I opened a restaurant in the Pokémon world.

Although Heath was allowed to enter the interior of Petalburg Woods, driving in was not an option, so Heath had to go out alone with Cynthia. This made Heath feel a little uncomfortable, since she had basically lived in the food truck every day since she got it. She didn't expect to experience the joy of walking again after so long.

"How do we solve the problem of food?" Heath asked curiously. Although they had taken a lot of supplies, it was definitely not as good as Heath's food cart when it came to food. The food cart had all kinds of cooking utensils, but outside they could only use some simple cooking utensils, and most importantly, the ingredients would not be plentiful.

“I have a space backpack from the Alliance, which can hold a lot of things!” Cynthia smiled and shook the backpack on her back. Hiss clicked his tongue. He had to admit that this thing was really high-tech. However, it could only hold inanimate objects, not living creatures. That was probably a small limitation. Otherwise, it would be even easier for others to cause trouble in the future.

After packing their things, Heath grabbed a Poké Ball and followed Cynthia into the interior of Petalburg Woods. Instead of walking to the end, Heath and Cynthia quickly summoned their Flying Pokémon and flew off in one direction.

"Cynthia, are we going to see that Totem Pokémon?" Hiss asked curiously. Although he was still a little afraid of heights, he had to admit that the fear of heights seemed to have subsided considerably when he was riding Charizard. Hiss was now more at ease and was more concerned about the Totem Pokémon, Gengar.

“Yes, Gengar is the dominant Pokémon in Petalburg Woods. Although it doesn’t admit it, asking it will save us a lot of time,” Cynthia said with a smile. Cynthia nodded. That made sense, but she didn’t know what Gengar’s personality was like.

Soon, led by Cynthia, Heath saw the mansion nestled in the forest, which surprised him somewhat.

Chapter 919 Gengar in the Mansion

"Wow, look who's here! Find a seat, Miss Zhulan." A warm voice called out, but Heath's expression turned strange. If it weren't for the "Miss Zhulan" part, Heath would have thought he'd come to the wrong place. This reminded Heath of some unpleasant memories. That game used to be Heath's favorite card game, but it turned out that players' hard work was nothing but meaningless scraps of paper in the eyes of the game company. From that day on, Heath abandoned that game company that was once hailed as a god.

Although Heath didn't know what happened after he traveled through time, he felt that even if that company came back to him, he probably wouldn't choose it again. After all, all his hard work had been wiped out by their statement, and he couldn't trust that company again. He would rather they die with dignity. If they were still thinking of coming back to make money off people like him, then they were really being greedy.

Heath shook his head, no longer thinking about that disappointing company, and instead focused his attention on the Gengar in front of him, which was quite unique.

"Hello, Gengar." Cynthia smiled as she looked at the enormous Gengar in front of her. Compared to a normal Gengar, it was much larger. Standing in front of Cynthia, it was about the size of an average adult. Cynthia rubbed her eyes when she saw the Gengar in front of her. She even wondered if she was seeing things. Why was there such a huge Pokémon?

While most Gengar can stretch their bodies to unimaginable lengths, this Gengar in front of them was ridiculously large. Hiss even found it hard to understand why this Gengar was so big.

At this moment, Gengar also looked at Hiss curiously. It was the first time it had seen Cynthia bring other humans over. However, Gengar was stunned when it saw that the sun was on the man's chest and that there was light behind the man that could not be described. Gengar was shocked. What was going on with this man?

However, when you look at it again a second later, it seems to have returned to normal.

Hiss looked at Gengar with great curiosity. He had never seen such a huge Gengar in the game. He would have thought that Gengar had performed a Dynamax. At this moment, Gengar looked even more like an enlarged version of Gengar. In addition, the energy on its body was very solid. When Charizard carrying Hiss saw the Gengar in front of it, its eyes showed excitement. It had an urge to touch the Gengar in front of it.

"Welcome, stranger." Gengar extended its hand politely. Hiss shook hands with it with a strange expression. It has to be said that this Gengar is indeed different from ordinary Pokémon. Most other Pokémon, except for legendary and psychic Pokémon, just feel like Pokémon to Hiss. But this guy in front of him gives Hiss a very strange feeling, as if he has met an ordinary person.

