At Su Qingxue's words, the faces of Bai Cai, Leng Yue, and Shu Xinni immediately flushed bright red.
A golden house hiding beauties?
Had they just been misunderstood?
But before the three girls could explain themselves—
Guo Yi immediately retorted, "And you still have the nerve to say that! You were followed the entire way home and didn't even notice."
"Your vigilance is embarrassingly weak—tomorrow, your morning run doubles!"
She actually dared accuse me of secretly keeping beauties at home!
Even if this "beauty-hiding" scenario was purely imaginary, Guo Yi absolutely refused to indulge such dangerous thinking.
Su Qingxue, who had confidently walked in, immediately froze upon hearing this.
Suddenly recalling the drive home, she exclaimed in realization, "No wonder I felt that car at the gate looked familiar. So it was you, street-racers!"
But thinking again, it didn't quite add up.
Teacher Bai already knew Guo Yi's home address; there was no need to follow her specifically!
"How was the battle?" Guo Yi ignored Su Qingxue's confused pondering and slowly stood, slipping on his jacket as he asked.
Hearing his question—
Su Qingxue's face instantly lit up with excitement:
"Teacher, do you even need to ask?"
"Obviously, it ended in a clean sweep!"
"First, Beedrill single-handedly crushed five opponents. Then Zapdos came out to finish the job."
"You wouldn't believe how shocked everyone was when Zapdos appeared—they literally jumped up from their seats!"
Even though neither Pokémon belonged to her, Su Qingxue, as the direct participant, couldn't help feeling an immense sense of pride.
"Tch!"
They're not even your Pokémon—what are you so happy about?
Seeing Su Qingxue flaunting her idol's Pokémon so openly, Shu Xinni felt deeply jealous inside.
Of course—
She only thought this to herself, not daring to voice her complaints aloud.
Shu Xinni knew her earlier impulsiveness had already displeased Guo Yi. She had to be more careful with her words and actions from now on.
Otherwise, how could she ask Guo Yi again about his teacher's whereabouts?
"Teacher, here are the Poké Balls for Beedrill and Zapdos."
After briefly savoring the joy of commanding a Legendary, Su Qingxue reluctantly handed the two Poké Balls back to Guo Yi.
"One day, I'll definitely catch my own Legendary Pokémon!"
Having always set Guo Yi as her lifelong goal, Su Qingxue now declared a lofty ambition for herself.
Without a Legendary, how else can I surpass Teacher in the future?
Guo Yi: ???
After accepting the two Poké Balls, Guo Yi directly gestured toward Shu Xinni's group, signaling them to leave.
"Ladies!"
"My teacher truly isn't here. If you don't believe me, feel free to search every room yourself."
Although Guo Yi clearly intended to send them away, Shu Xinni still couldn't bear to give up yet. But before she could even speak—
Bai Cai grabbed her arm and quickly apologized to Guo Yi:
"Guo Yi, we're sorry for disturbing you tonight. We'll leave now."
Without waiting for Shu Xinni's protests, Bai Cai and Leng Yue dragged her out of the villa.
Outside the door—Shu Xinni complained unhappily, "Bai Cai, Leng Yue, why did you drag me out?"
"If Guo Yi won't talk, I'll just drown him in money!"
If one million wasn't enough—
Then she'd offer ten million!
Shu Xinni was convinced that with an endless tidal wave of money, even Guo Yi would eventually give in.
Beside her, Leng Yue rolled her eyes and sighed, "Missy, don't you pay attention to trending news at all?"
"Even a Perfect-Grade Evolution Stone is something Guo Yi casually brings out. Trying to overwhelm him with money—you might as well shower me instead!"
"This… That Evolution Stone was definitely given by his teacher! It has nothing to do with Guo Yi himself," Shu Xinni retorted weakly.
Bai Cai swiftly cut in, "Exactly. If even his teacher gives him treasures that valuable, why do you think your money would tempt him at all?"
Those words completely shattered Shu Xinni's last hope.
Lowering her head sadly, she murmured, "Then…then what should we do?"
She'd finally had a real chance to meet her idol; Shu Xinni didn't want to miss out again.
"Let's go back first and reconsider our options."
"Anyway, Guo Yi is an assistant teacher at Shanghai Pokémon University. As long as he's here, there'll be another chance to persuade him."
Bai Cai comforted her gently, then continued seriously, "Guo Yi was already annoyed at us earlier. If we stay any longer, we might make him dislike us completely. Then it'd be even harder to get any information about the 'Bug Master' from him."
Guo Yi had already asked them clearly to leave. Staying further would only increase his resentment.
Knowing Bai Cai was right, Shu Xinni no longer argued.
Since it was already late—
Bai Cai decided to bring her two friends over to stay at her own villa.
...
"Qingxue, you should also head home."
After the three visitors had left, Guo Yi turned to Su Qingxue, preparing to send her off as well.
However—
Su Qingxue immediately looked unhappy and pouted slightly, "Teacher, it's already late."
