The Hunter / So What If You're Rich?

Just as Phile had guessed, the bespectacled man, riding high on yet another victory, readily agreed to the challenge, "I'll bet a few stars."

You Zhi thought for a moment and said, "Three."

Betting all four at once can easily scare your opponent away, while leaving room for maneuver can dispel their concerns. Moreover, 4+4+2 and 4+3+3 are both three duels, so there is no difference between the two.

"Three... Okay, I agree!"

Out of caution, the bespectacled man hesitated for a moment, but in high spirits, he agreed anyway.

Both sides took their positions and drew their first Pokémon Card.

In accordance with dueling etiquette, the bespectacled man took the initiative to announce his name: "Kao Ping."

"You Zhi."

You Zhi followed suit, announcing his name and then preparing to shout out the word "Duel."

"Wait a minute! Your name is You Zhi?"

The bespectacled man suddenly called for a stop, then hurriedly pulled a notebook from his pocket and quickly flipped through a few pages. "You Zhi, You Zhi... Sure enough, that name sounds familiar."

He looked up and decisively said, "Sorry, the duel is canceled."

Chapter 280 The Hunter

A duel officially begins only when the Duel Barrier is activated; before that, the duel can be stopped at any time without any penalty.

Therefore, when Kao Ping proposed to cancel, You Zhi had no choice but to accept, after all, this wasn't Dark Duel.

"Can I ask why? Why do you get upset when you hear my name?" You Zhi asked curiously.

"Since you are an A-level player on the Celebrity Ranking, considering the risks and rewards, it would be best to avoid the preliminary rounds."

Kao Ping was very generous and handed the notebook in his hand to You Zhi. Phile also quickly leaned over to take a look.

The notebook is very thin, with only a few pages. The title of the first page is "S-class players you should never face", but it only contains three names: "Watari", "Alain", and "Tobias", with their respective battle records noted below each name.

The second and third pages are titled "A-Rank Players You Should Avoid If You Can", and there are more than a dozen names, including You Zhi. In the battle record column, it is noted that "he defeated the leader of the Battle Tower, Palmer, in the Battle Frontier exhibition match". Others such as Falkner, the Gym Leader of Violet Gym, and the leader of the Battle Frontier are also listed.

The next headline was "Strong B-Level Contestants," and the list was much longer, spanning nine pages. Phile even saw her best friend Alisa's name and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Did you compile this list?"

Kao Ping shook his head and said, "If it's intelligence I collected myself, I wouldn't easily show it to others. I bought it from someone for 588 before the competition."

"Is someone selling this kind of information?"

"Hmm, the guy who tried to sell me this was a male-female duo with a cat-shaped sprite. Besides this list, they had even more detailed information, including the sprites that Celebrity Ranking players often used and their characteristics, as well as powerful Spell Card. They offered three tiers: a VIP package for 2888, a Platinum package for 6666, and a Supreme package for 12880. I have to admit, this guy is really good at business. If I didn't have my own information channels, I definitely would have been tempted to buy the more expensive package."

"That's interesting."

You Zhi glanced at it and returned the notebook to the other party. He was prepared for the information leak, as he had not deliberately concealed anything from the other elves except for the Three Sacred Beasts.

Especially during the previous three months, he had been training in the Battle Frontier and had battled with many trainers. Only the Three Sacred Beasts and Icejade Aegirine had not been summoned, since it was difficult for these four to level up further. The other Pokémon, including the Celestial Gold Knight, had a record of being used in battles, and the lower the level of the Pokémon, the more times it was used in battles.

In this situation, it's not hard to understand why it was rated A.

Kao Ping put away his notebook and said, "I hope to face you in the knockout stage. I can only apologize this time."

"Understandable."

You Zhi didn't insist, shook hands with the other person, and turned to leave.

