His uncle pulled over a stool and sat down. Chen Kai quickly poured his uncle a hot drink to quench his thirst.
"Xiao Kai, you came back on the same plane as Elite Ju Tianwang, didn't you?" his uncle asked after taking a sip of water. "Do you know what happened recently in France?"
Chen Kai secretly pondered, "What? There have been quite a few things happening recently, and I'm not sure which one Uncle is referring to."
However, his uncle seemed to be just starting, not really expecting Chen Kai to answer. He immediately continued, "Something big happened in France these past two days! The Nisus Company was robbed! The entire building was smashed!"
His uncle looked at his grandpa again and explained, "You might not know much about the Nisus Company. Let me put it this way: almost half of all the mega evolution stones discovered globally have been collected by their company! They were originally our Dragon Country's biggest competitor in mega evolution stone acquisition. Now that they've collapsed like this, there's hardly an ite left in France!"
Hearing his uncle's explanation, his grandpa realized that this matter seemed quite serious and couldn't help but say, "My goodness, who did this? That's incredible! Aren't they investigating in France?"
"Investigating?" His uncle took another sip of his drink before continuing, "You've heard of Delacroix, the former Champion of France, right? He has a Master Mawile. That night, he fought the opponent, and the battle was incredibly intense. And guess what? That former Champion almost lost his life! I heard his ace Mawile was completely scrapped!
Some people speculate that the opponent took pity on him, while others say the opponent disdained dirtying his hands. Regardless, he was lucky to have escaped with his life.
Anyway, it's said that the entire Paris has been locked down recently. The Paris government suppressed the news, only reporting the bare minimum information, trying to find those people, but they haven't found anything yet."
Chen Kai scratched his head, thinking, "I never intended to kill him, and there wasn't any exaggerated earth-shattering chaos. It wasn't a group effort; it was just me. These rumors are too outlandish, aren't they?"
His grandpa seemed to voice Chen Kai's thoughts: "Is that true or false? Where did you hear that? Is it really that mysterious?"
"How could it be false!" His uncle gestured excitedly with both hands, "Zhao Mingzhu is in charge of our country's mega evolution stone-related work, and she's my subordinate, so for now, the mega evolution stone work has also been assigned to our department. We've been working overtime and holding meetings these past few days precisely for this matter."
"And there's even more explosive news—that Delacroix has already fled to our Dragon Country! He's probably here to escape, staying at the Alliance Guesthouse.
The emergency meetings we've been having these past two days are all about him. I even saw him at the meeting."
His grandpa's eyes widened suddenly, shaking his head in disbelief, looking like an old man or woman listening to gossip at the village entrance: "There's such a thing! This Champion actually… fled to Dragon Country to escape?"
As his grandpa spoke, he looked up at Chen Kai, "Xiao Kai! Didn't you just return from Paris? Did you hear anything? Did you see this former Champion on the plane?"
So that person was the former Champion of France. Chen Kai had never heard of it before. He smiled awkwardly and said, "The night before I came back, I heard police sirens in the distance… Paris was indeed locked down, Grandpa, you know, I almost couldn't get back. Later, I was lucky and hitched a ride with Grandma Ju, that's how I got back by plane.
Uh… there actually seemed to be such a person on the plane."
Only then did his grandpa believe that such a big event had indeed happened recently.
However, he quickly felt relieved. For such major events, ordinary people usually only find out after the fact. Moreover, the Dragon Country's internet is relatively closed, and information flow with foreign countries is not smooth, so it's normal for most people not to know.
He himself was also relying on his son to get such well-informed news.
"Zhaoxing, can this matter be spoken about publicly?" his grandpa asked with some concern.
His uncle thought for a moment and said, "There was no explicit confidentiality requirement in the meeting. I estimate that since there are no more competitors, the higher-ups will probably start selling mega evolution stones to the public soon. Many trainers in our country have been waiting for this for a long time.