"For a young lady like me, going home alone at night is extremely dangerous."
"For my own safety, I've decided to stay at your place tonight."
Without giving Guo Yi any chance to argue—
Su Qingxue strode straight towards the guest room she'd already chosen beforehand.
"This girl…"
Guo Yi shook his head helplessly, then slowly moved toward the window, gazing thoughtfully into the distance.
"Zapdos has already appeared publicly…"
"I wonder if the people behind Lie Ke will finally act personally?"
Guo Yi murmured quietly to himself.
Actually—if he'd only wanted to defeat Lie Ke, revealing Ninetales's Champion-level strength alone would have been enough.
Yet this time—Guo Yi deliberately revealed his strongest hidden identity, even sending out Zapdos to make a bold, unmistakable statement.
He wanted to see clearly—
Just how would Lie Ke's backers respond?
Would they panic and act rashly, or stay calm and unaffected?
After all—from now on, if they didn't send stronger forces, the Flying Eagle Gang they'd painstakingly built up would essentially be finished.
What move would they make next?
Guo Yi was extremely curious!
...
In the suburbs outside Shanghai.
After briefly notifying Ling Si, Lie Ke immediately took Su La and departed from Shanghai altogether.
"Sir, this mission was a complete failure."
Inside a hidden facility, Lie Ke respectfully reported to a suited man displayed on the monitor, his expression filled with deep shame.
If anyone else were here at this moment, they would be utterly stunned—
A former Elite Four like Lie Ke was actually speaking with such deference.
"Oh?"
The suited man paused, clearly startled at Lie Ke's words.
"Who exactly did they send that even you couldn't defeat?"
While Lie Ke's defeat tonight seemed humiliating, completely crushed without even winning a single round—
The suited man knew precisely how strong Lie Ke was; after all, Lie Ke had once held the title of Fire-type Elite Four.
If he weren't powerful enough—
The critical mission to acquire the Dark Stone would never have been entrusted fully to Lie Ke.
"It was…"
Thinking of that terrifyingly powerful Beedrill and the thunder god-like Zapdos, Lie Ke's voice choked momentarily, unable to continue…
The shadow of being completely crushed still lingered stubbornly in Lie Ke's mind.
It took him more than ten seconds before he finally spoke, voice low and restrained:
"The opponent… was that so‑called Bug Master everyone's been talking about online lately."
When he finished—
Several long minutes passed before the man in the suit on the other end of the screen spoke again.
"I didn't expect you'd encounter a powerhouse of that level."
"It's perfectly normal that you couldn't win."
That battle video—of the Beedrill defeating Zapdos—had once spread like wildfire across the internet.
Overseas, it might have been restricted for political reasons, but domestically there had been no such limitation.
In fact, it had almost been promoted.
Thus, the existence of a man who could, with an ordinary Beedrill, bring down a Legendary like Zapdos—even the suited man couldn't help but feel a trace of awe.
Against a monster like that, it was only natural Lie Ke had lost.
Then Lie Ke spoke again, voice cautious yet heavy with implication.
"My lord, I suspect this person may also be after the stone."
"The timing of Guo Yi's appearance—it's far too coincidental."
"According to our investigations, at that time the Flying Eagle Gang was preparing to completely destroy the Azure Dragon Society. But suddenly, President Ye Qing's Nidoqueen's power skyrocketed."
"…Which ultimately led to the plan's failure. And the reason for that surge in strength was very likely this man's doing."
Though back then, to Guo Yi, it had been pure coincidence—he had simply encountered Su Qingxue and taken her in as a disciple—
To people like Lie Ke, it looked deliberate.
A timely savior's act—offering aid when the Azure Dragon Society was at its lowest—and in one move, inserting himself deep into their upper ranks.
"Mm."
The suited man hummed softly, thinking, before speaking again:
"Whatever his true motives are, we are not in a position to confront such a man directly right now."
"For the time being, you return. The Eye of the Galaxy is preparing a major operation in the Dragon Country, and we're short on manpower."
"Once this operation is complete—once we've fully seized the power of that Ice Dragon—"
"Then we'll no longer need to act so cautiously."
"Yes, sir."
Lie Ke accepted the order without hesitation.
Truthfully—
Just the thought of returning to Shanghai made his chest tighten.
Being swept 6‑0…
Anyone who'd gone through something like that would inevitably bear a lingering scar.
"Teacher, what about Senior Brother?"
As the projection faded, Su La suddenly spoke up beside him.
"Hmph."
"A pair of useless father and son—more trouble than they're worth."
"Judging from their attitude, they won't easily give up on the Flying Eagle Gang."
"In that case, let them be."
"Better yet, if they cause some chaos, they might draw Guo Yi's attention."
A cold glint flashed in Lie Ke's eyes.
He knew full well that Ling Si would never willingly abandon the Flying Eagle Gang.
That organization was the empire Ling Si had painstakingly built for his son.
How could he just let it go?
And so—
The reason Lie Ke had said those words earlier…
Was precisely to drive Ling Si into a corner.