From a tactical perspective, the goal in the qualifiers is to avoid strong opponents and secure advancement. The knockout stage is less important, unless the opponents are confident of reaching the semifinals. Otherwise, it doesn't matter who you face. If you can have a great duel with Watari, even if you lose in the end, you can still brag about it.

"This is terrible!"

After walking for a while, Phile belatedly realized and exclaimed, "There are bound to be a lot of people buying this kind of publicly available information. Even those who didn't buy it before will definitely be tempted to get a copy after learning about the rules of the qualifiers, since the rules of the qualifiers are very important for choosing opponents!"

You Zhi agreed, "That's right, especially for trainers who are weaker and lack confidence. This is a good opportunity for them to avoid strong opponents and increase their chances of advancing. From a long-term perspective, if everyone works together and avoids battling S-rank and A-rank trainers, preventing them from obtaining enough stars, we can eliminate a group of strong opponents before the elimination rounds begin. This will be beneficial for the future."

Phile stamped his foot anxiously. "There's a loophole in these competition rules! We'll go to the organizing committee immediately and have them change the rules as soon as possible."

She was about to leave for the Pokémon League headquarters when You Zhi quickly stopped her, saying, "It's no use. The organizing committee couldn't have missed such an obvious problem when they were deciding on the competition rules."

"Then why are they still using these competition rules? It's clearly unfair!"

"It's just unfair to powerful trainers, but other trainers might not see it that way. Besides, from another perspective, isn't finding a trainer willing to duel you a challenge in itself?"

"What's the point of this kind of challenge for trainers? I really don't know what the organizers were thinking. If all the strong trainers are eliminated in the preliminaries, won't the main tournament become a brawl between the weak? Who would want to watch the competition then?"

"What you're describing is impossible. Don't forget about the seeded players who directly qualify for the knockout stage; they're the guarantee of an exciting competition."

You Zhi appeared quite calm, as if he wasn't worried at all about not finding a duel opponent.

Phile, on the other hand, was very anxious and kept dragging You Zhi around looking for trainers willing to accept a duel.

However, starting with Kao Ping's refusal, it was like a plague had broken out. All the contestants refused to duel after hearing You Zhi's name, and no one was found willing to accept the duel all morning.

By the afternoon, many contestants had been disqualified from the competition. The remaining contestants became even more cautious, avoiding You Zhi's face without even announcing their names.

Clearly, after realizing the importance of the intelligence, everyone actively spread it, since the intelligence obtained for 588 could easily be resold for 488 to recoup some of the losses.

By evening, You Zhi had not been able to engage in a second duel, and the number of stars on his bracelet remained at four.

On the contrary, Alisa, who had met up with Elisa again and went to dinner with her, already had seven stars on her bracelet, and only needed three more to advance.

"How did you do that? Your name is on that list too!" Phile, very curious.

Alisa laughed and replied, "It's simple. Just offer your opponent favorable conditions. For example, I can bet three stars on the opponent's two stars, or I can only use two Pokémon while the opponent can use three. Although some people might cautiously refuse, there are quite a few who are willing to take the risk."

"That's right! All we need to do is provide bait. How come I didn't think of that?"

Phile patted You Zhi's arm happily. "Let's do it this way from now on."

Alisa cautioned, "I'm B-rank, and he's A-rank. To get someone to accept the challenge this way, you have to offer more favorable terms to the opponent. But the more favorable the terms, the more worried the opponent might be... If all else fails, you'll have to find another player on the same roster."

"It's all a problem with the competition rules; it's so unfair!"

Phile was still indignant, but unfortunately she couldn't think of a better solution.

At this moment, You Zhi, having finished his dinner, said slowly and deliberately, "Don't worry, someone will challenge me."

Phile didn't believe it. "It's rare to see a nemesis as foolish as the one from this morning."

You Zhi looked up at the restaurant entrance and said, "They've arrived."

Phile and Alisa quickly turned around and saw a short-haired woman wearing goggles walking straight towards them. She stopped next to You Zhi and said, "Let me introduce myself. My name is Pokémon Hunter J, and I hope to have a fair duel with you."

