Chapter 715: Familiar Faces in the Spirit World

What the truth really is, they'll probably only know after digging out the passage.

Too bad Hu Pa can't comprehend the entrance to the Spirit World; otherwise, using its golden ring to search would definitely be far faster than machine excavation.

While All Baimu hung his head in thought, Pang Yan Guai used its spectral body to drag the keystone, drifting a little closer to his side.

"Mi Ke Li!"

It revealed a slightly covetous expression.

As expected, even a century-old ghost can't resist the lure of Pokéblocks — this solid form condensing the essence of countless berries can truly be called another great treasure of human history.

All Baimu fished out two Pokéblocks and handed them over; after the consumption of recent days, the stock in his pocket was nearly gone.

It was time to replenish a batch.

Unlike him with his wandering thoughts, Mei Ya Li was seriously pondering the reason the gatekeeper Pokémon had been blocking the entrance.

Generally speaking, once a Ghost-type Pokémon becomes a gatekeeper, guarding the entrance to the Spirit World becomes the foremost matter of its life.

Blocking the door — this kind of behavior that disrupts its own instinct — is as inconceivable as a Bastiodon smashing the trees it planted, or a Snorlax losing its appetite and suffering insomnia. And judging by the number of lost souls piled up, the congestion at the Spirit World entrance may have persisted for many, many years.

Perhaps Grandma knows?

Mei Ya Li thought of the grandmother who had made her a Spirit Medium; although she was already considered capable of standing on her own, there were simply too many unsolved mysteries concerning the Spirit World.

The two returned to the construction site. The underground had not produced a second Pang Yan Guai in their brief absence; aside from the machines roaring at full blast, nothing had happened. The engineering team, once in working mode, fully displayed the efficiency they had shown in the half-year reconstruction of Iron Town.

Once work ends at eight tonight, by tomorrow afternoon at the latest the tunnel can be completely broken through and the secondary reinforcement of the mine finished.

— If it were simply a matter of digging, the engineering team running the machines wouldn't be slower than an Onix.

As for Mountain Myrtle, unable to set her mind at ease, she had followed down as well. Seeing the two of them and the Pang Yan Guai bouncing alongside like a rabbit, she raised a hand in greeting.

"Pang Yan Guai... already caught?"

"Mm, I'll leave it to you."

All Baimu handed over the Luxury Ball belonging to Pang Yan Guai.

Mountain Myrtle took it with a furrowed brow, somewhat troubled: "How should I handle it? Send it to N?"

All Baimu replied: "How about keeping it yourself."

"When do I have time to raise one, buddy? Besides, I only raise Psychic-type Pokémon — why don't you keep it?" Mountain Myrtle instinctively shot back.

Watching the two bicker from the side, Mei Ya Li covered her face and snickered. The self-styled dignified town leader Mountain Myrtle shot All Baimu a glare, then nodded apologetically toward Mei Ya Li, turned, and left.

Pang Yan Guai hesitated, unsure whether it should follow.

"Be good and go with him; he's got plenty of these things on hand." All Baimu bent down and gave it a push, tossing the last two loose Pokéblocks from his pocket toward Pang Yan Guai's ghostly face.

Pang Yan Guai swallowed the Pokéblocks and, bouncing along, chased after Mountain Myrtle as she left.

It actually looked quite happy.

Don't be fooled by the trouble this fellow caused — the Pokédex actually shows its energy level is only fifty-five, even less than the giant Onix from back then.

Heaven knows how long this thing has lived to still be only level fifty-five — then how powerful must the Dragapult that was already level sixty-nine the moment it was caught be?

A wild Pokémon's energy level is, to a certain extent, positively correlated with its age.

Although how many years a long-lived Pokémon has lived generally holds no meaning for a trainer, he always ended up pondering the ethical side of things.

"You two have such a good relationship, just like Mi Ke Li and Champion Dawu," Mei Ya Li said softly.

All Baimu nodded with a hint of self-satisfaction: "A revolutionary bond of like-minded comrades — a friendship like this one might not encounter even once in a lifetime. Sorry, I have to take my leave for a moment; someone's waiting for my lesson."

He glanced at the time on his phone and apologized sheepishly.

"All Baimu is still working as a teacher?" Mei Ya Li wore a very interested expression.

Unfortunately, she really couldn't leave here — if a second Pang Yan Guai popped out or some anomaly occurred at the Spirit World entrance, her power would be needed.

With the highly talkative lost souls around, she wouldn't be bored.

The matter of the gatekeeper Pokémon — she also had to ask her grandmother, far away in Hoenn,

"Remember to come after five o'clock! Five to seven is what Spirit Mediums consider the Hour of Illusion; all hidden things will reveal themselves at that moment — then we can pinpoint the exact location of the Spirit World entrance!" Mei Ya Li shouted toward All Baimu, who was walking off in search of Hu Pa and Gengar.

——

Surface.

The elevator slowly came to a halt.

All Baimu carried a pouting, unhappy Hu Pa in one hand; behind him were the color-shifted Gengar, still looking unsatisfied, and the Dragonite siblings.

