Chapter 31
Humanity's future: evolution or destruction?
"Sorry for the trouble, but please tell the teams collecting supplies for the Camp to bring back any Magical Beast droppings they find," Lu Li said.
If human waste could be used as fertilizer, there was no reason Pokémon droppings couldn't.
Lu Li didn't know how to keep Berry trees from the Pokémon world alive, but traditional growing methods combined with a few elements unique to that world might produce surprising results.
Besides, if he couldn't keep the Berries alive even with careful tending, wild Berry trees would probably have an even harder time surviving.
Lu Li had always believed that Pokémon had arrived to change the world, not destroy humanity. Since they had brought Berry seeds with them, those seeds had to be capable of growing.
As for their impact on the environment...
That had actually always been Lu Li's greatest fear. The Pokémon world contained eighteen types of energy. If things followed the logic of cultivation novels...
Then the arrival of Pokémon could very well cause the entire world's type energy levels to skyrocket. For now, Lu Li had no idea what effects those energies would have on the human body.
He didn't even know whether an abundance of type energy would be a blessing or a curse for humanity.
Take oxygen, which humans depended on for survival. In nature, it had always played the dual roles of creator and destroyer.
The classic example was the age of giants in high-oxygen environments. With the limits on their size lifted, wouldn't insects be a devastating threat to humanity?
Now type energy had suddenly been added to the mix. Who knew what it would do to the human body?
Would it drive human evolution, or eliminate humanity altogether?
All of that remained unknown.
After saying goodbye to Jun Shutong, Lu Li returned to his room to sort through the day's events.
"That sudden, pleasant cry must have been Palpitoad's Growl," Lu Li muttered to himself.
In the games, Growl lowered the opponent's Attack by producing a cute cry.
But in the real world, Growl actually had a hypnotic effect, and humans seemed to have no resistance to it whatsoever.
That reminded Lu Li of something else that was rather strange.
He had been hypnotized too, so why had he woken up so quickly?
Why did I wake up so quickly? Is it because I'm different? But what makes me different? Lu Li began analyzing the possibilities.
His first guess was that, having lived two lives, his soul-or his mental strength-might be stronger than an ordinary person's, allowing him to wake up so quickly.
His second guess was that both he and Jun Shutong had been hit by similar control moves before, so their bodies, or their minds, had developed some resistance.
His third guess was bolder. He had been in close contact with Feebas all this time. If every Pokémon was a source of radiation, then he might already have been affected by that "radiation."
For now, he couldn't rule out the first possibility, since it seemed the most likely.
The second could essentially be ruled out. After all, Jun Shutong had been woken by him rather than recovering on her own. They had both been hit by Confuse Ray, so it made no sense that only he would have developed resistance.
As for the third possibility, it fit his own speculative understanding of Pokémon best.
Pokémon themselves were aggregations of some kind of type energy. Since he had been living with Feebas, his exposure to type energy radiation should have been the highest-perhaps thousands or even tens of thousands of times that of ordinary people.
If that guess was true, it meant the humans of this world might very well be evolving in a particular direction.
Would humans affected by type energy turn into Pokémon? Or rather, become humans like those in the Pokémon world?
It was a bold guess, and the one Lu Li most hoped was true.
But it was still only a guess. After all-what if the first possibility was the right one?
Lu Li didn't dare assume the best. Sometimes, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.
As he thought about that, Lu Li absentmindedly began feeding Feebas some fish food.
Feebas had finally started responding to him. The responses were a little slow, but it was still a good start.
After giving Feebas another beauty treatment, Lu Li found several potted plants and transferred their soil into a plastic bucket.
Lu Li had kept potted plants before and had a rough grasp of the all-purpose potting mix formula.
Nutrient-rich soil: grit (perlite/coarse river sand) = 6:4. For succulents or plants whose roots were sensitive to waterlogging, the grit proportion needed to rise to 50-70%. Before potting, a layer of expanded clay pebbles went at the bottom as a "drainage layer."
Then Lu Li went to find Fatty Lei and asked whether any survivors in the Camp knew about growing plants.
By dinner that evening, Fatty Lei had brought him some good news.
Quite a few people in the Camp knew how to grow crops, though they were all elderly. They had farmed in the countryside when they were young, and only moved to the city in their old age when their children brought them there to retire.
Lu Li made a point of consulting those elders to learn how to grow crops.
Unlike the theorists, these old men were all hands-on practitioners. When they talked about farming, they sounded like experts possessed them, pouring out all sorts of handy tips and tricks.
Farming wasn't exactly full of closely guarded secrets, and the old men generously shared all the experience they had accumulated over half their lives.
