It wasn’t until Lu Li spoke up that the farce finally came to an end.
The criminals who had climbed back up from the ground were still groaning under their breath, while Yao Xia, who had stopped beating them, wore a sickly smile.
Lu Li was starting to suspect that this woman might have gone insane.
“If it weren’t for her daughter keeping her going, she might have given up on this damned world already,” Lu Li thought to himself.
Lu Li lowered his head and glanced at his watch, then said, “In half an hour, send another two people over.”
Everyone nodded, then found a storefront to use as a temporary resting place.
Meanwhile, a strange Pokémon with odd appearance and eyes of different sizes was silently watching all of this.
And this was not an isolated case.
Pokémon resembling flatworms were doing the same thing all across the world at this very moment: monitoring, protecting, and keeping watch. They did not interfere in conflicts between humans and Pokémon, much less meddle in private disputes between humans.
The sclera of this green, flatworm-like Pokémon had originally been pale green. Suddenly, its eyelids rolled back, and its pupils turned pitch-black.
“Poké Balls… are adapting to the world’s environment… they have already begun to gradually evolve. Bonds…”
In its Core Forme, Zygarde silently marked this unusual human as a priority observation target.
This human would become a key figure in either advancing order or destroying it.
As the God of Order and guardian of the ecosystem, it chose to observe rather than stop him or push him toward any particular course of action.
Lu Li had no idea that he was already being watched. He lowered his head and checked his watch. Half an hour had passed.
Lu Li nodded toward Old Xu.
Having received the order, Old Xu dragged out another two unlucky fellows of the Atonement Camp.
Old Xu barked harshly, “Now, go collect those shells immediately!”
“No! I can’t! They’re from the dead! Didn’t you see how that guy Tian Bo died for no reason? I won’t—”
Smack!
Before the man could finish speaking, Old Xu lashed him across the mouth with his whip.
“You either go work right now, or I’ll whip you to death.” After that, Old Xu looked toward the other criminal.
Seeing this, the other criminal hurriedly nodded in fear and shouted, “I’ll… I’ll go!”
“Then hurry up.” Old Xu kicked the man who had just been whipped across the mouth.
The man collapsed on the ground, clutching his mouth and unable to get back up. Seeing this, a vicious gleam instantly surged in Old Xu’s eyes.
“Let me.” A gentle voice came from behind him. Yao Xia extended her hand with an extremely tender expression.
Old Xu looked at the woman before him, whose features could still be considered beautiful despite having been tortured for more than half a month. Hearing Yao Xia speak so gently, he blankly handed the whip over to her.
What followed was rather brutal, because Yao Xia actually carried a bag of salt with her.
The criminal, now covered head to toe in whip marks, finally couldn’t endure any longer. Thinking that being poisoned to death would still be better than being whipped to death, he gave in.
The two of them timidly made their way toward the median strip. This time, they crossed over the corpses of the two men who had gone before them without incident and reached the base of the withered trees.
“We survived!” exclaimed the man who hadn’t been whipped, beside himself with joy.
“Survived?” The unlucky man who had taken the whipping felt like crying. If he’d known this would happen, he wouldn’t have resisted. With so many wounds all over his body, he probably wouldn’t even be able to sleep tonight.
On the verge of tears, he could only suppress his bitterness and start picking up the shells from the ground.
Seeing this, the companion beside him couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from rising.
A lot of happiness came from comparison. Compared with his companion, who had resisted and ended up covered in wounds, he had clearly suffered far less by knowing when to submit.
Before long, the two returned to Lu Li carrying the shells.
Lu Li narrowed his eyes and carefully examined their condition. Only after confirming that there was nothing unusual about either of them did he order Old Xu to pack the shells into bags.
“When we go back, put these shells in the warehouse next to my place,” Lu Li instructed.
“Don’t worry, Boss. I’ll have someone send them back right now.” Old Xu was a man of action. He immediately called over two people and had them take the shells back first.
Lu Li stood up and said, “All right, let’s head to Xinghai Residential Complex now.”
The large group crossed the road in force and entered Xinghai Residential Complex.
Looking at the entrance to the pedestrian street ahead, Lu Li reminded them, “Be careful after entering the residential complex. It’s an unfamiliar environment, so there might be some demon beasts hiding in the shadows.”
The others hurriedly nodded.
The group searched through the residential complex with extreme caution. Half an hour later, Lu Li discovered something very interesting.
There seemed to be very few Pokémon in this residential complex. At the very least, they hadn’t found any Pokémon on the first floor. Of course, that was excluding the Bug-type Pokémon around the median strips in the residential complex.
Yao Xia, who was walking beside Lu Li, analyzed, “The situation in Xinghai Residential Complex seems much better than over at Anke Residential Complex. There may be more survivors here.”
