I'm popularizing ecology in the Pokémon world.

Misaka Joy first covered her mouth in slight surprise, then put her hands together on one side of her cheek, pressed them against her chin, and tilted her head to make a cute girlish face.

"Oh dear, we've been discovered~ Teacher Chen, your reaction is so sharp, no wonder you've been able to escape danger so many times in the forest."

"Praising me now is useless!"

"Haha, Teacher Chen, don't be so wary. Although I was indeed asked by an acquaintance to invite you to be the special guide for this hunting festival, I swear this is not a scam!"

Their offer is very generous! This is also to leverage your soaring online popularity, Teacher Chen, making it a win-win situation for everyone~

Seeing that Chen Mu was still somewhat unmoved, Misaka Joy quickly put on a pleading expression, lowered her head and put her hands together in prayer.

"Please, Teacher Chen, as compensation, how about I make energy cubes for your elves for the next few days? Our Joy family is very famous for its medicinal food!"

Chen Mu looked at Ralts on the table next to him.

Little Ralts put down the bottle, looking confused. It tilted its head and thought for a while before finally nodding vigorously.

Along the way, the red Pikachu taught her several powerful moves, but she still struggles to use them.

If she could eat some energy cubes to speed up her growth, she might be able to master these new moves even faster!

Little Ralts was filled with anticipation.

Seeing that his little one had agreed, Chen Mu did not refuse again.

The main reason is that he doesn't have any other tasks for a while.

After agreeing, the two discussed some details. Chen Mu listened to Misaka Joy's account of the hiring fee and indeed felt the sincerity.

But then he suddenly thought of something and couldn't help but ask.

"So, you could have just been honest with me about this from the beginning, right?"

The fee offered by your acquaintance is reasonable, and it doesn't seem like they're planning to do anything underhanded. As long as you relay the message normally, I'm very likely to agree.

Just like you said, this was originally a win-win collaboration.

So why did you have to be so calculating and veiled in your words from the very beginning? What were you after?

"..."

Misaka Joy fell silent.

"You're not just enjoying the feeling of potentially toying with me, are you?"

"..."

After a second of silence, Misaka Joy, who had nothing to say, blinked and winked, trying to get away with it by being cute.

"Hehe~"

"Hey, what are you talking about!"

You deserve to lose several days' worth of energy cubes, you jerk!

……

The following morning, Chen Mu took the letter of introduction from Misaka Joy to the town where the hunting season began, located in the southern part of the plateau.

Misaka herself couldn't come with Chen Mu because she needed to continue following up on the Eevee's treatment plan.

Upon arriving at the destination, Chen Mu immediately felt a lively atmosphere ahead of the festival.

The streets were packed with people, all busy setting up stalls, hanging banners and ribbons, and decorating exterior walls and eaves.

The twice-yearly hunting season is one of the most important festivals on the Quartz Plateau!

In the Pokémon world, hunting mainly refers to capturing wild Pokémon, rather than hunting in the traditional sense.

The animation also includes storylines about hunting areas and the hunting season.

In the earliest version of the anime, Ash participated in a hunting season event in a certain area, where he caught a bunch of Tauros in the designated hunting area, and then packed them all up and sent them back to Professor Oak's lab.

After that, Professor Oak would often be launched into the air by Tauros when writing senryu at the end of the series.

The hunting season in this world is generally scheduled in spring and autumn, and each season lasts about twenty days.

Outside of the hunting season, all hunting and taming activities are prohibited within the protected area, and violators will suffer the same fate as the Rust Gang.

This is also to ensure that the wild Pokémon in the area have enough time to rest and recuperate.

Arriving at this town, the starting point of the hunting season—which will be the starting point for all tourists to enter the hunting area when the hunting season officially opens—Chen Mu originally planned to explore on his own first, and then find someone later with the letter of introduction.

Unexpectedly, he had only been there a short time when the other party had already received the news and took the initiative to come to him.

The person who came to greet us was even a major shareholder of the company, showing us the utmost respect.

"Master Lijia?" Chen Mu exclaimed in surprise, recognizing the person before him.

The beautiful woman in a kimono who came to greet him was none other than Rika, the head of the Tamagotchi City Dojo in the Kanto region.

"Oh? I didn't expect you to recognize me right away, Professor Chen, even though I specially wore a casual outfit today."

Lijia smiled with a hint of surprise.

As the official gym leader, Rika usually appears on television in her battle outfit, rarely showing her in a kimono.

"But I'm sorry, in my memory, your game avatar has always been in a kimono." Chen Mu sighed inwardly.

Chen Mu did not dare to neglect this curator, Li Jia.

Because Rika has two versions of her image—in the anime version, she is just an ordinary perfume shop owner who enjoys flower arranging and is not enthusiastic about Pokémon battles. As a gym leader, she is even a bit of a nefarious person.

If we only look at the anime version, Rika, as the gym leader, is probably only slightly stronger than the three pretty girls from Cerulean City.

But if you look at the manga version, Rika is on a completely different level!

In the Kanto vs. Johto Gym Leaders Tournament in the manga, Rika participated as the Kanto region's Grand General and team leader!

Although she ultimately lost to Lyub, the gym leader of the Johto Kaji Gym, in the Grand Tournament, it wasn't Rika's fault, it was Lyub's fault!

In the comics, Liu Bo is capable of soloing a level one god and speedrunning the final boss of a level two god; the Four Heavenly Kings were once his underlings.

Moreover, in the manga version, Rika is a leading figure against Team Rocket who gives even Giovanni a headache.

At a time when more than half of the gym leaders in the Kanto region were Team Rocket members, Rika was still able to make Giovanni hesitate and not dare to act rashly, which shows the strength of this kimono-clad beauty.

At this moment, Chen Mu still couldn't figure out which timeline this world was on, so he dared not underestimate the gentle woman in front of him, who was as gentle as a Yamato Nadeshiko.

"Ms. Lijia, you're too kind. I didn't expect you to come in person."

"Teacher Chen, you're too kind."

This year's hunting season has been unusually hosted by Yuhong City, and I myself have some minor involvement here, so I can't help but shamelessly ask Teacher Chen for help with promotion and to borrow your online influence.

I hope Professor Chen won't take offense at my abruptness.

"No, no."

Chen Mu suddenly remembered that yesterday, as soon as they left the forest, Sakura mentioned in surprise that her aunt, Misaka Joy, worked in Yuhong City.

It turns out that all of this was indeed traceable.