“Mimikyu, how are you able to communicate with me?” Lu Li asked.
Mimikyu answered with a straight face, “When I was eating that fake human, I also ate some of your world’s language from his soul.”
“Soul-Searching Technique?”
Lu Li looked Mimikyu up and down several times with a strange expression. Who would have thought that this adorable little creature was actually a practitioner of demonic arts?
But had the abilities of Ghost-type Pokémon really become this ridiculous after descending into the real world?
“Uh… can other Ghost-type Pokémon do that too?” Lu Li asked tentatively.
Mimikyu: “Those weaker than me can’t.”
“So they can do it once they reach a certain level of strength, huh?”
Lu Li was speechless, but he still changed the subject.
“Mimikyu, did you come here specifically to play with me?”
Mimikyu nodded. “Yes. I was full, so I came out to walk around and help digest my food.”
This “homebody,” who spent every day cooped up inside without moving, had actually taken the initiative to go out and even dropped by for a visit. What a rare occurrence!
With the mindset of ‘Since it was already here, he would feel uneasy all over if he did not dig some useful information out of the other party’, Lu Li asked another question: “Can you sense the Pokémon upstairs?”
Mimikyu tilted its head and nodded: “Yes. They can sense me too.”
“Then why do they always stay upstairs? I’ve never seen them go out looking for food,” Lu Li hurriedly followed up.
Mimikyu explained, “They’re very smart, and they have their own food sources. They don’t need to go out looking for food.”
“I’m worried they might invade our camp,” Lu Li explained.
It was a classic trick from the older generation: subtly changing “I” into “we,” thereby drawing the other party into your own camp without them even realizing it.
Mimikyu reassured him, “They won’t. Fake humans aren’t nutritious, and you all belong to me. This is my territory.”
Lu Li suddenly understood. That explained why those three big shots upstairs never came downstairs for a snack. It turned out they were being kept as livestock by Mimikyu!
Lu Li thought of Indeedee again. He realized that these Pokémon all seemed to enjoy raising fake humans as livestock. However, considering the strong ranching culture of the Pokémon world, Lu Li immediately found it understandable.
But why couldn’t other Pokémon be so sensible? Lu Li sighed inwardly and couldn’t help comparing Raticate with Mimikyu and the others.
Sometimes, comparisons really did make things look worse. There was a reason humans hated rats.
Lu Li cautiously asked, “Mimikyu, if we ever have to move away someday, would you be willing to come with us?”
Lu Li deliberately avoided asking whether Mimikyu would be willing to let its humans go. Given the little creature’s simple way of thinking, it would definitely say no.
Hearing this, Mimikyu tilted its head and stared at Lu Li for quite a while. Just as Lu Li began to worry that he had angered it, Mimikyu spoke quietly: “You’re my only friend. Since you’ve invited me, I suppose I can reluctantly agree to go with you. I’ll protect you all while I’m at it.”
“AAAAAAAH!!!”
An explosion of excitement erupted in Lu Li’s heart. If it weren’t for concerns about his physical safety, Lu Li would have loved nothing more than to scoop Mimikyu into his arms right then and there and express his gratitude and happiness.
How could a Mimikyu be this adorable?!
When some people acted tsundere, they just came across as spoiled little princesses. But when Mimikyu acted tsundere, it was genuinely adorable!
“Of course! We’re friends, after all.”
If he weren’t worried that Mimikyu’s level was too high, Lu Li would have already pulled out a Poké Ball and invited it to join him.
In the end, however, Lu Li decided to play it safe. If Mimikyu got angry because of that, the consequences would far outweigh any potential benefits.
Mimikyu: I treat you as my pet, and you want to treat me as yours? How dare you turn the natural order upside down?!
“Mimikyu, let me show you something good.” Lu Li decided to share his masterpiece with Mimikyu.
At Lu Li’s invitation, Mimikyu floated down onto his shoulder. A faint chill spread across his neck and shoulder, making Lu Li shiver slightly, but he quickly regained his composure.
As long as he didn’t do court death, like lifting Mimikyu’s disguise to look at its true body, he should be safe.
With his heart pounding like a drum, Lu Li brought Mimikyu over to the flowerpot in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.
“Look! This is a Berry tree I managed to grow. I imagine it won’t be long before many more Berry trees appear in this world,” Lu Li shared happily.
Mimikyu also stared in surprise at the lush green seedling.
“It really is a Berry tree.” Mimikyu glanced at Lu Li’s profile in surprise. It suddenly realized that, compared to their last meeting, Lu Li now seemed more like a real human.
If Lu Li had been 2/10 of a real human before, he now seemed 3/10 like one.
Putting on the air of someone with plenty of experience, Mimikyu reminded him, “I remember that trees need to be planted in the ground to survive. It won’t be able to live in a flowerpot for too long.”
