Logically speaking, Turtwig should have been able to sense that he was a half-Pokémon human.
Worried that something unexpected might happen if he delayed, Lu Li hurriedly took out the Poké Ball and held it in front of Turtwig.
“Little guy, would you like to become my partner?” Lu Li invited.
Turtwig nodded almost without hesitation.
Although the person in front of it seemed a bit unserious, its instincts told it that, as the first human Trainer it had ever seen, this person was meant to be its Trainer.
It was just that there seemed to be something a little strange about him.
Turtwig gently tapped the button on the Poké Ball with its head. In an instant, it transformed into a streak of white light and entered the Poké Ball.
“I caught Turtwig!” Lu Li shouted excitedly, raising the Poké Ball high into the air.
There was no one around anyway, so acting a little chuunibyou didn’t matter.
With that thought, Lu Li released Turtwig again.
Looking across all the Starter Pokémon from the nine generations, there were really only two that were best suited to an apocalypse setting. The first was Bulbasaur, and the second was Turtwig.
That was because both Pokémon possessed a particular trait: they were semi-plant lifeforms. In other words, they could survive through Synthesis and by absorbing nutrients from the earth.
In harsher circumstances, they could even survive with nothing more than some water every day.
In an apocalypse where survival was the highest priority, these two Pokémon undoubtedly held the greatest advantage and could be considered the best choices.
When it came purely to adaptability in an apocalypse environment, Turtwig left Bounsweet dozens of streets behind.
Thinking this, Lu Li carried Turtwig back into the villa’s living room.
On the table was the plant nutrient solution he had prepared beforehand.
Turtwig swayed its little head, curiously looking around at this completely unfamiliar new world.
Lu Li poured the nutrient solution into a watering can.
“Turtwig, try this and see how it feels.” After speaking, Lu Li sprinkled the solution over Turtwig’s little head.
The fine droplets of nutrient solution fell across its body. Turtwig comfortably narrowed its round eyes, leisurely enjoying the nourishment provided by the nutrients.
“Huh?”
While watering Turtwig, Lu Li suddenly noticed something was wrong.
He discovered that Turtwig’s shell had hardened. More interestingly, there was actually an extra pattern on its shell—or more accurately, a mark.
Lu Li stopped.
Turtwig, which had been enjoying itself, looked at Lu Li in confusion, its eyes seeming to ask: Why did you suddenly stop?
“Drink the rest yourself. See how it tastes.” Lu Li placed the remaining nutrient solution in front of Turtwig, then adjusted Turtwig’s body so he could get a better look.
N?
There was an extremely obvious N-shaped mark on Turtwig’s back. Lu Li suspected it might be a birthmark.
The birthmark was green and stood out sharply against its brown shell.
After carefully examining it, Lu Li confirmed that it really was a birthmark and not something accidentally stamped onto it.
“So it isn’t a special form?” Lu Li felt a little disappointed.
Previously, when Little Yellow evolved into Beedrill, it had displayed some characteristics of Mega Evolution, so Lu Li had thought this might be a benefit caused by the world being newly “opened.”
But now it seemed that wasn’t the case. At the very least, Turtwig, which had been born in this world, hadn’t received that benefit.
Turtwig had already begun drinking the nutrient solution. Considering that the stuff was originally meant to fertilize plants, Lu Li couldn’t help worrying whether Turtwig might suffer indigestion after drinking it.
But when he remembered that Little Yellow and Little Beauty practically treated nutritional supplements like regular meals, he relaxed.
Lu Li’s imagination then went off in another direction. Could paraquat kill Grass-type Pokémon?
After finishing the nutrient solution, Turtwig smacked its lips, looking as though it wanted more.
“Still not full?” Lu Li asked.
Turtwig nodded.
Lu Li instinctively looked at the bags of granules on the table. He had already made the nutrient solution quite concentrated. Normally, Turtwig should have been full.
While Lu Li was wondering what to do, Turtwig also noticed its Trainer’s predicament.
Realizing that its Trainer wasn’t exactly wealthy, Turtwig sensibly jumped down from the table onto the floor.
“Tur~twig”
Turtwig called back to him, then slowly headed toward the door.
Understanding that Turtwig wanted him to follow, Lu Li hurried after it and went into the yard with it.
Turtwig looked at the patch of tilled soil, then slowly walked over. Under Lu Li’s curious gaze, Turtwig buried its entire body in the earth.
More precisely, it buried its lower half, leaving only its head and shell exposed.
