Why is my Pokémon girl a bit strange?

If Iron Maiden got excited, he might very well be beaten into paralysis by her little fists.

No... no, he absolutely couldn't let her know he had this kind of power!

Although Qiao Ran didn't know if other Tokiwa Power users had the same troubles as him, he had already made a silent decision in his heart—

He absolutely had to keep this secret and never show even a sliver of Tokiwa Power in front of Iron Maiden—unless it was truly a last resort.

At most, others would drain him dry, but if Iron Maiden did it, it would probably be fatal.

"I got better-looking? I didn't know that! Maybe it's just your imagination? Hahahaha..."

"Never mind that, I actually came back this time because there's something very important I need to tell you."

Qiao Ran chuckled awkwardly, trying to change the subject with a very clumsy attempt. Although the transition was incredibly abrupt, for Qiao Ran, managing to change the subject was enough.

"Came back? You still dare to talk about coming back?"

"How long have you been in Jinling before you started bringing girls back to your room? Have your wings gotten strong enough? Do you think my Gym is a **?!"

It was one thing for Qiao Ran not to say anything, but the more he spoke, the angrier Iron Maiden became.

She had originally thought highly of Qiao Ran. He was a very talented young man and was worthy of Little Eve. But she never expected that after only a few days, he would already be treating her Gym like a love hotel.

What would happen if this continued?

"Holy crap!"

Qiao Ran's eyelids twitched. Iron Maiden's silver hair was moving as if blown by the wind, and her eyes were blood-red like a Rakshasa demon. It was clear she had fallen into a furious state where she wouldn't listen to any explanations.

"No need for excuses, today I will clean house on behalf of Eve!"

Iron Maiden grabbed the shovel by the door and prepared to engage in battle. Regardless of the circumstances, she didn't need to hear any explanations; she would just beat Qiao Ran down first.

Iron Maiden had always believed in the principle of strength above all else—although as she got older, she learned to use her wisdom, the adoration for strength deep down in her bones would never change.

This was also evident in her battles; she always preferred straightforward crushing victories. Asking her to abandon offense for defense would be practically impossible.

Anyway, she'd beat him first!

"Hey, hey, hey! Listen to my explanation!"

Qiao Ran's brows jumped, and he could only hastily dodge. Lillie, standing beside them, was stunned by their actions. She could only cover her cheeks and let out gasps of "wah wah wah."

Is this what people from another world are like? Is this what people from another world are like??

She can even swing such a big shovel as a girl???

"Stop fighting, please stop fighting!"

Lillie tried to join the fray, but after glancing at her own slender arms and legs, she obediently stood outside the combat zone.

"Gym Leader Tie, I've already told you, I have my reasons. Wait until you call Eve's sister, and once I explain my reasons to her, everything will make sense."

Qiao Ran was utterly helpless. He could only dodge while talking to Iron Maiden.

"Whatever reasons you have, just tell me now. If your intentions are pure, why be so secretive? If you have something to say, just say it directly, don't be so shy and awkward like a child!"

Iron Maiden's eyebrows shot up. Qiao Ran's defense was utterly weak. She hated people who beat around the bush the most.

"Otherwise, it's not too late to ask after I've beaten you down!"

"..."

Qiao Ran's mouth twitched. Iron Maiden was truly a stubborn, straightforward, iron-willed woman who liked to do strange things like "making friends with a shovel" and "beating first, asking later."

If it were any other normal problem, Qiao Ran would have just explained it to her.

—However, Qiao Ran absolutely could not tell Iron Maiden that "Lillie is from the Pokémon world." He could only talk to those who already knew, and the fewer people who knew, the better.

Qiao Ran had always had his own considerations. He had to ensure that this information would not be exploited by those with ill intentions. If too many people knew, the safety of Mei and Lillie could not be guaranteed.

But in Iron Maiden's eyes, this attitude was even more like sophistry.

"Gym Leader Tie, if you keep this up, I'm really going to have to get serious!"

Qiao Ran frowned. He didn't want to take a beating for no reason. Although he knew Iron Maiden had her limits and wouldn't cripple him if she really hit him, he would still suffer physical pain.

This woman really thinks I'm a scumbag...

"Oh really? Show me how serious you can get?"

Iron Maiden smiled casually, tilting her chin up high. She knew exactly how capable this man was. With his own combat power, he was no match for her.

"...You said it yourself."

Qiao Ran's eyes sharpened. Even a clay figurine has some spirit. Being looked down upon repeatedly by Iron Maiden, being dragged around by her, and being stared down at her chin every day, Qiao Ran actually felt a desire to prove himself.

Unconvinced? He was indeed unconvinced.

Perhaps he couldn't have done it before, but—ever since he returned from the Singularity, he had become a completely different person!

He had awakened!

"Can you take this palm strike from me!"

"Bring it on!"

Iron Maiden laughed heartily, throwing down her steel shovel. She wanted to use an equal palm strike to make Qiao Ran truly convinced.

This was also Iron Maiden's favorite thing to do, to completely crush her opponents with power.

However—she didn't see that Qiao Ran's palm strike was actually accompanied by a green glow, filled with the harmonious power of life.

That green energy was roaring and boiling...

"Sister Tie? Are you here? I heard Qiao Ran is back?"

Iron Maiden wasn't the only one who received news of Qiao Ran's return. Eve had also learned of Qiao Ran's whereabouts through her own means and had rushed over immediately.

She stood at Qiao Ran's door, hesitating slightly.

However, after asking a question, she heard no response from inside the room. It seemed terrifyingly quiet. In the end, she couldn't resist and opened the door herself.

—But the scene that appeared inside the room next completely stunned her.

Qiao Ran was indeed inside, but...

