Elf: Start your slow-paced life after becoming a farmer.

Upon hearing the laughter, Karl's expression didn't change much; he remained calm.

After all, this is the world of Pokémon. Even if ghosts really exist, he can have Wingsnap find them.

What concerned Carl the most at this moment was that there were actually Ghost-type Pokémon living in this ruin that had been buried for countless years.

According to the original Pokémon universe, Ghost-type Pokémon rely on absorbing the life force of others to maintain their physiological functions.

The most classic example is Gengar, a Pokémon that sneaks into the shadows of humans and waits to take their lives. Even after being captured by a trainer, they will still subtly drain the trainer's life force.

Although this setting was weakened in later generations because GF gained popularity due to Gengar, in reality, Carl has heard many stories of trainers having their life force drained after capturing Gengar.

However, Carl has never been afraid of Ghost-type Pokémon sneak attacks, since his shadow is the exclusive spot for Wingshot.

If any Ghost-type Pokémon dares to sneak into Carl's shadow, then Wingshot will show it the true value of the title "Champion's Main Force".

After thinking everything through, Carl looked at Papahonemo, whose face clearly showed her cowardice, and said with a hint of helplessness, "What are you guys afraid of? Don't you know that Ghost-type Pokémon exist in this world?"

The two little ones, who were trembling with fear, froze upon hearing Karl's words.

Right, what are we afraid of?

Once Pipa and Nemo's emotions stabilized, the Pokémon that had been causing trouble in the shadows seemed to sense the change in their moods, and the laughter that had been lingering in their ears disappeared.

At this moment, the newly brainy Pipa also started to think: "Karl, could that cursed armor have been deliberately taken out by that Ghost-type Pokémon by Ursaring?"

"?"

Carl looked at Pipa in shock: "Whoever you are, get off Pipa! Now, or I'll make my move!"

Zhenyifa then emerged from Karl's shadow, baring his teeth and snarling at Piper.

The mastiff godfather, squatting beside Pipa, looked at Karl and Zhenyifa's serious expressions and wondered if he had really failed to protect Pipa, allowing him to be possessed by an evil spirit.

"Karl, what do you mean by that?" Piper rolled his eyes at Karl, who was still acting silly at a time like this.

Just as Piper was about to explain to the Mastiff Godfather, he caught a glimpse of Nemo staring at him with a suspicious look.

"Hey, Nemo, what kind of look is that? Do you think I've always been an empty-headed idiot?" Pipa's tone became a little frantic. "My mom and dad are both Pokémon professors, I can't possibly be a complete bum, can I?"

After hearing Piper's words, Carl began to think seriously.

To be honest, judging solely from his performance in the main storyline, Piper, who constantly claims to be uninterested in Pokémon battles, is definitely quite talented at training Pokémon.

'Could Piper really be a genius?'

Karl shook his head, clearing his mind of those nonsensical thoughts: "Alright, let's keep going."

'Don't be angry, don't be angry.' Piper repeated this to himself several times before following Karl to the end of the corridor.

At the end of the long corridor is a huge, half-closed stone door, its surface engraved with many ancient patterns.

Although the specific patterns are somewhat blurred due to the erosion of time, the density of these patterns alone suggests that the owner of this site held an extremely high position.

Instead of rushing forward to push open the stone door, Karl crouched down, shone his flashlight on the ground behind the door, and began to observe carefully.

"What's wrong, Karl?"

Pipa and Nemo crouched down beside Karl, one on each side, and followed Karl's gaze. They then saw a large patch of messy footprints on the ground behind the stone door.

"Could it be that someone else has been to this ruin before us?" Nemo asked, voicing her doubts. "But why are there no footprints on the ground outside the stone gate?"

Pipa tilted his head and thought for a while before offering a more plausible analysis: "Maybe that Ghost-type Pokémon deliberately cleaned up all the footprints outside the door to lure people in."

“Karl, what do you think?” Nemo turned her gaze to Karl, seemingly disagreeing with Pipa’s analysis.

"Hmm... Is it possible that this ruin doesn't have just one entrance?"

Carl squinted as he carefully observed the complex footprints on the ground. He saw not only human footprints but also those of a small elephant.

The moment Karl recognized the tiny elephant footprint, a bad feeling arose in his mind.

"Tsk, how come I run into this trash again?" Karl frowned and muttered to himself in an unfriendly tone.

Piper and Nemo noticed the change in Karl's expression. They exchanged a glance, both seeing undisguised surprise in each other's eyes.

'What has Karl discovered? I've never seen such a gloomy expression on his face before,' Pipa muttered to himself.