So, it's fine for us to talk about it at home, but don't spread it publicly for now."
"Especially you, Xiao Kai." His uncle suddenly turned and patted his shoulder, "I remember Zhao Mingzhu saying that you have an Ampharos Mega ite and a keystone. You must hold onto these stones tightly!
Zhao Mingzhu was urgently recalled to the Capital last night. I even saw her at the meeting this morning."
His uncle rubbed his fingers: "I estimate the selling price will be very, very high!"
Upon hearing his uncle's words, his grandpa slapped his hand regretfully: "Oh no, I posted the video of Xiao Kai's afternoon battle practice on my Moments! I need to recall it quickly!"
His grandpa hastily opened his phone, trying to recall the video. At this critical juncture, it was not a good thing for all relatives and friends to know.
As they were speaking, his grandma had already refilled the table with steaming hot dishes.
His grandpa pulled out a bottle of wine from somewhere and poured his uncle a little less than half a glass.
"Dad, if Xiao Kai hadn't come, I really wouldn't have been able to spare the time. I'll probably have to go back for a meeting later…" His uncle looked troubled.
His grandpa poured himself a glass too: "Sigh, this wine isn't strong. Have a couple sips to relieve your fatigue, it won't affect your meeting. Let's continue chatting."
Chen Kai, on the side, absentmindedly picked at his food, thinking, "So, my uncle's overtime is because of me… I originally planned to get rich by selling mega evolution stones and buy the best evolution items for Exeggcute and Kingdra. Now I feel that once I sell them, there will probably be a lot of trouble…"
His uncle swallowed a mouthful of wine, completely unaware of his nephew's unusual behavior, only focusing on complaining to his family: "Dad, there are a few more strange things! People from other departments secretly told me."
He lowered his voice, "They said the Pokemon the attacker used… wasn't an known species at all!"
The chopsticks in Chen Kai's hand snapped with a "crunch." He thought to himself, "This former Champion, you know Iron Thorns isn't a Dark/Rock type. Just keep it to yourself. I even went easy on you back then, and you're still so unkind, spreading it everywhere!"
What Chen Kai hated most now were people who secretly talked about him behind his back.
Of course, Chen Kai personally quite liked listening to other people's gossip.
"Unknown species?" His grandpa put down his wine glass, his brows furrowed into a "river" character, "Could it be an undiscovered secret realm Pokemon? Or… some kind of modified experimental subject?"
His uncle shook his head: "I don't know, but anyway, I heard that America has also been having continuous troubles recently. It's truly a turbulent time."
…
During this meal, Chen Kai and his grandma mostly listened to his uncle and grandpa chat.
Although Miraidon was playing on its phone, Chen Kai could tell that its body was tilted towards the dining table, trying to listen to some gossip.
His uncle's alcohol tolerance was average. After half a glass of wine, his face turned red, and the topic gradually shifted. He began to pour out his grievances: he was always either in meetings or approving documents, which caused his research projects to be delayed. In the past few months, his projects had made no progress at all.
His grandma listened, pushing the bowl of seaweed and egg drop soup towards his uncle: "Quick, have some soup to suppress the alcohol."
Then, like coaxing a child, she said softly, "Oh, if work is busy, it's busy. Take your time. Research can't be rushed; it will happen naturally when the time is right. Your health is important, don't overwork yourself."
As she spoke, she quickly added some dishes to his uncle's bowl: "Eat more vegetables. Drinking on an empty stomach hurts your stomach."
His grandpa, however, had a different view: "With great power comes great responsibility. You're a section chief, managing people and affairs, that's your responsibility! Meetings and approving documents, that's also working for the country!
Research projects are important, but the burden you need to bear now must not be shirked!"
His uncle listened to his grandpa's words, opened his mouth, wanting to refute something, but felt it was too much effort. In the end, he just ate a large mouthful of rice in silence, vaguely responding, "…Mm, I know, Dad."