This unfamiliar ceiling, unfamiliar smell, and unfamiliar environment instantly jolted Mu Li’s groggy mind awake.
He instinctively pulled back the covers to check his clothes: “Good, my clothes are still on.”
“Wait, why am I here? Wasn’t I home last night?” Memories gradually resurfaced in Mu Li’s mind. “After I took Teacher He’s call last night, I just went back to sleep.”
Mu Li looked around and found that all the Pokémon were obediently staying in their Poké Balls, and this time, a Ninetales had even joined them.
With a bang and a flash of red light, Ninetales made a dazzling entrance.
“Why are you here?” Mu Li asked, eyes wide.
“Why shouldn’t I be here?” Ninetales feigned nonchalance, meticulously grooming her fur, and replied, “Am I not your most beloved Pokémon anymore?”
Mu Li was startled, then muttered, “That’s right, this passive-aggressive tone, besides Sylveon, only Ninetales talks like this.”
Ninetales rolled her eyes in annoyance: “Why aren’t you asking why *you* are here?”
Mu Li finally reacted and immediately asked, “Oh right! Why am I here?”
Ninetales sneered, “Why don’t you ask your good Gengar?”
“He can’t talk, how am I supposed to ask him?” Mu Li retorted.
Ninetales took a deep breath, seemingly suppressing her anger, and after doing so, recounted the entire sequence of events.
But after she finished, Mu Li’s gaze remained fixed on her.
“What are you doing? This has nothing to do with me.” Ninetales seemed to sense something and instinctively tried to deflect.
“You’re not right, you’re very not right.” Mu Li frowned, scrutinizing Ninetales. “Not only did you secretly follow me, but you’re also playing the role of a wise older sister in the group. This doesn’t fit your tsundere green tea persona.”
“You’re the green tea! Sylveon is clearly the green tea.” Ninetales retorted.
“But you don’t deny being tsundere, huh?” Mu Li said irritably, “Come on, tell me, why did you want to come out with me?”
“The Demon Capital is so boring. I heard that if I come out with you, I can be on TV and play, and there are people to fight…” A glint flashed in Ninetales’s eyes as she spoke, somewhat excitedly.
“Fight? Who told you that?” Mu Li asked, puzzled.
“Who else?” Ninetales glanced at Mu Li’s shadow and said.
“If you want to fight, go back to Yangcheng. If you feel constrained, go find Armarouge and them. Their place is a volcano, the space is huge, you can do whatever you want, even if you make the volcano erupt, it’ll be fine.” Mu Li suggested.
“Hmph! What do you know? Who wants to fight with that bunch of brutes?” Ninetales said irritably, “Anyway, I don’t care, just tell me, are you taking me or not?”
“What else can I do when you’re like this?” Mu Li said helplessly. From his understanding of Ninetales, when she became unreasonable, it was best for him to be perceptive.
He remembered about a year ago when he took Ninetales out. In the forest, they encountered a Hatterene. How could such a cute Hatterene have any ill intentions?
She just wanted to get close to the handsome trainer, didn't she?
But Ninetales insisted that Hatterene was a vixen and started arguing with her.
Mu Li couldn’t help but say something fair: “Ninetales, you need to control yourself!”
He still remembered Ninetales’s reply at the time: “You’re scolding me for a vixen? Fine, I’ll control myself!”
And then there was no “then.” That forest was completely destroyed. Not only did that Hatterene lose her home, but she was also beaten until she cried.
To restore that forest, Mu Li specifically had Venusaur and Alakazam go help with the reconstruction. It’s been almost a year in the blink of an eye, it’s time to bring them back.
“I wonder how they’re doing now?” Mu Li felt a bit nostalgic for Venusaur. Although there were other Venusaurs at home, those were later employees from the flower farm, whereas this Venusaur had grown up with Mu Li since childhood.
In Yunmengze, a giant Venusaur sleeping on the ground couldn’t help but sneeze. Not far from Venusaur was a wooden house, and inside the house sat an Alakazam meditating.
Alakazam also seemed to sense something, instinctively looked south, a helpless expression on his face, then used two spoons to plug his ears.
“As long as I can’t hear, trouble won’t come knocking. I’ve finally had a year of peace, I can’t let Ninetales come over.”
Alakazam glanced at the Hatterene lying asleep on the bed, a smile involuntarily appearing at the corner of his mouth: “This apprentice has a good temper, she doesn’t burn my beard at the slightest provocation.”
Just then, a Corviknight flew 500 meters above the wooden house.
The sleeping Hatterene’s brows furrowed slightly. Suddenly, a Shadow Ball larger than the Corviknight’s body appeared next to it. The Shadow Ball directly hit the Corviknight, carrying it several hundred meters away before exploding. The Corviknight instantly turned into a shooting star.
Seeing Mu Li lost in thought, Ninetales narrowed her eyes, a fierce glint in them: “Are you thinking about that vixen again?”
Mu Li said irritably, “Thinking about what? You’re clearly the vixen yourself…”
Of course, Mu Li only dared to think this; if he actually said it, he didn’t know how much he would have to pay this time.
“Psychic-type and Fairy-type are still better. Look at Gardevoir, look at Hatterene, how gentle and considerate. Then look at this Fire-type…” Mu Li secretly shook his head and sighed.
