After washing the dishes, Zhou Yuan played a few rounds of virtual battles and then checked the time.
“That’s not right, why do I feel like I just finished lunch, and it’s already almost time for dinner? Is this what they call time flying when you’re doing something you love? Relativity truly doesn't deceive me.”
Returning to the living room, he opened the refrigerator, found the ingredients inside, added a fried egg, a sausage, and a dozen slices of braised beef, and cooked himself a simple bowl of instant noodles.
Just as he was about to pick up his chopsticks, Zhou Yuan hesitated again.
“What kind of meat is this?”
“Hmm… but since it can appear in an ordinary citizen’s refrigerator, it should be fine. And it really smells good.”
While eating, Zhou Yuan pulled out his phone. Just as he was about to open A-station to check on his video, a notification flashed in the message bar.
“You have one new message.”
Opening the communication software, he saw that the message was from the group chat 【A Loving Class】, and the sender was the class monitor, Wu Jinyan.
“Classmates, it’s already been a week since summer vacation started! Has everyone gotten their desired Pokémon yet?”
As soon as this was said, it was like throwing a huge stone into a calm lake, stirring up a thousand ripples.
“Oh, I haven’t yet. I don’t even know which Pokémon to choose. Does the class monitor mean that he has already obtained a Pokémon?” This was said by the class’s usual mischievous kid, whose name Zhou Yuan couldn’t recall, only remembering him as ‘Mischievous Kid.’
Besides him, other classmates also popped up in the group.
“I’ve already gotten my starter Pokémon! Isn’t it cute?”
Along with this message, a photo of a Bellsprout was sent, a Pokémon with a large head and a small body.
With the appearance of the first classmate to show off their Pokémon, more and more Pokémon photos gradually began to appear.
Most of them were relatively common Pokémon like Nidoran♂, Weedle, and Pidgey. Although there were also some rarer Pokémon, they were very few. From the dozens of photos sent, Zhou Yuan only saw one Snivy.
And after the photo of the Snivy was sent, the group quieted down for a moment, followed by rapid screen-swiping.
“Wow, it’s a Snivy! What a cute Pokémon!” This was from the class’s usually cute girl.
“It’s actually a Snivy! To be able to get such a rare starter, as expected of the class monitor!” This was the Mischievous Kid.
“Snivy isn’t a common starter in our Yanhuang region, is it? It seems to be from the Unova region.” This was Lu Renjia.
“Exactly! To be able to get a starter from another region, the class monitor is truly amazing!” This was Lu Renjia’s younger brother, Lu Renyi.
As more and more questions arose, Wu Jinyan couldn’t hold back and began to introduce Snivy’s origin in the group.
“My dad has business dealings with a company in Unova. That company had a surplus of starter quotas this year, so they gave them to their partners, and my dad was one of them.”
“I can only say, it has to be the class monitor; his family even has international business.”
Seeing this, Zhou Yuan stopped reading and didn’t take it to heart; it was just the youthful exuberance of young people. Zhou Yuan still remembered this class monitor; he wasn’t a bad person, just a little vain, and in his previous life, he often helped his classmates. Zhou Yuan had a good impression of him.
After exiting the communication software and opening A-station, Zhou Yuan found a new private message.
“Your video has passed review. After evaluation, your video meets the recommendation standards and has been given traffic support.”
This news was only to be expected for Zhou Yuan, as he knew the quality of his video, but when he actually saw the message, he was still a little surprised.
Clicking into his homepage, the ID A Yuan Teaches You How to Battle Pokémon, he only had one Butterfree video under his name. It had only been three hours since it was uploaded, and the video’s views had already exceeded five thousand, with over a hundred comments and bullet comments.
“The blogger is amazing! He can play Butterfree so well. But is the blogger’s name real? Can he really teach me how to battle Pokémon? Like, hand-to-hand combat?” This was the top hot comment.
Zhou Yuan glanced at his followers; he already had over five hundred.
“A ten-to-one follower retention rate, that’s pretty good.”
After muttering to himself, Zhou Yuan didn’t pay it any more mind, letting it develop naturally. After washing the pots and bowls, he sat back down at the computer and began to climb the ranks in virtual battles.
After all, his future videos would depend on this game, and a higher rank would give his videos more Persuasion.
And this time, Zhou Yuan didn’t pull any more tricks, bringing out a proper weather team.
By the time Zhou Father and Zhou Mu returned at past ten in the evening, Zhou Yuan’s ranking had already risen to eight thousand, with a continuous winning streak without a single loss.
“Mom and Dad, why are you back so early tonight?” Zhou Yuan got up to greet his parents, feeling a bit strange at the same time. Usually, the hotpot restaurant wouldn’t close until past midnight, so returning this early was indeed unusual.
“Well, we thought you were about to make a choice, so we wanted to come back early to hear your thoughts. Besides, business at the shop was good today; we sold out of ingredients very early, so we just came back.”
Zhou Ba answered his son’s question while pulling out a Poké Ball and releasing Big Yellow. Zhou Mu also released her Delcatty from its Poké Ball.
For a moment, the sounds of “Meow” and “Woof” were endless.
