Lin Yan's Disappearance

"Everyone has seen what I'm capable of. I may be fairly average among professional Trainers, but teaching you is more than enough."

As she spoke, Liu Yan's sharp gaze swept across every student in the class like a Swellow about to hunt.

"I hope that over the next year, we can understand and cooperate with one another, achieve good results in the provincial competition, and get into the universities you all aspire to attend."

After recalling Swellow into its Poké Ball, Liu Yan added, "The provincial competition begins in three months. Since each school only has five spots, the school team will consist of the top five students."

"So don't think that getting into the elite class and enjoying such excellent resources means you can rest easy. Your opponents aren't just the regular-class students outside who are watching you like hawks, but also everyone else sitting here."

"Time is precious. That's all for today's mobilization meeting. Ye Lan, come out with me."

After finishing her speech cleanly and decisively, Liu Yan headed out of the analysis room, leaving Ye Lan sitting in the back row with a bewildered expression.

When Ye Lan reached the hallway, before he could even ask anything, Liu Yan's words nearly left him unable to react.

"Lin Yan has gone missing."

"Hm... what?! Didn't he go buy Berries? At the outermost edge of the black market, there shouldn't have been much danger."

"That was the original plan, but according to the surveillance footage, Lin Yan headed toward the center of the black market. He may have wanted to buy Water-type resources to strengthen Wartortle's foundation."

At that, even the usually composed Liu Yan sighed. It wasn't just her—Mianzhou No. 1 High School as a whole was deeply worried about Lin Yan's situation.

The situation had already been reported to the Mianzhou Trainers Association, but the school had no particularly good solutions for the time being. The black market was already a complicated place, and it was very possible that nothing would come of it in the end.

With both Ye Lan and Lin Yan around, they had stood a good chance of completing the provincial competition target set by the Mianzhou Trainers Association.

Now that Lin Yan had suddenly disappeared, Ye Lan would need to achieve even better results in the provincial competition. Even Liu Yan, as a professional Trainer, felt an enormous amount of pressure.

After all, Mianzhou No. 1 High School couldn't possibly have invested so many resources into its students this year on its own. Most of those resources came from the Mianzhou Trainers Association.

For example, the treatment equipment on the second and fourth floors of the Elite Building could only be used with the Trainers Association's approval.

As for the other elite-class students, Liu Yan would be satisfied if they could make it into the qualifiers. If they wanted to contend for high placements, they would still have to rely on Ye Lan.

After hearing the news, Ye Lan felt bitter inside as well.

He was not only worried about his friend's safety, but also concerned that Snivy's original training plan would have to change.

Without Lin Yan, there wasn't even half a person in all of Mianzhou No. 1 High School who could spar with Ye Lan's Snivy.

If this continued, simply practicing moves without actual combat would greatly reduce their efficiency.

"I can't exactly have Snivy fight that Swellow from earlier, can I?"

At the thought, Ye Lan couldn't help shuddering.

Snivy liked battling, but it didn't like getting beaten up.

With a gap of two or three major levels in strength, even a pseudo-legendary hatchling definitely couldn't manage it. Maybe only a Legendary Pokémon hatchling would stand a chance!

If he really did that, Snivy would probably freeze up first. "Take it down? Me?"

Then it would promptly use Bind on him, its Trainer.

"We understand your situation. You don't need to worry about sparring partners. We'll give you an answer tomorrow."

"What's most important now is that Lin Yan's mother has always been in poor health and needs medication to get by. We're afraid she won't be able to accept this news all at once. As Lin Yan's friend, I hope you can go and comfort her."

Ye Lan pulled himself out of his thoughts and considered the feasibility of Liu Yan's suggestion.

Indeed, he and Lin Yan were the closest of friends. When he had accompanied Lin Yan to buy Berries, he had also visited his mother.

Lin Yan's mother had always been frail, constantly going back and forth between the hospital and home. His father had also been working away from home for a long time.