“And quite a few survivors have managed to stay alive here,” Lu Li said, pointing toward the buildings not far away. With his eyesight far surpassing that of an ordinary person, he could see at a glance that many people upstairs were watching them.
As a tenant of Xinghai Residential Complex, Lu Li was also familiar with its general layout. Xinghai Residential Complex wasn’t particularly large, at least not compared to Anke Residential Complex.
However, Xinghai Residential Complex had an occupancy rate of only 70%, with a population of approximately 5,000 people. As for the survivors…
Lu Li glanced at the upper floors again.
“There should be at least 2,000 survivors. The survival rate in this residential complex is pretty high,” Lu Li estimated to himself.
“Your name is Yuan Zhe, right? You came from Xinghai Residential Complex and joined our Dawn Camp the day before yesterday?” Lu Li asked the young man beside him.
“Yes, Boss! You can call me Little Yuan or Yuan, whichever you prefer,” Yuan Zhe replied hurriedly with a subservient bow.
Lu Li asked, “Do you know what kinds of demon beasts are in this residential complex?”
Yuan Zhe answered cautiously, “I previously collected supplies in the residential complex and encountered quite a few other survivors. They told me some information, but I’m not sure how reliable it is.”
Realizing that the other party was trying to protect himself from being held responsible, Lu Li reassured him, “Just tell me what you’ve heard.”
“First, there’s the so-called Sky Garden on the third floor of the residential complex. A large number of insect demon beasts and plant-type demon beasts live there.”
“Most of the demon beasts in Xinghai Residential Complex are gathered there. Aside from those, there seems to be a strange kind of demon beast living in Building F that looks like a combination of a rock and a magnet.”
“But I only heard this information from other people. I haven’t seen them with my own eyes. That’s all I know.”
Lu Li nodded.
The second floors of the buildings toward the back of Xinghai Residential Complex were office spaces, while the third floor was effectively the ground floor for the residential complex’s residents. The first floor was a commercial street, Basement 1 was a combination of commercial space and parking, and Basement 2 and Basement 3 were both parking garages.
Yuan Zhe hadn’t mentioned the situation in Basement 2 or Basement 3, but considering how dark and damp those places were, there were bound to be plenty of “sewer” Pokémon living there, such as Raticate, Ekans, Muk, and similar Pokémon.
The Sky Garden on the third floor also housed large numbers of Bug-type and Grass-type Pokémon. By that calculation, could Xinghai Residential Complex actually have more Pokémon than Anke Residential Complex?
“Are there any places left in Xinghai Residential Complex where we can collect supplies?” Lu Li continued asking. He didn’t actually have much hope. A whole month had passed, and even if there had been supplies, they had probably been thoroughly looted by now.
Yuan Zhe said, “There’s a water station on the third floor. Since so many demon beasts live there, the water probably hasn’t been touched. Other than that, everywhere else has likely already been searched.”
Lu Li nodded, then brought Beedrill to the fourth floor of Building D.
Through the window, Lu Li narrowed his eyes as he examined the so-called Sky Garden.
Although it was called a Sky Garden, it was really just a small park. It wasn’t particularly large, covering only a few hundred square meters.
What truly surprised Lu Li was that quite a few Beedrill actually lived here.
There were no Caterpie in the Sky Garden. Instead, it had been occupied by Beedrill. Besides them, Lu Li also spotted an enormous creature.
It was a strange Pokémon standing nearly five meters tall, with bluish-green skin and a gigantic flower growing on its back.
Venusaur.
According to its Pokédex entry, Venusaur stood only 2.4 meters tall. However, this particular Venusaur was nearly five meters tall, considerably larger than an ordinary Venusaur.
Its eyes were tightly closed as it immersed itself in photosynthesis, looking as though it had fallen into a deep sleep.
The Beedrill only dared to hover cautiously above Venusaur’s head. One of them was carefully collecting nectar from the enormous flower on Venusaur’s back.
Seeing this scene, the corners of Lu Li’s mouth twitched slightly.
Lu Li suddenly felt that Grass-type Pokémon were the true saviors of this world. This Venusaur was single-handedly feeding…
Lu Li counted them. There were six Beedrill in the entire Sky Garden.
In other words, this Venusaur was actually supporting six Beedrill all by itself. What was strange, however, was that quite a few transparent, pale-yellow shells were scattered around Venusaur. Their appearance was very similar to the shells of Kakuna.
“How strange,” Lu Li muttered to himself.
Normally, the Sky Garden should have been Beedrill territory, but strangely enough, there were no pre-evolved forms of Beedrill anywhere in the garden.
There were neither Weedle nor Kakuna here. Or rather, there should have been Kakuna here before, considering that the numerous shells scattered across the ground didn’t look like they had been brought in from somewhere else.
“Little Yellow, why do you think there aren’t any Weedle or Kakuna here?” Lu Li asked quietly.
