Chapter 1232: Difficult to Distinguish Truth from Lies (Part 2)

Dusknoir flew forward, closing the distance with the evil spirit of Camerupt, raising a hand and delivering a slap. The blackish-purple energy wave in its palm exploded, pinning Camerupt firmly to the ground.

What a move, [Shadow Ball]!

“Eeeee——”

The human-shaped evil spirit leaped over Dusknoir’s head, shrieking as it pounced towards Furong, only to be kicked into the air by her.

Indeed.

Furong had clearly trained in fighting techniques; her high kick was both swift and precise.

“How was that?” She still had the presence of mind to turn her head and ask Baimu for his evaluation, her sun-kissed long leg still airborne during her inquiry.

However.

Baimu did not respond, only pointing overhead.

Furong followed his lead and looked up, suddenly seeing Banette spit another large cloud of Black Mist.

“The second… no, multiple evil spirits!” She was finally unsettled; evil spirits were rare things wherever they were, so why did Banette seem to produce them like they were mass-produced?

At the same moment, the human-shaped evil spirit attacked again; this time, Dusknoir did not let it go easily, swinging a fist with its other free hand!

The black energy fist struck its head hard; as the smoke exploded, Dusknoir grabbed it.

The dual-bodied evil spirit was entirely in Dusknoir’s grasp.

“Uhuuh!”

No hint of ease showed on its face as it pressed down on the struggling human and Pokémon-shaped evil spirit, staring intently at the large masses of Black Mist in the distance with a particularly serious expression.

Baimu silently activated the Super Stone, “Super Evolution!”

“Roar!”

Aggron raised its head and roared as its entire body was illuminated by the evolving blue light.

Though Furong could certainly handle things, it wouldn’t be right to stand by and watch, leaving her to fight alone.

Moreover, battling evil spirits…

Seemed kind of fun?

Many bizarre species were left with only pitiful combat power after their mysterious veils were pulled back; in many horror games, they could be taken down with a handgun.

Baimu didn’t have a gun.

But he did have handmade bombs he had crafted long ago and never used!

“Go!”

Several palm-sized black spheres were taken out from the stomach of Altered-color Gengar, flying towards the quickly forming multitude of evil spirits.

They looked up, seemingly curious about what these were.

The next second.

Boom boom boom boom——!!

Towering fire exploded, triggering tremors in the arena; shockwaves swept through the entire space, also freezing the furious expression of Banette inside the vortex overhead.

W-what was this?

“Just a little invention I found online, useful against evil spirits?”

Baimu, clutching handfuls of blast grenades learned through a female student’s memory, met Furong’s stunned gaze, the latter’s jaw nearly dropped.

She said nervously, “It’s certainly useful… Where did you get so many dangerous explosives? And stash them in Gengar’s belly!”

“Something I made earlier, this thing has safety valves; as long as they’re not opened, no matter how hard you hit, they won’t detonate. Want one?” Baimu noticed the smoke clearing, tossing another batch over there.

Boom boom boom——

The arena was thoroughly illuminated by the bursting flames; Mega Aggron watched the scene deep in thought.

Is there still a use for me?

Just obediently serve as a shield.

Mega Aggron knew well that when it wasn’t needed to attack, it was the Trainer’s strongest shield.

“No need!”

Furong steered clear of such dangerous items; she raised her prayer beads, then pulled out a Pokeball to use as a temporary sealing tool, sealing the evil spirits that Dusknoir had pressed down.

Baimu looked at the petrified Pokeball that fell to the ground, thinking of the stone sphere that sealed Pokelantis.

The two were almost identical.

Then.

Furong and Dusknoir dashed into the rolling smoke, sealing the evil spirits that had blown up, all disoriented and yet to recover, one by one according to procedure.

As the smoke cleared, only Furong and Dusknoir remained on the metal platform.

This made Banette increasingly angry.

“Get out! Get out!”

It no longer spewed evil spirits, reverting to its initial chanting mode, emitting waves of telepathy, hoping to use this method to force Furong and Baimu away.

