Pokemon: My Trainer Simulator-Chapter 585 - 423: Ancient Script (Part 2)

"Chido..."

Mawile reluctantly turned off the video on the phone and followed the Trainer’s footsteps.

The hotel corridor was extremely ordinary, with its standard warm lighting and plush carpet that felt soft underfoot. The only special thing was the number of strange decorations placed on either side of the corridor, and the walls were covered with historical pictures of the hotel.

So-called "hotel culture"?

Speaking of which.

Why would there be an entrance to the Spirit Realm in the Mauville Mountain Hotel? Isn’t this kind of thing usually found in some sort of ruins?

And according to the manager, Room 1608 only appeared after the bankruptcy of the Great Lavender Holding Company. Could it be that an employee hanged themselves in the hotel room?

No.

In the normal world, that possibility indeed exists.

But this is the Pokémon animation world, where all logic must be connected to Pokémon, and then you find the most outrageous answer.

He wandered aimlessly in the corridor, his eyes scanning the photos of the Old Mauville Mountain Hotel on the wall, his mind pondering why the entrance to the Spirit Realm suddenly appeared.

Maybe we should ask Furong, who understands the Spirit Realm better?

Baimu’s eyes swept over a photo of several elderly people with their arms around each other, their smiles appearing rather forced, and he continued walking forward.

Suddenly.

He stopped in his tracks, retraced his steps to the photo under Mawile’s puzzled gaze, and started to examine it closely.

"Chido?"

Mawile didn’t understand why the Trainer was so engrossed in looking at someone else’s photo.

"Wait, let me think."

Baimu didn’t explain, took out his phone, and photographed the strange drawing behind the elderly people in the photo. After zooming in, he discovered it was composed of many unknown hieroglyphic-like characters which translated to:

"I, wish, soul...self...place?"

Some characters in the middle were obscured by the elderly in the photo, as was the next line, which seemed to contain two or three lines of text.

Ancient script!?

Back in Pyrite Town, the calligrapher who first brought him to Champion status had rewarded him with the method to decipher ancient scripts. He had learned it but never had the chance to use it.

Unexpectedly, he would see a special language composed of countless unknown signs in a photo in the Mauville Mountain Hotel—

It looked like English, but its content had a completely different meaning from English combinations.

Unknown signs in the animation recorded the past and are also a group of peculiar existences that can live in gaps in space, suddenly seen in the photo and interpreted as content about the soul.

Baimu didn’t think this was a coincidence.

"We might have found a clue!"

He said excitedly to Mawile, showing it the strange characters he had photographed. Mawile clearly couldn’t understand these scrawls, but was happy that there was finally some progress.

"Chido!"

Immediately.

Baimu photographed the entire photo, searching throughout the hotel for this strange drawing, judging from the photo that it seemed to be an ornament in the lobby.

Unfortunately, after turning around everywhere, he couldn’t find where the drawing was.

He asked the new receptionist who also said they didn’t recognize it.

He thought for a moment, deciding to ask the manager, hoping their seniority would clarify where this thing actually is, praying it wasn’t casually discarded when the Old Mauville Mountain Hotel was torn down. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"—Why is it always you!"

The manager in the office widened their eyes upon seeing him, then specifically checked if Bonnie and Furong were behind him. "I’ve already told you everything I know! What more do you want!"

"Sorry, I just have one question. Could you tell me the whereabouts of this painting..."

Baimu hurriedly stepped forward, showing the photo on his phone to the manager, "The one behind these elderly people."

The manager glanced at it casually, "This kind of ornament? It was probably thrown anywhere when the hotel was dismantled, how should I know such detailed things?"

"Really don’t remember? Take another look!"

"I said—"

"Take a closer look, you’ve talked about the matters of room 1608, what’s a little extra? Resolving it sooner would also benefit you, right?"

A pair of piercing eyes stared into the manager’s.

The latter, looking at this young man who might be around the same age as their own children, was overwhelmed by his momentum, and couldn’t help but swallow, taking the phone and saying, "Then, then I’ll look again..."

Seconds later.

"Hiss! I really do have some memory of this thing!"

The manager scratched his head and recalled, "I remember it was a gift from a high-level person in the Great Lavender Holding Company for the thirtieth anniversary of the Mauville Mountain Hotel, saying it could bring good fortune or something.

"Soon after, Great Lavender Holding couldn’t hold on itself. No! This was taken at the thirtieth anniversary! Looking back now, Great Lavender Holding’s situation was already bleak, everyone’s smiles were forced."

"Since it was a gift, it wouldn’t be casually thrown around, right? Where is it now?"

Baimu hastily asked.

"...I really can’t recall, with age these trivial things become hard to remember, I’ll ask the people in the logistics department tomorrow!" The manager said.

He clasped his hands together, "Can’t it be today? Please! You also want things to end soon, right? Furong Celestial King and the others are out to catch the True Ghost. If guests find out, it could greatly affect the hotel’s reputation, right?"

"Huh? True Ghost?"

The manager looked bewildered, and seconds later, their expression turned terrified, "No no no, that really won’t do! True Ghost and all that!"