It wasn't until eight that evening that Lu Li reluctantly left the men's dormitory.
"Those old men who spent their lives farming are all incredibly talented!" Lu Li said softly, marveling.
"You're pretty talented yourself, keeping all those old fellows so happy," Fatty Lei teased.
In a good mood, Lu Li didn't bother trading barbs with him. Instead, he promptly handed him another "important assignment."
"Remember to put together a survey tomorrow. Ideally, find out what everyone's good at." With that, Lu Li headed for his room without looking back.
Watching him leave, Fatty Lei shook his head helplessly, then turned and went into the men's dormitory.
He actually envied Lu Li for being able to live alone, but it was only a passing thought. He had no intention of following his example.
With his current authority in the Camp, he could easily have people clear out a storefront for him to live in. But compared with living alone, staying with a group felt safer.
After all, if danger really struck while he was alone, he might die without even knowing what had killed him.
That was why he envied Lu Li without resenting him.
The eighth day after the arrival of Pokémon.
At first light, after confirming that the rain had stopped completely, Jun Shutong quietly led a group toward Entrance Seven.
There was no one left at Entrance Seven, not even any bloodstains. Apart from supplies scattered across the ground and large water jugs that had rolled everywhere, it hardly looked as though Magical Beasts had attacked at all.
Could those Magical Beasts have taken their prey back to stockpile? Jun Shutong wondered in bewilderment.
After assigning a few sharp-witted people to keep watch, Jun Shutong immediately began organizing everyone to move the supplies.
Knowing how precious supplies were in the apocalypse, everyone worked swiftly. Not one person dared slack off.
After all, these weren't just supplies. They were their lifeline.
Just then, Huang Jiafei, who was keeping watch, suddenly ran up to Jun Shutong and reported, "Sister Jun, it looks like some people are coming from the Anke Residential Community, and they don't look like good people."
Jun Shutong frowned, wondering what Huang Jiafei meant by "don't look like good people."
"Come with me. Let's take a look," Jun Shutong said.
Jun Shutong was no naive innocent. In the apocalypse, good and evil were often only a thought apart. If a bad person hid within a group and gained control over it...
Then that group would soon follow their example. Conversely, if a good person held sway, the Camp's overall atmosphere would develop in a positive direction-provided that person could keep the bad ones in check.
The moment Jun Shutong saw those people, she understood why Huang Jiafei had said they didn't look like good people.
Every one of them looked vicious, their eyes carrying an indelible hostility. At a glance, they were hardened men who had spilled blood, and they clutched gleaming watermelon knives and baseball bats.
Those weapons were of limited use against Pokémon, but against fellow humans, they were lethal.
These men had brought those weapons to scavenge supplies, clearly intending to do more than just collect them. If they encountered an isolated survivor, they would probably kill them and take their belongings.
At that thought, Jun Shutong's expression turned cold. She ordered Huang Jiafei in a low voice, "Go get a few fierce-looking young men over here too."
She worried that the handgun she held wouldn't deter them. She wasn't wearing a police uniform, after all. What if these desperadoes mistook it for a toy?
Then firing a warning shot would waste another bullet, and she only had four left in the magazine.
A sleazy-looking young man with a buzz cut pointed at Jun Shutong. "Captain, look. Isn't that a chick over there?"
The captain, who had been warily surveying the area, immediately looked in the direction the young man was pointing.
The moment he spotted Jun Shutong, his eyes lit up.
"It sure is! Now we won't have to settle for the boss's leftovers. We can have our fun first, then bring this woman back to camp," the captain said excitedly, his face full of lechery.
At those words, the four men immediately jogged toward Jun Shutong.
Seeing them approaching, Jun Shutong quickly drew her handgun and aimed. "Stop right there! Take another step and I'll shoot!"
When the beautiful woman in front of them suddenly pulled out a "calming device," the four men's excited expressions instantly cooled.
The captain immediately stopped and stretched out an arm to block the three underlings behind him.
"Miss, please don't misunderstand. My name's Zhao Zhu. We're just out looking for supplies. We don't mean any harm."
When Jun Shutong remained unmoved, Zhao Zhu hurriedly pointed behind her. "We want to go into the mall to collect some supplies. There are lots of elderly people and children in our camp, and they've been hungry for a long time. They really need us to bring back food."
A flicker of concern passed through Jun Shutong's eyes. Clearly, she was worried about the elderly people and children Zhao Zhu had mentioned.
But that raised another question.
Would these men, who hardly looked decent, really look after elderly people and children who offered little value to exploit?
Jun Shutong's face remained cold as she ordered, "Put down your weapons now, raise your hands, and come over slowly along the wall!"