The Little Alien’s Infinite-Stream Mukbang - Chapter 28

“The Three-headed Dog of Hell…that’s edible, right?”

…

“The Emperor doesn’t like it?” The little octopus keenly noticed Yi Xing‘s mood and was a little at a loss for a moment.

Yi Xing had long noticed that the little octopus always put his preferences before its own. It was the same with the hot pot broth last time, and the same thing again now.

The hot pot broth wasn’t just the little octopus’s business, it affected him too.

He couldn’t stand having an octopus covered in spicy soup crawling all over him, so his biggest compromise was to build a pool in their space that looked like a divided hot pot. That way, the little octopus could dip itself in the “clear soup” side before coming out.

But what the little octopus eventually grew into had nothing to do with him.

“You can grow into whatever form you like, that’s your own choice.”

Yi Xing thought for a moment and said, “It’s not that I dislike it. You’re quite special this way, just a little too special. There’s no way to disguise you as an ordinary animal.”

Yi Xing knew that the little octopus was no longer the sea monster it once was. But the Bureau, and the other ability users, didn’t know that. To them, it was still the hunter from the fishing village instance.

He couldn’t guarantee that he’d be able to keep the little octopus hidden forever. If the Bureau ever discovered its existence, they would send suitable Escapers to capture it—or eliminate it.

This was what An Wumeng had once called “the Bureau’s usual way of doing things.”

Yi Xing had once thought about going to the seafood market to buy an octopus, just to give the little octopus a legitimate identity.

That way, even if someone were to investigate in the future, it would just look like an ordinary octopus he’d bought from the seafood market.

The little octopus caught the key parts, the Emperor didn’t dislike it; in fact, he even said it was special.

As for the rest…

“Disguise? I can do that!”

The little octopus lifted its tentacles, and the suction cups, shaped like tiny eyeballs, began to shift in color and form. Before long, they turned back into soft, pale little cups, smooth and tender-looking.

The color beneath the three eyeballs in its eye sockets gradually deepened, and the three eyes seemed to merge into one, so that it now looked as though it had only a single eye.

Ordinary octopuses were masters of disguise, able to change their body color at will, but the little octopus’s camouflage skills were clearly on another level.

“But I can only do this when I’m calm,” the little octopus said, “If I get angry, I’ll turn back to how I was just now.”

Yi Xing: “That’s enough.”

It must take a truly terrible situation to make a little octopus with such a good temper lose its patience.

Yi Xing suddenly turned his head toward the mushroom quietly crawling out of the planting pot and asked, “Where are you going?”

The mushroom froze all over, crouched low until its cap nearly touched the ground, and muttered to itself, “You can’t see me, you can’t see me.”

Yi Xing walked over, pinched the mushroom up, and stuck it back into the pot.

“Plants should stay in the soil,” Yi Xing said calmly, “If you keep running around like this, what will you do when you wither and die?”

This is a threat. It must be a threat.

“Damn Survivor, how dare you toy with me like this, I…” The mushroom’s voice abruptly stopped.

It saw a small red octopus climb onto Taotie’s shoulder. The little octopus puffed up completely at its words, and its color suddenly deepened.

The suckers on its tentacles turned into golden eyeballs, and the single eyeball in its socket suddenly split into three.

Facing the little octopus’s six eyes, filled with danger and pressure, the mushroom felt dizzy, and the scene before its eyes seemed to dissolve into a swirl of dazzling, multicolored patches.

Yi Xing noticed the mushroom’s strange reaction and turned his head to look at the little octopus.

The little octopus’s body, which had just puffed up, immediately shrank back. Its color shifted from a dangerous dark red to a bright, pretty chili red, and both its suckers and eyes returned to their disguised state.

“It was mean to the emperor.” The little octopus twisted its tiny tentacles, whining softly in a tender, sticky voice.

“It’s fine, it’s just lashing out in powerless rage.”

Yi Xing doesn’t care what Mushroom says about him. In reality, he was the victim. The Gatekeeper and the Insect Master had broken in illegally with the intent to kill, he had no choice but to fight back in self-defense.

What really caught his attention, though, was the effect the little octopus had just had on the mushroom.

