Chapter 96

"You must be wary of beautiful women!"

"If you don't listen to the old, you're bound to suffer..."

The old woman illusion conjured by the Gastly continued to nag at Brock, who sat paralyzed on the ground, her raspy voice laced with a hint of mockery.

Huo La, however, heard none of it. His mind was entirely occupied by the heaven-defying data on the system panel, every line of which sent tremors through his heart, leaving his fingertips tingling with a lingering numbness.

"Hey! What are you spacing out for?"

A sharp tap on the back of his head snapped Huo La back to reality. Bilan stood before him, hands on her hips, her eyes filled with teasing. "Don't tell me you were so dazzled by the 'beauty' of that 'fortune-telling old woman' that you've fallen head over heels for her?"

Huo La brushed her hand away irritably. He looked toward the distance, where the hunched figure of the "old woman" was gradually merging into the crowd of the temple fair, pale purple mist flickering around her feet before vanishing around a corner.

He withdrew his gaze with a complex expression, sighing heavily after a long moment. "What are you thinking? Let's find a place for dinner, and you're paying!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he strode over to Brock, crouched down, and began whispering urgently into his ear.

"What! That's so boring!" Bilan complained from behind. Seeing the two whispering and excluding her, she couldn't help but stomp her foot.

That night, the room in the Pokémon Center was silent, save for the occasional scattered noise from the temple fair winding down outside the window.

Huo La lay on the bed, eyes wide open, unable to sleep—the data panel of that Gastly kept spinning in his mind, refusing to fade.

He tried calling out to the system in his mind, but only silence answered him.

The system was still updating, failing him at the most critical moment, which only deepened Huo La's unease.

"Bulba..."

Just then, the Poké Ball beside his pillow containing Bulbasaur suddenly vibrated slightly, then popped open with a "pop." Bulbasaur leaped out, its usually gentle expression replaced by a cold, sharp gaze as it stared at the closed door, emitting a low warning growl.

Immediately after, the Poké Balls for Scyther, Beedrill, and Zubat opened one after another, the three Pokémon instantly assuming battle stances. Even Nidoqueen's Poké Ball shook violently, clearly sensing the anomaly.

Huo La sat up abruptly, his heart tightening—to make all his Pokémon alert at once, the intruder was no ordinary foe.

"These little guys are quite sharp, aren't they?"

A cold, playful voice suddenly came from outside the door, piercing through the wood and landing clearly in Huo La's ears.

As the voice faded, wisps of pale purple smoke began to seep in from under the door, slithering like living things, filling the room in the blink of an eye.

Huo La felt a faint, sweet scent tickle his nose. The next second, he heard his Pokémon falling into a light slumber one by one, all of them succumbing to sleep.

Simultaneously, the purple smoke in the center of the room condensed, forming a graceful figure.

It was a woman in a pale purple dress, skin as white as snow, features as delicate as a painting, breathtakingly beautiful. She floated in mid-air, looking down at Huo La with a playful glint in her eyes.

Huo La watched her calmly. He already knew her true identity; no matter how beautiful the skin, it was merely a disguise, and he would not be swayed.

"Gastly, since you're here, why hide? Show your true form," he said calmly, without a hint of panic.

"You brat, you're really not ordinary," the woman said, her red lips parting, though the voice that emerged was sharp, cold, and entirely different.

As she spoke, her figure dissipated like smoke, reforming into a purple mass wrapped around a black core.

In the center of the mass, a pair of sharp eyes slowly opened, two fangs protruding—it was the true form of Gastly.

"Gastly, breaking in in the middle of the night, what do you want with me?" Huo La leaned against the headboard, arms crossed.

He wasn't afraid of a sudden attack; with this Gastly's strength, he had no power to resist anyway. Rather than panic, it was better to stay calm and probe its purpose.

Gastly's face lunged forward, stopping inches from Huo La's nose, its icy aura washing over him.

It circled Huo La incessantly, sniffing, its eyes filled with confusion. "I felt something off about your scent during the day, but up close tonight, it's even more obvious... It's like you're wrapped in a layer of death, yet it lacks the decay of the dying. It's very unique."

"The scent of death..." Huo La lowered his eyes, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the bedsheet.

If it came to "death," he had indeed experienced it once—the end of his past life and the restart of this one. This secret, spanning life and death, was something even he hadn't fully grasped, yet it had been keenly captured by a Gastly that had lived for a thousand years.

He looked up at the face inches away, his voice devoid of ripples. "Are you here in the middle of the night just to sniff me?"

"Cough, cough..." Gastly's face recoiled, the pale purple mist around it flickering. It was clearly caught in its own embarrassment, using a cough to cover it up. "O-of course not! Old man isn't here for that!"

"Then what are you here for?" Huo La pressed, a knowing smile in his eyes.

Gastly: "..."

It cursed inwardly—Damn it! It really had been drawn in by that special scent of death on the brat! Now that it was being pressed so directly, it couldn't very well say, "I just came to sniff you."

That would be too humiliating for an ancient monster!

Seeing it unable to speak, the mist on its face showing signs of awkwardness, Huo La chuckled inwardly, but softened his tone appropriately. "Never mind, if you won't say, I'll say it—actually, I came to Maiden's Gorge specifically to find you."

"Hm? Looking for old man?" Gastly stopped circling, the pale purple gas condensing, its eyes filled with surprise. "How did you know I existed?"

"Every summer festival, you take on different forms to pass on thoughts for that young lady who waited a thousand years, don't you?"

Huo La spoke unhurriedly, pointing toward the cliff at the harbor—the stone statue of the young lady stood silently in the moonlight, waiting for her lover's return.

Gastly followed his finger, the vigilance in its eyes gradually fading, replaced by a distant nostalgia. It nodded slowly. "I didn't expect anyone to remember that after all these years."

"Why did you come to find me?" It looked back at Huo La, its tone becoming more serious.

Huo La took a deep breath, his gaze firm, and spoke every word clearly: "I want you to become my partner—and travel with me."