Chapter 422: The Dragon's Will

"We're cutting out!"

Baimu tossed aside his notebook and grabbed his backpack, scooped up the Big Mouth Kid who had been watching TV dramas on the sofa with one hand, and with his left foot hooked up the Dreepy-Messiah who was halfway through his meal, flicking it onto his head, then sprinted toward the closer balcony at top speed.

"Giddo?"

"Hiya?"

The Big Mouth Kid, phone in hand, stared blankly in confusion; the Dreepy-Messiah, food still dangling from its mouth, was equally so.

Fortunately, in order to be ready to set out with Furong and Queen Boni at any moment, and also to keep the house full of ferocious Pokémon from scaring the Dreepy-Messiah—especially the Hydreigon—he had not released any of his other Pokémon tonight.

That saved quite a bit of time.

But when he reached the window ledge, he found that outside had somehow already turned pitch-black; even though this was the second floor right by the road, there were no streetlights, no cars, no ground to be seen.

"Damn! Another pocket dimension!"

Baimu cursed under his breath and spun around to dash for the door, only to find the room's door could no longer be opened—the handle was hard as stone and simply would not budge.

He quickly retreated two steps, pulled out a bomb, and hurled it at the door.

Boom!

The violent tremor sent dust billowing through half the living room, yet it failed to affect that composite wooden door in the slightest.

What shocked Baimu and the two Pokémon even more was that the room's structure gradually began to change.

First, the door's appearance began shedding fragments large and small starting from the handle, and in the blink of an eye it shifted from a dark modern-style door toward a Western-style brown classical door, followed by the ceiling and the carpet.

Even the room's layout was utterly transformed, with a balcony inexplicably added.

Of course—

"Hiss!"

Baimu felt a chill run over his scalp, and a startled cry from the Big Mouth Kid suddenly came from his arms.

"Giddo!"

"What's wrong?" He looked down and saw that this fellow's phone had lost signal—naturally, since they'd come to another world, how could there possibly be signal!

He looked at the Big Mouth Kid speechlessly; the latter seemed to realize how absurd its current concern was, and silently stuffed the phone into his pocket, pretending nothing had happened.

But unexpectedly, after the room's décor transformed, the anticipated danger did not appear.

"Shh."

Baimu had the two Pokémon stay as quiet as possible, and carefully made a quick circuit of the room; he couldn't spot any danger, though all the various traces he had left earlier were gone too, along with the Dreepy-Messiah's unfinished food bowl.

"Hiya…"

The Dreepy-Messiah perched on his head gave a slightly disappointed little cry—it still wanted to eat!

"It's fine, I'll make it for you again next time."

He murmured a word of comfort, his gaze falling on the bathtub in the bathroom—small-looking, but certainly big enough to curl up and lie in—and his pupils dilated slightly.

He backed out of the bathroom.

He turned back to the door once more, tentatively reached out and placed his hand on the handle, and gently moved it.

Click.

He could hear the sound of a mechanism.

This door might open to reveal the corridor outside, but was the outside still the second floor of New Zi Jin?

"Hiss!"

Baimu couldn't be sure, and even suspected this place was already the Spirit World.

Or perhaps Room 1608 was a special transit point between the mortal world and the Spirit World, and only after opening the door would the outside be the Spirit World, teeming with all manner of demons and monsters.

The guests who had once walked into Room 1608 might have stumbled into the Spirit World—full of Ghost-type Pokémon and true ghosts—when they turned around and reopened the door, but how did they ultimately return to the mortal world?

Did Ghost-type Pokémon help them?

Did they automatically emerge from the Spirit World when daytime came?

He was quite uneasy inside, his throat bobbing unconsciously, and the corner of his eye caught the time on his watch—

2:18;

Only twelve minutes remained until the 2:30 the clue had indicated.

Should he lie down in the bathtub?

Baimu looked toward the bathroom, re-examining the many hints the clue had given, and found that what it said was for him to 【hide】 in the bathtub, and no matter what he 【heard】, make no sound.

"Hide?"

He narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin; although he wasn't keen on playing word games, he felt that every single item in the clue was laden with deep meaning.

Since it mentioned hiding, it must want him to avoid something.

Bearing that in mind—

Baimu recalled the Big Mouth Kid into its Poké Ball and switched out his Galarian Corsola, a Ghost type.

"Sahn?"

The Corsola appeared, its eyes lighting up like red candles, and—unprecedentedly—actively extended hazy, smoke-like tentacles; its drooping mouth corners suddenly curled upward, revealing a somewhat pleased expression.

