Inside the room, Lorze was locked in a heated, wet embrace with Liu Yun, but outside, Xue Yi was pacing like a cat on a hot tin roof.
Watching the two of them enter the bedroom hand-in-hand had triggered a sudden, inexplicable fear of loss deep within her.
Why the hell am I afraid of losing Lorze?
She was too panicked to even answer her own question.
She just wanted to barge in right fucking now, tear those two apart, and forbid them from ever being that close again!
But Ralts was acting as a literal wall, standing guard at the door with a shimring Telekinetic barrier that made it impossible to advance.
If she wanted to break through, she'd have to order Eevee to attack Ralts.
The problem was that even if Eevee agreed to fight, she knew her partner couldn't win against that "illegal" monster.
Sure, her Eevee's cultivation had caught up slightly—she was pumping it full of Dark-type Berries to prep for the Umbreon evolution—but that was for a future power spike.
Right now? Trying to touch the Tournant Champion's partner was a suicide mission.
Left with zero options, Xue Yi did the only thing she could: she turned to the group chat for backup.
She opened the family thread and @-ed Anna Lee imdiately.
Xue Yi: "Anna! Your man is out here collecting other won! Do you give a shit about this or not?"
Anna Lee: "What? Since when do I have a 'man'? Did I miss a mo?"
Xue Yi: "Don't play dumb. Is he yours or not?"
Anna Lee: "That's... complicated."
Anna didn't want to admit they were dating yet, but Lorze had to consider them a couple.
Technically, ever since the tournant where Lorze correctly revealed Ralts had the Trace Ability, the "Deal" was sealed—Anna was his girlfriend.
But she had walked away that day without a word. How could she just bring it up now without feeling like a thirsty loser?
Anna Lee: "Whatever. Tell what happened with this other girl. I actually have so leverage over him right now; maybe I can squeeze him for you."
Anna wasn't lying. Xue Tong had given her the Tokamak-inspired oven designs.
Xue Tong had ordered her to keep it a total secret, even from her own family.
Since Lorze clearly valued this machine, he'd have to play nice with her~.
Maybe it was finally ti to "confirm" their relationship status?
Xue Yi: "What do you an 'help '? I'm being an anxious ss for YOUR sake!"
Anna Lee: "Sure, sure. You're so worried for . I'm touched. Now, what is he doing with this woman?"
Xue Yi: "Literally. He took another girl into a private room. I'm currently blocked at the door."
Anna Lee: "That sounds... weird. You're at his house?"
Xue Yi: "At his research lab."
Anna Lee: "The lab?"
Xue Yi: "Yes. Obviously. I have zero interest in his house. I'm just his boss."
Anna Lee: "Right, Boss. But look... isn't that a bit abstract? If a guy wants to cheat, he goes to a hotel. Why take her to a high-tech laboratory?"
Xue Yi: "He claid he needed to copy her Smoliv's Harvest Ability. But you don't need a locked bedroom to copy an Ability, right?"
Anna Lee: "Hard to say. Knowing you, he probably just wanted to hide from your nagging."
Xue Yi: "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO AN?!"
Anna Lee: "Honey, we've been friends forever. I love you, but to everyone else, you're an absolute nightmare to deal with."
Xue Yi: "I am perfectly reasonable!"
Anna Lee: "Sure. Look, you're overthinking this. Taking a girl to a research facility for a quick fuck? That's just too bizarre, even for Lorze."
Xue Yi: "..."
Put that way, it did sound a bit ridiculous. Who propositions a girl in the public class chat just to take her to a lab?
So Lorze's intentions were actually pure, and I'm the one with the dirty mind?
Fine. Even if Lorze was being a "scientist," that didn't an Liu Yun was innocent!
Could a "pure" girl really just enter a boy's private room without a second thought?
Xue Yi had seen the girls' private chats. They talked about Lorze like he was a k-pop idol. Liu Yun was the thirstiest of the bunch.
If you told Xue Yi that Liu Yun didn't have "bad intentions," she'd call you a fucking liar!
However, Mother Xue was reading the chat from the shadows, and her perspective was entirely different.
Mother Xue: "Xue Yi, did you say he was looking for a Pokémon with the Harvest Ability?"
Xue Yi: "That's his excuse. But who knows what he's actually doing in there?"
Mother Xue: "..."
Mother Xue went silent for a mont before instantly creating a smaller, even more private sub-group with her daughters and Elena.
Mother Xue: "Xue Yi, did he ask you to procure a massive amount of wild fruits recently?"
Xue Yi: "Yeah, he did. I just had the housekeeper handle the buying, so I didn't pay much attention to the specifics."
Mother Xue: "Xue Tong, you were with him for days. Did you notice anything?"
Xue Tong: "No."
Xue Tong: "I was busy."
Mother Xue: "Are you sure?"
Xue Tong: "He had several crates of Berries. He was analyzing them. But whatever results he found, he kept them to himself."
Mother Xue: "There's a secret here. I bet my life he discovered a specific resource and needs 'Harvest' to duplicate it."
Xue Yi: "Then why didn't he just ask ? I could have approved a Smoliv from our corporate stock in seconds."
Mother Xue: "That's exactly why he hid from you. He found sothing so valuable he doesn't want to share it with the corporation yet."
Xue Yi: "So... he really wasn't in there with a woman for sex?"
Mother Xue: "Unlikely. Elena, what's your take?"
Elena: "Don't ask . I'm in a different city. Use your own eyes."
Mother Xue: "Do you think he found sothing?"
Elena: "Who knows? Maybe it's that 'Lunar Energy' or sothing else entirely. If you want to know, just ask him."
Mother Xue: "If he wanted to tell us, he wouldn't be using a classmate to sneak an Ability. He's bypassing our oversight."
Elena: "Then you're stuck. I'm having a breakthrough in my own lab; I don't have ti for your corporate paranoia. Bye."
Elena dropped a "shrug" emoji and left the chat.
In her mind, her bestie was becoming too greedy. They already had Umbreon and Espeon; what more did she want?
Eevee was an international superstar. Those two evolutions alone would crush the "Penguin Pokédex" market share. Why be this thirsty for scraps?
Sigh. Capitalists. Their hunger is never satisfied.
But Mother Xue saw it differently. Her company was built on the back of Xue Tong's Gardevoir. They were big, yes, but compared to the old-money "Penguin" empire, they were still just a project.
The advantage from Umbreon would eventually fade. What if the rivals found a Milotic evolution or sothing else to steal the spotlight back?
Until her competitors were dead and buried, she couldn't sleep.
She would pay any price to secure the ultimate advantage.
This was why she offered Lorze 100 million. she saw the ace in his hand and wanted it.
But the boy's ambition was clearly larger than her wallet. To reject 100 million at seventeen? That required a terrifying level of confidence.
Mother Xue was starting to regret not being more aggressive. She actually considered "personally" making him a permanent part of the Xue family...
Mother Xue: "Xue Yi, keep your ears open. If he's willing to sell whatever he found, we'll pay any amount. Just get the price."
Xue Yi: "Got it."
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