The 26th day after Pokémon descended.
Early in the morning, Lu Li gathered a group of people and headed to the second floor.
This time, Lu Li brought even more people with him, and no one complained.
At first, the plan went smoothly, with everyone clearing out the stores one by one.
Until—
“Ka kacha”
A sound like gears turning rang out, and Huang Jiafei stared in terror at the Klink hanging on the wall.
His body tensed up, and at that moment, he even forgot to run.
His legs felt as heavy as if they had been filled with lead, and his entire body seemed nailed firmly in place by invisible spikes, unable to move even half a step.
Old Xu, who had just reached the doorway beside him, quietly backed out.
Old Xu sprinted all the way back and reported the news to Lu Li.
“Brother Lu! Demon beast! Huang Jiafei ran into a demon beast over there.” Old Xu grabbed Lu Li’s arm in panic.
Lu Li asked, “Calm down first. Did you get a clear look at what kind of demon beast it was?”
Old Xu hurriedly said, “That demon beast looked like two metal gears joined together.”
Hearing that it was Klink, Lu Li also breathed a sigh of relief.
Klink was a Steel-type Pokémon belonging to the Mineral Egg Group. Its main food was metal, and humans were not on its menu.
Of course, if it got hungry enough, Klink might still gnaw on bones.
“You guys keep moving the supplies. I’ll go find Huang Jiafei.” After saying that, Lu Li took the Poké Ball and headed straight for the store where Klink was.
Klink was also looking in confusion at Huang Jiafei, who stood there completely motionless.
“Has this fake human gone stupid?” Klink asked its other body.
The other body glanced at Huang Jiafei before continuing, “Ignore him. Let’s keep eating.”
Huang Jiafei, who had already been standing there waiting to die, finally recovered when he saw that the two demon beasts opposite him had no intention of attacking.
Huang Jiafei did not dare hesitate. He turned around and headed straight for the door.
Focused entirely on escaping, Huang Jiafei did not hear Lu Li’s approaching footsteps, and the two of them collided directly at the entrance to the store.
Huang Jiafei felt as though he had been hit by a heavy truck. His entire body was sent flying backward before crashing into a shelf not far away.
Huang Jiafei was so angry that he wanted to curse, but when he saw that it was Lu Li, he could only endure the pain and get up from the floor.
Lu Li asked somewhat embarrassedly, “Are you okay?”
Huang Jiafei complained quietly, “Brother Lu, I feel like I’m a little dead.”
Seeing that Huang Jiafei was fine, Lu Li looked toward the Klink clinging to the wall. Seeing that Klink was paying them no attention, he urged, “You should leave first.”
Clutching his chest, Huang Jiafei did not want to stay here any longer either. He nodded slightly and staggered out of the store.
Klink was clinging to the wall and sucking on electrical wires—more precisely, the copper wires inside them.
Lu Li was also calculating in his mind whether he could beat the Klink in front of him.
This Klink looked like it was probably still in its Growth Stage, but considering that Klink’s Growth Stage was already very long to begin with, Lu Li did not find that strange.
After thinking for a while, Lu Li ultimately gave up on the idea of capturing Klink.
Klink’s Growth Stage was too long. In the games, Klink needed to reach Level 38 before it could evolve.
According to his division of levels and realms in the Pokémon world, Level 38 was already around the Ordinary level. Needing to reach the Ordinary level before evolving would take far too long.
What was more, Klink needed to reach Level 49 before it could reach its final evolution. That evolution level was nearly on par with those pseudo-legendaries, yet Klink did not have pseudo-legendary base stats.
“I hope Klink only sucks on the electrical wires here and absolutely does not start gnawing on the rebar inside the concrete,” Lu Li silently prayed in his heart.
Lu Li had always felt that he had strong luck. The second floor contained supplies that were extremely important to him, yet there just happened to be no particularly dangerous Pokémon occupying it.
Klink fed on metal. As long as no one attacked it first, Klink would not take the initiative to attack humans either.
As for Mime Jr., that unlucky kid was probably already learning how to do housework from Indeedee by now.
Lu Li quickly came up with a bold idea: take advantage of today to completely clear out all the supplies on the second floor.
Protein powder was something both Machoke and Raticate could eat. Fortunately, these Pokémon that had descended could not read the writing of this world. Otherwise, the supplies on the second floor would have been emptied by Machoke long ago.
“I won’t disturb you, Klink.” After saying that, Lu Li turned around and left.
Klink said to its other body, “That person just now seemed to call our name?”
“What does that matter? Hurry up and eat. I’m starving,” the other body urged.
After leaving the room where Klink was, Lu Li went to the emergency exit and gathered everyone together.
“Other than that metal gear demon beast, there aren’t any other demon beasts left on the second floor now, so everyone put in a little more effort. We’ll clear out the entire second floor today,” Lu Li encouraged them.
Old Xu, who was still somewhat shaken, asked, “Brother Lu, are you sure there aren’t any other demon beasts on the second floor?”
“I’m sure.” Lu Li nodded.
In truth, he was not actually certain either. It was just that during his previous visits to the second floor, he had only encountered those two Pokémon. Logically speaking, there should not be any other demon beasts here.
