Do You... Want to Hear It? (4k)

Luo Chen raised an eyebrow at the prompts before him.

Sure enough, he had made the right choice.

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The others were all basic facilities like the previous Berry Maker. Only this one was marked as a special facility.

Although it might cost a little more to redeem, its effects looked well worth it.

It was just that Iono was still occupying the spot, and he had no idea what this supposed compatibility with Pokémon actually meant.

But with an Emotion Points bonus of up to three times, that alone would probably earn back the cost of this building before long.

As for the additional function that required a Pokémon player to receive an A-rank evaluation before it could be unlocked...

Well... if it was Gengar, it should be able to complete that achievement soon enough.

Just sitting there livestreaming without moving, taking an occasional sip of his drink, had already drawn so many viewers.

Not to mention livestreaming games...

Come to think of it, it would probably be interesting if Gengar could understand those comments and try talking to them.

It all depended on what this facility's so-called compatibility actually meant...

Would there be specialized upgraded facilities for letting Pokémon become streamers later on?

With that thought, Luo Chen swept his gaze over the shadows beneath the building section. He had currently unlocked one of the four buildings in the first row, leaving three more.

It looked like he had to unlock all four buildings, or fulfill some other requirement, before he could unlock the rest.

After closing the building section, Luo Chen moved on to inspect the new products section.

If he understood correctly, this section should contain all kinds of games available for redemption.

Sure enough, the names of four games immediately appeared before him.

[Pokémon: Dark Rising.]

[Pokémon: Team Rocket's Rise.]

[Pokémon: Scarlet/Violet]

[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]

Clearly, these games included not only official titles, but also various popular fan-made revisions. Pokémon Dark Rising and Pokémon: Team Rocket's Rise, for example, were relatively high-quality fan games.

But something soon surprised Luo Chen. He realized that the games available for redemption did not seem to be limited to Pokémon-related ones.

At the bottom of the unlocked section were two other games.

[Happy Match]

[Elden Ring]

Luo Chen raised an eyebrow.

Come on, man, are these two games really right?

They were completely different styles, weren't they?

Thinking carefully, the amount of information implied by these two games appearing here was enormous.

But for now, he should consider the Pokémon games first.

Those two games were simply too expensive. They required all three kinds of points, and cost as much as fifteen each.

The Pokémon games mostly cost single-digit amounts. Unlike buildings, games only required two differently colored types of points.

His current Internet Cafe guests were Lance, Cynthia, Gengar, and Iono.

For them, Ultimate Emerald should have enough content to keep them occupied for the time being.

But the Internet Cafe could not possibly have only one game... What should he redeem as the next one?

After a brief moment of thought, Luo Chen decided to set that question aside and inspect the final section of the shop.

The item section contained the most things out of the three current sections. From relatively common items such as Potions, Evolution Stones, and Berries, to good things that had only appeared in games, like Ability Capsules and Rare Candies, everything could be redeemed.

It was just that these items did not look cheap at all...

A single Rare Candy required ten Emotion Points of each of three different colors to redeem.

As for an Ability Capsule, it directly cost fifty points...

At his current stage, he definitely could not afford that price.

But as the Internet Cafe gained more and more guests, there would surely come a day when he could redeem these items freely. Whether he kept them for himself or used them as event rewards for his guests, both options would be great.

Luo Chen silently looked forward to it.

The area beneath the item section was also shrouded in shadow, with many things still locked.

Like that, Luo Chen roughly browsed through every section and gained a general idea of what could be redeemed in the early stages.

For the Internet Cafe's early development, he should unlock all those buildings first... after all, they were the cheapest.

He wondered what the next special building would be like.

And in the item section, since Ability Capsules had already appeared, things like Mega Stones and Key Stones... should probably appear as well, right?

Half an hour later.

As the livestream continued, the number of viewers in Iono's stream had already surpassed one hundred.

In her entire streaming career, she had never seen this many people!

While controlling her character through the game and using her evolved Combusken to defeat the Rock-type Gym, Iono watched the flood of comments in her stream, looking slightly dazed.

She had barely said anything while sitting here, yet more than a hundred people were watching her stream. Was she dreaming?

If streaming were really this easy, Levincia Gym would never have reached its current state.

At that moment, a thought involuntarily formed in her heart.

She stopped playing, gathered her courage, and looked seriously into the camera.

"Um, everyone, although we only met today, I have a request..."

"My Gym needs livestreaming to keep running now, but I haven't been doing very well at streaming."

"Can you teach me how I can become an amazing Gym streamer?"

After she finished speaking, the comments fell silent for a moment before instantly exploding.

But their responses were indeed rather different from what Iono had imagined.

[Hahahaha, the streamer has finally gotten into character!]

[That's right, this is how you act. This is what Iono is supposed to be like.]

[The streamer has finally caught on and knows to speak in character. When you have time, go ask those two seniors of yours for advice. Their acting during streams is genuinely pretty convincing.]

[Seriously, there's this sense of grand conviction, like they really are the characters themselves...]

[Shouldn't you turn on Insane Mode now? You evolved in Easy Mode and then went to fight Roxanne—there's no difficulty at all! A big streamer needs entertaining content! (]

Watching the comments fly across the screen, Iono grew a little anxious, her face flushing slightly.

"I-I'm not acting. The Pokémon League is really going to take back my Gym's operating rights."

"Please, everyone, teach me how to stream."

As Iono spoke, she stood up and bowed toward the camera.

That only made the comments laugh even harder.

But at the same time, quite a few people began offering serious advice.

[You know, that's actually a pretty interesting question.]

[If it were me, I'd install a camera in the Gym and stream people challenging me. Every challenger would have to pay extra, and if they won, they'd take the money. If they lost, the money would stay as prize money. Then keep track of however many consecutive wins I had. Whoever beat me could take it all. Wouldn't the popularity come right away?]