Fortunately, the Gengar behaved normally otherwise. It even warmly invited Heath and Cynthia to come inside and see its home, a home it had decorated. Heath couldn't refuse such an overly enthusiastic invitation, so she went inside with Gengar. Once inside, Heath realized that this Gengar was far more abnormal than she had imagined. After all, it had decorated the mansion into a very luxurious and tidy place.

Heath had some doubts about whether the Gengar in front of her had some strange personality traits, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder or germophobia.

"Oh? You mean, you're looking for a submerged mansion in Petalburg Woods?" Gengar leisurely picked up its teacup, blew on it, and slowly swallowed the tea. It looked at Heath and asked a question. Heath's lips twitched. Although he already knew this Gengar was different from other Pokémon, it still felt a little strange. Fortunately, Heath quickly adjusted his mindset. It was just a Pokémon like a legendary Pokémon, after all. Heath had even seen legendary Pokémon, let alone a mere Gengar.

"Yes, a Western-style mansion submerged in water." Heath said politely. If this Gengar was the boss of Petalburg Woods, then it must know something about this. You know, there are basically Water-type Pokémon in the water, unless there is something wrong with the water or human intervention. Although he didn't know if Gengar knew the exact location, he and Cynthia could find it by searching. But if they could get some information from Gengar, it would be of great help to Heath and Cynthia. At the very least, it would save a lot of unnecessary time and prevent them from wasting time.

“Oh… I’ve heard of that. A Altaria came to Petalburg City looking for her husband, and she told me that during her search, she accidentally discovered a human structure submerged in water. But I don’t know if it’s the one you’re talking about.” Gengar pondered for a moment before giving his answer. Heath was taken aback; this answer was indeed somewhat unexpected.

After asking for the specific address, Gengar readily gave a location. Heath looked at it on the map, and according to the location Gengar gave, it should be a lake not far away. It looked very large, but it was definitely not deep in Petalburg Woods, which puzzled Heath a bit, but she still decided to go and take a look with Cynthia.

“Mr. Heath, I heard from Cynthia that you are a chef?” But before he could leave, Heath was stopped by Gengar. Upon hearing Gengar’s words, Heath nodded. He was indeed a chef, which was not surprising.

"Could you please cook me a dish?" Gengar asked expectantly, its voice sounding somewhat timid, as if it were afraid of something. Heath paused for a moment after hearing this, but then nodded. Providing food to Pokémon guests was a good choice, and it could also earn rewards. Moreover, this was the Totem Gengar. Heath was very curious about what he would get for entertaining Gengar.

"Okay, but what would you like to eat?" Heath was very polite. It's normal for Heath to be polite to others when they are polite to him.

Chapter 920 Gengar Wants to Eat Macaroni

"I...I don't know how to describe it...it's something like this?" Unexpectedly, Gengar seemed a little hesitant. He couldn't figure out what he wanted to eat. This gave Heath some ideas. It seemed that what Gengar wanted to eat was probably something he had only eaten a few times, or maybe only once, and it was most likely food made by humans. Otherwise, given Gengar's intelligence, Heath thought it wouldn't be difficult for Gengar to say what he wanted to eat.

Furthermore, Cynthia noticed that this Gengar was different from the other Pokémon. This Gengar spoke directly to her and Cynthia, which is something that ordinary Pokémon cannot do. Even Psychic Pokémon like Ralts and Mew communicate primarily through telepathy rather than by speaking. This highlights Gengar's uniqueness. The last time Cynthia had seen a talking Pokémon was Meowth, who was with James.

It seems that it's not just Meowth that can learn human language; some of the smarter Pokémon can also learn human language. However, this is quite normal. In the past, some intelligent primates, although they couldn't speak human language, were still quite clever. Some birds like parrots and mynahs could even learn human language and say a few words. How much more so for these even smarter Pokémon.

However, looking at the strange dishes that Gengar had created with Ghost-type energy, Heath couldn't help but touch his chin.

The dish in front of him looked like noodles, but much larger than ordinary noodles, yet it wasn't wide noodles. Considering its shape and thickness, Heath thought it was very likely something like macaroni.

Macaroni. Anyone who has watched cartoons like Garfield knows what macaroni is. It looks a bit like pasta, but it's not traditional pasta. Many people also think of macaroni as spaghetti, but they are actually different. However, the preparation methods are somewhat similar. It can also be made into a traditional meat sauce pasta dish, and the taste is pretty good. Depending on the other ingredients added, it comes in many varieties, but Heath has eaten the sweet and sour kind the most.

