I caught a Pokémon

(This chapter may cause discomfort to some readers; please read with caution.)

After a while, when Gengar returned to the library, it was followed by three other almost transparent ghosts in addition to the ghost girl.

Two of them were the mansion owner they saw in the huge painting on the stairs, the other was the maid they had seen in the room earlier, and the last one should be the woman whose face was not clearly visible in the family photo.

Looking at her now, she appears very young and beautiful. With such looks, it's no wonder she gave birth to such a beautiful daughter as the ghost girl.

At this point, all five people who originally lived in the mansion had become ghosts.

They stood or floated in the library, all emanating a faint blue light, making the mansion truly a haunted house.

However, compared to the almost solidified bodies of the ghost girl and the ghost butler, the three newly formed ghost bodies looked far too faint, as if a gentle breeze could blow them away at any moment.

Moreover, their eyes were rather dull, and they seemed unable to speak, as if they were just a few lackeys who only knew how to follow behind them.

"What's going on?" Xiaoyao asked, puzzled. "They look... kind of strange."

Gengar shook his head: "There's no way around it. The energy contained within them is just too weak. In order not to damage their rationality and memories, I can only use a gentler method to help them take shape. Although this is very safe, the side effect is that they will become very fragile and need a long time to absorb the surrounding energy before they slowly return to normal."

In fact, Gengar's so-called normality is simply the degree to which it can speak and move freely.

But for a soul, this is already a huge hurdle to overcome.

It should be noted that most ghosts in other places are simply low-level souls without any thought. They fear sunlight, hide in various dark corners, and only know how to wander around the place where they died. They have almost no consciousness and, over the long years, either wait to slowly perish or wait for an extremely accidental change.

Compared to them, the ghost girl's parents and maid were already quite lucky.

At least because of the gloomy environment here, they did not slowly dissipate over the course of the year, but retained a faint energy, parasitizing the painting and remaining there until now. Eventually, they encountered Xia You's Gengar and gained the possibility of becoming true ghosts.

Fortunately, without such conditions, no matter how powerful Gengar is, it would be impossible to turn the vanished people into ghosts out of thin air.

"How long exactly will it take?" Xia You also turned to look at Gengar.

Gengar stretched out its short, chubby fingers and calculated: "Probably at least two or three months."

"Two or three months..."

Hearing Gengar's answer, Xia You nodded.

For these ghosts, once they take shape, time is no longer so important. Even if it takes several more months or even years, the ghost girl will surely wait.

Beside her, the ghost girl hugged the doll in her arms and floated in front of Xia You, saying sincerely, "Thank you so much. I am sorry for what I did before."

Xia You smiled brightly at her: "I hope you won't attack trainers again in the future."

“That’s for sure.” The ghost girl laughed too. “Mom and Dad, and Ms. Charles have become ghosts just like us. We no longer need to absorb the trainers’ energy to help them maintain their soul forms.”

“That’s right.” Seeing that she thought this way, Xia You was also very pleased. “On the contrary, because of the special location of this mansion, there will inevitably be trainers who get lost coming to stay overnight. So you must hide your identities and not let others disturb your hard-won peaceful life or cause any more changes.”

Xia You glanced over and saw that both the ghost girl and the ghost butler nodded slightly, knowing that they had taken her words to heart.

So, there's only one last thing left...

"Don't worry, I will make Hades pay the price he deserves."

……

It's 3 a.m., late at night.

After dealing with these ghosts, the night sky outside had reached its darkest point of the day.

Even the Pokémon that are active at night have already rested at this time, and the entire forest is quiet, without a sound.

Both Xiaoyao and Yami were so sleepy and tired that they could barely keep their eyes open.

To avoid them accidentally sleeping in until the afternoon the next day and affecting their trip, at Xia You's urging, the two had to return to the room they had stayed in before to rest and replenish their energy.

For Xia You, since there was an outsider like Ya Mi around, and since there would be no more ghosts attacking them and he no longer needed to protect them, he didn't stay in the same room with Xiao Yao and the other person. Instead, he took his luggage to the room next door.

It must be said that the mansion, restored to its original state, was so dilapidated that it was impossible to sleep comfortably.

Seeing this, Xia You shook her head and smiled bitterly, and could only take out her own bedding and make a simple arrangement.

