Chapter 6: The First Close Interaction with a Pokémon
Feebas remained utterly listless. It did not even care what was happening around it.
Little Fatty was worried that Feebas might suddenly lash out and kill someone, so he warned, “There’s actually something wrong with this demon beast. I suspect there may be a problem with its brain.”
Lu Li: “…”
Compared with normal Pokémon, Feebas indeed did not look particularly intelligent.
He had not expected Feebas to be of any use at this stage. His plan was to help it evolve. Only once it evolved into Milotic would he truly possess the means to survive in this world.
Of course, that was assuming the evolved Milotic was willing to accept him as its Trainer. If it was not, then all his investment would have been for nothing.
But Lu Li also knew that he had to gamble—gamble that Feebas could evolve and gamble that it would obey him after evolving.
Of course, the immediate gamble was whether he could raise Feebas properly.
Jun Shutong was a woman of action. After agreeing to Lu Li’s request, she quickly sent someone to deliver a bed.
“When it’s time to eat, Little Lei will call you over the walkie-talkie,” Jun Shutong said.
The “Little Lei” Jun Shutong referred to was Little Fatty.
After placing the fish tank on the floor, Lu Li took out another bag of fish food.
Feebas ate remarkably quickly, finishing the entire bag in just a few minutes.
Fortunately, the aquarium had plenty of fish food, and the Water-type Pokémon had not discovered it yet.
Most Water-type Pokémon did not have particularly keen noses, so it was only natural that they had failed to notice the fish food inside the cabinet.
Six o’clock in the afternoon on the third day after the Pokémon descended.
Fatty Lei called Lu Li and told him to hurry over to get his meal.
After receiving the message, Lu Li covered the fish tank tightly with a box before turning and leaving the room.
When he hurried to the camp, Lu Li found that many people were already waiting in line.
Everyone stood obediently in line, and no one tried to cut ahead.
Jun Shutong’s camp had one rule: quarreling was absolutely forbidden, because loud quarrels would attract demon beasts.
Jun Shutong’s words always carried weight. After all, no one dared joke around with their own life.
That was why this survivor camp still maintained basic order, though it was entirely because Jun Shutong was keeping everyone in line.
As for why so many people obeyed a woman like Jun Shutong, it was naturally because she held the truth of the old world in her hands.
A handgun might not necessarily be able to kill a Pokémon, but it could certainly kill a person.
Since the Human Federation was the only governing body in this world, the wealthy elites at the top had also feared that the people beneath them might rebel, so gun control had always been extremely strict.
The camp’s food was not very good, mainly because the ingredients were poor, but the cooks were quite skilled. They were all professional-level chefs or better, having previously worked as head chefs at restaurants in the shopping mall.
Lu Li carried his tray over and sat across from Little Fatty, then wolfed down his dinner.
Lu Li noticed that Little Fatty had slightly more meat on his plate, but considering that Little Fatty was something of a team leader in the camp, it was only natural for him to receive somewhat better treatment.
At that thought, Lu Li quietly glanced at the old woman and the brat not far away.
The brat’s little face was scrunched up miserably, but he did not dare make a sound. He could only clutch his spoon and shovel rice into his mouth one bite at a time. Beside him, the old woman leisurely picked at her food, occasionally looking up and reminding him, “Eat more slowly.”
After finishing dinner, Lu Li returned to his room.
With both the water and electricity cut off, the shopping mall became pitch-black at night.
Lu Li dragged the coffee table over to the bed and placed the fish tank on it, then began playing a fish-feeding game.
Lu Li noticed that Feebas usually had dull, lifeless eyes, giving it a perpetually dazed and listless appearance. But the moment food appeared, its eyes instantly lit up, becoming lively as though it had suddenly gained enlightenment.
If there was a reason why Pokémon had descended upon this world, then the emergence of Trainers was also inevitable. Lu Li had recently been pondering a question.
What purpose did Trainers serve for Pokémon?
Lu Li now had a bold hypothesis: Trainers awakened the emotional templates of wild Pokémon.
At present, Lu Li did not have much affection for this world’s Pokémon, because they felt like nothing more than wild beasts wielding tremendous power.
But the Pokémon in the anime were different.
The Pokémon in the anime possessed the full range of emotions and desires just like humans, and their feelings were even purer.
Lu Li therefore decided to cautiously explore this possibility first. After all, none of the methods he had devised would cost much to put into practice.