Chapter 281 So what if you're rich?

"A fair duel?"

You Zhi laughed out loud, then quickly waved his hand and said in a completely insincere tone, "Sorry, I couldn't help it."

The Pokémon Hunter J's expression remained unchanged as he said, "So you're going to refuse?"

"No, I agree, but I have to wait until my companion finishes dinner. Have you had dinner yet? If not, I recommend this restaurant's fried noodles. They're top-notch and I guarantee you'll feel it's worth the price."

"No need, I'll wait for you in the square outside."

After saying that, Pokémon Hunter J left the restaurant.

"Wow, someone actually challenged you! This guy's got guts, way better than those cowards from earlier in the day. By the way, her name isn't on that list, Pokémon Hunter J..."

Phile read it a few times, then suddenly his eyes widened. "Is it one of those Pokémon Hunter specialize in stealing rare elves?"

Alisa laughed, "You're only just realizing that? That's incredibly slow! I suggest you upgrade your graphics card."

Phile slapped the other person's arm. "I just didn't think of it that way. Seriously, has the Pokémon League gone mad? Why would they let someone like this participate in the competition? Don't they even check other people's backgrounds when they register?"

"Of course the Pokémon League can investigate, but the other party can also forge documents. Besides, the Pokémon League's qualification review is very lax; anyone with eight badges is allowed to participate."

Phile still found it hard to accept. "But you can't just accept anyone. If someone with such a bad reputation becomes one of the Elite Four, the Pokémon League will be embarrassed too."

Alisa sighed and said, "Don't you understand? She never intended to advance; she's just here to steal the Pokémon Card. We could even report her now, and the Pokémon League would definitely disqualify her, but should we do that?"

"At that time, it was..."

Phile stopped abruptly, remembering that You Zhi still needed to get stars from the other party, and reporting him would bring no benefit.

Even after understanding this, she still couldn't help but angrily say, "In the end, the problem lies with the Pokémon League's preliminary round rules. They might as well just use a draw for elimination!"

"If the elimination is done by drawing lots, and two players with top-tier skills are matched up in the first round, will that avoid controversy?"

"Then let's switch to a group stage, with matches between teams, and the qualification list determined by points, minimizing the element of luck."

"How much time and money would that take? Even if we broadcast the matches, nobody likes watching rookies fight each other; we wouldn't recoup the costs at all."

While eating, Alisa casually said, "Let me tell you what the Pokémon League is thinking. No matter which competition mechanism they choose, it will cause controversy. So they choose the most efficient and resource-saving rules. The current rules perfectly meet their requirements. They can eliminate 90% of the participants in two days and still maintain apparent fairness. Anyway, with seeded players as a safety net, they are not afraid of selecting a bunch of weak Elite Four in the end."

"But such a rule would offend the Celebrity Ranking, at least I would definitely be resentful."

"The competition rules were set by the organizing committee, what does it have to do with the Pokémon League?"

"How dare the organizing committee make such a rule? Aren't they afraid of offending people?"

"They took the money, so they're just there to take the blame. And to put it another way, shouldn't the people we should resent most be those intelligence brokers?"

"... Has the Pokémon League always acted so recklessly?"

"It's not about messing around. Organizing a global event is no easy task. If the Pokémon League had that capability, they would have wiped out Team Rocket long ago. Look at the news from various regions; every now and then, some illegal organization jumps out to cause trouble and sabotage. For example, in the Unova Region, there was a cult called Team Plasma that froze an entire city, causing a bigger commotion than Team Rocket."

Alisa finished the last bite of her noodles and concluded, "The Pokémon League hasn't just started showing its incompetence now; it's always been incompetent, only holding on with the championship and the Elite Four."

Phile seemed somewhat dazed after suddenly receiving the shocking truth. He finished his dinner absentmindedly and followed the two out to the duel square not far away.