Clearly, the Spirit World environment suited Ghost-type Pokémon extremely well; even this lazy creature couldn't resist.

He patted the Corsola's forehead to bring it back to its senses, and under the Dreepy-Messiah's gaze, asked the latter to take on security duty, figuring a Ghost type would also move more freely in the Spirit World.

"…"

The Corsola looked at its Trainer and the Dreepy-Messiah on his head, agreed quite readily, but very much wanted to complain that this setup looked really stupid.

Considering it would get roughed up, the trouble-averse creature chose to shut up.

2:25;

Baimu lay down in the bathtub holding the Corsola, turned off everything that might suddenly make noise, gripped a strong Flash Bomb in his hand, and made a "cover your mouth" gesture at the Dreepy-Messiah.

The latter immediately nodded in understanding, indicating it absolutely would not make a sound.

"Huff…"

He exhaled a stale breath, gradually settling his heart.

Countdown—

Begin.

—

Tick, tock.

Tick, tock.

Water droplets fell into the washbasin, echoing ceaselessly in the silent room, carrying a maddening magic.

But fortunately.

It soon stopped dripping.

In its place came the creaking of a pendulum, more attention-grabbing and noisier than the dripping water, and when it swung to its fifth beat—

Click.

The door handle gave a sharp sound.

It seemed someone had turned the door open from outside.

The silent room grew extremely cold, as if the temperature had instantly dropped below freezing.

Tap, tap, tap…

After the sound of the door opening, faint movement sounds came through—like the crisp tap of high heels on a wooden floor, yet crisper than high heels, and in a room carpeted wall to wall, such a sound was utterly bizarre.

Something had come in!

In the bathroom.

All Baimu, curled up, lowered his breathing rate and sounds to the absolute minimum.

Was that thing outside the one the clue told him to avoid?

Footsteps?

That didn't quite sound right either—who's footsteps go tap-tap-tap like an iron chain scraping the floor? And the carpet outside was so thick that jumping around on it probably wouldn't make much noise anyway…

It could only be that thing making the sounds itself!

He looked at the Sunflora and Dragapult in his arms. The two had hearing less sharp than his, yet had also sensed the appearance of the intruder, their expressions each different.

Time passed second by second.

That unknown thing was probably wandering around the room!

Looking for someone?

It's now 2:31… over 18 seconds.

Sooner or later, the other party would make its way over to the bathroom.

How long did he have to hide? The clue gave no hint, only telling him to stay silent.

Layers of unknowns piled on top of each other, making him somewhat nervous—especially in the Spirit World, this afterlife realm, he couldn't relax even if he wanted to.

After all…

Between life and death lies great terror!

But upon seeing the Sunflora in his arms, who had remained unshaken from start to finish, All Baimu took a few slow deep breaths, and his state of mind quickly steadied.

If his own Pokémon could do it, he had no reason he couldn't.

However, in contrast.

The Dragapult on the other side was clearly not as calm and composed as the Sunflora. Knowing something was outside, it was fine at first, but as the tapping sounds drew closer, it soon could barely hold itself back.

What are we waiting for?

No matter what was coming, it didn't want to sit and wait for death in the bathtub!

Obviously, the Dragapult did feel reassured staying by All Baimu's side, but that didn't mean it had unwavering trust in him, so it couldn't blindly obey his decision when it understood nothing of the situation.

Especially such a pointless course of action!

So.

It tried to fly out of the bathtub.

All Baimu's eyes went wide; he quickly grabbed its triangular head, clamped its mouth shut, and stared straight into its yellow-lamp-like eyes, signaling it with absolute severity to stay quiet.

Although this one could turn invisible, in a place like the Spirit World, who knew whether it could escape the unknown being's other "eyes."

But the caught Dragapult completely failed to understand his meaning. Ignoring the tapping sounds echoing outside the door, it actually began thrashing its head and tail in struggle.

Fortunately, its struggling force wasn't very strong—probably partly because of its lower level.

That's why "wild" Pokémon are such a hassle!

He could understand that he hadn't gained the Dragapult's complete trust, but with the other suddenly pulling this stunt right now, he really was at a loss.

What to do?

Ah!

Right! Rely on Dragon Heart!

Achieve a heart-to-heart connection with the Dragapult, fully sense its emotions, and convey his own thoughts to it!

All Baimu suddenly recalled this special skill he was eager to learn, though the source of Dragon Heart lay in an extreme love for Dragon-type Pokémon.

To be honest, he liked all kinds of Pokémon, but he was far from reaching the level of love for Dragon-types that Iris had.

