Everyone Else Awakened, But I Just Opened a Pokémon Pet Shop

"What in the world is happening?!"

Inside the Pokémon Center, Su Bai stared at the screen in shock.

This wasn't normal. Pokémon didn't just stampede without cause—especially not the kind-hearted and gentle ones he had just seen among the masses.

These weren't explosive, irritable species like Primeape.

There was absolutely no reason a stray Poké Ball from Zhang Qun could trigger such chaos!

"Something's wrong…"

Su Bai's brows furrowed as he switched between camera feeds.

"Just as I thought…"

Across the various adventurer teams—Wang Tao's, Liu Yunlan and Murong Nan's, Ding Yue and Li Xiaoyu's—every group was experiencing the same thing.

Pokémon had become anxious and frantic.

Even by the shore, where Liu Qiaoqiao and Zhou Xiaofei were located, the usually carefree Magikarp that swarmed around Gyarados had completely vanished.

Lapras lifted its head toward the inland wilderness, its calm expression replaced by visible unease.

Something—something deeply wrong—was happening inland.

The Pokémon Center was now filled with noise and nervous murmurs.

While none of the Pokémon had actually attacked Wang Tao, Zhang Qun, or any other trainers, their unexpected mass movement had left the local people of Haicheng on edge.

Thankfully, it didn't seem like the stampede was headed toward the Adventurer Station itself.

They weren't attacking. They were running away from something.

Still, the cost had been steep—entire groves of Berry trees painstakingly planted and cultivated were crushed in the chaos.

It was heartbreaking.

Just moments ago, this whole magical world of Pokémon had felt like a fairytale.

"What's going on?"

"What are they so afraid of?"

"Is it a Death Beast? It must be, right?"

"That's nonsense! Even if an S-rank Dead Beast showed up, this many Pokémon would crush it!"

"Exactly! I've never seen a Pokémon afraid of a Death Beast…"

Voices piled up one over another, panic and confusion rising—until they all turned to the one person who might have answers:

Su Bai.

The legend. The Pokémon Master. The head of the Pokémon Center.

"This isn't right… I need to go take a look."

Su Bai spoke at last, patting Charizard on the head and preparing to depart.

This wasn't a trial arranged by the system. The system had stayed completely silent.

That alone made it all the more alarming.

If it really were a Death Beast, as some suspected—well, Pokémon weren't afraid of those.

They never had been.

Ever since the very first Pokémon arrived in this world—even a baby Turtwig—they had shown no fear toward Death Beasts.

In fact, it was usually the Pokémon that attacked the Dead Beasts, not the other way around.

Just as Su Bai was about to leave, a voice crackled through the communicator on the counter.

"Su Bai, look over here."

It was Pei Jingguo.

Su Bai turned his eyes toward the main screen.

Pei Jingguo and Xiao Zhang's group had chosen to explore the mountains—the only one in the entire zone.

"It should be… Wait."

Pei Jingguo's deep, steady voice came through the speaker as the spherical holo-camera shifted in his hand.

"I don't really know how to adjust this thing—can you see what I'm pointing at?"

He sounded genuinely puzzled.

"Earlier, the mountaintop didn't look like this. But now… the temperature up here has dropped significantly."

"It feels like it's almost at freezing."

"There's always been some snow up here, but this is way beyond normal."

Pei Jingguo and Xiao Zhang—once top students of Haicheng First High, known as the unbeatable duo—had naturally set their sights high.

And the mountain had seemed like the perfect choice.

It had proven fruitful too. While only Xiao Zhang had successfully captured a Cubone, both had uncovered two treasure chests, and spotted many new species.

In terms of progress, their team ranked among the top.

Now, holding the orb-like camera up to the sky, Pei Jingguo exhaled—his breath visible in the freezing air.

All around them, Pokémon were darting past in a panic, clearly fleeing from something.

"They're not attacking us," Pei Jingguo explained.

"And the snow didn't reach this far earlier. Something up there is releasing this cold."

As if on cue, a piercing gust of wind howled down the mountain.

More snow swirled through the air. The mountain whitened even further.

"That's the third temperature drop," muttered Xiao Zhang, rubbing his hands together.

"We're heading up there. Something's definitely wrong."

"I'm not about to watch this paradise turn into another Paradise Era…"

Beneath his flashy nose ring and carefree facade, Xiao Zhang's eyes held firm determination.

He wasn't one to run from danger—especially not after having known true light, true peace. He would fight to protect it.

They hadn't contacted Su Bai to ask for help.

They had already accelerated their ascent from the moment they noticed the first drop in temperature.

Pei Jingguo chuckled and pulled out his longsword, gripping it tight.

"Relax. We're not the same rookies we used to be…"

But Xiao Zhang's words were abruptly cut off—swallowed by a burst of chaotic electromagnetic noise.

Suddenly—

The main screen went black.

Waves of static rippled across the footage of Pei Jingguo and Xiao Zhang.

Their feed was completely scrambled, distorted by interference.

"What the hell?!"

Just when things were getting critical, the feed had gone out.

Su Bai turned toward the corner of the screen.

"Rotom?"

Half of Rotom's body peeked out from the display, a confused question mark forming on its own screen-face.

Clearly, the broadcast malfunction wasn't caused by Rotom.

"Could it be… death energy?"

A deep, unsettled voice whispered beside Su Bai.

It was Zhu Jianyuan, the city lord of Haicheng.

He had appeared silently, his expression grim and his voice hushed.

"The Paradise Era had advanced tech—only death energy could cause this kind of interference…"

"Su Bai… I think something's really wrong this time.