Live Stream Treasure Appraisal: Your elf isn't thriving!

Chapter 671: A blue frog-like Pokémon with Fighting and Poison attributes, suspected of causing trou

Chapter 671: A blue frog-like Pokémon with Fighting and Poison attributes, suspected of causing trouble in the herb field; quite wicked.

The screen is filled with yellow.

The number of viewers in the live stream did not decrease but increased, exceeding 363 million. The barrage of comments was like a waterfall.

Yellow sand blanketed everything, the camera lens was like it was stuffed into a blender, shaking violently and only blurry outlines could be seen. Old Zheng's voice boomed from the depths of the sandstorm, "They're not dead! They're all alive! We've evacuated!"

The scene stabilized somewhat. Old Zheng was crouching behind an overturned equipment truck, his safety helmet askew, his face covered in sand, only his wide-open eyes visible. The construction workers behind him were scattered about, but they were all moving, and there were no injuries.

Ye Yinchuan breathed a sigh of relief, but his tone remained tense.

"Old Zheng, how far have you retreated from the construction site?"

"About 150 meters!" Old Zheng roared. "You said 100, so I've already lowered the limit by 50! It's a sure thing!"

"That's enough. Don't move now."

Ye Yinchuan's gaze pierced through the dust and sand in the scene, his discerning eye working at full capacity.

The hippopotamus had completely risen from the ground.

Its size was even larger than the bulldozer in the picture. Its light brown body resembled a moving sand dune, with six holes on its back continuously spewing out fine streams of sand, sustaining the sandstorm across the entire area. Its mouth was wide open, large enough to fit an adult.

But it didn't chase after it.

It stood still, its massive body slightly turned to the side, its left abdomen facing the ground—the site of its injury. It was protecting its wound.

The female sand hippo quickly ran to the hippo's side, her short legs making a soft thud as she stepped into the sand. She nuzzled the hippo's front legs with her round head.

The hippo lowered its head, and the stream of sand spewing from its two enormous nostrils slowed down.

It glanced at the sand hippopotamus.

The intensity of the sandstorm has decreased by 30%.

"Did you see that?" Ye Yinchuan's voice came into the live broadcast room.

The chat was silent for a moment.

[The sand-horse is comforting the hippopotamus!]

It's saying, "Don't be angry, the person ran away, it's okay now."

Why do I have a feeling—these two are a couple?

Ye Yinchuan did not directly answer this comment, but instead talked about something else.

"Old Zheng, aim your camera at the ground between the hippopotamus and the sand hippopotamus."

Although Lao Zheng felt uneasy, he still poked his head out from behind the equipment vehicle, raised his phone, and zoomed in as wide as possible.

The sandstorm is still ongoing, but its intensity has decreased to a level that does not obstruct visibility. The sand is shifting between the hippopotamus and the sand hippo.

One, two, three—seven small sand dunes rose from the ground.

A small face popped out from the top of each sand dune.

Round head. Big nostrils. Small eyes.

Seven young sand hippos.

They emerged from their underground burrows and wobbled around the hippopotamus's legs. The smallest one, no bigger than a fist, could barely walk and swayed as it huddled under the female sand hippo's belly, curling up into a ball.

The chat in the live stream changed its style at that moment.

A family of nine.

[Dad was injured, Mom was shielding him from the outside, and the children were hiding underground.]

So from beginning to end, the hippopotamus wasn't guarding its own den, but rather the lives of its entire family.

[Old Zheng, you're not drilling into the rock, you're drilling into someone's delivery room!]

Old Zheng's face turned from pale to red, and he opened his mouth but couldn't say anything.

He squatted behind the equipment vehicle, watching in the distance as two sand hippos, one large and one small, protected their seven calves, and remained silent for a long while.

"Host." His voice had lost its previous roughness and became somewhat muffled.

"I have applied to my superiors to halt exploration in this area."

Ye Yinchuan nodded: "This is the best option. However, simply stopping work isn't enough."

"I know," Old Zheng interrupted him. "I'll report it to the League and apply for Pokémon habitat protection markers to be set up in this area. Anyway, the desert is so big, we can just find another place to drill."

He paused, then added.

"And what about the hippopotamus's injury—can I have the team medic bring a first-aid kit over?"

Ye Yinchuan shook his head: "No. The hippopotamus is on high alert right now; anyone who gets close will be considered a threat."

Contact your local Pokémon center and have them send an experienced breeder with professional medication to administer from a distance. The drill wound isn't deep, and given a hippo's constitution, it should heal on its own within a week.

"Okay! I'll make the call right now!"

Old Zheng stood up, dusted himself off, and strode away. After a few steps, he turned back, grinned at the camera, and gave it a good look.

"Thanks, streamer. If it weren't for you, I probably would have been bitten in two by that big mouth today."

Ye Yinchuan chuckled: "You should thank that sand hippopotamus instead of me. If it hadn't blocked your way and given you a warning, when you drove the fourth drill, the hippo wouldn't have crawled out of the ground to scare you—it would have swallowed you whole, machine and all."

