Chapter 603: You're Not Allowed to Play Pokémon! Chapter 296

Monday.

As usual, Master Yu Qingyu had already washed up and entered the kitchen after waking early, beginning his busy and fulfilling day.

At first, it was only him, Eevee, and Riolu, and three meals a day were easily handled, but as the gym's popularity continued to rise, the number of Pokémon residing in the gym also increased significantly.

In the kitchen, Yu Qingyu quickly pinched rice balls with both hands, humming a gentle melody from his past life.

Preparing breakfast for the whole family takes considerably more time than before.

However, for Yu Qingyu, it's also a mix of pain and joy.

He has always been quite interested in cooking, and initially tried making some home-style dishes edible for both humans and Pokémon.

Unfortunately, he truly lacks talent in this area; the appearance of his dishes alone could make the greedy cat Miledon lose its appetite and flee in panic.

In a sense, he could also be considered a tough guy capable of scaring away legendary Pokémon single-handedly……

Theoretically, cooking skill should be objective.

But the ingredients he prepares strictly following the recipe steps somehow turn out strangely unappetizing, so he can only attribute all these problems to the Pokémon world.

Human constitutions cannot be generalized; there are special constitutions capable of communicating with Pokémon, and naturally, there are also constitutions skilled in cooking.

And he is certainly unlucky, having rolled a debuff for being a cooking novice.

No doubt, it's definitely because this idealistic world affected his performance—it absolutely couldn't be his own fault!

After prolonged trial and tugging, Yu Qingyu gradually understood the limits of his cooking skills—

Anything requiring even a little operation, he is very likely to mess up.

Therefore, only sandwiches and the various simple dishes in the Pokémon Cafeteria Cooking Guide suit him.

For Yu Qingyu and the Pokémon living at Sunshine Gym, the most useful reward from the Legendary Road task so far is this《Pokémon Cafeteria Cooking Guide for Beginners》.

The endless cycle of daily sandwich variety has finally turned into a wonderful life with other options to choose from!

Grilled rice balls, bacon and eggs, and red bean soup together form today's three-item breakfast set at Sunshine Gym.

These three dishes may seem ordinary, but they actually demand high operational skill.

First is the grilled rice ball: the pressure when pinching determines its final texture, and one must also pay special attention to the baking temperature and time in the oven.

Bacon and eggs are relatively easy to handle—just need to master the timing of flipping.

As for the red bean soup……

According to the ratio given by the Pokémon Cafeteria, put it in the pot and simmer on low heat for an hour; whether the rest succeeds or not is entirely left to fate.

Though it seems simple enough that anyone can do it, it has actually become Yu Qingyu's current operational limit; the rest depends on whether the unknown cooking god will favor his devout faith today.

Fortunately, Yu Qingyu's luck today seems decent, and soon waves of aroma slip through the kitchen door gap, gradually spreading throughout Sunshine Gym.

Miledon, still enjoying its refined sleep outside the door, instantly jolted awake, its whole body instantly energized, trotting across the gym gate and gently pushing open the half-closed kitchen door with its body, sitting obediently at the entrance and silently gazing at Yu Qingyu's back with expectant eyes.

A set of movements extremely familiar, one glance shows it hasn't lacked practice.

Yu Qingyu soon felt the gaze from behind, turned his head to see Miledon sitting like a husky, and suddenly felt somewhat amused.

Initially, seeing Miledon's behavior, he thought it would be a more aloof, unfriendly feline creature.

Unexpectedly, after raising it, relying on feeding, he actually raised it into a fawning big dog.

Completely devoid of arrogance, its eyes full of longing for food.

"Go wake up the other little ones first."

Yu Qingyu helplessly shook his head, while giving Miledon an order, he used chopsticks to pick up a piece of bacon and feed it into Miledon's mouth.

"Woof!"

Miledon's mechanical face instantly showed an expression of enjoyment; after swallowing it in two or three bites, it heavily nodded its head several times, trotting out of the kitchen with cheerful steps.

"……"

Seeing this, Yu Qingyu's mouth corners quickly twitched upward slightly.

Weak, helpless, but able to eat—give it food and it becomes especially obedient.

This describes Miledon perfectly.

……

After breakfast, the whole family of Pokémon each had their own tasks to attend to.