"What does it taste like?" Heath glanced at Gengar's head. He could already see Gengar's favorite and least favorite flavors, but its requirements for food seemed somewhat vague. The only thing Heath was certain of was that Gengar was talking about macaroni, but he didn't know why his memory was so hazy. Gengar's requirement for food was simply that it tasted good and happy, which left Heath completely confused.

"Hmm... I think it's a bit... sweet and sour? That seems to be it." Gengar hesitated for a moment before giving his answer. Heath raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. Sweet and sour? If it's combined with macaroni, then Heath thinks the most likely possibility is macaroni and mince. The taste is generally sweet and sour, and it's quite a decent main dish. Moreover, Heath had just checked and found that there is indeed a habit of eating macaroni in the Hoenn region. In fact, in this world, macaroni and mince is a specialty of the Hoenn region.

"I think I understand... Cynthia, could you wait a moment?" Hiss asked Cynthia somewhat apologetically. Cynthia smiled and nodded. She didn't mind at all; in fact, she was quite curious about what Gengar wanted to eat. After all, judging from Gengar's appearance, she could tell that it seemed to have some special relationship with humans. It was very likely that Gengar was someone else's Pokémon that had been captured before, but somehow ended up here, and in this mansion...

The mansion was huge, with three floors and a considerable area, but Cynthia had only been to the first floor. Gengar hadn't taken her up to the second or third floor, so Cynthia was quite curious about this mysterious Gengar. She was a very curious person to begin with, but since Gengar hadn't taken her, Cynthia didn't ask him why he hadn't taken her up.

"Is there a kitchen? And I need to replenish some ingredients." Heath asked Gengar. Although Heath roughly knew what Gengar wanted to eat, the problem was that without ingredients, Heath couldn't just conjure them out of thin air. He was a chef, not a magician, so he couldn't just conjure up food at will.

"There's a kitchen, but no water or electricity, and I don't have any ingredients here either," Gengar answered Heath's question directly. Heath's lips twitched upon hearing this. Goodness, this mansion really has nothing...

But wait, how does this light turn on if there's no electricity?

"I have some little guys here who depend on me for survival." Gengar seemed to sense Heath's confusion, then waved its hand, and an Electrode jumped out, letting out a booming laugh at Heath. Heath looked at Gengar in surprise; he really hadn't expected Gengar to be like this...

Modern? Or retro?

However, looking at the happy Voltorb, Heath felt that this was not so bad. After all, this Gengar was definitely the ruler of this forest, and it was a good thing to have such a strong protector. You know, the competition and rivalry between Pokémon are very serious. If a strong protector protects a weak Pokémon, it can live a better life.

Heath looked at his waist and thought of a solution: he could use Charizard to provide the heat so that Snorlax could spit out ice to make water. That would probably work, but the only problem was the ingredients. Heath had gone inside with Gengar and found that there were cooking utensils, but no ingredients.

Heath rummaged through the things she had brought, but there were no ingredients to make macaroni, since she hadn't planned on eating macaroni today.

"Do you need to buy any ingredients?" Gengar asked again. Hiss nodded and mentioned the missing ingredients, the most important of which was macaroni. However, Gengar's solution to the problem was surprisingly simple. He shouted, and an Kadabra teleported to Gengar's side. Gengar then asked Hiss to speak to the Kadabra.

Hiss's lips twitched. A Pokémon's house is full of Pokémon, which makes sense and there's nothing wrong with it. Although it feels a bit strange, it is indeed the best solution.

Chapter 921 The Weak Self of the Past

"What a useless thing, such a tiny Gastly." In the dim cave, a group of Gastly were gathered together, and in the very center of them was a tiny Gastly. It was so small that it looked excessively short even among its kind. Hearing its companions' words, the tiny Gastly dared not speak and could only obediently shrink into the corner, living cautiously.

The dark caves are not Gastly's favorite place to live, but the mass graves outside are not places that weak Gastly can occupy. So they can only survive in places with weak ghost energy. But even so, it is not an easy thing to grow up successfully.

Gastly never dared to hope to grow up. It was born with a disadvantage and was always in a weak position. It was difficult to even fill its stomach. So Gastly could only pray that its companions would grow up and evolve quickly, and then maybe it could finally have enough to eat.

Everything would have continued to unfold as planned, but one day, some humans came into the dimly lit cave. The strange creatures saw them and showed expressions of delight. Then, groups of powerful Pokémon were released. Gastly tried its best to hide in the innermost part, not wanting to be captured and put into a small, strange sphere like its companions.

