LRAB Chapter 860 Going South
Chapter 860 Going South
"It seems that the monstrous deer has already left the pure white permafrost."
Every night, Yang Ming would exchange information with Chi Ri in the room.
"What about your place? Did you find anything?"
"Still the same old story, nothing to show for it," Chi Ri shook his head. "By the way, didn't you ask the Pearl Team about Miss Champion's whereabouts? Any results?"
“Absolutely not,” Yang Ming shook his head. “Whether it was Guana, Bei Shang, or the ordinary members of the Pearl Team, none of them had seen any outsiders other than you and me during this period.”
"What about Zhu Bei? As the leader, she should know some different things, right?"
“Don’t even mention it,” Yang Ming sighed. “I just asked her today if she had seen a beautiful woman with long blonde hair, and she got angry at me. I had to explain for a long time before she calmed down.”
Chi Ri's expression suddenly turned strange. He remained silent for a few seconds before carefully asking, "You really don't know why she's angry?"
Yang Ming looked bewildered: "I'm not a mind reader, how could I possibly know such things?"
Akari looked at him with a complicated expression, as if he had seen some rare Pokémon. He opened his mouth, but in the end just sighed, "Never mind, it's nothing."
"What's with that expression?" Yang Ming was even more confused. "Do I look that blank?"
“I didn’t say anything.” Chi Ri immediately raised his hands to distance himself. “I just think that you can be shockingly slow-witted at times.”
Yang Ming stared at Chi Ri for a long time, trying to read something from his poker face, but in the end he had to give up.
“Alright,” he leaned back in his chair and picked up his half-cold tea. “Right now, we have absolutely no leads on either the Fiend or Cynthia. I think it’s time for us to leave the tundra and head south.”
The so-called South naturally refers to the Obsidian Plains and the Crimson Lotus Wetlands.
“Sometimes, I even doubt that Cynthia has ever traveled to this timeline at all. According to Bei Shang’s speculation, even if they enter the same spacetime rift, their landing points may differ by several months or even several years,” Yang Ming’s fingers unconsciously rubbed the rim of his cup, the tea of which had long since gone cold. “If that’s the case, then there’s no point in us searching here aimlessly.”
Chi Ri didn't reply. The fire crackled, its orange light casting flickering shadows on his face. Outside the window, the relentless wind and snow raged across the pure white frozen earth, their howling echoing through the thick wooden walls like the low murmur of some ancient Pokémon.
“Actually,” Chi Ri suddenly spoke, his gaze still fixed on the fire, “sometimes I think, if she really fell into a later point in time—like after we left—then what we are looking for is not just a person, but a misplaced time and space.”
Yang Ming raised his head and met Chi Ri's unfathomable eyes. In those eyes, he saw something familiar—the radiance of someone who is persistent in their pursuit, whether it is the truth, a person, or a vague possibility.
“But no matter what, we shouldn’t give up now,” Yang Ming stood up and paced back and forth in the room. “Neither Cynthia nor that horned deer will allow us to stay in the same place any longer.”
“You’re right, but how do we get out of the Pure White Tundra?” Akari asked. “Don’t forget that the Pure White Tundra is separated from these two areas by the foothills of Mount Coronet. There is special energy there that Pokémon can’t fly over. Not only is it very difficult to hike over the mountain, but we also have to face those ferocious wild Pokémon. Although we are not afraid of them with our strength, it will still waste time.”
“That’s not a problem,” Yang Ming said, sitting back in his chair. “I’ve already asked Zhu Bei, and she has the ability to break the restrictions on the foot of Tianguan Mountain. We can just fly over there.”
Chi Ri's expression turned strange again, and after a while he finally spoke: "Are you really going to ask her for help?"
"Of course we need her help," Yang Ming retorted. "Otherwise, how are we supposed to get there? Are we really going to have to hike over the mountains?"
Chi Ri stared at him silently, a look that made Yang Ming feel extremely uncomfortable.
"Why...why are you looking at me like that?" Yang Ming asked warily. "Is there something on my face?"
“No.” Chi Ri looked away, his tone unusually calm. “I was just thinking about something.”
What do you think of the people in the Pearl Team?
“That’s great,” Yang Ming replied without hesitation. “Everyone was very welcoming, and we received a lot of help from them.”
"If a girl with a great figure and beautiful looks were willing to grow old with you in Xicui, would you say yes?"
"What do you mean?" Yang Ming's expression turned unfriendly; he sensed that the other party was implying something.
“It’s nothing. I just feel that there is no deep-seated hatred between us,” Chi Ri said, his face still expressionless. “In the end, it’s just a matter of perspective. In Xi Cui, where there is no conflict of interest, we can even get along quite well.”
"So I was thinking, if one of us stayed in Xicui and the other went back to the modern world, wouldn't we never have to fight again?"
"Then why can't you be the one who stays behind?" Yang Ming said coldly. "As far as I know, you've been teaching the children in Pearl Village to train Pokémon these past few days. Compared to me, you clearly prefer this era."
“That’s because the Green Age was indeed more perfect than the modern era,” Akari raised his head, the firelight dancing in his pupils. “The people here were simple and pure. They only wanted to survive, to live in harmony with their Pokémon. There was no scheming or intrigue between powerful forces, no complicated conflicts of interest, and no one wanted to use legendary Pokémon to achieve any ambitions.”
He paused, a self-deprecating smile curving his lips: "Here, I don't even have to think about how to rebuild the new world every day—because this world is simply my ideal world."
"Then why don't you want to stay?" Yang Ming's voice was calm, without any aggressive tone, just a simple question.
Chi Ri remained silent for a long time.
“Because this place is already perfect enough, it doesn’t need someone like me. It’s the utterly terrible modern world that needs me to tear it down and rebuild it.” Chi Ri’s face was half-hidden in the shadows, only his eyes reflected the firelight, like two red-hot coins.
Yang Ming sighed inwardly. After spending these days together, he could sense a bit of humanity in the leader of the Galaxy Team. However, he was still Chi Ri in the end—the madman who, even in paradise, was still determined to change the "imperfect" world.
Everything seemed unchanged.