Success would naturally be ideal. If he failed, the most he would lose was a little time and emotional investment.
The room was pitch-black, so Lu Li could only use the bubbles Feebas spat out whenever it opened its mouth to determine whether it had eaten the fish food.
Lu Li played this little interactive game for an entire hour.
After going through eight bags of fish food, Lu Li sank into thought.
These Pokémon seemed impossible to satiate. Feebas had already eaten at least ten times its own body weight in food, yet it still was not full.
This was extremely strange, and Lu Li wanted to understand why.
But without a control group, Lu Li could only rely on his own mind to formulate various hypotheses.
His first hypothesis was that Terran Star’s food contained very little nutrition for the Pokémon that had descended here, forcing them to compensate by consuming enormous quantities.
His other hypothesis was that these Pokémon had mutated during their descent, turning their stomachs into bottomless pits that could never be filled.
Lu Li was more inclined toward the former.
He had thought of the hunt he had witnessed earlier that day. If the latter hypothesis were true, then the Pidgey should have hunted Caterpie incessantly instead of feeding only once or twice a day.
Unfortunately, Feebas was not an omnivore and could not fight Caterpie. Otherwise, feeding a Caterpie to Feebas and seeing whether it filled its stomach would have revealed the answer.
At around eight o’clock that evening, Lu Li decided to sleep.
The night was pitch-black, and he could not waste his phone’s battery. Since there was nothing else he could do, he naturally had no choice but to go to bed early.
The morning of the fourth day after the Pokémon descended.
Lu Li woke at 5:30 in the morning. The first thing he intended to do after getting up was wash, but he quickly realized something rather sorrowful.
This was not his home. He did not even have any toiletries, let alone the means to wash his face and brush his teeth.
Helpless, Lu Li began playing the feeding game again while waiting for breakfast.
At eight o’clock, Lu Li arrived at the camp on time and lined up to receive his meal.
Since he did not know many people in the camp, he sought out Fatty Lei again.
When Fatty Lei saw Lu Li, he greeted him with a smile. “Good morning, Lu Li.”
“Good morning.” Lu Li smiled, nodded, and sat down.
While eating, Fatty Lei said, “After breakfast, remember to come with me to see Sister Jun. It sounds like she has something to assign us.”
“Just the two of us?” Lu Li asked.
“Of course not. Aside from the children and the elderly, every able-bodied adult has to go.”
After scraping his plate clean, Fatty Lei added, “By the way, if you want to brush your teeth, you can use the restroom. I’ll take you to collect a set of toiletries in a bit.”
Puzzled, Lu Li asked, “Hasn’t the shopping mall lost its water and electricity?”
“The public restrooms haven’t. They draw water from the tank on the mall’s roof. We don’t know how much is left, but it probably won’t last long, so we need to conserve it while we can.”
Lu Li said worriedly, “Wouldn’t that be too wasteful? There are quite a lot of people in the camp.”
In an apocalypse, failing to wash might be unhealthy, but it would not kill anyone. If their water ran out prematurely, however, people really would die.
“There’s nothing we can do about it. There are too many people in the camp, and some of them are incredibly shortsighted. They still believe the Federation will send someone to rescue them, so they haven’t even considered what will happen once the water runs out.”
Fatty Lei’s voice carried the resentment of someone exasperated by others’ failures. He truly believed there was no future in huddling together for warmth with some of the vermin in the camp.
…………………………….
Chapter 7: Food Crisis
Lu Li hesitated upon hearing this. After a moment, he asked, “Isn’t Jun Shutong going to do anything about it?”
Fatty Lei shook his head and sighed. “Sister Jun is a government personnel. There are many things beyond her control, and she still has hope in the Federation. More importantly, as the camp’s leader, she can’t personally crush everyone’s hope.”
“I understand.” Lu Li’s heart sank as he immediately grasped the crux of the matter.
Jun Shutong truly wasn’t the right person to tell everyone this cruel news. After all, humans driven mad were the most terrifying of all. People who had lost hope were capable of anything.
The two hurriedly finished breakfast, after which Fatty Lei took him to collect a basic set of toiletries.
Once they had collected them, they headed straight for the temporary meeting room.
Calling it a meeting room was generous. It was merely a toy store that had undergone some minor alterations.
They were not the first to arrive. Seven or eight grim-faced youngsters were already seated inside.
As people arrived one after another, Fatty Lei introduced Lu Li to everyone.
