“Oh? How so?” Li Hongji looked at the fanatical expression on Dr. An’s face with great interest.
“Please follow me.” After saying that, Dr. An took the lead.
“Mr. Li, do you know what my parents do for a living?”
“How would I know what your parents do?” Li Hongji was speechless. Although he had conducted a background investigation on Dr. An, the problem was that he hadn’t bothered to remember what his parents did.
Knowing what Dr. An was getting at, Li Hongji played along and asked, “What do they do?”
“My parents are the directors of a circus, and they’re also exceptionally skilled tamers. Do you know what steps are involved in taming a lion?” Dr. An deliberately steered the conversation in that direction.
Li Hongji continued playing along. “Taming a lion? Please enlighten me, Dr. An.”
“My father once told me that to tame a lion, you must first break its wild nature. Then you intimidate it with fear, motivate it with desire, and finally torment it repeatedly until it no longer dares to bare its fangs at its tamer.”
As Dr. An finished speaking, the two arrived outside a laboratory that occupied a large area but contained very little research equipment.
Through the window, Li Hongji saw a caterpillar demon beast wearing a special collar around its neck.
Dr. An walked over to a researcher, who hurriedly stepped aside upon seeing him.
“Attack,” Dr. An commanded into the microphone.
The Weedle inside the laboratory chose to ignore him. Dr. An wasn’t angry. Instead, he skillfully pressed the red button on the control device.
The Weedle suddenly went rigid before collapsing straight onto the floor.
After a short while, the Weedle recovered and shakily struggled back to its feet.
“Attack,” Dr. An commanded again.
This time, the Weedle chose to comply. It laboriously thrust its body forward. It wasn’t that it didn’t want to use Poison Sting, but rather that the energy inside its body had long since been depleted, making it completely incapable of using the move.
Seeing this, Dr. An nodded in satisfaction and pressed a switch.
A mechanical arm holding a tray descended from the ceiling and placed it in front of the Weedle. Several fresh green leaves lay on the tray.
Upon seeing the leaves, the Weedle immediately lunged forward and began devouring them ravenously.
Dr. An nodded in satisfaction at the sight.
Li Hongji suddenly understood. “You’re trying to tame the beasts?”
“Exactly. Just as humans can tame lions, these demon beasts possess intelligence no lower than that of lions, so naturally, they can be tamed as well,” Dr. An declared confidently.
“Look at that collar around its neck. The collar has a needle that has already pierced its body. If it dares to resist or disobey, that needle will deliver a high-voltage electric shock.”
“Without the protection of their outer layer of skin, these demon beasts are much more vulnerable internally. Now we’ve developed equipment capable of instilling fear in them.”
“What we need to do next is gradually engrave that fear into the depths of their souls. After repeatedly breaking them down, these demon beasts will become biological weapons that belong exclusively to us.”
As Dr. An pointed at the Weedle, which was busy eating, he explained the capabilities of the device attached to its collar in detail.
Li Hongji nodded approvingly upon hearing this. Stroking his chin, he praised, “Taming demon beasts and turning them into biological weapons? That’s certainly a promising direction.”
Then Li Hongji changed the subject and deliberately asked, “But how can you guarantee that these demon beasts will remain obedient? What if they find an opportunity to turn against their masters?”
Having anticipated this question, Dr. An adjusted his glasses and explained, “We’ll implant a miniature bomb inside every demon beast we tame. Once the system detects that one has gone out of control, the accompanying personnel will detonate the bomb, physically eliminating the disobedient demon beast.”
“Through our constant trial and error and breeding, one day, these demon beasts will become humanity’s most loyal companions, just like domestic dogs.” Dr. An stroked his chin, a smug smile spreading across his face.
“But Dr. An, do you know how long it took humanity to domesticate wolves into dogs?” Li Hongji asked in return.
Dr. An was just about to answer when Li Hongji continued on his own.
“From wild wolves to domestic dogs, our ancestors spent at least ten thousand years. And where will we be ten thousand years from now? Besides, demon beasts aren’t wolves.”
Dr. An hurriedly explained, “We have technology. We can shorten that process. We don’t need ten thousand years. A few hundred years will be enough.”
“Besides, that was complete domestication. Right now, all we need to do is tame these demon beasts.”
“This plan may carry some risks, but the rewards will definitely be worth it,” Dr. An added. Li Hongji gazed at the Weedle and fell into deep thought.
Although this so-called taming process involved numerous risks and was extremely unstable, considering just how powerful those demon beasts were, perhaps it really was worth it.
