Chen Kai stroked his chin, his gaze sweeping around as he carefully compared the geographical features before him.
"Hmm... Miraidon, can you tell where we are?"
Miraidon shook his head, looking confused: "I can't tell. The terrain and landscape here don't seem to match anywhere on the map."
"Then this is most likely the Cheng City urban area," Chen Kai speculated.
"Why do you think so?" Miraidon asked, full of doubt.
Chen Kai explained, "Our map shows the Blue Star's topography. Only the Cheng City urban area in Sichuan Province has large-scale high-rise buildings, and no one builds structures in Area Zero. So, I guess this is very likely what Cheng City originally looked like."
Miraidon nodded in agreement after hearing this: "That actually makes a lot of sense!"
Chen Kai couldn't help but sigh with emotion, "I really didn't expect that Qu County and Yibin would have corresponding buildings preserved in Area Zero, yet a large metropolis like Cheng City appears as a jungle in Area Zero."
As he spoke, he seemed to suddenly remember something: "Speaking of which, Iron Leaves mentioned that Iron Crown seems to be active in this area. There are no houses here, so does he usually sleep in caves or tree hollows?"
Miraidon pondered for a moment, then said, "That shouldn't be the case. Look, even though Iron Boulder's place is a bit broken, he still has a house to live in."
"I do have a dwelling, it's just a bit far from here."
Suddenly, an abrupt voice sounded behind Chen Kai and Miraidon, startling both of them.
Chen Kai quickly turned around, only to see a Pokemon, overall resembling a deer, with a slender and solid build, predominantly blue in color, standing quietly.
Its unique S-shaped glowing horns on its head were particularly striking, exuding a cold and stern quality. This was the Paradox Pokemon—Iron Crown!
At this moment, Iron Crown stood quietly not far behind them, a pair of indifferent eyes staring intently at Chen Kai and Miraidon.
Having been caught discussing him behind his back, Chen Kai and Miraidon were instantly embarrassed.
"Haha, Iron Crown, when did you get here?" Miraidon tried to break the awkward atmosphere with laughter.
Iron Crown responded directly, "I arrived just when you two were discussing whether I lived in a cave or not."
...
Chen Kai was so embarrassed that his toes were practically curling into a three-bedroom apartment. He and Miraidon were momentarily at a loss for how to respond.
A gentle breeze swept by, ruffling the fringe on Chen Kai's forehead, and the roadside grass rustled along with it, as if trying to ease the uncomfortable silence.
Fortunately, Iron Crown spoke again: "Would you like to come to my place for a visit?"
"Yes, of course!" Chen Kai and Miraidon eagerly agreed.
"I just knew your place, Iron Crown, wouldn't be bad," Chen Kai quickly added to mend the situation.
"It's just an ordinary dwelling, enough to shelter from wind and rain," Iron Crown said modestly.
As he spoke, a faint blue light shimmered in his eyes, and he used his Psychic power to lift Chen Kai and Miraidon, flying north.
Not long after flying, a magnificent and colossal hydraulic engineering project came into view.
It lay like a giant dragon reposing in the middle of the river, dividing the ceaselessly surging Minjiang River into two. Its front end was conical, much like the head of a giant dragon, firmly embedded in the river, fearlessly facing the river's fierce impact.
The engineering structure's appearance was simple and grand, constructed from massive stacked stone blocks, each block weathered by time, appearing ancient and substantial.
The stone blocks fit together tightly, seamlessly connected, and on both sides of the fish mouth, the river water surged down like unbridled wild horses.
On one side, the river water was turbulent and mighty, flowing grandly into the outer river, carrying a large amount of silt and floodwater; on the other side, the river water was relatively calm, gently flowing into the inner river, bringing irrigation benefits to the plains of Area Zero.
Looking downstream from the fish mouth, Feishayan came into clear view, and beyond Feishayan was Baopingkou.
"How can this be here?" Chen Kai asked, his face full of shock.
"It's man-made, of course," Iron Crown replied in a calm tone.
As he spoke, he brought Chen Kai and Miraidon to a stop in front of a small house beside Du Jiang Yan. Iron Crown slightly tilted his head, and the door opened in response. Chen Kai saw a living room inside.
"Please come in," Iron Crown said, walking in first.
Chen Kai and Miraidon exchanged glances, paused for a few seconds, and then followed him inside.
At this moment, Iron Crown had already picked up an instrument resembling a kettle and began to boil water.
"Iron Crown, you said this is man-made. Was it built by humans from your era?" Chen Kai then voiced the question in his mind.
Iron Crown nodded: "That's right."
"When did they build it? This is too much of a coincidence; it looks almost identical to the Du Jiang Yan on Blue Star, on Earth."
Although Chen Kai had never been to the real Du Jiang Yan, he had seen its general appearance online.
There were no buildings to be seen in the Cheng City urban area, and he hadn't expected to see one here, which truly astonished him.
Iron Crown recalled for a moment: "Roughly a few thousand years ago. At that time, the humans from our world had only recently arrived here."
"Why did they build this?" Chen Kai pressed.
"The initial reason for humans was that if this weir wasn't built, Area Zero would be prone to floods, making it difficult for them to explore here. So, they used local materials to build this project.
Later, they discovered there was more to it than that." Iron Crown stopped mid-sentence and turned to get tea leaves.
Stopping abruptly at a crucial moment really agitated Chen Kai.
He quickly pressed, "What other reasons are there?"
Iron Crown arranged the teacups on the table, then slowly said, "I believe this is an inevitable outcome of the development and evolution of things. No matter which world, when the time comes, such a weir will appear here.
But humans believe there is a causal relationship. After studying Area Zero and your Blue Star for some time, they discovered that whenever large-scale topographical changes occur on Blue Star, Area Zero will inevitably change along with it.
And this is also the reason for the extinction of Terapagos in Area Zero."
After he finished speaking, the water boiled, and he began to focus on preparing the tea leaves.
Chen Kai could only smile bitterly and helplessly, thinking that in novels and TV shows, Iron Crown would definitely be that kind of annoying "riddler."
However, in Area Zero, he was also reassured that no one or no Pokemon could interrupt Iron Crown's words, so he could only quietly wait for Iron Crown to finish brewing the tea.
Once Iron Crown finished his work, he unhurriedly said, "You know, Terapagos fears earthquakes—not the move, but the naturally occurring crustal movements."
Chen Kai pondered for a moment, then nodded. In the game, he had indeed heard about Terapagos being almost extinct due to crustal movements.
Iron Crown sipped his tea and slowly said, "Specifically, once Terapagos senses danger, he can convert his internal energy into hard crystals on his body. However, natural disasters like earthquakes can easily shatter the crystals on their bodies.
Especially newly hatched Terapagos, they are almost unable to withstand the impact of an earthquake.
There was a period, lasting several hundred years, when earthquakes frequently occurred on Blue Star, and consequently, Area Zero also experienced continuous earthquakes, leading to the inability of newborn Terapagos in Area Zero to survive.
This type of Pokemon is already rare, and with no new life being born for several hundred years, we always thought there were no Terapagos left in Area Zero."
"Huh, were Blue Star earthquakes that frequent?" Chen Kai asked, full of doubt. Since he had transmigrated, he had only heard of earthquakes but had never personally experienced one.
Iron Crown thought for a moment, then said with a somewhat strange expression, "It seems to have been much calmer these past few years. In recent months, there have been almost only minor earthquakes."