Who needs a girlfriend when you have Pokémon?

In short, Lillie seemed to see that Masked Cat was really enjoying Rowe's massage, and that they looked so comfortable, so she became curious about what Rowe's massage actually felt like.

"Hmm, physical contact is still a bit awkward, isn't it? If you don't mind, I can try giving Lillie a foot massage; it's really helpful for relieving fatigue~"

Whether intentionally or not, Rowe's tone sounded somewhat playful. Aysa, who was standing next to him, understood Rowe's quirky sense of humor and quickly waved her hand when Rowe's gaze turned towards her.

"No, no, no, I've tried foot massages before, um, never mind!"

"And what about Lillie?"

Lillie, seemingly completely unaware of the gravity of the situation and oblivious to the hellish scene before her, nodded without a second thought. "Sounds interesting, sure!"

"Okay, this way please~"

Lo Wei immediately stood up and smiled as he made way for Lillie. This time, even the Masked Cat and the others didn't react at all and seemed to cooperate by making way for him.

"?"

To be honest, even if Lillie is naturally oblivious, she had already sensed something was wrong at this point.

"Huh, did I fall for a trap? If I say I don't want it now, can I still get a refund?"

Faced with the girl's uneasy smile, Luo Wei calmly reached out and gently pinched the girl's foot.

...Well, this wasn't the first time Rowe had touched Lillie's feet. After all, they had made direct contact when he treated the poison wound on her leg during their first meeting.

Because of this experience, I might still feel shy about other physical contact, but there's no problem with this, since I've already touched her before.

The girl's feet were perfect, and you could tell that she must take very good care of them. There were no calluses or dead skin at all, and her delicate skin was as smooth and white as a freshly peeled egg.

Aside from good skincare, it just goes to show how important age is. If you were in your forties or fifties, no matter how well you take care of yourself, you wouldn't have such firm skin. That's the advantage of being young.

Lillie has walked quite a distance these days, but presumably because her shoes are of very high quality and have protected her feet very well, she hasn't developed a single callus despite walking so much.

With Luo Wei holding her foot, the girl's toes twitched restlessly. Her skin, which had been slightly red from soaking in the hot spring, became extremely sensitive as it came into contact with the night breeze and the alternating hot and cold temperatures.

Moreover, the warmth and touch of Luo Wei's palm made her feel even more embarrassed.

However, this embarrassment was quickly replaced by a tingling, numb, and itchy sensation.

Luo Wei pressed his thumb on the acupoint on the sole of Lillie's foot, using less than a third of his strength. With a slight exertion, Lillie let out a rather ominous sound.

It was hard to tell whether it was pain or pleasure, but it was definitely not a sound that should come from a young girl's mouth under normal circumstances. It was extremely inconsistent with healthy standards, and yet it leaked out of her mouth.

"Wait, wait, this is..."

"Hey, customer, I only used less than a third of my strength. Normal customers wouldn't even feel a thing!"

Luo Wei glanced at the masked cat beside him, who nodded happily.

"That's not the same! How can humans and Pokémon be the same?"

"But it's actually quite comfortable, isn't it?"

"No, not like that..."

Before he could finish speaking, Luo Wei had already begun a series of actions without hesitation. If it were just simple pain, he could just bear it and it would pass. Although it was a bit difficult for a pampered young lady like Lillie, it was not impossible for her to grit her teeth and persevere.

But this sensation of soreness and numbness, itchiness and swelling, is different from ordinary pain. It's like being pinched on the nerve endings, like an electric current shooting from the toes up the spine to the head. The feeling is incredibly stimulating...

She wanted to beg for mercy, but just as Luo Wei had said, after this strange discomfort, there was actually an indescribable sense of relief.

However, the slight sense of relaxation that had just begun to emerge was immediately replaced by an even stronger tingling and numbness, causing the girl to experience a rollercoaster-like rise and fall between this repeated torment and comfort.