In such a special situation, someone really needed to comfort her. Even if it meant telling a well-intentioned lie, he hoped Lin Yan's mother wouldn't become so emotionally overwhelmed that she did something harmful.

"All right. I'll apply for leave after school today."

It would naturally be best to visit Lin Yan's home as soon as possible, but Ye Lan believed Lin Yan was someone blessed with great fortune. Maybe he would return safely by the afternoon.

"All right, but you need to accept this reality as soon as possible. Although the Pokémon Association has sent Officer Jenny to search for him, no one knows what might happen in the center of the black market. It's a lawless area."

"I know you two are close, but even if there are no results in the end, don't let it affect your condition for the provincial competition. That is something that will affect your future."

After giving him a few instructions, Liu Yan turned and left.

Ye Lan stood in the hallway for a while, still somewhat dazed as he recalled Liu Yan's rational words, which had seemed almost cold.

Indeed, she wasn't related to Lin Yan, nor did she have much interaction with him. She had already done all she could, and there was nothing to fault her for.

After sorting out his thoughts, Ye Lan went to the cafeteria on the second floor, intending to let Snivy experience the Pokémon meals there.

Although he had been assigned to the elite class, Ye Lan had already been specially exempted from morning Pokémon knowledge lessons.

For one thing, Ye Lan had a solid grasp of high school-level Pokémon knowledge. Aside from some obscure questions, he had committed most of it to memory.

He also had no intention of pursuing the path of a Breeder, so there was naturally no need for him to study that area so intensively.

According to Ye Lan's plan, he would kidnap... ahem, he would invite a promising Breeder to travel with him. Once they trusted each other enough, he would hand over the ideas in his head for that person to realize while he enjoyed the results.

Ye Lan had always believed that a person's abilities were limited. He didn't think he was a genius who could perfectly handle every aspect of everything.

Leaving professional matters to professionals was far more efficient than trying to divide his attention among too many things.

On the other hand, even if Ye Lan wanted to spend time studying theory now, Principal Liu Qingshan and Instructor Liu Yan probably wouldn't agree.

In their eyes, what Ye Lan needed most right now was to raise his strength with all his might and achieve a good ranking in the provincial competition. Everything else had nothing to do with him.

As he entered the cafeteria hall, Ye Lan saw a row of neatly arranged service windows before him.

Ye Lan counted them briefly. There were exactly eighteen windows, divided according to the eighteen Pokémon types.

However, the Dragon-, Fairy-, and Steel-type windows were not open. Pokémon of those three types were generally quite rare, and none of the students in this year owned one.

He tossed out a Poké Ball and released Snivy, then led it toward the window reserved for Grass-type Pokémon.

When he reached the window and glanced at the prices on the menu, Ye Lan's mouth twitched. He didn't even know what to say.

There were only three tiers of set meals. The basic one was a Berry platter. The intermediate one also came with a serving of low-quality Moomoo Milk, along with a portion of grilled meat that Ye Lan couldn't identify.

Ye Lan guessed that it was most likely Pokémon meat.

Ye Lan himself was very resistant to eating Pokémon, but he wasn't as concerned about his own Pokémon eating it.

After all, in the wild, the relationship between Pokémon was that of a food chain. Besides, training many Poison-type moves required organs from Poison-type Pokémon, so there was no helping it.

As for the highest-tier meal, it not only came with high-quality Moomoo Milk, but even the seasoning in the Berry platter was a premium product that promoted the absorption of Grass-type energy.

The price, however, was outrageously high. A single meal actually cost more than three hundred yuan!

Three hundred yuan was enough for an ordinary family to buy groceries for several days, yet it was only enough for one meal for Snivy.

Fortunately, the menu stated that one set meal a day, whether basic or intermediate, would be enough to meet a Pokémon's growth needs.

"Three hundred a day is still within my budget."

An extra chapter for reader "Xuhan Tian, Who Likes Three-Seven Flowers." Thank you for the support!