-146- The Strange City of Nanwei (Subscription Requested!)

"What did you say?"

The old woman leaned her ear closer, clearly having failed to catch Tong Si's words.

"Hello! Could you tell me the way to the Nanwei Gym!?"

Tong Si had no choice but to shout.

"Eh? The men's restroom? Well... go straight to the end of this road... there's a..."

The old woman started muttering endlessly, leaving Tong Si slightly helpless.

"Never mind, thank you!"

After thanking the old woman, Tong Si hurried away.

"Did that young man hold it in for too long, huh? In such a rush?"

Seeing this, the old woman shook her head, thinking that modern youngsters were far too impatient, acting so frantic even just to use the restroom.

Of course, Tong Si had no idea what the old woman was thinking. After leaving the spot, he noticed that everywhere he went, there were only elderly people.

"Could it be that Nanwei City is a retirement city?"

Tong Si muttered to himself.

Shortly after, he finally spotted a somewhat younger fellow.

"Excuse me, how do I get to the Nanwei Gym?"

Tong Si asked.

Hearing the question, the person turned around and glanced at him sideways.

"Abba-abba..."

A stream of saliva trickled down the corners of his mouth, and his hands were fumbling with some rather unclean items.

"Never mind..."

Tong Si gave a cupped-fist salute and quickly retreated.

"What kind of people are these!?"

Tong Si was speechless!

The reason he came to Nanwei City was partly because it was on the way to the next major metropolis, and partly because he had heard that the Nanwei Gym was relatively weak.

Driven by the mindset of choosing an easier gym for his first-ever gym challenge, Tong Si had ended up coming to Nanwei City.

Yet this Nanwei City seemed to be populated entirely by either old folks or drooling simpletons?

This left Tong Si utterly speechless!

"Young man, are you here for sightseeing?"

At that moment, an old man leaning on a walking cane took the initiative to strike up a conversation.

"Huh? Hello, sir. I'm just passing through..."

Tong Si nodded and said.

"Oh~ Would you like to come to my house for a cup of tea? The Longjing tea from my place is produced in Nanxiang, terribly expensive you know."

The old man invited Tong Si to his home for tea.

"No thank you, sir. Do you happen to know the way to the Nanwei Gym?"

Tong Si waved his hand, declining the old man's kind offer. In his view, the most pressing matter right now was to reach the Nanwei Gym for his challenge.

It was already three or four in the afternoon. If he finished the gym battle early enough, he might still be able to catch a ride to the next city.

Otherwise, would he have to spend the night in this town?

Tong Si had not seen a single storefront bearing the sign of an inn, let alone a hotel.

The whole place had the aesthetic of thirty years ago; where would one even find a hotel?

"Gym? Does our city have a gym?"

A question mark appeared over the old man's head.

He had no idea what kind of gym Tong Si was talking about.

"The Nanwei Gym. Doesn't Nanwei City have a gym?"

Tong Si asked, puzzled.

"Oh~ You mean that hot spring bathhouse? We don't usually go there, it's probably about to go out of business."

The old man chuckled as he walked away, leaning on his cane.

"???"

Tong Si was hit by a triple question mark.

A hot spring bathhouse? About to go out of business?

What kind of situation was this?!

Thinking along these lines, Tong Si wandered around the streets once more, deciding this time to skip asking for directions and instead search directly for a shop with the word "hot spring" on it.

At a street corner, Tong Si finally spotted a hot spring bathhouse.

Judging by its sign, the hot spring bathhouse looked extremely antiquated.

As for the building itself, it did resemble the traditional architectural style of a gym.

In fact, the gym buildings in various major cities had all been expanded over time.

Any gym, as long as it had the funding, could be remodeled into whatever style the Gym Leader preferred.

The hot spring bathhouse before him, however, retained the layout of a traditional gym.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Tong Si knocked on the entrance of the bathhouse.

"Coming..."

A rough, booming voice echoed from within.

Tong Si was so startled by the voice that he shivered all over.

A moment later, a bare-chested, hulking brute of a man walked out from inside.

The man looked rather fierce, sporting a large belly covered in hair, and his entire frame was several sizes larger than Tong Si's.

"Can I help you?"

The hulking man's deep, rough voice rang out once again.

Tong Si instinctively took two steps back.

Gathering all his courage, Tong Si asked, "Excuse me, is this the Nanwei Gym?"

Hearing those words, the hulking man's sturdy frame gave a slight jolt, and his piercing gaze locked onto Tong Si.

"I didn't expect anyone to still remember the Nanwei Gym. Young man, you really give me comfort."

The hulking man reached out toward Tong Si, scaring Tong Si into retreating directly backward.

"Apologies, I merely wanted to pat your shoulder. Didn't mean to frighten you."

The hulking man stepped aside, gesturing for Tong Si to enter.

Tong Si felt a strong internal conflict. Should he really go inside? Why did it feel so much like walking into a tiger's den?

"Come in, the Nanwei Gym is right inside."

Seeing that Tong Si had been standing frozen in place for a long time without moving, the hulking man offered an explanation.

"Inside?"

Tong Si furrowed his brows in deep bewilderment.

Following that, he trailed the hulking man into the hot spring bathhouse.

Inside, there were mostly private rooms alongside a central bath area.

However, there weren't many people soaking in the water—just two or three scattered elderly men.

"There, this is the Nanwei Gym."

The hulking man led Tong Si to the backyard of the hot spring bathhouse.

Affixed to the doorway leading to the backyard were the four characters: "Nanwei Gym".

As for the backyard itself, it was nothing more than a pile of gravel.

"This?"

Tong Si pointed at the pile of gravel with a perplexed expression. What kind of gym was this supposed to be?

Wasn't this just a sandbox where children played make-believe?

There was even a sandcastle built out of sand in the middle of it.

"Young man, the Nanwei Gym..."

The hulking man trailed off, leaving his sentence unfinished.

After a moment of silence, he slowly recounted: "Because our performance has been too poor, the League has practically decided to decommission the Nanwei Gym."

Hearing this, Tong Si looked over at the hulking man and caught a trace of melancholy on his face.

"When did this happen?"

When Tong Si was checking his research materials, he hadn't seen any information about the Nanwei Gym being decommissioned. This meant that, for now, the Nanwei Gym was still officially recognized by the League.

"Two months ago," the hulking man said. "After discussions among the high-ranking officials of the Coastal Province Pokémon League, the proposal to decommission the Nanwei Gym passed unanimously. Roughly... by the end of this year, the Nanwei Gym will cease to exist."

The hulking man tried to sound nonchalant as he spoke, but in reality, he was deeply reluctant to let it go.

The end of the year?

That meant the gym should still be in operation right now, which explained why it still appeared on the records.

"Since that's the case, can I still challenge the Nanwei Gym right now?"

Sensing the hulking man's desolation, Tong Si originally intended to offer a few words of comfort.

However, for a Gym Leader, actually stepping up to challenge the gym was a far more sincere gesture than mere words of consolation.

The hulking man had just mentioned that the gym was closing down due to poor performance.

Challenging the gym was essentially equivalent to boosting the business metrics for this establishment.

Hearing Tong Si's words, the hulking man looked him up and down before speaking slowly, "Of course you can. But... judging by your appearance, you must be a regular-tier trainer on a journey, looking to challenge for the silver badge, right?"

Tong Si nodded. Indeed, at his current stage, he was only eligible to challenge for a gym's silver badge.