She couldn't resist after all...

"...I surrender! I surrender!"

"I'm sorry, sir, this is a members-only establishment. You cannot leave until the service is finished!"

"That weird membership store is definitely not a legitimate business! I'm going to file a complaint, I really am! If you stop now, I might consider an out-of-court settlement!"

"Haha, I'm really sorry, young lady, who do you think is behind this restaurant? Just obediently enjoy our special menu!"

"This is unreasonable, unreasonable, unreasonable! This is really unacceptable!!!"

"..."

Aysa, standing to the side, was filled with awe. From the halfway point onward, it was entirely a spontaneous little skit between Rowe and Lillie. At first, she wondered if Lillie was really in pain, but seeing that she was still in the mood to joke around with Rowe, she figured it was probably nothing serious.

This young lady may have accumulated a lot of pressure on a daily basis. After all, being "someone else's child" is not easy. Although life may be smooth with a mother who has arranged everything, it is not necessarily easy.

Asha could empathize with this all too well...

So seeing that Lillie seemed to be having quite a bit of fun, she naturally didn't say anything more...

After nearly forty minutes, Rowe stopped what he was doing, and Lillie lay there as if she had burned out completely.

"Alright, that concludes today's service. Welcome back next time, our guest!"

"There won't be a next time!!!"

Chapter 153 Welcome back next time!

"We look forward to this guest's next visit!"

"There won't be a next time!"

Lillie couldn't help but stand up and mutter this complaint, then slowly slumped down as if all her bones had been drained.

But the moment she lay down, she suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of ease, as if the heavy burden on her shoulders had been lifted off her shoulders, and she felt an indescribable sense of relaxation.

"Al?"

She looked at her palms strangely, clenching her fists and then relaxing them. After repeating this several times, she finally realized that her body seemed to have really relaxed a lot.

"It seems to be quite useful?"

"Of course, otherwise do you think I'm just trying to make things difficult for people?"

Luo Wei chuckled and complained, while Lillie looked away sheepishly, "Because it really feels weird, but if that's the case, it doesn't seem like it's impossible to do it a few more times~"

"Well then, get some rest. We're going hiking tomorrow, so there'll be a lot of walking..."

"Oh……"

As night deepened, at the same time, Chimney Hill was located...

Since the cable car at Chimney Mountain broke down, the officials of Fuyan Town have been contacting people to repair it. After all, the cable car is directly related to Fuyan Town's income and is the lifeline of Fuyan Town's revenue generation, so it is natural to repair it as soon as possible to ensure normal use.

However, the people sent out by Fuyan Town have been inspecting the mountain but have been unable to find the specific cause of the malfunction. Even after inquiring about the progress several times, they have only received the reply that the repairs are still underway and that they should wait a little longer.

"How about it?"

The summit of Chimney Mountain was now packed with people. A circle of people had gathered around the crater, which was spewing thick smoke, and all of them were wearing the same dark red uniforms and the same insignia.

These people are all from Team Lava...

...Including the man who appeared at Meteor Falls earlier, Crimson Pine, the leader of Team Lava.

Beside him, several people dressed as members of Team Lava nodded in response, "We've managed to fool them, but we can't fool them for long. I estimate that in another two or three days, the League will notice something amiss..."

These people were maintenance personnel sent by Blaze Town to inspect the cable car. As you can see now, they are actually members of Team Magma. Blaze Town, as the town closest to Chimney Mountain, has been secretly infiltrated by Team Magma.

Although Lava Town was once guarded by the previous Elite Four, making it difficult for external forces to infiltrate, that Elite Four member is no longer there, and Lava Town now only has a newly appointed Gym Leader.

As for Aysa, as a gym leader, her strength is indeed only at the level of a rookie, and there are indeed many aspects of her that she is not familiar with outside of battles.

In general, in this situation, either you have strong business skills, like Mr. Tie Xuan, who used to be the planning director of Da Zijin Energy Development Company and was in charge of the development of Zijin City.