But it was still no use; it was found.

"Oh my, such a small Gastly? And it looks so timid? Maybe it can fetch a good price..." The leading man smiled as he looked at Gastly, a hint of amusement in his eyes. Gastly trembled, but was still caught and put into the small ball.

Life didn't go so smoothly after that. Gastly was useless and didn't show anything attractive. It started to go unsold at auctions, and its treatment got worse and worse. It finally evolved into Haunter, but it was still the same and completely useless.

In the end, Gastly was given to a little girl who insisted that she wanted the unique Gastly.

"Hello, Gastly!" the little girl smiled happily.

……

"Mr. Gengar, what do you think of this dish?" Gengar's thoughts were interrupted. It looked up at the man in front of it in surprise. After a while, it reacted. It shook its head violently to clear its mind. Then it looked at the dish in front of it: a plate of macaroni with a faint tomato aroma. This dish was indeed similar to the dish in its memory, except for a few slight differences, but that was insignificant.

"Looks a lot like it." Gengar looked at the food in front of him, his eyes filled with complex emotions. He carefully picked up his fork, then speared a piece of macaroni and put it in his mouth. As he chewed, Gengar's expression froze. This taste...

……

"Oh my, so how does it taste?" A girl looked at the Gastly in front of her with an expectant expression, her big eyes blinking. Gastly was silent for a moment. It had never eaten such food before, and why was it black? There seemed to be some burnt bits at the bottom, but looking at its little master, it really couldn't say that it didn't taste good.

……

"It's delicious." Gengar seemed a little dazed, and he said it in an almost dreamy tone. Heath was taken aback when he heard this. Although he was indeed happy to hear that it was good, for some reason, Heath felt that Gengar wasn't talking about his own plate of spaghetti bolognese. Didn't he see that Gengar hadn't touched his fork after taking a bite? Even looking at his eyes, Heath felt that Gengar seemed to have suddenly disconnected, like a teammate suddenly going offline in an online game.

Hiss looked at Cynthia with some confusion, and Cynthia shrugged as well. She didn't know what was wrong with this Gengar either. It was such a big Gengar, but now it looked weak, pitiful and helpless.

[You entertained the Overlord Gengar, and you have obtained the Proof of Overlordship]

[Proof of Domination: Holding this proof grants you a natural advantage over Totem Pokémon]

Heath scratched his head. How to put it? This reward seemed to have some potential, but it didn't seem to be very useful. After all, Heath mainly traveled to places where humans gathered and rarely went to Pokémon territory. The chances of him encountering a Totem Pokémon were not very high.

However, it does have some uses overall, and it's hard to say whether it will be used in the future.

"Mr. Gengar, what kind of snacks do you like? I'll make you some," Hiss asked, looking at Gengar, who seemed quite lonely.

……

"Gengar, what do you like to eat?" A girl happily hugged the little guy in front of her. The other party was not a popular Pokémon, especially since its strength was so poor. Its inherent disadvantages made it the target of cold looks, but the girl just liked this cute little guy, and Gengar could feel a little warmth.

"Food, the food I ate last time..." Gengar answered with difficulty. His master seemed to really like making that kind of strange food, but after his master ate it once, she never made it again. However, when he heard his master ask him this question, Gengar immediately thought of the thing he had eaten before.

"Eh? Tong..." The memory blurred here, and the memories that it didn't want to recall became the main theme, making Gengar suffer unbearably. It painfully grabbed its head, as if that could make it feel a little better, but that was all it could do.

……

"Mr. Gengar?" Heath looked at the Gengar in front of him with concern. The big guy had suddenly become painful, his face contorted as if he wanted to devour Heath whole, making Heath feel a little bit of pressure.

But then Heath paused for a moment.

"...Ah, excuse me, what did you just ask?" Gengar realized his lapse in composure, shook his head, and then returned to his previous demeanor, asking gently. Hiss glanced at Gengar; this big guy was definitely not as calm as he appeared. Kirlia had just sent Hiss a message.

Kirlia sensed a tremendous sadness, anger, and hatred emanating from the giant in front of her within Hiss's Poké Ball. Hiss knew that Kirlia could sense other people's emotions, so he knew that Gengar was definitely not as calm as it appeared on the surface.

Heath just didn't know why.

