Taunt

"Tell me, did you use all your dark power just to scare people?" Jiang Cheng asked, patting his chest.

"Lingling, that was seriously, seriously so... cool! How did you get over here? Teach me!" The fright in Shen Yue's eyes soon gave way to admiration.

"I just... walked over," Ye Ling said calmly after a moment's thought.

"Aaah!" Shen Yue let out a helpless cry.

"Heh, are you okay?" Xiao Ran took out a towel out of habit and wiped the fine beads of sweat from her forehead.

Ye Ling shook her head. Clearly, her trip had yielded little. She hadn't found any useful clues. She had discovered a few more markings, but beyond confirming that people from the Hall had been here, they were of little use. They simply had too little information.

"Let Froakie go play with Popplio. I was just about to ask Popplio to help me look for something," Xiao Ran said with a smile. Ye Ling knew him well enough to catch something off in those seemingly ordinary words. Apparently, he had found something on his end.

"Right, right! Let Froakie play with Popplio. I think Popplio looks pretty lonely all by itself." Jiang Cheng immediately understood what Xiao Ran meant. He could hardly wait for something to happen.

Ye Ling gave the two of them a puzzled look, then nodded and released Froakie, sending it into the lake to find Popplio.

Unlike Popplio, Froakie was a freshwater Pokémon and would be more sensitive to the rising salt content in Sweet Spring Lake. With its help, locating the point where seawater was pouring into this enormous lake would undoubtedly be much easier.

"Why do I keep feeling like you're hiding something from me?" Shen Yue eyed the three of them suspiciously, her tone unfriendly.

"Haha, we're not! Why would we hide anything from you? You're overthinking it. Come on, let's barbecue!" Jiang Cheng said with a sheepish laugh.

"Your eyes wander whenever you lie, and you still think you can fool me?" Shen Yue grabbed his ear and demanded sharply.

"I! I! I..." Jiang Cheng looked to Xiao Ran for help.

"All right, Yueyue, keep your voice down. We'll explain." Helpless, Xiao Ran finally decided to tell her. Fortunately, the tables were spaced well apart for the barbecue, so they hadn't attracted anyone else's attention.

"Hmph!" Shen Yue let Jiang Cheng go with a snort, then turned an annoyed gaze on Xiao Ran. So everyone knew about this except her, while she'd been foolishly tending the fire.

"Well... we only noticed it while we were fishing just now. Basically..." Once Xiao Ran finished explaining, Shen Yue finally understood the whole story, and Ye Ling understood why he had sent Froakie to find Popplio.

"So you really found the reason behind the changes in Sweet Spring Lake? And signs of the Hall? When we haven't even been here an hour?" Disbelief filled Shen Yue's pretty face.

"I wouldn't say we've found it yet. Lingling didn't turn up anything on her walk, after all, and we still don't know exactly what's happening with the lake water." Xiao Ran shook his head, unaware of just how deeply those words shook Shen Yue.

While she had merely been tending a fire, they had already discovered a string of abnormalities and taken preliminary action. In fact, while she was still carrying the luggage, they had already known the Hall had visited this place. She suddenly began questioning her own intelligence. It felt as though they were on entirely different levels.

"Don't dwell on it. We're not in the same league as them. Just compare yourself to normal people." Knowing exactly what she was thinking, Jiang Cheng offered a recklessly ill-advised attempt at comfort.

"Is it too late to get a new boyfriend? I think you're dragging down my IQ! You might even drag down our children's IQ in the future!" Shen Yue turned to Jiang Cheng, looking thoroughly aggrieved.

"..."

"All right, all right, let's eat something first. If anything really does happen, we'll need to be in good shape to deal with it." Xiao Ran laughed awkwardly, then placed a piece of grilled pork belly in Ye Ling's bowl.

In this real world, Pokémon could be eaten, though they were much like wild game in his previous life. Most Pokémon were subject to restrictions and couldn't simply be consumed by humans, especially humanoid Pokémon.

Ordinarily consumed fish and other meats came from farm-raised, ordinary creatures. Pokémon were an introduced species, after all, and Earth had its own native life. Under the encroachment of the Elements, those creatures had either died out or grown stronger. As a result, nearly all the meat humans commonly ate had been planned for in advance, with farming expanded enough to meet their daily needs.

Besides ordinary food, certain edible Pokémon were also separately raised, domesticated, and bred, such as Swinub, Farfetch'd, and Basculin. These selectively bred Pokémon had essentially lost the awareness of ordinary Pokémon, and the Elements within their bodies were almost nonexistent. Otherwise, humans couldn't easily eat them if they contained concentrated energy. Of course, it was best not to let others of their species see them being eaten. Although they might not necessarily regard these food Pokémon as their own kind, it could still easily provoke anger and unrest.

