Chapter 47: Chansey Lays an Egg

Back to the Sand Gang's underground city.

All Baimu was summoned to meet the Sand Gang's boss, Cang Zhi Lang.

He'd expected another beating, but when he arrived he found the man grunting through bench presses, his muscles bulging no worse than a Heracross or a veteran craftsman's, and between reps the boss told him everything he'd promised before had been delivered — pick who he wanted to follow.

He said Liu Ge.

Then he was kicked out.

It left All Baimu a bit baffled — was Liu Ge really that reassuring? Not even a shred of PUA rhetoric to keep up the act.

Fine, then.

Who'd willingly take a beating for no reason?

After leaving, All Baimu went up to the surface and headed to the hospital to see Otsuka, who'd just had surgery, and happened to spot his parents and older sister outside the ward.

Clearly none of them recognized him, so he lingered outside for a few glances, saw the guy wrapped up almost like a mummy, confirmed the heart monitor showed nothing serious, and left.

Then headed home.

All Baimu let out Rhydon and Chansey to roam freely, and went to check his little treasury.

To prepare for today's match, his little treasury had shrunk dramatically to less than thirty thousand left, but luckily this round of matches had been a huge windfall — the money already in hand alone came to three million.

"…This cash still has to stay on me, otherwise it's not safe."

He thought it over, feeling that keeping a huge sum at home was too dangerous — after the match his name would inevitably spread for a while, and some thief might just come sniffing around.

—In Huang Tie Town, the kind of bastard who'd take money over his life does exist.

Deposit it at a bank?

Doesn't feel very reliable.

All Baimu knew well that Huang Tie Town's only private bank, though opened by the town mayor, often had no credibility to speak of — hardly any faction's underlings would foolishly stash their money there.

It was the ordinary common folk who were happy to hand their money over to the mayor to manage.

Better to just carry it on him, or have someone deposit it at the Pokémon Bank in Silicon Beryllium City. That side was more reliable — the person who'd set up the bank came from another region, and with worldwide networking you could withdraw anywhere anytime.

He found a place to stash it, thinking in a couple of days once things settled down he'd go look for a third Pokémon to round out the team.

Suddenly.

"Gugdo!"

Rhydon came scrambling into the bedroom in a fluster, letting out a low, heavy cry at him.

All Baimu started. "What's wrong?"

The moment his words fell, Chansey walked in from outside, a touch of shyness on her face, both little hands held high cradling a huge, smooth egg.

All Baimu's eyes went wide, his mouth babbling: "You laid an egg!? No wait, this is the egg you laid — no, that's not right either, ugh, this is the egg you took out from your belly pouch?"

"Lucky~"

Chansey nodded, set the egg down on the bed, and looked at All Baimu and Rhydon with obvious delight.

This was a nutrition egg, from the deep-pink pouch on her belly. If her spirits were full and her condition excellent, she could produce several a day — extremely, extremely nutritious, suitable for all humans and Pokémon to eat.

To be honest.

Chansey hadn't shared her eggs in a long time — not because she was stingy, but because she knew that if she gave away the one she was carrying back then, there'd be no way to replenish it.

She herself didn't know why either — she just had that premonition.

But just now, a new premonition had risen in Chansey's heart that she could lay eggs again, and a first try confirmed it was true.

The trouble was she'd scared the wits out of the rather green Rhydon.

After some back-and-forth, All Baimu conveyed Chansey's special ability to Rhydon.

The latter let out a long, relieved breath. "Gugdo!"

He'd thought Chansey was about to have a baby — scared the life out of the poor Pokémon.

But a nutrition egg… wasn't he told once that he was malnourished and needed to build himself up?

Rhydon ran to the bedside, lifted his head and sniffed at the egg, and for some reason felt it carried a tempting fragrance unlike any egg he'd seen before — a clear "edible" vibe.

"Gug!"

He swallowed hard.

Seeing this, Chansey immediately set the egg down in front of Rhydon, signaling him to eat it.

Rhydon opened his mouth impatiently, but just as he was about to bite down he held back, and nudged the egg with his nose toward where All Baimu was.

Good things should be shared.

