Pokémon: The Genetic Researcher Just Wants to Slack Off.

Xia Ye took out his phone, found the other party's account, and sure enough, saw a large number of high-definition photos of stone wall symbols.

After thanking the other party, Natsuno left and returned to Takeran's side, shaking his head repeatedly.

"It certainly looks completely random, and there's nothing left to see at the ruins. Let's go."

"Since we're already here, let's go see the Bell Sprout Tower. We didn't get to see the inside yesterday."

The blonde beauty rested her head on Natsuno's shoulder: "I'll do whatever Ono says."

...

In the workshop of the steel master in Hinoki Town, the serious-looking old man, Steel, is sitting quietly indoors with his granddaughter watching the news.

Just then, they heard the sound of wings flapping outside, followed by a knock on the door.

“Mr. Steel, I am Yishu, from the Alliance. Sorry to bother you.”

Steel's granddaughter, Chie, got up to open the door, only to see a man dressed in gorgeous clothes and wearing an eye mask walk in, followed by Ao-ryu.

The leader was none other than Kazuki, one of the Heavenly Kings of Johto, a guy who liked to wear strange and fancy clothes.

Steel stared intently at the green face that bore a striking resemblance to his old friend: "What...is your relationship with Ooki Yukinari?"

Qinglu nodded respectfully: "I am Da Mu Qinglu, and Da Mu Xuecheng is my grandfather, Mr. Steel. My grandfather asked me to give you his regards."

At this moment, Kazuki also introduced, "Mr. Steel, Aoki is a young man who has completed the Kanto Championship Challenge. He was invited to come and help out this time."

At this moment, a look of nostalgia appeared on Steel's face: "Xuecheng's grandson is also so remarkable."

Then Steel looked at his granddaughter: "Qinglu, are you in love? What do you think of my granddaughter, Qianhui?"

At that moment, Chie was serving tea when her grandfather suddenly did this to her, making her feel both embarrassed and annoyed.

"Grandpa, what are you doing? What era are we living in? Stop with this nonsense! Just get down to business!"

Chie slammed a cup of tea down in front of Steel, spilling a lot of tea, and then got up and left, ignoring Steel completely.

Qinglu was also caught off guard, unsure of how to react, and could only force a smile and scratch her head.

At this point, Yishu quickly smoothed things over and brought the matter back to the main topic.

"Mr. Steel, now it's just the two of us. Can you tell me what happened?"

Steel sighed and began to recount the situation.

“Yesterday at noon, a group of strange people broke into my workshop and took Chie hostage.”

"The leader was wearing an ice mask and a large coat, hiding his head and tail, looking very strange."

"His target is the secret recipe for our family's handmade balls, passed down through generations!"

The two looked at each other, listening as Steel continued his story.

"The other party took Chie hostage, and the ingredients for that formula were too complicated; basically no one had ever seen it before, so I handed it over to him."

"Strangely, after that guy left, he didn't do anything to us; instead, he let us go."

"I don't know why, but I always feel like that guy is very familiar to me."

Steel frowned, deep in thought but to no avail.

Qinglu couldn't help but press, "Mr. Steel, can you reveal the specific details of the secret formula? It might be very important."

Steel snapped out of its reverie: "I was going to tell you this even if you hadn't asked, this is a ball that can capture time."

Qinglv scratched her head, puzzled: "A ball that can capture time? What does that mean?"

The person standing next to him nearly popped their eyes out: "Sir, you mean that? Is that really possible?"

Steel frowned instead: "I don't know. Although it's a secret recipe, no one has ever made it."

"According to legend in Johto, the Mythical Pokémon Celebi can travel through time and bring life to the forest, and is revered as the god of the forest."

"This ball is used to catch the shurabi."

At this point, Steel's brows furrowed even deeper; he still couldn't understand what the masked man was saying.

"The materials used in this ball are extremely rare; they require both rainbow-colored and silver feathers, which our family has never seen in generations."

"The masked man, however, said he could find it."

Chapter 380 The World Is Not Linear

"The rainbow feathers come from Ho-Oh, and the cloaking feathers come from Lugia."

"These two legendary Pokémon have been disillusioned with humanity since the Burnt Tower incident and have never appeared again."

How did the masked man find their whereabouts?

Hearing Steel's words, Green couldn't help but frown as well.

"Such similar actions, such coveting of legendary Pokémon, could the masked man be Giovanni?"

Upon hearing this, Ichiki was shocked: "What you said is very possible! Mr. Steel, do you have any more clues about the Masked Man?"

"Regardless of whether it's Sakaki or not, we must issue a warrant for this person's arrest. He's too dangerous!"