A barbecue was naturally a leisurely meal. Before they were even halfway through, Popplio and Froakie had returned, splashing their way to shore and calling insistently to Xiao Ran and the others.

"You keep eating. I'll go feed them," Xiao Ran said, taking the Pokémon Food out of his bag. Neither Froakie nor Popplio would eat barbecue, of course. They were even reluctant to approach the fire, since it would make the moisture on their bodies evaporate faster.

"Okay. Remember to tell us how it went when you get back," Jiang Cheng said with a nod. They had already agreed on this. Rushing over as a group would draw too much attention, so it was better to be careful and avoid causing panic. Of course, Jiang Cheng's version was that they shouldn't let anyone overhear and swoop in to steal the fruits of their victory.

"I know!" Xiao Ran replied helplessly, carrying his bag toward the lakeshore.

"Thanks for your hard work. Did you find anything unusual?" Xiao Ran took out his homemade Pokémon Cookies and poured out two cans of Miltank milk, then asked the two little Pokémon as they ate happily.

"Arroo!" Popplio raised its head and gestured repeatedly at Xiao Ran. He couldn't understand its Pokémon language, though, and could only infer from its excited expression that they had indeed found something unusual at the bottom of the lake.

"Arroo!" "Froak!" The two Pokémon answered, then quickly returned to eating.

Xiao Ran had developed the Pokémon Cookies himself. They were similar to cookies from his previous life, but the eggs came from Chansey, the butter was made from Miltank milk, and the sugar came from Bounsweet's juice. The combination of rare ingredients not only gave the Pokémon Cookies an excellent taste, but also filled them with abundant energy.

Unlike Pokéblocks, which primarily accelerated a Pokémon's absorption of energy, Pokémon Cookies replenished the Elements its body needed to grow. It was like how humans needed food to grow, but could only use psychic powers after awakening their mental power.

Once the two Pokémon finished eating, Xiao Ran gave Popplio some extra water before letting them go off to play. Then he returned to the others' table.

Now wasn't a good time to discuss things, however, because quite a few classmates had begun dropping by. Their table did, after all, have three great beauties—Xiao Ran counted as a class beauty too—the richest guy in class, Jiang Cheng, and four top students, all admitted to Nanjing University. It was easily the most dazzling table in the class. Wherever they went, they would be the center of attention. Even their homeroom teacher kept checking on them.

"How's it going, Xiao Ran? How's Popplio's training coming along? Do you need help with anything?" The middle-aged homeroom teacher looked at the students before him with deep pride. These were among the best students he had taught in years. When Xiao Ran first entered his class, he had never imagined he would get to teach an awakened student in his lifetime, let alone two.

"It's going pretty well. Popplio is still young, so I'm not rushing the training. We're mainly focusing on building a foundation!" Xiao Ran replied. That was the truth. Different Pokémon required different methods of nurturing, and starter Pokémon had relatively long juvenile stages. Excessive training before their bodies fully developed would hinder their growth.

"That's true. The stronger a Pokémon is, the longer it takes to grow. It's best to build a solid foundation during its developmental stage." The homeroom teacher stroked the Pidgeotto beside him. He had once earned admission to a Pokémon university himself, but his resources had been poor. His relentless training had overtaxed Pidgeotto's potential, leaving it with virtually no hope of evolving into Pidgeot.

"Hehe, Xiao Ran, don't tell me you've been slacking off these past few days and barely training, and you're too embarrassed to admit it?" Jiang Cheng asked with a sly grin. He still hadn't given up on beating Xiao Ran once during these early stages.

"He'd still be stronger than you even if he slacked off every day!" Shen Yue shot him down mercilessly.

"In that case, why not let him take on two opponents at once? Let us see just how strong a starter Pokémon really is." At some point, Gu You had come up behind them and made the suggestion with ill intent.

"What? Who's taking on two opponents? Our class beauty? That's badass!" Gu You deliberately shouted loud enough for the neighboring tables to hear, immediately drawing everyone's attention.

At this, not only Xiao Ran's expression darkened, but their homeroom teacher's as well.

"Gu You! What kind of nonsense is that? Where have you ever seen a match that's one against two?" the homeroom teacher demanded sternly. His long-established authority was certainly intimidating enough to make Gu You shrink back, but in the end, resentment won out.

"Not in a match, sure, but Xiao Ran gets good grades. Maybe he's really strong too. There's nothing wrong with him taking on two opponents!" Gu You said, forcing himself to stand his ground. Only he would have the nerve to say something so shameless.

"Two versus two. I'll team up with him. Pick whoever you like." Before the others could say anything more, Ye Ling suddenly stood. After saying her piece, she turned and walked straight toward Froakie.