Chapter 1300

Dusk, the sun sets.

Eguimeng sat leaning against a large stone, holding a picture scroll and recalling the past.

"Is it really okay not to interfere?"

Polybeast 2 asked softly.

Baimu said: "Let it be alone for a while. Many memories, whether good or bad, can only be savored alone; others cannot understand."

Even he himself often recalls his hometown from his past life, the people and events of that time, and longs for the soil where he lived for decades.

Though it is said that memories fade with time, a part remains deeply etched in the heart, waiting for him to brush off the surface dust and bring it out to savor again—those bittersweet, reluctant scenes.

"Hmm..."

Polybeast 2 remained noncommittal.

Its actual age might be slightly less than that of the Three-Headed Evil Dragon; Professor Akihabara created it not long ago and gave it to Baimu as a quiz prize.

All the beautiful memories in its mind are related to trainers, so it naturally cannot understand Eguimeng's feelings.

Of course, rubber ducks also have their own troubles; occasionally they too wish to be alone quietly.

Thinking this, Polybeast 2 felt relieved.

Under Gangshi's arrangement, Baimu moved into an unoccupied conical earth hut.

"I'll bring you the bedding and such in a moment; first I'll light the fire for you. Don't be fooled by the Red Lotus Wetlands' fiery appearance—it actually gets quite cold at night."

Gangshi lit the fire in the corner; the warm glow illuminated the surroundings, and a strong sense of warmth welled up.

Baimu softly thanked him, then released some of his Pokémon.

The earth hut instantly became lively.

Happiny looked at the empty interior and found Shiny Gengar to help with the setup.

Although it didn't know how many days it would stay here, it was accustomed to preparing the most comfortable living environment for trainers and companions.

And when Gangshi and Huoxia arrived with daily necessities, the hut was already completely different from before, startling them into thinking they had taken a wrong turn.

Various things unheard of and unseen by the two were scattered about.

Huoxia first noticed the Snubbull's doll bed; the dazzling array of Pokémon plush toys instantly stirred her girlish heart, "Ah~ so cute~"

The somewhat sharp voice made Gangshi cover his ears.

He had intended to put down his things and leave, but his gaze unconsciously swept around; upon seeing the retro pendulum ornament on the table, he instinctively asked, "What is this?"

"A quartz clock."

Baimu, who was signaling Snubbull not to move roughly, heard this and said: "A device for recording time."

"Recording time!"

Gangshi's eyes lit up!

Previously he had obtained a half-human-tall mantel clock through market exchange, rarely seen in daily use, but compared to this palm-sized quartz clock ornament, there was simply no comparison.

If he had such a thing when going out normally...

Seeing Gangshi looking back every three steps, Baimu smiled: "Wait a moment; this visit was rushed, I brought no gift, so take this item—don't dislike it."

He whispered a few words to Gengar, which immediately rummaged like Doraemon and pulled out a fancy little box.

Inside the box was the luxury watch sent by a certain Ore Business Tycoon after he became the Ore Champion.

Baimu had hardly used it, leaving it in Gengar's belly to gather dust for a long time.

"This is a watch, smaller and more convenient than a quartz clock."

"This! This—how can I possibly accept it?"

Gangshi was overjoyed, gazing at the delicate watch and grinning broadly; though he seemed flustered, he actually accepted it swiftly and skillfully.

Huoxia, who was admiring the Pokémon plush toys, felt a little envious.

Snubbull glanced at her, then looked at the trainer, recalling how this fellow had several times tried to touch his plush, so he also summoned Gengar, pulling out the fat Eevee—cough cough, giant Xiangshi Miaow—hugging pillow from its belly.

This was a prize he had won by chance at the amusement park; Snubbull thought it wasn't very cute, but felt it a pity to discard, so he simply left it in Gengar's belly.

Now giving it away causes him no regret.

"Really? Give it to me?"

Huoxia pointed at herself in disbelief.

Snubbull nodded; it only hoped to use this to send the other away.

Huoxia hadn't expected Snubbull to give her a gift, especially one she liked—the giant Xiangshi Miaow—so, besides excitement and joy, she couldn't help wanting to rush forward and hug.

"Thank you! I really like it!"

"Chidoro~"

Snubbull lightly tossed its head, bared its fearsome jaws to block her movement.

Huoxia's inner joy instantly cooled: "Um, sorry..."

The two gift recipients walked away smiling, especially Huoxia, whose huge plush drew envy from many young girls of the Gangsta Squad.

A lively-minded girl ran to Baimu's earth hut, wanting to trade something for one.

But she was refused.

Snubbull simply didn't have that many unwanted plush to give; besides, giving it to Huoxia was merely to drive her away.

The unwilling girls tried to act coquettish with Baimu, when suddenly Miss Xichuiqun entered.

