Calamity and Deception

Chapter 4 Calamity and Deception

Since the living room floor had been mopped and ventilated to dry, the villa's main door was not closed. The little Snorlax sleeping by the door seemed to smell the aroma from the kitchen, and it began to stir restlessly in its sleep, tossing and turning.

At that moment, a figure quietly approached from the orchard. It had a large white plastic bag with two holes cut out over its head and was peering into the living room. Its green braids swayed like tufts of hair.

"Hmm..."

After observing for a moment and seeing movement in the kitchen, it quietly stepped out and into the living room.

It has two green leaves on its feet, and a structure similar to wooden clogs, so it doesn't make a sound when it steps on the floor.

Following the aroma, it walked all the way to the kitchen doorway before finally stopping and peering out, as if anticipating seeing someone...

However... there was only Mingyou cooking noodles in the kitchen, not the person it wanted to see, so it couldn't help but feel a little disappointed and turned to leave.

But the little Snorlax, who had already woken up, had somehow appeared behind it. As soon as it turned around, it bumped into it, fell to the ground, and the plastic bag on its head immediately fell off and floated towards the kitchen.

"Um?"

Upon hearing the sound, Mingyou instinctively looked over and saw a child sitting on the ground in front of the kitchen door, holding his head and looking over nervously.

Its green body resembles a lace-trimmed skirt, decorated with cute white five-pointed stars and yellow circle patterns.

A cape resembling a ginkgo leaf was worn on the head, with a ring of thick black thorns around the edge, the protruding thorns forming a structure similar to tentacles.

Below, on a round face as orange as a ripe tangerine, half a leaf forms bangs, and the green beside her eyes looks like eyeshadow.

The star-like pupils in its yellow eyes always remind one of a certain deceased popular idol, and the little fangs peeking out from its slightly open mouth due to nervousness and fear make it even more adorable...

[Evil Phantom: A masked Pokémon with a personality that fears loneliness. It's a rather pitiful little guy; spending more time with it should quickly increase its affection level.]

"A bizarre and unpredictable creature?!"

"Hmm..."

Upon hearing the other person call his name, Egui Peng trembled violently, seemingly wanting to run away, but he was too terrified to take a step and get up.

Seeing that this legendary Pokémon was afraid of him, Mingyou's surprise faded. He then slowed his movements, stepped forward, and stopped after maintaining a certain distance.

He bent down, keeping himself at the same height as Ergui Peng to lower his guard, and reached out to pick up the plastic bag, asking softly, "Did you drop this?"

"Hmm..."

"Take it~"

"Hmm?"

Ergui Peng was slightly taken aback, then carefully reached out and took the plastic bag he was handed over, and put it directly on his head, through the thorn-like tentacles, with only his eyes showing through two small holes.

Looking at its pitiful appearance, Mingyou was puzzled. Why didn't this Evil Spirit have a mask? It was just using a bag over its head...

Although he was puzzled, he did not ask directly, fearing that it might upset the other party. Instead, he asked softly, trying to find out some things.

"Um... are you here to see Grandpa? The old man who used to live here."

"Mmm~"

When this was mentioned, Egui Peng became very excited, constantly looking around as if searching for the other person.

After confirming the answer, Mingyou sighed softly, her face filled with apology and sadness, and said, "I'm sorry, Grandpa is no longer here. I am his family."

"Hmm..."

Upon hearing this, Ergui Peng's mood seemed to plummet instantly. He even took off the plastic bag, wanting to change into a mask to express his current feelings, but unfortunately, he didn't have any other masks.

But it didn't overreact, as if it already knew about it. However, it still came over here, looking at the house with the lights on, with a glimmer of hope.

As Snorlax walked past and into the kitchen, Evil Phantom turned to leave, but perhaps because it kept smelling the delicious aroma from the kitchen...

goo—

Ergui Peng, her cheeks slightly flushed, clutched her rumbling stomach. Behind her, Mingyou chuckled softly and said, "Are you hungry? I just cooked a bit too much noodles. Want to eat together? You can leave after you're full."

"Hmm..."

