But in some respects, Lu Li’s proposal was simply too practical to pass up.
For one thing, it would punish these four beasts who had discarded every shred of humanity in the apocalypse. For another, it would let the people in the camp live a little more peacefully.
Jun Shutong hesitated for only a fraction of a second, and even during that brief moment, she was considering whether this method could continue to be used in the future.
“Okay.” Jun Shutong nodded heavily.
“Leave it to me. Before they begin serving their sentences, I still need to give them a pre-sentencing education class.” Lu Li voluntarily took on this task that could easily inspire fear.
Afterward, Lu Li deliberately talked Jun Shutong through things for a while longer. Only after confirming that she had abandoned her impulse to play the hero did he head to the temporary jail in satisfaction.
Zhao Zhu and the others were tightly bound to chairs, with two elderly men specifically assigned to guard them standing nearby.
After entering the “jail,” Lu Li deliberately sent the two old men away.
Pulling out a chair and sitting down, Lu Li asked expressionlessly, “You’re Zhao Zhu, right?”
“Yes, sir. You can just call me Zhao.” Zhao Zhu wore a fawning expression as he repeatedly nodded in agreement.
Lu Li folded his arms across his chest and announced, “Your sentence has been decided.”
“Sentence?”
Hearing that word, the corner of Zhao Zhu’s mouth twitched slightly as he cursed inwardly: It’s already the apocalypse. What gives you the right to judge me? And who do you represent to judge me?
Rage surged inside Zhao Zhu, but he did not dare show even the slightest trace of anger on his face.
Already sensing that something bad was coming, Zhao Zhu hurriedly promised loudly, “Sir, I didn’t have a choice before, but now I can be a good person! I’m willing to contribute to the camp. From now on, I’ll be a brick in the camp—wherever I’m needed, that’s where I’ll go!”
“That’s fine. What you’ll be doing next is contributing to the camp.” Lu Li revealed a “kind” smile.
That ominous feeling wrapped around Zhao Zhu’s heart like vines. His face turned deathly pale as he stared fixedly at Lu Li, his fingertips whitening from how hard he was clenching them, waiting like a lamb for slaughter to hear his judgment.
Lu Li suddenly changed the subject and asked, “Have you ever gone fishing?”
Zhao Zhu’s mind buzzed. He instinctively assumed that Lu Li intended to use them as bait, and the instant that thought appeared, a bone-chilling fear seized him.
“No! You can’t do this! I want to see that beautiful police officer surnamed Jun. We may have done something wrong, but you can’t treat us like we’re not even human beings!”
Zhao Zhu regretted it so much he could have kicked himself. Back when they had first spotted Jun Shutong, if they had simply turned around and run, how could they have ended up in this situation?
“Don’t worry. There won’t be any danger. Of course, there might be a little danger.”
“On the other side of this mall is an arcade. A ghost demon beast lives inside it. We don’t know when it’ll get hungry, so every day we send two people to the arcade.”
“If that ghost demon beast gets hungry, then the people sent there will become sacrifices. To be honest, I’ve always thought this kind of sacrifice system wasn’t very good.”
“Because it isn’t fair to the people in the camp. But things are different now. You’re here.” After saying this, Lu Li looked at Zhao Zhu with a beaming smile.
After hearing Lu Li’s words, Zhao Zhu seemed to have all the strength drained from his body. The last glimmer of hope in his eyes instantly went out like a dying candle, and his entire body wilted like an eggplant struck by frost.
Zhao Zhu understood that from now on, their fate was simply to wait until they were eaten by the ghost demon beast.
Looking at the despair covering Zhao Zhu’s face, the corners of Lu Li’s lips curved slightly upward.
The reason he had said all this was precisely to deepen the fear and despair in Zhao Zhu and the others. That way, Mimikyu would have an easier time “eating.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll go in pairs. As soon as the other pair dies, your sentence will be over. At that point, you can consider joining the camp or simply leaving.” In the end, Lu Li still gave the four of them a sliver of hope.
It wasn’t because he had suddenly become merciful. He was simply worried that if they became completely hopeless, they would give up entirely.
What Mimikyu wanted were emotions like fear. If these people became so utterly hopeless that they simply stopped caring, there might not be any fear left in their hearts.
“So pray hard from now on. Pray that the other pair dies before you do. That way, you’ll be free.” After saying this, Lu Li paid no further attention to the reactions of the four and simply turned around and left the jail.
“Keep a close eye on these people. From now on, the four of them will take the place of the camp’s people as sacrifices.” Worried that the four might escape, Lu Li specifically instructed the two old men responsible for guarding them.
“Don’t worry, young man.”
“With Old Zhang and me watching them, there’s absolutely no way these four will get away.” One old man with a shrewd look in his eyes thumped his chest and assured confidently.
Lu Li nodded, then went to report back to Jun Shutong.
……
The ninth day after Pokémon descended.
Ever since the heavy rain on the seventh day, the atmosphere throughout the entire camp had become full of vitality.
No one mentioned the people who had died that day anymore. After all, ever since the apocalypse began, death had already become an everyday occurrence.
Now that water was no longer scarce, Lu Li felt that everyone’s skin looked considerably more hydrated.
Jun Shutong in particular had finally regained her old bearing, just like when the two of them had first met.
“Dawn Camp currently has a total of 48 people, of which the elderly and children make up two-thirds. There are fewer than 20 able-bodied young adults. Currently, everyone generally gathers supplies from above the third floor and below the sixth floor.”
“According to your previous instructions, Brother Lu, we specifically marked the areas where the demon beasts appear often.”
