Chapter 133: Pikachu’s Parallel World Theory
The fatigue in his body seemed to disappear in an instant.
The unknown voice also fell silent.
The lake surface thawed, and the cold and oppressive feeling swept over Zuo Hang at the same time.
“Pika~!” Pikachu also fell into the lake with Zuo Hang.
“Glug~@#￥#￥%%”
Zuo Hang, who had choked on a mouthful of water, poked his head out from underwater and conveniently fished out the Electric Mouse that hadn’t sunk to the bottom yet.
“Pika! Pikachu!!”
The thawed water was even colder than imagined; even with Pikachu’s constitution, there was a feeling that all four limbs and bones were frozen through.
Zuo Hang swam ashore with Pikachu. He could clearly feel the growth in strength; this frail body had undergone earth-shaking changes compared to just a few minutes ago.
“——Woo~~~~~~~~~~”
A melodious cry came from beneath the water surface. Zuo Hang saw an “S”-shaped shadow appear on the lake surface. Before he could make out the figure, white mist immediately rose above the water.
The Pokémon lingered in the white mist for a while.
He was far away from Zuo Hang, but Zuo Hang could feel the gaze cast toward him. It contained many complex emotions.
——Relief, doubt, expectation.
Separated by the mist, the two paused for about five minutes.
The unknown Pokémon seemed to be hesitating whether to reveal itself honestly or remain mysterious.
In the end, he seemed to choose the latter.
The vague figure gradually disappeared in the mist.
As one of the Seven Great Legends, the Pokémon did not reveal its true form even in front of the human it had chosen.
Zuo Hang smiled helplessly. There was no way around this situation; after all, he might be the only outsider Sloth had encountered in thousands of years. They had the opportunity to choose him themselves, but he couldn’t choose himself.
Zuo Hang didn’t know what agreement existed between Sloth and the Alsteria Family, but after Zuo Hang became the new generation of the Seven Great Legends, the agreement between the Alsteria Family and Sloth should disappear.
The “S”-shaped shadow in the mist, the long, melodious cry like a song—even without showing its face, Zuo Hang had roughly guessed the true identity of that Pokémon.
Sloth itself had said that without the power of the legend, it was just a slightly more powerful Pokémon.
Walking back to the Alsteria house, he no longer felt fatigued.
Lilia sat at the dining table, while the old butler stood respectfully behind her.
Zuo Hang saw the black entwined around Lilia and the old butler.
Lilia and the old butler also saw the blue on Zuo Hang.
This was the extraordinary vision that only humans favored by the Seven Great Legends could obtain. The human body still couldn’t gaze into the universe like Pokémon.
In the early stage after humans gained the ability, the most intuitive manifestation was being able to see other “kindred” who were also favored by legends.
There was not a trace of surprise on Lilia’s and the old butler’s faces.
They had clearly long guessed that Zuo Hang would inherit Sloth’s power, and also guessed that the deep blue glow on this outsider youth would far surpass that of the “chosen” Alsterians.
This blinding deep blue light made it seem like “Sloth” itself was standing before them.
But even as Zuo Hang shone like a legend, the old and the young maintained their aloof poker faces.
“On the train… it wasn’t a chance encounter, was it?”
Zuo Hang spoke first.
“Of course.”
Lilia answered very straightforwardly.
“So, the conversation after I met you, and everything that happened after I came to the castle, were all fabricated to get me to obtain the Power of Sloth.”
This was a declarative sentence. In other words, Zuo Hang was certain that Lilia had been deceiving him all along.
“Don’t look at me with eyes like I’m your enemy. Apart from the conversation at the time of our meeting, everything after that was just me, as Lilia, talking to you.”
Zuo Hang said, “Just the conversations? So… your curiosity about the Little White Dragon was also fake?”
Lilia said, “No, curiosity is something humans can’t overcome, and I’m no exception. When you mentioned the Little White Dragon back then, it just happened to give me a reason to talk to you. Even if you were just lying on the chair sleeping, I still would have talked to you.”
Lilia continued, “From the moment I saw you, I knew you absolutely weren’t an ordinary mid-level invite. A dropout shut-in at home couldn’t have that calm expression when seeing the Lightning Queen—panic, fear, joy… I thought of many expressions, but I didn’t see a single one on you.”
“Originally, I wouldn’t talk to you like this, but all your actions told me you were trustworthy, a trainer worthy of standing on the same perspective as me to converse. That’s why I’m being this honest with you now.”
Lilia’s scheme wasn’t targeted at Zuo Hang, but at Li Dong.
This original dropout youth was targeted by the Alsteria Family for some reason, and that reason was very likely Li Dong’s compatibility with Sloth.
If the Alsteria Family were the ones chosen by Pride, then Li Dong was the one favored by Sloth.
From Li Dong’s various past behaviors, it wasn’t without reason that this guy gained Sloth’s favor.
“Aether AI.”
“Here.”
Zuo Hang called out in his mind, and Aether’s AI immediately responded.
“Does Aether’s archives have the roster of Lilia’s team back then?”
“Yes.”
After the cold voice answered, dense team information immediately appeared before Zuo Hang’s eyes, with the team members’ names highlighted in red.
【Lilia Alsteria, Xu Qian, Van Tuofeng Alsteria, Li Dong, Gongyang Wu】
A total of five people, with Li Dong’s name prominently listed.
In addition, Zuo Hang also saw the time when Li Dong joined the team.
Year 504, August 21.
The current time was Year 504, July 19.
Four days before the Master Cup, Li Dong seemed to have joined the team right after the Pokémon Master Cup ended.
The former Li Dong should have inherited the Power of Sloth later than Zuo Hang, and Lilia probably wouldn’t have been this honest with Li Dong so early.
Zuo Hang had gotten ahead of the former Li Dong in every aspect.
Although he had just followed the predetermined script through already occurred history, the feeling of being schemed against by others still made Zuo Hang very unhappy.
“Since you say you’re going to be honest with me, then tell me: your purpose, the purpose of tricking me to the mansion, your current scheme, your future schemes, what I need to do… In the time ahead, I need to know everything you know.”
“That’s inevitable,” Lilia said. “You’ll know everything I know, including everything the Alsteria Family knows. However, Li Dong, even if you’re the chosen one recognized by the Sloth legend, I still must confirm whether you truly have the qualification to know everything.”
（ps: Shenbai has been down lately, brothers, any recommendations for places to view the Pokédex?）
