Chapter 7: System Settlement

Dinner was a luxurious, spicy hot pot… of instant noodles.

With two braised eggs added for good measure, the taste was quite excellent.

After finishing his meal, Qian Lin sat by the campfire, pointing at the birds dancing in the sky as he laughed: "That one over there is a Pidgey, this one here is a Spearow, oh, a Noctowl! And that one is a Taillow..."

Although most were ordinary birds, the Pokémon that occasionally flew by were truly strange and varied. Qian Lin even spotted a flock of Altaria flying into the distance, though because they were just a fleeting glimpse and the frame was too small, the audience in the livestream didn't get a clear look at what they were.

Judging by the time, it was around ten at night. Qian Lin threw some wood into the fire and looked up at the sky. The night's dark clouds obscured the stars, making things appear dim. The air felt heavy, and he could feel a dampness in his nasal passages as he breathed.

"Looks like there’s going to be a heavy rain tonight."

The Sichuan region has a rather magical quirk. Perhaps because it is a basin, combined with the local climate, the weather forecasts here are... not exactly accurate. At least in many smaller cities, the accuracy rate of the weather forecast is not high.

Consequently, people living in smaller cities in Sichuan have mastered the ability to predict the weather by combining temperature, humidity, and cloud formations. This method is more accurate than the forecast. At least in Qian Lin’s memory, most scenarios went like this:

The weather forecast would say it was going to be cloudy but not raining, and quite cool. Qian Lin would wake up planning to go out, only for his grandmother to tell him to take an umbrella because it would rain. Qian Lin wouldn't believe her, only to return home soaked like a drowned rat.

He once suspected his grandmother was a prophet, until he mastered the ability himself, after which he never trusted weather forecasts again.

This thing is not even as accurate as my own skin.

Of course, these are just experiences; the credibility of weather forecasts is still very high, at least in many places.

Qian Lin turned to the livestream and smiled: "The time is about right, so that’s all for today’s broadcast. This is the Wild Pokémon Science Channel; I’m your host, Qian Lin. If you’re interested, please hit that follow button. We’ll continue our journey of wild Pokémon science tomorrow morning at exactly nine o'clock."

[Ending the stream so early?]
[The host is out in the wild, man.]
[Goodnight host, see you tomorrow.]

After saying goodnight to the audience, Qian Lin closed the stream and retrieved the drone provided by the system. He took a look—the battery was still full. As expected of a system-issued item; if nothing else, this drone was truly top-notch.

About ten minutes later, it began to rain. It wasn't a downpour, but it wasn't light either. He had already dug drainage ditches around his site, so the current rainfall wouldn't be enough to wash away his tent.

Bringing everything inside, Qian Lin lay in his tent and scrolled through his phone for a while. The signal was poor, making the videos stutter, but he was pleased to see that someone had recorded his livestream. The scene where he encountered Milotic had been uploaded to Bilibili.

It must be said that in this day and age, any video involving Pokémon gets terrifyingly high traffic. Even though it was past ten at night, the view count had already broken one hundred thousand in a short time. The comments were filled with amazement at Milotic and denunciations of Feebas.

However, when they heard Qian Lin say that Feebas was Milotic’s child, the comment section flooded with question marks. Most people mocked Qian Lin, claiming he had a mental issue, criticizing the names he gave, or simply accusing him of clout-chasing.

This was normal. After all, people all over the world now referred to Pokémon as monsters, believing these beings were harmful to humanity. Those who tentatively agreed with Qian Lin’s philosophy were mostly people who didn't usually encounter Pokémon, allowing them to judge them more neutrally.

"A long road ahead," Qian Lin muttered, putting his phone down and falling asleep with his hands behind his head.

He hadn't brought a blanket or a pillow—his backpack wasn't a four-dimensional pocket, after all. He only brought a mat so he wouldn't have to lie on the ground; he didn't have many other requirements.

...

"Is this for real?" Liu Hui, lying in his hospital bed, scratched his head. He had watched Qian Lin's entire stream from morning till night. He had to admit it was very interesting, and he was starting to believe that Pokémon wouldn't attack humans unprovoked and could even be friendly.

But he was still skeptical, because he was the one who had been sent to the hospital by these Pokémon.

Just yesterday, while he and his friends were driving to dinner and passing by a park, a monster that looked like a monkey but had a pig's nose suddenly jumped out and unleashed a combo on their car without a word.

That monster was incredibly strong; it glowed when it punched and kicked, literally beating their car into a wreck. Although they weren't attacked directly when they crawled out, everyone sustained minor injuries.

