Bottom-tier trainers in the Pokémon world

"You like reading?" Xia Yan changed the subject.

The hypnotic tapir turned its head, extended its hand with only three fingers, and carefully stroked the obviously old book. "In the past, I only had books. I also liked books."

It's rare to find an elf who loves reading and learning.

Xia Yan took a book out of his pocket.

After he came into this world, he read books every day in order to learn more about it and about the elves.

In this respect, it is somewhat similar to the hypnotic tapir in front of me.

I read whenever I have time, so I always carry books with me.

Upon seeing the book, the hypnotic tapir's eyes lit up immediately.

But because it was in Xia Yan's hands, it didn't move, only its ears twitched rapidly, as if it was suppressing some kind of emotion.

"Do you like it? If you like it, I can give it to you," Xia Yan said.

"Really?" The hypnotic tapir was somewhat taken aback.

Xia Yan shoved the book directly into its hands.

The hypnotic tapir carefully touched the book cover, feeling its smoothness and smelling the faint scent of oil, feeling somewhat intoxicated.

But soon, his eyes turned somewhat forlorn.

He shook his head and returned the book to Xia Yan.

"Thank you. You are the first person who waited for me to finish reading the story, and the first person who was willing to give me a book. You are a good person."

Xia Yan hadn't expected to be friend-zoned by an elf.

"But I won't have the chance to read it. Books are such precious things, we shouldn't waste them."

The blue aura that flickered around it due to the activation of its superpowers became somewhat unstable.

"What if I said I could let you live?" Xia Yan's eyes were fixed on the hypnotic tapir.

One thing must be admitted: Xia Yan was smitten.

"Huh?" The hypnotic tapir was taken aback.

“Become my spirit, and I can let you immerse yourself in the joy of books every day, and I can also help you live a good life,” Xia Yan said.

"You want... me to become your spirit?"

Buzz—Buzz—

Layers of light flickered from the hypnotic tapir, and its overflowing superpowers began to go out of control.

"You want me to become your spirit?!"

The hypnotic tapir's voice was almost like an explosion in Xia Yan's head.

It got out of control rather suddenly and inexplicably.

The document describes the hypnotic tapir as having an extremely unstable mental state, which was immediately apparent.

Under such mental pressure, Xia Yan instantly felt as if his head was about to explode from the inside.

This was after the hypnotic tapir had already exhausted a lot of its mental energy controlling hundreds of Rattatas. If it were at its peak, Xia Yan couldn't guarantee that he would still be alive.

"Waaaaah!!"

The unicorn sensed that Xia Yan seemed to be threatened.

It opened its mouth and spat out a ball of silk, aiming at the hypnotic tapir. At the same time, the pointed horn on its head lit up with a purple halo, and three poison needles shot out.

"Sully!!"

The hypnotic tapir roared angrily.

The silk threads spun by the unicorn beetle and the poisonous needles it shot were blocked by the superpowers and suspended in mid-air.

But Weedle wasn't surprised. It had experience fighting Psychic-type Pokémon, and Xia Yan had explained how to deal with it before this mission.

The unicorn beetle opened its small mouth, and a rich blue light shone from its mouth. The superpower that had been hindering its progress like a quagmire was torn open by the unicorn beetle without any obstruction.

Bang!

With a lunge, Weedle knocked the frail Hypnos to the ground, its Bug Bite move, imbued with intense Bug-type energy, poised to strike, aiming for Hypnos's vulnerable neck.

"A unicorn beetle!"

Because of the unicorn beetle's effective attack and lunge, the hypnotic tapir's pressure on Xia Yan was interrupted, and the timely sound prevented it from taking further action.

"Huh?!"

The unicorn didn't turn around; its mouth remained locked on the hypnotic tapir's neck as it asked a question.

Xia Yan walked up to the hypnotic tapir, squatted down, looked at its bloodshot eyes, gently stroked the unicorn beetle's back, and said, "I'm sorry."

He had originally intended to subdue this hypnotic tapir.

After all, Psychic-type Pokémon are relatively rare, and most Psychic-type Pokémon are very intelligent, possessing wisdom that is no less than that of humans, making them difficult to capture.