He then realized that the little octopus’s new appearance also had a kind of psychic attack, it could cause mild mental confusion in anyone who looked at it.

And this kind of psychic attack didn’t seem to affect him, though he wasn’t sure whether it was because the little octopus could control its influence, or because his own mental threshold was high enough to resist it.

How could the Insect Master send a creature like this to his opponent? Wouldn’t that just strengthen the opponent’s abilities against himself?

The mushroom was still muttering like a madman, “I’m going into the dungeon now. When I come out, I will…I will make you my host!”

It seemed to have forgotten that its only means of attack, its spores, were less deadly than smog when facing Yi Xing.

Yi Xing almost forgot too. The mushroom was a Hunter, and as long as it wasn’t dead, it would always enter the instance.

“Is your dungeon time for this month coming up?”

If that happened, he wouldn’t be able to keep raising the mushroom like this anymore.

Yi Xing wasn’t sure if the mushroom in this state could respond to him, so he grabbed a small trowel nearby and dug the creature out of the planting pot, storing it safely in his space.

The mushroom’s cap twitched. Seeing the creature being taken away, it unexpectedly blurted out, “Thank you.”

Yi Xing looked at it in silence.

It was obvious that the mushroom’s mind was far from clear right now.

The mushroom shook its cap several times and, with its dizzy, simple-drawn eyes, looked at Yi Xing. It seemed to have realized something, its expression slightly annoyed.

Then, it snorted coldly,

“Dungeon time? Do you take me for one of you Survivor? Each of you treats the dungeon like hell, only entering it when the countdown forces you to.”

As it spoke, the mushroom mustered the courage to glance at the little octopus on Yi Xing’s shoulder, then quickly lowered its head again.

It now looked just like an ordinary octopus; the terrifying, mind-bending appearance from before seemed like nothing more than its illusion.

But it didn’t dare to relax for a moment.

It had to be a Hunter with special abilities.

It was very likely the same Hunter who had killed the delivery man last night.

The mushroom couldn’t understand why a hunter like that would be by Taotie’s side.

Could it be, as the Gatekeeper had guessed, that Taotie was so good-looking the Hunter couldn’t bring themselves to kill him, and instead kept him as a pet?

Yi Xing had no idea what the mushroom’s gelatinous brain was thinking. He voiced his own guess,

“Could it be that Hunters can enter the dungeon at any time?”

“Of course! The dungeon is a paradise for us Hunters!”

The mushroom’s simple-line features shifted, and it gave a flattering smile toward the little octopus on Yi Xing’s shoulder.

It hoped that, as a fellow Hunter, the little octopus would spare it, and that it wouldn’t be blinded again by Taotie’s charm.

The little octopus glared at the lines on the mushroom’s cap, then snuggled up to Yi Xing’s ear, whining softly, “Emperor, its patterns aren’t as pretty as mine.”

“Yeah, you look the best.” Yi Xing responded nonchalantly, turning his head to look at his light screen.

The countdown on the light screen displayed「15」.

This was the time counted from when he left the novice dungeon. Entering the Gamer’s dungeon midway didn’t change the original countdown.

“Really unfair,” Yi Xing muttered to himself.

Dungeons were where people with special abilities could best improve their abilities.

Hunters could enter the dungeon at any time, but Survivors had to either wait for the countdown to end or team up with a Survivor whose dungeon countdown was about to expire in order to enter.

If Survivors didn’t unite to form organizations like the Bureau to share dungeon opportunities, over time, their overall strength would inevitably fall behind that of the Hunters.

If the rules of Infinite Paradise had a consciousness, its heart would surely favor the hunters.

Under Yi Xing’s gaze, the「15」 at the center of the screen abruptly changed to「0」.

Then the electronic sound started.

「New dungeon will load in 300 seconds. Survivor Yi Xing, please get ready」

What?

Yi Xing looked up in surprise.

“What?!”

A sudden sound rang out, and Yi Xing thought he had spoken out his thoughts without noticing, but he heard the voice continue to shout, “How could this happen? I clearly haven’t…”

Yi Xing lowered his gaze toward the mushroom, which was fussing noisily, and asked, “Did you hear that too?”

