"In this game, will the Himi family's guardian beast - "The God of Blue Feathers" appear? "
The adventurer's words echoed among the rocks, overlapping and spreading into the distance.
The two teenagers from the Himi family stopped immediately when they heard this. They turned their heads in unison, and at the same time showed surprise and confusion in their eyes, very much like Pichu seeing the oldest Charizard trying to curl up its arms and legs into a dragon ball and trying to stuff itself into its master's arms.
"Of course not, how could you even think of this... Uh, okay, I understand."
Karl's surprised eyes glanced at the feathers tied at the end of Xiao Ye's hair, and immediately turned into a look of understanding.
"Our patron beast is different from the Fire People." Karl explained, "The Freezing Bird—well, the God of Blue Feathers you mentioned, actually we don't call it that—rarely communicates with us."
According to Carl, the habitat of the Freezing Bird is Himimoto's home, located in Miter Snow Mountain in the Hoenn region. However, it spends most of its time wandering around the world and rarely returns to the snowy mountains to settle down. Even in the Fengyuan area, there are many clansmen who have never encountered a frozen bird, not to mention the Orange Islands thousands of miles away - in fact, in recent decades, the tribesmen of Fengxue Mountain have not even seen a frozen bird. I have never seen the tips of its wings.
"——Also, I heard that the Frozen Bird has a bad temper." Carl smiled and spread his hands, "I guess it will never cooperate with our acting."
"That's right." Xiaoye nodded.
When she was in the Valley of Flames, she overheard the people of the flames mentioning the temperament of the Cang Feather God. It's hard to imagine that a hot-tempered divine bird that has lived for a thousand years would "condescend" to become an actor - like Niwa-sama, he doesn't mind wearing a human cub, and he seriously considers whether to pluck his feathers to make quilts for his tribe. The mythical beast is the real alien.
However, since there is no reason for the Frozen Bird to appear in Snow Wind Mountain...why did the battle between the Ice and Fire Birds in the dream happen?
Vague speculations swirled in Xiaoye's heart, but were temporarily put aside.
——If that is closely related to the disaster that happened in the Valley of Flames, then the answer will be found in the Rift Valley soon.
With the help of Pokémon, it didn't take long for the three of them to reach the bottom of the rift.
There is no wind or snow in the deep valley, but it is more humid and colder than the mountains. Mist enveloped the entire valley, making the already sparse sunlight even dimmer. The rocks in the distance were also blurred in the mist, and only the sound of gurgling water echoed in my ears, preventing the valley bottom from being completely silent.
On the top of Fengxue Mountain surrounded by rift valleys, there is a deep lake that is frozen all year round. The lake water mixed with the melted ice and snow water, and gathered along the pouring mountains to form a river flowing at the bottom of the rift valley - this is also the source of the Bailang River that runs through the entire Naipulu Island.
"We didn't set up an ambush in the rift this time." Karl turned on the flashlight and walked at the front to explore the road. "There are only a lot of props to scare people, be careful... uh."
After a few seconds of silence, he spoke: "I'm sorry, I should have said it earlier."
"It's okay." Xiao Ye picked up the frightened Pichu and straightened the ends of her hair that were singed by electricity without caring.
Although the electric mouse's eyesight is good, it is far from being able to see through the fog. So, when it noticed that there seemed to be several tall shadows in front of it, the trainer had already taken a few steps forward calmly, letting the Pichu hanging on his shoulders and a row of eerie ice dolls face to face, directly touching it. The little guy was so frightened that he discharged his electricity on the spot.
Fortunately, the trainer was well aware of the unreliability of his own Pokémon. He used a tactical glide to get behind the ice puppet and avoided the tragedy of being electrocuted into an afro.
The electric mouse was filled with embarrassment and anger, the hair all over his body stood up, and he bared his teeth at the two Himi boys. Karl didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and quickly took out a few candies to apologize under Clive's condemning gaze, "I'm sorry, sorry, these are just ice sculptures, they won't move, don't be afraid-"
"mound!!"
Xiao Ye calmly turned the electric mouse over with her bare hands and let the electric current fly high into the sky to prevent a Himi explosive head from appearing in front of her three seconds later.
