Chapter 1222: Furong the Medium

In an instant.

Furong suddenly understood the light that filled Da Wu’s eyes when he returned from Ore and spoke to them about Baimu.

The man who loved stones the most had found an unprecedented gemstone, and there would not be a second like it in the world.

Just as Pyrite Town could never produce another Baimu.

“Let’s be a little serious this time.”

She murmured softly, and the elevator reached the first level of the Underground City.

Zzz—

Bang!

The iron plate beneath her feet lightly shook, and the automatic curtain door creaked open.

Before them lay a massive space dimly lit by numerous incandescent lamps. Makeshift rooms made of iron sheets and plastic were everywhere, looking dilapidated due to years of leftover grime, while the dome towering over thirty meters high above drew the curiosity of Furong and Hoopa.

For Baimu, it was an all too familiar environment.

Back when he just joined the Quicksand Team, he would come down every day to battle Otsuka in preparation for the charity tournament. Later, even as a squad leader, he kept drilling underground.

It wasn’t until the Quicksand Team declared war on the Evil Dog Team that his visits became less frequent.

“Underground City! Amazing!”

Hoopa flew out ahead without the slightest regard for the earlier warnings about danger.

Furong, just like a tourist, looked around and remarked, “It really is an Underground City. I think Old Man Tie Xuan would be especially pleased to see this?”

Tie Xuan’s initial plan was for New Mauville to be an underground city beneath Mauville City, akin to an Underground City, but he had to abandon it due to the insurmountable investment required.

“He might not be impressed.”

Baimu knew full well that compared to Tie Xuan’s vision for New Mauville, the Underground City before them seemed overly rudimentary, with nothing commendable besides its vast area.

The power hadn’t been shut down since it was turned on before, leaving the empty Underground City peculiarly quiet with an inexplicably spine-chilling atmosphere.

More importantly, the white shadows Furong had previously glanced at could now be seen by himself as well.

“B-Baimu!”

Britto’s voice trembled as he asked quietly, “Did you see those white shadows?”

Baimu placed a hand on his shoulder and said to the others, “What are you panicking for? As long as they don’t come over to bite you, just pretend you didn’t see them. Those riffraff who used to shake you down upon meeting weren’t any scarier than them.”

The group wore complex expressions at his words, while Britto murmured in disbelief, “You can’t generalize like that…”

Furong blinked and added, “Baimu is right, everyone. Don’t worry, the real danger isn’t them—”

“Yo, no!”

The Dusknoir behind her suddenly moved, rubbing its large palms together in front of it, condensing a dark purple Energy Ball.

In the shadow where the light couldn’t reach, a ghostly purple flame suddenly flew out.

Dusknoir’s blood-red single eye swiftly locked onto it, and with arms as robust as a top baseball player’s, it threw the Shadow Ball with a spin!

The Ghost Fire tried its best to dodge, but the Shadow Ball seemed locked onto it, chasing relentlessly until there was nowhere left to hide—

Bang!

Murky smoke exploded.

The Dusknoir lunged forward, a large mouth opened on its belly, and it sucked in the Ghost Fire amidst the smoke.

“The strange feeling you’ve vaguely sensed mainly comes from the scattered souls of Spiritomb, and they have no other harm except possession.”

As Furong spoke, she tossed out numerous Pokeballs.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

A series of white lights flashed.

A large number of Dusclops landed, their blood-red eyes scanning the empty Underground City.

“Catch those naughty kids!” Furong’s voice echoed in the Underground City, and the Dusclops drifted away like mummies.

Then she retrieved numerous Guardian charms, resembling lucky bags, from Dusknoir’s belly, distributing them to Britto and subsequent batches of workers arriving, “As long as you wear these, you won’t see those white shadows.”

Baimu reached out, but Furong didn’t give him one.

“You don’t need it, do you?”

“Just curious, purely curious.” He regretfully withdrew his hand.

And once the workers no longer saw the white shadows after wearing the Guardians, although it was akin to self-deception, they gradually relaxed.

The team reached the collapse site, where many large digging machines were left behind.

The Underground City wasn’t the deepest part of Pyrite Town; deeper down were pitch-black mineshafts, where various forces in Pyrite Town once disposed of those too valuable to kill by sending them to dig mines.

Rumor had it that long ago, there was a lower-level arena there, which closed due to unknown influences.

The machines roared to life.

Unlike Steelix’s earth-ruffling digging, the workers’ heavy machinery operated steadily and swiftly, clearing away sundry debris and piling sand and stones to the side.

Baimu watched intently.

In his past life, he enjoyed watching large machines at work, vaguely appreciating the beauty of their mechanics.

Unfortunately, Hoopa’s interests didn’t align with his, so it went off bored, along with Gengar, to find fun elsewhere.

Furong used the Dusknoir to command the Dusclops scattered around the Underground City, occasionally turning back to have brief chats with Baimu, mostly inquiring about his past.

Notably, the faint white shadows around her were increasingly numerous.

Unable to restrain himself, Baimu asked, “They—”

“It’s okay, they just lacked someone to talk to for so long. Now they’ve finally found someone who can hear them, so naturally, they drifted closer,” she replied with a smile.

Growing up in a place like God-sending Mountain makes all the difference.

Though Baimu wasn’t afraid, being surrounded by so many lost souls made him feel a bit eerie, “Can you gather intelligence from them?”