Chapter 394: Real-Life Pokémon Game

Listening to the young man's calmly teasing tone, Huo La's mouth twitched into a bitter smile, and he inwardly sighed.

Sudden death, transmigration—truly the standard fare that travelers can't escape.

In contrast, I only rebirthed into this Pokemon World after dying a natural death in my original world; this experience, compared to the young man before me, feels like a fringe, unorthodox "evil cultivation path", completely out of place.

Just as Huo La was pondering, the youth suddenly seemed to recall something, smacked his forehead, and laughed, "Oh right, I was so busy telling you how I 'logged off', I forgot to introduce myself."

He paused, his tone softening a bit, "My name before transmigration holds no meaning in this world, but the name after… If you know a little of Hisui's history, it might give you some clues for the story I'm about to tell."

"My name is Ma Shu Mu."

"Ma Shu Mu?" Huo La muttered instinctively. As soon as the words left his mouth, his gaze shifted abruptly, pupils narrowing slightly, the bitter smile vanishing, replaced by unmistakable shock, "You… you really are the Hisui Hero of those days!"

The youth shook his head lightly, a smile of helpless resignation appearing, his tone tinged with self‑mockery, "Hero, huh… I never expected later generations to call me so cliche."

He lifted the Americano before him, took another sip, and a complex emotion flashed in his eyes—an unspoken melancholy and fatigue toward the title 'hero' that others couldn't grasp.

"Come to think of it, when I first set out to save Hisui, I only treated it as a real‑life Pokémon game."

Ma Shu Mu leaned back in the café chair, his tone laced with the defiant confidence of his youth, "Time God Dialga, Space God Palkia, and that Koraidon—aren't they just matters of battling and subduing? After all, I've played countless generations of Pokémon; I have plenty of experience dealing with these 'BOSS'."

He paused again, then continued, "So I traveled, meeting companions, training and growing with them. Using the battle experience I accumulated from gaming, I gradually honed their strength to its peak, enough to stand face‑to‑face with these god‑level Pokémon."

"In the end, there were no flashy moves—just a 'Justice Group Beatdown', overwhelming them with sheer numbers until each fell."

Huo La's mouth twitched involuntarily, but he offered no rebuttal.

From the projection displayed by Regigigas, he could see clearly that Hisui of that era lacked a complete battle system and rules, had no Pokeball constraints, no tactical pairings; when faced with the rampage of god‑level Pokémon, a group beatdown was indeed the most direct and effective method.

"But I never could have imagined…" Ma Shu Mu's tone shifted abruptly, shedding its earlier ease for a hint of helplessness, "I hadn't even figured out what to do with the defeated Dialga and Palkia when Arceus suddenly appeared, and its presence just blew me away."

Huo La remained silent, offering only a slight nod, his gaze urging him to continue—he could sense that what Ma Shu Mu was about to reveal was the core secret of that cataclysm.

"When Arceus materialized, it immediately devoured Dialga and Palkia without a word, then tore open a Space-time Rift and sucked Koraidon in as well."

Ma Shu Mu's voice lowered, a barely perceptible dread flashing in his eyes, "What it did next was the most terrifying—it began ravenously draining the entire Hisui world's energy; in other words, it intended to utterly annihilate this world."

Recalling the desperate scene of life scorched and energy siphoned, Ma Shu Mu tightened his fingertips slightly, his tone tinged with relief, "Fortunately, Regigigas awoke in time, and Mew suddenly appeared; they gave this world a sliver of hope, and gave me a sliver of hope as well."

"Back then I had no idea why Arceus would do that, why it would personally destroy the world it created. But Mew was right—if we didn't stop it, all of Hisui would turn to void, every living being would vanish, including me."

He sighed softly, "So, at Mew's suggestion, I had to gamble—concentrating the residual power within my companions into my own body, with Mew's aid, using my mortal flesh to 'contaminate' Arceus and send it into an unknown space‑time."

"The outcome unfolded exactly as Mew and I had anticipated," Ma Shu Mu said with an unusually calm tone, as if recounting someone else's tale, "My mortal body couldn't bear that much Pokémon power; it shattered quickly. My flesh ended up 'contaminating' the once‑holy Arceus, and in the end, my broken limbs and the tainted Arceus both fell into another space‑time."

Huo La chattered his teeth, his face a mask of shock and disbelief.

To bear Pokémon power with a mortal body and, at the cost of flesh, contaminate the Creator God—this resolve and madness far exceeded his imagination.

Yet Ma Shu Mu wore an indifferent expression, as if the man who had his flesh blown apart and sacrificed himself years ago were not him at all.

Ma Shu Mu lifted the Americano, downed it in one gulp, set the cup down, then looked up at Huo La with a mischievous smile, "Guess where Arceus and I finally ended up in time‑space?"

"Where?" Huo La was taken aback by the question, instinctively following his gaze to the window—outside, traffic still surged and voices roared, the very scene of his Homeworld in memory.

A moment later, disbelief painted his face; trembling, he pointed outside, "Is… could it be… our Homeworld?"

Ma Shu Mu smiled and nodded, his tone mixing relief with a hint of wistfulness, "I never expected to return home in such a way."

"Because we returned to 'home', to the place I came from, my soul could be preserved. As for Arceus, it doesn't belong to our world; even as a Creator God, it cannot stand in a space‑time that isn't its own."

He explained slowly, "While it was weakened, my soul forced its soul out of its body—a true 'Crow Takes Magpie's Nest'; its soul was left behind in our Homeworld, unable to return to the Pokemon World."

"This..." Huo La's mouth gaped, shock nearly spilling from his eyes as his mind raced to process everything Ma Shu Mu had said.

Ma Shu Mu possessing Arceus's body was one thing, but the Creator God's soul being stranded in his 'Homeworld'!

That revelation upended his understanding, making it hard to accept at once.

Ma Shu Mu wasn't in a hurry; he snapped his fingers, and the empty cup before him instantly refilled with Americano.

He lifted the cup without drinking, gently cradling it, his gaze warm toward Huo La, quietly waiting for him to digest the earth‑shaking secret; the café was left with only the faint bustle outside, slipping into a brief hush.