Pokémon: World of Wonder

After walking for quite some time, Jiang Ye finally saw the end of the broken road in the distance.

Reaching the edge of the broken road, Jiang Ye saw a dilapidated road and dense forest behind him on one side, while on the other side was a quiet stone-paved road formed by years of walking.

Along the road, the royal mausoleum can be clearly seen in the distance. Many Infernape-type Pokémon are playing around the mausoleum and eating the red berries that Jiang Ye had seen in the forest before.

A huge, robust infernape sat in the middle of the road, one hand resting on its bent leg, the other hand grabbing a handful of small red berries from a large stone bowl and stuffing them into its mouth.

Crunch, crunch, bright red juice dripped down the corner of his mouth after observing Jiang Ye standing there for a while.

The Flame Monkey King wiped his mouth. "Come here, human."

Just then, the little fire monkeys and infernapes playing and eating by the roadside noticed Jiang Ye standing at the entrance of the forest. Seeing another human arrive, they curiously ran to both sides of the road to look at Jiang Ye.

Hearing the summons of the Flaming Monkey King, Jiang Ye gritted his teeth and walked forward along the bluestone path, taking five or six minutes to finally reach the Flaming Monkey King.

The next second, Jiang Ye noticed his vision rapidly reverse, and then realized that the Flaming Monkey King had grabbed his foot and lifted him up.

Jiang Ye didn't struggle, but simply asked, "Your Majesty, why did you lift me up?"

The Flaming Monkey King ignored Jiang Ye's question and instead used his other hand to pinch the dense muscles on Jiang Ye's stomach, hands, and feet.

"Alright, let me explain the rules to you."

"There are only three rules. First, you must work with my people to clear the volcanic rocks in the cave before you can challenge me."

"Secondly, you can only challenge me three times a day. You pass if you can hold out until the stick goes out without fainting!"

"Thirdly, any victory obtained through means other than normal challenges will not be counted!"

"Finally, there's the punishment: if you fail the postgraduate entrance exam within five days, you'll have to clean up volcanic rock here for a whole year!"

…………

Not faint? Are you trying to beat me half to death in one go?

Jiang Ye stared intently at the Flaming Monkey King before him. The Monkey King noticed Jiang Ye's gaze and chuckled, "Hehe, don't be afraid I'll go all out. I've already made an agreement with your master; at most, you'll just suffer a little physical pain."

Seeing the Monkey King's promise, Jiang Ye nodded in understanding, thinking that the Monkey King, as the leader of his tribe, would not do such a thing.

After thinking about the three rules, Jiang Ye asked again, "Then what is this stick?"

The Monkey King smiled, picked up a stone from the side, and twirled it on his index finger. The red stone turned into molten lava, rapidly shrinking and lengthening until it finally formed a small stick that stuck into the ground.

There was a crimson marking line in the very center of the stick, and in Jiang Ye's eyes, a crimson lava was slowly descending along the marking line.

The Monkey King tapped the staff with his index finger, saying, "See that? It's this staff."

After saying that, the Monkey King flicked his finger, and the crimson stone rod flew over, which Jiang Ye caught in one go.

Chi~

"Hehe, you better hold on tight, otherwise when the challenges come later, whether the stick is big or small will be up to me."

Seeing the smug look on the Flaming Monkey King's face, and feeling the intense pain in his hand, he could clearly feel that the palm of his hand holding the stone stick had turned black.

"Okay." Jiang Ye nodded, holding the stone stick in his hand without changing his expression. Only after the stone stick had completely cooled down did Jiang Ye put it into his spatial item.

"Mao Er! Take him there! Let him see what those good-for-nothings are like!"

"Hehehe, yes, boss."

The moment the Monkey King spoke, a fiery monkey darted out from behind him, grinning at its leader before turning to Jiang Ye and saying, "Let's go."

As he spoke, Mao Er smiled at his boss, then turned and walked towards the right side of the imperial mausoleum without looking back.

Jiang Ye followed Mao Er forward. The imperial mausoleum was built against the mountain, but the top of the mountain was indeed bare and covered with a layer of gray-black shell.

Jiang Ye had been focused on the talking monkey king, but now that he looked up, he realized that this imperial mausoleum might be built inside an extinct volcano.

The monkey in front, named Mao Er, had flames on its tail, which swayed like a fire snake as it walked, looking very leisurely.

Along the way, they would occasionally greet some gray monkeys that were walking back with their clucking and chattering. After they noticed Jiang Ye following behind them, they all relaxed a little.

"Brother Mao, are we going to the imperial tomb to extract volcanic rock?"

Mao Er turned around and looked at Jiang Ye with surprise. "We can't go into the imperial tomb. We're only responsible for digging out the cooled volcanic rock outside the tomb and throwing it back into the mountain to prevent the tomb from sinking."

"The imperial tomb sank? Was the imperial tomb floating on lava?"

Perhaps this question exceeded Mao Er's brain capacity. After hearing Jiang Ye's question, Mao Er, who was leading Jiang Ye forward, did not reply for a while, but the flames on his tail burned brighter and brighter!

"Ugh! What a stupid question! You're not allowed to ask questions anymore!"

Mao Er roared, then went to Jiang Ye's side and slapped Jiang Ye's buttocks twice. "Run!"

Jiang Ye was speechless. Faced with a Pokémon that could talk, Jiang Ye subconsciously treated it as a human to talk to, and now it seemed that it was only natural for him to do so.

After being shoved a few times, Jiang Ye could only quicken his pace. However, with a flick of his wrist, a jar of jam appeared in his hand. Jiang Ye handed it to Mao Er and said with a smile, "Brother Mao Er, don't be angry. This is jam I bought outside. It's very delicious. Consider it my apology to you."

Mao Er looked at the can of food that Jiang Ye had handed him, then snatched it from his hand and stuffed it all into his mouth in a few gulps before putting the can back in Jiang Ye's hand.

Then he shouted, "My king said that we cannot eat anything given to us by humans!"

Mao Er spoke very loudly, as if this could effectively cover up his guilty conscience.

After eating the jam jar Jiang Ye gave him, Mao Er seemed to have a burst of energy. After looking around and finding that there were no monkeys around, he cautiously said, "I don't really know, but I heard from the old men that we used to ignore the imperial tombs and just eat and drink."

"It seems to have started in recent years. I don't know exactly when it started. Don't worry, I'll give you good food and I'll assign you a good position so you can complete your mission sooner."

As Mao Er spoke, his eyes looked somewhat guilty, but he didn't notice Jiang Ye, whose gaze was fixed on the front of him.

What the leader was actually saying was that humans could eat food, but they shouldn't be given any leeway or favors after eating it; on the contrary, they should be dealt with more severely.

This was the boss's secret order, and he dared not disobey it.