I run an orphanage in the Pokémon world.

"Good morning, Xiao Guang." Teng Shu greeted the somewhat autistic child with a smile. Xiao Guang didn't respond and just stared at the floor.

"Teng Shu... Xiao Guang? Dean Teng Shu, I'm sorry, Xiao Guang isn't very good at greeting people." The shop manager also came out at this moment. She looked at Xiao Guang in front of her and recognized his identity, but she had also heard Teng Shu and Xiao Guang's conversation.

Because he was worried that Tengshu would think Xiaoguang was impolite, he spoke up to explain.

"It's okay, I know." Teng Shu waved his hand calmly. He knew that Xiao Guang had autism, and it was already good enough that he could talk to him. Teng Shu did not expect Xiao Guang to be cured quickly.

Seeing that Teng Shu didn't seem to care, the store manager smiled and put the fertilizer on Teng Shu's small truck.

"...Good morning..." Xiao Guang murmured. Teng Shu and the shop manager both stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Xiao Guang, who was clenching his fists and speaking softly.

The two cats standing beside Xiaoguang seemed to be giving him courage in this way.

Teng Shu looked at Xiao Guang without speaking or interrupting, just standing there quietly. The shop manager, watching this scene, had a smile in his eyes.

"Good...good...morning..." Xiao Guang took a full three minutes to finish saying good morning, and his voice was very soft. If it weren't for the cold weather and the fact that there weren't many people on the street outside, Teng Shu felt that he might not have been able to hear him at all.

"Good morning, Xiao Guang." Teng Shu responded with a smile. Xiao Guang hesitated for a moment after hearing this, and then left with the cat bosses.

Xiao Guang walked very fast, as if he had already exhausted all his strength just by speaking.

Teng Shu looked at Xiao Guang's small figure and smiled. But when he turned his head, he saw out of the corner of his eye that a figure seemed to flash past Xiao Guang.

This discovery made Teng Shu subconsciously turn his head. Xiao Guang was walking with the two cat bosses, and there was no one around Xiao Guang.

"Is it just my imagination?" Teng Shu scratched his head, somewhat unsure.

The human brain and eyes are incredibly amazing, or rather, exceptionally amazing.

Many people have had the experience of seeing something out of the corner of their eye or unintentionally. Normally, if you don't see it clearly at the time, you will basically not know what it is later. However, the human brain often automatically 'fills in' the image and turns it into something else.

Therefore, Teng Shu felt that what he had just seen might be a unique phenomenon.

"Dean Tengshu, did Xiaoguang adopt his two cats from you?" the shop manager said with a smile, having already loaded all the fertilizer into Tengshu's car.

“Yes, Xiao Guang adopted him before.” Teng Shu nodded. He still had the business card and discount card that Xiao Guang’s father had left him. Teng Shu kept them so that he could buy things at the supermarket next time he needed to go there and save some money.

The store manager understood.

"No wonder Xiaoguang greeted you." The store manager handed over the POS machine, and Teng Shu took out his bank card and swiped it.

Mobile payments are not very common in the Pokémon world, so POS machines are more convenient for large transactions.

"What's wrong?" Teng Shu looked at the shop manager with some curiosity. Could something have happened?

"Do you know how long it took for Xiaoguang and me to talk for the first time?" The shop manager didn't answer immediately, but asked a question in return. Hearing this, Tengshu could roughly guess what was going on.

“A full three months!” The store manager announced the answer before Teng Shu could even make a guess.

Teng Shu raised an eyebrow. If that's the case, Xiao Guang does seem to get along quite well with him. After all, Teng Shu had only seen Xiao Guang three times. The first time was at the orphanage, and the second time was at this store. But Xiao Guang was walking with his head down at those times, so he didn't see Teng Shu.

After saying goodbye to the enthusiastic shopkeeper, Tengshu took the Pikachu family, who were being treated for insects, to buy some food.

Originally, Tengshu planned to buy some steamed buns and dumplings, but considering that the weather was very cold recently, and that it wouldn't be good to eat such food after it had gone cold, Tengshu asked Pikachu for his opinion and instead bought Pikachu a three-kilogram bag of Electric-type Pokémon food.