Including him, the camp had fourteen able-bodied people. Once everyone had arrived, Jun Shutong began today’s meeting.
Jun Shutong said solemnly, “Today is the fourth day since the demon beasts descended, and there is still no news from the federal government. We must now prepare for a prolonged struggle.”
She paused there. Seeing that no one reacted too strongly, she continued.
“I hope the able-bodied members of the camp will voluntarily go out and search for food. We don’t know how much longer the water in the water tower will remain usable, but we must stockpile more drinking water.”
“Therefore, starting today, the camp will reduce its three daily meals to two. Drinking water will also be rationed, and tap water can no longer be used wastefully.”
Upon hearing this, everyone in the room began murmuring among themselves.
Lu Li immediately felt depressed. He had only just received his toiletries and hadn’t even opened the packaging, yet Jun Shutong had already cut off access to the tap water.
A middle-aged man raised his hand and asked, “Captain Jun, do we have to turn over all the food we collect to the camp?”
Jun Shutong nodded and explained, “You only need to turn over thirty percent. Going out to gather food is dangerous, and making you hand over everything would be unfair.”
Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief. If they really had to turn over everything, they would have no choice but to find ways to slack off.
“Then I have no objections.” The middle-aged man sat down after speaking.
A young man with dyed yellow hair stood up and asked, “Do we only have to turn over food? What if I find some gold jewelry or something like that?”
Jun Shutong glanced at the yellow-haired youth and frowned inwardly. With an expressionless face, she said, “There’s no need. The food you turn over is mainly meant for the elderly and children who are unable to go out and search for supplies.”
“Then I don’t have any objections either.” The yellow-haired youth also sat down.
Lu Li watched the exchange thoughtfully.
Just then, Jun Shutong suddenly said, “It would be best to search for supplies in pairs. Lu Li, team up with me later.”
Lu Li froze for a moment upon suddenly hearing his name. He had never expected Jun Shutong to invite him to team up with her, but this was a good thing.
After all, Jun Shutong had a gun and had undergone professional training. Teaming up with someone like her was advantageous. At the very least, he wouldn’t have to worry about a malicious human companion.
Fatty Lei gazed enviously at Lu Li. He also wanted to team up with Jun Shutong, but unfortunately, she didn’t think much of him.
“Everyone, safety comes first when searching for supplies. Don’t throw your lives away over a little food,” Jun Shutong solemnly reminded them. The camp already had relatively few able-bodied people, and she genuinely feared that someone would recklessly get themselves killed outside.
If possible, she would have preferred everyone to remain safely in the camp and wait for the federal government’s rescue.
The problem was that they had already lost contact with the federal government for four days. In truth, she had long since stopped expecting much from them.
Once the meeting ended, Lu Li followed Jun Shutong downstairs.
“I should tell you in advance that we have a specific destination for this operation, and there may be a certain amount of danger.”
Jun Shutong’s words made Lu Li pause.
“What do you mean? So you asked me to team up with you precisely because you knew it would be dangerous?”
The displeased Lu Li was about to retort when Jun Shutong said, “If there really is danger, I’ll go in first. You’ll only need to provide support.”
Upon hearing this, most of Lu Li’s displeasure dissipated. At least this woman had voluntarily taken on the most dangerous part of the task.
“Okay.” Lu Li nodded. “It’s better to make everything clear beforehand.”
Jun Shutong was relieved to see that Lu Li showed no displeasure.
She was willing to work with Lu Li for two reasons. First, he had only recently graduated from university, so he was still “pure” and didn’t have too many ulterior motives. Second, he seemed fairly agile. At the very least, if they encountered danger and had to flee, he wouldn’t hold her back.
Jun Shutong explained, “I plan to go to the second floor. That floor mainly has cosmetics and health supplement stores. The cosmetics might be useless, but the supplements could still come in handy. Some of the malnourished children in the camp may need them.”
“However, the second floor is relatively close to the supermarket on the basement floor, and demon beasts are highly likely to be lurking there. We’ll have to be careful.”
Lu Li’s mind became active upon hearing this.
Perhaps he could use skincare products on Feebas. He could even try giving it health supplements. After all, Pokémon possessed exceptionally powerful vitality.
There was no need to worry about excess nutrition or overdosing on supplements.
“Then I have no problem with it,” Lu Li said.
The two soon reached the second floor. The closer they got to the basement floor, the tenser they became and the more cautiously they moved.
