Green Skin was the latter, and one of the tasks assigned to him by his team was to stake out several special dungeons, including Demon World Village, in the Mission Hall. And this Novice Guidance quest, which theoretically could only be taken once per player, was snatched up by Green Skin.

Yes, at that time, Green Skin had only selectively told Cheng Tian and the others part of the truth. He had prepared the five Whiteboard Cold Weapons with the blueprint of Demon World Village in mind.

The reward for being a Novice Guide was completely unimportant. What was important was Connections, that is, the Novice Players who could leave Demon World Village alive. As long as one more person could survive, it would mean another potential Acquisition Channel for Demon World Village-related items in the future.

Cast a Wide Net, Gather More Fish.

Green Skin's team could afford this investment.

Of course, Green Skin was mostly acting on orders. Knowing what a Shit Pit Demon World Village was for Novices, he hadn't held out much hope. As for the five Whiteboard items, the team bore the cost, so he felt at ease discarding them.

However, just a few hours ago, he unexpectedly received a spatial feedback fulfilling a contract.

The Party of the Second Part of the contract was "One-Ear," the University Student whose ear he had shot through to establish prestige. According to the contract, the borrowed equipment would be automatically returned to the Party of the First Part, which was Green Skin himself, after the other party completed the Novice Trial.

Seeing the weapons return, Green Skin was incredulous because it meant One-Ear had actually passed the Demon World Village trial, that ultimate novice Shit Pit!

As for the Whiteboard items like the double-handed mace and baseball bat, the players who were the Party of the Second Part in the contract had died in the dungeon. The moment they died, these borrowed Whiteboard weapons became Ownerless Items, and thus there was no need to fulfill the original contract.

Green Skin could also use the outcome of this contract to indirectly confirm the deaths of those Parties of the Second Part.

One-Ear had survived, so Green Skin's surprise was imaginable. Thus, he immediately used the Player ID recorded during the contract to send a spatial communication, wanting to meet in the plaza and prepare to pay to purchase all of One-Ear's experiences in Demon World Village.

However, as expected, One-Ear ignored him completely. He even blocked Green Skin after seeing the communication.

One-Ear was indeed Flexible among his peers. His ear had been shot through, yet he still suppressed his Rage and asked Green Skin for weapons. But that didn't mean he didn't hold grudges.

After seeing Green Skin's message, One-Ear not only blocked him but also set a highly proactive future Must-Eat List for himself—

If I get the chance, I'll definitely tear off Green Skin's ears too!

One-Ear's block caught Green Skin completely by surprise, but it also made him more curious about what exactly had happened in Demon World Village and how many people had survived.

As soon as he heard a tip-off that someone was selling Knight Armor, a specialty of Demon World Village, in the market area, he rushed to the scene at top speed.

Green Skin's appearance was his fixed persona in Chosen Space, equivalent to sculpting a fixed face in an online game. However, most players actually spent money each time they entered Space Island to change their appearance, height, race, gender, and looks—everything could be changed at will. Therefore, without knowing the exact Player ID, Green Skin had no way of figuring out Cheng Tian's true identity.

He obviously suspected Cheng Tian was One-Ear, but he had no proof.

Of course, the many middlemen present weren't just interested in the armor; they were equally interested in Cheng Tian, this newcomer who could crawl out of a shit pit alive.

It was a pity that Cheng Tian, who seemed to have sensed something, slipped away with his stall after playing with the Four-piece Set he had just acquired, ignoring the wails of the crowd.

Cheng Tian felt that the market value the Knight Armor currently displayed was higher than its intrinsic worth. Instead of exchanging it directly for money, he decided to keep his options open. He would first confirm his next mission and then make exchange demands to the next sucker based on his needs.

This was also something he deduced from Old Fan's reaction, who insisted on exchanging even though he was at a severe disadvantage.

East District, Mission Area.

If Cheng Tian hadn't known beforehand that this was the mission hall where players gathered, he would have mistaken it for a train station in some major Chinese city.

Besides players, there were also many NPCs who were clearly Staff, busy at work. Cheng Tian directly picked one who looked approachable, resembling a certain Aunt Kaster (don't search), and asked for information. The Staff member enthusiastically provided Cheng Tian with a series of answers.

Every Chosen Player must complete a fixed monthly dungeon mission called "Chosen Trial" during the last 10 days or so of each month.

In principle, the Chosen Trial is a random blueprint mission. However, as the number of completed Chosen Trials increases and the player's own rank improves, they will receive more useful information before future Chosen Trials, or even be informed of the dungeon blueprint in advance, giving players more ample preparation time.

Chosen Trials usually do not have a very strict Elimination Mechanism. Take Cheng Tian's Novice Trial as an example. If his group refused to advance the Main Quest and stubbornly lurked for 8 hours until the Main Quest time limit expired, resulting in mission failure, an Evacuation Mission would then appear.

The Evacuation Mission mode can be basically compared to the final stage of each chapter in Left 4 Dead. In most cases, it involves reaching a designated Evacuation Point within the time limit, facing a siege by an unknown number of enemies at that point, and holding on until the time limit expires to be teleported away by the space.

Of course, don't expect any rewards. Pure newcomers might still get a consolation prize of a few hundred coins to encourage them, as surviving as a newcomer is already great. But veterans would have their salary and benefits deducted!

So, what happens if the Evacuation Mission still fails?

Facing Cheng Tian's question, Aunt Kaster, the Staff member, simply smiled and said.

"I don't know. No one has ever seen them again."