The complex environment of the underground had become the perfect venue for their game of hide-and-seek — when they discovered All Baimu was looking for them, they not only refused to come out but deliberately hid in the shadows to scare him.

At the same time, to make the game more exciting, Hu Pa had also used its light rings to summon quite a few wild Pokémon from the mountain range.

However, for a large portion of those wild Pokémon, the underground symbolized their nightmare; Hu Pa's little stunt nearly startled them into a panic response.

Fortunately, the deserted underground was relatively enclosed, and Gengar, seeing things going wrong, promptly scattered Pokéblocks everywhere to soothe the wild Pokémon, thus averting an unwarranted wild Pokémon riot.

"Xiaobai, Hu Pa knows it was wrong."

It tilted its head to the side, trying to soften up.

All Baimu said crisply: "Give it up — I won't let you go back to the underground, or Hu Pa can be a bad kid and go play in the underground by itself."

"Xiaobai is so fierce, just as fierce as Mei Mei Yali." Hu Pa pouted dismissively.

It knew that even if it went back to the underground, Gengar and the Dragonite siblings wouldn't go with it — what fun was a game without playmates?

All Baimu led the whole bunch of Ghost-type Pokémon, who weren't afraid of the afternoon sun at all, out of the construction site.

Who would have expected Otsuka and the others to be waiting at the entrance.

Besides them, quite a few townsfolk were also watching from afar, whispering among themselves with curious gazes.

"Boss, you're back!"

"Boss, is it really haunted down there? What do ghosts look like? Not the kind with blood streaming from all five features, long tongues hanging out, and constant wailing, right?"

"All Baimu, my mom asked me whether the announcement is actually true."

The few of them spoke one after another, drawing the other townsfolk to step forward as well.

All Baimu raised his hand and knocked hard on their skulls, shouting in front of everyone: what are you trying to do, making a ruckus in public? Not a single one of you has any self-awareness! And you call yourselves Rainbow Team members!

He then turned to the townsfolk gathering around and said, "Everyone don't worry, what's on the notice must be true. Yesterday it really was Ghost-type Pokémon causing trouble—look!"

He suddenly pointed behind him at Yamatsumi coming from the construction site, with a Pang Yan Guai trailing behind him like a little rabbit.

The other party, seeing him surrounded, immediately realized the reason, and stepped forward with the Pang Yan Guai, the culprit, to explain the situation in detail.

Him coming out personally to explain was indeed far more effective than a cold, impersonal notice.

However.

Everyone gathered here not out of fear and dread brought on by rumors, but wanting to know if there was any way they could help.

Peaceful life doesn't come easy; no one wants to return to the past, nor do they wish to have this beautiful life taken away.

Even if it's supposedly ghosts.

Yamatsumi looked at those eager faces, deeply moved inside.

Why did he want to develop the Orei region? Beyond realizing his own worth, letting people who ought to be living and working in peace enjoy the life they wanted was also one of Yamatsumi's major goals.

He believed Orei people were no worse than people from any other region—Rescue Team was a perfect example of that.

Heaven helps those who help themselves!

"Everyone rest assured, even if you don't trust me you have to trust All Baimu—I'll have him give you his word!" Yamatsumi gave All Baimu a push.

All Baimu stepped forward helplessly and said, "If there's a problem, find Cheng Hong and the others! Tell them to come find me! In short, rest easy and listen to the Mayor—it's never wrong!"

Cheng Hong's bunch of hot-blooded idiots hollered like crazy, and the townsfolk, reassured, dispersed one by one.

"Your subordinates' confidentiality work is way too sloppy."

He turned his head and said to Yamatsumi.

Yamatsumi sighed and said, "We've never run into something like this before, so naturally we did poorly without experience. Once everything settles down, we'll see whether to make it public."

"Fine, your call." All Baimu didn't really care about letting more people know about the Spirit World's existence.

Knowing about this kind of thing doesn't cause any harm even if more people know.

Arrived at the arena.

Did Did Yin Ma and the others had been waiting a long time, putting on a look of resigned bravery toward the miserable fate about to befall them.

But today there was no new trick.

"This afternoon will still focus on theory. The day after tomorrow I'll give a short quiz—hope everyone listens carefully and studies on their own after class. To welcome next week's Silbe City exchange team."

All Baimu's words instantly added a sense of urgency to those who had just begun to relax.

So-called exchange.

What if they got beaten too badly—where would Boss Silver Ape and this heartless cheap teacher put their faces? Could they possibly come out okay?

They might end up being chased and bitten by Lycanroc every single day!

Did Did Yin Ma, well aware he was bound to be at the front, kept his mind razor-focused, afraid of missing a single word.

And Hu Pa was at first idly flipping and rolling around on the side, just like a little brat waiting for a parent to get off work, but with the egging-on of Fatty the Gengar and the mischievous Dor siblings, he soon found his own spot to play and roughhouse.

Facts proved companions matter more than the venue.

Afternoon class ended.

Taking advantage of the one hour left before the Hour of Twilight that Furong mentioned, All Baimu hurried to complete today's Mega Evolution of Steelix.

