Rope's face was quite heavy.
According to the workers, they had already cleared a lot of bodies of various Pokémon, but what looked like sludge in front of them was still Muk's body.
Looking at the size of this, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it was a pit of a thousand Muk.
Thousands of Muk died like martyrs in this river.
Rope felt a bit of a shuddering sensation.
Even if the Muk was a Pokémon that was no longer pleasant to look at, it was still one of the Pokémon that was extremely survivable. To die here so silently...
Rope knew there was something fishy going on behind the scenes, but he really couldn't figure it out for a moment.
What or who could make such a bunch of Muks that were united enough to challenge a city die here silently.
Moreover, the state of Muk's body at this time was also very strange. It was true that Muk's body would become almost unrecognizable from sludge, but that would have to wait for at least a month or two. After all, as a Pokémon, even if Muk died, the energy in his body would still have a certain amount of ability to keep his body intact. After all, a Pokémon like Muk has no natural enemies to speak of.
And according to what Rope had side-tracked from the workers and overheard, these Muk, or sludge, hadn't been here for more than two days.
At this time and in this situation, it could only be that something had sucked all the residual energy out of the bodies of these Muk.
Rope immediately connected this situation with his previous speculation. As far as he knew some Poison-Type Pokémon did have the ability and behavior of absorbing the energy of other Poison-Type Pokémon during the process of growth and then converting it into their own energy, and there were even some trainers with radical behaviors who would use this method to train their own Pokémon, even though there would be the risk of the Pokémon going berserk, having a short life span, or even backfiring.
But the Poison Pokémon bred this way grow faster and have stronger abilities.
This is the reason why League faces this kind of thing repeatedly. Many Poison-Type trainers started out this way, and this technique wasn't a special secret skill. Many poison trainers even have their own unique techniques for utilizing this ability.
They call it "Poison Eating".
This is a unique breeding method for Poison Pokémon. The other Pokémon, with the exception of the Ghost Pokémon, which would devour each other, did not need to be bred in such a cruel way.
But Rope was still confused. The reason he knew so much about Pokémon like Muk was also because he had taken a not-so-subtle interest in this Pokémon composed of poison and mud similar to Rope's existence when he obtained a sample of the Muk's poison system energy, and that's why he started studying it.
And he counted every type of Muk and Stinky Mud poison system energy in the sample pool.
This conflicts with the previous observation that there are unknown types of toxic energies here. It is important to realize that after poison eating, another Pokémon can have a momentary disruption of the poison energy as well.
Rope, who knew about the cultivation method of Poison Eating, would not be unprepared for this. If she encountered such a situation, Rotom would give a rough range as to which side was more similar.
But no...
So, what could this Pokémon that drained the Muks of their energy be? Why would this Pokémon draw the Muks here? This is not a small number, Rope estimates that the Muks here are feared to be the vast majority of the Muks in Pewter City and Cerulean City.
Rope removed his protective gloves from his backpack, then to the shocked eyes of the group of workers still watching him, Rope cupped a handful of silt, then put it in front of his eyes to get a closer look.
"Hey, isn't that guy disgusting?"
"Is this guy really a researcher? Shouldn't a real researcher be pampered and not do the dirty work?"
"Yeah, why does this guy dare to hold up such disgusting sludge?"
The workers' questions came one after another.
And Junji just silently watched Rope's movements.
That's when Junji finally realized why this person in front of him could become one of the youngest Pokémon Professors.
That's right, Junji recognized Rope...
He was interested in all of Rope's published papers, and he was also interested in Rope's hypothesis that the Legendary Pokémon was influencing the stability of the world to a certain extent. He had even read Rope's papers, with their pie-in-the-sky ideas and meticulous and precise logic. This kind of researcher was a very small minority in the entire research community.
Now, looking at Rope who didn't have the slightest shelf, Junji couldn't help but sigh, this really deserved to be a Pokémon Professor!
On the other hand, Rope on the other side didn't know that Junji recognized him.
Otherwise, Rope would have been suspicious of Junji.
A laborer who can read Rope's papers. Reads professional journals...
You know, Rope's papers are more than mere storytelling and popularizing ancient legends.
Rope's thesis contained numerous references to literature, as well as many ruins he had personally examined, and even some information related to the legend of Pokémon.
Rope's out-of-the-box thinking, although there is always a logical connection between the whole paper, the reading threshold is still a bit too high.
This kind of paper would be read by Junji...
But Rope didn't know about this at the moment. He was still scrutinizing the current condition of Muk's body. Suddenly, he placed the sludge in his hand on the ground, then removed his gloves and, to the gasps of the crowd, plunged his hand right into the sludge.
It was no longer a question of whether it was disgusting or not.
The workers' first reaction was that this guy didn't want his hand anymore.
They all know that this thing is absolutely poisonous, can't use the body to directly contact. Rope didn't wear protective clothing to come here has already been looked at by the gatekeeper as looking for a crime. But this guy actually put his hand directly into the sludge.
Junji reacted at the first time, rushed over with big strides, then pushed Rope away, Rope let out an "ouch", and then pulled his hand out of a small puddle of sludge on the ground.
"What do you want! You're not only being irresponsible for your own safety, you're potentially getting us little people involved, okay! Do you know that you are a member of Oak Research Center? Do you know what Oak Research Center means to us people?!"
Junji's face was quite ugly, he really didn't expect Rope to make such a move.
He then reprimanded Rope while taking off his water bottle from his own waist, and without being told to do so by Rope, he used water to rinse off the sludge from Rope's hands.
Rope saw Junji's methodical way of handling the situation and the others over there who just looked a bit frazzled, and a hint of suspicion flashed in his eyes while he appreciated it.
He didn't show it, though, and just silently looked at his still-normal hands.
"These sludges... aren't poisonous..."