Old Zheng shivered, took off his helmet, and bowed to the female hippopotamus still squatting next to the bulldozer in the distance.

In the video, the sand hippo tilts its head and spews out two puffs of fine sand from its two large nostrils.

It's unclear whether this is a response or an expression of "good to know."

The connection is broken.

The live stream chat was still flooded with comments, and the topic had expanded from "how big is the Hippo's mouth" to "should the regulations for protecting desert Pokémon habitats be revised?"

Ye Yinchuan did not participate in the discussion. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples.

Humans and Pokémon coexist in this world. Sometimes, human actions can harm Pokémon, but they can also backfire.

One of his missions is to reduce the occurrence of such situations.

"Alright." He sat up straight again, adjusted the camera angle, and said, "Let's continue."

My finger swipes across the list of live chat connections.

An application popped up.

The content is short, but the wording is very special—it doesn't sound like a typical audience member's plea for help, but rather like a brief academic report.

"Hello Mr. Kirby. I am Zhou, a pharmacist at the Maple Town Health Center. Recently, while collecting medicinal plants in the Bitter Apricot Wetland outside town, I discovered a group of blue, frog-like Pokémon occupying my herb garden, which I use year-round. There are about twelve to fifteen of them, they are not large, and their behavior is unusual—they seem to be applying some kind of liquid to the roots of the herbs with their fingers. I have observed them for three days, and the herbs that have been treated are growing significantly better than the untreated plants around them. However, at the same time, there is a pungent odor around my herb garden, and other Pokémon and animals dare not approach it. I cannot determine whether these Pokémon are destroying my herb garden or doing something else. I request your assistance in identifying them. Attached: I have taken some video footage."

Ye Yinchuan's gaze lingered for two seconds on the phrase "apply a certain liquid to the roots of the herb with your fingers".

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

"interesting."

connected.

Screen switch.

A woman wearing round-framed glasses appeared in front of the camera. She was in her early thirties, with a ponytail, no makeup, and a white lab coat over a windbreaker. She spoke at a moderate pace, clearly and logically.

"Mr. Kirby, this is Zhou Yingqiu. Thank you for connecting."

"Pharmacist Zhou, hello. Let me see those Pokémon you mentioned first."

"it is good."

Zhou Yingqiu was clearly prepared. Unlike the previous interviewers who frantically switched cameras, she directly switched to pre-recorded footage.

The scene changes.

Bitter apricot wetland.

This is a typical inland freshwater wetland. Low reeds, dark brown mudflats, and shallow puddles filled with duckweed and water hyacinths. The air looks very humid.

The footage was taken from behind bushes, and the angle is stable, clearly indicating the use of a tripod.

The camera focused on a cultivated medicinal herb field. The field was small, about twenty square meters, planted with several rows of low-growing herbaceous plants. Judging from the shape of the leaves, they resembled some kind of traditional medicinal herb.

There were thirteen Pokémon in the middle of the herb field.

Blue. Dark blue.

They are not large, reaching about waist-high when standing. They have long, slender limbs and stand with a slightly forward-leaning posture, giving them a somewhat carefree appearance.

Each one has two small orange pouches bulging on either side of its cheeks; those are poison sacs.

Its middle finger is also yellow, which indicates that it can secrete venom.

The eyes are also yellow. Expression —

Well, how should I put it?

If I had to describe him in one word, it would be "rogue".

They tilted their heads, half-closed their eyes, and slightly upturned the corners of their mouths. Their expressions didn't look like they were working; they looked more like they were just slacking off.

But their fingers are indeed moving.

As the camera zoomed in, everyone could see that each blue Pokémon's fingertips were coated with a viscous, slightly purplish liquid. They were crouching beside the herbs, carefully touching the roots of the herbs with their fingertips.

The movements are slow.

Little by little.

It looks like they're performing some kind of precise operation.

What the heck? These toads are fertilizing the plants?!

A blue frog? I've never seen one before.

Look at their expressions, each one more smug than the last—but their actions are so serious? What kind of adorable contrast is this?

Wait! Purple liquid is seeping from my fingertips? Isn't that—venom?

Ye Yinchuan looked at the group of blue little guys on the screen, and a golden stream of data flashed in his eyes.

Pokémon: Croagunk

[Attribute: Poison/Fighting]

【Characteristics: Suitable for dry skin】

[Status: Healthy/Focused]

Thirteen. All of them are bad frogs.

"Bad Frog," Ye Yinchuan uttered the name.

The live chat immediately became lively.

[Bad Frog? That's such a sleazy name!]

【A delinquent frog? Why is it called a delinquent? Because it looks like a thug?】

Haha, look at their stance! They look just like a bunch of street thugs!

Ye Yinchuan didn't rush to explain the meaning of the name, but instead asked Zhou Yingqiu a question first.

"Pharmacist Zhou, you said the herbs you applied grew better. What exactly did you mean by that?"

Zhou Yingqiu adjusted her glasses and answered quickly: "The leaves are thicker, the color is darker green, and the root system is significantly better than the untreated ones."