Pokémon training could be put aside for now, but Mega Evolution had to get used to it as soon as possible.

"Roar!"

The Mega Steelix, its body swelling to over twenty meters, let out a slightly pained muffled roar under the astonished gazes of the arena's trainers.

As its crystal-pillar-like lateral steel bones rotated, it resembled a high-energy reactor about to explode.

"Suppress it! Let the energy flow freely through its body! This is a power you can master!" All Baimu shouted at the top of his lungs.

Compared to a few days ago, Steelix had actually improved a lot—no collapsing outright, no losing control on the spot—showing it was gradually progressing. He believed it wouldn't be long before Steelix could master this brand-new power.

"Amazing…"

Did Did Yin Ma stared at the Mega Steelix, immensely envious of that awe-inspiring might. If his Pokémon could have it too, maybe next week he wouldn't lose to anyone!

Otsuka and Cheng Hong exchanged a glance, equally yearning for it, and also thought of the Mega Wave that All Baimu had once mentioned.

If only they could research it out soon.

Lady Ayana was silent, a flash of envy passing through her eyes.

Inside the vast arena.

The trainers watching the Mega Evolution wore varied expressions, each harboring different thoughts.

Five in the afternoon.

The horizon gradually took on an orange-yellow hue.

The Hour of Twilight Furong mentioned—that is, dusk about to fall. All Baimu had searched online and found that the explanation here for the Hour of Twilight was the same as in his previous life's Japan: both considered the dusk and sunset a time when humans and ghosts coexisted.

All Baimu went straight through Hu Pa's portal to the underground city, only to find most of the human-operated machines had stopped working. Everywhere, fully-formed white shadows wandered about on their own, and a noisy clamor came from a small house in the distance.

He leaned in for a look and found Furong, Yamatsumi, and workers like Burrito gathered together, pulling food out of a huge food box, clearly preparing to eat dinner on the spot.

"Baimu-dear! Perfect timing!"

Furong, seeing him, hurriedly beckoned, her brows arching in a smile: "Come eat with us!"

Yamatsumi tilted his head to look at him, raised an eyebrow slightly, then turned back to keep bustling about.

Hu Pa, treating the place like home, dashed in shouting: "Any donuts? Hu Pa! Want donuts!"

Burrito, being quite the lickspittle, brought over a stool with a grin: "Baimu, you sit! Here's the thing—Young Lady Furong discussed it with everyone, asking if we could work through the night. We all agreed; we all want to try to get this resolved as soon as possible."

Hearing this, All Baimu couldn't help but look at Furong.

This invited Elite Four member, without a shred of pretension, picked up fried food and popped it into her mouth. Beside her, a Dusknoir with blood-red pupils narrowed into slits was stuffing Pokémon food into its mouth.

"You don't need to worry too much about the hospitality—I'll handle the arrangements. Rest assured, the etiquette will be thorough, and the compensation won't be lacking either."

Shan Ren seemed to know what he was worried about and patted his shoulder.

Baimu was reassured.

Dinner was finished.

The roar of machinery once again echoed through the entire underground city.

Furong took out the string of prayer beads she had used to seal Pang Yan Guai earlier; the wooden exterior unexpectedly emitted a thin layer of light. She said, "Finding the location of the Spirit Realm's entrance isn't actually difficult—the hard part is forcing it into reality so that we, who have physical bodies, can make contact. Do you remember that Spirit Realm entrance in New Zi Jin City?"

"I remember. Room 1608 that doesn't exist."

"Right. Room 1608 is the medium through which the Spirit Realm's entrance contacts reality. With a known medium, I gathered large numbers of Ghost-type Pokémon to construct a special magnetic field, lured Room 1608 into appearing, and finally entered smoothly."

She said softly, then raised one finger: "In a bit I'll be calculating the direction. Tell me immediately if anything unusual happens."

Baimu paused slightly, glanced at the workers constructing in the distance, and said, "Should I tell them to stop?"

"They have charms, so it's fine. Besides, you've been to the Spirit Realm once—being tainted by its aura makes you very prone to reacting. That's why I said there might be anomalies."

Furong shook her head, sat cross-legged on a soft cushion, prayer beads in her left hand and a string of bells in her right.

Dusknoir and a group of Dusclops stood behind her; the antenna-like metal piece on the former's head glowed, like a bright lamp.

Suddenly.

A nameless wind blew in.

Baimu looked in the direction the wind came from, and then his vision went black; a strangely familiar feeling welled up from within.

This is...

An out-of-body experience?

Baimu, who had only just last night experienced his soul leaving his body to roam the night, got a fright. Just as he was about to try opening his eyes, he "saw" a grey-purple vortex suddenly appear before him, within which a pair of blood-red eyes suddenly opened.

A desolate voice rang out.

"You... have finally come..."

What thing!

Baimu startled badly, quickly opened his eyes and found himself still standing where he was. Furong sat on the ground silently calculating the location of the Spirit Realm's entrance.

Holy crap? I have an acquaintance in the Spirit Realm... no, wait—an acquaintance ghost?