Chapter 134: Beyond Endurance

Baimu: "……"

Master Liu Ge: "You are a very outstanding child. To make more young people like you appear in Ore, we must work toward that."

"But I…"

"You were born in Ore, raised in Ore, you are an Ore person. This land is your hometown, and it has nothing to do with bloodline." Master Liu Ge seemed to know what he wanted to say.

"What's more, possessing a heart like Jin Ziban amid the mud cannot be achieved by bloodline alone."

Hearing this, Baimu's mind could not help but grow somewhat confused.

Although he had long had guesses about many things, hearing it with his own ears—

He understood that Master Liu Ge and Flobo and the others truly intended to do something earth-shattering, something big enough to directly change the entire Ore region.

And he himself stood at the turning point of history, about to decide his own fate.

To do nothing and silently wait for it all to end, or to leave here ahead of time and avoid being caught up in it.

Or to bravely take part and strive to be a rider of the times.

"Shanren, is Shanren one of yours too?" Baimu asked softly.

Master Liu Ge replied calmly: "If you're asking about the organization International Police, no. But if you're asking about saving Ore, I can give you an affirmative answer.

"He left Ore to venture through various regions, and at this critical moment returned to Ore precisely because he wanted to do his part to change this region. He is a kindred spirit and our partner."

Kindred spirits and partners!

Baimu's heart jolted, his emotions incomparably complex.

"That day won't be far off. We've already made all preparations, and what was meant to happen has already happened."

Master Liu Ge looked at him. "I know you have the idea of going to other regions. Please bear with it a little longer. It won't be long before your wish is granted."

"If I leave now, will it bring you trouble?"

"Trouble is too strong a word, but to a certain extent it would indeed affect the smooth progress of the plan. After all, you're very famous right now, and too many people are watching you. For your own sake it's also very dangerous."

"……"

"In the future, when you need to check on Single-Horn Dragon's condition, just bring it here. We have a Pokémon transmission device here that can send it to the outside."

Master Liu Ge patted Baimu's shoulder, seeming to read the chaos in his heart. "Let's call it a day. Don't carry too heavy a burden. I'm not telling you this to make you do anything, but to tell you what we're going to do. You have the right to know all of this."

Hard to respond.

Baimu could only nod, rise, and walk outside, even forgetting to say goodbye to Flobo and the others, silently walking out of the small office building.

Flobo and the others watched his back and could not help saying:

"Didn't you tell him too much all at once?"

"Whether I say it early or late, it has to be said. In just a few days we'll be acting again. I was worried there'd be no chance to tell him." Master Liu Ge sighed.

Flobo and the others could not help but laugh: "It's only just begun and you already think you're doomed?"

"I never said that, you jinxes!" Master Liu Ge smacked his forehead hard. "I said there's no time!"

——

That evening.

Baimu suffered insomnia.

Because he realized he probably no longer needed to rack his brain over a secret escape. Once Master Liu Ge and the others made their move, and Huang Tie Town and even the entire Ore region fell into turmoil, opportunities to leave would be as plentiful as one could wish.

For now, all he could and needed to do was wait at ease.

Pull one hair and the whole body moves. Since they had already made moves between the Quicksand Team and the Hound Team, Master Liu Ge and the others would surely go further—

The mayor originally responsible for mediation had left Huang Tie Town. This was precisely the perfect moment for them to make a big move!

Baimu suddenly understood what Shanren had said before, and knew that another major incident might soon happen—one that could sweep him up in it.

"……sigh."

He let out a sigh.

Part of the reason for his insomnia was being shaken by what Master Liu Ge and the others were about to do; the other part was confusion about himself.

At first, he had felt Huang Tie Town wasn't even fit to be a septic tank, that it only turned people into illiterates and fools like Shibata and Ken, and he couldn't wait to plan an escape from here, the farther the better.

But upon hearing that Master Liu Ge and the others were about to carry out a comprehensive reform of the Ore region, and had already begun acting, he could not help feeling somewhat lost.

Leaving was a must.

Seeing more of the wonderful world of Pokémon was one of the things he wanted to do.

However.

What identity should he use to leave here and go to other regions…

What did he count as?

A descendant of dragon tamers? An Ore person who chose to flee amid the turmoil? A person from another world? He could have transmigrated anywhere—why did he have to end up in Ore of all places?

And the things he craved in the depths of his heart.

