The Abandoned Pokémon

Xin Mu understood the boss's enthusiasm for featuring Pangoro on everything.

The bamboo-patterned wallpaper was covered in panda paw prints, the waiter aprons were embroidered with black-and-white dumpling motifs, and even the menu covers had the golden silhouettes of the evolved form hot-stamped onto them.

One could easily tell from the interior decoration of these establishments and the service staff's attire.

As long as guests voted for Pangoro on the official website on the spot, they could get a discount on their meal here, though Xin Mu personally chose to vote for someone else.

"I hope you're all enjoying the food. Listen to me for a moment before you rest.

Tomorrow morning we're going to visit the Pancham breeding base, and in the afternoon we're going to the Donghuang Panda Park. If you don't want to go, you can stay at the hotel and binge-watch shows with Teacher Liu. I have subscriptions to all platforms that I can lend you.

The day after tomorrow we'll get familiar with the venues, and the day after that the competition starts.

I've already communicated with the leaders; as long as we can place in this event, we'll all go to the beach for team building!

Besides, after the competition ends, we'll linger here for another day. If you want to play on your own, wait until the competition is over. Understood?"

Upon returning to the hotel lobby, Li Han was announcing tomorrow's itinerary.

They were all a group of adults, so forcibly keeping them confined to one place wasn't a good idea-there was no telling when someone might sneak away.

Yet with the precedent of saving an innocent girl on the street fresh in mind, she didn't dare let them run completely wild.

Blocking was inferior to guiding, so it ultimately turned into a group activity.

As for why Old Liu was left behind to guard the hotel...

Because Li Han, Jia Qiong, and Nurse Joy all refused to stay behind, poor Old Liu-who had paid his own way on the trip with no admission tickets to reimburse and was currently fast asleep in the hotel-was shouldered with this heavy responsibility.

Looking out at the night view from the lobby, Xin Mu originally wanted to walk around outside, but considering the humid climate and his unwillingness to cause trouble for Li Han and the others, he abandoned the idea.

If he truly went out of contact during the competition, Old Liu's mental state would be hard to predict.

Upon returning to the hotel, Xin Mu took a shower. Although the amenities here were decent, Xin Mu still found it rather inconvenient because the showerhead was fixed, embedded in the wall and completely immovable.

The next day, Old Liu saw off the publicly funded travelers-ah no, the group going out for research-at the hotel entrance.

Not a single person in the entire team chose to stay behind, leaving Old Liu all alone to guard an empty room.

Whether regular pandas or Pancham, both were far more interesting than staying at the hotel to daydream with a middle-aged male teacher.

Pokémon themselves were quite extraordinary. From the moment they hatched from their eggs, they possessed a certain degree of independent mobility, though at this stage they basically couldn't master any moves.

Pokémon like Misty's Togepi were even more like infants right after birth, lacking subjective judgment and acting entirely on instinct.

As their levels increased, they would gradually become more mature.

Inside the breeding center, they were also divided into several zones according to level. The zones with lower levels had the largest number of tourists, and one could see a large group of young Pancham through the glass partitions.

Some clutched bamboo tubes and did somersaults only to crash into companions, others rolled into black-and-white Venonat, and one particularly persistent little fellow was chewing on the tour guide's microphone cord with its milk teeth.

However, there was little interaction in this zone. By the next zone, quite a few Pancham were making direct eye contact with people through the glass.

"Pancham are very Defiant Pokémon. To avoid being looked down upon, they glare at people this way. As long as we put on a very frightened expression, they'll be quite satisfied."

A venue staff member was providing popular science explanations, demonstrating it on the spot as he spoke. True to his word, seeing the "enemy" submit, that Pancham immediately ran back with a cheeky grin and began claiming credit with the Pangoro behind it.

This was also a trait of Pancham: not long after birth, they would acknowledge a Pangoro they admired as their boss, learning all sorts of experience from them.

"Of course, you can also do this."