"Deliri?"

When did you start dancing?

Her purpose in coming to the Gangsta Settlement was to dance; after tossing and turning for half a day with no sign from Baimu, she grew a bit impatient.

Baimu, weary from dealing with all those warblers and swallows, immediately stood up: "Here I come!"

The girls stared at each other, resentfully departing.

They ultimately dared not obstruct the position of the supremely transcendent 'Queen,' and could only envy the fortunate Huoxia.

Regarding the transmitted dance.

Although Baimu had not specifically practiced it, he had at least inherited the memories of the dancer and similar simulation subjects, and with his agility, even without the many move effects of the Big-Mouth Baby, teaching Young Lady Skirt was sufficient.

Young Lady Skirt learned extremely seriously, and not long after, she thoroughly grasped the basic dance steps, unconsciously blending them into her own dance.

After a flurry of flower-scented dancing, Young Lady Skirt nodded satisfactorily at Baimu.

"Hehe~!"

It was worth the trip!

Baimu smiled and said: "As long as you're satisfied."

He then looked toward the other members learning the dance—the young female group of the Ganggang Team led by Huoxia, and a small portion of Pokémon.

This group had varying levels of talent; some, like Young Lady Skirt, had mastered most of it, while others had rather uncoordinated limbs.

"That's it for today."

He clapped his hands to announce the end of today's lesson, eager to return to the earthen hut.

Although he had previously thought to wait until all the stone tablets were collected for a single grand simulation burst, having only gathered five so far, he could no longer restrain himself.

Tonight!

Bountiful harvest!

After hastily eating the dinner Huoxia had sent, Baimu lay down on the bed in the Happiness Egg Hut, leaning against the full and extremely resilient flank of the Three-Headed Evil Dragon, and began the simulation.

Inside the modest earthen hut, the various Pokémon were unusually quiet, occasionally glancing at the trainer whose expression kept changing, their eyes filled with an indescribable meaning.

Especially the Duosion 2 and Gengar.

The two exchanged fierce glances, seemingly intent on determining superiority.

"This opportunity is mine!"

"No! It's mine!"

The Galarian Sun Coral keeping company with the desk lamp yawned, completely unaware of what was about to happen, but even if it knew, it would likely be too lazy to care.

Similarly unresponsive was the Gigantic Steel Snake inside the Poké Ball.

It was snoring loudly.

That afternoon, carrying the trainers up and down the mountain, upon arriving at the Ganggang settlement, he played for a while with the local children, and felt somewhat fatigued.

Unbeknownst to them, the third opportunity to advance to level ninety was imminent.

——

The next day.

Morning mist drifted through the forest.

The Ganggang settlement shifted from silence to bustle, with unknown numbers of people fetching water, lighting fires, and tending to Pokémon.

Gangshi stepped out feeling refreshed and clear-minded, casually glancing at the time on his watch.

"Six o'clock sharp~ What a lovely time~"

He hummed a strange tune as he arrived at Baimu's earthen hut, only to find the interior already deserted.

Gangshi blinked in surprise, grabbed a passing tribesperson, and asked: "Have you seen the guest I brought back yesterday?"

"No, no..."

The person hastily shook his head, while another replied: "I know! Just after dawn, I saw him and Young Lady Skirt riding the Gigantic Steel Snake toward the direction of Ganggang Back Mountain!"

Ganggang Back Mountain?

Gangshi gazed into the distance at the Chongshanjunling, then hurriedly broke into a run toward it.

As team leader, he usually counted as busy, but matters have priorities, and deeply understanding Baimu was undoubtedly the foremost task at present.

His intuition told Gangshi that Baimu would bring unprecedented changes to the Washui Great Land!

All the way up the mountain.

No need for Gangshi to search everywhere; the explosions and rumbling sounds that occasionally echoed in his ears became his guide.

When he drew near, he suddenly saw a massive purple light sphere and azure Lei Ting violently colliding, the two bursting forth with an unprecedented roar and shockwave that flung his robe corners and tangled his hair.

"What is this..."

Gangshi dared not approach, hiding behind a large tree to seek Baimu's whereabouts.

Yet he never expected his shoulder to be suddenly tapped lightly.

Startled, he dodged sideways, only to see the one who tapped him was precisely the Baimu he had been seeking.

"Stay calm."

The other said with a smile.

Gangshi awkwardly coughed twice, then asked: "Are you training Pokémon?"

"More or less."

Baimu turned his head to look at the battlefield shrouded in mist; yesterday he had watched the simulation story all night, and the final results were remarkable.

Adding to his previous small stockpile, he was actually able to promote two Pokémon to level ninety!

Of course, mainly because the Pokémon themselves were sufficiently competitive.

