When the referee announced the start of the match, Lin Fan and the girl both threw out their Poké Balls.
Beedrill vs. Vulpix!
Lin Fan squinted at the Vulpix, his expression softening slightly.
Not bad, the Vulpix is well-trained, a good aura; it seems better than her friend's.
But the opponent didn't know Lin Fan's thoughts; her face still held a hint of anger as she shouted, "Vulpix, show them what you've got! Spark!"
A crimson flame, shaped like a ball, flew towards Beedrill, leaving a scorching heatwave in its wake.
"Fury Attack."
Lin Fan's command was still concise; he didn't use Poison Sting, which he was more proficient with and had greater power, but instead used Fury Attack, a Normal-type move he had barely trained.
Beedrill understood, closing in and directly swinging its Double Needle to shatter the Spark, then charging straight at Vulpix, continuously thrusting.
Bang, bang, bang—
A three-hit combo!
Vulpix flew backward, instantly defeated, just like Lin Fan's opponents in his previous two battles.
The only difference was that Beedrill finally used a move for the first time, slightly revealing some of its strength.
The girl stared blankly at the scene, a hint of confusion in her eyes.
Her Vulpix... how could it be... it clearly had a type advantage, and she had trained for a month...
In a daze, Lin Fan's voice suddenly rang out, "Your Vulpix is pretty good. Among the contestants here, it's considered upper-middle tier. At least from how you trained Vulpix, you can be considered a qualified Trainer."
Although his words carried a hint of instruction, the girl was no longer angry, because the other party truly had the strength.
"Go back and tell your friend that Pokémon battles aren't child's play. It's clear both of your families are quite wealthy, so if you don't want to be Trainers, don't let Eevee battle. If this were the wild, Eevee would have lost its life long ago."
Lin Fan spoke indifferently. Having experienced the great escape in Water Moon Forest, he deeply felt the cruelty of real Pokémon battles, which is why he felt a sense of helplessness towards those carefree newcomers.
But this couldn't be helped. The past twenty to thirty years had been a relatively peaceful period, with no major criminal organizations emerging. Xia Guo was also one of the most peace-loving countries. In such an environment, new Trainers naturally gradually lost their sense of crisis and upward competitiveness.
Shaking his head, it was none of his business anyway. Lin Fan didn't bother to think about it anymore. He turned and left, leaving the girl holding Vulpix, slightly stunned.
...
Lin Fan walked around for a while and didn't see any Trainers that caught his attention like yesterday, so he planned to meet up with Su Ling and return to the hotel for training.
Just then, a large hand suddenly and silently rested on Lin Fan's shoulder.
In an instant, Lin Fan's hairs stood on end, his muscles tensed immediately, and he tried to raise his hand to release Beedrill, but the person behind him directly stopped him.
"Kid, relax, I mean no harm. I just found what you said earlier very interesting."
A low, rough voice sounded, and the large hand on his shoulder moved away, allowing Lin Fan to turn and see the person's appearance.
"Niu Zhan Shi?!"
Lin Fan's eyelids twitched, and he blurted out.
The person was wearing a Niu Zhan Shi mask identical to the one in Jackie Chan Adventures, and even his physique was somewhat similar to Niu Zhan Shi, though much more well-proportioned, appearing more imposing.
"Good eye!"
The other party was clearly pleased, smiling as he looked at Lin Fan.
Lin Fan wisely didn't ask why the other party was wearing such a mask here, because everyone knew Niu Zhan Shi never took off his mask, so he went straight to the point: "Senior, is there something you need from me?"
Niu Zhan Shi looked around, pulled Lin Fan to an empty corner, and said casually, "Nothing much, I just found what you said very interesting and wanted to ask your opinion on the current generation of new Trainers."
Lin Fan was a bit confused. Was this a reporter from some newspaper? Otherwise, why would he ask such a question?
After thinking for a moment, Lin Fan carefully chose his words and spoke cautiously, "I think the current new Trainers are all very strong. This is also thanks to Xia Guo's increasingly powerful strength, and they will definitely become stronger and stronger in the future."
Niu Zhan Shi was silent for a long time, looking at Lin Fan with a strange gaze, as if he were looking at an alien.
"You..." He paused, seemingly understanding Lin Fan's identity as a good young man. Niu Zhan Shi stopped questioning Lin Fan and began to speak to himself.
"The current new Trainers, I can't say they're bad; I can only say they're very bad. As you said, if they were in the wild, this group of people wouldn't survive a single day. It's okay to be weak, but at least they should have an attitude."
Lin Fan raised an eyebrow, "But with Xia Guo's current strength and population base, they don't need to go to the wild, do they? At most, they can just live in the city their whole lives. When the sky falls, someone tall will hold it up. I think the Gym Leader's daughter from that Psychic Gym is very powerful."
Niu Zhan Shi shook his head, "You also know she's a Gym Leader's daughter. If even she's weak, then things are really serious. Living in the city your whole life, that's easy to say, but who can predict the future? What if a large secret realm suddenly descends..."
Niu Zhan Shi stopped speaking, his eyes gradually deepening.
Lin Fan was silent, looking at Niu Zhan Shi with a somewhat strange gaze.
At first, he just thought the other party was a bit strange, but now Lin Fan was starting to suspect if the other party had a slight mental issue.
It wasn't that Lin Fan thought what the other party said was wrong, but the problem was, why was he telling him all this? They were just strangers who had never met. Wasn't this Niu Zhan Shi a bit too familiar?
Seemingly noticing Lin Fan's gaze, Niu Zhan Shi choked, the depth in his eyes suddenly dissipated, and he tapped his head, saying awkwardly, "Forget it, there's no point telling you now. If you can win this Zero Moon Cup, I'll give you something good."
Lin Fan was silent. Although he was very speechless right now, when he thought about the feeling of his shoulder being squeezed by this person just now, he hesitated a bit.
What was certain was that this person in front of him was definitely not simple, but his brain also seemed to have a slight problem...
After thinking for a moment, Lin Fan decided it was best to run away first, forcing a fake smile on his face:
"Um, my dad is about to give birth, I need to go back and take care of him. See you next time."
With that, Lin Fan directly took off, leaving Niu Zhan Shi standing there in a daze, his brain somewhat frozen.
"My dad is about to give birth?"
He repeated the sentence with a bewildered expression, and Niu Zhan Shi fell into a long silence.
"What an interesting kid. As long as his strength meets the standard, then I'll consider him as one of the candidates. It's been a long time since I've met such an interesting junior."
Shaking his head with a chuckle, Niu Zhan Shi walked into the crowd like a fish entering water, disappearing in the blink of an eye.