When it came time to buy food, Pikachu was the one who picked it out. Pikachu was quite embarrassed, but later Tengshu asked Pikachu to help him choose food twice for free before Pikachu finally agreed to accept this kindness.

Teng Shu himself also tried one.

It has a slightly crunchy texture and a slightly salty taste. Other than that, it's just the taste of the food itself. Teng Shu also checked the ingredient list and could only say that as the most widely sold product in the alliance, its food safety is guaranteed, at least there won't be any food safety crises.

"Sir, please donate to the Snow King on the iceberg. Please pay attention to the survival environment of wild Pokémon." While waiting at a red light, there was a knock on Teng Shu's car window. A girl with short hair held up a donation box and looked at Teng Shu pitifully.

The vine tree wasn't too strange.

In the Pokémon world, there are many people who spontaneously work for Pokémon, paying attention to all kinds of Pokémon. There are even people protesting that the League's road construction prevents Tauros from running happily. You could say there are all sorts of people. But the old Tengshu never encountered such a problem because he was riding a bicycle back then, and it was an old-fashioned bicycle. He looked like a poor guy.

Now that I have a car, naturally they've come knocking on my door.

Teng Shu glanced at the girl, who was still holding a box in her hand. On the box were several photos of Blizzard King standing on a bare mountain in a daze, along with a line of text: "Follow Blizzard King, don't let Blizzard King stay on a snow-free mountain."

"I feel like something's not right." Teng Shu looked at the girl in front of him, along with the accompanying picture and text, and felt an urge to complain.

Chapter 225 The Curtain Falls Suddenly

In the end, Teng Shu did not donate.

It's not that Teng Shu didn't want to donate, but the traffic lights had changed, and Teng Shu didn't want to be questioned about his family history by the irritable drivers behind him, so he had to start driving as soon as possible. As for the matter of donating to Blizzard King, Teng Shu still felt something was off.

After all, while Abomasnow does indeed live in snowy mountains, this Pokémon has the ability to create blizzards. If there are many Abomasnow, they can even create super blizzards. Therefore, the League monitors Abomasnow to prevent them from gathering in large numbers and causing snow disasters.

Therefore, to achieve the goal of making it impossible for Abomasnow to live on the snow mountain on its own, it can only be estimated that a legendary Pokémon of Groudon's caliber would be needed.

Despite some doubts, Teng Shu drove back to his orphanage, and also saw Pikachu and his family off on the way.

Upon returning to the orphanage, Teng Shu saw Qing Lü observing the abandoned monkeys exercising. Teng Shu raised an eyebrow, then got out of the car with the deworming medicine in his arms.

Tengshu didn't have any objections to Qinglv's observation behavior. After all, he knew Qinglv's personality, and besides, Forsaken was a very rare Pokémon in the Kanto region, so it was understandable that Qinglv would pay so much attention.

The Abandoned Monkey didn't react to Qinglv's observations; it just silently trained, and it was wearing a boxing glove with many patches on its hand.

Abandoned Monkey really likes this gauntlet. It was made for it by Kai, and it accompanied Abandoned Monkey through those difficult years. It's a Pokémon that cherishes its past.

"Where's Slowpoke?" Tengshu walked around the orphanage but couldn't find Slowpoke, which made him a little helpless. If it were any other Pokémon, he could just call out with a megaphone, but not Slowpoke. Slowpoke was old, which caused it to often space out. When it was spaced out, even if Tengshu sat next to it, it wouldn't react, let alone when he used a megaphone.

Furthermore, Slowpoke doesn't show any emotion when it's in a daze, so Tengshu can't use the power of Viridian to sense Slowpoke's location and can only search by brute force.

After searching for a while, Tengshu finally spotted Slowpoke's tail in a hidden thicket.

"Slowpoke, what are you doing here?" Teng Shu said with a mix of amusement and exasperation, then walked over, as he was about to apply medicine to Slowpoke.

Slowpoke lay motionless in the bushes. Tengshu was somewhat helpless, but in order to apply medicine to Slowpoke, he had no choice but to carry it out.

But as soon as he touched Slowpoke's tail, Tengshu paused.

