Chapter 524: So Delicious It Made Me Cry

After playing around in the snow with the Pokémon for a while, Luo Mu headed straight for Thunder Roar Lake.

Gazing at the lake surface, he couldn't help but sigh, "The lake water is about to freeze over."

Just yesterday, Thunder Roar Lake's surface only had some floating ice; yet after a day and night of snowfall and dropping temperatures, the entire lake surface had actually frozen solid.

One could see that the vast Thunder Roar Lake had quietly frozen overnight, its surface covered by a layer of ice crystals as thin as a cicada's wing.

It was a pity that the sky was currently obscured by gray snow clouds; otherwise, when sunlight filtered through the sparse cloud layers in mottled patches, these ice crystals would shimmer with specks of silver light, looking quite dreamlike.

Luo Mu did not attempt to step onto the frozen lake surface; the current temperature was not yet low enough to completely freeze the lake and form a thick layer of ice sturdy enough for someone to stand on.

If he rashly stepped onto it, this thin layer of ice would emit a faint, crisp cracking sound, rapidly splitting into dense, spiderweb-like fissures before collapsing under gravity, dragging him down into the icy lake water.

Thunder Roar Lake was divided into a breeding zone and a zone where the Pokémon usually acted.

In the breeding zone, Luo Mu had released fry of many varieties; under a year's worth of feeding with tons of fish feed, in another year or two, they would be able to raise plump fish for consumption.

And now, beneath that nearly transparent layer of ice, one could still vaguely see the fleeting shadows of fish darting about.

"Nyuru?"

At this moment, a puzzled cry suddenly came from beside Luo Mu, who was gazing at the lake bottom.

Luo Mu looked down and, as expected, saw a Politoed covered in a layer of snowflakes, accompanied by three little Poliwag minions.

Politoed was still holding several snowballs rolled from accumulated snow in its hands; judging by its appearance, it had most likely just returned home after finishing a snowball fight with its minions.

Although it wasn't as perfectly adapted to the current weather as Ninetales and the others, as a Water-type Pokémon, Politoed itself had a close affinity with the Ice type, possessed ice resistance, and was actually quite suited to this kind of climate.

"Good morning; have you seen Dragonite and Dragonair and the others?"

Luo Mu smiled and greeted them.

"Nyuru~"

While responding one by one along with its minions, Politoed pointed toward Thunder Roar Lake.

Dragonair, Dragonite, and the others are all underwater.

"As expected."

Luo Mu wondered why he couldn't find Dragonite, who usually lazily basked in the sun on the shore, nor could he find the shadows of its three godmothers and its biological mother anywhere.

So they had all hidden at the bottom of the lake? Come to think of it, once winter temperatures dropped low enough for the lake surface to freeze, the actual perceived temperature exposed outdoors was far lower than the water temperature felt when hiding at the lake's bottom layer.

The only thing needing worry was that Dragonite had to come up to breathe once every period of time, just like whales and dolphins.

As for Dragonair and the others, they already loved living in the water, so they had no such troubles at all.

Thinking of this, Luo Mu simply asked Politoed to help him go to the lake bottom and call Dragonite and the others up.

The matter he needed to discuss with Dragonite wasn't complicated; it was just to measure their body temperatures and determine whether they had caught a cold or fallen ill due to the sudden drop in air temperature.

Yesterday, after her lecture ended, Nurse Joy Rin from Pingdie Town had specially reminded Luo Mu about this.

In fact, her concerns were not misplaced; after Luo Mu caught and checked each of the morning's snow-playing Pokémon one by one, he discovered quite a few cases of illness.

For instance, the shiny female Eevee, whose congenital deficiencies had been remedied but whose own resistance was still somewhat weak, had caught a cold.

There was also the Appletun, whose Ability was clearly not "Thick Fat," yet had tried to use its own body to shield its fourteen Applin companions from the wind, resulting in a fever.

Serperior hurriedly wrapped several scarves around its body and rushed to take it back to its new home to care for it, while Tropius followed along as well.

As for the Applin, they were temporarily settled in the Pokémon Cottages, so there was no need to worry about them suffering due to the harsh winter.

After expanding the farm and thinking that winter was approaching, Luo Mu had built many such Pokémon Cottages in the places where the Pokémon usually rested; they were warm in winter and cool in summer, and could also shelter against wind and rain.

They were very suitable for some of the Pokémon on the farm that did not live inside the house.

Politoed's method of entering Thunder Roar Lake was also very simple.

Wielding fists tempered by close-combat techniques learned from Mimikyu, it unleashed a True Qi Punch that directly shattered more than half of the ice surface.

Before it jumped in, Luo Mu spoke again, "By the way, might as well call Gyarados and Milotic out as well; after all, they came from Kitakami, so they might not be adapted to this kind of winter."