The plant is robust. I tested it and the content of active ingredients is more than 40% higher.

"Forty percent?" Ye Yinchuan raised an eyebrow.

"That's right. I did three control groups, and the data were consistent."

The viewers in the live stream were also drawn to this number.

[Forty percent? Are they really fertilizing the herbs? Fertilizing them with poison?]

This is outrageous! Shouldn't venom kill plants?

Ye Yinchuan leaned back in his chair, his gaze sweeping over the delinquent frogs in the picture—frogs with roguish looks but diligent work—and began to explain.

"The Bad Frog is a poison-fighting type. The two small orange pouches on its cheeks are its venom sacs. It can make a croaking sound by inflating its venom sacs; the sound is unique, a gurgling sound like bubbles rising in a swamp."

He held up one finger.

"But what's really noteworthy isn't its venom sacs, but its fingers."

In the image, a pesky frog is crouching beside a herb, its fingertips pressed against the root surface, as a purple liquid slowly seeps into the soil.

"The fingertips of the 'bad frog' secrete a special venom. Direct contact with this venom can cause poisoning."

Yes. But

He paused.

"If properly diluted, this venom can be used as a pharmaceutical ingredient. In the pharmaceutical field, the toxin extract from the fingertips of the 'bad frog' is one of the effective ingredients for treating lower back pain."

Zhou Yingqiu's expression changed.

"Treats back pain?" Her voice took on a professional sharpness. "You mean, the venom they secrete has pharmacological activity?"

"It has more than just pharmacological activity," Ye Yinchuan said. "The venom of the 'Bad Frog' has a complex composition, containing various alkaloids and special proteases. At high concentrations, it is a deadly toxin, but at low concentrations, it can promote cell regeneration and accelerate the absorption of minerals by plant roots."

He looked at the camera.

"So, Pharmacist Zhou, the reason your herbs are growing forty percent better is not because the nasty frogs are fertilizing them. Rather, it's because their diluted venom has seeped into the soil, activating the absorption capacity of the herb roots."

Zhou Yingqiu's mouth was slightly open, and she couldn't close it for a long time.

The comments section went crazy.

So these blue toads aren't causing trouble, they're farming???

Using venom as fertilizer? What kind of operation is this?!

[Bad Frog: I'm not a delinquent, I'm an agricultural scientist!]

[The pharmaceutical company's mascot isn't just a figurehead! It's got real skills!]

Ye Yinchuan smiled and continued.

"However, there is one more point worth noting."

His gaze swept over the arrangement of the thirteen unruly frogs in the picture.

They are not randomly scattered in the medicinal herb field.

Observe carefully the area each of the malnourishing frogs is responsible for; they are spaced several equal intervals apart. The order in which they process the herbs is a spiral progression from the edge of the field towards the center. Their movements are synchronized, their rhythm is consistent.

This is not an unorganized foraging behavior.

This is planned collaboration.

"Pharmacist Zhou, you've observed for three days. Have you noticed that these unruly frogs arrive at the same time every day?"

Zhou Yingqiu nodded: "Once in the early morning and once at dusk. Each time it will last about an hour."

"Did they arrive together, or gradually?"

"Together. Emerging from the reeds on the east side of the wetland. Forming a single file."

Ye Yinchuan's eyes lit up.

"One column," he repeated, "that's it."

He looked at the camera, his voice lowering slightly.

"Creepy is usually a social Pokémon. But their group structure is different from most social Pokémon. They don't have a strict hierarchy, and they don't rank people based on size or strength. Their group cooperation relies on 'consensus'."

"If a group of unruly frogs collectively do something—such as applying poison to a medicinal herb field—it means that one individual in the group took the lead in this behavior, and the other individuals observed, imitated, and followed suit."

In other words, he pointed to the screen.

"Among these thirteen unruly frogs, one was the 'ringleader.' It was the first to discover this medicinal herb field, the first to try treating the herbs with venom, and then it inspired the entire group."

Zhou Yingqiu frowned: "The leader? But I've been observing them for three days, and they all look pretty much the same—"

"They look similar, but their behavior can differ. Think back—was there any bad frog that applied venom?"

"When do you stop to inspect the work of other individuals?"

Zhou Yingqiu's expression changed.

"Yes!" she blurted out. "There's one! Every time it finishes cleaning its own area, it goes over to check the herbs that other bad frogs have applied. Sometimes it even applies the herbs again to the areas that other bad frogs have already applied."

That's the core individual.

Ye Yinchuan nodded.

"and"

Before he could finish speaking, a commotion suddenly broke out on screen.

In the live feed, Zhou Yingqiu's camera suddenly shook.

"What happened?" Ye Yinchuan asked.

Zhou Yingqiu's voice carried a hint of tension: "They've stopped. They've all stopped."

Once the image stabilized, Ye Yinchuan saw it.

Thirteen naughty frogs stood up in unison.

They no longer squatted down to apply the venom.

All the nasty frogs turned in the same direction—deep into the reeds on the east side of the wetland.

Their cheek venom sacs began to swell.