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

Su Bai glanced at his fist, then at Gyarados, who was slowly climbing out of the shattered ruins.

The girl's strength clearly defied logic.

Not even mentioning Gyarados' sheer power—just his weight alone placed him in the heavyweight category. And yet, with no wind-up at all, she had thrown the massive beast like a rag doll, and from the looks of it, Gyarados had taken a serious hit.

That kind of strength…

Was anything but normal.

Even now, with 155 Pokémon species officially recorded in the Pokédex, Su Bai wasn't sure just how much power he himself had.

But he knew one thing for sure—Zhu Jianyuan would never survive a punch like that.

Which meant...

This delicate-looking girl was physically stronger than an S-rank berserker like Zhu Jianyuan.

And that kind of physique? A Contractor?

Ridiculous.

Su Bai slowly lowered his fist, staring up at the girl standing atop the corpse of a Death Beast.

"Looks like there really are a lot of things in this world that I don't understand," he said softly.

"You… what exactly are you?"

"Or should I ask—are you even human?"

Meanwhile, Dong Feng's expression grew increasingly grave.

His assistant pulled out a registry and began flipping through it at lightning speed.

Given that the Contractor's Guild was essentially a time bomb planted in the heart of Boulder City, every individual who entered had been strictly documented. As the city's leader, Dong Feng had never taken that responsibility lightly.

"Found it," the assistant said, pointing to a name.

"Ingrid. Western bloodline. Registered as an S-rank Contractor three years ago. Hasn't left Boulder City since."

"She came from Mist City. Survived the Death Beast siege that destroyed it."

"Both parents were also Contractors, but died during the attack. After that, she went missing for a time… and awakened not long after."

"Unlike the others, she's never caused any trouble."

Dong Feng subconsciously raised his shield. He recognized the name—Ingrid.

But this woman… had almost never appeared before him in person.

Sure, she was registered as a Contractor.

But…

Do Contractors have bodies like that?

What happened to her during her mysterious disappearance?

And he wasn't the only one asking that question.

All the soldiers instinctively turned their gaze to Ingrid's face—her distinctly Western features cast into sharp relief by the sunlight.

The air suddenly turned tense.

Standing atop a Death Beast's skull, Ingrid cast a glance at Su Bai, then at the soldiers of the City Lord's army, who were now clearly pointing their weapons in her direction.

Then she smiled faintly and sighed.

"Ah… can't be helped, I suppose."

She was just about to speak when suddenly—her gaze snapped behind the soldiers.

Su Bai also turned at that exact moment.

A commotion could be heard coming from behind the City Lord's forces—footsteps, shouts, and a series of weird, cutesy cries that didn't belong to any ordinary animal.

Dong Feng turned, confused—only for his eyes to go wide in the next second.

Leading the charge was a bare-chested berserker with bulging muscles and a massive silver spear in hand.

Behind him were a group of energetic young Trainers, followed by a stampede of diverse, exotic Pokémon.

They surged forward like a thunderstorm, their momentum nearly shattering the sky.

"Old Dong! If you so much as lay a finger on Su Bai, I swear I'll tear this city apart!"

It was Zhu Jianyuan, already halfway into his berserk state!

He had bulldozed through the blockade with Wang Tao and the others, racing straight for Boulder City—and now found the City Lord's army forming ranks in front of the Contractor's Guild.

Zhu Jianyuan naturally assumed they were here to arrest Su Bai.

Dong Feng's temple throbbed as he shouted, nearly bursting a vein:

"Zhu, you lunatic! Are you out of your damn mind?!"

"I didn't touch Su Bai! Not a single hair!"

"Now get your crazy ass to stand down!"

He had anticipated a reaction from Zhu Jianyuan if they ever laid hands on Su Bai—but not this fast, and not this fierce!

And besides… they hadn't even laid a hand on Su Bai yet!

What kind of messed-up injustice was this?!

"This is what happens when a musclehead awakens as a berserker," Dong Feng growled.

"How the hell did this guy ever become a city lord? Is the higher-up blind?!"

But regardless of his gripes, this conflict absolutely could not break out.

Zhu Jianyuan was reckless enough to go to war for Su Bai.

Dong Feng was not about to go to war for the Contractor's Guild.

Forget how the capital might respond—Boulder City itself had no love for those Contracting maniacs. They simply weren't worth the trouble.

So he turned and bellowed:

"Everyone—clear a path! Let Zhu's people through!"

"That lunatic—honestly!"

The group had traveled non-stop from Ocean City just to reach this moment.

Though the distance wasn't vast, it had taken its toll. The Trainers were out of breath.

When they finally reached the scene and saw the fully destroyed Contractor's Guild, and piles of Death Beast corpses…

Wang Tao scratched his head and muttered:

"Wait… Su Bai did all this? Damn. That's like a scene from a war zone…"

Already winded from the sprint, Wang Tao was panting heavily.

Zhu Jianyuan, however, grabbed Liu Yunlan and the others before they could barge in carelessly.

He narrowed his eyes at the beautiful woman standing across from Su Bai and said grimly:

"Something's wrong… who is that? She strong?"

Zhu Jianyuan knew Su Bai's strength. For anyone to stare him down like this—while surrounded by slaughtered beasts—

This beautiful woman… was definitely not normal.

Dong Feng, still fuming about Zhu's entrance, sneered and muttered:

"Now that you're here, fine. But for the record, we weren't advancing on your precious Su Bai."

"We were advancing on her."

His tone became grim again.

Even though Zhu Jianyuan and his band had barged in arrogantly, now wasn't the time to assert dominance.

Years of battle experience told Dong Feng that something much bigger was unfolding.

Zhu Jianyuan and his group?

Invaluable firepower.

As for Ingrid?

She wasn't just a Contractor. She might not even be human.

A flicker of darkness flashed through Dong Feng's eyes.

"Humans… so noisy and predictable,"

Ingrid scoffed, casting a dismissive glance at Zhu Jianyuan's team before turning back.

"I thought Li Jian's three S-rank Death Beasts would be enough to clean this mess up."

"Clearly… he was still useless."

"But I should thank you, Su Bai. If it weren't for you, I'd still be stuck wasting time in this dump."

"Erasing someone with the potential to derail the Cult Leader's plans… That should be enough to earn me a real spot as an Apostle, right?"

"And now, all your little friends are here too. Convenient. Saves me the trouble of hunting them down later."

She crouched, placing her palm gently atop the head of a fallen S-rank Death Beast.

Then she looked up at Su Bai, her smile bright and deadly.

"You can all die here."

"Right alongside this city."