Since he had originally planned to hold out for a better price, he now had no choice but to offer up this treasure in exchange for his life.
After figuring this out, Lu Li turned to Yao Xia and said, “Yao Xia, take him to get cleaned up, then give him something good to eat.”
After saying that, Lu Li looked at Yang Rui again. “Once you’ve showered and eaten, take me to that demon beast egg. If you dare lie to me, I’ll make you wish you were dead.”
Meanwhile, Old Xu had also heard that Lu Li had taken Yang Rui away for questioning.
“Damn trash! He really doesn’t know what’s good for him!” Old Xu cursed furiously.
The other members of his team saw how enraged he was and all averted their gazes, not daring to provoke him.
Lu Li now controlled the power of demon beasts. In other words, the power of life and death over practically everyone in the camp was in his hands. At a time like this, only an idiot would dare offend him.
They all knew Lu Li would be leaving soon, but the problem was that he hadn’t left yet.
Huang Jiafei, one of the squad leaders, sighed. Because they had gone through hardships together, he had the best relationship with Old Xu.
When Old Xu was in a towering rage, Huang Jiafei was also the only one who dared pour cold water on him.
“Captain, you shouldn’t have gotten greedy,” Huang Jiafei said with a sigh.
Hearing this, Old Xu glared at Huang Jiafei with eyes wide open.
“Forget the treasure for now. You’d better think about how you’re going to avoid being held accountable by the leader,” Huang Jiafei said.
In fact, he was the one who had secretly told Yao Xia about Yang Rui. Unlike the others who planned to stay behind, he wanted to follow Lu Li.
Although Huang Jiafei was a young yellow-haired punk who hadn’t received much education, his values were upright, and he genuinely respected Lu Li from the bottom of his heart.
As for betraying a good friend?
From the moment he decided to leave, he and Old Xu were no longer walking the same path.
Hearing this, Old Xu seemed to have finally found an outlet for his anger and shouted, “You were the one who told that bitch Yao Xia about this?”
Huang Jiafei’s expression turned solemn as he slowly nodded.
“It really was you?” Old Xu stared at Huang Jiafei in disbelief. He had suspected other members of the Scavenging Team, but he never imagined that the one who had stabbed him in the back would be Huang Jiafei, someone who had gone through hardships together with him.
So furious that his mind went blank, Old Xu demanded, “Why?”
Huang Jiafei replied, “Because I’ve decided to leave with the leader.”
Old Xu roared, “Have you lost your mind? Do you know how far Juzi University is from here? Ten kilometers! A full ten kilometers! What makes you think he can get you to Juzi University alive? That hornet demon beast?”
“Because the leader can tame demon beasts. And besides…” Huang Jiafei looked at Old Xu and the team members around him with a trace of pity.
These people hadn’t realized the real reason Dawn Camp was able to exist in the first place.
If Yao Xia hadn’t patiently explained everything to him, even he might have naively believed that Dawn Camp would keep functioning normally even after Lu Li left.
Old Xu stared at Huang Jiafei as though he were looking at an idiot and sneered, “And besides what? Don’t tell me you actually think Dawn Camp will stop functioning after Lu Li leaves? I’m telling you, even without him, Dawn Camp will keep running. Things will just get a little harder, that’s all.”
“But if you follow him across ten kilometers to Juzi University, that really is a road of no return.”
Faced with Old Xu’s rebuttal, Huang Jiafei didn’t bother explaining further. He merely swept a pitying glance over everyone before turning and leaving the private dining room.
Huang Jiafei wasn’t worried about Old Xu taking revenge. For one thing, he was already a squad leader himself. More importantly, whether Old Xu would even survive the day was still an uncertainty.
Half an hour later,
Yang Rui returned under Yao Xia’s lead after showering and eating his fill.
After cleaning himself up, Yang Rui actually looked fairly handsome. More importantly, he looked quite young.
“How old are you this year?” Lu Li asked.
“19,” Yang Rui replied.
Lu Li nodded. “Lead the way.”
Yang Rui looked hesitant.
Seeing this, Lu Li knew what he was thinking, so he added, “If I get that demon beast egg, you’ll become a squad leader in the Scavenging Team.”
Worried that Yang Rui didn’t understand Dawn Camp’s hierarchy of power, Yao Xia barked from the side, “Why aren’t you thanking the leader yet?”
Yang Rui was just about to decline when Yao Xia hurriedly cut in. “The Scavenging Team gets the best benefits in the entire camp, second only to the leader himself. And a squad leader gets to command ten people. Even if you’re sent out to search for supplies, you’ll still be one of the safer ones.”
Yang Rui’s eyes instantly lit up. “Wouldn’t that mean I’d become one of Dawn Camp’s higher-ups right away?”
At that thought, Yang Rui quickly nodded and bowed in gratitude, saying: “Thank you, Leader. Please follow me. I’ll take you to that demon beast egg right now.”