He started thinking about catching a second Pokémon a few days ago.

He didn't have enough resources before, and the unicorn could evolve at any time, so he needed to keep some on hand for the evolved unicorn.

But now, the Unicorn's growth cycle has been extended, and he has been promoted to intermediate sparring partner, which allows him to earn more money to buy resources. Moreover, intermediate sparring partner tasks also offer substantial rewards.

With stable resource income, it's natural to start thinking about preparing for a second Pokémon.

It's a bit of a shame that this hypnotic tapir did become somewhat uncontrollable due to a certain experiment.

Trainers should absolutely avoid such Pokémon.

If a spirit disobeys orders during a battle, losing the fight is one thing, but in a life-or-death struggle, disobeying commands can have a very fatal impact.

After apologizing to the hypnotic tapir, Xia Yan nodded to the unicorn beetle.

The hypnotic tapir, already somewhat frenzied, revealed a hint of relief and gratitude amidst its madness.

For it, Xia Yan's final respect was the greatest reward he could give it.

"Be careful... sizzle..." The last rational voice of the hypnotic tapir echoed in my mind.

puff-

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Chapter Thirty-Three: The Black Market

"Be careful of what? And what does 'zzzz' mean?"

The final message from the hypnotic tapir left Xia Yan completely bewildered.

With a heavy heart, I left the abandoned building.

It was clearly a learning-loving hypnotic tapir, but it turned into this because of certain experiments.

I suppose the reason they were able to calmly await death at first was because they found some comfort in the books and sensed a sense of relief.

"What a pity..."

"Waaah..."

The unicorn also seemed rather downcast.

However, Xia Yan quickly composed himself and, with the unicorn beetle, went to find his three previous husbands again.

Sanfu still held Xia Yan in high esteem and never connected the two people together, never realizing that this was the same Xia Yan he had known before.

"From now on, you'll help me gather intelligence on all sorts of things in Golden City, no matter what method you use. I'll pay you accordingly. This is a deposit." With that, Xia Yan pulled out two Alliance Coins worth one hundred each.

"Deposit!" Sanfu's eyes widened.

The deposit alone was two hundred Alliance Coins, which was definitely a considerable reward for him. If used well, he could even recruit a group of desperate people in the slums who were struggling to survive.

It's worth noting that Xia Yan only received thirty-three yuan from Scarface, a not-so-small leader in the slums.

The living standards of the lower-class residents of Golden City are completely different from those of the normal residents.

What others consider a small amount of money is a huge sum in their eyes.

"Okay, okay!" Sanfu replied repeatedly, taking the money.

"This is just a deposit. I will pay you a corresponding reward based on the value of your intelligence. From now on, I will wait for you at the entrance of the East District every week. I hope you can provide me with valuable intelligence. If you can't, I will find someone else."

Xia Yan patted him on the shoulder and turned to leave.

Through this experience, he realized the importance of intelligence; if he could obtain the relevant information, he could save a lot of time.

If we hadn't learned about Asef and Rada's unusual behavior from Sanfu, it would have taken a considerable amount of time to find the Hypnotic Tapir.

For him now, time is of paramount importance, and not a single minute or second can be wasted.

In Golden City, he needed a simple intelligence network.

Someone like Sanfu, who lives in the lower rungs of Golden City and is an inconspicuous existence, is a good candidate.

They may not know much, but they have a wide range of information sources. They can obtain information from every inconspicuous corner of Golden City. As long as even one piece of information is useful to Xia Yan, such a deal is worthwhile.

And he wasn't worried that Sanfu would run off with the money.

He would have left long ago if he could have, and he doesn't think Sanfu would waste the long-term money-making opportunities right in front of him.

Consider it a dispensable arrangement.

If it works, that would be best; if it doesn't, the loss is only two hundred Alliance Coins.

"Wait a minute," Sanfu called out to him.

"Ok?"

"Although I don't know if it will work, I heard... I heard from others that some people dressed strangely and behaving strangely were seen in the eastern district of Golden City last night."

Xia Yan's heart moved.

The eastern district of Golden City?

He nodded subtly.

"I understand. If this message proves useful, I will pay you later."