Neither of them was in the mood for idle conversation now. Jun Shutong led the way with her pistol raised, while Lu Li vigilantly observed their surroundings and watched for danger from every direction.
Jun Shutong gently pushed open the door to the emergency exit and cautiously swept her flashlight around.
After confirming that the surroundings were safe, she lowered her voice and instructed, “It’s safe. We’ll search the stores carefully, one by one.”
“Okay.” Lu Li nodded.
Jun Shutong checked the names of the stores. When she discovered that they were all beauty shops, her face fell. “This is the cosmetics section. It looks like we’ll have to take a greater risk.”
“Are you sure everyone in the mall fled to the sixth floor? This place doesn’t seem as chaotic as I imagined.” Lu Li frowned, his voice filled with doubt.
Jun Shutong replied with certainty, “When people encounter danger, their instinct is to run outside. Why would they head upstairs? Besides, this is the second floor. Running down to the first floor would have been the safer choice.”
Lu Li breathed a sigh of relief and said gratefully, “That’s great news! If this place isn’t in disarray, it means those demon beasts haven’t made it here yet.”
…
Chapter 8: The Pokémon on the Mall’s Second Floor
“We still need to be careful. Just because no one is here doesn’t necessarily mean they all escaped. They might also be dead,” Jun Shutong warned vigilantly.
Those demon beasts were all incredibly strange and could suddenly lunge into their faces at any moment, so Jun Shutong did not dare lower her guard in the slightest.
Lu Li had never directly experienced how terrifying Pokémon could be. After all, he had holed up at home and never ventured outside during the first three days after the Pokémon descended.
Jun Shutong, however, had truly been hunted by Pokémon. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have known so many ways to avoid them.
The second floor wasn’t dark because many stores hadn’t had time to draw their curtains, and numerous shop windows had suffered varying degrees of damage. The corridor floor was littered with shards of glass. Every time Lu Li stepped on them, he had the illusion that he was walking on the tips of knives.
The Pokémon had not descended from the sky. Instead, they had appeared without warning, as if they had crossed a dimensional barrier and suddenly materialized in reality.
Clack, clack—
The sound of gears turning came from inside a cosmetics store.
Jun Shutong and Lu Li both stopped simultaneously upon hearing it.
“Demon beast!”
Jun Shutong moved her lips without making the slightest sound.
Lu Li nodded calmly.
Jun Shutong gestured for him to retreat. Understanding immediately, Lu Li hurriedly backed away as quietly as possible. The two slowly withdrew a considerable distance.
Having narrowly escaped danger, both of them broke out in a cold sweat, their hearts filled with lingering fear.
“That was definitely a demon beast. We just don’t know what kind,” Jun Shutong said.
Lu Li asked, “Did you clearly hear what sort of sound it was?”
Jun Shutong recalled, “It sounded a little like metal striking against metal, but also somewhat like gears turning.”
“Then it seems I didn’t mishear it.” Lu Li nodded as well.
“We need to go around that store. I suggest taking the corridor on the opposite side.” Jun Shutong pointed toward the corridor across from them.
Although it meant taking a longer route, Lu Li preferred walking the extra distance to passing by the store hiding a Pokémon.
“Then we’ll go around,” Lu Li agreed.
With their opinions aligned, the two chose to take the detour.
Jun Shutong continued leading the way while Lu Li vigilantly watched their rear.
The two walked with their backs slightly bent, holding their breath and focusing intently as their vigilant gazes swept over every corner of their surroundings.
Since they had nearly encountered a demon beast, they were even more cautious than before.
Lu Li quietly observed the stores they passed. He noticed that all their exterior glass panels seemed to be broken, which meant that Pokémon had once tried to attack the people inside the mall.
Lu Li recalled the camp rule warning them not to expose themselves beneath the open sky. The importance of that warning continued to rise in his mind.
“Lu Li, have you—”
Jun Shutong had just turned to ask Lu Li something when her pupils suddenly contracted.
Her face went deathly pale as she stared at Lu Li, or, more precisely, at a creature behind him.
“Run!”
Jun Shutong silently mouthed the word.
Lu Li didn’t notice her lips. He was wondering why Jun Shutong had suddenly stopped speaking midway through her sentence.
However, he still saw her expression. Seeing the terror covering her face, an ominous feeling flashed through his heart.
Lu Li mechanically turned his head and saw a pink Pokémon. It had a small red clown nose and what looked like a blue clown hat on its head.
