Chapter 41: The Hubao Cup, Launch!

December 15, 224th year of the Alliance Calendar.
Donghuang Alliance, Shanghai City, Hongqiao Arena.

As the largest and most professional Pokémon battling arena in Shanghai City, Hongqiao Arena had previously hosted numerous high-specification competitions, including the Donghuang Cup and the finals of the World Pokémon Battle Championship.

However, during the final stretch of every year, this place was always packed to the brim with a massive influx of novice trainers and their Pokémon.

"Hello, dear viewers and friends. This is the scene of the annual Shanghai Baby Cup preliminary rounds, and I am your frontline reporter, Zhang Yu."

Amidst a crowd dense as a school of Wishiwashi, a delicately made-up woman flashed a professional smile toward the camera carried by a Machoke.

"Today is the first day of the Shanghai Baby Cup. We can see that the number of trainers participating is quite staggering. The official figures put the number at 11,451, breaking the ten-thousand mark for the first time and reaching the highest in history."

"However, with such a huge number of contestants, only a meager 32 can advance to the main tournament. The difficulty of advancing can truly be described as one in ten thousand. Now, let us randomly select a contestant harboring dreams for an interview."

The young female reporter glanced around. When her gaze swept over a teenage boy sitting on the roadside steps and looking down at his phone, her eyes lit up.

So handsome!
I choose you!

As everyone knows, in this materialistic and impetuous society, high-attractiveness living beings—whether men, women, or even Pokémon—can always attract higher attention and traffic.

Therefore, it wasn't that she was a superficial beauty-lover, but rather the sharp intuition of an exceptional reporter.

While excusing herself in her mind, the young female reporter beckoned the Machoke and walked toward the handsome youth.

Wearing a sweet, heartfelt smile, she asked, "Hello, may I interrupt for a moment and conduct a brief interview?"

The handsome youth looked up in a daze, asking in confusion, "An interview? Me?"

To think there was someone in this world whose face looked even better from the front than from the side!

Her heart fluttering, the young female reporter smiled and nodded, "Yes, we are from the Pokémon Battle Channel of Shanghai Television. Might we take a few minutes of your time?"

"Meow-café!"

Before the handsome youth could reply, a hostile meow came from beside him.

Only then did the young female reporter, whose judgment had been blinded by beauty, notice that there was also a Sprigatito.

Yet why was this Sprigatito's gaze so fierce, looking just like someone guarding its food...

Just as the Sprigatito's stare made the young female reporter feel inexplicably insecure, the handsome youth timely pressed down on the Sprigatito.

"Sprigatito, behave."

Having placated the temperamental, jealous little cat, he looked up at the young female reporter and smiled, "Sure, what would you like to ask?"

The reporter asked, "Would you mind telling me your name?"

"Xia Chi."

"And your phone number and home address?"

***

Of course, this was just the young female reporter's inner monologue.

If she really asked that out loud, it would undoubtedly become a live-stream broadcast accident, and her career as a reporter would likely end right there.

"Contestant Xia Chi, what are your and Sprigatito's goals for this competition?"

Xia Chi looked surprised. "Did I say I came here to participate in a competition?"

"Uh..."

The young reporter was left speechless for a moment before stammering, "I'm sorry, I thought..."

Xia Chi immediately changed his tune. "You have a great eye for people; I am indeed here to participate in the competition."

Wait, are you kidding me?

The young female reporter let out a long sigh, put on a forced smile, and continued to ask, "Then may I ask what your and Sprigatito's goal is for this competition?"

Xia Chi answered honestly, "I have no idea. I saw the school promoting the tournament with a reward of ten points for comprehensive evaluation, so I just came to sign up."

Reporter: "......"

Do you hear yourself right now?

Winning the championship just for ten comprehensive evaluation points—could your goal be any more ridiculous?!

"Just kidding."

Xia Chi sincerely apologized, "I saw that you seemed to have just started broadcasting, so I cracked a few jokes to liven up the atmosphere."

The young female reporter quietly glanced at her phone screen, and the number of people in the live stream room had indeed increased quite a bit, though some of the bullet comments left her somewhat baffled.

"Oh damn, it's Bro Shui!"
"Doxxing weapon! If Teacher Shui dares to use shady tactics again in the future, he might actually get offline-disciplined."
"Lmao, he's still just as good at generating broadcast content."
"Shui has entered the fray; ability [Broadcast Effect Creator] activated!"
"Don't play mind games with him, miss; even Raihan can't win a mind game against him!"
"......"

Uh, it seemed this handsome young man was actually an internet celebrity?

Watching the viewer count in the live stream room steadily climbing, the young female reporter felt her heart stirring.

She continued, "Then can I understand your goal for participating in this competition as winning the championship?"

Xia Chi said modestly, "It's mainly to improve myself and accumulate battle experience for Sprigatito."

Why did it feel a bit unusual when this guy suddenly turned normal...

Just as the young reporter was inwardly grumbling, she heard Xia Chi add, "Of course, if the mood is right, taking home the championship trophy along the way is also an option."

***

What the heck does "if the mood is right" even mean?!

The young female reporter felt that her mood was indeed getting a bit angry; why were this guy's tricks more numerous than the spines on a Qwilfish?!

I should never judge a book by its cover!

With a stiff tone, she said, "Alright, thank you for accepting our interview, and I wish you success in the competition!"

If I interview you again, I'm a Growlithe!

The young female reporter planted a flag in her heart, then called the Machoke carrying the camera and left in a huff.

Xia Chi shrugged as he watched the retreating back of the young female reporter. How could she turn down such prime live-stream material?

"Contestant No. 9527, Xia Chi, and Contestant No. 3862, Qiu Hongyuan, please proceed to Arena 23. The match will begin in five minutes."

The broadcasted announcement made Xia Chi stroke the head of the little cat beside him as he stood up and said, "Let's go, Sprigatito, time to head out."

***

Due to the massive number of participants, the preliminary rounds of the Shanghai Baby Cup adopted a double-elimination format.

As the name suggested, lose twice and you were out, until you advanced to the final top 32.

Regardless of whether you had bad luck and ran into high-level opponents twice in a row, such a situation only proved that your own strength was not up to par.

Facts proved that through Xia Chi's unremitting efforts, along with a tiny little bit of help from Brother System, Sprigatito's current strength was quite up to par.

Throughout the entire morning, almost none of the opponents could pose any threat to Sprigatito.

Ten thousand contestants sounded terrifying, but in reality, quite a few were participating with Pokémon they had just recently caught, like Pidgey or Nidoran.

How should one describe the intensity of these matches? After finishing a match, the system indicated that the fear value had only increased by 0.1...

Good grief, this was even worse than those Mankey in Shanghai University.

And even this was considered strong; when Xia Chi was at a 2-0 record, he encountered a Metapod that knew nothing except Harden.

At that time, Xia Chi was utterly shocked.

No, bro, what on earth did you use to win your first two matches?
Did you rely on Harden to exhaust the opponent's stamina?

The opponents Xia Chi encountered in his first three matches were basically these "Bug Catchers" and "Shorts Youngsters."

The match intensity picked up quite a bit by the middle and latter stages, and the opponents' Pokémon were clearly well-trained.

Among them were even formidable foes like Wartortle and Haunter, but even so, still no one could force Sprigatito into its "full-power mode."

Thus, after fighting through numerous trials, Xia Chi successfully advanced to the main tournament of the Shanghai Baby Cup with a flawless 9-0 record.