Recalling his past life, every memory vivid before him, Baimu realized he actually missed the land he had once lived on dearly. Despite its various problems, the four words "hard to leave one's homeland" were clearly imprinted on his heart.

And in this life.

The experiences of living in Huang Tie Town, those memories so worthy of joy and sorrow, were not false—they were even clearer than those of his past life.

Was Ore a hometown for "Baimu"?

Yes.

Baimu knew this very clearly. No matter how bad Huang Tie Town was, he had grown up here, so he naturally harbored an attachment to it.

People, like many Pokémon, live by standing on solid ground.

"Baimu" had once been unwilling too. Before merging with his other-world self, "he" had also thought of resisting those oppressors, so that everyone around him could eat their fill and receive wages befitting their labor.

What ultimately made him give up was a product called "reality."

He did not possess such power, so he could only endure all of it—enduring and enduring, until another Baimu descended, until he became an entirely new person.

But he still had to endure.

The more he knew, the more he understood just how great a force was needed to overturn society — this was not something he could accomplish, and such a heavy responsibility was more than he could bear.

Continuing to endure in silence was the only option.

But at this very moment, he suddenly noticed a massive troop marching boldly and spiritedly toward that peak he had never dared to climb, proudly telling him this mountain was about to fall beneath their feet.

They even meant to topple mountains taller than that one.

So standing at the crossroads of life, how should he choose?

Should he walk with them, toppling that high mountain, toppling even higher ones? Or head down another path he believed to be brighter?

Either was fine.

All Baimu knew that no matter which path he took, he could welcome a glorious, brilliant life. As for no regrets… which life is truly without regret?

No one can fully predict that they will walk a better, more correct road.

It was time to make a choice.

He stared at the ceiling, imagined a coin in his mind, flipped it into the air — heads or tails, two paths.

The instant the coin flew up, the choice was already made—

He would take part in Orei's revolution.

There were many reasons.

For instance, seizing the moment of Orei's revolution to claim a place in the new Orei, to build his own belonging, to create everything that other regions could hardly obtain but would belong to him.

For instance, his own strength was increasing rapidly; before long he would possess the power of a cadre, or even beyond a cadre.

For instance, the "fifty steps" he had taken, the food and clothing that supported Bouffalant and the others, that enormous string of numbers in his bank card — beyond legitimate earnings, how much blood and tears of the common folk of Iron Town was hidden within the thirty million the Quicksand Team had rewarded him?

This was a responsibility he ought to bear.

For instance, the neighbors of Qingyi Street who had raised him — not to say he had to be responsible for these people for life, but at the very least he should let them live normal lives, right? Without them, how could an orphan like him have survived to adulthood?

For instance, Cheng Hong, Otsuka, and the others — he truly had no way to abandon these people and flee alone.

Yes.

Master Liu Ge and his people were about to bring a brand-new world to the common folk of Iron Town, but revolution is not a dinner party — sacrifices were inevitable. Could Cheng Hong, Otsuka, and the others stay out of it?

Of course, the most important point of all.

All Baimu decided he would endure no longer.

Endure for a moment and the more you think the angrier you get; step back a step and the more you think the more you lose.

From childhood to adulthood, what had he wanted most? To beat the hell out of those who bullied them, to smash those damn unspoken rules, money deals, and protection fees!

All so that the old would have someone to rely on, the young would be raised, everyone would have food to eat, and every spine would be straight!

So that good people would be rewarded, and evil would be punished!

Growing up, this idea only grew clearer.

Other regions could do it — why couldn't Orei? Why did Orei have to be the world's garbage dump?

If all of this failed to come to fruition, whenever All Baimu looked back on it later, he would surely feel stifled every single time.

Only by viciously trampling those villains underfoot, making the oppressors wail and howl, sending those who bullied others with their power off to the Spirit Realm or to prison — only then could his mind truly be at ease.

In the end, despising the other side on a moral level and crushing them with the very strength they took pride in — it really pleased him too much.

All Baimu truly could not bear the thought of growing old and looking back on this chapter of his life, regretting how he had failed to land a vicious kick on those bastards back then!

Thinking of this.

He clenched his fist hard at the empty air, resolve settled.

He would leave.

But he would leave Orei in grand style, openly and honorably — waiting for the day he stood on the World Championship stage, standing among a crowd of Champions and Four Heavenly Kings.

When the announcer shouted, "Please welcome the one from the Orei region!"

Only then could he meet every powerful foe with the most grounded, confident bearing!

The path of the strong is absolutely not one forged by running away!