After hesitating for a moment, perhaps because the aroma was too tempting, its stomach growled twice more, as if it were committing a crime. Helpless, Egui Peng could only nod slightly.

Inside the kitchen, while Munchlax was stealing a sweet potato and crouching in a corner, Mingyou found two large bowls and placed them on the stove, just enough to hold a pot of noodles.

Then he went out to the living room and brought in two stools. Erguipeng sat on them, looking at the noodles in his bowl.

Smelling the aroma, it seemed impatient, but instead of using chopsticks, a green vine extended from under its left cloak and reached directly into the bowl…

"Mmm!"

"Hey! It's hot, don't touch it directly!"

Seeing that it was scalded, Mingyou quickly took a towel, wet it, and went over to help wipe it off.

The little Snorlax passed by again, tiptoed, picked up his bowl, and went back to the corner...

"Hmm..."

Ergui Peng hung its head, like a child who had made a mistake. Mingyou didn't blame it. It was obvious that the other party had never eaten noodles before and thought it was the same as eating fruit, so it directly reached out to grab them.

Be careful.

Mingyou held its bowl, picked up a noodle with chopsticks, blew on it gently, and brought it to its mouth.

"Eat up~"

"Hmm..."

Ergui Peng hesitated for a moment, then opened its mouth, revealing its little tiger teeth, and took a bite, almost breaking the chopsticks in the process. Although it was just a simple tomato noodle soup, it had never eaten such food before, and usually ate mostly fruit.

Watching it happily eat noodles, Mingyou smiled, recalling the days when she used to chase after the children in the orphanage to feed them.

The children living in the welfare home either lost their families in an accident or were abandoned by their families for special reasons... Every child is actually very lonely, and many even have psychological trauma. The welfare home becomes a home that takes care of them and gives them warmth.

The strange creature before him reminded Mingyou of those children. At this moment, he finally understood why his grandfather wanted to be a patrolman, just like how he returned to work at the orphanage in his previous life...

He had gradually solidified his thoughts in his heart, and after Ergui Peng finished his noodle soup, he brought over the dish of sugared tomatoes.

"Try it, you can take this directly."

"Hmm..."

Egui Peng stretched out his vine, took a slice of tomato and ate it. His little mouth instantly turned into an "O" shape, revealing his two little tiger teeth. He then used the vine to take another slice.

But as soon as it touched the tomato, it stopped, raised its head slightly, and looked at the tomato in front of it with its bright eyes, as if asking if it could take another piece.

"If you like it, you can have it all. One bowl of noodles is enough for me. I can't finish all this."

"Mmm~"

Ergui Pong happily hugged the plate. Although it was a stranger, it did not sense any prejudice from Mingyou. On the contrary, Mingyou seemed to care about it a lot, which was different from others.

"Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you."

Seeing that it liked it, Mingyou was also very happy, but then she suddenly saw that familiar blue particle light spots were emanating from the body of Egui Peng!

Finally, the light coalesced into a card with an illustration of the elusive and mysterious creature, which spun in mid-air. He paused for a moment, then reached out and took it…

[[Evil Ponkan (lv1): After being used on a Ponkan tree, the species changes to Evil Ponkan tree, which can grow Evil Ponkan with (Grass, Fire, Water, Rock) attribute bonuses]

"It's happening again... this time it's a ponkan orange?"

Mingyou looked at the contents of the card, then looked at Egui Peng, who was happily eating a tomato. He remained silent for a long time, seemingly finally understanding the function of his ability.

At that moment, he clutched the card tightly in his hand. Perhaps this was hope. He had already made up his mind. Since it was what his grandfather had hoped for, then he would take over and run this place!

It's just a small debt. If I can make good use of my abilities and use these cards to grow mutant crops, I might be able to pay it off quickly!

"Give me a reply tomorrow!"

Having made the decision, he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, but also felt an invisible pressure. He then gently shook his head, his eyes hardening, and turned around to continue dinner, but there were no bowls left on the stove.

In the corner of the kitchen, a bowl lay upside down on the floor, and Snorlax lay beside it, scratching its belly and fast asleep contentedly.

"Gambit~"

……

(End of this chapter)