Chapter 8
The Pokémon on the mall's second floor.
"We still need to be careful. Just because no one's here doesn't mean they all escaped. They might be dead," Jun Shutong warned, her expression wary.
Those Magical Beasts were all incredibly strange. One could get right in her face at any moment, so Jun Shutong didn't dare let her guard down.
Lu Li had never experienced how terrifying Pokémon were firsthand. After all, he had stayed holed up at home for the first three days after their arrival.
Jun Shutong, however, had actually been chased by Pokémon. Otherwise, she wouldn't have known so many ways to avoid them.
The second floor wasn't dark. Many shops hadn't had time to draw their curtains, and many of their windows had sustained varying degrees of damage. Broken glass littered the corridor floor. Every time Lu Li stepped on it, he felt as though he were walking on knife points.
The Pokémon hadn't descended from the sky. They had simply appeared, as though they had crossed a dimensional barrier and suddenly materialized in reality.
Click, clack~
The sound of turning gears came from a cosmetics shop.
Jun Shutong and Lu Li both stopped at the noise.
"Magical Beast!"
Jun Shutong's lips moved slightly, but she made no sound.
Lu Li gave a discreet nod.
Jun Shutong gestured for him to back away. Understanding her intent, Lu Li hurriedly retreated on tiptoe, and the two slowly withdrew a considerable distance.
Having escaped danger, both had cold sweat coating their backs, their hearts still pounding with fear.
"That was definitely a Magical Beast. I just don't know what kind," Jun Shutong said.
Lu Li asked, "Did you hear what that sound was?"
Jun Shutong thought back. "It sounded a little like metal striking metal, and a little like gears turning."
"Then I wasn't hearing things." Lu Li nodded too.
"We need to go around that shop. I suggest taking the other side." Jun Shutong pointed at the corridor opposite them.
It meant another detour, but Lu Li would rather walk a few extra steps than pass through a shop with a Pokémon lurking inside.
"Let's go around, then," Lu Li agreed.
With that settled, they took the detour.
Jun Shutong still led the way, while Lu Li kept watch from behind.
They stooped slightly, holding their breath and focusing as their wary gazes swept every corner around them.
After nearly encountering a Magical Beast, they were even more cautious than before.
Lu Li quietly examined the shops they passed. He noticed that all their exterior windows seemed to be broken, which meant Pokémon had once tried to attack the people inside the mall.
Lu Li recalled the earlier Camp rules. The warning "Do not expose yourself to the open sky" was proving increasingly important.
"Lu Li, have you..."
Jun Shutong turned to ask him something, only for her pupils to suddenly contract.
Her face went deathly pale as she stared at Lu Li-or, more precisely, at a creature behind him.
"Run!"
Jun Shutong mouthed the word without a sound.
Lu Li hadn't noticed her lips. He was wondering why she had suddenly stopped speaking halfway through her sentence.
But he had seen her expression. The terror on her face sent a bad feeling flashing through his heart.
Lu Li turned his head stiffly and saw a pink Pokémon. It had a red clown nose, and the top of its head looked as though it wore a little blue clown hat.
Mime Jr., a dual Psychic- and Fairy-type Pokémon.
Mime Jr.'s pose looked rather comical, because it was imitating Lu Li's movements.
Its legs were already short, yet it was clumsily copying the way Lu Li stooped and bent his knees.
But when it saw how startled Lu Li and Jun Shutong were, Mime Jr. clutched its belly and began laughing.
Mime Jr. was delighted that its imitation had startled these two unfamiliar creatures. It even forgot, without realizing it, that it was supposed to be imitating them.
Lu Li immediately took to his heels. Jun Shutong was just as fast, but she deliberately slowed down to stay behind him.
Her reason was simple: she was worried the pink Magical Beast would chase them. If it did, she could use her gun to disrupt its pursuit.
The two sprinted all the way to the other end of the mall.
Panting, they leaned back against a wall and gulped down air.
"Did we lose it?" Lu Li asked, struggling to catch his breath.
"It doesn't seem to have followed us. Looks like we got lucky and ran into a playful Magical Beast," Jun Shutong said with profound relief.
Hearing that, Lu Li recalled Mime Jr.'s Pokédex entry.
Mime Jr. liked places where people gathered. It had a habit of imitating others' movements and could copy the expressions and actions of anyone it saw.
If its audience was startled, it would be delighted, sometimes even forgetting that it was imitating them.
They had been frightened just now, but Mime Jr. might have mistaken their fear for surprise. That would explain why it had stayed where it was, looking so happy.
Once she had calmed down, Jun Shutong sighed. "Looks like we'll have to take a detour back. Those two routes are probably off-limits now."
Lu Li nodded gloomily, then offered a prayer. "Hopefully we won't run into any more Magical Beasts."
"Most Magical Beasts are highly territorial. We've already encountered two. Surely we won't run into a third?" Jun Shutong complained about their luck today, her face full of worry.
"Actually, we've been pretty lucky. If that had been some other carnivorous Magical Beast, we might already be dead." Lu Li was more optimistic. Having Mime Jr. get in his face was better than having Gengar do it.
Jun Shutong nodded in wholehearted agreement.
If a rat Magical Beast had gotten that close instead, it would probably be gnawing on Lu Li right now.
"All right, let's hurry and gather supplies. The feng shui on this floor might be bad for us. Let's finish collecting what we need and get out." Jun Shutong didn't want to linger on the second floor. They had barely arrived and already encountered two Magical Beasts in a row. Their luck was absurd.
Lu Li nodded, then took out the woven plastic sack he had brought.
"Focus on vitamins and protein supplements," Jun Shutong reminded him.
Lu Li nodded and began clearing the health supplements off the shelves.
Jun Shutong, meanwhile, selected supplements to put
into her backpack.
In less than ten minutes, Lu Li's sack was full, and Jun Shutong had nearly finished choosing her supplies too.
Looking at the bulging sack, Lu Li remarked, "The mall certainly has plenty of supplies. It's just pretty risky."
Jun Shutong nodded in agreement. "Yes. We've only looted one shop, and there are at least ten like it on this floor. Still, we should avoid coming back if we can."
"Let's go. We'll take the emergency stairs on this side. We'll have to pass the Aquarium, but that's safer than taking another unknown detour." As she spoke, Jun Shutong pushed open the door to the emergency stairwell.