Chapter 17
Confuse Ray and a win-win.
"Sister Jun? Sister Jun!"
"Lu Li... Lu Li! Wake up!"
Coming out of his daze, Lu Li swept a bewildered gaze over the people gathered around him. He pinched his thigh hard, and the sharp pain finally convinced him that the people before him were not hallucinations.
Jun Shutong had also come to her senses. She looked around in confusion and asked, "Why am I here?"
"Whew, Sister Jun, you finally reacted." Fatty Lei let out a relieved breath.
"You two just walked in from outside with these blank looks on your faces. No matter how much we called you, neither of you responded. Those old guys even said you were possessed." Fatty Lei rattled off his complaints, filling them in on what had happened along the way.
Seeing that Jun Shutong still looked somewhat dazed, Fatty Lei came forward with concern written all over his face. "Sister Jun, are you all right now?"
"Sister Jun, nothing can happen to you! What would the Camp do if something happened to you?" a middle-aged man cried shamelessly.
Standing nearby, Lu Li could not help the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. This old guy was more than old enough to be Jun Shutong's father, yet here he was calling her "Sister Jun" with boundless enthusiasm.
"Exactly! You shouldn't have taken that risk."
The people around them grew increasingly carried away. Before they could drag Lu Li into it, Jun Shutong finally recovered fully.
Jun Shutong assured them earnestly, "Everyone, I'm fine. You don't need to worry."
"As long as you're all right. As long as you're all right."
Only when they saw that Jun Shutong looked normal and showed no signs of anything wrong did the others collectively breathe a sigh of relief.
Pushed off to one side, Lu Li let his thoughts drift back to a few minutes earlier.
That strange pink light... was it Confuse Ray? Lu Li pondered.
The fact that Mimikyu could use Confuse Ray was enough to show that it was quite strong and possessed considerable talent for Ghost-type abilities.
Having such a powerful ally nearby was undoubtedly a blessing for this precarious Camp.
But...
Lu Li recalled Mimikyu's attitude toward him.
Among all Pokémon, Mimikyu was relatively willing to get close to humans, yet its attitude toward him had left him deeply discouraged.
Lu Li had also realized something utterly cruel and terrifying.
The people of this world really were different from those of the Pokémon world.
If he had been someone from the Pokémon world, Mimikyu should have welcomed the chance to play with him. Instead, it had shown some resistance and even disdain.
The way Pokémon viewed the humans of this world was probably much like the way dogs, humanity's good friends, viewed apes.
This was not good news, because it meant that the difficulty of becoming a Trainer had jumped straight from hard to hellish.
Just then, Jun Shutong noticed Lu Li's distraction and asked with concern, "Lu Li, are you all right?"
"I'm fine." Lu Li shook his head gently.
"Did we fall victim to something just now?" Jun Shutong asked.
Lu Li discreetly glanced at the people around them and explained with a perfectly straight face, "This is actually good news. That Ghost Magical Beast probably just wanted us to leave. Rather than killing us outright, it controlled us to make us withdraw."
"What does that tell us?"
"It tells us that the Ghost Magical Beast doesn't kill people," Fatty Lei chimed in helpfully.
Lu Li nodded, looking as though he had found a promising pupil.
"It's not that it doesn't kill people. It's that... it agreed to our terms," Lu Li announced, feigning delight.
Everyone wore complicated expressions at this news. Some looked lost and terrified about the future, but more let out long breaths of relief.
Ghost Magical Beasts were practically walking natural disasters. After all, when Pokémon had first descended, the most common news reports on television were about some Ghost Magical Beast taking the lives of everyone in an entire city or military base overnight.
Lu Li deliberately added, "Besides, we're essentially being kept by that Ghost Magical Beast now. As long as nothing goes wrong with our sacrifices, it might help us if we face total annihilation."
He said this to emphasize the importance of the sacrifice plan, while also being generous at other people's expense.
Sacrificing the Camp's other residents to gain Mimikyu's favor might be somewhat despicable, but wasn't it also a win-win?
Yep! Win-win meant he won twice.
Offering up the Camp's other residents as sacrifices would both earn Mimikyu's favor and give the Camp another layer of protection.
All he needed to do next was show his face around Mimikyu whenever it had eaten its fill. If real danger came later, he could simply lead everyone to the Arcade.
And just like that, the plan was complete.
In an instant, Lu Li had laid out his future arrangements with perfect clarity.
Jun Shutong sent everyone away, then took Lu Li back to her office.
Sitting in her office chair, Jun Shutong asked solemnly, "Did you speak to that Ghost Magical Beast inside?"
Lu Li nodded. "I'm not sure whether it understood what I said, but I did say a few things to it. Judging by its reaction, it probably agreed."
At those words, Jun Shutong finally let out a heavy breath.
"...Whew."
"That huge weight hanging over my heart has finally dropped. Thank you for this. You've helped me again." Jun Shutong looked at Lu Li with gratitude all over her face.
"It was what I should have done. Besides, I benefited too, didn't I?" Lu Li shook his head with a smile. The benefit he meant, of course, was that he was no longer on the sacrifice list.
Jun Shutong said with utmost seriousness, "My offer still stands. Starting today, you're my deputy."
"I'll pass on the day-to-day management of the Camp. I still need to research Magical Beasts and a few other things." Lu Li did not reject the deputy position, but neither did he fully accept it.
Jun Shutong nodded in understanding.
In fact, she was eager for Lu Li to devote himself to researching Magical Beasts. Plenty of people could take over managing the Camp, but only Lu Li could study Magical Beasts.
At least for now, Lu Li truly possessed an exceptional gift in this field.
"If there's nothing else, I'll head back. What happened just now was pretty remarkable. I need to go back and properly process it," Lu Li said.
He was naturally referring to their embarrassing experience of being controlled by Confuse Ray. Jun Shutong rolled her eyes at Lu Li and complained, "There's nothing remarkable about being controlled.
"I certainly don't want it to happen a second time."
Lu Li gave a noncommittal chuckle.
After returning to his quarters, Lu Li continued feeding Feebas and showering it with praise.
His earlier interaction with Mimikyu had confirmed one thing for Lu Li: it was possible to communicate with these Pokémon that had descended. At the very least, they could more or less understand human speech.
This was good news for Lu Li. His next task was to learn how to understand Feebas's "language."
As for Pokémon seeing humans as gorillas?
That was not necessarily a dead end. With enough individuals, every kind of preference existed. Perhaps the Pokémon world was the same.