บท 9: Sneaking
"Awoooo~"
Suddenly, a long howl came from behind, right as Lin Jiu's blade was about to strike. Houndour's figure rushed in front of the lady, and the hunting knife unsurprisingly pierced Houndour's body.
"Houndour!!"
"Ow!"
Houndour whimpered in pain, baring its teeth. Lin Jiu felt a surge of heat and knew something was wrong. He didn't have time to finish the job and quickly turned around, only to be enveloped in flames.
Lin Jiu didn't hesitate to leave, rolling on the ground to extinguish the flames as he went.
Houndour, after being injured, forcibly used Ember, losing its ability to move. The lady had to find a nearby Pokémon Center to treat Houndour and couldn't continue chasing Lin Jiu.
Logically, with Houndour behind Lin Jiu, it could have attacked him. But it knew that doing so would only result in one outcome: taking this hateful person and its trainer to the grave together!
If Houndour had chosen to attack Lin Jiu, it would indeed have died, but the knife would have fallen immediately, and the lady would have died too. So, it had no choice but to rush in front of Feng Jie to block the knife!
...
The sunlight slightly penetrated through the leaves, shining into the forest. The light spots on the ground showed a figure running madly. The howl of Houndour just now was too loud and attracted other trainers to that area. Lin Jiu had no time to stop and extinguish the flames, fleeing with the fire still on him.
This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because he was on fire, the wild Pokémon in the forest, which had been agitated, did not attack Lin Jiu. Instead, they turned their aggression towards the trainers searching the forest, driving a large number of them out!
After running a distance, Lin Jiu finally had time to roll on the ground continuously, using the dust to extinguish the flames on his body. Due to the prolonged burning, his clothes were charred, and multiple parts of his skin were burned.
[Contractor No. 13014]
[(To protect the Hunter, this is a false number, and no means can lock onto the Hunter.)]
[Name: Lin Jiu (Hunter)]
[Level: LV.1 (Tier 1). (Every 10 levels constitute a tier. Leveling up does not grant any attribute bonuses but provides privileges within the Reincarnation Paradise, corresponding to world difficulty, mission difficulty, etc.)]
[Health: 63% (Fatigue, exhaustion, burns)]
[Mana: 70 (Intelligence ×10; current mana recovery rate is 3.2 points per hour.)]
[Strength: 5 (Related to attack power, carrying capacity, etc.)]
[Agility: 5 (Related to movement, attack speed, etc.)]
[Stamina: 7 (Related to health, defense, abnormal status resistance, etc.)]
[Intelligence: 7 (Related to spell damage, mana, perception, etc.)]
[Charisma: 7 (Related to social interactions, summoning, etc.)]
[Luck: 1 (Related to item drops, crafting, etc. This attribute is extremely difficult to improve, so the Hunter should cherish opportunities to enhance it.)]
[Note: The standard attribute for an adult male is 5 points, with 1 point in Luck.]
[Reforged Talent: Soul Condensation. Gains a small amount of soul power from each defeated opponent (can be repeated). The upper limit in each world is constant!]
====
Lin Jiu felt a sense of clarity in his mind. Houndour was unable to fight, which counted as a defeat. However, the effect was slightly less than defeating a Caterpie. This state would last for a while, ensuring Lin Jiu's thoughts remained clear, though it also amplified the pain from his wounds.
"Hiss~ It's not that painful after all!"
Lin Jiu had experienced pain countless times stronger when his talent was reforged and activated, so this burn didn't seem like much.
Lin Jiu regretfully took out his last bottle of Moomoo Milk and drank it. He could endure the injuries, but looking like this, he probably couldn't even enter Mimosa Town. If he completely covered himself, even those who didn't know about the wanted criminal would find it suspicious, let alone Officer Jenny!
...
"Ms. Cynthia! Ms. Cynthia!"
Cynthia, riding on her Garchomp towards Mimosa Town, heard the calls from below and saw a trainer shouting anxiously at her.
"What happened?"
Cynthia thought it might be related to Red and directed her Garchomp to descend and take a look.
She didn't expect the trainer to take out a Poké Ball and release a Houndour. It was obvious that this Houndour was injured and had forcefully used a move, with its wounds still bleeding.
"Ms. Cynthia, please help save Houndour!"
The lady had initially wanted to run to Mimosa Town to get Houndour treated, but the wild Pokémon in the forest were rioting, making it impossible for her to traverse. She could only run back, filled with worry, and accidentally spotted the Sinnoh Champion above, calling out in a glimmer of hope.