“Beedrill“
(Either they starved to death, or the other Beedrill deliberately killed them. To reduce competition, stronger Pokémon will kill weaker Pokémon that consume resources without contributing much.)
Lu Li was more inclined to believe the latter explanation. After all, there were still quite a few trees in the Sky Garden. Unless they had died of old age, the chances of them starving to death should have been quite low.
He knew this from personal experience. Back when Little Yellow was still a Weedle, it had managed to survive more than ten days of starvation.
“Beedrill“
(Trainer, look!)
Beedrill suddenly excitedly pointed its poisonous stinger toward an open patch of ground behind Venusaur.
Several shells were scattered there. Of course, those weren’t the most important things. What really mattered was the young sapling surrounded by those shells.
“A Berry sapling!” Lu Li thought in astonishment as he stared at the sapling.
He had never imagined that wild Pokémon would already be attempting to cultivate Berry trees.
“Little Yellow, why don’t you try blending in with them and gathering some information? If you get the chance, I strongly recommend trying some of Venusaur’s nectar too,” Lu Li encouraged.
Beedrill was eager to give it a try, since it genuinely wanted to taste the nectar from Venusaur’s flower.
“But be careful. If those Beedrill show any hostility, run immediately. Head straight toward Indeedee,” Lu Li reminded it.
Beedrill nodded, then pretended to be weak as it flew toward its fellow Beedrill.
The Beedrill gathered around Venusaur immediately noticed the uninvited member of their species.
Just as Beedrill struck a pitiful pose and prepared to tell its sob story, the Beedrill surrounding Venusaur instantly displayed intense hostility.
If they hadn’t been afraid of disturbing Venusaur, Lu Li suspected those Beedrill would have attacked on the spot.
Unwilling to give up, Beedrill tried to negotiate, explaining that it hadn’t come to disrupt their harmonious atmosphere but rather to become part of their family.
Unfortunately, the other Beedrill weren’t buying it. One of them even raised its poisonous stingers, clearly threatening to attack if it didn’t leave immediately.
Helpless, Beedrill could only pretend to be dejected as it flew away.
A short while later, Beedrill secretly returned to Lu Li’s side.
“So, you failed,” Lu Li stated matter-of-factly.
Beedrill nodded and began complaining indignantly.
“Beedrill Bee~drill!”
(Those guys said I wasn’t welcome and that the territory belonged to them! To curry favor with that Pokémon carrying the huge flower, they didn’t even spare their own brothers and sisters!)
After hearing its complaints, Lu Li felt that these Beedrill were indeed quite vicious. However, when he remembered that Beedrill were based on hornets, he found it perfectly understandable.
Hornets were insects that would even eat their own larvae. What was so surprising about killing their “brothers and sisters” for survival?
However, there was one thing Lu Li genuinely envied about them: these guys really knew how to latch onto a thigh! [TN: To rely on, attach yourself to, or ride the coattails of someone who is powerful, wealthy, influential, or highly skilled.]
As someone who considered himself an expert at latching onto thighs, he was incredibly envious.
Venusaur had entered a dormant state through Synthesis, waiting for the Berries to ripen. During Venusaur’s dormancy, the Beedrill were simply responsible for protecting Venusaur and the still-growing Berry tree.
Once the Berries ripened, Venusaur could eat them, while the Beedrill would continue to thrive on the nectar produced by Venusaur’s flower.
For Beedrill, the nutritional value of ordinary Berries might not even compare to that of Venusaur’s nectar.
These two species of Pokémon had somehow perfected this mutually beneficial symbiotic ecosystem.
“My third Pokémon absolutely has to be a Grass-type Pokémon, preferably one that can produce nectar. That way, I might even be able to solve Beedrill’s food problem,” Lu Li thought with intense envy.
Having determined the threat level posed by these Pokémon, Lu Li said, “Let’s go. Unless something unexpected happens, these Pokémon shouldn’t pose any threat to us humans.”
He still needed to visit another location inhabited by Pokémon to assess how dangerous the Pokémon there might be.
Beedrill silently followed behind Lu Li. However, before leaving, it reluctantly turned its head and took one last lingering look at the blooming flower on Venusaur’s back.
After returning to the group, Cai Cong, who had arrived a little later, immediately approached them with an ingratiating smile and eagerly asked, “Boss, how did things go with those demon beasts in the Sky Garden?”
“Those demon beasts are very strong, but they won’t affect us. Just tell everyone in the camp to stay away from them.”
“You guys continue exploring. I’m going to check out another place where demon beasts are living.”
After saying this, Lu Li headed toward the location where a special form of Golem (Alola) was suspected to live.
With Venusaur providing for those Beedrill, they probably wouldn’t even be interested in the small amount of meat humans could offer. As long as nobody deliberately entered the Sky Garden, the Beedrill were unlikely to come out specifically to hunt for food.
Chapter 81 Zygarde—Everywhere
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