With that, Yang Rui eagerly led the way.
The demon beast egg Yang Rui had mentioned was in Anke Residential Complex, specifically in the villa district.
“Leader, I hid that demon beast egg in the basement of this villa. Back when I came here to search for supplies, I accidentally found it behind the rock garden.”
“The egg was too big, so I didn’t dare bring it back to camp. That’s why I hid it in the basement of this villa instead,” Yang Rui explained as he walked ahead.
Lu Li asked, “Do you know what kind of demon beast egg it is?”
Yang Rui replied, “It might belong to one of those bat demon beasts, or maybe one of those turtle demon beasts. Back when the demon beasts had just arrived, those were the two kinds active around the villa district.”
Hearing this, the corners of Lu Li’s mouth couldn’t help curling upward slightly.
If it really belonged to one of those two Pokémon, that would be perfect.
Whether it was Zubat or Turtwig, both had three-stage evolutionary lines, and both were relatively easy to raise in the early stages.
Still, if he had a choice, Lu Li hoped the egg contained a Turtwig.
The three of them entered the villa, and a pungent, fishy stench immediately hit them in the face. Lu Li frowned as he looked at the dried, blackened bloodstains on the tiles in the main hall.
“How did the people living here die?” Lu Li asked.
“They were killed by Lord Wang Dazhuang. Two elderly people lived here. They were overly compassionate and actually opened the door for Wang Dazhuang and his people. Unfortunately, in the apocalypse, good people don’t get rewarded,” Yang Rui said calmly.
He had been there at the time. In fact, he had even been one of those who took part.
Now that he had returned to the scene of the crime, Yang Rui felt very little guilt.
The three of them soon reached the basement. Yang Rui rummaged through a pile of old, filthy clothes and pulled out the Pokémon Egg.
He looked at the demon beast egg before him with a complicated expression. The reason he had refused to reveal the egg even after being sent to Atonement Camp was because Lu Li had given him a vague glimmer of hope.
If Lu Li could control a demon beast, then why couldn’t he?
Unfortunately, all of those hopes and fantasies were gone now, because today he had no choice but to hand over the demon beast egg.
“My lord, this is the demon beast egg I was talking about.”
Yang Rui lowered his shoulders and bent at the waist, respectfully presenting the Pokémon Egg with both hands.
The egg was mainly blue-green in color, with a warm yellow tint toward the bottom and a ring of dark brown markings around the top.
The color of a Pokémon Egg was generally similar to the body colors of the Pokémon that would hatch from it.
Green, yellow, brown…
“If I’m not mistaken, this should be a Turtwig Egg,” Lu Li thought excitedly.
As for how to hatch a Pokémon Egg, Lu Li wasn’t worried. The caretaker book contained instructions on how to incubate Pokémon Eggs.
More importantly, Indeedee definitely knew how to hatch one. When it came to caring for children and Pokémon, Indeedee was unquestionably a professional.
“You’ve done very well.” Lu Li looked deeply at Yang Rui.
No matter what motives Yang Rui had for handing over the Pokémon Egg, one thing couldn’t be denied: he had indeed made a major contribution.
Now that Lu Li had Turtwig as a new target, the Bounsweet he had been obsessing over suddenly didn’t seem quite as tempting anymore.
Speaking of tempting…
Lu Li suddenly thought of the whipped cream.
“Wait!”
A flash of inspiration suddenly struck him. He seemed to have figured out how to lure Bounsweet over.
He might not necessarily be able to successfully catch Bounsweet, but he should at least be able to trick them into going to Juzi University.
Lu Li had no objection to living together with Pokémon. Of course, that was assuming those Pokémon wouldn’t become a burden.
“Yao Xia, when we get back, take him to see Sister Jun. He’ll serve as an example, and we’ll be leaving soon,” Lu Li reminded him meaningfully.
Yao Xia, who had already climbed into the upper ranks of property management before the apocalypse, instantly understood what Lu Li meant.
“Please rest assured. I’ll make the arrangements right away,” Yao Xia said with a bow.
After returning to the mall, Lu Li eagerly opened the caretaker book and began searching for a way to hatch Turtwig.
As one of the Starter Pokémon, Turtwig was quite famous in the Pokémon world, so Lu Li quickly found the information he wanted.
The simplest and most straightforward way to hatch a Turtwig was, of course, to buy an incubator and use it.
Lu Li skipped that line immediately. If he had an incubator, would he need to be flipping through a book in the first place?
He continued on to the second method of hatching a Pokémon Egg: find a Pokémon with the Flame Body Ability and have it help with incubation.
Lu Li skipped that line too. Forget a Pokémon with Flame Body, he had barely even seen any Fire-type Pokémon.
At last, Lu Li found the method most suitable for him. It was also the final incubation method listed.
This was the ancient method for hatching Turtwig.