Pichu's eyes widened like seal balls, and he didn't forget to bluff his master: "I'm not afraid! I'm angry with Pichu!!"
Seeing that the trainer nodded his head very favorably, the electric mouse jumped onto the boy's hand, picked up the candy and started munching on it without warning. When Xiaoye saw Karl feeding him sweets and taking advantage of the situation to sneak up on the hairballs, alarm bells rang in her heart.
At this distance...if Carl pulled Pichu's tail and caused the electric mouse to discharge, she would be too late to save people...
The adventurer raised his head hesitantly and saw happiness written all over the face of the boy who was addicted to kneading the hairballs. He couldn't help but hesitate to speak, and finally chose to close his mouth and shut himself up with Clive.
According to Carl, although there were no Pokémon stationed at the bottom of the rift valley, considering that someone might be lucky enough to escape the cordon above the valley and enter by mistake, they still put a lot of thought into the scenery at the bottom of the valley.
From time to time, dilapidated wooden houses appear in the field of vision, and the river bank is filled with hideous-shaped ice dolls - however, unlike the ice dolls in the old village that can move freely like living creatures, these in the valley are just appearances. The only purpose of the ice sculpture is to create an atmosphere of terror.
The route the three of them had discussed in advance was to enter the rift valley from the north side of the curling stone and patrol in a counterclockwise direction. Carl and Clive both released their Pokémon and worked together in a tacit understanding, inspecting every rock pit and bush. As a "safety device" in the event of another ice explosion - Xiao Ye, who was only responsible for dealing with ice explosions, had nothing to do for a while, so she simply took out her mobile phone that had been confiscated for several days, intending to check the information to confirm her suspicions.
After integrating the information related to the ice explosion, all three people came to the same conclusion - considering Alon's witness testimony and the micro player carried by the crazy Chuanshan King, the occurrence of the ice explosion phenomenon is likely to be related to " Sound" related. Coincidentally, the control of the ice puppet also relies on the change of sound; Xiaoye vaguely felt that the two were not unrelated, so she planned to search for the operating principle of the ice puppet.
She followed the popular science from netizens and came across the paper titled "Recovery Practice of Puppet Technology of the Glorious Era Based on GR Filtering Technology and Hidden Energy Loop Hypothesis". She hadn't even read half of the abstract, but her face was already gradually distorted.
After finishing the candy, Pichu just jumped back on the trainer's shoulder. He stared at the screen with his master for a while, then simply rolled his eyes and stuffed himself back into Carl's scarf.
Probably because Xiaoye was staring at the phone too solemnly, as if she had received some bad news, Karl asked tentatively, "Do you need help?"
Xiaoye kept a solemn expression and turned the phone screen to show Karl.
"I tried to read it, but... what exactly are hidden energy circuits?"
Karl: "..."
Clive: "..."
Karl was about to speak, but he was hesitant to speak. However, Honor Little Flame looked at him with eyes full of hope and curiosity. He really couldn't be autistic with Clive, so he had to say in a dumbfounded voice, "I probably understand what you want to know." ... If you have anything to say, please close the paper first."
In fact, the functions of the ice puppet are not as alive as shown in the competition.
It is rumored that ancient puppets can understand human speech and independently execute orders such as searching for enemies and attacking. Maybe the ancient civilization was really so magnificent and incredible, or maybe it was just the exaggerated stories of the ancients that modern people took seriously - the ice dolls restored by the Himi family can only receive sound waves of different frequencies, and move and wave their arms accordingly. Wait for simple actions. The so-called "tracking sounds", "sensing heat", "obeying the ice puppet's instructions" and other behaviors are all the result of manual operations by the staff. Keeping the ice puppet's legs from fighting when walking is already a remarkable achievement in the academic world.
"——I don't know if you have heard before that the Himi family recruited a group of volunteers who love to play online games half a year ago." Carl ended with a nonsensical narrative, successfully making the little flame of honor show an expression that was hard to explain. .
...So, behind every smooth and lively ice puppet is a volunteer who works hard to operate the "character" with extreme hand speed?