After midnight's "quilt enlightenment," Mewtwo has gained a new understanding of its tactical command for the coming week, and is now leading its follower clone Pokémon to sit in a circle outdoors, discussing quietly.

Quite a feeling of sitting and discussing the Dao.

If Yu Qingyu weren't clearly aware that Mewtwo's practical combat experience is severely lacking—probably at best even with a new trainer—he might really mistake it for a master……

However, given Mewtwo's terrifying learning speed, another month or two of cultivation should improve it greatly.

Beside Mewtwo, including the Hypnotic Gaze, some rented Pokémon are also silently listening to its words, occasionally nodding.

For Mewtwo, which is clearly powerful yet unwilling to use its own power, instead wanting to become a trainer, these Pokémon may not fully understand, but they are still very supportive.

Because it's really cool!

Pokémon can also become trainers, commanding other Pokémon……how novel, I've never heard of it before!

So, even though Mewtwo's current trainer level is still quite ordinary, these rented Pokémon are also willing to follow its commands.

In Yu Qingyu's view, Mewtwo already faintly shows a trend of becoming the second-in-command of Sunshine Gym.

He also doesn't know whether, after Nimotong clears other gyms and returns to challenge Sunshine Gym, it will clash with the gradually familiarizing Mewtwo in trainer identity……

Given Nimotong's personality, encountering such an interesting Pokémon should only make it happy, right?

Yu Qingyu thought so, then turned his head to look toward the other side.

Under the mild sunlight of late February, Sylveon Eevee held a sketchpad with its tentacles, eyes fixed intently on the small model Kabutops before it.

After witnessing Kabutops' evolution firsthand, Sylveon Eevee suddenly had some insights——

Besides aiming to "draw the most perfect dragon" to gain Master Tututu's recognition, it should also pay more attention to the changes of its companions nearby.

So, these days Sylveon Eevee hasn't been idle, trying to draw the appearances of other Pokémon in the team, pasting them on the walls of its and the trainer's room as a continuation of present memories.

Qingyu naturally supported this wholeheartedly.

However, as a model, the shell dragon obviously had a bit of an attitude.

Completely wrapped in layers of shell extended from its hard head, unable to make any sound at all, it could only look at Qingyu with a pitiful little gaze to express its dissatisfaction.

What's absurd is that Qingyu seemed to have figured out what it was thinking:

If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have evolved—who knew that after evolving, I couldn't even use my mouth properly? Coincidentally, at this very moment, the trainer suddenly had an epiphany and learned how to cook many kinds of food...

It's definitely deliberate, too awful!

As for this, Qingyu could only smile helplessly and reached out to pat its head.

This evolution business isn't even his concern—who knew that originally just coming to help it simulate flying in the sky, suddenly a Sky Drop appeared and snatched the precious dragon up into the heavens?

No doubt, this pot definitely belongs to Sky Drop to carry—non-stick pot!

But the shell dragon is indeed quite pitiful—after evolving, it can't eat the food it made itself, nor can it drink the dragon milk powder that used to strengthen its bones and muscles; worse still, some strange thing has mistakenly ended up in its stomach...

On the bright side, Miloton got lucky—apart from the Spiky Long Wang, the family only has two dragons total, and the shell dragon now has absolutely no eating ability, so Miloton, who had long been drooling over dragon milk, seized the chance to sneak a few sips.

Now, all we can do is pray that the shell dragon evolves into a Soar Dragon soon, so it can make up for all the nutrients it's lacked during this period.

After absorbing the Mega Stone, the evolved Soar Dragon is absolutely promising—Qingyu himself can't help but feel a bit of anticipation...

If it truly becomes a little Sky Drop, then this tiny treasure dragon would seem to have already turned into the most unlawful hatched cutie in my team.

Qingyu shifted his gaze, bypassing Thorn Long Wang and Eerie Plant as they watered the fields, and suddenly noticed a lighthouse building on a small hill not far away.

Speaking of which, not only Nimo—I haven't seen Pappa in a while either, and I don't know if he's still at the research institute lately.

The memory of me, Nimo, and Pappa violently beating the treasure boss Hairy Cliff Crab feels like it wasn't long ago, but as they've grown, each has gotten busy with their own affairs, so now it's been a while since we last met.