“The family will fully support this plan, but I want to see results within a year. At the very least, they must have some practical use.” Li Hongji also laid down his bottom line.
Dr. An hurriedly made assurances, even going so far as to paint an even more enticing picture of the future for the family head.
Meanwhile, a green flatworm in an invisible state was coldly observing everything.
“Using fear to force Pokémon into submission. This is rather similar to how humans developed in the original world. However, these methods are far too crude. You humans don’t have that much time left,” Zygarde commented coldly to itself.
In fact, these people weren’t the first to come up with this method. In the central-eastern region of the Xia’ya Continent, the royal family of a certain country had already thought of the same idea.
Moreover, those people had started earlier and progressed much further.
They had already managed to tame a Caterpie. Unfortunately, just as they were preparing to put the tamed Caterpie into actual combat, it died of old age.
Those foolish humans had never even considered whether Caterpie ate so many leaves every time because it was constantly hungry.
That Caterpie had died of old age and starvation. Yet those foolish humans were delighted, believing they had eliminated an incorrect option and made further progress in their research.
Bug-type Pokémon had lifespans that were simply too short, so they decided to shift their focus to other Pokémon.
By now, those people had successfully captured a Rattata, but the price they had paid was devastating.
As for whether Rattata could be tamed?
Those humans had slaughtered its entire family right in front of it. The Rattata might pretend to submit under their overwhelming intimidation, but when a critical moment involving life and death arrived, it would definitely turn around and bite them viciously.
Although Rattata were timid Pokémon, they were exceptionally good at adapting to circumstances, and they were also extremely vengeful.
Ximei Continent.
Rolf Base No. 17.
“Precision! I want precise control! This kind of crude manipulation is not what we’re pursuing!” A young man wearing glasses furiously berated everyone, his face twisted with madness.
“First, use big data to thoroughly study the brains of these demon beasts. At the very least, we need to figure out where their behavior-driven mechanisms are located.”
Just then, an elderly voice came from outside the door.
“Harik, has the demon beast control chip encountered another bottleneck?”
Upon recognizing the newcomer, Harik hurriedly rose from his seat and greeted him respectfully.
“Father, what brings you here?”
The old man replied calmly, “I’ve come to check on the progress of your experiments.”
“The demon beast control chip was originally developed by modifying the human brain chip. The biggest problem we’re facing right now is that demon beasts’ brains are different from human brains.”
“Once we unravel the secrets of these demon beasts’ brains, the demon beast control chip will already be halfway to completion. When that happens, whether it’s consciousness-erasure surgery or other approaches, all those problems will be easily resolved,” Harik hurriedly reported on the progress of the experiments.
Hearing this, the old man sighed: “Hurry up. Another two of our bases have fallen under attacks from demon beasts. We’re running out of time.”
Harik’s expression turned serious as he promised, “Don’t worry, Father. As long as I have enough specimens, I’ll definitely unravel the secrets of demon beast brains. I guarantee that within a year, I’ll have made preliminary breakthroughs in understanding the brains of at least some demon beasts.”
“I certainly hope so. The family has now redirected all its resources toward Base No. 17. The future of the family rests in your hands.” The old man patted Harik on the shoulder and offered some quiet encouragement.
After deliberately staying a little longer, the old man left the laboratory with the help of his assistant.
On the ceiling, a green flatworm Pokémon watched the entire scene unfold.
“Destroying a Pokémon’s will and using technology to control it. Even the dark organizations of the original world wouldn’t resort to such an evil path. This is truly outrageous,” Zygarde remarked coldly to itself.
Zygarde once again thought of that particular human. Compared to these fools, that person, despite having the worst starting conditions, had not only gotten ahead of everyone else but had also chosen the most correct path.
Whether it was using fear to control Pokémon or relying on technology to control them with precision, these were nothing more than crooked methods.
Without the power of bonds, these fake humans would never become real Trainers. They couldn’t even become real humans.
Thinking of this, Zygarde actually felt an urge to lend that person a helping hand.
Although, in principle, as the God of Order, it was not supposed to deliberately interfere with or influence the fate of an individual, the problem was that Zygarde itself was the very embodiment of those principles.
These humans were so stupid that Zygarde practically wanted to cry. Having finally encountered someone with a little intelligence, it genuinely wanted to give that person a helping hand.
Although Zygarde couldn’t intervene directly, it could at least arrange a special opportunity for that human. After all, looking across the entire world, he was the only person who suited Zygarde’s tastes.