Why does it feel like the tone of the story suddenly dropped a notch...
Such a simple fact made Xiaoye's brain freeze for a moment, and she couldn't figure out whether there was any connection between ice puppet technology and ice explosion. Just when her head was filled with garbled words and she was dizzy, Pichu, who wandered back from nowhere, scratched the trainer's neck with his small paws.
"Look, look master, there are east and west hills in the river."
Xiao Ye raised her head when she heard the words. At the same time, the Pokémon responsible for detecting the surroundings also noticed something strange and called out to the trainer.
The three of them looked at each other and slowly approached the river bank.
Through the gray mist, one can vaguely see a black shadow floating along the river in the middle of the river, shaped like a ship - but there are few people in the deep rift valley, and there are only a handful of wild Pokémon, let alone in the river. What's going on?
Carl realized something was wrong. He waved his hand to signal everyone to be more vigilant, and then took the lead to walk slowly towards the river bank. Clive followed closely, holding up the camera in his hand, intending to take pictures of the unknown objects in the river.
Xiaoye followed the two teenagers, and the invisible waveguide power enveloped the surroundings and swept toward the center of the river. The appearance of the suspicious black ship was reflected bit by bit in the crystal blue fluctuations, and Xiao Ye was stunned by the information transmitted back.
Before he could speak, something unexpected happened.
Under the sight of the power of the waveguide, an ice sculpture standing by the river began to tremble - as if a sleeping creature was waking up. It shed away the accumulated frost and suddenly jumped up, shooting like arrows at the people near the river bank.
An alarm bell rang in Xiaoye's heart, and she subconsciously rushed forward, trying to block her companions behind her. The crystal blue light was already beating and flickering in her hands. But the Pokémon's reaction was even faster. The Bodhidharma baboon hugged the young trainers and protected the humans in its arms; the Snow Fairy moaned and opened her arms, blocking the attackers with a solid wall of green light. .
The next moment, the ice puppet started twitching. There seems to be some kind of force that breaks through its body, causing the limbs of the ice to crack and turn into blooming ice flowers.
A huge explosion roared in the valley.
The sonic boom carried the flying dust and smoke and raged between the rock walls, like the angry roar of a mountain god. And the movement disappeared silently into the too-deep rift. Not a trace can reach the snow-capped mountains - just as people with ice-colored hair have never noticed the footprints of uninvited guests who visit the deep valley.
====================
"Tick tock."
"Tick tock."
The cold water dropped on the young man's forehead, making him gradually wake up from his drowsiness.
Clive stared blankly at the darkness in front of him, and the memories before his coma came back bit by bit.
Unidentified boats drifting on the river, ice puppets, explosions, and finally the collapse of the ground...
He jumped like a carp, which actually startled the person watching next to him.
"Clive, good morning." The old friend's voice came to my ears with a hint of smile, "You slept for a long time - are you injured?"
Clive turned his head - and then was startled again. It took all his strength to stop himself from punching him instinctively.
Karl and Xiaoye were sitting side by side, with Pichu curled up at their feet. However, the surroundings were completely dark at this time. Only the electric mouse that used the flashing technique was shining with a bright white light, making the two people's faces look as scary as a horror movie.
"..."
Clive calmed down his heartbeat with an unhappy expression, and said angrily, "What's going on?"
"As you can see, the worst case scenario." Karl said, "We fell into an underground cave."
Clive was startled, and the words of complaint were suddenly stuck in his throat and he could not speak out.
Underground in the Great Rift Valley of Fengxue Mountain, there are intricate caves and underground rivers.
Unlike mountainous areas that are open as scenic spots all year round, the underground caves of Fengxue Mountain are completely undeveloped areas. Due to its complex terrain and numerous underground river tributaries, even locals can easily get lost in it. Therefore, except for explorers who love extreme sports, almost no one will go near the underground caves.
The explosion created by that weird ice doll was so violent that the already fragile rock layer was blown to pieces. The trainers had no time to move and fell deep into the ground along with the air waves and flying rocks. If it weren't for the desperate protection of the Snow Demon Girl and Bodhidharma Baboon, at least a dozen of their arms and legs would have been broken at this moment.