Mime Jr., a dual Psychic- and Fairy-type Pokémon.
Mime Jr.’s current pose looked rather comical because it was mimicking Lu Li’s movements.
Despite its already short legs, it was clumsily imitating the way Lu Li had bent his back and knees.
However, after seeing that it had startled Lu Li and Jun Shutong, Mime Jr. clutched its stomach and began laughing.
Mime Jr. was delighted that its mimicry had surprised these two unknown creatures, and it had even unconsciously forgotten that it was supposed to be mimicking them.
Seeing this, Lu Li immediately turned and ran. Jun Shutong was no slower, but she deliberately reduced her speed and fell behind him.
Her reason for slowing down was simple. She was worried that the pink demon beast might chase them, in which case she could use her gun to disrupt its pursuit.
The two sprinted all the way to the other end of the mall.
Panting heavily, they leaned their backs against the wall and gulped down air.
Barely able to catch his breath, Lu Li asked, “Did we lose it?”
“It doesn’t seem to have followed us. It looks like we were lucky enough to encounter a playful demon beast,” Jun Shutong said, her face filled with relief.
Hearing this, Lu Li recalled Mime Jr.’s Pokédex entry.
Mime Jr. liked places where crowds gathered and had a habit of mimicking its opponents’ movements. It could imitate the expressions and actions of anyone it saw.
If its target was surprised as a result, it would become delighted and even unconsciously forget that it was mimicking them.
They had been frightened just now, but Mime Jr. might have mistaken their fear for surprise. That was probably why it had looked so happy where it stood.
After calming herself, Jun Shutong sighed and said, “It looks like we’ll have to take a detour back. I’m afraid neither of those two routes is usable anymore.”
Lu Li nodded gloomily and prayed, “Hopefully, we won’t encounter any other demon beasts.”
“The vast majority of demon beasts have a strong sense of territory. We’ve already encountered two of them. Surely we won’t run into a third, right?” Jun Shutong complained worriedly about their luck today.
“Actually, we’ve been pretty lucky. If that had been some other carnivorous demon beast, we might already be dead.” Lu Li was more optimistic. Having Mime Jr. suddenly appear right behind him was still better than having Gengar do it.
Jun Shutong nodded in complete agreement.
If it had been a rat demon beast that suddenly appeared behind Lu Li, it would probably be gnawing on him right now.
“All right, let’s hurry and gather the supplies. This second floor seems to be cursed for us, so let’s finish the job and get out of here as soon as possible.” Jun Shutong didn’t want to remain on the second floor any longer. They had encountered two demon beasts in quick succession not long after arriving. Their luck was simply absurd.
Lu Li nodded and took out the snakeskin bag he had brought with him.
Jun Shutong reminded him, “Focus on vitamins and protein supplements.”
Lu Li nodded and began clearing the health supplements from the shelves.
Jun Shutong selectively picked out supplements and stuffed them into her backpack.
In less than ten minutes, Lu Li’s snakeskin bag was full, and Jun Shutong had nearly finished choosing what she wanted.
Looking at the bag stuffed to the brim, Lu Li remarked, “The mall has plenty of supplies, but the risks are quite high.”
Jun Shutong nodded in agreement. “Yes. We’ve only cleared out one store, and there are at least ten similar stores on this floor. Still, we should avoid coming back here unless absolutely necessary.”
“Let’s go. We’ll take the emergency exit on this side. We’ll have to pass the aquarium, but that’s still safer than taking another unknown route.” As Jun Shutong spoke, she pushed open the door to the emergency stairwell.
……………………….
Chapter 9: The Missing Team
Lu Li slung the snakeskin bag over his shoulder and followed Jun Shutong.
After returning to camp without incident, Lu Li suddenly remembered a very serious problem.
It suddenly occurred to him that gathering so many health supplements was basically useless. What they lacked most right now was food and water, and these supplements couldn’t exactly be eaten as meals.
Still, considering that they could be used to feed Feebas, Lu Li felt a little better about it.
Jun Shutong realized this as well. Feeling that she had shortchanged Lu Li somewhat, she said a little apologetically, “You can ask the others later and trade with them for whatever daily necessities you need.”
“If that doesn’t work, you can come to me and exchange some of them for food.”
“No need for now. The camp provides two meals a day.” Lu Li waved his hand as though he didn’t care.
He still wanted to use these supplements to feed Feebas, so naturally he wasn’t going to trade them away.
