On Twitter, William tagged every person he had argued with over the past few days, attaching a link to his Twitch stream and its start time.
[If you still don't believe me, then come to my stream. About Anping City, about the Pikachu Cup, about the peaceful coexistence between the people of Zhuxia and Pokémon—I'll show you everything, one by one!]
After posting his declaration, William ignored the private messages flooding his inbox and went to sleep peacefully.
The next morning—
William woke up early, finished washing up, and opened his stream right on schedule.
[Good evening, William.]
[It's only seven in the morning over there, right? You got up way too early.]
[So few viewers… where are all those people William called out yesterday? Not a single one showed up…]
[Well, the stream just started. Besides, they're not like us—waiting around for William to show us Pokémon from Zhuxia. Plus William doesn't exactly have many followers. Back when he streamed games, he often had single-digit viewers, sometimes even zero. So this is normal. Get used to it.]
As soon as the stream started, only a few sparse comments appeared.
Mostly friends and acquaintances of William.
Just as William began feeling disappointed, he arrived at the bus station and suddenly saw an especially eye-catching comment.
[Heh. Zhuxia really is a developing country. You need to take buses to get between cities? Also, where's this human-and-monster coexistence you talked about? I haven't seen a single monster the whole way here.]
Seeing the comment, William became delighted rather than angry.
Finally, they're here!
While waiting in line to board, William quietly fired back in English.
"Sorry, but Zhuxia isn't nearly as backward as you imagine. In the Tianfu Region, from the first-tier city Rongcheng to second-tier, even third- and fourth-tier cities, you can travel directly by train."
"But where I'm headed is Anping City. The Pikachu Cup there is hotter than the World Cup. Train tickets sold out ages ago. Even this bus ticket took me a lot of effort to grab in advance."
"As for why you haven't seen Pokémon on the way here—it's simple. Most trainers with Pokémon have gone to Anping City for the Pikachu Cup. Where exactly would we be seeing them here?"
The explanation seemed to silence the viewer briefly.
After a long pause, another comment appeared.
[Heh. Keep coping.]
William watched the stream viewer count drop by one.
"Coward."
With obvious disdain, William muttered a classic Zhuxia curse under his breath.
Nearby passengers waiting in line couldn't help glancing over curiously.
A foreigner holding a camera, first rattling away in incomprehensible foreign speech, then suddenly cursing fluently in Zhuxia language—
That was admittedly amusing.
At that moment—
William suddenly felt someone lightly tap him.
Turning around, he saw a young man in his twenties staring at him curiously.
"Bro, sounds like you speak Zhuxia language, so I wanted to ask—are you also heading to Anping City from this platform?"
"Yes."
William nodded with a smile.
"I'm very interested in Pokémon and the Pikachu Cup. I'm going there to watch the matches in person—and livestream things for some friends overseas."
"I see…"
The young man hesitated for a moment before asking hopefully,
"Then, uh… do you happen to have tickets for the Pikachu Cup finals?"
"I do."
William's face instantly filled with smug pride.
"I missed two days of group-stage and elimination-round tickets, but everything else—including the most important finals tickets—I managed to get."
"Holy crap!"
The young man's eyes widened.
At the same time—
Nearby passengers waiting in line burst into discussion.
"He even got finals tickets? That's insane. How many years of being single does your clicking speed need to be for that?"
"I don't believe it. When finals tickets went on sale online, I swear I never even saw them available."
"I heard buying finals tickets offline in Anping is already ridiculously hard. This foreign guy got them online? That's absurd."
Listening to the reactions around him, William's expression grew even smugger.
The young man standing behind him looked deeply conflicted before finally clasping his hands together and bowing.
"Bro, can you sell me one finals ticket? Please. I'll pay two hundred thousand."
Pikachu Cup finals tickets were not cheap.
After lengthy discussions between Chen Mo and the Special Countermeasures Bureau, top-tier tickets had been priced at ten thousand each.
Two hundred thousand.
That was already twenty times the original price.
Yet—
Even at such an outrageous figure, nearby passengers planning to attend the event shook their heads.
The reason was simple.
Two hundred thousand was too low.
On the black market, offers above two hundred thousand for Pikachu Cup finals tickets were everywhere.
Most, however, couldn't find sellers.
Before William could speak, someone nearby interrupted.
"Foreign bro, if you're really selling, I'll offer two hundred fifty thousand."
"Stop bidding. We're all riding buses here. Twenty thousand, thirty thousand—what's the point?"
"What's wrong with taking buses? You think there'll still be parking spaces in Anping right now?"
"Take my advice. Teacher Mo already posted on the Pokémon Home website that private ticket transfers are strictly prohibited. If caught, forget fines—you could be banned from participating in or watching future Pokémon battle tournaments. If you really like Pokémon, it's not worth the risk for money."
The warnings entered William's ears one after another.
He thanked the well-meaning strangers before turning back to the young man.
"Sorry, brother. I've been looking forward to the Pikachu Cup for too long. I can't sell the ticket."
"Sigh… no worries. Guess I was asking too much. Hope you enjoy the finals."