The glass windows here were not completely enclosed; there were openings at regular intervals, and at the right height, one could just reach out and pat those Pancham on the head, instantly shattering their put-on toughness.

Xin Mu was holding his phone and taking pictures, except that the photos he took made Meownei shake her head repeatedly, clearly questioning Xin Mu's photography skills.

"Meow. (Hand me your phone.)"

Taking the phone from Xin Mu, Meownei expertly adjusted the settings. Light and shadow, brightness, aspect ratio, and everything else were modified, making it countless times better than Xin Mu's clumsy use of basic beauty filters.

After setting a timer for the shot, a transparent flower stem even doubled as a selfie stick, and finding a rather good angle, she snapped a group photo.

"Meow, phant-meow~ (Doesn't this look much better~)"

"Indeed, you're better at taking pictures than I am."

Xin Mu couldn't quite tell what made it better, but the composition and proportions looked very comfortable to the eye, and even a Pancham making a funny face behind them was captured in the frame.

"Meow, meow. (Remember to print it out when we get back.)"

The people in the neighboring squad didn't know what Meownei was saying, but they saw her adjusting the settings.

"Sister Meow, help me adjust my settings too. Pictures taken like this feel much nicer."

Li Han even actively walked over, wanting Meownei to help adjust her phone settings-"Sister Meow" was a title of her own invention.

The reason this girl could get along so well with the school team members was primarily because she had no airs, maintained good relationships with everyone, and during the tryouts, Meownei had even diluted her hostility toward her, seeing as this girl had no designs on her Trainer.

"Meow~"

In light of the title Sister Meow, Meownei reluctantly helped her adjust the settings, though a close look would reveal they differed from Xin Mu's phone settings, as their phones weren't the same brand.

Next came another zone, but the situation here was somewhat different. There were no Pancham; the ones living here were entirely Pangoro, and clear traces of destruction were visible in their habitat.

Broken bamboo stumps poked haphazardly out of the cracked soil, rock surfaces were covered in claw marks of varying depths, and some rather fierce-looking Pangoro roamed about.

"Dear tourists, I believe you can all tell that these Pangoro are much fiercer than the previous ones.

They are not friendly toward humans. But this is because these Pangoro have all been abandoned; due to those irresponsible 'Trainers', they have lost their trust in humanity."

Just as the driver who brought them here yesterday had said, Everstone were hot sellers in Tianfu, and many people hoped their Pancham would not evolve.

Yet what he didn't mention was that because of this reason, the price of Everstones had also been driven up.

Some people were unwilling to spend this money, nor did they wish to raise a Pangoro, so they chose to abandon them.

Although the center strictly screened adopters, Pancham were not exclusive to this place-other regions had them too-so instances of abandonment still occurred occasionally.

Those people thought that casually releasing them into any patch of woods counted as setting them free, never considering that those Pangoro had no experience living in the wild, and the mountains they chose were also very close to the scenic area.

This ultimately led to some injury incidents, and those Pangoro were eventually taken in here.

Some would find new Trainers, some would be released into the true wild, and others could only remain here indefinitely.

The staff member was introducing the background behind the formation of this shelter, and letting people visit here was also meant to make Trainers understand that abandoning Pokémon was a bad habit-since they chose a Pokémon, they should take responsibility to the end.

Bang!

"Gau!"

Right at that moment, a loud crash suddenly came from the side, and a Pangoro was heavily slamming its paws against the glass.

The glass shook violently, yet the staff member remained completely calm.

"Everyone don't worry, this is specially treated glass. A Pangoro's strength cannot smash it, we are still completely safe."

Bang! Bang!

However, the Pangoro did not think so; the sounds of pounding rang out continuously, making Meownei frown deeply.

Seeing that Pangoro keep following them, Meownei returned the gesture.

"Meow!"

Her paw likewise slammed against the glass facing the Pangoro, completing a high-five with it across the air, yet that exceptionally sturdy glass emitted a series of cracking sounds at this very moment.

The glass that the staff member claimed could not be destroyed actually developed cracks at that exact instant...