That place called Kitakami bordered Johto and Unova, and only further away was the Sinnoh region; even in winter, the air temperature there barely approached zero degrees at most.

Throughout the year, one was probably unable to see a single snowfall, Ice-type Pokémon were particularly rare, and among the extremely few Ice-type Pokémon there, some might even form new regional forms over the passage of time.

Just like the Fire-type Vulpix and the Ice-type Alolan Vulpix, or the Ground-type Sandslash and the Ice-and-Steel-type Alolan Sandslash.

"Nyuru!"

Politoed nodded lightly, then leaped into the lake water filled with floating ice, its green back quickly disappearing beneath the surface.

Soon, following a ripple across the lake surface, several figures successively floated up from the water.

There was Politoed, Dragonite, its mother the Dragonite Leader, the shiny Dragonair, two Dragonair godmothers, and the shiny Milotic.

However, Gyarados's figure was nowhere to be seen among them.

A look of confusion appeared on Luo Mu's face, but fortunately, Politoed had already informed the several Pokémon of his purpose; as water droplets fell, Milotic wound its way ashore, and a voice like heavenly music rang out.

"Milo~"

Its blue eyes looked toward a certain place, seemingly reminding Luo Mu.

Following its line of sight, Luo Mu discovered it was a waterway leading all the way from Thunder Roar Lake to a small creek near the new orchard.

"Are you saying that Gyarados went over to the small creek?"

Luo Mu suddenly realized.

"Milo."

Milotic nodded lightly; Gyarados, which had recently become inexplicably diligent, seemed to have discovered something, so it had been lying in wait at that small creek lately.

It was just that with the recent sudden drop in temperature, even a Pokémon like Milotic, whose prototype had some relation to snakes, felt somewhat lazy.

Once that flowing small creek froze over, it wouldn't be like Thunder Roar Lake; most of the water source would likely freeze, waiting until next spring when the ice and snow melted before thawing.

Whether edible fish or wild aquatic Pokémon, they had all migrated to larger bodies of water long before that; furthermore, with a Swampert that had learned its lesson guarding this Thunder Roar Lake, outsiders would not dare to enter.

For Gyarados to squat there, aside from suffering the cold in vain, there was absolutely no meaning to it.

Since Gyarados was not present, Luo Mu first checked all the Pokémon on site and also took the opportunity to observe the mental state of the Dragonite Leader.

The situation of delusions and visual hallucinations still persisted, but at least it could now make correct responses to external interactions; the companionship of Dragonite and Dragonair and the others over these past half a year had indeed produced results.

Once we reach the Alola region, perhaps we can rely on Tapu Fini's power to completely resolve its inner turmoil.

The final conclusion was that their bodies were all very healthy.

As for Gyarados, Luo Mu planned that when Chairman Zhi Mi visited this afternoon, he would take him to inspect the new orchard and check on it at the same time.

Time flew by, and it was now two o'clock in the afternoon.

Chairman Zhi Mi arrived punctually for his visit and was brought before Luo Mu by Oranguru.

The snow had lessened slightly, but the air temperature remained very cold; a gentle exhale of warm breath would reveal white mist rising, something Victini seemed to enjoy trying tirelessly for nearly an hour before finally tiring of it.

After all, the temperature was not like it had been two weeks ago, so Chairman Zhi Mi had changed out of his chef's uniform and, finding the outdoors extremely unbearable, had switched into a set of warm clothing.

Nevertheless, one could still discern his personal, unique style of elegance from the way his clothes were coordinated.

Compared to when Luo Mu went to pick up Clemont and You You Lijia at the airport, Chairman Zhi Mi's overall aura today had clearly lifted significantly, and the confusion in Emperor Yan Di's eyes was gone.

Luo Mu did not know how Mr. Master Haidai had guided him, but Luo Mu also had no interest in digging to the bottom of the matter, so he asked nothing.

After accepting a passionate hug unique to the Kalos region, Luo Mu led Chairman Zhi Mi on a tour around the farm.

In the farming area, Chairman Zhi Mi rubbed the smooth skin of a purple eggplant with his fingertip; even though the sunlight was obscured by gray snow clouds, its luster remained clearly visible, and he sighed with emotion, "It is hard to imagine that in such severe cold, one could still grow eggplants possessing such a rich fragrance."

It must be known that most eggplants require temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius; this could entirely be called off-season growth.

After obtaining Luo Mu's permission, Chairman Zhi Mi plucked an eggplant and, without applying any heat treatment, directly took a bite of the raw eggplant, which had a rather hard texture.

Feeling the eggplant fragrance bursting forth in his mouth along with the green, astringent quality typical of most plants, Chairman Zhi Mi closed his eyes and savored it carefully.