—There was another woman lying on her side on the bed, her head resting on Qiao Ran's knees. Her silver-white long hair cascaded down like a flowing river of stars. Qiao Ran's hand was gently stroking her head, and the woman had an expression of enjoyment, as if she was very pleased.

On the other side, there was also a stunned, statue-like blonde girl with vacant eyes, but Eve, who was equally bewildered, had already automatically ignored her in her mind.

"...Sister... Sister Tie??????"

Eve's jaw nearly dropped.

"I must be hallucinating... it must be a hallucination..."

Eve rubbed her eyes, seemingly unable to believe what she was seeing.

"Wait... wait a minute? Did I open it the wrong way? Right, right... let's... let's do it again... let's do it again..."

Eve reached out to close the door, preparing to try again.

However—when she closed the door and opened it again, the same scene appeared before her once more—

Qiao Ran's hand was still stroking Iron Maiden's head, and Iron Maiden... had already closed her eyes, with a very comfortable expression... as if she had just received a full-body muscle massage.

"You... what are you guys doing!!!!!"

Welcome to 'Shier's Library'. 746094076 Outer Group!1090251576

This time, Eve finally shouted out loud, her voice echoing throughout the entire Gym.

—The world in Eve's heart utterly collapsed.

—Aged fourteen.

Section 88 086 [Otherworld]

To Eve, Iron Maiden had always been an older sister she deeply admired.

—This sister was avant-garde and powerful, full of charm, and could give people a sense of security.

Eve had never imagined that such an incredibly capable sister would show such an expression, lying on a boy's lap. Even more so—that boy was Qiao Ran, whom she knew!

What was wrong with this world?

What on earth was wrong with this world????

"You... what are you guys doing!!!!!"

Eve's scream completely shattered the silence in the room. Iron Maiden, who had been enjoying herself, immediately sat up with a somersault. Qiao Ran also stopped stroking and put on an innocent expression of "I don't know anything."

Looking at the sister in front of him, whose chest was heaving as if her world had collapsed, Iron Maiden couldn't help but blush.

"It's... it's little Eve. Well... we were just giving a muscle massage. After exercising, you need this kind of maintenance... yeah."

Iron Maiden stammered out an explanation that she herself probably didn't believe. In fact—after clashing palms with Qiao Ran just now, she was no longer sure what she was doing.

In her perception, Qiao Ran had used a very strange force to neutralize her steel offensive, and then, using the momentum of her attack, he had pulled her down and onto the ground—her body went limp.

"What... what did you do?!"

Moreover, this was the first time she had ever been taken down, and by a man at that.

Iron Maiden's heart was greatly shaken at that moment, her face filled with shock and disbelief. This also caused her to not resist immediately, but to freeze on the spot. And her lack of resistance led to the subsequent consequences.

—If she didn't resist at first, she wouldn't have any chance to resist later.

On the other hand, facing Iron Maiden's explanation, Eve certainly didn't believe it.

"Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible!"

What do you mean, muscle massage! Can massages like this happen on a bed!

Eve roared in her mind, her gaze began to scan the room for anything suspicious. Soon, she actually found a blonde girl in the room who was equally stunned, sitting on a chair.

"Who... who is she?"

It was only now that Eve astonishingly realized there was another person in the room. These two guys... were they doing something strange while being watched by someone else????

"???? You're being watched????"

Thinking of this, Eve's head nearly fell off in shock.

How... how outrageous!

Looking at the increasingly chaotic scene in the room, Qiao Ran also felt extremely troubled. Although stroking Iron Maiden felt quite good, facing such a mess, he could only sigh to the heavens.

"This... her name is Lillie. She's actually someone related to Mei. I only brought her back because I had something I wanted to ask your sister! Really, I just wanted to find your sister!"

Who would have thought that Qiao Ran's original purpose for coming here was simply to find Dr. Lilia? However, what no one expected was that he would end up creating such a mess. Now, he hadn't found Dr. Lilia, but he had a whole pile of trouble on his hands.

"What? She's actually related to Mei? You're looking for Lilia because of that?"

Hearing Qiao Ran's voice, Iron Maiden, who was nearby, suddenly reacted. She looked at Qiao Ran and asked, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

At this, Qiao Ran's mouth twitched. He almost flipped the bed board he was sitting on. "..."

"Didn't I tell you at the very beginning that you weren't listening to me!!!!"

"In any case, it was all just a misunderstanding!"

Perhaps it was because everything tends to calm down after chaos, but with Qiao Ran finally getting a chance to explain, the whole story began to become clear.

"But, but you still haven't explained why you were touching... touching Iron Sister's..."

However, Eve still let out a small protest. Even if it was all because Qiao Ran and Iron Maiden had a disagreement at the start, why did things turn out like that while they were fighting!

"Cough..." Iron Maiden had already given up. She could only let out a light cough, indicating she knew nothing. She wasn't good at lying in the first place.

As for Qiao Ran, a thought sparked in his mind, and he came up with an explanation.

"Well, this is because your Iron Sister's head took a blow, so her thinking became a bit confused. I was just helping her improve blood circulation."

Upon hearing Qiao Ran's explanation, both Eve and Iron Maiden's heads displayed a large exclamation mark simultaneously.

"You... you scoundrel!" Iron Maiden understood that Qiao Ran was subtly insulting her. However, Eve, on the other hand, actually believed this explanation.

"Iron Sister's head took a blow??? Is... is that so? So she needed a head massage?"

All in all, this was a very convincing explanation. And when Eve thought about it carefully, Qiao Ran and Iron Maiden hadn't had any suspicious physical contact. Qiao Ran had only patted Iron Maiden's head.

So, it was just to improve blood circulation!