After confirming that his arms and legs were still on his body, Clive immediately checked his equipment and Poké Balls - the camera he had held before the explosion had long since rolled down to someone unknown, and his backpack had a big hole in it. , and half of the contents inside were missing. Only having all the Pokémon by my side is a blessing among misfortunes.
He picked up the Bodhidharma Baboon's Poké Ball and looked at it.
In order to protect the human in his arms during the fall, the burly Pokémon was covered in bruises and could hardly move while lying in the ball. Sensing the owner's gaze, it managed to raise an arm and waved to the trainer with a grin.
Clive lowered his eyes and put the elf ball away.
After arranging his belongings, he shook his mobile phone, which had no signal, and turned his questioning eyes to Karl.
"Wait, or go?"
The always high-spirited young man sighed softly.
"Before you woke up, Beidou and I took a general look at the surrounding situation." Karl said, "The collapse where we came down was very serious, and it was impossible to return the same way. But combined with the direction of the underground river and the position before we fell, I We can probably deduce the direction of the 'skylight'."
"Now the family is short of manpower. Even if we are aware that we have lost contact, it will take a lot of time to find the place where we fell. We do not have much food and water reserves, and it is not realistic to wait for rescue. Not to mention..."
The black ship floating like a ghost in the middle of the river, and the ice sculpture that was supposed to be an ordinary ice sculpture but suddenly moved into action, creating a huge explosion that could kill a human being - all of this must be reported as soon as possible before more victims appear. To the Himi family.
Carl sighed. In the bright white light, those clear glazed eyes looked at Xiaoye, "I'm sorry."
Xiaoye shook her head.
She knew why Carl was apologizing - "caving" is one of the most dangerous projects even for professional explorers. Getting lost, darkness, falling rocks, lack of oxygen, rapids, and wild Pokémon lurking in the caves are all enough to kill an inexperienced person. Waiting in place is the safest and most reasonable approach at this moment, but the potential crisis and sense of responsibility urge the teenagers of the Himi family to take risks.
"if--"
Seeing Karl speaking, the next second he was definitely going to say "We'll leave the water and food here while you wait for rescue while we go explore the road", which is what a free trainer hates to hear. Xiao Ye didn't care whether she was polite or not. He raised his hand decisively and interrupted him, "The area here is too narrow to release Pokémon. I think my waveguide power can help?"
Karl was choked back with all his words, and after being stunned for a moment, he could only shake his head.
——This does not surprise the boys of the Himi family.
Before the annual snowstorm event began, they had already known this new honorary Fire People through stories told by friends on neighboring islands. The traveler recognized by the Heart of the Moon, the warrior who once saved the Flame Valley, the stranger who received the blessing of the God of Niwa - how could such a person abandon his companions and only care about himself?
"Let's go."
Southerners make decisions as quickly as ever. Karl clapped his hands and walked to the front of the queue as usual, "While it's still early, maybe we still have a chance to return on time - ah, can you lend me the 'lightbulb'?"
The living light bulb - Pichu slowly jumped onto Carl's shoulder, found a comfortable position and rolled himself into a mouse ball.
The group groped away in the darkness.
In order to save energy, the light emitted by Pichu was very weak, only enough for the trainers to see the path under their feet - therefore, no one noticed that the rusty-smelling liquid dripped down the purple-haired adventurer's trousers, There are brownish-red traces left in the cave.
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small theater:
Ice Puppet: I knew I was going to be slashed in three seconds, so I blew myself up before getting stabbed. I'm so smart. (proud)
The Super Sonic Bat in the back mountain of Zhenxin Town, the Giant Needle Bee in the forest at the entrance of the town, the three-in-one magnet monster in Thunder Mountain, the Big Mouth Bat of the fake Rocket Team in Honglian City, and the Rocket Team members and Quartz League players in the underground base in the village elevator. The Arbo Snake, the Scorpion of the Wind Thief, and the Dark Crow of the Flame Valley: ...is this something to be proud of? (trance)
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At the end of January... I kneel down to give you the December update. (kowtow)
