“Beep! Beep!”
The shrill sound of a horn jolted Pan Ying out of her memories.
“Honestly, why was I so impulsive that day?”
Thinking about how she’d planned to leave Coastal City, only to end up staying for another three months because she’d rented a Sunkern, Pan Ying couldn’t help feeling exasperated.
But sometimes, people simply couldn’t see the bigger picture when they were caught up in the moment.
Back at the press conference, Xue Wenhui had explicitly assured everyone that as long as renters didn’t mistreat their Sunkern, they could return them at any time.
Any rental fees already paid would be refunded on a prorated basis.
For some reason, whether deliberately or unconsciously, Pan Ying had completely overlooked that detail.
Perhaps she’d simply wanted an excuse to spend a little more time looking at her hometown…
Who knew?
Ding-dong!
Just then, the apartment doorbell rang.
Pan Ying checked the security camera feed on her phone and saw a man in uniform standing outside.
She was wondering who he might be when she noticed the Zhengming Company logo on the back of his uniform.
Ever since securing a Sunkern rental slot, Pan Ying had taken the time to research Zhengming Company and its background.
She’d discovered that it had originally been an ordinary company that had survived largely thanks to its connections, which had helped it become a logistics supplier for the City Guard.
However, after the company’s former General Manager, Mr. Jiang, and his wife had passed away, their second son, Jiang Ming, had taken over.
In less than a month, Zhengming Company had somehow acquired the ability to cultivate genetic organisms—and not just any genetic organisms, but an entirely new species.
The company claimed that Sunkern was merely a plant-type genetic organism.
But Pan Ying had studied and lived in a major city.
She’d never heard of any plant-type genetic organism that had eyes and a mouth and could hop around on its own.
Besides, even if Sunkern really was a plant-type genetic organism, Zhengming Company had already mastered the technology needed to cultivate it.
That alone should have been enough to secure the company a place in the market of a major city!
Pan Ying went outside and carefully compared the documents held by the staff member with her own, confirming their identities and the rental arrangements.
Only then did the smiling employee lead her downstairs to the truck parked outside.
When he opened the rear doors, Pan Ying found a row of Sunkern sitting quietly in their flowerpots inside the cargo compartment.
Since the truck’s cargo compartment couldn’t be fitted with an open roof, several high-quality daylight lamps had been installed to provide the Pokémon with light.
“Go ahead and choose one,” the employee said.
Hearing him, the Sunkern all opened their eyes and turned to look at Pan Ying.
“Uh… I’ll take this one.”
She casually pointed to the Sunkern closest to her.
Fortunately, Pan Ying wasn’t the indecisive type.
She gently lifted her chosen Sunkern into her arms.
“I’ll be taking care of you for the next three months. Let’s get along well, okay?”
“Sunkern!”
The little Pokémon smiled, its leafy crown swaying happily.
It was clearly delighted with its temporary Trainer.
“Looks like Sunkern really likes you,” the employee remarked with a smile.
He then handed Pan Ying a small box.
“This is a little gift from our company. We hope you’ll accept it.”
“Oh, thank you!”
Pan Ying quickly freed one hand to take the box.
Back in her apartment, she followed the instructions she’d read beforehand and placed Sunkern beside a window where sunlight could shine directly onto it.
Only then did she open the little gift box.
There wasn’t much inside.
First, there was a booklet bearing Zhengming Company’s logo, with the title Sunkern Care Guide printed prominently on the cover.
Next came a Sunkern keychain and a gift box tied with a ribbon.
“Another box?”
Curious, Pan Ying opened the gift box and found a blue fruit inside.
“Is this… an orange?”
She picked up the fruit and examined it closely.
It wasn’t an ordinary orange that had simply been dyed blue.
It genuinely grew in that unusual color.
“They certainly put some thought into this.”
As mentioned earlier, fresh fruit was relatively scarce in Coastal City.
Even with Pan Ying’s income, she could only afford to eat it a few times a month.
Smiling, she placed the blue fruit on the coffee table and opened the care guide.
The very first page introduced Sunkern.
That was perfectly normal.
What wasn’t normal was the information Zhengming Company had chosen to include.
“Grass-type? Seed Pokémon? Female? Early Bird? And what on earth are these base stats? Is this some kind of video game?”
Pan Ying stared at the six identical numbers printed at the bottom of the page and felt utterly speechless.
Besides, hadn’t Zhengming Company claimed that Sunkern was a plant-type genetic organism?
Why would it even have a gender? The source of this chapter is g.com.
Pan Ying turned to Sunkern and asked, “Are you a girl?”
Sunkern nodded.
The Pokémon had spent the past few days receiving special training, so answering questions like this was easy for it.
But its response left Pan Ying completely dumbfounded.
“WHAT? You really have a gender? And you’re that intelligent? Are you seriously a plant-type genetic organism?”
Pan Ying felt as though her entire worldview had just been turned upside down.
She hurriedly flipped to the second page, which was a little more convincing.
It listed the special abilities Sunkern could learn.
For the sake of discretion, Jiang Ming hadn’t included every move Sunkern was capable of learning.
Besides, with a rental period of just three months—and no Berries or Energy Cubes provided—he doubted anyone would be able to raise their Sunkern to a particularly high level.
Even so, Pan Ying was astonished to see six or seven moves listed in the guide.
Under normal circumstances, even a Tier Three mutant beast would struggle to master that many special abilities.
Could this little Sunkern really be that powerful?
But then Pan Ying recalled the few seemingly ordinary abilities Jiang Ming had demonstrated at the press conference.
She immediately understood—or thought she did.
Every seller praises their own goods.
She assumed Zhengming Company was simply exaggerating its product’s capabilities to promote its genetic organisms.
Still, now that she’d already received Sunkern, she couldn’t very well return it just because the company had embellished its advertising.
She decided to chalk it up to the eccentric tastes of Zhengming Company’s owner.
Fortunately, Sunkern was exceptionally easy to raise.
The care section of the guide was incredibly simple: change the soil when necessary, water it appropriately, and ensure it received sufficient sunlight.
Follow those basic instructions, and Sunkern would grow healthily.
“Hmm… So I really can just raise it like an ordinary plant?”
Pan Ying began to suspect she’d misunderstood Zhengming Company.
She continued flipping through the guide until she reached the final page.
To her surprise, it contained an advertisement.
“Berries? What are these supposed to be?”
According to the guide, Berries were special fruits cultivated by Zhengming Company that could accelerate the growth of Pokémon, including Sunkern.
For more information, readers were directed to Zhengming Company’s official website.
Pan Ying stared at the page.
“…”
“I knew it! Not a single one of these businesspeople is up to any good!”