Chapter 276: So be it

Huo La ignored Xi Pu's probing question, only sighing lightly, his gaze falling on the floating black characters, and slowly said: "These are Pokemon, called Unknown Totems, and they are the earliest form of writing on this land."

As the words fell, in the torch's dim light, everyone's eyes instantly fixed on him, with shock, curiosity, and disbelief. Ming Yao frowned, being the first to break the silence: "You mean they're not just Pokemon, but themselves are writing?"

Huo La nodded slightly, his tone calm: "I was determined to enter these Ruins precisely to see them."

"What use is seeing these unknown creatures?" Xi Pu's tone remained wary, his gaze scanning back and forth between the Unknown Totems and Huo La—these beings have floated in the Ruins for countless ages, and the Pearl Team has never uncovered their origin.

Huo La raised an eyebrow, turned to Ming Yao beside him and said: "Ming Yao, give me a hand."

Ming Yao immediately reached out, supporting his shoulder, steadying his floating form. Huo La slowly lifted his hand and gently poked at the nearest Unknown Totem shaped like the letter "F". That Unknown Totem wavered, deftly dodging his fingertip, and drifted aside with a faint glow, its Chaonengbodong trembling slightly.

Huo La withdrew his hand, turned to Xi Pu and asked: "You've guarded these Ruins for years, have you only seen murals and empty stone chambers, never any written records about the Ruins?"

"Yes." Xi Pu answered without hesitation, a hint of barely perceptible doubt in his tone, "Generations of Pearl Team members have been probing the Ruins' secrets, but the stone walls only hold vague murals, not even a half‑recognizable character."

"That's because all the writing here has broken free from the stone walls and become these Unknown Totems." Huo La's voice rang especially clear in the silent stone chamber, "They carry the entire history and secrets of the Ruins; to understand the Ruins' past, one must seek answers from these Unknown Totems."

Everyone present exchanged puzzled looks; Zhu Bei frowned as he examined the floating characters, Xiao Zhao rested his chin in thought, and even Ming Yao showed a contemplative expression.

After a moment, Xiao Zhao's eyes suddenly brightened, he stepped forward a few paces and asked: "Huo La, do you know a way to turn these Unknown Totems back into writing?"

Huo La first nodded, then gently shook his head, his tone carrying some uncertainty: "There's a hypothesis, but I can't confirm its feasibility yet."

"What method?" Xi Pu and Zhu Bei asked almost in unison, and Ming Yao also stared at Huo La, his eyes full of curiosity.

Huo La's gaze fell again on the variously shaped Unknown Totems, and he slowly began, his tone solemn: "Capture all the Unknown Totems here. They are originally a collection of related characters; once gathered, they might trigger Resonance and reveal the Ruins' truth anew."

"Capture them!" Xi Pu's face instantly darkened, their sharp eyes fixed on Huo La, lips pressed into a cold, hard line; just as they were about to retort loudly, the words stuck in their throat and they swallowed them back.

Though they resisted the method of capture, they also understood that this might be the only breakthrough to explore the Ruins' secrets.

"Is there any other way besides capturing?" Zhu Bei frowned, his tone hesitant, his gaze sweeping over the lightly floating Unknown Totems, "They appear completely non‑aggressive; binding them with Pokeballs just feels wrong."

"Perhaps, but I don't know at the moment." Huo La shook his head lightly, his tone frank, "Even this capture method is just my speculation."

He knew well that the secret of the Unknown Totems remained a contentious mystery in academia—not just in the present Hisui, but even two thousand years later in the Pokemon World, never a clear answer.

Saying they are Pokemon is indisputable;

Saying they are Pokemon formed from the earliest writing is a consensus reached after millennia of research.

Yet why they transformed from writing into Pokemon, why they can exist as character forms detached from physical bodies, no one can explain.

Moreover, they differ entirely from ordinary Pokemon.

They have no fixed habitat, can even ignore spatial barriers and appear in any corner; yet the Ruins are inevitably places they linger, as if bearing some innate mission.

Huo La's thoughts drifted farther—if he recalled correctly, legend has it that at the creation of Arceus, the Unknown Totems already existed in the heavens and earth, witnessing the world's birth, essentially living "history."

He quietly lifted his eyes, glancing at the system interface in his mind; beside each varied Unknown Totem was a field of glaring question marks, even basic attribute data could not be parsed.

Huo La sighed: as a Trainer bound by the system, a Pokemon that even the system cannot analyze—doesn't that mean the Unknown Totems' mystery and power far exceed those legendary Divine Beasts?

Yet paradoxically, faced with these entities that the system cannot detect, Huo La felt a faint certainty—that as long as he pulls out a Pokeball, he could probably capture them without effort.

The stone chamber fell into a long silence, only the torch's crackle and the faint hum of the floating Unknown Totems interweaving, the air thick with weighing and turmoil.

After a long while, Xi Pu slowly sighed, the tension in their shoulders easing slightly, their tone carrying a hint of relief and the steadfastness of a guardian: "So be it. Knowing that these Unknown Totems are the written form of the Ruins' text already solves the age‑old mystery; that's enough."

They scanned the various black characters, their eyes softening: "As for capturing them to probe the Ruins' history, let's leave that. We are not scholars of ancient books, merely protectors of the Ruins. Let future capable, fated people unravel these secrets."

Zhu Bei immediately nodded in agreement, his tone sincere: "I agree with Grandma Xi Pu's words. Guarding the Ruins' integrity and peace is our duty; there's no need to disturb them forcibly for the sake of secrets."

Huo La, seeing this, also voiced his stance, his tone gentle: "We are merely visitors passing through, naturally we have no objections."

His insistence on entering the Ruins was solely to see the Unknown Totems with his own eyes; now his wish is fulfilled, and whether he seeks deeper secrets no longer matters.

As soon as the words ended, Huo La felt a sudden intense dizziness, the torchlight, the Unknown Totems, and everyone's silhouettes twisted and overlapped, his whole strength seeming instantly drained.

The lingering load of Abnormal Energy he had absorbed had not fully dissipated; the recent conversation had further sapped his spirit, and now his body gave out, collapsing straight to the ground.

Fortunately, Ming Yao caught him.