"Don't worry!"
Cynthia summoned her Togekiss: "Use Life Dew!"
Seeing Houndour's wounds slowly heal under the effect of Life Dew, the lady finally felt relieved.
"The injuries are mostly healed! But you still need to take it to a Pokémon Center for a check-up. Now tell me what happened; these wounds don't look like they were caused by a Pokémon!" Cynthia inquired.
The lady then recounted how she intercepted Red in the forest, discovered he had no Pokémon on him and everything that happened afterward to Cynthia.
"No Pokémon..."
Cynthia was slightly taken aback by this information. She and Officer Jenny had analyzed that Red lured her to Team Galactic's secret factory to steal something from there, just like how he had stolen the two orbs.
Yet such a person, without a single Pokémon on him, had managed to steal items right under her nose in the dangerous Team Galactic secret factory. He had even killed an important research scientist of Team Galactic!
"Thank you for the information!"
After thanking the lady, Cynthia rode her Garchomp towards Mimosa Town. She needed to know what Red was up to.
...
After drinking the Moomoo Milk, most of Lin Jiu's injuries were healed, but some of the burned areas on his skin hadn't fully recovered. Burns, being a negative status effect, couldn't be healed by simply restoring health with Moomoo Milk.
But it was good enough. Lin Jiu took out a set of new clothes from his storage space and changed. After donning a hat and glasses, he hurried on and finally arrived near Mimosa Town.
Mimosa Townn had a unique terrain, separated from the surrounding forest by cliffs, with only one road leading to it. Apart from that, one could only fly over on a Pokémon capable of flight.
Standing at the edge of a cliff, Lin Jiu frowned as he looked at the road leading into Mimosa Town in the distance. Due to his exposed whereabouts, that road was likely guarded by Officer Jenny, and he could see some small aerial vehicles patrolling the sky.
However, these weren't Lin Jiu's main concern. If Cynthia had already reached Mimosa Town, that would be a big problem. He did not doubt this possibility, as he had stolen more than just the two orbs; let's not forget, he had also blown up part of Professor Carolina's historical research institute, Cynthia's grandmother.
Gathering a bunch of vines from the forest, he tested their sturdiness one by one. If they weren't strong enough, he braided two vines together and then connected them.
Carrying this large bundle of vines, he searched along the cliff edge for a relatively lower cliff. He tied one end of the vines securely to the trunk of a big tree.
"Phew~"
Lin Jiu took a deep breath as he stood on a large rock on the cliff face. After a brief rest, he continued moving down, gripping the vines tightly with one hand and holding his hunting knife with the other, slowly descending.
The cliff he chose was relatively low, only about 60 to 70 meters high. Normally, it would take less than half a minute to walk 60 to 70 meters, but Lin Jiu had already been moving for half an hour and was only halfway down.
Without a safety rope tied to him, he could only grip the vines and be ready to stab the cliff with his knife for support at any moment.
More than two hours later, Lin Jiu luckily reached the bottom of the cliff without any accidents. He took out some bandages to wrap the wounds caused by the vines and confirmed his direction before heading off.
Luckily, there was no forest between the cliff bottom and Mimosa Town. He only needed to cross a river to reach the area below Mimosa Town.
This kind of terrain might have Rock-type Pokémon, which Lin Jiu was currently unprepared to deal with, as he could hardly cause any damage to them. The great escape seemed to have used up most of his bad luck, as he didn't encounter any Pokémon that actively attacked him on the way.
After drinking some water to moisten his dry lips, he realized that the distance to Mimosa Town, which seemed far from the cliff, was even more challenging to traverse on foot.
But that didn't matter; there were still three days until the start of the Mimosa Town Contest, giving him plenty of time to get there. The biggest challenge now was how to cross the turbulent river in front of him!
"It seems I'll have to find the easiest place to cross along the river!" There were no trees nearby to find wood for a raft. With no forest, the chances of encountering wild Pokémon were reduced. Lin Jiu could only accept that he couldn't have it both ways.
After a short rest, Lin Jiu began walking upstream along the river. Although this part of the river was turbulent, the riverbed was stable, indicating it was a midstream section. Downstream, the water was calmer, but the riverbed widened, making it harder to cross.
On the contrary, although the upstream was more turbulent, the banks were narrower. Having observed from the cliff, he knew there were no waterfalls, so the upstream was the best place to cross.
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