Chapter 197: Yu Zhonggang Nailed To The Pillar Of Shame
“No need, there are still matters at home, this old man will take his leave first.” Leng Huchong turned and left as if afraid of touching something dirty.
Lei Ze watched the other’s back, wanting to say something but stopping, finally turning into a long sigh.
“Rayne! I advised you, you can only see the most ideal future, not the most real future, why won’t you stay low-key?” Lei Ze thought sadly in his heart.
His own grandson was too proud, and today’s outcome seemed fated.
Two Champion Level Trainers, one Champion Level Pokémon, yet no one at the Pokémon Center saved Rayne’s life, which was as outrageous as a Title Heavenly King being assassinated on his own territory.
“Investigate Yu Zhonggang’s background.” Lei Ze ordered the Heavenly King Level Trainer beside him.
After a moment, the Heavenly King Level Trainer handed the phone to Lei Ze: “This has all of Yu Zhonggang’s information.”
Lei Ze took the phone, glanced at it, and sneered: “Since he’s already dead, leave the reward for his descendants. Go get an Aggron Pokémon Egg from the family treasury and send it to Qingyun Gym.”
“Ah?”
The Heavenly King Level Trainer looked at Lei Ze in confusion.
Has the old family head gone senile? Not settling scores after the fact is one thing, but giving them a reward instead?
“Whether this matter is his fault or not, one thing can’t be denied: at the time, there were no shortage of Heavenly King Level Trainers in the Pokémon Center, yet only he went to Competition Hall 1 to support Rayne.”
“Not only can we not settle scores after the fact, we must heavily reward him, otherwise how will the world see our Lei Family?”
An Aggron Pokémon Egg is indeed precious, but it can equally serve as an example of buying horse bones for a thousand gold.
Willing to help our Lei Family in a crisis, even if the mission failed, our Lei Family rewards a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon Egg—what if the mission succeeded?
This is the message Lei Ze wanted to send to the outside world, because next their Lei Family would launch a frenzied retaliation against the Wang
Family.
Lei Ze naturally knew the Wang Family had backers; an operation of this scale was beyond what the Wang Family could achieve alone, but the priority now was to demonstrate the Lei Family’s strength, not avenge his grandson’s death.
So the Wang Family must pay the price, or the Lei Family’s prestige would vanish, and as a Noble Family, this was the most taboo thing.
As a Noble Family, you can make people fear you or worship you, but absolutely not look down on you!
………..
Pokémon Center.
Sikong Zhen listened expressionlessly to the report from the Pokémon Center’s person in charge.
“The outermost layer of the Alliance Treasure Vault was ransacked, then the Ecological Park was cleaned out too? And most importantly, the complete nurturing data for the Starter Pokémon was stolen?” Sikong Zhen’s words grew heavier toward the end.
Finally, he was even furious.
The first matter could be accepted, the second could barely be accepted, but the last one truly touched the bottom line of the Jiuzhou Alliance.
After coldly glancing at the sweating person in charge, Sikong Zhen coldly declared: “You’re waiting to be held accountable.”
After that, Sikong Zhen hurriedly called and connected with the Jiuzhou Alliance President.
“President, big trouble—the Starter Pokémon nurturing data at the Ancient Capital Pokémon Center was stolen.”
The Alliance Headquarters President’s facial expression changed upon hearing this, and he hurriedly asked: “How much was stolen?”
“All of it!” Sikong Zhen said through gritted teeth.
“Complete?”
“Yes.”
The Alliance President said helplessly: “Then hand this matter to the Fairy Heavenly King to handle. Her Gardevoir is a Champion Level Pokémon; now probably only she can find the lost data.”
“But…” Sikong Zhen wanted to say something but stopped, somewhat worried.
The President warned firmly: “As long as she can find it back, so what if the Qu Family takes some data? The most important thing now is to recover the data.”
Sikong Zhen nodded, then hung up the phone: “Got it.”
“Qu Suxin…”
Sikong Zhen narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
Among the Four Title Heavenly Kings, the most mysterious was that woman, and the most ambitious was also that woman.
As the only one among the Four Heavenly Kings with a Noble Family background and the only female, Qu Suxin was quite special.
First, the Qu Family couldn’t yet be called a Noble Family, at most a Wealthy Family, since the Qu Family’s rise was less than 200 years ago.
Precisely because of this, Qu Suxin could become one of the Four Title Heavenly Kings; the Alliance’s playbook had always been like this.
