Baimu stood up and looked at Huo Wu, who was clutching her arm.
The hiding Chansey popped its head out, holding a potion and bandages as it jogged over, full of concern in its confusion.
He said, "Are you alright?"
"...Am I free now?"
Huo Wu cast her gaze over, eyes burning with intensity.
"Of course you're free." Baimu helplessly took out the Evil Dog Team bracelet and tossed it over, "Here, call for rescue."
She jogged forward, picked up the bracelet, and pressed the rescue button, finally exhaling a long breath.
"Thank you."
Huo Wu took the items from the approaching Chansey, smiling as she patted its head, her tense emotions relaxing for a moment.
Although the future was still fraught with danger, at this moment she felt a sense of safety.
"lucky!"
Chansey hopped in front of Baimu with a delighted expression, waving its little claws as if to say, "I did it."
It was indeed a significant step forward for it to actively perform medical actions on others.
"Very good."
Baimu smiled and patted its head.
The source of Chansey's nervousness undoubtedly stemmed from its lack of confidence, likely rarely receiving affirmation in the past, leading to hesitancy in everything it did.
A half-problem child, but to Baimu, not an intolerable flaw.
He was also working hard to improve it, starting with these small medical actions, believing Chansey would regain its confidence in a few months.
By then,
He would welcome a smiling angel, a pink devil.
Of course, it still required continued effort right now.
Baimu watched as his Aerial Rotom flew to the side, "You've received a total reward of 1.56 million."
So much again, what exactly happened that caused the rewards to exceed a million? Did the number of contestants decrease?
He glanced at the time on his watch.
Now, over three hours into the competition, Baimu had just welcomed his third prey.
Initially, he thought at the original frequency, he could quickly ambush the third person, but the Evil Dog Team members seemed to know there was a troublesome guy here and avoided this area.
Estimated to be on the east side, Jian, whom he had high hopes for, also made a big detour, circumventing this place and blending into other red dots, was unidentifiable.
It made him and Huo Wu go through quite an awkward two hours.
Realizing it might be a long stay in one position, Baimu had to keep changing several places to confuse the enemy's radar, and finally, after a lot of hassle, waited for a fool.
Now, the competition had already entered the critical stage. As far as he knew, both sides had only six contestants left, and he believed it wouldn't be long before they started the "team battle" mode.
Once it's allowed for teammates to converge, Jian's problem would no longer be a problem. As the saying goes, two fists are no match for four hands, Baimu knew Jian wasn't strong enough to take on multiple opponents.
The two exchanged their clothes.
At the horizon.
The rescue Delibird flapped its wings and flew over.
It's hard to imagine how an Ice and Flying Attribute Pokémon could fly for so long under the blazing sun.
Baimu looked up, shielding his eyes from the glaring sun with his hand, "Won't it suffer heatstroke... uh, it fell."
It seemed like he jinxed it, as not long after he spoke, Delibird's flight became wobbly and quickly plummeted from the sky.
Huo Wu's smile immediately turned stiff.
But fortunately, a few seconds later, Delibird regained its balance and shakily flapped its little wings, barely flying up to them.
"..."
Baimu hesitated for a moment, took a water bottle from the captives, and walked over, pouring some water over its head.
Cold drops of water splashed,
The dizzy Delibird froze briefly and then excitedly flapped its wings, tilting its head to receive the refreshing and cool water.
Its eyes transitioned from hazy to clear.
Huo Wu's stiff expression eased; if the rescue Pokémon got into trouble, she would be truly distraught.
"Let's take a rest first, otherwise, it might not even be able to fly away."
Baimu said softly.
"Okay." Huo Wu nodded, it wouldn't matter to wait a while longer, if the Delibird lost its strength and fell from the air, she'd have nowhere to cry.
Soon after.
The fully restored Delibird flew off with a large cloth bag.
Baimu watched it go, his gaze switching between the two prisoners on the ground, selecting the next victim.
After hesitating for a long time, he decided to wake both of them up.
Judging by their performances, these two were tough nuts to crack; at least in front of the camera, they weren't pushovers, so he had to use some tactics to make them comply.
Like the prisoner's dilemma type.
Of course, since he had never used this method before, awkwardness was inevitable, and Baimu decided to strategize in advance.
"Think while resting, it's just too hot."
He exhaled.
In the desert, the temperature difference between day and night was huge, now approaching noon, the sun was at its hottest, and the sun-scorched ground could burn people.
Even Aron couldn't stand the temperature, running back into the shadow, hiding beside Baimu.
"Ah... you feel so cool."
He patted Aron on its head, immediately sensing a kind of coolness like dipping his hand into a freezer.
"Goo?"
"You definitely can't feel it yourself." Baimu smiled at it and then pulled Chansey over, "Would you like to try too?"
"lucky~"
Chansey tentatively reached out its paw and, seeing Aron lean in, confidently touched it.
When the coolness came, joy spread across its face.
"I wasn't wrong, was I?"
Baimu smiled and ruffled its fluffy little head.
The temporary worker Vibrava returned to the Pokeball to rest after the battle ended.
This guy was only close to Chansey, considering Baimu and Aron as mere colleagues, greeting them during free time was already pretty friendly.
But since the competition would end eventually, Baimu didn't care about their relationship anymore, it was better to focus his energy on Aron and Chansey.
One hadn't evolved, and the other had mental barriers to overcome.
A short while later.
Baimu saw that the rest was about enough, started figuring out how to wake those two up, and determine the next tool person.
But just as he dragged one into the sunlight, his body suddenly stiffened.
He turned his head abruptly and saw a blurry figure appearing on the windy and sandy road, not knowing when it had approached.
The distance between them was less than a hundred meters.
The air shimmered with heat, as if a stage was unfolding.
Baimu stood still, squinting his eyes.
"So, it's you, the persistent red dot. I'm really curious about how you managed to endure it; you just got your Pokémon not long ago, right?"
The figure spoke, its voice eerie.
"...Who said getting a Pokémon recently means no combat ability?" he threw down the Evil Dog Team member in his hand.
Saying there were at least ten minutes until the radar cooled down, at this point, no fool would actively search for an opponent under the scorching sun.
If they couldn't find one, it would be a waste of energy, and even if they did, victory wasn't certain.
Who would've thought...
Miscalculation.
Jian uses the shade of the arch-like rock to obscure his figure, "So confident, no wonder you're not afraid of me at all."
In the scorching heat,
Baimu sighed, standing under the sun.
"If I say I'm scared of you, will you leave here?"
Jian chuckled strangely, "Nope, hehe—"
"Battle Request!"
Beep!
Two bracelets simultaneously emitted a soft sound!