Parking the car by the lakeside, Chen Mo glanced at the lively barrage of comments on his phone, then at the calm, placid surface of the lake before him.
Although he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, based on the viewers' descriptions, he could already tell what that red, strange fish was.
"If I'm not mistaken, what you just saw should be a type of small spirit called Magikarp. Aside from its appearance—which is somewhat similar to the red carp in our world—its most distinctive feature, which you all noticed as well, is that dorsal fin shaped like a crown."
As he explained, Chen Mo moved the livestream equipment out of the car, set it up properly, and aimed the camera at the clear waters of Redleaf Lake.
Staring at the tranquil surface, the crisp, fresh air gradually washed away the fatigue from hours of driving.
He stretched lazily—and Pichu on his shoulder immediately copied him, imitating the motion perfectly.
They looked at each other, then both burst into smiles.
"Back to the topic."
Chen Mo glanced at the [Here he goes again] comments, found a relatively clean spot by the lake, and sat down. Watching ripples spread across the water, he continued his explanation in a relaxed, conversational tone, as if chatting with friends.
"Magikarp is a fish-type spirit that inhabits all kinds of aquatic environments. Male Magikarp have yellow whiskers, while females have white ones."
"Magikarp possesses astonishing vitality. Whether in the sea, rivers, ponds, or even foul-smelling sewage ditches, you can see them stubbornly struggling on, persisting in order to survive."
"However, because their own strength is extremely weak—some are even weaker than us humans—Magikarp are often regarded as the weakest kind of spirit. If you encounter one, there's no need to worry, and please don't harm it deliberately. To you, they pose no threat at all."
Since Magikarp is one of the most well-known spirits in the Pokémon world, Chen Mo didn't even need to use [Eye of Detection] to talk at length about its traits.
As he spoke, the chat instantly became even more active.
[Surviving even in sewage just to live… That sounds so pitiful. My heart hurts for it.]
[Don't worry, Mo Bao. With Hui-ge's example, normal viewers in this stream probably won't go out of their way to hurt spirits anymore.]
[Hey, you guys, talk all you want, but why do you keep bringing me up? (annoyed)] (Highlighted Message)
[Hahaha, Hui-ge's getting flustered.]
[Even in filthy water, Magikarp can persevere just to survive. If you think about it, aren't we humans the same? Just struggling to live.]
[Guys, didn't Mo Bao say before that in nature, Caterpie sits at the very bottom of the food chain? So here's the question: between Caterpie and Magikarp, which one is stronger?]
[That's an interesting one. Can the streamer answer?]
[Just watching the drama.]
Good grief—these viewers always come up with new and creative angles.
But… could this be a kind of natural awakening of humanity's spirit-battle mindset?
"Magikarp versus Caterpie? Honestly, I haven't really thought about which one would be stronger. But if I had to say, if they were both serious, neither would be able to do much to the other."
Chen Mo laughed.
"After all, Magikarp is a water-dwelling spirit. Even if Caterpie wanted to attack, it could only wait on the shore, helplessly staring at a Magikarp living in the water—and the reverse is also true. Most Magikarp only have one move: the utterly meaningless Splash, whose effect is just jumping around and splashing water everywhere."
[Got it—these two are basically the spirit world's 'Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix,' huh.]
[I'm dying. After Mo Bao's explanation, I can already picture it.]
[Like a Magikarp blowing bubbles in the water and a Caterpie on the shore, just glaring at each other?]
[I demand justice for Caterpie! Caterpie can evolve. Sure, Metapod doesn't seem very useful, but the final evolution, Butterfree, is the spirit that seriously injured Hui-ge.]
[Right! Mo Bao, can Magikarp evolve? If it's the type that can't evolve, then it really is doomed to sit at the very bottom of the spirit hierarchy.]
[Uh… feels like it already is…]
Noticing the question in the comments, Chen Mo suddenly smiled mysteriously.
"Good question. Magikarp is actually a spirit that can evolve."
[Mo Bao, you're getting cheekier. Always stopping halfway—hurry up and tell us what Magikarp evolves into!]
[Magikarp evolution… hard to imagine what a fish could turn into. Maybe it grows arms and legs and becomes some kind of amphibian, like a tadpole?]
[Can you have a little imagination? I say it turns straight into a dragon—'the carp leaping over the Dragon Gate.' Totally reasonable, right?]
[Uh… that's a bit too mythical. Doesn't feel very scientific.]
[What it evolves into doesn't matter—I just want to know, after evolving, is it stronger than Butterfree? This is key to ranking the spirit world's power levels right now.]
Seeing the flood of comments, Chen Mo stopped teasing and answered directly.
"Actually, someone already guessed it. Magikarp's evolution is closely related to its name. In our country, there's the legend of 'the carp leaping over the Dragon Gate,' right? After evolving, Magikarp becomes a spirit called Gyarados, whose appearance resembles the dragons from our traditional legends."
The moment he said that, the entire livestream exploded.
[Holy crap—it really turns into a dragon?!]
[I give up. You really can't think about spirits from a scientific perspective.]
[Not a Western-style giant lizard—nice! I'm getting excited now!]
[Wait, doesn't anyone else feel uneasy? Just hearing the name 'Gyarados' sounds kind of ominous.]
Seeing some viewers getting increasingly excited by his description, Chen Mo felt it was necessary to give them a warning.
"If it's not absolutely necessary, we strongly advise against trying to raise a wild Gyarados. Some of you have already noticed—the reason it's called Gyarados isn't just because of the 'dragon' part, but also because of the 'fierce' part."
"It's said that when Magikarp evolves into Gyarados, the restructuring of its brain cells causes a dramatic change in temperament. A Magikarp, which is naturally dull-witted and almost never attacks passersby, becomes extremely violent and ferocious after evolving. Once it goes berserk, the immense, raging energy within its body is more than enough to kill fragile, flesh-and-blood humans like us several times over."
Perhaps because this was the first time Chen Mo had described a spirit with such seriousness and such chilling language, many viewers fell momentarily silent.
The enthusiasm in the chat noticeably cooled.
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