Chapter 39
What did he mean, he had negotiated with a Magical Beast again?
"Magical Beasts can actually be negotiated with? And you succeeded?"
Jun Shutong felt dazed when she heard this, almost as though she were living in a dream.
In Jun Shutong's mind, Magical Beasts were wild animals with demonic powers and temperaments.
If Magical Beasts could really be negotiated with, how could humanity have suffered such a crushing defeat?
"All right, Sister Jun, we shouldn't linger here. Let's leave first." Lu Li didn't dare stay any longer.
Jun Shutong came back to her senses and nodded blankly, letting Lu Li lead her out of the room by the hand.
The others stood at the entrance to the corridor, not daring to move a muscle.
Indeedee was standing in front of the hotel's only Emergency Exit.
When Lu Li brought Jun Shutong over to the Emergency Exit, Indeedee nodded, then vanished on the spot.
Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief once the terrifying Magical Beast disappeared.
They had experienced firsthand just how uncanny that Magical Beast was. They had tried to escape before, but no matter how they ran, they kept circling the same spot, as though trapped by the ghostly walls of folklore.
Strangest of all, he could control their bodies, forcing them to act against their own will.
"Brother Lu, does this mean we can leave?" Huang Jiafei asked, his voice trembling slightly.
"Let's get out of here. I've reached an agreement with that Magical Beast. He's willing to let you go, provided you never set foot here again," Lu Li said, feigning an easygoing air.
Seeing how casually Lu Li said it, everyone stared at him in awe.
When Lu Li had first become the Camp's second-in-command, these young, able-bodied scavengers had felt somewhat resentful.
Now, however, they just wanted to kneel down and worship him.
He was incredible!
He could negotiate with Ghost-type Magical Beasts and with horned Magical Beasts, too.
One young man exclaimed in sincere admiration, "Brother Lu, I hereby dub you the greatest Magical Beast diplomat."
"All right, let's get out of here first." Lu Li calmly took Jun Shutong's hand and headed downstairs.
The others hurried after him.
At last, they reached the Emergency Exit on the third floor.
Several bulging bundles were sitting by the exit.
"What's going on here?" Everyone looked in confusion at the bundles blocking the entrance to the Emergency Exit.
Instantly guessing that Indeedee had prepared food for them, Lu Li said calmly, "These should be supplies that Magical Beast gave me. Each of you grab a bundle, and let's get out of here before anything unexpected happens."
Everyone's faces immediately lit up.
"Who would've thought something good would come out of this disaster?" Huang Jiafei said, hoisting a bundle onto his shoulder.
The others followed his example and picked up the bundles from the floor.
They probably contained bread, instant noodles, or similar food, so although the bundles looked large, they weren't actually heavy.
"Cross the skybridge as fast as you can. That Magical Beast should be watching me right now. With him around, we don't need to worry about Flying Magical Beasts," Lu Li reminded them.
Lu Li could barely contain his excitement, and his heart was filled with anticipation for the future.
With Mimikyu on his left and Indeedee on his right, Lu Li mainly wanted to ask those Rattata how many divisions they had.
Once he got to know Indeedee better, he would definitely have to coax him into driving those rats away.
The group finally returned to the Camp after a few scares but no harm.
Fatty Lei was overjoyed to see everyone return safely.
He had nearly thought the sky was falling. Never had he expected Lu Li to prop it back up again.
Fatty Lei jogged over to Jun Shutong. Seeing her safe and sound, he spoke with a mixture of excitement and complaint:
"Sister Jun, you're finally back! You have no idea how worried we were. Please stop going out to gather supplies. Otherwise, the whole Camp will be on edge."
Jun Shutong smiled sheepishly, but still shook her head in refusal. "That won't do. I have a gun. If we really run into danger, I can buy everyone time to escape."
Beside her, the corner of Lu Li's mouth twitched.
This great equalizer from the old era wasn't very effective against Pokémon, but it certainly boosted people's confidence.
Lu Li really wanted to undermine Jun Shutong right now and ask her what exactly that pistol of hers could accomplish.
Wait.
The pistol did have some use. She could fire a warning shot, for instance.
Lu Li thought back to their encounter with the three Palpitoad brothers.
Still, wasn't it a joke that a pistol had been reduced to serving the same purpose as a loudspeaker?
But Lu Li was only grumbling inwardly. In truth, Jun Shutong's pistol had played a crucial role every time.
For instance, when they had encountered Zubat on the rooftop, Fatty Lei would probably have died long ago if Jun Shutong hadn't disrupted Zubat's balance in flight with a shot.
A flicker of helplessness crossed Fatty Lei's face, and he promptly cast a pleading look at Lu Li.
Brother! Help me talk some sense into her! Fatty Lei winked and jerked his lips toward her, urgently signaling with his eyes.
Lu Li ignored him outright.
If he could actually persuade Jun Shutong on this matter, he wouldn't have waited until now.
Huang Jiafei casually dropped his bundle, slung an arm around Fatty Lei's neck, and animatedly began sharing the bizarre tale of the Magical Beast they had encountered in the hotel.
"Fatty Lei, let me tell you! You have no idea what kind of danger we ran into today. We..."
"What! You really ran into a Magical Beast?"
"It was that creepy?"
"Brother Lu! You're awesome!"
One talked while the other exclaimed as they headed toward the supply warehouse. Fatty Lei was shrewd, too. He had clearly realized that Huang Jiafei wanted to pull him away and give Lu Li and Jun Shutong a chance to be alone.
The others caught on and tacitly followed Huang Jiafei.
Seeing this, Lu Li and Jun Shutong returned to the office as well.
Once they were back in the office, Jun Shutong thanked him earnestly. "Lu Li, thank you. If it weren't for you, we would have been in real danger."
"It's all right. As long as you're safe," Lu Li replied.
After sitting down, Jun Shutong asked, "Lu Li, didn't you think the Magical Beast we encountered today was strange? He just locked us up, like that Ghost Magical Beast."
"And in that hotel, I saw lots of imprisoned
people, too. Do you think those Magical Beasts are intelligent? Maybe they're even as smart as humans."
Lu Li nodded and followed her line of thought. "Some Magical Beasts should be just as intelligent as humans. The one we encountered today, for example."
"When we were locked up, I even felt this awful sense that we humans were being raised like pigs by Magical Beasts," Jun Shutong said with a bitter, self-deprecating expression.
Lu Li didn't know how to comfort her.
In a sense, Indeedee really was keeping humans as livestock, except he wasn't raising them for meat, but to supply positive emotions.
Lu Li could only reassure her. "I doubt they're raising people for meat. Humans aren't pigs, after all. It's not as though they can fatten us up for slaughter."
Lu Li decided to ease Jun Shutong's worries, so he deliberately asked, "Do you still remember that Ghost Magical Beast?"
Jun Shutong nodded.
"You said that Ghost Magical Beast might feed on some kind of negative human emotion."
Lu Li continued guiding her through his explanation. "The Magical Beast we encountered today might be similar to that Ghost Magical Beast. He might also feed on some kind of emotion humans produce."