"Do you remember the group of Donkas we encountered this afternoon?"

Just as the two children were wondering, Karl’s words drew their attention: “If I’m not mistaken, that group of Donjars is looking for their lost child.”

Pipa and Nemo were both confused by Karl's seemingly random statement, but Karl offered no explanation and continued, "And there are little elephant footprints on the ground behind the door."

The moment Carl finished speaking, a disgusting term popped into Pipa and Nemo's minds—Pokémon Hunter.

In fact, this was not the first time Carl had discovered traces of Pokémon hunters. Three years ago, when he had just gone on a trip, he had helped Officer Jenny capture the famous "Hunter J".

Although Hunter J successfully escaped from the prison inside Interpol headquarters and fled to the Hoenn region shortly after being imprisoned there.

Unfortunately, not long after Hunter J escaped to the Hoenn region, she happened to run into Carl, who was traveling in the Hoenn region. Carl captured her on the spot and handed her over to Officer Jenny.

In fact, Carl's initial reluctance to take over as Sinnoh champion was also related to this matter.

Carl originally thought that the kind of brain-dead plot of being caught and released repeatedly could never happen in reality.

But reality slapped Carl in the face. He never expected that the Interpol agents in the Pokémon world would actually be a bunch of incompetent fools.

A notorious Pokémon hunter who has committed numerous serious crimes manages to escape from the Interpol headquarters prison. Hunter J even manages to retrieve the Pokémon she had enslaved and the high-tech equipment she used to capture them.

And since Interpol headquarters happens to be located in the Sinnoh region, Carl doesn't believe there's nothing fishy going on.

As the memory ended, Karl's gaze drifted to the half-open stone door. The narrow gap, barely wide enough for half a person to pass through, resembled the half-open mouth of a giant beast, waiting for its prey to walk into its trap.

Meanwhile, a poacher deep within the ruins shuddered, his unusual behavior attracting the attention of his companions.

"What's wrong with you? It's our turn to patrol soon, don't mess things up at this time."

"I don't know." The first poacher touched his nose, looking bewildered. "I just have this feeling that I'm being watched."

"Hahaha, don't worry, the boss specially led us to the Padia region, far away from Sinnoh, this time we definitely won't run into that kid again."

"Sigh, it must be my imagination."

Chapter 51 Gengar: Oh my god, I can do anything!

Now that Carl has discovered traces of a suspected Pokémon hunter, he will not stand idly by.

The problem is that Carl isn't alone now, and he doesn't want to take Pipa and Nemo on a risk.

Thinking of this, Carl turned to look at the two little ones standing beside him, about to say something.

Seeing the hesitant expression on Karl's face, Nemo realized Karl's concerns: "Karl, you don't mean to ask us to go back, do you?"

“Well, after all, those Pokémon hunters won’t go easy on you two just because you’re kids.” Karl paused. “Besides, I don’t want you two to be in danger because of me.”

In fact, with Carl's current strength, he is confident that he can protect Piper and Nemo even when facing legendary Pokémon like the Hoenn Trio.

After all, there aren't that many twists and turns when fighting mythical beasts; the worst-case scenario is simply running away with the two little ones.

In Carl's view, battles with Pokémon hunters are far more dangerous than battles with legendary Pokémon.

You should know that the Pokémon world is full of cutting-edge technology, from time machines that can travel through time to space backpacks that can hold a lot of items. There is nothing that they can't build if you can imagine it.

In order to capture a large number of Pokémon, Pokémon hunters not only use various illegal drugs that deplete the life force of their Pokémon to enhance their strength, but also equip them with all sorts of strange and wonderful high-tech items.

For example, the high-tech pistol that Hunter J carries, capable of petrifying creatures.

If Karl hadn't known about its existence beforehand, he might have met his match the first time he encountered Hunter J.

At this moment, Carl thought to himself, even if he doesn't let Pipa and Nemo participate in the operation to capture Pokémon hunters now, can he protect them for the rest of his life?

With me here, the danger of Pipa and Nemo facing Pokémon Hunters has been minimized. Rather than letting them face Pokémon Hunters without any experience in the future, it's better to let them gain experience with me.

After thinking everything through, Karl pursed his lips and said to the two children with a serious expression, "Since you want to come with me to search for the Pokémon Hunter, let's make a pact from now on."

"First, no one is allowed to act without my permission."

"Second, in the event of an emergency, all actions should prioritize personal safety."

"Third, from now on, be vigilant about everything around you."

After listening to Carl's words, Pipa and Nemo nodded to Carl in unison, indicating that they would completely obey the organization's arrangements.