At the same time, a Corviknight, now a shooting star, shouted, “Feed me peanuts!”
Upon arriving in Star City, Mu Li had nowhere else to go. Xu Ming was at work, and He Lin probably had a lot of work, so Mu Li didn't want to disturb him. He decided to go for a walk by himself.
Star City had many delicious foods, such as stinky tofu, crayfish, and so on. Mu Li arrived with high hopes but left disappointed, because none of the snacks and dishes in Star City had a non-spicy option.
By the end of the afternoon, Mu Li felt like he had only drunk a bellyful of milk tea and dared not eat anything else.
Not to mention other things, Mu Li even saw a spicy milk tea while drinking milk tea, a path Mu Li had never imagined.
“This world has indeed been turned upside down into a form I cannot comprehend.” Mu Li couldn’t help but lament.
Soon, it was time for the recording of “Happy Saturday.”
“Happy Saturday” is a program that airs every Saturday during Mango TV’s prime time slot, primarily used for promoting participating celebrities.
The episode Mu Li was participating in this time was a martial arts theme.
The “theme” meant that everyone could choose to dress up as a famous martial arts master.
Of course, becoming a martial arts hero would be incomplete without companions to uphold justice together. This time, the companions joining the six guests in upholding justice were six Psyduck.
It must be said that just from the opening display, these six Psyduck had already melted the hearts of the audience.
These six Psyduck each wore a single eye patch and different colored silk headscarves on their heads.
Besides the two hosts, He Lin and Wu Ze, “Happy Saturday” also invited Mu Li, Gao Hanyu, Ding Ding, Didi, Xue Yang, and Zhilin for this episode.
Among them, Mu Li had only met Gao Hanyu before on “Wu Ha”; he didn’t know anyone else.
Ding Ding is a member of an idol boy group, Didi is a comedian, Xue Yang is a female comedian famous for her stand-up comedy and has also appeared in various films, and Zhilin is a male actor from the Greater Bay Area who has been famous for a long time.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the show started, everyone began to complain.
“Which director came up with this plan?” Didi looked speechlessly at the six Psyduck trying to be cute on stage. “Didn’t they say it was about great heroes? Why are they one-eyed? These are clearly one-eyed pirates!”
“Exactly! It would have been better to just do a pirate theme.” Xue Yang also complained irritably.
Everyone started chattering, and amidst their chatter, the six Psyduck also started playing, all using Water Gun on each other. In the blink of an eye, a few Psyduck became soaking wet.
“Look, now they look even more like pirates.” Mu Li couldn’t help but retort.
He Lin couldn’t help but smile and explain, “Actually, there’s a reason why the director team designed these Psyduck this way this time.”
“What reason?” Everyone asked, somewhat curious.
He Lin looked at Mu Li and smiled, “Everyone might not know this yet, but recently, there’s a show on Mango TV that’s been causing quite a stir. The main reason is that the protagonist of this show took two staff members out to sea.”
Mu Li was startled, thinking: Is he talking about me?
As if seeing Mu Li’s expression, He Lin directly announced the answer: “That’s right, the protagonist of that show is also here, and that’s our new friend today—Mu Li.”
“Teacher He, although this is my first time meeting Mu Li, it’s just a trip out to sea, there’s no need to specially create a theme for it, right?” Didi asked curiously.
He Lin smiled mysteriously and continued, “If it were just a trip out to sea, then it certainly wouldn’t be enough to alarm the entire Mango TV. But do you know what they filmed on that trip?”
“What content?” Xue Yang promptly offered the topic.
“They encountered pirates on this trip, real pirates!” He Lin explained, “And they also encountered a legendary Pokémon, the Prince of the Sea—Manaphy.”
Although the guests present were all from the entertainment industry and weren’t very knowledgeable about Pokémon, everyone knew some basic facts, such as the significance of legendary Pokémon.
This concept is almost equivalent to going out to sea once and then encountering the legendary Dragon King of the West Sea, who is very happy to see you and conveniently helps you deal with a wave of pirates as a Meeting Gift .
Putting everything else aside, this experience alone was enough to make everyone extremely curious.
“For the specific content, everyone can watch the variety show ‘“I Live Alone”’.” He Lin changed the subject, “But I also want to share another outrageous thing with everyone.”
Mu Li saw He Lin’s gaze, and a sheepish smile involuntarily appeared on his face: “Teacher He, this outrageous thing wouldn’t be related to me again, would it?”
He Lin couldn’t help but laugh: “What do you think?”
He Lin then continued, “Because we were short on guests for today’s recording, after I specifically invited Mu Li to participate in the show last night, I went out to dinner with Didi and the others. As a result, I slept straight until this afternoon.”
“When I woke up, I heard my agent tell me an extremely outrageous thing.” He Lin continued.
Mu Li couldn’t help but cover his face and sigh deeply: “Please, don’t say it, Teacher He, let me keep some dignity in front of my new friends.”
Apparently, since He Lin had brought it up, there was no possibility of him stopping halfway. He directly revealed the news he had heard: “When I woke up yesterday, I heard that you were kidnapped by your Pokémon?”
Mu Li sighed: “Actually, I don’t even know how I got here. After I took Teacher He’s call last night, by the time I woke up today, I was already in Star City. What’s even scarier is that my pilot’s license almost got demerit points again.”