Even though Violet City is many times larger than Fukuo Town, and Violet City's development plan includes numerous positions and personnel deployments, the Lava Team and the Ocean Team still couldn't manage to plant any inside agents.

After all, when it comes to cunning and trickery, the old man has lived for so many years, and most of the Lava Team are no match for him.

Or, like Qianli, he stands out as someone who can overcome all odds with sheer force. This man is indeed not very cunning, but he is strong enough to leave no room for any internal traitors to cause trouble, making it pointless to plant traitors around him.

It's like I have ten soldiers and the enemy has 100,000. Even if I plant all ten of my soldiers as spies on the enemy side, how can I possibly win?

If the opposing team A comes over, we'll win. Faced with a power difference that's so great it's like a game of cat and mouse, what room for maneuver does an insider have?

However, the situation in Caulfield Town was different. It gave Team Lava a great opportunity to fully utilize their strengths and successfully planted many spies there. At this moment, the people in Caulfield Town's maintenance team were actually Team Lava's men. Although it was called maintenance, they were the ones who actually damaged the cable car in the first place.

Of course, there is a gym in Lavatown after all. Even if Asha is not good enough on her own, she has the League behind her... No matter how slow the League is to react, they will definitely find out something is wrong if they can't handle it in three to five days.

"...That's enough."

However, Chiyansong remained calm. After all, the preliminary preparations had been completed, and all that was left was the final push. Now that the most important meteorite was in hand, the rest would be done in less than two days.

At this point, his gaze shifted to his side...

...Connecting to the crater, there is a strange device installed. This was naturally the work of an inside agent of the Lava Team. After all, under normal circumstances, no one would come to the top of Chimney Mountain. Most people would take the cable car to the middle of the mountain and then go down the bumpy mountain road to visit Fuma Town.

The summit of Mt. Chimney is home to a large number of wild Pokémon, and even most trainers would find it difficult to reach the top, let alone ordinary people.

After all, these Pokémon were trained by the Fire-type Elite Four member from the previous generation. Although they were not captured by him, they were trained as training subjects, and their strength is much greater than that of ordinary wild Pokémon.

Moreover, fire is a major offensive element, emphasizing high damage, which naturally makes this place even more dangerous.

Thanks to the natural cover and the support of inside agents, Fuyan Town managed to install the machine right under the Alliance's nose.

At this very moment, inside the semi-transparent dome on the upper part of the machine, are the meteorites retrieved from Meteor Falls.

The meteorite has been awakened by Higana and is now flashing with a bluish-white light. The strange energy contained within the meteorite has been extracted by this device and injected into Chimney Mountain.

It won't be long, not long at all, just two or three more days, before the energy within the meteorite is fully activated. At that time... the legend slumbering beneath this Chimney Mountain... will awaken once again on this land.

“How beautiful…” Crimson Flame Pine… The tall, thin man reached out and stroked the meteorite through the protective shield. Although he did not touch it directly, his movements were still so careful, as if he were touching a precious work of art.

"...This is the legend that descended upon this land thousands of years ago. After sleeping for so long, you must be impatient, right? Haha, don't worry, it won't be long before I once again let everyone witness your glory, the great being who rules this land!"

Although they were separated by a vast distance, it seemed as if everyone present could see, through the crater of Chimney Mountain, the figure that lay peacefully asleep beneath the billowing smoke...

...God of the Earth!

Chapter 154 The Uneven Mountain Path

——Chimney Mountain-Aotu Mountain Road——

This is currently the only mountain path to the top of Mt. Chimney. It is a dirt path trodden by trainers and Pokémon who have traveled to Mt. Chimney over the centuries. Because it has never been properly constructed, it is very rugged and uneven.

In many places, it was impossible to walk across normally. One could only take one step at a time, stepping on the protruding parts of the mountain as footholds, and staggering uphill little by little.