...

On the other side, Natsuno was showing Takeran around the Bell Sprout Tower, a large family of them.

Zhu Lan suddenly received a call request. She glanced at the sender's name, then at Xia Ye, before answering.

"Hello Crystal, this is Cynthia. Is there any news?"

“Champion Cynthia, I have arrived in Enju City, the location of the two towers. I plan to start from here.”

"The Bell Tower has been sealed off recently, so I thought I'd go check out the Burnt Tower. I never expected to discover a strange secret chamber underground!"

"There were three unfamiliar Pokémon of different shapes in the dark room. When they saw me come in, they all flew out!"

At this moment, Zhu Lan pulled Xia Ye to a corner and listened together through the speaker.

Crystal briefly described the appearance of the three unfamiliar Pokémon she had seen, and Natsuno immediately asserted, "Those are Ho-Oh's guards!"

"That is, the three monsters, Yan Di, Rai Gong, and Sui Jun, who died in the scorched tower and were resurrected by Ho-Oh."

Crystal's description focuses on Suicune's appearance, seemingly deeply attracted to this Pokémon that embodies the North Wind.

"Suiki? That's a very nice name."

Crystal on the other end of the phone kept repeating the name, as if she wanted to memorize it deeply.

He secretly made up his mind: I must find this elegant Water Pokémon!

Thinking of this, Crystal couldn't help but ask, feeling a sudden sense of unease.

"Gentlemen, I'd like to know what you intend to do with these legendary Pokémon? Are you going to catch them?"

Natsuno shook his head: "We're just worried that we'll be captured and used by an evil organization, so we want to come up with a countermeasure and collect some information along the way."

"As for capturing them, legendary Pokémon have their own ideas, unlike ordinary wild Pokémon."

"Humans who cannot gain recognition cannot achieve this; subjugation is not our goal."

Hearing this, Crystal breathed a sigh of relief, and her eyes regained their firmness.

"Okay, that concludes my report. I will continue searching for clues!"

After saying that, Crystal hung up the communication, recalled the direction Suicune had left in, and began to search in that direction.

Natsuno glanced over gently and asked, "Shall we go to Enshu City to check out that secret room?"

"Perhaps there will be some clues?"

Xia Ye nodded, then immediately shook his head: "I'm going, but it's almost dark, so there's no rush."

"We'll have to find a place to stay again once we get there, so let's rest for the night and go tomorrow."

"According to Crystal's description, it's a hidden room that can only be found by using a mechanism; other people probably won't be able to find it."

Natsuno looked serious at the moment, but his thoughts were clearly on full display.

Zhu Lan stared into Xia Ye's eyes and couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Okay, I know, it's to conserve energy."

After saying that, she suddenly leaned close to Xia Ye's ear, exhaled a little warm breath, and said in a very low voice, "It's not because we can't sleep in the same bed now that we've moved, right?"

When the resourceful champion saw through his plan, even Natsuno, with his thick skin, couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

"Uh, well, that. Oh right, it's like this."

"Winter is just around the corner, and I'm here to faithfully fulfill my duty as a bodyguard on this trip."

Seeing Natsuno raise his eyebrows at her again in a serious tone, Zhu Lan tilted her head, looking adorably dazed.

What are your responsibilities?

Natsuno glanced around and then leaned close to the blonde beauty's ear, whispering, "Warm up the blankets for the champion."

"Preventing the champion from getting rheumatism or something is very important, okay?"

Zhu Lan's face flushed red instantly, and she remained silent.

Natsuno looked at the blonde beauty's rosy profile, which was very alluring, and couldn't help but kiss her.

Then I received another communication request from the granddaughter of the elderly lady at the guesthouse, asking if I needed dinner prepared.

With such treatment, Natsuno certainly wouldn't refuse.

Back at the old lady's house, the two politely thanked her and then enjoyed the local Chengdu cuisine.

During the meal, the old lady suddenly nodded: "I went to check it this afternoon, the house is very good, you guys are great."

Xia Ye couldn't help but scratch his head: "Normally, people wouldn't damage other people's houses when they go to live outside, right?"

The old woman shook her head and declined to comment.

"I've been entrusted with this task, so I must take good care of my wife no matter what."

“Qianli has taken good care of us before. He moved to Hoenn with his family, so I should take good care of the house he left behind.”

Upon hearing the name Qianli again, Xia Ye became somewhat unsettled: What was this strong sense of déjà vu about?

"Wait a minute, grandma, the Senri you're talking about, you wouldn't happen to be the Hoenn Gym Leader, would you?"

The old lady was a little surprised: "Oh? Young man, you know about this too?"