He'd never been the type of Pokémon to hog food.

All Baimu thought it over, then suggested with a smile: "Let's stop being polite — since it's Chansey's kind intention, we'll fry it up in a bit and everyone share it together."

"Gugdo!"

Rhydon nodded, agreeing that splitting it among everyone was fine.

Who'd have thought that on hearing this, Chansey assumed the egg wasn't enough to go around, and hurriedly fished two more out of her belly pouch with a couple of clunks, setting them beside the first.

The production process was bizarrely magical — an egg that big puffed up and took shape in the blink of an eye.

Seeing that she was about to pull out more, All Baimu quickly stopped her.

"No! That's enough, enough! One each is just perfect!"

Being able to lay eggs was one thing, but for Chansey it couldn't possibly be a cost-free act — and besides, something that big might not even be finished in one go, and wasting it wouldn't be great.

"Lucky!"

Chansey laughed sheepishly and scratched her head — she knew she'd gotten a bit overexcited.

All Baimu gathered the three eggs into his arms, and his mood instantly lifted.

Actually, when he'd first bought Chansey, he'd had a similar idea — back then Rhydon had been malnourished and needed building up.

But Chansey had never offered, and considering she was probably uneasy and they weren't yet familiar, he'd shelved the thought and acted as if it had never come up.

The result came in less than a week.

Goal achieved.

All Baimu couldn't help feeling delighted—three million in hand had never made him this happy before.

Light the fire, put the wok on, pour in the oil.

As he worked, he chatted idly with the two Pokémon who had crowded over. "How well-done do you two want yours? Want a soft-yolk egg? Let me tell you, with something like a fried egg, even if you cooked it with your eyes shut it couldn't possibly taste bad—"

Ding-dong!

The doorbell rang.

Three pairs of eyes snapped toward the front door in unison.

All Baimu turned off the heat, went to the door, and looked out through the peephole. He found a stranger—the badge on his chest marked him as a Sand Squad squad leader.

"Excuse me, who are you?"

He opened the door and asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Got a moment?" the man said bluntly. "The prize money from the match, the cut of the tips, the squad-leader-level benefits—all that can be picked up at the headquarters building now. I came to let you know, so go as soon as you can."

"Ah! Thank you!"

All Baimu hurriedly thanked him, then pulled thirty thousand yuan from his pocket and held it out with a smile. "A small token, nothing much, sorry to trouble you to make the trip."

The man didn't even look at it and said, "I'm one of Master Liu Ge's people too. No need—we don't have that kind of atmosphere in our squadron. Compared to that, it'd mean more to me if you lent a hand during a firefight."

"Ah! My apologies!"

He pocketed the money, turned, ran into the room, and grabbed a Nutri-egg. "Take this with you. It's nothing valuable, just a little greeting gift to mark the meeting."

"... Sure."

The man glanced at the Nutri-egg, stopped declining, and took it. "By the way, you didn't recognize me?"

All Baimu froze, looked carefully, then said with sudden realization, "You're the one who delivered the Larvitar to me—"

"Right. I'm FloBo. From now on I'm a colleague working under the boss, so let's get to know each other between squads." FloBo smiled and nodded, then turned and left.

A rare touch of human warmth.

All Baimu had always assumed the world of full members was nothing but cold, hard interests—his experiences over the past week had only confirmed it.

He hadn't expected there to still be good people like this.

Was it because he was rising?

Once your status rose, did the good people around you multiply too?

All Baimu closed the door and wandered back into the kitchen, head bobbing. "Sorry, Chansey, Aggron—we three split two—"

His voice cut off abruptly.

Because on the table, the egg that had been missing had somehow been replenished.

He couldn't help glancing at Chansey, who gave a slightly shy smile.

"Lucky~"

"Gudo!"

Aggron's brows curved into a smile.

All Baimu gave a helpless smile.

"Alright, you little clever things. Let's get back to the topic. Speaking of soft-yolk eggs, I have to bring up soy sauce. I never got to eat it back in Iron Town, but let me tell you about that stuff…"

The rambling voice went on for a long time in the small kitchen, under the soft amber light.

A heartwarming warmth was contained within it all.