Lu Li nodded and said somewhat wistfully, “Yeah, that’s also why we’re planning to move. Once this tree grows a little bigger, we’ll have to find somewhere else to live.”
If they really decided to head to Juzi University, there was no telling how many Pokémon attacks and unexpected incidents they would encounter along the way. By then, the number of casualties would certainly not be small.
But staying here offered no future either. For the sake of his dreams and ambitions, Lu Li could only temporarily abandon the kindness and compassion he had buried deep in his heart.
Mimikyu also sensed the change in Lu Li’s mood, so it offered some rare words of comfort: “It’s okay. I’m very strong, much stronger than your companions.”
On the bedside cabinet, Beedrill, who was inside its Poké Ball, immediately became unhappy upon hearing those words.
It was bad enough that you came to bother my Trainer in the middle of the night, but now you have the nerve to claim you’re stronger than me? Haven’t had enough poison lately? Want a taste of mine?
If there hadn’t been so little room to fight here, Beedrill would have definitely come out of its Poké Ball today and taught this fellow a lesson.
But Beedrill knew better than to act recklessly. After all, that thing was currently sitting on Lu Li’s shoulder. If it really provoked Mimikyu, the first person to die would undoubtedly be its Trainer.
“For my Trainer’s sake, I’ll put up with it.”
Beedrill consoled itself, feeling extremely displeased.
Sensing that surge of anger, Mimikyu raised its eyes and glanced at Beedrill inside the Poké Ball.
But it was only a glance.
Mimikyu was at least two major levels stronger than Beedrill. In its eyes, Beedrill was nothing more than a child, both in terms of age and strength.
“That companion of yours is pretty interesting,” Mimikyu suddenly commented.
Hearing this, Lu Li instinctively looked toward the two Poké Balls.
“Of course! They’re the best in the whole world!” Lu Li declared with immense pride.
“By the way, do you know how strong those Pokémon upstairs are?” Lu Li asked again.
“Except for that Grass-type Pokémon, all the others are stronger than your companions, and by at least two levels.”
Lu Li: “…”
He had originally been thinking about giving his third Pokémon slot to Bounsweet. Now, it seemed he had been getting ahead of himself.
Lu Li couldn’t help wondering about something.
Wasn’t it said that elite monsters were extremely rare in the wild? Why was the density of elite monsters so ridiculously high around him?
Within a radius of less than a hundred meters, at least five elite monsters had spawned!
Was Arceus deliberately targeting him, a transmigrator, by toying with him this way?
Fortunately, Mimikyu and Indeedee were relatively friendly Pokémon. Otherwise, he might have died a miserable death long ago. How could he possibly have survived long enough for Little Beauty and Little Yellow to grow stronger?
“Do you know the Pokémon in the hotel next door?” Lu Li asked again.
Instead of answering directly, Mimikyu curiously asked him a question in return.
“Isn’t that one your friend? Don’t you know much about it?”
Lu Li’s heart skipped a beat.
He hadn’t expected Mimikyu to know about Indeedee, much less know about their relationship.
“You two know each other?” Lu Li’s tone became cautious again. After all, the vast majority of Ghost-type Pokémon were notoriously unpredictable.
If an ordinary person became jealous, at worst they would bottle up their feelings and ruin their own mood.
But things were completely different when Mimikyu experienced such emotions. What if it lost control of its strength and accidentally sent him straight to the afterlife? This thing was sitting right on his shoulder!
“We don’t know each other. I sensed it, and it sensed me. But because our types don’t match, we’ve never met. Besides, there’s no competition between us.”
Lu Li didn’t detect much emotional fluctuation in Mimikyu’s voice, so he breathed a sigh of relief.
Strictly speaking, however, there actually was competition between them.
One fed on happiness, while the other fed on fear. These two emotions were fundamentally opposed. The more happiness there was, the less fear there would be. If one could eat more, the other would inevitably have to eat less.
Fortunately, both Mimikyu and Indeedee had their own “little cafeterias,” so neither cared much about the overall atmosphere within Dawn Camp.
However, what Lu Li didn’t know was that Mimikyu had its reasons for not getting upset.
After all, Lu Li had been hunting food for it all along. The fake humans newly captured and brought into the camp today were proof of that. Meanwhile, Lu Li hadn’t hunted any food for Indeedee.
Therefore, when comparing the two, Mimikyu was the winner.
And as the winner, Mimikyu had no intention of seeking out the loser to show off its victory or bully Indeedee.
Lu Li continued chatting with Mimikyu for a while longer. Mimikyu was a night owl to begin with, and the longer they talked, the more enthusiastic it became. Unfortunately, Lu Li was the one who suffered.
Mimikyu didn’t leave until the sky was almost bright, and Lu Li ended up sleeping until nearly noon before getting out of bed.
By the time he woke up, Jun Shutong had already finished handling the personnel redistribution arrangements.