Slowpoke

[Water/Superpower]

[Died peacefully in bed]

A panel popped up, and Teng Shu stared blankly at the words on it. Suddenly, he didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth, then pursed his lips, and finally let go of his hand in dejection, then sat quietly in place.

He didn't see Nightshade, and didn't know if Nightshade had come earlier to take Slowpoke away, or if Slowpoke's soul had already gone to that world.

Teng Shu was simply taken aback.

In the morning, he made breakfast for Slowpoke, watched it eat, and even helped it get rid of fleas. But he never expected that just by buying some deworming medicine, Slowpoke would leave so quietly.

Teng Shu rubbed his face, then leaned wearily against a tree trunk.

He suddenly remembered something.

Tengshu didn't really like growing up. It wasn't that Tengshu wanted to be a young person, but as people get older, they have to face birth, aging, sickness, and death, and the pain of losing their family and friends one by one.

In such pain, a sudden departure is the most devastating and the hardest to let go of. However, if one has struggled for a long time in the hospital, death may indeed be a relief at times.

“Slowpoke…” Teng Shu looked at the insect repellent in his hand. He really didn’t expect that just by buying insect repellent, Slowpoke’s life would end like this. This caught Teng Shu off guard and made him feel a little uneasy.

But no matter what, Tengshu had to do what he had to do.

"Akai!" Tengshu called out, and a moment later, the bushes in front of Tengshu quietly parted, and Slowpoke's body was lifted out and gently landed in Tengshu's hand.

Generally speaking, the average weight of a Slowpoke is around 36 kilograms, but in the case of this Slowpoke, Tengshu found that it should only weigh a little over 20 kilograms, less than 30 kilograms.

If you buy groceries frequently, you'll naturally become more sensitive to things like weight.

Teng Shu held the Slowpoke in his arms, looked at the black spots on its body, paused for a moment, then picked up the deworming medicine and treated the Slowpoke for a while.

After finishing, Teng Shu carried Slowpoke to the infirmary.

In the infirmary, Baby Dragon was receiving treatment, and Locke was observing it. However, as Tengshu carried Slowpoke in, the atmosphere in the entire infirmary became quiet.

"Locke, make a note of this. Slowpoke... has died of old age." Tengshu paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and then continued.

“Okay.” Locke walked over quickly and examined Slowpoke. Tengshu watched from the side. He needed to take the death certificate issued by Locke to fill out a form and submit it to the League. This process was originally quite complicated.

When the scoundrel died before, it was the League that came to inspect and handle the situation. But now, Locke can take over without the League needing to inspect it.

The baby dragon, who was undergoing treatment, silently looked at the Slowpoke lying motionless on the hospital bed.

Baby Dragon had seen Slowpoke, but Slowpoke was always spacing out or sleeping, so Baby Dragon didn't have much of an impression of Slowpoke, though it did know that Slowpoke was a member of the orphanage.

Now, Baby Dragon can smell the scent of death.

death.

It is an ultimate question, and also a question that makes countless lives equal before it.

"Preliminary examination...due to age-related multiple organ failure, cardiac arrest, natural death." Locke quickly provided a preliminary examination report; although he was a psychiatrist, conducting these tests was not a problem for him.

Teng Shu didn't speak. Perhaps dying of old age was a good thing for Slowpoke?

At least you won't have to suffer from illness.

Chapter 226 The Box and Gastly

The world did not stop turning just because Slowpoke left.

Or rather, the world will never stop turning because of the departure of any single life.

The 1.2-meter-tall, 28-kilogram Slowpoke eventually turned into a tiny box, weighing less than 300 grams including the box.

Teng Shu planned to bury Slowpoke himself in the cemetery behind the orphanage, right next to Crocodile.

This time, Teng Shu didn't let anyone else deliver it. Only Little Fire Dragon insisted on delivering it after hearing the news, so Teng Shu let Little Fire Dragon come with him.

"Slowpoke was so big, and all we have left is this box." Teng Shu touched the box in his hand. The quality of the box was only so-so. After all, it was funded by the League's charity fund, so you can't expect a very good box.