The reason Lu Li nodded was naturally so that everyone could move the supplies without worrying.
Huang Jiafei asked, “What about that metal demon beast?”
Lu Li replied, “I’ll personally keep an eye on it. You just focus on moving the supplies.”
Hearing this, no one had any objections. After all, Lu Li had already taken on the most dangerous job himself.
Lu Li then returned to the area beside the store where Klink was and sat down there.
Everyone worked from noon until dark. Seeing that they could not finish moving everything today, Lu Li did not force the members of the Scavenging Team to keep going.
With this batch of supplies replenished, Little Beauty and Little Yellow would not have to worry about food for at least half a month.
The bad news was that even if he cleared out the entire second floor, those supplies would only last them for a month.
It was a sad story.
Because everyone was quite tired this time, Lu Li specifically had the kitchen add extra dishes and make dinner more plentiful.
Of course, this treatment was only for the Scavenging Team. Everyone else did not get the same privilege.
After all, as time passed, supplies would only become more and more precious. Good steel had to be used on the blade, and food was no different.
Jun Shutong’s willingness to set aside food to care for the elderly and children had already caused dissatisfaction among some members of the Scavenging Team. If the treatment of the elderly and children in the camp were improved any further, Lu Li suspected the Scavenging Team might directly revolt.
Jun Shutong knew this too, so she had restrained herself considerably.
Her requirements were already very low now: simply try to keep everyone barely alive.
The 27th day after Pokémon descended.
After getting up in the morning and preparing nutrient solution for Little Beauty and Little Yellow, Lu Li habitually checked the Berry seed in the flowerpot.
Looking at that touch of green in the soil, the excited Lu Li could not help lightly touching the soil in the pot with his hand.
“It really… sprouted?” Lu Li murmured in disbelief.
Although he had always been looking forward to it, when this moment truly arrived, Lu Li still felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
The fact that Berry trees from the Pokémon world could sprout in this world meant that this so-called apocalypse was not as despairing as he had imagined.
At this moment, the excited Lu Li felt an overwhelming urge to share the news.
He wanted to tell someone this good news, and the first one Lu Li thought of was Indeedee.
After all, compared to sharing it with Jun Shutong, he would then have to spend effort explaining what Berries did. Moreover, as a native of this world, Jun Shutong probably would not fully understand what it meant to successfully grow a Berry tree in this world.
After receiving the news, Indeedee rushed to Lu Li’s place immediately.
Because it was too excited after hearing the news, Indeedee even forgot the etiquette it had learned at school.
Indeedee directly used Teleport to appear beside Lu Li, giving him a huge fright.
Seeing that it had startled Lu Li, Indeedee covered its mouth and giggled for quite a while before leisurely turning its attention to the tender green sprout in the flowerpot.
“Indeedee”
(It really is a Berry sapling.)
Indeedee’s eyes were filled with amazement, and it could not help crying out in surprise.
“Indeedee”
After expressing its amazement, Indeedee also praised Lu Li.
For Lu Li to successfully grow a Berry tree was, whether for Pokémon or humans, a milestone-level achievement of enormous merit.
“Indeedee”
(You’re amazing. I’m looking forward to the day it bears fruit.)
But Lu Li was not as optimistic as Indeedee.
Lu Li asked, “Indeedee, do you know what kind of Berry this is?”
This seed had been given to him by Jun Shutong before, and even now, he still had not been able to determine exactly what variety of Berry seed it was.
Indeedee shook its head, indicating that it did not know either.
Seeing this, Lu Li felt somewhat helpless. Since even Indeedee was not sure, they could only wait until the sapling grew up and bore fruit before they could determine what it was.
“Indeedee”
(Once it grows to a certain size, the flowerpot won’t be able to support the tree anymore.)
Indeedee reminded him.
Lu Li knew that as well, but for now he had not thought of any particularly good solution.
“I know. I’ll figure something out,” Lu Li said through gritted teeth.
In the Pokémon world, the most common Berries were Leppa Berries and Oran Berries. Almost all wild Pokémon relied on these two kinds of Berries to fill their stomachs.
That also meant Berry trees would be highly sought after during the early stages of the Berry revival, especially ordinary Berries like Leppa Berries and Oran Berries.
Lu Li could already imagine Pokémon fighting fiercely over ownership of Berry trees.
Just thinking about it gave Lu Li a headache.
Because he was not sure whether he could protect the Berry tree he had managed to grow with Little Beauty and the others.
Indeedee’s reminder also made him realize something else: this place was not suitable as a long-term base for Dawn Camp.
He would need to plant even more Berry trees in the future, and this mall simply did not have any spare space where they could establish a planting area.
Lu Li thought of the villa district in Anke Residential Complex. The yards there might be usable for planting Berry trees, but they would only be able to grow a few.
In the end, Lu Li thought of his alma mater—Juzi University.
Juzi University was in the suburbs, and there were also many villages and farmlands nearby. Compared with staying in the city, Juzi University was more suitable as a permanent base.
“Indeedee, do you think we can protect the Berry trees we grow?” Lu Li slyly used “we” to pull Indeedee onto his side.
The innocent Indeedee tilted its head and began thinking seriously.
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