Just as he finished tidying up, the ghost girl appeared uninvited, floating in from behind the door.

Xia You was naturally surprised by her sudden appearance.

"Is there anything else?"

As he spoke, he couldn't help but secretly consider whether he had overlooked anything or failed to make any arrangements.

Otherwise, why would the ghost girl come knocking on our door again when we had already made all the arrangements?

At this moment, the ghost girl floated straight in front of Xia You.

This made Xia You, who had just changed into her pajamas, subconsciously straighten her clothes. She felt that dressed like this, she would feel embarrassed in front of a stranger of the opposite sex, even if he was a ghost.

Although she has become a ghost and sometimes loses control, her advanced form allows the ghost girl to retain the mindset and thoughts she had when she was human. This makes her quite shy when she sees Xia You in this form.

This naturally puzzled Xia You greatly.

You should know that when the ghost girl attacked those trainers before, it was almost always when they were fast asleep or had just fallen asleep. So, whether they were male or female, they should have been used to their pre-sleep attire. Why are they still behaving like this now?

Before Xia You could think it over, the ghost girl spoke up.

"Actually, you said something wrong before."

"Did I say something wrong?" Hearing her words, Xia You was taken aback and quickly asked, "What is it?"

The ghost girl suddenly became even more shy: "Actually, I can sense that you are different from others. Your body contains a lot of power, and you have a strong life force and vitality, which is several times, or even ten times, stronger than those trainers. It is very tempting, which is why I attacked you... Of course, I don't really mean to eat you, but to absorb all the vitality in your body to make myself stronger!"

It turned out to be like this...

Xia You suddenly realized that the power the ghost girl mentioned must be the blessing that Phoenix King had given him before, or even the blessing of the sea god that he received in the Whirlpool Islands.

It was this unusual quality that the ghost girl noticed, which led her to show a kind of 'fanatical' attitude towards Xia You.

After thinking for a moment, Xia You couldn't help but ask, "Actually, I'm also very curious. How exactly do you manage to absorb vitality?"

Seeing that Xia You was curious about this, the ghost girl smiled, and then her hair flew around. Immediately afterwards, a thick purple mist flew out from her body, like several hands, and enveloped Xia You.

Xia You did not resist, letting the purple mist entangle her. But the next second, she felt a suction force, as if trying to suck something out of her body!

He instinctively wanted to resist, but the moment the thought arose, the power within him acted on its own. Almost instantly, the purple mist that came into contact with Xia You made a 'sizzling' sound, as if it had been burned by something scorching hot, and then it dissipated instantly!

This scene not only surprised Xia You, but also made the ghost girl look extremely astonished.

"What...what exactly is going on?"

She stared at the dissipating purple mist, the ghost girl utterly bewildered by what had happened!

After a brief moment of surprise, Xia You vaguely understood.

It can only be said that whether it is the power of Ho-Oh or the power of Lugia, the sea god, these two powers have long been fully integrated with him and changed his physique. It is really presumptuous for a mere human ghost to try to absorb them, and it may even backfire.

Having figured this out, he couldn't help but shake his head at the ghost girl.

"Well, it seems the power within me is too strong for you to handle."

The ghost girl naturally didn't know what Xia You had been through, but through this incident, she realized that this man was not only strong in Pokémon, but also extraordinary in himself!

I knew I hadn't made the wrong decision...

Thinking of this, she floated closer to Xia You again, and slowly said, "Now, according to the previous agreement, I will pay the reward in advance."

"Huh?" Upon hearing this, Xia You didn't react at first, but after the ghost girl fell towards him, he belatedly realized something. "Huh!??? Wait—!"

……

Xia You used a method common in both human and animal societies to inject the life essence within her body into the ghost girl's body.

Although it was passive, it gave Xia You a completely new experience and also unlocked an achievement that ordinary people could not achieve.

Of course, this injection was not a transfer of his Ho-Oh power and Lugia power to the ghost girl, but rather a release of something that had been accumulating in his body for a long time.

I have to say, maybe it was because I hadn’t done this kind of thing in a long time, but after one night, I felt really refreshed and all the accumulated stress was gone!

With Xia You's help, the ghost girl also gained powerful life energy that she had never had before!

For her, this is undoubtedly a super supplement that takes a long time to fully absorb!