“What do you mean, hear it? I didn’t!” The mushroom instinctively denied it, then realized what was happening and hurriedly asked,

“What do you mean by ‘too’? Don’t tell me you also…”

“It seems so,” Yi Xing sighed, “What a pity. I originally wanted to keep you for a while longer.”

“What a pity?” The mushroom grew wary.

In the next moment, it saw streaks of red lines flash by, and before it could even process what was happening, it lost consciousness.

The blood spider silk rolled up the mushroom fragments one by one and brought them back to Yi Xing’s hands.

Yi Xing controlled the blood spider silk and placed a spore at the spot where the mushroom had been earlier.

“I hope that by the time I come out of the dungeon, you’ll have grown back as well.”

He had no intention of giving the mushroom a chance to enter the dungeon. If it could enter as a mere spore, then there would be nothing he could do about it.

Yi Xing turned and went to the kitchen, grabbed an empty spice container, placed the mushroom fragments inside, and stored it in his space.

At that moment, an invitation popped up on his screen.

「Your friend “The Dreamer” has invited you to join their team. Do you accept?」

The Dreamer? This seemed to be An Wumeng’s codename.

Yi Xing had the little octopus return to the Poppy Flower Tattoo space and clicked Accept.

The screen displayed Taotie, The Dreamer, and three other codenames he hadn’t seen before.

A piece of text popped up.

The Dreamer: Bring as much food, medicine, and weapons as you can. I’m busy here. See you later.

Food, ah…

Yi Xing reached into his space and looked at the dozen or so vials the CEO had left, a jar of mushroom fragments, and a dozen or so insects inside. He let out a low sigh.

Sigh, with food supplies so limited, days when he could eat his fill still seemed far off.

「Your friend “The Gamer” sent a message.」

Yi Xing glanced over and clicked on the message icon that had a “1” notification.

The Gamer: Cub, ah. I was tricked by the Priest. You should follow Team Leader An and be careful. If there is any problem, the team leader will come. If there is no problem, follow the team leader closely.

Yi Xing frowned slightly. The Gamer’s dungeon had just ended a few days ago. Was she also entering the dungeon this time?

He raised his hand and tapped the screen to send a message in reply.

Taotie: Your dungeon time is up too?

The other side replied quickly.

Player: No, it was the Priest’s turn, and he dragged me into doing hard labor.

This time, the dungeon began halfway early: all Survivors with less than 15 days left on their countdown had their timers reset and were sent directly into the new dungeon.

Ah! I remember that it’s been exactly 15 days since your last dungeon.

Cub, you are so naughty.

Seeing the last few words from the Gamer, tinged with sympathy, Yi Xing didn’t feel guilty at all. If anything, this was sheer, absurdly good luck.

Getting to enter the dungeon to hunt for food, what incredible luck.

…

…

…

「3」

「2」

「1」

As the countdown ended, the scene before Yi Xing turned into an endless red wasteland.

There were four people beside him: An Wumeng, whose dark circles were growing darker, and three strangers, two women and one man.

「Welcome to the D-rank dungeon Gluttonous Hell. Collect all the keys and escape from the third layer of hell to complete the dungeon.」

“Gluttony Hell…the name suggests a lot of food.”

Yi Xing looked around, but why was everything just bare flatlands and small mounds? He couldn’t see any food anywhere.

An Wumeng rubbed his temples, cheered himself up, and said, “If this is the third level of hell, I’m afraid there won’t be any food.”

“What do you mean?” Yi Xing had a bad feeling.

“The third layer of hell in Western mythology is the punishment for those guilty of gluttony. Here, the gluttons endure hunger and harsh winds and rain, and even risk becoming food for the hellhounds guarding the gates of hell.”

As An Wumeng spoke, he glanced at Yi Xing, whose expression was worsening, and tried to soften his words,

“If we’re really talking about food, there might be rats, toads, and snakes.”

But Yi Xing suddenly said, “Wait, the Three-headed Dog of Hell…that’s edible, right?”

The author has something to say:

Note: Regarding the hell in this chapter, I’m not sure how many myths it’s a fusion of, so I’m just referring to it collectively as Western mythology.