With the support of luminous cuisine, Lei Lei Guan Wang tree species, and many other items, the Gigantic Steel Snake had risen to level seventy-eight during the previous period, on par with the effortlessly obtained Galarian Sun Coral.

Duosion 2 also reached level seventy-six, on par with Gengar, thus qualifying to join the competition.

At this moment, the two were determining the ownership of the final slot.

From the battle situation, the two sides were unexpectedly evenly matched.

After all, although Super Gengar's dimensional traversal was troublesome, Duosion 2's attribute variability and perfect duplication were no pushovers either.

Both Pokémon had their shameless tendencies, neither willing to yield, you vying with me, dragging things out and playing dirty tricks, having been going on for dozens of minutes.

Baimu also showed no favoritism toward any of them, letting them fight it out to a conclusion.

Rumble—

The earth trembled.

Gangshi only felt the ground sway beneath his feet, nearly losing his balance, and inevitably asked anxiously: "How much longer will they keep fighting?"

"Soon— the earthquake has nothing to do with them."

Baimu said with a hint of meaning: "It was caused by another overly excited fellow."

The Great Steel Snake had missed two chances to advance to level ninety, but this time it finally fulfilled its dream.

To seize this spot, it had also given its all.

A sandstorm as high as a wall persisted from the start to the end of the battle, troubling the Dual Beast 2 and the Super Gastly so much that they had no choice but to hand over the opportunity.

Sun Coral?

It never touched the ground the entire time.

Being too light is like this— an innate flaw hard to make up for.

Gangshi leaned against the tree trunk, a little regretful for coming alone to join the fun, but fortunately, as Baimu said, the ground tremors and distant explosions ended quickly.

Baimu entered the smoke alone and found the final victor.

"Not bad— able to win until the end."

He picked up the Dual Beast 2 that had turned to stone, which clattered for a while but couldn't utter a single human word.

Obviously, the oil lamp had run out of fuel.

In contrast, the plump Gastly lay face-up, its eyes turned into mosquito coils, emitting a scorched fragrance all over.

"You've worked hard."

He gently patted Gastly's head.

To defeat the elusive Super Gastly, Dual Beast 2 had truly used every trick in its arsenal, pushing skills like 【Pattern】, 【Substitute】, and 【Self-Regeneration】 to their limits.

The decisive move was 【Lock-On】 followed by 【Electromagnetic Cannon】, using a decoy to trick the Super Gastly into destroying the fake body, while he himself turned into a rock form and struck a fatal blow before it could fully react.

Only because both sides knew each other well.

But the Super Gastly ultimately couldn't overcome Dual Beast 2's superior— wisdom.

The cost was the phone's processor blowing out; luckily there was a backup, otherwise Dual Beast 2 would have to degenerate back into a mini-program next.

The outcome here was decided.

The underground Great Steel Snake burst forth with a boom, its pair of copper-cast eyes glowing with vitality, visibly filled with joy.

"Snort~~"

The leap in level brought it endless power, and the overjoyed Great Steel Snake naturally began digging wildly underground, venting thoroughly.

Fortunately, the nearby Pokémon had already been driven away by Queen Leiguanwang's psychic power, thus avoiding disaster.

Young Lady Qun'er wasn't too heartbroken about her territory being destroyed.

She paid more attention to the power displayed by Baimu's Pokémon.

As one of the two kings of the Crimson Lotus Wetlands, she considered herself no inferior to any Pokémon… at least that's how she felt an hour ago.

How could there be such powerful Pokémon?

And not just one!

Young Lady Qun'er felt disheartened; if Baimu weren't just here to get the stone tablet, she would truly think her 'queen' position was about to be overtaken.

If it were that old fellow from the south, would he have the ability to deal with these people?

Young Lady Qun'er really wanted to know.

Baimu then poured the level rewards into the victor Dual Beast 2, comforted Gastly and Sun Coral, and without stopping rushed off to find Yueyue Bear.

"Do you know the field manager of the Pearl Team?"

He asked Gangshi.

Gangshi shook his head: "I've hardly even seen her, but I heard from elders in the clan that she's not easy to get along with, especially toward us from different factions."

This is exactly the same as in the game.

Baimu only hopes Yueyue Bear can be reasonable; if not necessary, he doesn't really want to use force.

"Then I'll go myself."

He stepped onto the Great Steel Snake's head and said to Qun'er, who wanted to follow: "Go wait for me at the Diamond Settlement?"

"Hehe..."

Qun'er really wanted to go see how Yueyue Bear would handle things, but hearing that Baimu had no intention of giving her a ride, she could only give up.

Gangshi was the same— he watched the Great Steel Snake roar into flight, heading south toward the Crimson Lotus Wetlands, wanting to follow but unable to speak up.

"... Let's go persuade Mu Chun again."

Gangshi wanted to settle the hardest person first.