It is believed that after absorbing this energy, her power will also experience a huge leap, at which point she will be more than capable of protecting this mansion, safeguarding her other ghost family members, or battling powerful Pokémon.

It's even foreseeable that when that time comes, even Ghost-type and Dark-type Pokémon that are effective against her might not be able to defeat her.

Now, I can truly say that I've done my utmost to help.

Of course, the rewards were also quite... impressive.

After resting for a few hours, around nine or ten o'clock in the morning, Xia You went out of the room to wake up Xiao Yao and Ya Mi, who were still fast asleep.

Actually, neither of them slept well last night.

The bed was hard, the room smelled musty, and it was drafty, so even though they were very tired, they tossed and turned in bed for a long time before finally drifting off to sleep.

Even when they fell asleep, they didn't sleep soundly, and instead woke up several times during the night.

They didn't even know if it was because of the existence of ghosts, but that night, they could hear the ghost girl's voice, sometimes intermittent, sometimes suppressed sobbing.

Although they had reached an agreement with these ghosts and knew they wouldn't harm them, hearing such a voice still sent chills down their spines.

All I could do was sigh inwardly—it really was a ghost's house, so terrifying, just like a haunted house!

But in any case, the night passed peacefully.

What's even more surprising is that, compared to Xia You and Xiao Yao's cooking skills, Ya Mi is actually quite good at cooking. For example, at breakfast, she showed off her skills to the two of them, and with limited ingredients, she actually made a delicious soup for them!

After finishing a bowl of thick soup, not only did Xia You feel instantly replenished with the energy she had lost last night, but Xiao Yao also felt that all the fatigue from the night had vanished at this moment!

This made the two of them look at Yami with new respect, and they both gave her a thumbs up!

Delicious food is always the best medicine for humankind!

It seems that Yami isn't as useless as she appears...

In an instant, Xia You and Xiao Yao locked eyes, both having the same thought in their hearts.

If you...

The two exchanged glances and then nodded.

After everything was tidied up, Xia You and the other two summoned the ghost girl again in the lobby of the mansion.

To Xiaoyao and Yami's surprise, in just a few hours, the ghost girl in front of them was radiating an amazing vitality!

She not only looks more beautiful, but her body is also indistinguishable from that of a real person!

That's strange, how did they do that?!

Could it be that after resolving her inner conflicts, seeing her parents turn into ghosts was also a form of evolution for her?

Chapter 945 May You Rest in Peace

Some things are not necessarily better if more people know them.

Xia You naturally wouldn't mention what happened last night, and the ghost girl similarly wouldn't tell outsiders about it.

This can be considered an eternal secret between this person and this ghost.

But when Xiao Yao saw Xia You again, she still keenly noticed the shyness on her face and the undisguised love in her eyes.

This also amazed Xiaoyao.

how?

Xia You's charm has become so great that even ghosts can't resist it?

All she did was help her turn her parents into ghosts, that's such an exaggeration!

Xia You naturally had no idea what Xiao Yao was thinking. He simply looked at the ghost girl in front of him, with whom he had had a deep conversation that night, coughed lightly, and said, "I believe you have already seen the documents that we have packed and organized in the secret room. Originally, I planned to take them to other places to analyze them and find clues about the mastermind behind the scenes. But now that we know that this matter was caused by Hades, there is no need to trouble those people."

The ghost girl nodded. Indeed, just as Xia You said, now that the culprit has been identified, there's no need to go through so much trouble.

But then Xia You changed the subject.

“Although it’s no longer necessary to do that, the notes and materials here still have some research value. I think… since your father has become a ghost, he certainly can no longer continue his research. Rather than hiding them in a secret room and never seeing the light of day again, it would be better to hand them over to other scholars. I think that’s the most correct thing to do, and it would be worth your father’s long-term research. So… I plan to take them with me. What do you think?”

The ghost girl never expected Xia You to bring this up!

Actually, the tragedy that befell my family started with was precisely these research materials from my father!

If it weren't for them, they wouldn't have attracted that man called Hades. And without Hades, their family would still be living happily in this forest, instead of ending up like this.

Therefore, the ghost girl's feelings about these research materials were undoubtedly very complicated.

On the one hand, this is my father's research achievement, which needs to be protected and cherished; on the other hand, it is also the beginning of everything.