Just as Lu Li thought Turtwig was trying to absorb nutrients from the ground, the N-shaped mark on Turtwig suddenly emitted a faint glow. Then Turtwig closed its eyes and began enjoying itself.
Ten minutes later, the utterly content-looking Turtwig slowly crawled out of the soil.
“Tur~twig”
Lu Li tentatively asked, “You’re… full now?”
Turtwig nodded.
Seeing Turtwig actually confirm it, Lu Li fell silent.
Were Grass-type Pokémon really this ridiculous?
You didn’t even need to feed them? They could just live off the ground?
Lu Li decided to call in a professional. After all, when it came to looking after babies, a half-baked Trainer like him couldn’t compare to Indeedee.
After calling Indeedee through the psychic mark, Lu Li waited.
Indeedee had just finished delivering food when it sensed Lu Li calling for it. Following the mark, it used Teleport and appeared beside Lu Li.
“Indee~dee!”
The moment Indeedee appeared, it immediately noticed Turtwig.
Lu Li hurriedly asked, “Indeedee, could you take a look at Turtwig for me? I want to know whether it’s simply full, or whether its energy has also been completely replenished.”
Hearing this, Indeedee curiously walked over to Turtwig and began examining it carefully.
Indeedee was only slightly surprised that Lu Li had caught another Pokémon, and quickly returned to normal.
In Indeedee’s eyes, since Lu Li was the only Trainer in this world, there was nothing strange about him catching new Pokémon.
After checking Turtwig’s condition, Indeedee fell into deep thought.
Something was wrong!
Very wrong!
Why was this Turtwig in such good condition?
Normally, in a resource-poor world like this, every Pokémon would have at least some flaws in its condition, such as malnutrition or impure energy within its body.
Yet the Turtwig in front of it was absurdly healthy. Both its life energy and elemental energy were extremely abundant. In this condition, Turtwig could easily handle high-intensity battles and training.
That was exactly what Indeedee found strange.
Under normal circumstances, in a resource-poor world without Pokéblocks or Berries, a Pokémon shouldn’t be in such excellent condition.
Indeedee raised its head and looked at Lu Li in confusion.
“Indee~dee?”
Seeing Lu Li looking just as puzzled, Indeedee helplessly took out paper and pen.
It no longer bothered with drawing and simply wrote in the most straightforward way possible:
“Did you feed Turtwig something?”
“I gave it some nutrient solution I mixed earlier, but the little guy still wasn’t full after drinking it. Then it crawled into the yard, buried itself in the soil, and absorbed nutrients from the earth.”
“And in less than ten minutes, Turtwig said it was full. That’s what I find strange too. Is the conversion efficiency of Turtwig when absorbing nutrients from the earth really that high? It almost seems inconsistent with the energy principles of the Pokémon world.”
After listening to Lu Li’s explanation, Indeedee didn’t doubt his words. Instead, it began doubting the knowledge it had learned.
Was that really possible?
Turtwig could indeed enter dormancy within the earth and slowly absorb the power of the earth, but normally that absorption was only enough to sustain them while they remained asleep.
Among all Starter Pokémon, Torterra had the longest lifespan, to the point that, in a certain sense, it could live almost as long as the world.
But that came at a price. Once a Torterra could no longer improve its strength, it would enter the elderly stage of its life, spending practically every day sleeping.
Under normal circumstances, a Torterra could even sleep for hundreds of years at a time. It was precisely because of this ability that Torterra had the longest lifespan among all Starter Pokémon.
After remaining silent for a long time, Indeedee picked up the pen and paper again.
“Your Turtwig is very healthy, and it can even undergo high-intensity training. The next time it absorbs the power of the earth, remember to call me over. I’m also very curious about how it manages to do this.”
Hearing Indeedee confirm that Turtwig was fine, Lu Li finally relaxed.
As for high-intensity training?
Lu Li had no intention of arranging a training plan for Turtwig yet. The caretaker book had mentioned that once Pokémon entered their growth stage, they could begin simple training, but their bodies still couldn’t withstand high-intensity training.
Only after Pokémon entered their mature stage could they undergo high-intensity training. If such training was forced on them during the growth stage, it could easily affect their foundation and even their future.
Lu Li already had plans for Turtwig.
Play.
He would simply spend time playing with Turtwig.
Seeing that there was nothing else to deal with here, Indeedee prepared to leave. At that moment, Lu Li stopped it.
“Indeedee, if you’re heading back, take me back to the camp while you’re at it.”
Indeedee nodded and waited for Lu Li to pack his things.