Although disappointed, the young man did not persist and instead sincerely wished William well.
While waiting to board, the two even chatted about the Pikachu Cup.
It was obvious—
The young man genuinely wanted the ticket for himself, not resale.
Meanwhile—
Thanks to William occasionally translating, viewers in the stream also reacted emotionally.
[This is the charm of Pokémon battles, huh? Those ticket prices are crazier than World Cup tickets. Though seriously, William's luck has gotten ridiculous since moving to Zhuxia.]
[Doesn't matter. He's been there this long with great conditions and still hasn't caught a Pokémon. Same as us.]
[HAHAHAHA true. William, you're terrible. If I lived in Zhuxia right now, I'd definitely already have my own Pokémon.]
Hearing his friends' teasing, William—who had just boarded the bus—felt his cheerful mood immediately shatter.
You idiots! Catching Pokémon isn't easy at all!
There are so many people in Zhuxia. Even now only around twenty thousand trainers signed up for the Pikachu Cup. Isn't it normal I haven't caught one yet!?
Seriously, do you really have to roast me!? I can tell—you're all just jealous! Once Rongcheng's designated Pokémon zone opens up, I'll personally catch one and show you!
William silently grumbled while reading the comments.
Soon—
Departure time arrived.
Only after having his ticket checked did William suddenly realize the seat beside him was still empty.
Normally buses had free seating, but because of the massive tourism to Anping lately, assigned seating had been implemented to avoid chaos.
"Guess they're not coming…"
William muttered.
At that moment—
Tap tap tap—
A hurried set of footsteps climbed aboard.
"Thank goodness, thank goodness… barely made it."
A breathless young woman's voice sounded from the front.
At the same time—
William noticed nearby passengers suddenly becoming noisy.
Catching the keyword "Pokémon," he immediately craned his neck out.
There—
A short-haired woman in her twenties stood at the front, handing over her ticket.
Beside her stood a gray mouse-like Pokémon.
Large brown eyes.
Fluffy oversized ears and tail.
A tiny button nose.
Round little limbs.
Everything about it radiated cuteness.
William instantly adjusted the stream camera toward the gray mouse Pokémon.
Immediately, chaos erupted in the tiny sub-ten-viewer stream.
[A Pokémon we've never seen before!]
[So cute! Everyone on the bus is staring at it!]
[Too bad the guy arguing with William left earlier. Would love to know what he'd think seeing this scene.]
After the ticket inspection, the short-haired girl gently picked up the gray Pokémon and walked toward William amidst countless envious gazes.
"So she's the person sitting next to me…"
William instantly became excited.
Sure—
The girl herself was beautiful.
But what thrilled William more was this:
For the next two-plus hours, he would be sitting close to an adorable Pokémon.
In this world—
Was there anything happier?
After checking seat numbers, the girl looked up and suddenly noticed a blond foreigner holding a phone apparently filming, staring at her intensely.
She instinctively stepped back.
Only then did William realize how overly excited he looked.
He quickly stood to make room.
"Sorry! Your Pokémon is just incredibly cute, and it's my first time seeing this species, so I got too excited. Sorry if I startled you. Seat twenty-three, right?"
"Ah, it's okay."
The short-haired girl waved her hand with a smile, glancing down at the gray Pokémon in her arms.
"This little one's species is called Cinccino. I usually call her Xiao Ai."
"Cinccino…"
William softly repeated the name.
Perhaps hearing itself mentioned, the Pokémon buried in her arms twitched its ears before raising its head.
[That ear twitch is WAY too cute!]
[Suddenly realizing how annoying not knowing Zhuxia language is. What are they even talking about!?]
[Uh… why does it feel like that gray mouse Pokémon is staring directly at us?]
Thunk!
A soft impact suddenly sounded.
The friends watching from their screens immediately felt the camera shake violently, while distant voices of William and the short-haired girl rang out.
[WHAT HAPPENED!?]
[I can't understand them!]
[HAHAHAHA I knew it! This idiot streamer finally got attacked by the mouse monster! Serves him right for courting death!]
[Wait—you're still here!?]
The earlier troll immediately resurfaced to mock William mercilessly.
Soon—
The camera steadied again.
Voices could be heard quietly speaking nearby.
[Looks like William's okay.]
[If that Pokémon can stay beside the Zhuxia girl, there's obviously no danger. Hey, guy saying Pokémon attacked William—don't run this time.]
[So what actually happened…?]
Just as everyone grew confused—
A tuft of gray fluff suddenly swept across the screen, obscuring their view.
[That's the Pokémon from earlier, right? What's it doing?]
[Looks like its tail? And… wait, is it wiping the lens?]
[You're saying this magical beast is cleaning? It made that huge fuss just to wipe dust off the camera lens? Yeah right.]
[Believe it or not. William, explain already!]
The fluffy tail moved aside.
Cinccino's big gray eyes blinked at the camera seriously, as though carefully inspecting something.
At the same time—
William's voice rang out from offscreen, full of laughter.
"Don't panic. Cinccino thought my phone camera was too dirty, so she's cleaning it for me."
"She'll be done soon, so just bear with it for a moment!"
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