It's not that Teng Shu is unwilling to pay; after all, he's quite wealthy now. It's just that the Alliance is responsible for all the deaths in the orphanage, so Teng Shu can't contribute. However, looking at the box in his hand, Teng Shu felt that such a box wasn't actually a bad idea.

Charmander tugged at Tengshu's clothes, reaching out to touch it, but reaching in the wrong direction. Seeing this, Tengshu brought over Slowpoke's urn and let Charmander touch it.

Cold touch.

That was all the little dragon could feel.

Just like that winter, when the Slowpoke, afraid of being cold, slept beside him, its body temperature was bone-chillingly cold.

The little dragon opened its mouth in despair. It wanted to cry, but without eyes and without tear ducts, it didn't even have the right to cry. It could only let out a mournful wail that was so sad that its voice was hoarse.

The wailing echoed through the cemetery, and a figure emerged from the tombstone of the scoundrel.

Gastly.

A Gastly appeared here, silently watching the Vine Tree, the Charmander, and the box in the Vine Tree's hand.

Teng Shu stared at the Gastly in astonishment.

Was this formed from that will-o'-the-wisp? Or did it come in from outside? After all, the existence of the Lighthouse of Death makes this cemetery somewhat attractive to ghost Pokémon, but since it crawled out of Krookodile's grave, Tengshu doesn't know what's going on with it.

However, Teng Shu still buried the urn in the cemetery and covered it with soil.

Looking at the smooth soil, Tengshu felt a little dazed. Slowpoke was gone. How long could it be remembered? Tengshu didn't know, but he would always remember it.

Death generally has three stages: the first is physical death, where the heart stops beating and consciousness ceases, and death is medically recognized; the second is social death, where all identity information is revoked, and the person is found dead upon future investigation; and the last is oblivion.

The moment someone is completely forgotten, their existence is also completely gone. Teng Shu thinks this is probably why so many people want to be remembered in history. After all, as long as someone is remembered in history, in a sense, they are not dead.

Charmander stopped howling and just idly stroked the soil around Slowpoke's body and touched its tombstone, as if it could touch Slowpoke's face in the process.

Looking at the little dragon, Teng Shu thought of the medical pod in the infirmary. He didn't know if the medical pod could treat the little dragon's eye disability, but since the baby dragon could be treated, theoretically, the little dragon should be able to be treated too, right? Teng Shu wasn't very sure.

“You…” Teng Shu looked at Gastly, and then Gastly instantly burrowed back into the tombstone, making Teng Shu’s lips twitch. What’s wrong with this Gastly? However, this style of doing things made the protagonist certain that this guy was definitely the will-o’-the-wisp he had seen before, after all, this style of doing things was almost exactly the same as that will-o’-the-wisp.

This left Tengshu somewhat amused and exasperated, but also with mixed feelings. After all, Tengshu really liked the little crocodile. Although he couldn't be sure if this Gastly was actually the soul of the crocodile, he felt that it was good enough that Gastly was here, regardless of whether it was or not.

"Little Fire Dragon, come with me for a moment." Teng Shu glanced at the tombstone behind him, then left the cemetery with the little fire dragon. He didn't intend to disturb the deceased's rest. The dead are gone, and the living need to continue to live on strongly.

Teng Shu brought the dejected little dragon to the infirmary. The baby dragon had already finished its treatment, and there was no one else in the infirmary except Locke, who was sitting there constantly typing on the keyboard.

"Dean... are you planning to let Charmander try it out?" Locke was writing his thesis and was about to comfort Teng Shu when he noticed Charmander following behind Teng Shu. Locke immediately realized what the protagonist was planning to do.

“Well, after all, even the baby dragon’s disability can be treated, so it’s possible that Charmander’s eye can too.” Teng Shu nodded. He did intend to give it a try. If it could be treated, it would be a good thing for Charmander.

Locke hesitated, but didn't say anything. Instead, he followed behind Teng Shu and took a closer look.

Teng Shu carried the little fire dragon into the medical pod.

[The eyeball and surrounding nerves are missing, and the condition is untreatable.]

[The medical pod needs to be upgraded next time]

The second hint could only be seen by Tengshu. Tengshu scratched his head, wondering why it didn't work.