To be honest, the taste of raw eggplant was not very good.

But as a chef who did not follow the usual path, Chairman Zhi Mi's focus was not on the texture and taste of the raw eggplant, but rather, through these characteristics, he simulated in his mind what cooking methods would be needed if the eggplant were processed into a dish, and what the resulting flavor would be.

In his restaurant, every ingredient was personally selected by himself; only after confirming its flavor and quality would it be cooked and served to guests.

It was precisely because he held himself to such strict demands that he had temporarily closed his shop due to pressure and fled to this Paldea region.

His inner turmoil had been completely resolved through his experiences working part-time at Mr. Master Haidai's Chinese seafood restaurant, but Chairman Zhi Mi was still the same Chairman Zhi Mi; he would not lie about ingredients.

Good is good, and inadequate is inadequate.

A few seconds later, Chairman Zhi Mi, who never wasted anything, swallowed it and murmured in a low voice, "Nickel."

This meant "perfect"; in Chairman Zhi Mi's hometown, this word was often used to express this meaning.

Immediately afterward, under Luo Mu's guidance, he proceeded to taste various crops within the farm just like "Shennong tasting a hundred herbs."

It was no exaggeration to say that every single one perfectly met Chairman Zhi Mi's extremely high standards; what could be foreseen was that as long as the quality of the ingredients remained at this level, Chairman Zhi Mi felt his culinary skills could be further unleashed to provide guests with even more beautiful dishes.

The two of them tried many crops in the snow like this, even tasting Tapu Tapu Moumou's fresh milk and Wooloo's sheep milk, and Chairman Zhi Mi revealed his intention to make regular purchases here.

The vegetable baskets in both their hands were filled with ingredients that Chairman Zhi Mi had taken a bite out of; Chairman Zhi Mi had no intention of wasting them, but instead confidently stated that tonight he would use these ingredients to make delicious dishes to thank Luo Mu.

Of course, the parts he had bitten into, he would cut out separately and cook just for himself.

Time passed quickly, and seeing that it was nearly approaching five o'clock in the afternoon, Chairman Zhi Mi, feeling it was about time, prepared to place a huge order with Luo Mu.

But at this moment, Luo Mu spoke up: "The farm has recently built a new orchard; especially the apples inside, I highly recommend you taste them."

"Please, you must take me!"

Chairman Zhi Mi's eyes lit up, and he immediately accepted Luo Mu's invitation.

Several of his original dishes and desserts, in which he specialized, more or less featured apples.

Currently, the apples used in his restaurant were of the highest quality from the largest apple orchard in the Kalos region.

But even so, Chairman Zhi Mi was somewhat dissatisfied.

Or rather, he had been forced to lower his standards due to external factors.

The reality was that the only apples meeting all his requirements, as far as he could see, were the Kitakami Special Select Apples from far away on the other side of the planet.

However, purchasing Kitakami Special Select Apples was quite troublesome, they were often limited in quantity, and transportation was a major problem; no matter how outstanding the taste, they could not serve as a permanent dish in the shop and were fundamentally unusable, serving only as a surprise menu item on certain occasions.

After witnessing so many excellent crops, Chairman Zhi Mi could not help but feel anticipation; if the apples could be this excellent too, or even if they possessed only half the flavor of the Kitakami Special Select Apples, they would meet his minimum internal standard and could appear as a permanent dish.

Carrying a heart full of hope, Chairman Zhi Mi, under Luo Mu's guidance, went straight to the new orchard.

Due to the heavy snow, those incredibly miraculous fruit trees, which still stood upright with tender green leaves, had accumulated layers upon layers of pure, spotless snow on their canopies.

Viewed from afar, it seemed like a work of art meticulously carved by nature; the tree canopies and the snow reflected each other's brilliance, revealing both the quietness and serenity of winter, while faintly hinting at vigorous vitality and energy.

But what attracted Chairman Zhi Mi's attention even more were the apples hanging from the branches.

Seen from a distance, the round, plump, brightly colored apples resembled brilliant rubies, emitting a refreshing fruit fragrance in this cold winter day.

Chairman Zhi Mi could not wait to pick an apple close to him, brush off the accumulated snow, and disregarding the apple's icy coldness, took a big bite.

As his teeth crushed the plump flesh, flavorful juice burst forth in his mouth; tasting the apple's unique sweet and sour flavor, Chairman Zhi Mi did not even realize that a teardrop was hanging from the corner of his eye.

So delicious he cried.

Seeing Chairman Zhi Mi's reaction, the four words suddenly flashed through Luo Mu's stunned mind.

However, surely this was unnecessary?

It was just one apple; it wasn't as if he had never eaten one before, so wasn't Chairman Zhi Mi's reaction a bit too extreme?

(End of Chapter)