Support commoners to become Wealthy Families, then use Wealthy Families, then use New Families to replace Old Families, like new cells replacing old ones, repeating until complete collapse.
Jiuzhou Alliance Headquarters, in the President’s office, the President who hung up the phone narrowed his eyes and muttered to himself: “It’s time for the Qu Family and Yao Family to decide a winner.”
………..
Qu Suxin, who was pretending to pursue the Dark Web, was stunned when she received the mission personally issued by the President.
“How outrageous is this?” Qu Suxin looked amused at the Gardevoir beside her.
This wave of shouting thief to catch thief was truly hilarious.
Gardevoir also smiled and said: “Looks like the Alliance’s cooperation will save us even more effort.”
“Then let’s quickly complete the mission. That little guy is probably still waiting for his Starter Pokémon and data.”
She had originally worried the Alliance would suspect her, but now it seemed her previous worry was purely unnecessary.
………..
A storm passed just like that. The next morning, Lu Li, upon waking, immediately refreshed the front-page headline on his phone.
《Shocking! Once-in-a-century extreme weather hits Ancient Capital, causing multiple frostbite cases!》
《Grand Festival hit by terrorist attack, causing casualties among multiple participating trainers.》
These two news items had the first as the front-page headline, with the Grand Festival matter even placed second.
At this moment, Lu Li gained a new understanding of the Alliance’s power to control public opinion.
Such a dangerous incident, and the Alliance actually suppressed it.
Especially the front-page headline, changing freeze-to-death to frostbite—Lu Li didn’t believe there were no civilian casualties in this incident.
As for the Grand Festival, not to mention it; a terrorist attack on the Pokémon Center this severe, and the Alliance actually tried to gloss it over.
The most outrageous part was that the Alliance actually succeeded!
“This world is truly terrifying!” Lu Li sighed sincerely.
The Milotic beside him lazily glanced at Lu Li, then shifted to a more comfortable sleeping position.
Having lived in a filthy ditch before, Milotic knew all too well how terrifying this world was.
What Milotic didn’t know was that the terror it understood and Lu Li’s terror were two different things.
In the Pokémon ecosystem, Pokémon eat Pokémon.
In human society, it’s the same.
At this moment, Pokémon and humans seemed like the same species.
Oh! Right, in this world, humans are also Pokémon, so it’s not strange.
After washing up, Lu Li went to the next room to find Yu Lili.
Seeing Lu Li enter, Yu Lili, with dark circles under her eyes, said tiredly: “Lu Li, I’ve decided to withdraw from the Grand Festival.”
Lu Li asked: “Because of Uncle Yu?”
Yu Lili shook her head: “That’s just one of the reasons.”
“Alright, in your current state, you’re indeed not suited to compete.” Lu Li didn’t persuade further.
Yu Lili continued: “By the way, the Pokémon Center’s person in charge just called me. They didn’t find my dad’s body, but they found Aggron’s Poké Ball.”
Hearing this, Lu Li hurriedly asked: “Want me to go with you?”
Yu Lili shook her head: “No need, with Bronzong and the others there, nothing will go wrong.”
Perhaps because she had just experienced the pain of losing her father, Yu Lili seemed to have grown up overnight, losing her previous youthful liveliness.
“Alright.”
Lu Li nodded.
At that moment, the doorbell rang at the doorway. Hearing the sound, Lu Li stood up and explained: “I ordered breakfast for you. Eat something; you didn’t eat last night.”
Yu Lili nodded. Though the sadness hadn’t faded, her empty stomach was indeed reminding her to eat.
“Please come in.” After Lu Li said that, two attendants pushed in a meal cart.
The attendant respectfully asked: “Pardon the intrusion, sir. Is this your ordered breakfast to be placed on the table?”
Lu Li nodded: “Yes.”
The Tsar Hotel’s breakfast was actually quite rich, but Lu Li wasn’t oblivious; he knew Yu Lili had no appetite for delicacies right now.
So he only ordered two simple breakfasts. On the table were two simple breakfasts: steaming oatmeal porridge, perfectly toasted whole wheat bread, and a cup of green tea with a faint aroma.
Yu Lili’s expression was somewhat desolate, her eyes red and swollen, clearly from not sleeping well last night. Even so, she forced a smile, trying to make this morning less heavy.
Yu Lili pretended to be relaxed and teased: “You can’t just watch me eat, right?”
Hearing this, Lu Li gently held Yu Lili’s hand, offering silent support. He knew words were powerless at this time.