Dawn Camp would only accept the hundred or so people from Anke Camp. The other survivors would be relocated to Xinghai Residential Complex.
According to the survivors from Xinghai Residential Complex, no survivor camp had been established there.
A trace of surprise flashed through Lu Li’s eyes when he learned this.
After all, when people faced difficulties and disasters, they generally banded together for warmth and safety. Situations like Xinghai Residential Complex were relatively rare.
Lu Li specifically sought out some survivors from Xinghai Residential Complex who had recently joined the camp and questioned them. Only then did he learn the reason.
In the beginning, Xinghai Residential Complex had indeed had a survivor camp. Unfortunately, shortly after the camp was established, people suddenly died under mysterious circumstances from poisoning.
Since no one could find the culprit, the survivors scattered in panic and never dared to gather together again.
Everyone feared that gathering in groups would bring death upon them, which was why no one in Xinghai Residential Complex had attempted to establish another camp.
Jun Shutong also approached Lu Li and advised him, “Lu Li, if we don’t investigate this matter thoroughly, I’m afraid they won’t be able to feel at ease.”
“Where exactly was that camp originally established?” Lu Li asked.
“Right beside the pressure reducing station. Since you lived in Xinghai Residential Complex, you should have heard of the Delicious Radish Canteen, right?” the survivor asked cautiously, his shoulders drooping.
Lu Li nodded.
Delicious Radish Canteen was an affordable restaurant that offered excellent value for money. Most working people in the surrounding area were happy to eat their three daily meals there because the prices were genuinely cheap.
Lu Li frowned thoughtfully.
When he heard that an entire group had died from poisoning, the first thing that came to mind was Poison-type Pokémon.
However, this Pokémon had been capable of spreading poisonous gas over a large area, and it hadn’t been hunting. That suggested it hadn’t intended to kill anyone. The deaths had merely been accidental.
Lu Li thought of Butterfree, but Butterfree generally wouldn’t actively enter buildings. Besides, they didn’t eat meat, so there was no reason for them to deliberately enter a canteen to kill people. After all, there weren’t any trees inside.
Next, Lu Li narrowed his list of suspects to Pokémon such as Gloom, Haunter, Koffing, and Skuntank.
First, he could rule out plant-type Pokémon. After all, they didn’t eat meat, and if they wanted to use humans as fertilizer, they might as well go straight to a public restroom and steal some excrement.
As for Pokémon like Haunter, Lu Li didn’t suspect them either. If a Haunter were lurking around here, the casualties probably wouldn’t have been limited to a single camp.
That left Pokémon such as Koffing and Skuntank. Lu Li strongly suspected Koffing, but he would need to investigate further to determine exactly which Pokémon was responsible.
The problem was that although his physique far surpassed that of an ordinary person, it was still within normal human limits. He wasn’t a real Pokémon-Human.
That invisible poisonous gas could cause mass casualties. If he went there himself, he would probably only last a few minutes longer than everyone else.
Thinking of this, Lu Li felt rather frustrated.
“Don’t worry. I’ll investigate it when the time comes.”
Lu Li decided to reassure Jun Shutong first. Later, he could simply come up with an excuse to tell everyone to stay away from that location.
Since the mysterious Pokémon hadn’t deliberately killed anyone, it meant that it wouldn’t actively chase humans down to kill them. As long as everyone avoided that area, things should be fine.
All he could say was that the first group of survivors who had gathered to establish a camp in Xinghai Residential Complex had been terribly unlucky. They had happened to choose the location with the highest mortality risk.
“I’ll go clear out the demon beasts along the road first. We can keep in touch through the walkie-talkie.”
After saying this, Lu Li left the shopping mall with Little Yellow and Little Beauty.
There was no median strip separating the lanes of the road between the shopping mall and Xinghai Residential Complex. Trees were planted only along both sides of the road. What he needed to do was clear out the Bug-type Pokémon living in those trees.
Afterward, he would have a word with the surrounding Pokémon and ask them not to attack humans.
Naturally, it would be best if they could communicate. If communication proved impossible, well, his Little Yellow happened to know a thing or two about martial arts.
At this stage, Beedrill possessed an overwhelming advantage against those “low-level Pokémon.”
With Beedrill accompanying him, Lu Li didn’t act particularly timid or cautious. After all, no Pokémon with a functioning brain would pick a fight with a Beedrill just for the sake of eating one human.
“Two Butterfree in total. The rest are all Caterpie and Metapod. This should be easier than I imagined.” Lu Li took out a gas mask and put it on.
Since he already knew he might encounter Butterfree, he had naturally made thorough preparations.
If the mall had any hazmat suit, he would have even worn one outside.
After securing his gas mask, Lu Li immediately fixed his gaze on the pair of Butterfree living together in a tree.
Hmm, they should be a married couple, right?
Looking at the two Butterfree sharing the same tree, Lu Li silently wondered to himself.
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