After a moment's thought, Qingyu still decided to go check the situation.

Besides delivering the secret seasoning to him and the Ao Sect Father, I was also worried something might have happened on his end.

After taking several varieties of seasoning stock from the gym, Qingyu quickly took the Xiaoxi Xiaojing path and arrived at the lighthouse research institute on the small hill.

Originally, this should have been the landmark building of Xiaoxi Town, but after the doctor couple had an accident in Zone Zero, the lighthouse research institute has been abandoned for quite a long time, and now only Pappa remains.

The situation is extremely similar to that of the Sunshine Gym back then.

After knocking on the door, there was a brief silence of a few seconds before a sudden jingling and clattering sound came from inside, followed by hurried footsteps running toward the door.

After the door opened, Pappa quickly appeared.

"Qingyu brother...?"

It seemed he hadn't expected anyone to visit at this time—Pappa's expression clearly showed a hint of bewilderment.

Qingyu glanced at him.

Two months without seeing each other, his face—gradually regaining enthusiasm under my and Nimo's influence—now showed a few more signs of fatigue, his naturally curly brown hair looked a bit messy, as if he hadn't properly groomed it for a while.

It seems Pappa has been staying at the research institute this whole time, never leaving?

Qingyu roughly formed a judgment, but didn't say it outright, instead smiling and speaking:

"I'm here to deliver seasoning to the Ao Sect Father."

"During this time, due to some coincidences, I've already collected all three remaining seasonings—maybe I can help the Ao Sect Father recover his health."

"Ah..."

Obviously, Pappa hadn't expected Qingyu to say that—he stood frozen in place for a good while before suddenly reacting, his eyes instantly becoming extremely excited.

"Thank you so much, Qingyu brother!"

"Recently, the Ao Sect Father's condition really hasn't been good—I've been busy taking care of it all along, so I haven't had time to inquire about the treasure boss's whereabouts."

"I never thought Qingyu brother had already resolved them... truly worthy of Qingyu brother!"

Pappa was so excited he was almost at a loss for words.

During the second challenge against the treasure boss, since Qingyu wasn't there, he and Nimo suffered quite a bit against that sly Stone Bird—being tormented by falling rocks from the mountaintop, they endured immense hardship.

Even though they finally managed to reach the summit with difficulty, facing the treasure boss with abnormally strong combat power, their battle was still extremely tough.

This is just one Stone Bird—later treasure bosses will likely only grow stronger.

Although Qingyu brother said it so lightly, even he should probably have to endure a hard fight to defeat the treasure boss...

If I had been able to offer some help back then, that would have been nice.

Pappa was thinking this to himself, until he snapped back to awareness and noticed Qingyu still standing outside—then he realized his behavior might have been a bit rude.

So he quickly stepped aside and looked at Qingyu with an expectant gaze.

"Since you're here, come in and sit down, Qingyu brother!"

Upon first entering the research institute's interior, Qingyu immediately became curious and began observing his surroundings.

To be honest, the layout of the lighthouse research institute is completely different from what Qingyu imagined.

According to his idea, since this is where the Tai Jingzhu was invented, it should be a frontline research base—various high-tech equipment should fill the labs, which would be normal.

However...

Compared to a research institute, this place is more like a rather special household.

But calling it a home still feels a bit off.

Because there are almost no traces of the doctor couple's life around—along the way, the only family photo Qingyu saw seemed quite old, and Pappa was still an infant held in Doctor Aolin's arms.

This fits the personalities of these two workaholic spouses perfectly—in the game, Pappa dislikes people mentioning his parents because they're always away and ignore his feelings, and even comes to dislike Miloton, thinking it stole his parents.

This qualifies as a very classic family conflict—just that Pappa never lived to see the day of reconciliation with them...

Thinking of this, Qingyu secretly sighed in his heart.

In the family photo, there's also Pappa's Ao Sect Father—compared to Qingyu's impression of it, the one in the photo looks noticeably younger, still in the occasional Ao form, and appears more energetic.

Besides, the interior space of the research institute is almost entirely filled with bookshelves, with various research materials on Tai Jinghua and Pokémon neatly categorized, though recent signs of disturbance are obvious, making it look rather messy.

"Qingyu brother, these are all their research notes left behind—if you're interested, feel free to take any."