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The next day.
Li Xiang passed the calm morning uneventfully.
Under the protection of Mist City University, even though there were storms raging outside, even with the potential for huge waves and tsunamis, he could still hide in this small rest area, maintaining his own peace.
Undisturbed by the outside world.
It would have been even better if there weren't a bunch of senior sisters beside him, munching on snacks with crunch crunch sounds.
"Eating snacks instead of proper meals will make you fat."
Li Xiang couldn't help but whisper to Zhao Jie behind him.
Zhao Jie, holding potato chips and chewing away, was momentarily stunned. "Huh? But I've never gained weight since I was little."
'Ah. An I-don't-get-fat constitution?'
Li Xiang, a former fatty, felt he couldn't just swallow this. After all, his current good figure was earned through fifty Beng Quan practices every day. Heaven knew how hard that was.
"I did gain weight once, when I was four. Unfortunately, I don't anymore."
Lü Shu gave him a knowing look.
Abigail ate her matcha cake without saying a word, making one wonder if certain parts of her could still develop further.
These two were members of the morning exercise group. If the former weren't so fair-skinned, Li Xiang might have mistaken her for a track and field athlete.
As for the latter... sports bras were truly a miraculous invention.
Anyway, during morning exercises, Li Xiang would run into these two nine out of ten times.
Girls who love sports won't have poor figures.
'Sigh. Headache.'
Li Xiang opened his phone, browsing topics related to him on the blog.
There were countless people praising him. At least most media outlets were on his side.
Mo Ye's fans were among them, praising Mo Ye for his good judgment, worthy of being the top among the Elite Four, and thinking that Li Xiang really lived up to expectations, not wasting Mo Ye's nurturing.
Mist City University's fans even seemed to be elevating him to a pedestal.
Who knew when a minor like him would also get a fan club or something.
That would be too terrifying.
Clearly a professional trainer, yet acting like a debut artist.
After browsing a couple of pages, he discovered there actually was a fan group, but unfortunately, it wasn't his—it was Song Jie's.
This young man, overshadowed by his performance, relied on his looks to successfully attract a large number of senior members of the 'Appearance Appreciation Association'.
"Wow, in a couple of years, you'll have 'mom fans' too. Keep it up, Jie-bao—uh, just kidding."
Li Xiang looked at Song Jie's unfriendly expression and decisively shut up.
If he kept going, he might get beaten to death.
With competitive battling, it was inevitable to have situations like LoL, where having fans was completely normal.
Every regular member of Mist City University's team had fans, even Abigail and the others who had only played once.
However, for these wealthy people, things like fan clubs were managed by others for them, so they didn't need to pay much attention.
Continuing to browse, he saw quite a few interesting things.
It was his personal information.
Digging up people's pasts had always been netizens' pleasure. In less than half a day, Li Xiang's past was basically laid out.
Elementary education, basic school, etc.
Including hobbies and such. Even private matters like him snoring in his sleep were stated as if true.
There were even old photos, from his chubby period, looking simple and honest, somehow a bit cute.
This successfully attracted the surrounding senior sisters and others over, who laughed and joked, demanding Li Xiang send the photos to them.
Who knew what they'd do with them.
"You were this fat before? I thought your size three years ago was your limit." Song Jie looked at the picture in shock.
When basic school started, Li Xiang had been practicing martial arts for about two months, shedding a lot of water weight, so he wasn't particularly fat.
"Baby fat!"
Li Xiang dissatisfiedly pinched his face. "Read after me: baby fat."
"Fat. T. Y." Song Jie revealed jade-white teeth, shook off Li Xiang's hand, brazenly provoking him.
"You... three days without a beating, and you're climbing to take off the roof tiles!"
Li Xiang unhappily pounced on him, roughhousing with Song Jie, until Su Qian, with a helpless expression, pulled the former away.
The latter's hair was messy, but he snorted with a cold laugh, clearly getting revenge for that "Jie-bao" remark earlier.
Forgetting these small interludes, the netizens didn't let him off that easily.
His family background was also dug up: a mother striving to become a Director, currently deputy director of a conservation base; a father running a large shipping company.
Following that were conspiracy theories.
Things like Li Xiang getting a Pokémon at age four, Li Xiang's Pokémon being raised by others and then given to him, etc. They even used Li Xiang's lack of much commanding during matches as evidence.
For example, whistling commands to Corviknight were considered random whistling.
Corviknight would probably be furious if it knew: 'I practiced for months to distinguish those whistles, and you call it random whistling?'
'Are you insulting my ears?'
Of course, it didn't know.
Other theories included Mist City University acting, the Mist City University team captain taking bribes, and so on.
Rotom, hiding in Li Xiang's phone, was both watching and angry, wishing it could follow the internet cable to the blog's main server room and find out that person's IP address, then chase them down from thousands of miles away.
So infuriating.
Li Xiang had to calm down this guy who very likely meant what he said.