So, in a last-minute cram situation, how was he to achieve a heart-to-heart connection with the Dragapult?

Think of something, fast!

All Baimu gripped the Dragapult, pricking up his ears to carefully listen to the sounds of the unknown being moving outside, while staring straight into the latter's eyes.

What was this little guy thinking right now?

To make the other party understand, one must first understand the other party.

Through those lightbulb-shaped yellow large eyes that had begun to dodge his gaze, he seemed to see, in order, fear, urgency, and… anticipation?

What are you anticipating?

Baimu was somewhat baffled, then as if a light suddenly flashed in his mind.

Could this guy possibly think that the unknown existence that suddenly came in might be its younger brother!?

He looked at Duolong Messia with disbelief.

Its gaze did indeed reveal this meaning, as if eager to verify, making its struggling movements even more intense, impatient to the extreme.

It seemed that from beginning to end.

Duolong Messia had never forgotten its own purpose, what it was doing, and what it wanted to do.

Even if the possibility was utterly remote, it still felt that the guy outside making the strange da-da-da sounds might be its younger brother who had sensed its existence and come searching from the spirit realm—

Is such a thing possible?

Baimu could not understand Duolong Messia's train of thought; from the fear and panic in its eyes, it was not hard to see that this guy was definitely also afraid of that guy outside.

Yet its body was so resolute.

To put it nicely, it was stubborn; to put it harshly, it was foolish.

But…

He could understand.

Putting himself in Duolong Messia's shoes, without the hint from the simulator, having suddenly flown into the spirit realm, Baimu might very well have made a similar choice.

"Sitting and waiting for death" was not his nature either.

And being able to evaluate Duolong Messia's behavior as foolish and reckless now was because he mastered the weight of important information the former did not have.

That is, the information gap.

So now, having mastered the important information, or rather believing in the simulator's hint, why should he continue to criticize Duolong Messia's actions? It was meaningless.

Baimu knew that what he most needed to do was make Duolong Messia trust him.

Trust that he could definitely help find its younger brother, without needing to use such a dangerous method!

But without making a sound, and unable to use abilities like Dragon Heart, how should he convey his own will? What method was there?

In silence.

He thought of the only one method.

Eyes.

Since he could roughly read all kinds of Duolong Messia's gazes, perhaps the other party could also read his thoughts, as long as he tried hard to convey his thoughts over.

Besides, at this point, even if he didn't want to do it, he had no choice.

Only now did Baimu understand the difficulty of strictly following the hints to act; it seemed every trigger of a hint was accompanied by dangers, big or small.

From escaping the underground cave of Kokolala at the very beginning, to robbing the single-headed dragon's auction and the mistaken verification of his own bloodline, the Sun Coral incident was slightly better—the unlucky ones were Xiaosheng and Loudmouth Doll, he was only responsible for rescuing the two…

And this time's "hurdle" lay in how to convince a restless wild Pokémon to stay quiet.

If it weren't for the Poké Ball's activation having light and sound effects, he might have already started trying to capture Duolong Messia.

Come on!

Don't move around, don't make a sound! Trust me! I am on your side!

Baimu gazed into Duolong Messia's eyes before him, trying to convey all his thoughts completely.

What came back was two seconds of stunned blankness, and after turning its head away, even more intense struggling; in its urgency, Duolong Messia even bit down on his Hukou.

In an instant.

The tiny teeth hidden in its mouth pierced Baimu's skin, burrowing into the flesh, causing blood to flow out and fill its mouth.

The thick smell of blood made Duolong Messia freeze.

Outside.

The unknown existence drew closer.

The increasingly loud da-da-da sounds were enough to prove this.

Yet inside the bathroom, it was still completely quiet.

Duolong Messia slowly opened its mouth, revealing the Hukou already drenched in fresh blood; it looked up at Baimu, whose expression had never changed and whose eyes were full of complex and unfathomable meaning, and its heart trembled.

Sit and wait for death?

Could someone who could endure such intense pain without a change in color, without uttering a single sound, really sit and wait for death?

Or rather…

For the first time, it actively met the gaze Baimu cast over.

At this moment.

Those unreadable emotions instantly transformed into understandable information.

Don't take risks! Don't make useless efforts! Leave it to me! Trust me!

Trust me!

In a daze, it seemed to see a curtain of gold, as if a voice rising from the depths of its heart was echoing through the curtain continuously in Duolong Messia's brain.

As if being in the place that made it feel most at ease.

It could not help but identify with those voices.