After putting the health supplements he had collected back in his room, Lu Li carried the snakeskin bag back up to the second floor. This time, he headed straight into the skincare store closest to the emergency exit and specifically collected products for whitening, acne removal, and scar reduction.
After completing two rounds of zero-yuan shopping, Lu Li got to work.
First, he mixed some of the fish food with a few health supplements and fed it to Feebas. After confirming that Feebas wouldn’t suddenly attack him, Lu Li scooped it out of the fish tank.
Feebas wasn’t very big, only around ten centimeters long.
Lu Li remembered that a normal Feebas could grow up to 0.6 meters. In other words, was this Feebas in front of him actually still a juvenile?
Of course, it was also possible that the thing had simply been starving for so long that its body had shrunk.
After Lu Li lifted it out and placed it on top of the cabinet, Feebas lay there flat, its dull eyes staring fixedly at him. It neither resisted nor struggled.
Lu Li even suspected that if he grabbed a kitchen knife and gave Feebas a couple of slashes, it still wouldn’t resist.
Lu Li didn’t care whether these skincare products would actually work on Feebas. He simply picked them up and gave it a full-body skincare treatment.
Pokémon were incredibly tenacious creatures. Even without water, they could still stubbornly survive.
More importantly, Feebas didn’t resist.
“You really don’t care whether you live or die, huh?” Lu Li lightly tapped Feebas on the head before putting it back into the fish tank.
He wasn’t sure whether it was just his imagination, but after giving Feebas a full-body treatment, Lu Li felt that it really did look quite a bit better. At the very least, it didn’t look as dirty as before.
“Hopefully it’s not just my imagination. And even more importantly, I hope you’re not an ungrateful little fish,” Lu Li murmured.
When lunchtime arrived, the others gradually returned to camp as well.
At the same time, however, they received some bad news.
Out of the seven teams, only six had returned.
Fatty Lei, sitting across from Lu Li, couldn’t help muttering, “Yellow Hair’s group still hasn’t come back. Don’t tell me something happened to them?”
Fatty Lei’s concern wasn’t unreasonable. The mall was only so big, and it was already mealtime. If they still hadn’t returned, then something had probably happened.
It wasn’t like they could have simply forgotten what time it was.
This was the apocalypse. The camp had only just established the rule of two meals a day. Missing one meal meant going hungry for an entire day.
Jun Shutong asked, “Lei, do you know which floor Yellow Hair and the others went to?”
Fatty Lei replied, “I don’t think they went downstairs. I heard Yellow Hair say they were planning to search around the arcade to see if there were any supplies we’d missed.”
Everyone became even more puzzled upon hearing that. The sixth floor had already been checked once before, and aside from the aquarium, there was basically nothing dangerous anywhere else.
Jun Shutong asked in confusion, “Are you sure they went to the arcade and not the aquarium?”
The middle-aged man beside Fatty Lei said indifferently, “Yellow Hair isn’t stupid. He doesn’t even dare go downstairs, so how could he possibly dare go to the aquarium?”
“Uncle Li’s right. Yellow Hair really treasures his life. There’s no way he’d go somewhere that dangerous,” Fatty Lei agreed deeply.
Yellow Hair was the kind of person who firmly believed the Federation would send people to rescue them. People like him always had the mentality of surviving one more day if they could, so how could he possibly go searching for supplies in a dangerous place?
Jun Shutong fell silent for a moment before slowly standing up. “Then let’s disperse for now. After we finish eating, I’ll go over there and take a look.”
Lu Li also volunteered, “I’ll go with you when the time comes. It’ll be safer if there are two of us watching each other’s backs.”
Jun Shutong was a decent person. When they had fled in terror from Mime Jr., she had deliberately slowed down to cover Lu Li’s retreat. Lu Li hadn’t forgotten that favor.
Jun Shutong gave Lu Li a grateful look and did not refuse.
Just as Lu Li had said, two people were always safer than one.
After finishing their meal, the two rested for half an hour before heading to the arcade together.
The arcade’s exterior glass had been sealed tightly, not allowing even a sliver of daylight through. The entire place was so dark that they couldn’t see their hands in front of their faces.
The two carefully searched the arcade with flashlights. Everywhere the beams swept, there were signs of things having been rummaged through and left in disarray, while several patches of dried, blackened blood were scattered across the floor.
Jun Shutong explained from beside him, “These should have been left three days ago. They’re not fresh.”
“A demon beast killed people here?” Lu Li asked in surprise.