As Fatty Lei spoke, he handed a map to Lu Li.
Lu Li took it and began looking it over.
The entire mall had seven floors. Because part of the glass roof on the seventh floor had been smashed by Pokémon, Jun Shutong had established Dawn Camp on the sixth floor.
On top of that, everyone was worried about Flying-type Pokémon appearing, so generally no one dared go up to the seventh floor. Jun Shutong had even specifically ordered people to lock all the emergency exit doors leading to the seventh floor.
The fifth through third floors were considered safe zones. There were basically no Pokémon there. Perhaps there had been some when Pokémon first descended, but those Pokémon had probably moved elsewhere afterward.
As for the second floor, there were currently two confirmed Pokémon: Mime Jr. and Klink.
Mime Jr. was definitely confirmed, since Lu Li had seen it with his own eyes, but Klink was merely his speculation, because the sound he had heard before really did resemble the sound Klink made.
As for the first floor, it was occupied by all sorts of stray Pokémon and Raticate.
Basement 1 through Basement 3 was practically a paradise for Pokémon that preferred dark environments. The main Pokémon down there should be Raticate, but Lu Li suspected there were also Pokémon like Ekans. [TN: Changing basement floor to Basement 1.]
Back when there was still internet access, the authorities had said that humanity had already lost the skies, forests, and oceans.
But Lu Li felt that the authorities had still been too conservative in their wording, because humanity had now even lost the cities. At the very least, urban sewer systems had become absolute forbidden zones.
Even Palpitoad had come up to the surface to hunt, which showed just how intense the competition in the sewers must be.
Looking around the mall’s surroundings, Grass-type and Bug-type Pokémon inhabited the median strips, while stray Pokémon wandered everywhere, including Pokémon like Pikachu and Dodrio which have no fixed residence.
For the time being, no Pokémon capable of destroying the entire city had appeared nearby. Of course, whether any existed elsewhere was impossible to know.
But those overwhelmingly powerful Pokémon that could casually wipe out cities probably weren’t around, at least not here. If there had been one, Dihui City would have disappeared long ago.
“Surviving the initial screening is a kind of luck in itself, isn’t it?” Lu Li thought with relief.
What Lu Li paid more attention to were those Houndour that kept setting fires everywhere.
The good news was that the pack of Houndour should have moved farther away, because the building that caught fire this morning was farther away than the last one.
The bad news was that the observers had spotted another new Pokémon today.
According to the eyewitness, yesterday afternoon he had seen a strange bird eating a streetlamp.
Seeing Lu Li looking so engrossed, Fatty Lei chimed in from beside him, complaining, “Brother Lu, have you noticed that these demon beasts seem to eat just about anything?”
Lu Li raised his eyes toward Fatty Lei, one eyebrow slightly lifted, signaling for him to continue.
“Look.” Fatty Lei began counting on his fingers. “There are ghost demon beasts that eat souls, rat demon beasts that eat anything, and bodybuilding demon beasts that go looking for protein powder.”
“Today we even discovered a demon beast that eats metal. An old man told me before that he’d also seen a lump of black sludge eating garbage. Tell me, is there anything these demon beasts don’t eat?”
Lu Li fell silent after hearing this. There were far too many types of Pokémon, and basically there were Pokémon that ate every conceivable kind of thing, like Magnemite, which fed on electricity.
As for the lump of black sludge Fatty Lei had mentioned, that was probably Grimer.
After Lu Li finished examining the distribution map of the nearby demon beasts, he casually handed it back to Fatty Lei.
“Did that ghost demon beast keep anyone yesterday?” Lu Li asked.
“Those two b*stards got kept behind. Once noon passes, we’ll have to send someone to bring them back out.” Fatty Lei spoke with a look of disgust.
“That’s good. Remember to keep a close eye on them. It’d be a shame if such useful reusable sacrifices escaped,” Lu Li reminded him.
Fatty Lei nodded and said with a flattering smile, “Only you, Brother Lu, could come up with such a despi… brilliant idea. A lot of people in the camp are grateful to you now.”
Lu Li rolled his eyes at him. He had been the one to propose the sacrifice plan in the first place. He would already be thanking his lucky stars if the people in the camp weren’t cursing him behind his back. Grateful? That was just something to take it with a grain of salt.
“There shouldn’t be any other problems in the camp, right?” Lu Li asked about the camp’s other circumstances.
“At the moment, we have enough water and food to last us a month, but… if the Federation still hasn’t sent anyone over after a month, then we’re going to be in trouble.” An unconcealable trace of worry flashed through Fatty Lei’s eyes.
In truth, he no longer held much hope for the Federation, and that was precisely why he was so worried.
After all, if one failed to plan ahead, trouble would soon follow. Although they didn’t need to worry about food or water for the next month, newcomers joined the camp almost every day.
They said the supplies could last a month, but in reality, they would probably only last twenty days at most, and that was assuming no large number of newcomers joined the camp.
Lu Li had thought of this as well. He gently patted Fatty Lei on the shoulder and comforted him, “Things will work themselves out when the time comes. We’ll find a way.”
Fatty Lei nodded, but his mood did not improve much because of it.
Every time the conversation turned to water and food, he would get this depressed feeling that humanity was finished.
Lu Li also knew that Fatty Lei felt this way because he couldn’t see any hope for the future.
But Lu Li could.
After finishing his meal, the moment he remembered that he still had to go back and feed Feebas, Lu Li’s footsteps instantly became lighter, and a smile spread across his face.
After all, he had secured another twenty days of development time. He was now one step closer to becoming a Trainer.
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