Elf: Who told him to be an investigator!

Chapter 24 is a tree? That's a lie!

If you want to investigate the noises in the woods that Xiongzheng mentioned earlier, asking the "local" bug catcher boy who often roams the woods is the perfect answer.

Unsurprisingly.

Insect Tai gave Zeshu a lot of information, such as—they also released Pokémon, and there were dog-like footprints on the ground;

There were also traces of equipment or goods being transported and buried, but unfortunately they were well hidden, and since Chongtai wasn't a professional, it was difficult to determine the burial location.

But it's alright.

As Zeshu ate the oranges, which weren't sweet and had a mix of flavors, he seemed lost in thought.

The scale of this operation seems too grand for a simple attack on the Yamanashi Research Institute, as Yusei claimed. Rather, it appears more like... they're trying to exploit Lake Shinsei, located near Masago Town.

Sleeping in Lake Heartbeat is Emrido, the god of emotions known as the "Legend of the Lake".

This easily reminded Ze Shu of Team Galactic in the game—they wanted to attack Emrido in the lake in order to "awaken" the three legends of the lake and obtain the "red chains" that could subdue the two gods of time and space.

As for how to verify it.

Why don't you go look for what they buried? If not, then bury it again.

Judging from the fact that they only moved at night, they probably wouldn't have come here during the day.

……

In the woods.

Sunlight peeked through the dense canopy of trees, squeezing down in all directions; the moss on the rocks below was sparse, suggesting that many Pokémon would likely linger there.

Upon seeing Ze Shu again, the foam squirrel seemed very excited.

But then its expression tightened.

He jumped up and swept the leaves that had fallen on Ze Shu's shoulder, and only then did his brow relax.

"Squeak, squeak—"

"Okay, okay... thank you, Foam Chipmunk."

Ze Shu was both amused and exasperated.

Just now, the foam squirrel only saw Ze Shu from afar, and immediately let out a loud cry for no apparent reason, then quickly ran to him. Its smooth tail swayed nimbly behind it, and it had an expression that said, "You've finally come here."

Ze Shu was about to stroke the foam squirrel's smooth fur to say hello when, unexpectedly, several more faces appeared around them.

Electric mouse Patchlitz stood on the tree trunk, holding a half-eaten cherry in its hand, looking at Ze Shu with surprise; on the grass, there were four or five buds, following behind the poisonous rose holding red and blue roses, two of the buds timidly peeking out.

Even the strange creature with tears in its eyes ran over.

Ze Shu: ?

Now he finally understood why the bubble squirrel barked when it saw him, but even a rallying order shouldn't be this fast, right?

"How come... you all came here all at once?"

"squeak!"

The foam squirrel grinned smugly.

Ever since Ze Shu rescued them and left, they've been thinking about how to repay him. So they spend all their time hoping that Ze Shu will come back to the forest, and the foam squirrels have even come up with a unique command to gather them together.

"Meow~"

Two shy buds timidly ran forward, gathered around the Zeju tree, and presented it with a gift wrapped in leaves, their faces full of gratitude.

The strange creature, Pencai, also ran forward in a daze. Its stone body bumped Zeshu's foot because it rushed too fast, scaring Zeshu so much that its eyes welled up with tears, and its usually pouty mouth became even more pouty.

Ze Shu: "..."

After calming them down for a while and accepting their gifts properly, we were finally able to communicate normally.

"Actually, I came here because..." Ze Shu explained the signs of a large number of people moving around here for no apparent reason, and finally said, "I want to know if you noticed what they buried here? It might be something very dangerous, and I need to verify it."

It's okay if Bug doesn't know where it's buried. Let's ask our Pokémon friends who live in this forest first.

But most of the Pokémon were somewhat confused by what Ze Shu said. They only knew that there had been a lot of activity in the forest recently, but being shy and unwilling to come into contact with humans, they dared not approach easily, so they naturally had no idea where the burial site was.

"Pfft pfft—!"

However, after hearing Ze Shu's description, Penzai blinked and hurriedly called out.

"Oh? You know?" Ze Shu's eyes lit up.

"Pfft!" The rascal shook his head, then immediately nodded, "Pfft pfft~!"

"You don't know, but you do know that some Pokémon do?" Ze Shu said. "Could you take me to see that Pokémon?"

Pen Cai Guai nodded happily and volunteered to walk in front.

Zeshu picked up Snow Child and followed behind, with Glaceon at his feet, and then Bubble Squirrel, Pachirisu, and Budew following behind.

……

We walked for about ten minutes.

They must have arrived at Xinqi Lake. Ze Shu could already see the rippling water from a short distance away, and the air was filled with moisture.

Pen bastard led him to a 'tree'.

The tree, with its rough trunk speckled with yellow, had only two 'branches' standing motionless, its tiny eyes intently gazing at the lake ahead.

Even when Zeshu stood before it, it was the same.

Ze Shu twitched the corner of his mouth.

That tree in front of us is strange; even though it's putting on a very serious performance, a closer look makes it easy to see that its act is...

They are not exactly the same, but rather completely unrelated.

After all, it's not a tree: it's a tree, that's strange.

But this tree in front of us is quite peculiar; its cleverness lies in its position between two dense thickets, using them for cover. From a distance, it really does look like one.

Ze Shu tentatively knocked on the trunk of the tree in front of him: "Hello?"

The tree ignored it and remained motionless.

Before Zeju could panic, Pot-Doraemon became anxious. It hurriedly called out, trying to rouse Pot-Doraemon from its disguise: "Pfft, pfft..."

The tree monster remained motionless. It diligently carried out its mission as the tree monster, its eyes fixed straight ahead, without even turning its head.

"Pfft, pfft..."

I called to the tree several times, but it didn't respond at all.

The little pot looked like it was about to cry, feeling wronged. Being so young, it didn't understand what was so good about disguising itself as a tree!

But just then...

The tree, strangely, let out a loud "whoosh—"

It would be strange to look at the basin with a happy smile while it was already crying tears of grievance.

Ze Shu: "..."

So it turns out that you guys are so fond of messing with the pots inside the trees?

……

After a tearful explanation from the pot-shaped monster, the tree-shaped monster agreed to help the swamp tree. The swamp tree also learned that when it was a 'tree', it had witnessed the actions of many people who lurked around here late at night.

Immediately.

Tree Monster strode forward with big strides.

Zeki followed behind, carrying Yuki-Douji and the pot-shaped monster that was holding back its tears. His body was slightly swayed, after all, the stone pot-shaped monster was quite heavy.

He doesn't possess the innate superhuman strength that Ash had when he lifted Cosmom with one hand.

Following the tree, it circled Xinqi Lake, crossing at least a quarter of the lake. It paced back and forth, sometimes gently stomping its feet to check the ground.

Finally, some distance from Lake Liqi, Tree Monster pointed to a perfectly flat spot on the ground and called out loudly to Ze Shu: "Husuo—"

"This is where those sneaky people buried their things!"