“Demon beasts can really be negotiated with? And you actually succeeded?”
After hearing this, Jun Shutong felt dazed, even having the illusion that she might be living in a dream.
In Jun Shutong’s impression, those demon beasts were beasts whose abilities and temperaments were both like demons.
If demon beasts could really be negotiated with, then how could humanity have ended up in such a crushing defeat?
“All right, Sister Jun, we shouldn’t stay here any longer. Let’s leave first.” Lu Li did not dare linger here.
Jun Shutong came back to her senses and nodded blankly, allowing Lu Li to pull her out of the room.
The group stood at the entrance to the corridor, not daring to move at all.
Because at this moment, Indeedee was standing in front of the hotel’s only emergency exit.
When Lu Li pulled Jun Shutong over to the emergency exit, Indeedee nodded, then disappeared from where it stood.
After seeing that terrifying demon beast disappear, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.
They had personally experienced just how bizarre that demon beast was. Back then, they had also tried to escape, but no matter where they ran, they kept wandering around in the same place, just like the ghost-wall phenomenon from folk legends. [TN: Ghost wall: Describing the supernatural phenomenon where a person walks in circles at night, unable to find their way out.]
The strangest part was that it could even control their bodies, forcing them to do things against their own will.
“Brother Lu, does this mean we can leave now?” Huang Jiafei asked, his voice trembling slightly.
“Hurry up and get out of here. I’ve reached an agreement with that demon beast. It’s willing to let you go, but on the condition that you never set foot here again,” Lu Li said, deliberately making it sound casual.
Seeing Lu Li put it so lightly, everyone present looked at him in sheer astonishment.
Previously, when Lu Li had become the camp’s second-in-command, these young and able-bodied men who went out to search for supplies had been somewhat unconvinced in their hearts.
But now, all they wanted to do was kneel down and worship him.
Too incredible!
He could negotiate with a ghost demon beast, and he could also negotiate with a horned demon beast.
One young man sincerely exclaimed, “Brother Lu, I’m willing to call you the strongest demon beast diplomat.”
“All right, let’s get out of here first.” Lu Li calmly took Jun Shutong by the hand and headed downstairs.
Seeing this, the others hurriedly followed in Lu Li’s footsteps.
The group finally reached the emergency exit on the third floor.
Moreover, several bulging bundles had been placed right by the exit.
“What’s going on?” Everyone looked in confusion at the bundles blocking the entrance to the emergency exit.
Instantly guessing that these were food supplies Indeedee had prepared for them, Lu Li calmly said, “These should be daily necessities that demon beast gave me. Each of you carry one. Let’s leave quickly before anything unexpected happens.”
Everyone immediately brightened upon hearing this.
“Didn’t expect us to actually profit from disaster,” Huang Jiafei said as he hoisted one of the bundles onto his shoulder.
Seeing this, the others followed suit and picked up the bundles on the floor.
Because they probably contained things like bread or instant noodles, the bundles looked large, but were actually not very heavy.
“Cross the skybridge as quickly as possible. That demon beast should be watching me right now. With it around, there’s no need to worry about flying demon beasts,” Lu Li reminded them.
At this moment, Lu Li could barely suppress his excitement, and his heart was filled with anticipation for the future.
Now he had a Mimikyu on his left and an Indeedee on his right. Lu Li mainly wanted to ask just how many troops those Rattata had.
Once he got more familiar with Indeedee in the future, he definitely had to encourage it to drive that pack of rats away.
The group finally returned to the camp without incident.
Fatty Lei was also extremely excited when he saw everyone return safely.
Earlier, he had almost thought the sky was falling. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected Lu Li to prop it back up again.
Fatty Lei jogged all the way over to Jun Shutong. Seeing that she was safe and sound, he said with both excitement and complaint in his voice:
“Sister Jun, you’re finally back. You have no idea how worried we were. You really shouldn’t go out searching for supplies anymore. Otherwise, the whole camp will worry itself sick every time.”
Jun Shutong smiled embarrassedly, but still shook her head and refused. “That won’t do. I have a gun. If we really run into danger, I can at least buy everyone some time to escape.”
Hearing this from the side, the corner of Lu Li’s mouth twitched slightly.
This great equalizer from the old era was not very lethal against Pokémon, but it sure was good at boosting a person’s confidence. [TN: Slang for firearms.]
Lu Li really wanted to undermine Jun Shutong right now and ask her exactly what use the pistol in her hand could possibly serve.
Wait.
A pistol still had some use, such as firing a warning shot.
Lu Li thought of the last time they had encountered the three Palpitoad brothers.
But then again, for a pistol to be reduced to serving the same function as a loudspeaker—wasn’t that a joke in itself?
Still, Lu Li was only complaining inwardly. In reality, Jun Shutong’s pistol had indeed played a key role every single time.
For example, when they had encountered Zubat on the rooftop, if Jun Shutong had not fired a shot and disrupted Zubat’s flight balance, Fatty Lei would probably have been gone long ago.
Seeing this, a trace of helplessness flashed across Fatty Lei’s face before he quickly cast a pleading look at Lu Li.
“Brother! Hurry up and talk some sense into her!” Fatty Lei urgently signaled with his eyes while winking and pursing his lips.
Lu Li directly ignored Fatty Lei.
If he could really persuade Jun Shutong on this matter, they would not have had to wait until now.
Huang Jiafei casually dropped the bundle in his hand, threw an arm around Fatty Lei’s neck, and animatedly began sharing the strange tale of the demon beast they had encountered in the hotel.
“Fatty Lei, I’m telling you! You have no idea what kind of danger we ran into today. We…”
“Ah! You really ran into a demon beast?”
“That bizarre?”
“Brother Lu! Awesome!”
The two of them chatted back and forth as they headed toward the supply warehouse. Fatty Lei was also a shrewd one. He had clearly noticed that Huang Jiafei wanted to drag him away and create an opportunity for Lu Li and Jun Shutong to be alone together.
Seeing this, the others tactfully followed Huang Jiafei as well.
Lu Li and Jun Shutong then returned to the office.
After returning to the office, Jun Shutong solemnly thanked him. “Lu Li, thank you. If it weren’t for you, we would have definitely been in danger.”
“It’s fine. As long as nothing happened to you,” Lu Li replied.
After sitting down, Jun Shutong asked, “Lu Li, don’t you think the demon beast we encountered today was very strange? It actually only locked us up, just like that ghost demon beast.”
“And in that hotel, I saw a lot of other people who had been locked up too. Do you think these demon beasts might also possess intelligence? Maybe their intelligence is no lower than a human’s.”
Lu Li nodded and followed along with what she was saying. “The intelligence of certain individual demon beasts probably isn’t inferior to that of humans. Like the one we encountered today.”
“When I was locked up at the time, I even felt this sadness, like we humans were being raised like pigs by demon beasts,” Jun Shutong said with a bitter, self-deprecating smile.
Lu Li did not know how to comfort her after hearing that.
In a certain sense, Indeedee really was raising humans in captivity. It just was not raising them for meat, but to provide positive emotions.
Lu Li could only console her, “I don’t think it would go as far as raising people for meat. Humans aren’t pigs, after all. It’s not like you can fatten people up and then slaughter them.”
Lu Li decided to help cheer Jun Shutong up, so he deliberately asked, “Do you still remember that ghost demon beast?”
Jun Shutong nodded.
“You said that ghost demon beast might feed on some kind of negative human emotion.”
Lu Li continued guiding her with an explanation. “The demon beast we encountered today might be similar to that ghost demon beast. It may also feed on a certain emotion produced by humans.”
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