The method was simple: bury Turtwig’s Pokémon Egg in moist soil, then wait three days for it to hatch.
Once Turtwig successfully hatched, a sapling would break through the soil. That would be the sign that the hatching was complete.
The book even specifically listed the ideal soil temperature and explained how to prepare suitable soil.
After finishing the section, Lu Li closed the book.
Using the walkie-talkie, Lu Li said to Jun Shutong, “Sister Jun, I’m going to stay in the villa district for three days. Help me prepare enough supplies.”
The soil temperature required for hatching Turtwig was between 15 and 30 degrees Celsius. That wasn’t a difficult requirement, since the temperature inside ordinary soil was already within that range.
Then there was the fertility of the soil, which might determine the speed of hatching.
Lu Li deliberately returned to the villa district with Beedrill. After repeatedly checking different places, he finally found a suitable courtyard.
After burying the Pokémon Egg in the soil, Lu Li asked the two little ones, “Little Yellow, Little Beauty, I may have to trouble you two with standing guard at night for the next few days.”
Both Little Yellow and Little Beauty nodded repeatedly, puffing out their chests slightly as if to say, Leave it to us!
It took Yao Xia only one afternoon to spread the news throughout the camp that Yang Rui from Atonement Camp had offered Lu Li a Pokémon Egg and had subsequently been promoted to squad leader of the Scavenging Team.
“Have you heard? A criminal from Atonement Camp somehow turned around his life and became a leader in the Scavenging Team.”
“I heard about that. Apparently, the big boss personally gave the order. That criminal offered up some incredible treasure.”
“I heard it was a demon beast egg.”
“Bullshit. I heard it was a divine seed.”
“No, I heard it was some treasure connected to demon beasts.”
“I’m so jealous. If only I had some treasure too.”
“Yeah. Joining the Scavenging Team is a little dangerous, but being a squad leader is pretty safe. After all, you can assign the dangerous jobs to the people under you.”
“If only I could find some kind of treasure related to demon beasts.”
In this apocalypse, where there was hardly any entertainment, gossip had become the everyday pastime of most ordinary people.
That very night, an elderly man came tottering over and knocked on the door to Jun Shutong’s office.
“Boss, I have a treasure I’d like to offer to the big boss.”
Having already been warned by Yao Xia, Jun Shutong quickly asked, “What kind of treasure is it? If it’s valuable enough, the camp will grant you a request within our ability. Even if it isn’t particularly valuable, we’ll still compensate you with supplies or contribution points.”
“This.”
The old man fumbled inside his clothes and pulled out a teardrop-shaped gemstone. As the light fell across it, clear blue radiance slowly rippled through the crystal, as though it contained a living spring.
The moment the gemstone was placed on the table, a fresh, moist aura spread through the room. Even the dry air seemed to become slightly more humid, and Jun Shutong could clearly feel the change.
Yao Xia hurriedly took the teardrop-shaped gemstone from the old man’s hands. Jun Shutong said, “Write down your name. We’ll give this treasure to the big boss for appraisal.”
Jun Shutong had a very strong reputation within the camp, especially among the elderly and children.
So the old man didn’t suspect anything and honestly gave his name.
After filling in his information, the old man left. Not long after he stepped out, someone else knocked on the office door.
Three days later.
Because offerings had been made every day over the past few days, the group of Zubat had remained relatively quiet. At the very least, they had stopped attacking the survivors in Anke Residential Complex.
Though most of the survivors in Anke Residential Complex had already fled, the ones who remained were wealthy people who had great confidence in the defenses of their own villas.
“Beedrill!”
(Trainer! It’s out! The sapling you mentioned has come out!)
Beedrill flew in excitedly, shouting with delight.
Hearing this, Lu Li immediately scrambled out of bed. He didn’t even bother putting on his shoes before hurrying all the way into the courtyard.
Staring at the tender sprout emerging from the center of the soil, Lu Li slowed his movements and carefully brushed away the loose dirt around the sapling with his fingers.
Once the surface soil was cleared aside, a small patch of hard brown shell appeared first. Following its outline, Lu Li gently cleared away the surrounding dirt until Turtwig’s brown shell, textured like packed earth, was completely exposed.
After cleaning away the soil along the outline of its shell, Lu Li carefully lifted Turtwig out of the little hollow in the ground.
Pulled from the earth, Turtwig sleepily raised its eyelids and stared in confusion at Lu Li crouching in front of it.
“A human?”
Although Turtwig was puzzled, it still leaned forward and licked Lu Li’s cheek with its tiny tongue, showing nothing but affection.
Lu Li hadn’t expected Turtwig to be so friendly toward him.
“Could Turtwig’s parents have been Starter Pokémon specifically bred by the League?” Lu Li wondered.
In the Pokémon world, Starter Pokémon were like dogs that had been domesticated by humans. They were almost naturally affectionate toward people, to the point that this trait had practically become inherited memory.
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