His friends mostly had scrapes, and the most serious one had a small cut on his head that didn't even require stitches. He was the unlucky one—his leg had been pinned when the car flipped, landing him in the hospital.

His friends were loyal, though. Seeing him pinned, they ignored their own safety and rushed to save him, which gave him the chance to get to the hospital. Otherwise, Liu Hui felt he might not have survived yesterday.

He didn't like monsters, but after watching Qian Lin’s stream, that thought had dimmed slightly. It wasn't that he was thick-skinned, but he kept thinking about what Qian Lin said: if humans don't provoke Pokémon, they generally won't attack on their own.

Perhaps... the monster living in that park attacked them for some reason?

And thinking about it carefully, it didn't seem like the monster was attacking *them*, but rather their car. They were just collateral damage.

Liu Hui didn't care about the car; he wasn't short on money. Instead, he was fascinated by that pig-nosed monster. Maybe he should try doing what the host did and try to befriend it? Bring more fruit—isn't that what the host did?

...

[Ding! Today's popular science task completed. Received 769 Science Points. Shop upgrading... Upgrade complete. Next stage upgrade required: 100,000 points.]

In the middle of the night, Qian Lin was woken up by this strange sound. He instinctively opened his eyes and checked his phone—it was exactly twelve o'clock, not a second more or less.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes, looking at the system that had made the sound in a daze: "Shop... upgrade? What does that mean?"

Forcing himself to stay awake, he opened the shop with a yawn. He was curious about what had changed, and the moment he looked, he froze.

The original shop had all sorts of things, like berries and potions—very common items, likely pulled from the Pokémon games. Naturally, there were no Poké Balls.

But now, there were a few new items, mostly berries. Only one, titled "Poké Ball Crafting Technique," left Qian Lin confused.

Poké Ball crafting... Qian Lin already had this in the knowledge the system had provided. So what was this?

Curiosity stirred within him. He checked his points—he had over 700, and the crafting technique cost 500. It wasn't expensive, so...

"No, no, I must control myself. What if this is a duplicate!" Qian Lin grabbed his right hand with his left, sweating profusely. "You can't do this, Righty-chan, this is absolutely forbidden! I have to save the points for berries to befriend Pokémon; I absolutely cannot waste them on useless things!"

"Righty-chan!!!"

[Exchange successful. Congratulations on obtaining 'Poké Ball Crafting Technique'.]

With a look of zen-like resignation, Qian Lin stared at his right hand. "This hand is useless now. Might as well chop it off."

Qian Lin: "...Pff!"

Making himself laugh was quite a feat.

Since he had already exchanged for it, he decided to see what it was. The knowledge gradually appeared in his mind. At first, he felt nothing, having already entered a state of zen, but as he kept reading, his mouth hung wider and wider, until he was left completely stunned.

He slapped himself, winced in pain, and looked at the right hand that had betrayed him with utter disdain.

Disdain aside, this thing... was truly powerful.

That's right, the system shop wasn't selling modern industrial technology, but the special crafting methods from the Hisui region.

As everyone knows, trainers in the Hisui region hand-craft their own Poké Balls. As long as you have the materials, you can make not just regular Poké Balls, but Great Balls, Ultra Balls, and so on. They were highly effective, completely on par with modern factory-made ones, even if the variety was smaller.

Of course, this technique only contained the method for the standard red-and-white ball. Theoretically, if he had the materials, he could try to make one. If he succeeded, well... it didn't really matter, since he didn't have any Pokémon anyway.

Compared to modern factory-made Poké Balls, this data could be handed over to the authorities. He believed that doing so would accelerate the harmonious coexistence between humans and Pokémon.

Speaking of which, Qian Lin remembered something. That audience member who might have been a soldier hadn't spoken since he explained Yveltal and Xerneas. He had vanished, and he hadn't seen anyone like him in the chat since.

Maybe... he forgot?

Regardless, Qian Lin would do his best to help his country. If those soldiers who had been turned to stone by the absorption of life force could be restored, that would be for the best.

He opened the shop and found "Apricorns" on the second page—the berries needed to make Poké Balls. They cost 200 points each. He could afford to buy them, but the problem was the shop didn't have the other crafting materials, so even if he bought them, he couldn't make anything.

He lay back down in the tent. The rain was still pattering outside. With a sense of excitement, Qian Lin slowly drifted off into a dream.

After he fell asleep, a small, black, fuzzy ball opened the tent flap from the outside. Ensuring there was no danger, it shook the raindrops off its fur, looked around, and found a warm spot to crawl into.

"Chuu~" the little creature chirped comfortably, resting against a warm towel and slowly falling asleep.