Chapter 149 Bell
Chapter 49: The Bell
"Are there any other human towns nearby?"
Luyun's crimson, crystalline pupils fixed tightly upon El.
"Of course there are!"
Sensing Luyun's gaze, El shifted somewhat uneasily on the sofa.
"Qiuzhou Village, Xiarong Town, Qibao City... there are so many!"
El began counting them off one by one on his fingers.
Luyun nodded, letting out a silent sigh of relief in his heart.
As long as there were human towns, his plans could proceed smoothly.
"Then... where do you plan to go next?"
"Staying in this small town forever isn't a solution, is it?"
Luyun asked, his brow furrowed.
El's expression darkened, revealing a hint of loneliness.
Facing Luyun, he forced a rather strained smile onto his face.
"I'll go... to Qibao City, I suppose."
"After all, it's the largest human city nearby, so safety can be guaranteed."
El lowered his head, a few slightly long, white-gold strands of hair falling beside his ears.
They cast shadows over his youthful face, making his expression difficult to read.
"The Alliance has corresponding handling arrangements for... situations like mine."
"..."
Luyun remained silent.
The quiet air hovered over the living room.
After a long while,
Luyun quietly stood up and reached out to pat El on the shoulder.
"Don't just sit there foolishly."
"Those outside..."
Luyun raised a hand and pointed toward the door.
"They should have a place to rest in peace, shouldn't they?"
El lifted his head, his eye rims slightly red, staring blankly at Luyun.
Then he nodded heavily.
"Yeah!"
......
......
The sky was gloomy, heavy dark clouds pressing down upon the air like lead.
A fine, needle-like curtain of white crystal rain fell in a drizzle,
nourishing the dry earth and washing away the thick stench of blood that had previously permeated Whiteleaf Town, turning the air fresh, cool, and crisp.
El held a black umbrella in silence,
his eyes fixed upon the small mound of earth before him, lost in thought.
Round raindrops, linked into fine threads, rolled sparsely off the edge of the umbrella.
Luyun stood to the side without an umbrella.
His pitch-black figure, sturdy as an iron tower, remained motionless under the pounding rain.
As a Fighting-type Pokémon with physical capabilities far surpassing those of humans,
Luyun certainly wouldn't fall ill or catch a cold from this light drizzle.
The only sensation was perhaps a touch of coolness.
In his past life, he had also been a human. Although he had transmigrated into a Pokémon, he still retained his most fundamental human values.
Although his emotional fluctuations had grown richer with his increasing experiences,
they had also gradually become steadier and less prone to ripples as his worldly wisdom grew.
Sometimes, Luyun would even have such a thought:
It was fine for this life and the next,
but further down the line, as the cycles of reincarnation multiplied and he lived longer and longer,
Luyun wondered if he would eventually turn into a cold, emotionless machine,
living purely to gain points and increase his strength.
This thought involuntarily made him shudder.
If he truly became like that, perhaps death would be his only release.
"Perhaps... I should stay true to my original heart?"
Should he put the goal of farming points on the back burner for a moment and truly enjoy every world he experienced?
Luyun couldn't help but feel a bit lost, before shaking his head again.
Enjoying the process and experiences freely was fine, but everything had to be grounded in his own strength.
Without sufficiently powerful strength, what talk of freedom could there be?
It was mere daydreaming.
Having figured some things out, Luyun's spirit cleared up as well.
With a long, relaxed breath,
Luyun patted El on the shoulder.
"It's time to go."
"Yeah."
El nodded gently and turned around.
The continuous drizzle was still falling, pattering onto the ground and playing a classical symphony that belonged solely to raindrops.
Like two wooden posts, Luyun and El stood quietly in the rain.
A quiet, oppressive atmosphere echoed in the air.
Luyun turned to look at El with some surprise, thinking to himself that he didn't know the way either—why wasn't the boy pointing in a direction?
"Gulp..."
Abruptly, the sound of swallowing saliva rang out.
El wore an awkward expression, stealing a cautious glance at Luyun beside him.
An ominous premonition surged in Luyun's heart.
He tested the waters by asking:
"You... don't know the way either, do you?"
As if struck where it hurt, El's youthful face flushed bright red.
While flusteredly waving his hands at Luyun in a panic, he hurriedly explained:
"I know the way... of course I know the way!"
"I've been to Qibao City before!"
His sworn assertions, combined with his flustered expression, appeared somewhat comical.
"Really?"
Luyun remained somewhat skeptical.
"Of course it's real, although... although it was when I was little, when I went with Mr. Koke..."
El's voice seemed as though its volume had been turned down, growing softer and softer toward the end.
Hearing this, Luyun couldn't help the twitch of his lips.
"Lead the way..."
His tone carried a deep sense of helplessness.
......
......
"Rumble, rumble."
Thick rubber tires rolled over the muddy ground, splashing large pools of dirty mud to both sides.
The massive steel carriage pitched and rolled continuously with the changing terrain, emitting dull sounds of metal collisions.
This was a small convoy consisting of three large trucks and two off-road vehicles.
On the solid road, the steel trucks drove somewhat clumsily in the middle,
while the two off-road vehicles guarded the front and rear of the small convoy respectively.
It was worth mentioning that whether it was the heavy trucks or the off-road vehicles, their hoods all bore the same emblem.
It was a pair of fully spread, dark green membranous wings, sandwiching a blue-and-white circular pattern with a square hole in the middle, resembling a coin of strange coloration.
This was the symbol of the largest commercial alliance within Qibao City, the "Qibao Chamber of Commerce."
Clearly, this small merchant convoy speeding along the road belonged to the Qibao Chamber of Commerce.
Kollo sat gloomily inside the driver's cab.
The bumpy terrain, even with the cushion of a soft seat, still made his backside hurt.
The heavy pressure of life had frosted his sideburns white even though he was only in his mid-thirties.
His chaotic daily routine and minimal rest time added several more wrinkles to his already weathered face.
Hardship and exhaustion—
this was the normal state of life for ordinary commoners in this world.
Kollo's eyes gazed blankly at the road outside the windshield, the gloomy sky above matching his current mood.
Numb and dark.
"Ding-ling-ling."
The crisp sound of a wind chime echoed inside the cab.
A trace of a smile appeared on Kollo's stiff face as his gaze glanced slightly to his side.
There hung a metal bell symbolizing happiness and peace, personally hung by his daughter.