However, Furong already had a countermeasure.

She ran back to Baimu, slightly shaking her bell, sending out translucent ripples that immediately blocked the telepathic waves.

“It’s out of tricks.”

Furong concluded confidently, “I’m not sure what this thing is planning, but it clearly doesn’t want to move away from the Spirit Realm entrance; its main body won’t come down here, so it can’t do anything to us.”

Baimu nodded, starting to ponder another matter.

Banette indicated it was waiting for his grandfather, Long He, but Shanren had said Mr. Lidi explained that Grandfather Long He sacrificed himself underground.

Or could it be that Grandfather didn’t die, and went somewhere else?

It’s possible.

Because Baimu had yet to figure out the situation regarding his parents; he had no relevant memories, having grown up on Cyan Iridium Street since he could remember.

Why was he left in Pyrite Town? Where did his parents actually go?

All remained unsolved mysteries.

Perhaps Grandfather Long He narrowly escaped death from underground, only to lose memories and drift along, marrying and having children in Pyrite Town…

Baimu felt like he was brainstorming furiously.

Above.

Banette hysterically complained for a while, realizing it couldn’t do anything to the two below, probably feeling a bit helpless, it just stared at them.

Furong took the opportunity to lift the bell’s protection.

“What… exactly are you trying to do?”

Banette’s telepathy contained a hint of grating teeth.

Furong said straight out: “We want you to open the entrance, so that the lost souls can enter the Spirit Realm—”

“That’s impossible!”

Banette rejected outright.

“Why not? Since you’re the gatekeeper, you should know these souls must go to the Spirit Realm! That’s a natural law!” Furong frowned.

Banette shouted: “That person hasn’t arrived yet! I’m waiting for him to come!”

“Waiting for someone while preventing souls from entering the Spirit Realm… wait, I get it! You haven’t become a gatekeeper?!” She looked at Banette in surprise.

Baimu listened in total confusion.

Luckily, Furong didn’t forget to explain, “The Spirit Realm exists in another dimensional world; its entrance usually appears randomly, existing to escort souls. Only a Spirit Realm entrance with a gatekeeper can be summoned via a medium…’

“Room 1608 is exactly this; initially, it clearly had nothing to do with Mauville Hotel, yet appeared due to the antique mural, which is essentially one of the mediums. Banette’s current problem is it formed some awkward connection with the Spirit Realm entrance, hard to detach from, but it’s not a gatekeeper, so once it gets away from the entrance, it, along with the lost souls, will go to the Spirit Realm and unable to return.”

Furong gestured with her finger to represent a shrinking and shrinking circle.

Oh dear.

The situation is rather frustrating.

Baimu held his forehead, “I get it, so now the only solution is to find my grandfather, Long He?”

“Seems like it.” Furong nodded.

“… Alright.”

He pulled out his phone—no signal, clearly devoid of network coverage here.

So Baimu turned to Banette, saying, “Wait a moment, we’ll soon find the person you’re waiting for and bring them over.”

Furong’s eyes lit up at his words, saying, “Yeah! With Hoopa, we can definitely find your grandfather! Where is it?”

“It went back to Carlos, we’ll go contact it once we’re out.”

“Okay.”

The two talked softly and then vanished in a flash.

“…”

Banette watched their disappearing figures silently and for the first time in years felt puzzled, quietly curling back into the vortex, seemingly contemplating something.

Meanwhile.

Shanren had just finished a call with Lidi, rubbing his brow to rest, suddenly noticing Baimu, Furong, along with Mega Aggron and Dusknoir appearing, stunned for a moment.

He quickly asked, “How’d things go?”

“My grandfather… may not have sacrificed underground, Banette wishes to find him and mistook me for him.”

Baimu stated briefly.

But Shanren was taken aback upon hearing this, saying quickly, “Impossible! Teacher Lidi told me on the phone just now, Mr. Long He indeed sacrificed himself! Teacher Lidi even got his remains from Banette!”

“Wha!?”

Baimu and Furong’s eyes widened in shock together.