Chapter 922 Bull Submarine?

"I had a feeling that Gengar seemed to have something on its mind." Hiss and Cynthia walked along the path in Petalburg Woods, chatting as they went. Hiss felt that something was off about Gengar earlier; it seemed to have something on its mind. However, Hiss didn't know what Gengar was thinking. Although the system hadn't given any missions, Hiss still wanted to find out. Perhaps this was just a common trait of curiosity? But Hiss didn't really know much about Gengar.

"Maybe it's something she doesn't want to talk about?" Cynthia was holding a Pokédex, recording the Pokémon she had seen along the way. Her backpack was large and strange. At this moment, Cynthia was holding a strange device on the ground, as if she were looking for landmines. This puzzled Hiss a bit, but considering that Cynthia's character seemed to like adventure and archaeology, Hiss calmed down.

Heath scratched his head, then suppressed his curiosity. Based on his experience, things people are usually unwilling to talk about are often painful memories. In such cases, a stranger like himself shouldn't reopen old wounds and pry, but rather pretend he doesn't know anything. If the other person is willing to talk about it, they will; if not, then just pretend it never happened. Rashly offering comfort might backfire.

This isn't just casual talk. In his past life, Heath met an online friend who had depressive tendencies and often contemplated suicide. Heath would say things like, "The world is a beautiful place," and "The sun will always rise," but it had no effect and only made the other person unhappy. From that moment on, Heath learned that sometimes you can't just assume things. To comfort someone, you need empathy. If you can't empathize, your comfort will just be considered empty words.

Thinking of this, Heath didn't say anything more, but chose to do his own thing normally—search for the lake he needed to find.

The place Gengar mentioned wasn't far, and Hiss quickly spotted the lake. It didn't look very big; at least Hiss could easily see a Lotus Hat Child drinking water on the other side, while watching him and Cynthia with wary eyes. Hiss stroked his chin. This place didn't seem like it could have any underwater structures, but Hiss knew Gengar wouldn't speak without reason, so there was probably something here.

"Mew, can you sense anything down there?" Hiss scratched his head. He suddenly realized a problem: he didn't have any Water-type Pokémon. Going down to search wouldn't be so easy. Hiss looked at his team composition and didn't have a single Water-type. But Hiss had Mew! Mew is a Psychic Pokémon, and a Mythical Pokémon at that, so Mew could definitely detect whether there was anything down there.

"It's Mew! My boyfriend is really amazing." Cynthia exclaimed in admiration. Although she already knew that Cynthia had a Mew, it still felt a bit unreal to discover that her boyfriend had actually caught one. After all, it was too incredible. It was Mew, a Pokémon that many people wanted to catch, and even seeing Mew was a symbol of good luck.

In the Kanto region, some people even described their good luck as "it's like seeing a dream," which shows how rare a dream is.

Heath smiled sheepishly. To be honest, he hadn't really thought about what made Mew so unique. But now that he looked at it, Heath also felt that Mew was indeed quite rare. Didn't you see how envious Cynthia was?

"Yes, Heath, there is a building, but it's not like the house just now." The purple light in Dreamy's eyes faded, and it happily flew to Heath's side to report its discovery. Heath, however, frowned because this building was not a mansion. Heath remembered the special message she had seen before. Nevertheless, Heath still decided to go down and take a look.

However, how to get down was a problem, but fortunately, the problem was solved instantly. Cynthia took out a Poké Ball, and a Manatee landed in front of Heath. After Cynthia and Manatee communicated for a while, Manatee dived into the water. Cynthia also took out her phone, and Heath curiously leaned over to take a look. It turned out to be a camera, and it was filming underwater scenes.

"This is... a manatee with a camera on it?" Heath was somewhat shocked. He had seen drones before, but he had never seen a manatee submarine before. This was quite an eye-opener.

“Well, some ruins or archaeological sites are underwater, and it’s troublesome for humans to go down. It’s better to let Water-type Pokémon go down. That way, it’s easier to operate and it can also prevent accidental damage to those precious things.” Cynthia nodded. These underwater cameras have long been developed to a very advanced level, and there are even cameras that can withstand the water pressure at a depth of 7,000 meters. Hearing Cynthia’s explanation, Hiss’s lips twitched. This was really the first time he had ever seen such a thing.

It has to be said that the technology in the Pokémon world always seems to go to the other extreme, and who knows what kind of cutting-edge technology will emerge in the future.