Big Yellow is a mature male Ninetales. Ninetales is a fox-like quadruped Pokémon with golden fur and nine long tails. Its entire body is covered in creamy yellow fur, and it has a pair of bright red eyes. Its body is well-proportioned, appearing noble and elegant. Its nine tails are smooth and long, with golden highlights at the tips.
Zhou Ba’s Ninetales has a small curl of hair on its forehead, which makes it somewhat resemble an Alolan Ninetales.
Big Yellow swayed its tails and came to Zhou Yuan, rubbing against Zhou Yuan’s waist. Although Zhou Yuan knew Big Yellow was male, who wouldn’t be charmed by a fox? Zhou Yuan stroked Big Yellow’s head and sighed:
“I finally understand King Zhou.”
Zhou Ba slumped onto the sofa, and while slumping, he asked his son:
“So? Have you thought about it? Do you want the Growlithe from Uncle Liu’s side, or do you want to buy another one?”
“I want the Growlithe.” Zhou Yuan answered without hesitation.
“Hahahaha, good! Then your mother and I will take you to Uncle Liu’s place tomorrow.”
At night.
Zhou Yuan tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. The thought of getting his own Pokémon tomorrow, and a Growlithe at that, made him even more excited.
“Cute puppy, cute puppy, adorable puppy.”
And so, filled with excitement, Zhou Yuan stayed awake until the early hours of the morning before finally falling asleep.
In the blink of an eye, it was the next day.
Even though he had gone to bed very late the night before, Zhou Yuan still opened his eyes early in the morning. Although he hadn’t slept well, giving him slight dark circles, he was so handsome that his dark circles looked like eye bags.
After washing up and eating breakfast, Zhou Yuan set off with his parents.
After Zhou Ba drove for over forty minutes, he slowly decelerated and drove into a ranch.
Zhou Yuan knew that this was Uncle Liu’s ranch, and the Growlithe was also in this place.
After getting out of the car, a tall, muscular man walked towards them. The man had a buzz cut and a diagonal scar on his face, visually dividing his face into two halves.
Zhou Yuan remembered this man; he was Uncle Liu. In his previous life, even without Pokémon, he was a police officer, but he never retired, and his face had no scars.
It seemed that this scar was left from the accident six years ago.
Liu Yongming strode up to the family, smiled, and hugged Zhou Ba, giving Zhou Ba’s back a hearty pat. Zhou Ba’s laughter was directly cut off in his throat.
“Cough, cough, cough, Yongming, stop patting. Don’t you know how strong you are? If you patted someone weaker like that, you’d have killed them by now.”
Liu Yongming chuckled, patted his buzz cut, and turned his gaze to Zhou Yuan.
“This must be A Yuan. It’s been so long since I’ve seen him. How did he grow so tall and big in the blink of an eye?”
Zhou Yuan was quick-witted and didn’t wait for Zhou Ba to prompt him, greeting first: “Hello, Uncle Liu. Uncle Liu’s health is as good as ever.”
Hearing this, Liu Yongming laughed heartily, put an arm around Zhou Yuan’s shoulder, and dragged him into the ranch.
“Hahahaha, you’re still so good with words, kid. Come, come, come, come see the gift Uncle Liu has prepared for you.”
Zhou Yuan knew exactly what was happening; he was being taken to see his starter Pokémon.
The two walked to the entrance of a house by the ranch, and Zhou Yuan immediately saw the Arcanine, Big Red, lying inside.
Arcanine is a Pokémon that resembles a large dog. It has fluffy flaxen fur covering its face. Its eyes are brown, and its body has black and orange stripes like a tiger. Its legs are surrounded by fur, and it has a long tail, appearing quite majestic.
Big Red saw its Trainer approaching with a young man. It also knew that this might be the Trainer of one of its children. It sized up Zhou Yuan and felt that he seemed decent. Since its Trainer brought him, there shouldn’t be any issues with his character.
So, it didn’t put on any airs like a mother-in-law meeting her son-in-law. It wagged its tail and walked up to Zhou Yuan.
Zhou Yuan looked at the Arcanine, which was taller than him, without fear. He reached out and stroked its fur, which was surprisingly smooth. At the same time, he felt a little strange.
Big Red was so big; Big Yellow was two sizes smaller compared to her. How could this be…? One could only say that Pokémon are truly amazing creatures.
Looking past Big Red and further inside, he saw two Poké Eggs in an incubation device.
When Zhou Yuan saw the Poké Eggs, he was stunned. It took him a moment to realize, oh right, Zhou Ba had said Poké Eggs at the time, but he had assumed it was an already hatched Growlithe, and he had been tossing and turning, unable to sleep because of it.
Thinking of this, Zhou Yuan’s face flushed slightly.
However, such a small matter was quickly forgotten by Zhou Yuan, replaced by another sigh of wonder.
“Even dog-sized Pokémon are oviparous. One can only say that Pokémon are too amazing.”
As Zhou Yuan got closer, the Poké Eggs became clearer: about 50cm tall, yellow with red patterns, and a little bit of black mixed into the red patterns.
As if sensing Zhou Yuan’s gaze, both Poké Eggs wiggled in the incubation device, as if asking:
“Are you my master?”