Pokémon: Hard work pays off, moves can be upgraded infinitely.

Congratulations to all the students for advancing from the group stage!

Yan Wu's first words immediately eased the oppressive atmosphere on the battlefield.

More precisely, the Night Demon deliberately suppressed the oppressive aura emanating from him as he spoke.

The students, who were unaware of the specifics, only felt that Yan Wu seemed much more relaxed and his breathing became easier when he spoke.

"Relax, everyone. You are all outstanding young people in Songjiang City. There's no need to be too nervous," Yan Wu said.

The brief pause in holding their breath and then exhaling allowed the students to relax somewhat, and they involuntarily turned their attention to Yan Wu, who was speaking.

If it weren't for the black demon spirit floating beside him, many people might have thought he was a very kind middle-aged man.

After offering some simple reassurance, Yan Wu then explained the selection rules for the final spots.

It's very simple: draw lots in pairs, the winner stays, the loser is eliminated, there is no revival, no cycle, one round determines the winner.

The approach was so crude and straightforward that it didn't seem like a selection process for the provincial competition; it was more like a rush to finish the selection and get off work as soon as possible.

Mu Yun felt a little regretful about this. Although his task was only to obtain a spot, he could still gain a lot of points by playing more matches. However, given the format of the competition, he could only sigh a little.

This time, instead of the original manual lottery, a large high-definition screen randomly flashed the avatars of the thirty people present for random matching.

At the same time, a middle-aged woman followed by wind chimes entered the battlefield.

Clearly, she was the referee for this match.

Wind Chime, a Psychic-type Pokémon.

A small, cute, and surprisingly powerful sprite.

Mu Yun glanced at Feng Lingling's stats: level 49, peak elite level. Among the referees Mu Yun had ever seen, she was considered to be of a very high level.

After glancing at the wind chimes a few times, Mu Yun turned his attention back to the large screen displaying scrolling avatars.

Soon, the portraits of the two sides in the first battle were displayed.

One was a girl who looked like the girl next door, and the other was a boy that Mu Yun knew, the only student who made it into the small class - Xia Dongyu!

"So, the first match will be between Feng Ya from Huaxing High School and Xia Dongyu from Songjiang No.1 High School," the referee announced after the screen froze.

"Feng Ya?"

Hearing the name, Mu Yun glanced at the screen again in surprise.

The girl on the screen, while not necessarily the most beautiful, was at least pure and pretty, with a slight smile on her lips, giving off a youthful and innocent vibe like a girl next door.

In reality, Feng Ya sports black and white pigtails, a black and red leather jacket, and three lip piercings on her dark purple lips—a quintessential punk delinquent.

No one could tell this was the same person!

Unexpectedly, Liu Jianhao has a pretty good eye; he recognized it right away.

Just as Mu Yun was sighing, Feng Ya and Xia Dongyu had already gotten up and headed towards the battlefield.

Roar Bomb vs. Staraptor!

There is no elemental advantage or disadvantage relationship, but the Roar Bomb carrying the Secret Treasure is clearly more advantageous.

"It's actually the Roar Bomb, which specializes in sonic attacks?"

Looking at Feng Ya's elfin appearance, Zhao Hailong seemed somewhat surprised.

"Is something wrong?"

Mu Yun asked.

While Roar Bomb isn't a common Pokémon, it's not particularly rare either. It's certainly not as rare as Liu Jianhao's Arcanine, so there's no need to be so surprised.

"There's nothing wrong with it, but I remember her father was a Dark-type trainer with considerable strength, so I was a little surprised," Zhao Hailong explained.

"Now that you mention it, I think I heard my dad mention it before. He said I should have less contact with Feng Ya. At first, I didn't understand, but once I heard him talking to my mom about whether Feng Ya's family business was clean or something." Liu Jianhao, who was standing next to me, seemed to remember something and brought it up.

In the first year of junior high school, Feng Ya was his deskmate. At that time, Feng Ya looked very young and had a gentle personality. She was one of the few people he felt comfortable around.

However, when the seating was reassigned later, the teacher moved me.

He even went to his father about it, but his father told him to stay away from Feng Ya.

He was still a little resentful and privately asked the teacher to change his seat, but the teacher just said that he would do it next time.

Later, in the second year of junior high school, Feng Ya rarely came to school, and her grades plummeted.

"Not clean?"

Hearing Liu Jianhao's words, Mu Yun raised an eyebrow.

A Dark-type trainer with a shady business—could he be some kind of villain who's been clamoring to find legendary Pokémon and change the world?

"I heard from my dad that Feng Ya's father, Feng Xin, may have been involved in smuggling of elves from abroad in the early days, but that's just hearsay, there's no concrete evidence. After getting married, Feng Xin relied on his daring and hardworking personality, as well as the connections of his wife's family, to gradually build up Chengxin Logistics," Zhao Hailong added.

Chengxin Logistics is one of the largest logistics companies in Matsue City, mainly transporting items related to Pokémon, such as berries, energy cubes, and nutrient solutions.

As a native of Songjiang, Muyun naturally has some understanding of Chengxin Logistics.

Unexpectedly, its founder, Feng Xin, was Feng Ya's father.

No wonder they can equip the Roar Bomb with the right Pokémon Treasure; someone in the logistics industry must have a lot of contact with them and a wide network of contacts.

As for the charge of smuggling by the elves...

It sounds serious, but in reality, any trainer who has ventured into the wilderness may be more or less involved in this crime.

After all, trainers go to the wilderness to make money, and ordinary berries aren't worth much.

The truly valuable creatures are the elves!

Although many rare and precious Pokémon are not allowed to be bought and sold privately.

For example, all pseudo-legendary Pokémon, and also Riolu, Growlithe, etc.

But ordinary elves are rarely investigated.

So, this crime seems serious, but in reality, it's not that serious.

Unless they are professional Pokémon hunters who hunt illegally, or professional Pokémon smugglers who control the routes, they are rarely caught.

As the three talked, the situation of the battle in the arena gradually became clear.

Even with its high speed, Staraptor has a hard time completely avoiding the sonic attack of Roar Bomb.

As a result, the system entered a state of chaos due to the interference of ultrasound, ultimately leading to a regrettable defeat.

"I declare that Starbird is incapacitated, and the winner is Roar Bomb!" announced Referee Chime Chime.

After the first match ended, two rotating avatars reappeared on the big screen.

After a while, the profile picture froze.

The red box contains a handsome face, while the blue box contains an ordinary-looking boy.

"The second match is between Mu Yun from Songjiang No.1 High School and Feng He from Huaxing High School."

........................

"Feng He..."

Looking at the frozen photo of the boy on the big screen, Feng Ya's expression, which had remained unchanged, suddenly became somewhat complicated.

"Boss, what's wrong?"

The boy in the leather jacket standing to the side asked, puzzled.

Although Feng He didn't want to dress like them, she was still from Huaxing High School, so there was no need to be so angry.

"It's nothing."

Feng Ya took a deep breath, composed herself, and replied expressionlessly.

If that bastard hadn't brought that vixen home, she wouldn't have known that this guy from the same school and with the same surname was actually her half-brother.

The thought that the man hadn't visited her even once before her mother's death filled Feng Ya with rage.

She wished she could personally press that man down in front of her mother's grave.

Unfortunately, she was too weak, and that man was too strong. Even that disgusting vixen was no match for her...