Pidgey hadn’t expected the Caterpie to fight back.
After taking several String Shots, it found itself trapped against a tree branch.
Pidgey screeched furiously, beating its wings as it struggled desperately against the strands of silk, which were as tough as steel wire.
But Pidgey’s cries attracted another predator.
“Caw—caw!”
A sharp, grating cry rang out from the sky.
The chubby guy beside Leon looked up at the Pokémon and exclaimed under his breath, “It’s that vulture monster! The most dangerous flying monster in the official reports! Those things love hunting humans.”
The instant Leon saw it, a name surfaced in his mind.
‘Fearow.’
The Fearow dove toward the trapped Pidgey like a rocket.
Bound tightly by the silk and unable to move, Pidgey could only remain frozen in place as Fearow came down from above with a vicious Peck.
Completely defenseless, Pidgey’s skull was split open on impact.
After killing it, Fearow seized the corpse in its talons and flew off with its prize.
The Caterpie that had fought back narrowly escaped with their lives.
Seeing the food chain of a real Pokémon ecosystem play out before his eyes left Leon deeply shaken.
Once again, he was reminded just how different reality was from the anime.
After witnessing the brutal scene of Pidgey hunting Caterpie only to become Fearow’s prey itself, the chubby guy remarked, “These monsters hunt each other too. That’s good news for us humans.”
Leon nodded, fully agreeing with him.
If Pokémon killed and preyed on one another, then they probably weren’t creatures deliberately sent down by some higher-dimensional beings to wipe out humanity.
That was genuinely something worth celebrating.
“It’s dead! That damn green caterpillar monster is finally dead! Sweetheart… your parents can finally rest in peace.” The old woman clutched her grandson and quietly sobbed.
She didn’t dare cry too loudly, afraid she might attract other Pokémon inside the mall.
Even more than that, she feared the other survivors would come over and berate them.
This was no longer a peaceful society.
With order collapsing in the apocalypse, trying to guilt others into helping them wouldn’t get them anywhere.
After losing the people who had supported their household, the grandmother and grandson had fallen all the way to the bottom of the survivors’ pecking order.
“Funny how the old lady suddenly learned some manners. If she’d been this considerate before, maybe her family wouldn’t have ended up like that,” the chubby guy commented, adopting the air of an impartial observer.
Leon gave a noncommittal nod, then volunteered, “I’m going to take a look around this floor and see if there’s anything everyone missed.”
“Of course. Nobody dares wander around much anymore, and June can’t inspect every corner by herself. If you’re willing to help, that’s even better,” the chubby guy said happily.
Leon wasn’t here to freeload, and for people like them who wanted the camp to survive as long as possible, that was a good thing.
At the moment, the camp was divided into two groups.
The first group just wanted to hide and wait for rescue.
They were the freeloaders the chubby guy had mentioned.
Convinced that the Federation would eventually send someone to rescue them, all they wanted was to keep their heads down and hide.
They weren’t willing to take even the slightest responsibility.
The other group had accepted reality and understood that the Federation wasn’t coming to save them.
The chubby guy belonged to this group.
He didn’t believe the Federation had the strength to retake the fallen cities, so all he wanted was to build up the camp and keep surviving for as many days as they could.
He pulled out a walkie-talkie and handed it to Leon.
“I’ve already set this one up. You can use it to talk to me, but these things have limited range, so keep that in mind.”
Leon took the walkie-talkie, his fingertips brushing against its cool casing, and nodded lightly.
What he really wanted was to check out the aquarium.
He had no intention of going deep inside, though.
He only planned to look around the outskirts.
He switched on his phone’s flashlight.
The dim beam pierced the surrounding gloom as Leon headed straight toward the aquarium.
As he passed several stores, he noticed their doors hanging open and their shelves in disarray.
The people from the camp had clearly already scavenged them.
“Leon, can you hear me?”
The chubby guy’s voice suddenly crackled through the walkie-talkie.
“Loud and clear,” Leon replied.
“I told June what you’re doing. She told me to warn you not to go anywhere near the aquarium. There are a lot of aquatic monsters gathered around there.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll stay away from them as much as possible. I’m turning the walkie-talkie off, though. Last thing I need is for it to scare the hell out of me at the worst possible moment.”
Leon switched it off.
After walking for about five minutes, he reached the aquarium’s ticket lobby.
With the power out, the interior was pitch-black, as though it had been flooded with ink.
Leon swallowed, his grip tightening slightly around his phone as he raised the light and cautiously stepped inside.
The reception desk was the first thing he encountered.
There weren’t any useful supplies there, though some souvenirs and small fish tanks were still displayed on the shelves.
Leon passed the desk without stopping and began inspecting the aquarium’s entrance hall.
The reason he’d come somewhere this dangerous was because he wanted to try his luck.
In the Pokémon world, Caterpie wasn’t actually the weakest Pokémon around.
There was one even weaker.
Magikarp.
Low-level Magikarp couldn’t even use Tackle.
All they had was the simple move Splash.
As long as you weren’t directly above or below one, they generally posed little danger.
The moment Leon entered the aquarium, the stench of dead fish hit him.
Water-type Pokémon needed to eat too, which meant the ordinary fish that had once lived here had probably already been almost completely devoured.
These Pokémon seemed practically cursed with gluttony.
After appearing inside the aquarium, they had most likely begun preying on the ordinary fish immediately.
There were several smaller aquariums in the lobby that should have contained small fish, but all of them had been smashed open.
The fish inside were gone.
Not even their bones remained.
Leon’s heart tightened.
He suspected that Water-type Pokémon capable of moving on land had gotten out.
After devouring the fish and Pokémon in the smaller tanks, they had apparently moved deeper into the aquarium.
That realization made Leon seriously consider turning back.
The only reason he’d dared come here in the first place was because he’d assumed the Pokémon would remain inside the tanks.
As long as he didn’t enter the water himself, he thought he’d be safe.
Only now did Leon realize that he’d forgotten one basic fact about the Pokémon world.
Most Water-type Pokémon could survive perfectly well on land.
Fortunately, there wasn’t much worth eating out here.
The Pokémon capable of living on land hadn’t ventured outside.
Instead, they’d headed deeper into the aquarium.
If they had gone outside, they would inevitably have encountered the survivor camp.
And if that happened, everyone there would die.
But this wasn’t good news either.
The aquarium wasn’t actually very large.
If enough Pokémon had appeared here, its resources would soon be exhausted.
Once that happened, the Pokémon capable of traveling over land would inevitably start searching for new sources of water.
It was only a matter of time before the Pokémon here set their sights on the survivor camp.
Leon was just about to turn around and leave when he suddenly heard an extremely faint bubbling sound.
It sounded like a Pokémon blowing bubbles underwater.
Leon stopped and listened carefully.
It didn’t take him long to pinpoint the source.
Keeping his footsteps as quiet as possible, he cautiously approached a green trash can and slowly lifted the lid.
It was full of food waste, filthy water, and garbage.
The stench rising from inside was even more pungent than sewage from an open drain.
Fighting back a wave of nausea, Leon pulled out his phone and shone its light into the bin.
There wasn’t much standing water inside.
Most of the space was filled with assorted garbage.
“It’s that one!”
Leon stared in surprise at the culprit behind the noise.
He never imagined he’d actually get this lucky.
He really had found a Pokémon with even less fighting ability than Magikarp.