Pokémon Hunter J had been waiting under the streetlight for a while and said, "I thought you'd run away."

"It's always the weak who fear the strong, never the strong who fear the weak," You Zhi said, too lazy to argue, and went straight to the point, "What's the stake?"

The Pokémon Hunter didn't like wasting time either. "I'll bet four stars on your four stars and the Celestial Gold Knight."

This was within You Zhi's expectations. From the day he summoned the Celestial Gold Knight in public, he guessed that he would be targeted, after all, the Celestial Gold Knight was a legendary elf.

In fact, when he learned about the preliminary round rules from the ferry crossing in advance, he secretly leaked the information in order to lure these Pokémon Hunter to give him stars. He was even prepared to get all eight stars from these guys.

Harin's appearance was actually an accident.

"The conditions aren't equal; Celestial Gold Knight isn't just an extra," You Zhi retorted.

"The conditions are equal; she is the prerequisite for me to duel you," Pokémon Hunter J said calmly.

"Premise is also valuable."

"You won't find anyone else willing to acknowledge your worth."

"I don't believe you were the only Pokémon Hunter involved in this competition."

"I'll only offer a maximum of five stars. You'll face the same conditions with other hunters. This is the unspoken rule among all Pokémon Hunter, and I don't want to offend my peers because of it."

Five stars or four stars make no difference. As long as You Zhi doesn't collect them all, he'll have to fight another duel. Pokémon Hunter J is certain he has no choice.

"Then forget it."

To the surprise of Pokémon Hunter J, You Zhi gave up decisively and turned to leave without hesitation.

Seeing that the other person was about to leave his sight, and it didn't seem like he was playing hard to get at all, the Pokémon Hunter J hurriedly shouted, "Have you given up on advancing?"

You Zhi turned around and said, "You've misunderstood something."

Seeing how quickly the other party reacted, Pokémon Hunter J regained his confidence and calmly asked, "What misunderstanding?"

You Zhi extended his hands to introduce the two people beside him, "This is the only daughter of the Crawford family, and this is the third daughter of the House Hoppencampa. Tell me, if I wagered one million stars per person, would anyone be willing to take the risk? Or, if I directly approached those contestants who had obtained extra stars, would they be tempted? After all, there's no risk at all."

Before Phile could react, Alisa grabbed You Zhi's arm affectionately and whispered in his ear, "Darling, there's no need to associate with such a scoundrel. It's just a little pocket money; there's no need to dirty your hands."

Realizing what was happening, Phile followed suit, grabbing You Zhi's arm and giggling, "That's right, problems that can be solved with money aren't really problems. Instead of gambling with the Celestial Gold Knight, how about lending it to me for a month? The rent is six million. I can add more if that's not enough."

You Zhi spread his hands at the stunned Pokémon Hunter J and said, "Although I really want to make a name for myself through my own strength, if there's really no other way, I'm willing to live off a woman."

"..."

Damn it, just because you have money doesn't mean you're all that!

I hate you rich people the most; you have absolutely no technical skills!

Pokémon Hunter J was secretly annoyed. The light had been too dim before, so he hadn't paid much attention to You Zhi's companions. Now that he could see them clearly, he naturally recognized the two women. After all, one was a B-rank on the Celebrity Ranking, and the other had become famous for promoting Riding Duel.

Given the two women's wealth and background, this amount of money is really nothing. As for whether the three of them are genuinely close or just pretending, she believes she has the discernment to tell.

After much deliberation, seeing the impatience on You Zhi's face, Pokémon Hunter J said, "Six stars for your four stars and the Celestial Gold Knight, and you cannot use the Celestial Gold Knight in the duel."

"A ridiculous request. You seem to think that the Celestial Gold Knight is my trump card." You Zhi looked at his opponent with disdain, then snapped his fingers. "I agree to your conditions. The upcoming duel will teach you that rats only deserve to live in the sewers. Don't even think about dueling with a trainer on the field."