Chapter 148: Surprise

Chapter 4: Surprise

Lu Yun walked slowly into the living room, only to find that El was already awake.

At this moment, El was sitting on the sofa, hugging his knees with both arms, curled up in a ball.

His eyes were vacant, as if lost in deep thought.

The sudden and drastic catastrophe was like a sharp blade, carving a deep, painful wound into the heart of the boy who was not yet twelve years old.

Comfort and persuasion were futile; the only panacea capable of healing such a wound was time.

Sensing movement nearby, El's frail, slender body trembled slightly.

He turned his head, his platinum blonde hair swaying gently, and looked at Lu Yun, a warm smile blooming across his face.

Lu Yun nodded back at him, sat down beside him, and sank into his own thoughts.

His most crucial objective at this stage was to find a suitable and safe human settlement.

Only by doing so could Lu Yun smoothly carry out his subsequent plans.

However, having transmigrated here, he was a complete stranger in an unfamiliar land and had no sense of direction at all.

Therefore, a local guide who knew the way was of paramount importance to him.

Presently, the small town where he found himself had been destroyed by a nightmare Pokémon.

The sole survivor appeared to be the young boy sitting right before him.

Hoo—

Lu Yun let out a gentle sigh.

Though he held little hope, he still wanted to test the hypothesis he had formed last night.

"Ahem."

Lu Yun cleared his throat.

El was slightly startled, his emerald-green pupils staring curiously at the Pokémon beside him.

"Hello."

Testing the waters, Lu Yun spoke softly.

To Lu Yun's own ears, he had uttered a somewhat hesitant greeting.

Yet to human ears, it sounded merely like a dull, heavy roar.

Most Pokémon, after spending a long time interacting with humans, are able to understand the meaning behind human speech.

Although many Pokémon might look foolishly cute, their intelligence is actually quite high.

Certain special Pokémon, such as Metagross, Mew, and others, possess formidable computational power and superior intelligence that far surpass human computers.

With their acute hearing and comprehension skills, understanding human language is an absolute breeze for them.

However, the reverse is not necessarily true for humans.

Humans can hear sounds because sound waves cause resonance in the human eardrum.

However, due to the physiological limitations of the human body, the frequency range that the human ear can perceive is between 20 hertz and 20,000 hertz.

Many of the sounds emitted by Pokémon fall either above or below this range, causing humans to be unable to fully perceive Pokémon cries.

Furthermore, from the perspective of human hearing, the sounds made by Pokémon of the same species generally sound identical, with only slight variations in pitch.

In reality, however, a Pokémon's cry contains a multitude of subtle and complex variations.

It is simply because of the limitations of human hearing and the insufficiency of the human brain's comprehension capacity that people fail to fully perceive these wonders.

Consequently, even after years of living in close company with Pokémon, most humans still find it exceedingly difficult to fully understand the meanings behind their cries.

The vocal timbre of a Machop is slightly deeper and heavier compared to other Pokémon.

From a human perspective, it sounds somewhat like the voice of a middle-aged man with a slightly higher pitch.

This pitch would gradually change as it evolved, becoming increasingly deep and low.

By the time it reached its final evolutionary form, Machamp,

the voice would transform entirely into a deep, resonant, and magnetic bass voice reminiscent of a human male singer.

This matched the physical characteristics of its muscular monster physique to absolute perfection.

It is worth mentioning that

although the Machamp lineage is predominantly male, females account for twenty-five percent of the population.

Compared to males, the appearance of a female Machamp might look slightly leaner,

yet she still retains the appearance of someone who has over-exercised at the gym, covered entirely in muscles.

To other Pokémon, her voice might sound distinctly different,

but to human ears, it still registers as a deep, resonant bass.

In certain situations, this could actually feel rather awkward...

Although the Pokémon species Lu Yun transmigrated into was always randomized,

he was fortunate that, regardless of whether it was the Caterpie at the very beginning or the Machop he was now, the gender of the Pokémon he inhabited remained consistent with his human life.

It wasn't that he harbored any gender bias,

but factoring in his human years and all his transmigrations across lifetimes—amounting to nearly forty years in total—

if he were to suddenly turn into a little princess, Lu Yun would undoubtedly find it rather difficult to adapt...

Even though he had already transmigrated into a Pokémon and changing genders might not be entirely unacceptable,

if he suddenly found something vital missing, he would inevitably feel a lingering sense of emptiness... ahem.

Lu Yun harbored some lingering doubts in his heart regarding this quirk of the system.

In the Pokémon world, certain species are exclusively female,

and among them are Pokémon with inherently high base stats.

If he were incapable of changing gender, would that mean he would be completely cut off from these Pokémon forever?

Of course, this was merely a conjecture.

So far, Lu Yun had only possessed three different Pokémon in total.

All these hypotheses would gradually be revealed through the long, endless cycles of reincarnation to come.

In short, unless a human possesses special talents or has undergone specialized training,

the sounds emitted by Pokémon are fundamentally very difficult to understand.

The reason Lu Yun was willing to tentatively converse with El was precisely because he suspected the boy possessed extraordinary talent as a Pokémon Trainer.

A silent atmosphere pervaded the living room.

Faced with the tentative sound emitted by Lu Yun,

El did not speak; he merely tilted his head and blinked in confusion.

"Alright."

Lu Yun sighed inwardly. It seemed his guess was wrong.

Naturally, expecting a young boy who had rarely interacted with Pokémon since childhood to possess extraordinary talent was nothing more than wishful thinking...

Suddenly,

El, who was sitting beside Lu Yun, lifted his slender right hand slightly.

With his five fingers spread open, he waved gently in Lu Yun's direction.

"Hello!"

A youthful, childish voice echoed through the air.

El felt a touch of confusion,

as the Machop beside him had suddenly greeted him, catching him off guard for a moment.

Yet reflexively, he still offered a polite reply in return.

"You... can understand what I'm saying?"

Lu Yun asked in astonishment, pointing at himself.

"Of course I can."

El nodded with a puzzled expression.

Aside from those Mightyena earlier, Lu Yun was actually the first Pokémon El had ever interacted with at such close range.

Although he had occasionally caught glimpses of the village elder's and Mr. Cark's Pokémon from afar when he was little,

El had never had the opportunity to converse with them.

Therefore, quite naturally,

he assumed that the ability to communicate with Pokémon was a talent everyone possessed.

At that moment, Lu Yun felt as though he had been struck on the head by a surprise dropped straight from the heavens.

For a moment, he actually didn't know what to say.

After organizing his thoughts briefly in his mind,

Lu Yun decided to be straightforward and get right to the point.