Some people treated Pokémon as weapons, while others tried to enslave them. Only Lu Li had chosen to cooperate with Pokémon and support each other.
As the God of Order, it was obvious whom Zygarde should help.
…
The 30th day after the Pokémon descended.
It had been exactly one month since Pokémon descended upon this world. On this somewhat special day, Lu Li was giving Little Beauty a beauty treatment.
Lu Li first used a soft brush to scrub away the dirt between Feebas’s scales, then applied a layer of skincare products to nourish its skin.
Lu Li felt that these skincare products were quite effective. At the very least, Feebas looked much more delicate, and both its skin and scales had become noticeably more lustrous.
Feebas narrowed its eyes, enjoying Lu Li’s attentive service.
What it looked forward to most was the time Lu Li spent applying ointment and massaging it. Only during these moments did it feel that Lu Li belonged exclusively to it.
Not far away, Beedrill was constantly darting back and forth. This was the training Lu Li had arranged for it, with the goal of mastering Agility to the point where it could perform all sorts of tricks with the move.
Unlike its mechanics in the games, Agility in the real world was an explosive speed-based move that relied on extremely high speed to achieve short-distance movement.
Since it was a speed-based move, Agility wasn’t limited to offensive applications. It could also be used defensively.
Beedrill’s body was relatively fragile to begin with, and it couldn’t withstand many attacks. The best approach was to increase its speed, thereby improving its ability to dodge moves.
With its speed pushed to the limit, combined with its specialization in physical attacks, Beedrill would essentially become an assassin capable of piercing through anything.
Beedrill was also very receptive to advice. After all, compared to human imagination, the creativity of Pokémon really wasn’t worth mentioning.
Lu Li had also considered arranging some weighted gear for Beedrill, but unfortunately, there weren’t enough materials available. Otherwise, he could have easily handcrafted an entire set of training weights for Beedrill.
As an expert in Classical Forging, blacksmithing was a fundamental skill in his field and a compulsory part of his studies.
That was also why Lu Li’s arms looked thicker than those of most people. It was all thanks to his years of hammering iron.
“Feebas“
(Trainer, when do you think I’ll be able to evolve?)
Watching Beedrill training diligently nearby, Feebas’s eyes were filled with longing.
“Soon,” Lu Li could only comfort it softly.
“Feebas“
(How much longer is soon?)
“First, you need to eat properly. Then, when the right opportunity comes along, you’ll naturally evolve,” Lu Li replied, pretending to be profound and mysterious.
In truth, he had no idea when Feebas would evolve. In the games, Feebas didn’t evolve by reaching a certain level. Instead, it evolved either through its Beauty condition or by being traded while holding a Prism Scale.
In some versions of the games, the Beauty condition didn’t exist, so Feebas could only evolve by being traded while holding a Prism Scale. However, in versions where Beauty existed, Feebas could evolve by leveling up once its Beauty condition was sufficiently high.
Judging by how Feebas had been steadily growing more beautiful recently, the Beauty condition probably existed in the real world as well. In other words, Feebas theoretically had two methods of evolution.
The simplest and most straightforward method would naturally be to find a Prism Scale. Unfortunately, that item was extremely rare, and it wasn’t something he could realistically hope to obtain at the moment.
Therefore, Little Beauty could only evolve by increasing its Beauty condition. However, Lu Li had no way of checking Little Beauty’s Beauty stat, so all he could do was keep coming up with ways to make Little Beauty more and more beautiful.
“Should I go ask Indeedee and Mimikyu, those two wealthy ladies?” Lu Li wondered, letting his imagination run wild.
However, he dismissed the idea almost as soon as it occurred to him.
If Indeedee had a Prism Scale, it would certainly have given it to him directly. Judging by the gift box it had prepared, Indeedee clearly knew what he needed.
The same applied to Mimikyu. It had even managed to produce a Mega Stone for Beedrill. If it really possessed a Prism Scale, would it have any reason not to give it to him?
After finishing Little Beauty’s beauty treatment, Lu Li also devised a simple move-training plan for it.
Lu Li remembered seeing a Feebas that could remain suspended in midair in either a novel or an anime.
The reason that Feebas could float in midair was that it had mastered the move Splash to an extraordinary degree, allowing it to continuously Splash in midair without ever falling back down.
The concept sounded pretty absurd, but Pokémon were inherently magical creatures. No matter how ridiculous something seemed, it was entirely possible in the Pokémon world.
Figuring there was no harm in giving it a try, Lu Li decided to have Little Beauty focus primarily on practicing Splash move.
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