Jun Shutong nodded.
“Apparently, it was a steel monster that looked like a Triceratops but could walk upright. It suddenly descended into the arcade and launched indiscriminate attacks on the tourists here.”
“But that monster didn’t seem to eat people. The casualties happened because it rampaged around and rammed quite a few people to death.”
As Jun Shutong spoke, she pointed toward a completely wrecked token machine not far away. “That monster ate all the game tokens here, then smashed through the wall and left.”
“A Triceratops… an upright steel monster, and it even eats metal.” Lu Li more or less knew what demon beast Jun Shutong was talking about.
Aggron, a monster in the truest sense of the word.
After all, its category was literally the Monster Egg Group.
The two carefully searched the entire arcade, but forget finding any trace of Yellow Hair and his group—they didn’t even find a single corpse.
Jun Shutong frowned as she analyzed the situation. “Could Yellow Hair and the others have changed their plans at the last minute and gone somewhere else?”
Normally speaking, even if Yellow Hair and the others had truly fallen prey to a carnivorous demon beast, there should at least have been some bloodstains or remnants left behind.
Yet there were no signs of any recent destruction in the arcade, nor could they find the slightest clue such as blood.
“Hm?”
Lu Li suddenly stopped walking.
His flashlight beam swept across a claw machine. Lu Li’s pupils contracted sharply, and he immediately moved the flashlight away as though nothing had happened.
“Since there aren’t any clues, how about we leave for now?” There was a trace of urgency, even fear, in Lu Li’s voice.
Jun Shutong, who had still been analyzing Yellow Hair’s possible movements, also noticed that something was off with Lu Li’s expression.
Thanks to her professional instincts as a law enforcement officer, Jun Shutong didn’t ask any questions and instead cooperated smoothly. “Then let’s go check somewhere else first.”
…………..
Chapter 10: Mimikyu in the Claw Machine
The two almost jogged out of the arcade.
Only after they had run a considerable distance did Jun Shutong stop and look at Lu Li with concern. “What happened? Did you notice something wrong?”
“I saw a Ghost demon beast,” Lu Li said with a grim expression.
Inside the claw machine with shattered glass was an ugly-looking rag doll. Among all the brand-new plush toys, that one stood out far too much.
Of course, if that had been all, he still wouldn’t have been one hundred percent certain that it was a Ghost-type Pokémon.
The problem was that this world had no Pokémon anime or games, which naturally meant there couldn’t be any Pikachu plush toys either.
That rag doll wore an outer covering resembling Pikachu, so its identity was obvious.
Mimikyu, the Disguise Pokémon.
As a walking Pokémon encyclopedia, Lu Li had a deep impression of Mimikyu. For one thing, it looked far too much like Pikachu, and for another, even their names were somewhat similar.
“Are you sure you didn’t see it wrong?”
Jun Shutong frowned and stared at Lu Li suspiciously. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him—the thing Lu Li had said was simply too absurd.
What kind of existence were Ghost demon beasts?
After Pokémon descended, Ghost demon beasts posed the greatest threat to humanity. Some powerful Ghost demon beasts had even harvested the lives of everyone in an entire city.
If there really were a Ghost demon beast inside the mall, how could their group still be standing here safe and sound?
Lu Li didn’t know how to explain it either.
Based on his understanding of Pokémon and his observations over the past few days, Lu Li had also realized that these Pokémon had not specifically come to wipe out humanity.
Just like Mime Jr.
When it saw humans, it hadn’t immediately attacked them. Instead, it mimicked their actions and had even let them escape in the end.
But to Pokémon, humans were simply too fragile. Sometimes, one tiny mistake was enough to cost a human their life.
Take Misty’s Psyduck from the anime, for example. Every time it went berserk, the protagonists would suffer—getting headaches, being blasted away, and so on.
But if that happened in the real world, then if that Psyduck lost control, everyone nearby would die.
The people of the Pokémon world had evolved from Pokémon themselves, so their resistance was absurdly high. But the people of this world had not evolved from Pokémon.
In Lu Li’s estimation, the main reason Ghost-type Pokémon were dangerous was that they might absorb human life force, or spiritual energies such as souls and emotions.
Among them, Pokémon like Dusclops survived by absorbing life force, while those like Sableye were adept at consuming souls. As for Mimikyu, it should feed on human emotions.
As for Yellow Hair and the others going missing, Lu Li suspected Mimikyu was responsible. As for how it had done it, Lu Li had no desire to investigate, nor was he going to.
