Eevee's Social Death Moment

The next morning.

As usual, Xia Chen ate breakfast with Eevee while opening his Pixiv homepage.

Although he knew checking it every day would not change his videos' view counts, people sometimes did irrational things.

Still, when Xia Chen saw the glaring [Trending] tag beneath the video he had uploaded yesterday, he froze for a moment.

Trending?

Though the tag did not carry much weight, it was a first for a small-time creator whose videos had previously peaked at just over two hundred thousand views.

When he looked more closely at the view count, Xia Chen could not help sucking in a cold breath. Five hundred thousand!

In just over ten hours, the views had already doubled his previous record!

That kind of pace was something only a million-follower content creator with immense influence could achieve, right?

But he only had a little over eighty thousand followers. Oh, no—thanks to this video, he had already surpassed ninety thousand.

Still, whether it was eighty thousand or ninety thousand made no real difference. This growth rate was still absurd.

Had someone big given him a shout-out?

Xia Chen pondered.

A shout-out was when some heavyweight creator with extremely loyal fans commented on and reposted a video, drawing their followers over to flood the comments.

Could that be the reason?

Curious, Xia Chen opened his video titled <Pigeon Master's Cooking: A God-Tier Dish So Delicious It Made Eevee Cry?>.

His Pixiv username was [I'm Not Cooing Pigeon], originally meant to motivate himself to keep making videos.

But then... real-life troubles kept piling up, and sometimes... accidents were unavoidable.

In short, his followers now all called Xia Chen Pigeon Master.

Right at the beginning, Xia Chen spotted the clue amid a sea of comments that read, "Lord Brock recommended this—I came here because of him!"

So it was that man. No wonder.

As a Pokémon fan, Xia Chen could hardly have known Brock better.

One of the main cast members of Pokémon the Series: Indigo League, he was the most reliable man on the team, steadfast as a mountain.

Of course, perhaps because he was too masculine, Brock paid rather obsessive attention to soft, feminine women who complemented him.

Besides that, he was also the Gym Leader of Pewter Gym in Pewter City, Kanto Region, a dependable older brother who supported a whole crowd of younger siblings by himself.

Compared to his not particularly remarkable identity as a Gym Leader, Brock was better known in this world as a breeder.

The biggest name in the food content category Xia Chen currently frequented was this man with a will of steel.

Brock's Pokémon food tutorial videos were simple yet thorough, and he never held anything back.

From professional Trainers to complete beginners, everyone could learn plenty from his videos.

Xia Chen was surprised. Before he had even gone to introduce himself, Brock had already sent a huge wave of traffic his way.

No wonder he was the man who had received the most "nice guy cards" in the Pokémon world!

Brother Brock, please accept another nice guy card from me!

Jokes aside, Xia Chen scrolled down to the comments. The top comment was unmistakably from Brock, and it already had more likes than Xia Chen's video itself.

"Good work, excellent food learning video, love from Kanto."

Xia Chen: "..."

That machine-translated flavor was way too authentic!

Below it were all interactions and jokes between Xia Chen's followers and Brock.

"Two-fandom fan here, absolutely ecstatic! The creator I like likes the creator I like!"

"Brother Brock, when are you bringing Sister-in-Law Brock on camera?"

"When Groudon starts flying, everyone will see her!"

No matter what, traffic was always a good thing. Whether he could capitalize on it depended on his own ability.

Putting the matter aside, Xia Chen continued watching what could barely be considered his first video to truly break out.

The comments in it were very useful as reference.

"Vee?"

Eevee noticed Xia Chen's good mood and looked over curiously, only to see her Trainer grinning foolishly at his phone screen.

Eevee's little ears instantly perked up. He was smiling so suspiciously... could it be...

Xia Chen was looking at some other cute Pokémon?

Eevee alert.jpg

Without exaggeration, after living with Xia Chen for ten years, she understood him better than he understood himself.

Xia Chen was a great Trainer in every way, except that he was far too fickle. Whenever he saw a cute Pokémon, he could not even walk straight!

The Pokémon Xia Chen had gotten later in his previous life—Gardevoir, Alolan Ninetales, Primarina—were all famously gorgeous Pokémon.

Thinking of that, Eevee quickly finished the breakfast on her plate, then jumped onto Xia Chen's lap to investigate the enemy situation.

But the scene displayed on the screen before her made Eevee collapse instantly.

A critical hit right at the opening!

No internet phrase could have been more fitting for Eevee at this moment.

Why! Why was there! A video of her crying so embarrassingly yesterday on the screen!

Xia Chen, did you have any empathy at all? You actually included that in the edit!

Her rain-soaked, pitiful appearance had, unsurprisingly, set off a flood of "awsl" comments.

But as the star of this social death moment, Eevee only wanted to learn Dig and burrow somewhere Xia Chen could not see her.

If that did not work, Fly, Dive, or Phantom Force would do too!

"Vee—"

Eyes vacant, Eevee sprawled across Xia Chen's lap like a useless Eevee that had lost all dreams.

I, the ace Pokémon of the future Meteor Gym in Zhijiang City, Donghuang Region, the main force who defeated Dodo at the World Championships, the world's first Sylveon!

And more than a hundred thousand people had seen me at my most embarrassing!

Was there any justice left in the world?!

Was there any law left?!

It's so over!

The only consolation was that Xia Chen's videos did not seem to be that popular yet. If this happened ten years later, when he had over ten million followers, she really would have to turn over a new leaf and become a brand-new Eevee.

"It's okay, Eevee. Everyone says you're adorable, and the episode you appeared in has really high views. It's expected to reach three or four million views. We won't starve next month!"

Xia Chen's attempt at comfort made Eevee's vision go dark again.

Didn't I remember... Xia Chen's content creation career only really taking off when he was in college?

Why did it already seem like he was starting to become popular now?

Could it be another butterfly effect caused by her early appearance?

Eevee did not know whether to laugh or cry. She had never expected that her sincere tears yesterday, shed because she had finally eaten Xia Chen's cooking again after so long, would become the butterfly that flapped its wings.

Forget it. This was a good thing too.

This time, with the information from her previous life brought by her rebirth, Xia Chen would have more than enough funds during his early days.

In any case, ten years from now, Xia Chen would definitely not be merely the minor Gym Leader he had been in her previous life.

I said so. Not even Arceus can stop it!

Xia Chen looked at the Eevee in his arms, whose mood had inexplicably risen and fallen so sharply, and shook his head.

A woman's heart was like a needle at the bottom of the sea.

Female Pokémon seemed to be the same. He had better not try to guess too much.

Setting his thoughts aside, Xia Chen continued watching the video.

No matter the world, there would never be any shortage of ridiculous netizens and their hilarious comments.

"Wuwuwu, I'm sorry, Snivy. I really... can never go back. But... Eevee is just... too adorable!!"

Kanto netizen, please keep your horny energy in check.

"Pigeon Master, your Eevee seems to have an extremely rare illness. I can treat it. Quickly tell me your home address, and I'll come provide house-call service."

Holy crap, a scammer!

"Isn't the focus of a cooking video supposed to be the food? Look at that enticing color—it's like I can smell the fragrance right through the screen. I'm so jealous. I want to become delicious food and be eaten by Lady Eevee too."

That's enough. Even I, a pervert, think you're too perverted.