Lin Feng wasn't holding on tightly, so the Alolan Ninetales quickly slipped free from his grasp. Just as it was about to complain about his suspicious behavior, it noticed that his attention had already shifted elsewhere, toward Alcremie.
A moment earlier, Alcremie had been staring at the screen.
In its eyes was a faint, unmistakable mix of longing and admiration.
Lin Feng caught that expression out of the corner of his eye.
Without hesitation, he set the Alolan Ninetales down, walked over, and gently picked Alcremie up.
"You want to compete too, don't you, Alcremie?"
"Alcremie?"
Being lifted so suddenly didn't startle it. It simply looked up at him and gave a small, firm nod with its tiny paw.
"Alright, we'll give it a try in the next match. But we need to agree on one thing. You're only allowed to focus on defeating your opponent's Pokémon. No… extra ideas."
He had quite a few Alcremie.
And truthfully, each one had a completely different personality.
Some were lively and bold. That seemed to be tied to their flavor. The matcha-flavored ones, for example, were especially clingy and proactive. The salted cream ones were more straightforward, even a little absent-minded, and usually handled greeting guests.
But the one in his arms right now was more timid.
Ever since Victini had suddenly rushed up to it before, it had instinctively used Shadow Sneak.
Even so, this little one had astonishing luck.
Its Metronome almost always produced exactly what it needed.
That was precisely why Lin Feng needed to set expectations clearly before letting it step onto the battlefield.
"Alcremie! Alcremie!"
"Yes, I understand!"
Hearing his words, Alcremie nodded seriously.
Lately, it had been practicing that unpredictable move even more, trying to master the ability to call upon any technique at will.
"Good."
After calming Alcremie down, the earlier excitement caused by Alolan Ninetales had already settled. Far away at the nursery, Rotom sent over an "OK" sticker, indicating that the battle footage had been received and would soon be edited and uploaded.
Honestly, Lin Feng didn't think it mattered much whether it was posted or not.
Today's battle had been too eye-catching. By the end of the day, or at the latest when the tournament concluded, people would inevitably find his account.
By then, "Neighborhood Nursery" would probably become well-known across the region.
"Looks like this year's going to be busy."
The thought made him sigh softly.
Expanding production meant more work. He would have to figure out how to distribute the daily output of energy cubes and how to sell them efficiently.
Right now, most of the berries and crops grown in his fields ended up in the stomachs of his own Pokémon.
That was why production had never really increased.
But the newly expanded berry fields were entirely planted with high-yield crops like Oran Berries and Sitrus Berries.
The harvest would be enormous.
At the start of the new year, he felt full of motivation. It was time to make a serious profit.
After all, raising a team of Pokémon was like feeding bottomless pits. If he couldn't keep up financially in the future, that would be embarrassing.
With that thought, Lin Feng turned his attention back to the matches.
…
As it turned out, things unfolded exactly as he expected.
Before a full day had even passed, while the second round was still ongoing, clips from the tournament began spreading rapidly across the region.
One of them showed Dragonite facing Magneton.
The angle was perfect. Both Pokémon were in frame.
Magneton hovered low, while Dragonite loomed above, bathed in light. Its massive shadow stretched downward, engulfing its opponent, creating an overwhelming sense of pressure, like a colossal beast descending from the sky.
The clip lasted only a few seconds, but the highlight was Magneton turning to look back at its trainer, as if asking for help.
Another clip showed Blaziken versus Venusaur.
The battle ended in seconds. It wasn't particularly flashy, more like a compilation of quick one-on-one finishes.
The third clip was the most striking.
Alolan Ninetales summoned a blizzard that nearly covered the entire battlefield, defeating Nidoking in a single strike.
The focus was on the suffocating pressure within the storm, and the panic of Nidoking, unable to even see its opponent.
Once uploaded, the clips spread like wildfire.
By the time Lin Feng checked them in the afternoon, the most popular one had already gained hundreds of thousands of likes.
And that number was no small thing. It meant tens of millions of views.
More clips, made by others, began circulating as well.
"Is this really from this year's tournament?"
"That Dragonite is real? It's huge. I actually feel bad for Magneton."
"That blizzard… how did it get that strong in just a few seconds?"
"Who is that trainer?"
"Lin Feng?"
"Wait, isn't that the Alolan Ninetales that plays house with a bunch of Eevee outside his place?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You seriously don't know Lin Feng? Just look him up."
…
By evening, the likes had already surpassed one million.
At the same time, countless people followed the trail through the comments and found the "Neighborhood Nursery" account.
Within a single day, Lin Feng's followers jumped from just over one million to nearly two million, gaining more than three hundred thousand new followers.
And as night fell, the growth only accelerated.
Watching his private messages tick upward at a rate of dozens per second, Lin Feng couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.
The second round had far fewer matches than the first, so it ended before nightfall.
With the extended schedule this year, the organizers simply pushed the third round to the next day.
That night, Lin Feng's residence remained quiet.
But online, everything had already turned upside down.
…
Meanwhile, in Wutong Town,
Qin Shu lay on her bed, still excitedly talking about Lin Feng's battle from that morning.
For the past two days, aside from meals, she had barely left the television.
Part of it was to watch the tournament and learn from strong trainers.
But more than anything, she was waiting for Lin Feng's matches.
She wanted to see just how powerful his Pokémon had become.
And even more, she wanted to see what kind of commands he would give in battle.
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