"Alright, let's not delay, let's set off now." Carl said, throwing out a Poké Ball. With a flash of white light, Espeon immediately appeared beside Carl.

"Eevee, please widen the gap in the stone door a bit, but don't make too much noise."

Espeon, which had been silently observing the outside world from inside its Poké Ball, did not make a sound as usual after being released from the Poké Ball by Carl. Instead, it listened quietly to Carl's commands.

The moment Karl finished speaking, the ruby ​​between Espeon's eyebrows immediately emitted a faint light, and an invisible psychic force surged out like a tide, enveloping the massive stone door.

With the help of mental power, the stone door was slowly pushed open, and dust instantly rose up in the quiet corridor.

Once the dust had settled, the stone door at the end of the corridor had opened a crack large enough for one person to pass through.

Karl strode forward, leading Espeon through the stone gate, where he was greeted by a not-so-spacious stone chamber.

The floor of the stone chamber was covered with a dense array of footprints. Karl quickly scanned them and finally focused his gaze on the source of the footprints—the wall on the left side of the stone chamber with a large hole in it.

Just as Carl was about to continue following the footprints, he suddenly realized a problem—the ruins they were in were located underground.

If the Pokémon hunters were driven to a dead end and chose to use Earthquake to destroy everything, the three of them could be buried alive in this ruin.

So is there any way to minimize the risk?

Karl had a sudden inspiration—if the unknown Ghost-type Pokémon deliberately let Ursaring take away the Cursed Armor, then what was its purpose?

Carl continued thinking along this line of thought:

The unknown Pokémon may have guessed that Ursaring has a trainer, so it wanted to take this opportunity to lure Ursaring's trainer, Carl, into the ruins.

As for why that Pokémon went to such great lengths?

Carl believes that the Pokémon may want to use him to drive out the "intruders" who have entered its territory.

Of course, the above is just Karl's personal speculation, and there is no substantial evidence to support it, but...

"Ahem, can we talk outside?" Carl said to the air under the watchful eyes of Pipa and Nemo. "You don't want those people to keep occupying your territory, do you?"

“Karl, you…” Pipa opened her mouth, wanting to say something to Karl.

Before Pipa could finish speaking, a scream rang out from behind Karl.

"Jie!"

A round Pokémon with purple skin and red eyes tumbled out of the shadows behind Carl.

"This is... Gengar?" Nemo recognized the Pokémon the moment she saw it.

Gengar, the Shadow Pokémon, is a Pokémon that likes to hide in the shadows of its prey and wait for the right moment to take its life.

It is said that Gengar takes human lives because it is the ultimate fate of humans, so it needs to find a companion.

Therefore, legends about Gengar seeking out bad children can be heard all over the world.

"Ha, you actually tried to ambush me?" Karl turned to look at Gengar, who was lying on the ground pretending to be dead, and gave it a light kick. "Get up now, or I'll leave right now if you don't want my help."

Upon hearing Carl's words, Gengar, which was lying on the ground, sprang to its feet, stretched out its little hands, grabbed Carl's clothes, and looked at Carl pitifully: "Heh!"

“Eevee~ (It’s saying: It will do anything as long as you can get rid of those people.)” Eevee, floating next to Karl, immediately translated.

"what?"

Upon hearing the translation of Espeon, a classic scene came to Karl's mind.

However, with business at hand, Karl forced himself to focus and said to Gengar, "Now, please tell me in detail all the information you have about that group of people."

"Jie—"

Three minutes later, with Espeon's translation, Carl learned all the information about the Pokémon hunters from Gengar.

According to Gengar, the group of Pokémon hunters had only arrived at this underground ruin a month ago.

In the past month, the group of Pokémon hunters has captured nearly three-digit numbers of Pokémon.

According to Gengar, the leader of the "invaders" possesses an item that can petrify Pokémon, and she also has a powerful Pokémon with a blue body and red wings.

When Karl heard this information, he almost thought he had misheard.

Pokémon hunters, petrification technology, and a Pokémon resembling Salamence—these three characteristics don't seem problematic when considered individually, but when put together…

“Hunter J…” Karl slowly uttered the name he knew all too well, “What a coincidence, I’ve come all the way to the Padia region and I still run into you.”

At the same time, someone deep inside the ruins froze: "This feeling of being watched... impossible, absolutely impossible!"

Chapter 52 Hunter J: It's you again! (Please continue reading)

As a world-renowned Pokémon hunter, Hunter J once scoffed at the idea of ​​"retribution" mentioned by a senior.