Moreover, Lu Li knew his own nature; he wasn’t good at comforting people.
As if greatly encouraged, Yu Lili picked up a slice of bread and chewed slowly, as if each bite was filled with memories.
“My dad was best at toasting bread and making instant noodles; his fried eggs were pretty good too.” Yu Lili said with a sorrowful expression.
Lu Li said nothing, just silently watched her.
For a 16-year-old girl, what happened yesterday was truly a nightmare.
Watching her own father die right in front of her, and in such a gruesome way, the mental shock and psychological blow to Yu Lili was indescribable.
After slowly finishing breakfast, Yu Lili left the hotel alone to claim the Pokémon left by Yu Zhonggang at the Pokémon Center.
Back in his room, Lu Li went into the bathroom and began washing the bodies of his two Pokémon.
“Hot~”
（Trainer, do you think we’re too weak?）
“Na~”
（Exactly, I feel my strength is improving too slowly too.）
Lu Li: “…”
Lu Li said softly: “Be good! This is fine to say at home, but outside you’ll get beaten for it.”
An Elite Level Tropius less than three months old saying it’s too weak—those trainers who never broke through to Elite Level in a lifetime would jump off a cliff.
Lu Li then encouraged: “Don’t feel too much pressure. Your current strength is the endpoint most people pursue their whole lives.”
Tropius’s growth speed was too fast; Lu Li feared his own trainer level couldn’t keep up with Tropius’s growth, since his current strength was only Veteran Level.
Milotic’s improvement speed was indeed a bit slow, mainly because the Spirit Beauty Pill’s primary effect wasn’t boosting strength.
Lu Li had just finished bathing the two Pokémon when the phone on the desk suddenly rang.
Seeing the caller’s name on the caller ID, Lu Li quickly answered.
“Lu Li, are you okay? I just saw the news today and learned something happened there.” Yao Yifei’s anxious voice came through the phone.
Lu Li joked smilingly: “Of course I’m fine; if something happened, I wouldn’t be able to take your call.”
“But Sister Fei, you found out too late, didn’t you?” Lu Li continued teasing.
Yao Yifei was absolutely an unqualified Gym Leader; it took a whole day after the incident for her to know.
Yao Yifei awkwardly retorted: “I wasn’t at the gym, and the Alliance didn’t say anything about it. The Southern Region is so far from the Northern Region; how would I know?”
Yao Yifei, not in the mood to chat idly with Lu Li, then dropped a bombshell.
“I just checked specifically, and I found that aside from you and a guy named Li Zhi, all the other Commoner Trainers seem to have died in this attack.”
“Very normal; there are always bullies who pick on the weak everywhere.” Lu Li had expected such a result.
But one thing surprised Lu Li.
“How did that Commoner Trainer named Li Zhi survive? Could Li Zhi be like me, good at clinging to big shots?” Lu Li wondered in surprise.
Given yesterday’s scale and momentum, Commoner Rookie Trainers had no chance of surviving that chaos.
After all, who could have thought even the safest Pokémon Center wasn’t safe?
Complaining aside, Lu Li didn’t forget the main point.
Lu Li asked: “Didn’t they have Guardians with them?”
“Actually, it’s even worse than you imagine. The Guardians of those Commoner Trainers all died; you know those were all veteran Gym Level Trainers.”
Yao Yifei’s tone carried some fear too, finally understanding why Lu Li insisted on pulling in that big shot Qu Suxin.
Based on the known information, if Lu Li hadn’t had a Champion Level Pokémon with him, his fate wouldn’t have been much better than those killed Commoners.
“Heard Gym Leader Yu died?” Yao Yifei asked again.
Lu Li nodded: “Yeah! Bisected at the waist.”
Yao Yifei complained: “I checked the Gym Leader forum; Gym Leader Yu was probably the unluckiest Heavenly King Level Trainer. In yesterday’s turmoil, he was the only Heavenly King Level Trainer who died.”
Yao Yifei sighed endlessly over Yu Zhonggang’s death.
That was a Heavenly King Level Trainer—how did he just fall like that?
Thinking of yesterday’s commotion, Lu Li frowned and asked: “No Heavenly King Level Pokémon died yesterday?”
“Of course there were. The Alliance lost three Heavenly King Level Pokémon there, and as for others, I don’t know, but among Heavenly King Level Trainers, indeed only Yu Zhonggang died.”
Lu Li: “…”