“I can only guarantee that what I saw was definitely a Ghost demon beast. As for why it hasn’t attacked the camp, maybe humans aren’t part of its diet?” Lu Li offered an explanation that was relatively close to the truth.
Jun Shutong pondered for a moment, then nodded. “That’s true. Not every Ghost demon beast can absorb our life force.”
“Then what do we do now?” Lu Li asked.
“Let’s go back. Don’t tell everyone about the Ghost demon beast here, or it’ll cause unnecessary panic.” Jun Shutong made up her mind to absolutely conceal the fact that there was a Ghost demon beast inside the arcade.
Lu Li nodded without even asking why.
Jun Shutong added, “Once we get back, I’ll tell everyone that the arcade area is dangerous.”
Lu Li had no objection to that either. There weren’t any useful supplies in the arcade to begin with, and normally no one would come over here looking for trouble. As long as Mimikyu didn’t actively approach the survivor camp, it would be fine.
But Lu Li wasn’t optimistic.
According to Mimikyu’s in-game lore, it was a Ghost-type Pokémon that was relatively fond of humans. The reason it hid beneath a ragged disguise was precisely so it could approach crowds without frightening them.
If he remembered correctly, Mimikyu would definitely sneak into the camp at some point. But if it didn’t absorb the life force of the people here, then it didn’t really matter if Mimikyu entered the camp.
Mimikyu wouldn’t actively scare people either, unless someone was courting death and tried to look beneath its disguise to see its true appearance. But given how terrified humans were of demon beasts right now, the chances of that happening should be zero.
Wait.
Lu Li suddenly noticed the crucial point.
Could those two guys have accidentally seen Mimikyu’s true appearance and gotten killed by Mimikyu to silence them?
Lu Li thought that possibility was extremely high. In fact, that might very well have been exactly what happened.
If he didn’t know anything about Pokémon, and he saw such a strange-looking doll inside the arcade, he might have gotten curious too, and perhaps even investigated it to find out what it actually was.
Neither of them spoke on the way back. Because of Lu Li’s analysis, Jun Shutong’s mood was also heavy, and she remained deep in thought the entire way.
The moment they returned to camp, Jun Shutong immediately gathered everyone around and solemnly announced, “There are signs of demon beast activity around the arcade. From now on, when you go out to gather supplies, try to avoid that area.”
“Sister Jun, do you know what kind of demon beast it is?” Fatty Lei asked curiously.
Faced with everyone’s probing yet uneasy gazes, Jun Shutong suppressed the panic in her heart and pretended to remain calm. “No. We only found some traces of demon beast activity. Yellow Hair and the others were probably killed there.”
“Could that demon beast come over here? Should we move the camp?” an elderly man muttered worriedly.
The old woman beside him immediately retorted, “Move? Move where? Is there anywhere in this entire mall safer than here?”
“Wouldn’t it still be better than staying here? What if that demon beast comes over?”
“You’re overthinking it. By that logic, wouldn’t the demon beast in the aquarium have come over here long ago?”
Jun Shutong looked at the endlessly arguing crowd and helplessly shook her head. A trace of regret welled up inside her. If she’d known this would happen, she should have simply sealed off the route to the arcade instead of telling them about it.
She had originally wanted to prevent panic from spreading through the camp, but in the end, panic had still broken out. Fortunately, no one had lost control, or else she would have had even more trouble on her hands.
Mentally and physically exhausted, Jun Shutong threw herself onto the sofa and stared blankly at the ceiling.
She was considering whether they should relocate the camp, but the problem was, where could they even go? Was there still any safe place left in this world?
Ever since the demon beasts descended, they could be found in every corner of the world. Saying there was one demon beast every ten steps might be an exaggeration, but saying there was one every hundred meters definitely wasn’t.
Lu Li didn’t take part in the camp’s discussion. He still had to hurry home and feed Feebas.
“Wow! Feebas, you seem to have gotten even prettier!”
“Sure enough, those products I used on you worked. As expected of me!”
“You’re really getting prettier and prettier…”
After lifting Feebas out of the fish tank, Lu Li began showering it with nauseatingly sweet praise like crazy.
Before, whenever he praised Feebas, he had always felt at least a little insincere inside. But now, his compliments were completely genuine and came straight from the heart.
After all, this was his future support and hope. He truly doted on and praised Feebas as though it were his own child.