Since this had only been a temporary residence, Lu Li hadn’t brought much with him. Most of what he packed up was food.
In the apocalypse, food absolutely couldn’t be wasted. Although Lu Li lacked neither food nor clothing, he still couldn’t bring himself to waste any, especially since this food had been collected by the Scavenging Teams at the risk of their lives.
After returning to the camp, Lu Li entrusted Turtwig to Little Beauty’s care and headed straight for Jun Shutong’s office.
Inspired by Yang Rui’s example, over the past three days Jun Shutong had received quite a few good things voluntarily handed over by survivors.
When Jun Shutong saw Lu Li enter, she immediately greeted him with a smile.
“You’re finally back. Did that egg hatch?”
“It did. I gained another exceptionally outstanding partner.” Lu Li happily shared his joy.
“Then congratulations.” After saying that, Jun Shutong proudly added, “But you may be celebrating too soon, because there might be something else that’ll make you even happier.”
“Come with me. I’ve collected quite a few good things over the past few days. I think you’ll be very interested.”
As she spoke, Jun Shutong walked behind her desk.
“I’m telling you, these past few days I’ve even been sleeping in the office. I also arranged for Yao Xia and the others to take turns guarding them because I was worried these things might get stolen.”
Jun Shutong opened a drawer and took out the “treasures” inside.
“These are everything we received over the past three days. Evaluate how valuable these treasures are, and afterward we’ll give the people who handed them in appropriate rewards,” Jun Shutong said.
Lu Li nodded, then examined the “treasures” on the table. There weren’t many, only six items in total.
Jun Shutong had mentioned before that these six items came from survivors in the mall, Anke Residential Complex, and Xinghai Residential Complex.
Lu Li picked up the gem that closely resembled a water droplet.
Mystic Water. In the games, its effect was: the power of Water-type moves used by the Pokémon holding it is increased by 20%.
This thing was quite suitable for Little Beauty, and it was also very pretty. It would make a perfect gift for it.
Next, Lu Li turned his attention to the other “treasures.”
Four of them were seeds. As for what kind of Berry seeds they were, no one knew yet, so Lu Li skipped over them for the moment.
Finally, Lu Li focused on the feather that looked almost like amber. It seemed to have been deliberately processed by a professional, and the edge of its quill carried a faint green tint.
Swift Feather. In the games, its effect was: when used, it increases a Pokémon’s Speed base points by one.
As for its effect in the real world, Lu Li knew that too.
Items in this feather series were somewhat similar to nutritional supplements.
It was like that advertising slogan, “Drink Six Walnuts to nourish your brain.” In the real world, that was just marketing, but in the Pokémon world, using a Swift Feather really could supplement a Pokémon’s Speed.
However, one feather alone wouldn’t do much. It had to be used over a long period of time.
In terms of value, this feather was probably the least valuable item here.
“Other than this water-drop gem, the seeds are all quite valuable. Give the people who handed in the seeds three months’ worth of supplies, or an equivalent amount of contribution points.”
“As for this feather, give them one month’s worth of supplies. It’s a good item, but a single feather isn’t very useful.”
“As for this water-drop gem, bring the person who handed it in over here. I’ll personally ask what they want.” Lu Li knew he wasn’t good at management, but he at least understood the basic principle that merits should be rewarded.
After saying that, Lu Li added, “This thing is very useful to me.”
Yao Xia nodded, picked up the walkie-talkie, and walked out, clearly going to summon the person.
After Yao Xia left, Jun Shutong, who had long been unable to contain her curiosity, hurriedly leaned over and whispered, “What does this thing do? Is it like in novels, where if you use it the right way, it can awaken superpowers in people?”
Lu Li: “…”
Lu Li rolled his eyes at this police captain, who seemed to possess an innate talent for comedy.
He immediately shattered Jun Shutong’s dream of becoming a Psychic.
“This thing is for demon beasts. It’s basically useless to humans.”
Jun Shutong wasn’t discouraged at all and instead continued asking, “Does it make demon beasts stronger?”
“Yes.” Lu Li nodded.
Jun Shutong happily said, “Then that’s great. For you, if Little Yellow gets stronger, that’s just as good.”
Lu Li said, “This thing is useless to Little Yellow. It only works on Little Beauty.”
Jun Shutong: “…”
Jun Shutong immediately thought of Little Beauty’s combat strength and couldn’t help grumbling inwardly: Even if the weak get stronger, aren’t they still fundamentally weak?
The smile on Jun Shutong’s face disappeared at a visibly rapid pace.
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