Chapter 6: The Book of Zhu

"Hello, Uncle. My name is Pepa, and I am ten years old..."

On the way to the laboratory inside the research institute, Pepa, now restored to full energy, chattered incessantly beside Luo Mu.

Luo Mu felt a slight headache; could this talkative child really become the slightly melancholic Senior Pepa from Zhu Zi?

The change was just too drastic, wasn't it?

Actually, Pepa being talkative meant nothing to Luo Mu; he was a man who could sit through a four-hour meeting that started promptly after work until the very end, so a mere verbal bombardment...

However, there was one thing Luo Mu could not tolerate.

After Pepa shouted "Uncle" once again, Luo Mu placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and said with a smile, "Is there a possibility that I am only about eight years older than you?"

"Be good, call me Big Brother."

"... Big Brother Luo Mu," Pepa said weakly.

Although he preferred calling Luo Mu "Uncle," the smile Luo Mu had just revealed seemed to hide some unmentionable slide, so Pepa chose to follow his heart.

Children's emotions always come quickly and leave quickly; soon Pepa started chattering again, calling out "Big Brother, Big Brother" nonstop.

This time, Ao Lin, who had been enduring it all along, could no longer stand her son's droning recitation-like nagging and said half-angrily, "Shut up! Go play in your room with Grandma Ju Zi."

As if already accustomed to Ao Lin's temper, Pepa made a face at her, then rode Grandma Ju Zi and dashed around another corner.

Ao Lin could only watch helplessly as Pepa rode Grandma Ju Zi far away, a gentleness emerging in her eyes that even she herself had not noticed.

Witnessing everything, Luo Mu suddenly recalled the sorrowful expression of the grown-up Pepa in his mind.

Even though his parents had stayed in Area Zero for several years to research the time machine, at the moment the AI, standing in for the two professors, contacted Pepa, perhaps he had already realized that the parents speaking to him had become different, unfamiliar people.

That was why a trace of indelible sorrow always hung upon Pepa's brow.

For an AI, imitating true emotions was too difficult; even having inherited all memories, the Ao Lin/Professor Futu AIs only gradually understood these things after observing the protagonists' magnificent adventures.

Could his arrival change these tragedies?

Luo Mu fell into deep thought.

Ao Lin noticed that the atmosphere had become somewhat stagnant due to Pepa's departure, and harboring guilt over having wrongly accused Luo Mu, she decided to find some topic to talk about.

"Young Master Luo Mu, do you know why I was so nervous just now?"

Luo Mu's thoughts were interrupted; he slowly raised his head, confusion appearing in his eyes.

That's right; if Ao Lin hadn't mentioned it, he wouldn't have thought of it.

As a region where evil organizations rarely operated, the number of criminals in the Paldea region should be very few...

Yet Ao Lin had been so nervous at that time, as if afraid of something.

Luo Mu nodded and said, "I am very curious."

Ao Lin said seriously, "The police have issued a bulletin; recently, a gang of criminals from other regions seems to have fled into the Paldea region, and their business is trafficking or kidnapping children."

"If the parents are wealthy and influential, they extort ransom from them; ordinary children are sold directly to evil organizations in other regions. That is also the reason for my intense reaction toward you."

"Is that so..."

Luo Mu's gaze sharpened; he held such child-trafficking criminals in great contempt.

Although he would not go out of his way to become a partner of justice, if he happened to encounter them, they would definitely not end up with any good fruit to eat.

Soon, the place where Professor Ao Lin and the never-before-met Professor Professor Futu usually worked and conducted research came into Luo Mu's view.

The laboratory was not the cutting-edge place filled with technology and metallic sensations as Luo Mu had imagined; instead, it was very rich in the breath of daily life.

Naturally, quite a few high-precision, advanced devices were placed in the research area, but within the room, there was also a sizable living area, especially with bookshelves piled full of various books.

Noticing Luo Mu's curious, gazing eyes, Ao Lin introduced her current research topic to him in detail: "Besides usually accepting commissions to craft Tera Orbs, my husband and I are researching legends that have been passed down in the Paldea region since ancient times."

"The four ancient shrines distributed across the Paldea region, the ultimate mystery within the Paldea Great Crater... Just thinking about these makes my blood boil with excitement."

Ao Lin was undoubtedly a professor who loved research; whenever she spoke of research, her expression seemed to sparkle.

Ao Lin walked to the bookshelf, pulled out a book with a red cover, and while stroking the cover, enthusiastically introduced the facilities within the research institute to Luo Mu.

But Luo Mu could not take in a single word; his gaze fixed on the book in Ao Lin's hand, his pupils contracting slightly.

This was... the Book of Zhu!

He remembered that this book was written by the explorer Haizhe, who successfully reached the bottom of the Paldea Great Crater one or two hundred years ago.

Its general content recorded the observations of Haizhe's expedition team at the very bottom of the Paldea Great Crater, in the mysterious area they named 【Area Zero】.

However, the content of the Book of Zhu was truly bizarre and grotesque; currently, the mainstream thought in the Paldea region tended to regard the book's content as Haizhe's delusions.

The Book of Zhu was labeled as supernatural literature, and Haizhe himself was branded with the name 【Liar】.

It is worth mentioning that the Book of Zi was also published by Haizhe shortly after the Book of Zhu.

Luo Mu roughly remembered the contents of both the Book of Zhu and the Book of Zi, and since copies of these two books were also collected in the library of Grandma Ju Zi Academy, if he really forgot, he could go to the library to consult them after finishing class later.

But what shocked Luo Mu was not the existence of the Book of Zhu/Zi, but Professor Ao Lin holding the Book of Zhu.

This meant... Professor Ao Lin and Professor Professor Futu might already have the idea of going to Area Zero to build a time machine and study Pokémon from the past or future.

Once they possessed such an idea, it would probably not take long for Paradox Pokémon to appear, or even for the Level One Gods of Zhu Zi to arrive.

Luo Mu remained silent for a while; his dream was to live a peaceful and leisurely life, yet he also could not bear to see tragedies occur.

After hesitating for a moment, Luo Mu still asked, "Professor Ao Lin, do you like this Book of Zhu very much?"

Ao Lin was startled, then revealed a brilliant smile and said, "I am very interested in those huge, fierce Pokémon with ancient wildness recorded in the book; this also motivated me to decide to devote myself entirely to research concerning Area Zero."

"You have come at just the right time; my husband and I scheduled to restart the Terapagos Project for the Paldea Great Crater this very month, and my husband went out precisely for this matter to negotiate with enterprises interested in financing; if it were any later, I'm afraid there would be no time left to craft a Tera Orb for you."

"Are you also interested in the Book of Zhu?" Ao Lin looked at Luo Mu with expectant eyes; when Chairperson Ci had contacted her, she had specifically mentioned that Luo Mu was a powerful Champion-level Trainer no inferior to herself.

If she could persuade him to join her research team, the dangerous wild Pokémon in the Paldea Great Crater and Area Zero would no longer be a threat.

Luo Mu thought for a moment and said modestly, "I have only read it... I know just a little bit about it."