Unfortunately, no one could reveal the origins of all Li Xiang's Pokémon.
Perhaps some knew, but they definitely wouldn't post it online.
He was indifferent.
Most of his Pokémon had relatively normal origins.
Incineroar from Qingcheng Conservation Base; Riolu from his father; Greninja, picked up; Corviknight from the Conservation base; Rotom in Saizhou; the shiny Metagross from the Youth Training Camp reward.
And finally, Aegislash from Triple Village...
Okay, how come it felt like many of these things weren't exactly presentable?
Regardless, people jealous, envious, and looking for trouble for no reason definitely wouldn't be few. The world was full of people with too much time on their hands, even if they held no grudge.
As long as there was the barrier of the internet, they dared to vent malice they would never show in reality.
This was also why internet murder incidents had been gradually increasing in recent years.
Previously, only Pokémon above level 40 needed annual inspections. Now, any Pokémon capable of traversing the internet, regardless of level, required annual inspections.
Truly terrifying.
Li Xiang watched for a while but didn't find much nutritious content, so he turned it off.
"Stuff like this, just treat it as farting."
Song Jie, on the side, suddenly uttered a crude phrase, contrary to his young master persona.
This was the second time today.
"I've always thought that way. By the way, were you possessed by my Corviknight?" Li Xiang turned sideways. "Why are you so irritable today?"
He felt like Song Jie seemed in a bad mood.
Song Jie was momentarily stunned, calmly thought for two seconds, and realized it was indeed so.
Why?
Because he received a bunch of phone calls yesterday, but didn't see his father's?
"Hey, hey, hey, are you okay?" Li Xiang waved his hand in front of Song Jie's eyes, looking at Gong Xu.
The latter shrugged, indicating he didn't know.
"It's nothing. Just thought of some things." Song Jie lifted his head, gently exhaled. "Let's watch the matches. Dianzhou University's match is about to start."
The first round ended with Dianzhou University facing Meicheng University, both from Dian Province.
Without many surprises, Dianzhou University took the full five points.
The competition committee promptly posted the list for the second round.
As Xu He anticipated, their next opponent was Lincheng University.
Their strength was a tier above that of Hongcheng University. This was evident from how easily they defeated Yuncheng University.
"Thanks to Li Xiang, we successfully established Mist City University's reputation in the first round. For the next round, those who want to participate, raise your hands."
Xu He began selecting people.
Although in the previous match, the two new members had essentially flopped, Li Xiang's brilliant performance still gave the senior sisters confidence.
For a moment, countless hands were raised.
Xu He scanned the room and decided to give the opportunity to the senior alternate members.
Two sixth-year senior sisters were chosen. One of them had been an alternate last year, sitting on the bench for a long time, only appearing in the spring tournament.
"You three, volunteer yourselves."
Xu He looked at Li Xiang and the other two, giving them another chance to play.
To be honest, this was very unfair. Many senior sisters hadn't played yet, but life itself was unfair, and no one said anything.
The three looked at each other. Gong Xu definitely had to play; he couldn't refuse even if he wanted to.
'You say your psychological fortitude is good, so it's good? Who are you trying to fool!'
The remaining spot...
"Let's play rock-paper-scissors."
Li Xiang couldn't be bothered to be modest, said straightforwardly.
Song Jie had no objections.
The result: Song Jie won.
"Seems like heaven has decided."
Li Xiang spread his hands. To be honest, he felt that to avoid ending up like Hongcheng University, Lincheng University would definitely prepare against him.
They'd send members who could counter him.
In that case, having Song Jie and Gong Xu play might defeat the enemy and secure victory.
After deciding on the lineup, everyone quietly watched matches from other schools.
On the second day, three schools took the full ten points. The remaining three got at most three points.
The gap in the second round wasn't very obviously wide yet. By the fourth or fifth round, the single-battle scores would show differences.
Thus, the matches on the third day arrived.
The first match of the day was Mist City University versus Lincheng University.
After entering, as expected, many Magnemite camera lenses were completely locked on Li Xiang and Song Jie, barely moving.
Only when the match started did they turn the lenses toward the arena.
Gong Xu was the first to take the field. Having no real interest in singles, he openly dozed off in front of the cameras.
Extremely audacious.
This angered Lincheng University's coach, who decisively sent a new member to test the waters.
And then the new member was gone.
Umbreon easily toyed with his Scizor using Foul Play, returning the opponent's own strength.
The powerful Attack after Swords Dance became Umbreon's power, resulting in the humanoid lobster being utterly defeated.
After that, there was the shiny Drifblim using Self-Destruct to take out Scolipede, and Dhelmise toughing out Ninjask's Double Wing, using [Anchor Shot] to teach this weirdly fast Flying-type Pokémon a lesson.
The Steel-type specialist allowed it to have three types in terms of attacks.
And throughout the entire process, Gong Xu maintained a listless attitude. This infuriated the Lincheng University team members.
What an audacious first-year!