Chapter 325: The Corpse of Rayquaza

"What are you doing, it's the middle of the night, will you ever let anyone sleep!"

Huo La, irritated, pressed his hand to his forehead and struggled to sit up from the bed, his brows knotted.

The clamor outside the door rose and fell, mixed with the low hum of Pokemon and human shouts, forcibly jolting him awake from his drowsy sleep again.

This was already the second interruption since he woke, the soreness in his whole body had not fully faded, and his head began to buzz again.

He rubbed his swollen temples, and the sensation at his fingertips made him a bit more alert.

Compared with the helplessness of yesterday when he could not move upon waking, today his spirit was clearly much better; the needle‑like pain in his internal organs gradually faded, the soreness in his body slowly dispersed, and at least he could stand and walk normally.

"Be careful, it seems there's a tricky problem outside," Daiochixis's voice suddenly rang in Huo La's Heart Lake, lacking the usual mockery, replaced by a rare solemnity.

Huo La felt a stir in his heart, vaguely sensing something was off.

Since Daiochixis voluntarily returned to the Master Ball, a layer of barrier between them seemed to quietly dissolve; though it still kept a tough mouth, it no longer deliberately caused hardship, and even began to warn him of danger.

Huo La grabbed the coat beside him, threw it over himself, and hurried toward the tent entrance—no matter what was outside, he had to see it himself.

The tent's curtain was gently lifted, and the evening breeze carried a strong scent of blood that hit his face, making Huo La involuntarily wrinkle his brow.

But when he saw the scene before him, all words got stuck in his throat, his pupils suddenly contracted, his face filled with extreme shock, and even his breathing halted for a moment.

A few meters beyond the settlement, atop a low Shan Gang, a massive black Dragon lay stretched out, its body so huge it blocked the sky, occupying almost half of the Shan Gang.

Its scales were as black as ink yet had lost their former sheen; its whole body was riddled with countless wounds, some deep enough to expose bone, others continuously oozing black blood, its head drooping to the ground, exuding an aura of dead, broken desolation.

"Damn it!" Huo La snapped back to his senses, couldn't help letting out a curse, his voice trembling slightly, "Shiny Rayquaza!"

He could not bring himself to believe his eyes—Rayquaza, the legendary Pokemon that devours stars of the Universe, ferocious in temperament and unfathomably powerful, and the one before him was an extremely rare Shiny Variant!

But such a mighty being lying dead on the Shan Gang, dying so miserably—who could possess the power to beat Rayquaza into this state?

Inside the settlement, it was already packed with people; Mu Chun, Ming Yao, Xiao Zhao, Mu Xia and others gathered at the edge, their expressions solemn as they stared at the Shiny Rayquaza on the Shan Gang, faces full of shock and dread, no one daring to approach.

Amid the chaotic crowd, Xiao Zhao's sharp eyes first spotted Huo La standing at the tent entrance, dazed, and immediately pushed through the crowd, sprinting over, his tone full of concern: "Huo La! You finally woke up! How do you feel? Does your body still hurt?"

Huo La weakly nodded, his gaze fixed as if drawn by a magnet, never leaving the massive corpse of Rayquaza on the Shan Gang; the shock in his eyes had not faded, only deep fatigue remained, his voice hoarse and feeble: "Xiao Zhao, what's going on? How could Rayquaza die here?"

"Huh? Rayquaza?" Xiao Zhao was momentarily stunned, then followed Huo La's gaze to the black Dragon's corpse, then, as if dawning, patted his forehead, his tone a bit clueless, "Oh, so that's what it's called! We don't know the details; it just fell from the sky, the commotion was terrifying, Boom—, it woke all of us up. When we rushed out, it was already lying there, lifeless."

As soon as Xiao Zhao finished speaking, Daiochixis's low voice rang in Huo La's Heart Lake, no longer the previous dread, only an unmasked sigh and a barely perceptible complexity: "Huo La, this Rayquaza, if I'm not mistaken, is the being that forced me to hide in this world."

"Hm?"

Huo La shivered all over, instantly grasping the hidden meaning in Daiochixis's words.

Daiochixis's power was undeniably great; to have been grievously wounded by such a mighty Rayquaza, forced to hide in a meteor, then ride the Spacetime Turbulence into Hisui, the strength of this Rayquaza is easy to imagine.

Yet this Pokemon now lay dead on the Shan Gang, its body covered in scars, a pitiful wreck.

This indicates that a Pokemon far stronger than Rayquaza engaged in a fierce battle with it and ultimately slayed it—and that unknown Pokemon may still be lurking in some corner of Hisui, watching intently.

A deep sense of helplessness rose in his chest; Huo La slowly lifted his hand, massaged his swollen temples, exhaled heavily, the oppressive pressure on his chest nearly crushing him.

He turned to the chattering Xiao Zhao beside him, his voice exhausted to the limit: "I'm too tired, Xiao Zhao, I'm going back to sleep. Tomorrow morning... tomorrow morning remember to bring Captain Mu Chun to my place, and you and Ming Yao as well; we need to discuss this properly."

After speaking, he ignored Xiao Zhao's surprised and hesitant expression, turned around on his own, dragging heavy steps, slowly walked back to his tent, gently lowered the curtain, sealing off all the outside clamor and shock.

The events of the past two days were simply too many.

From fixing the anomalies of mischievous Thunder Bombs and searching for Kureseilia, to entering a Cave and encountering Kyurem, then releasing Daiochixis and barely escaping, now suddenly seeing the corpse of a Shiny Rayquaza.

Not only his body was repeatedly assaulted by Spacetime Energy, already overburdened, his mind and spirit had also reached the brink of extreme exhaustion.

Although he had been drowsily sleeping for two days, that massive Dragon corpse and its countless wounds still struck his heart like a heavy hammer, delivering a huge blow to his already weary spirit.

Back on his bed, Huo La practically flopped down, not even taking off his coat.

"Don't overthink it, rest first," Daiochixis's voice sounded again, a bit softer, no longer the cold mockery of before, "The Pokemon that slayed Rayquaza hasn't moved for now; even if you rack your brain, it's useless. Rest up, so you can handle the upcoming trouble."

Huo La gave no reply, merely nodding slightly, the fatigue washing over him like a tide, and soon he slipped back into deep sleep.