[Upstairs, she runs an official Pokémon League Gym, not an underground arena. If she did that, wouldn't the League shut her down immediately?]

[If you ask me, streamer, aren't you an Electric-type Gym Leader? Stream some battle and training tips for Electric-type Pokémon every day. Make them a little exclusive, and there should still be people willing to watch.]

[Streamer, you need to interact with the comments more. Whoever sends gifts, whoever speaks, read out their names. That's the most basic thing, yet I can see you don't even know how.]

[With the cultural level in the Pokémon world, even doing livestream giveaways would be enough to crush everyone else, right? Randomly give Thunder Stones to viewers who enter the stream, or Gym merchandise would work too.]

[You could do weird comedy too. Have Bellibolt dance with you, then add some lightning-fast camera work and thunderous music. People love this kind of nonsense now.]

A dense stream of advice constantly refreshed across the screen, while other comments laughed at them from the side.

[Hhh, you guys are getting immersed in the act with the streamer, huh?]

[Awesome. If you guys became Gym Leaders, it feels like you really could revive Levincia Gym.]

[Wait, isn't Iono already a major streamer herself? Her Gym was built through streaming, right... So is the streamer cosplaying young Iono? Hoho, there's even a plotline like this? That's outrageous.]

But Iono paid no attention to those joking comments. Instead, she carefully read every suggestion and silently committed them to memory.

She did not know which ones would work, but they all seemed better than her previous streams.

These people really understood how to stream.

After memorizing everything firmly, she once again sincerely thanked the camera.

"Thank you, everyone... Thank you so much!"

"I'll work hard when I go back!"

At that moment, more comments popped up—

[If the streamer becomes a major streamer someday, remember to hold an offline meet-and-greet. I'll definitely come take pictures!]

[Right, right, a meet-and-greet!]

[Streamer, don't forget us early supporters. I want to come too!]

Iono froze when she saw those comments, then turned to Luo Chen in the distance.

"Um... Boss, if I get the chance, can I meet these viewers offline?"

—They had helped her so much. It would feel wrong not to thank them in person.

Luo Chen thought for a moment.

"Uh... if there's an opportunity, of course you can."

"But not for now."

Iono nodded, then turned back to the screen and continued streaming.

But Luo Chen began seriously considering that question.

An offline meet-and-greet...

Was that really possible?

Judging from the buildings currently in the shop, there really did not seem to be anything that could directly connect two worlds.

But such a huge area of the shop was still blacked out. What if there really was something like that?

After a moment, Luo Chen put the thought aside.

Forget it. He could think about it later.

If those viewers really came here and discovered that the streamer they had watched for so long was actually the real person...

That scene would probably be quite spectacular.

At the same time, the computer screen in front of Iono suddenly went black.

Everything vanished, replaced by a notification box floating against a black background.

[Your computer session has ended!]

[Session duration: 1 hour]

[New followers gained: 88]

[This session's rating: B]

[Evaluation: It's normal for a rookie streamer to be nervous, but the good news is that you're genuinely adorable. No matter what the stream content is, as long as people keep watching, it counts as a success. But isn't refusing to play Insane Mode a little unworthy of your status as a Gym Leader?]

[Internet Café Points obtained: 5]

[Next day's session duration increased to 2 hours!]

[Additional reward obtained: Special Ability "Emotion Prediction" (B)]

[Effect: While livestreaming, before you speak or act, you will be able to predict the audience's emotional reaction in advance. The stronger the emotional fluctuation, the clearer the effect.]

Iono stared at that final line for quite a while.

Emotion Prediction... She could know how the audience would react before she even spoke?

Could something like that really exist??

If she had seen that line an hour ago, she definitely would not have believed it.

But when she thought of everything that had happened in this Internet Cafe today... she hesitated.

Forget it. She would not think about that for now.

Iono shook her head, stood up, walked to the counter, and sincerely thanked Luo Chen.

"Boss, thank you so much for today!... I learned a lot!"

"You're welcome."

Luo Chen waved his hand.

Iono hesitated again before asking.

"Um... where did these viewers come from?"

Luo Chen thought about it.

"Probably from a very faraway place... Anyway, under normal circumstances, you won't be able to meet them."

Iono nodded thoughtfully and did not press further.

Instead, she asked another question.

"Tomorrow... can I come again?"

Luo Chen nodded. He had just confirmed this with the system. The visitation and return mechanism for special players was the same as it was for Cynthia and Lance.

"Of course. When you go back, find a door, say 'Origin Internet Cafe,' and walk through it. Tomorrow's session will be two hours. I hope you can learn even more."

"Say it while you leave through the door, and the Internet Cafe will send you back. Welcome to come again."

Iono committed Luo Chen's words to memory, waved, and turned toward the Internet Cafe's entrance.

As she pushed open the door, a flash of white light appeared, and her figure instantly vanished.

Paldea region, Levincia.

Iono opened her eyes and found herself back in the familiar Gym lobby.

She could not help feeling dazed.

Had she... just had a dream?

"Croak!"

At the same time, Bellibolt suddenly rushed into her arms, his face full of worry.

"Croak?!"

Iono had been missing for so long. Of course he had been worried sick.

Fortunately, she had finally come back...

"Sorry, I don't know what happened just now. I suddenly ended up somewhere else..."

Iono patted Bellibolt on the head.

"But I learned so many things over there. Bellibolt, let's try streaming again!"

She took a deep breath and recalled everything she had just learned.

This time, it had to work!

Bellibolt, standing nearby, froze, looking utterly confused.

Wasn't his Trainer always miserable whenever she had to stream?

Why was she being so proactive this time?

But Iono had already set up the camera and clicked the button to start the stream.

This time, she did not welcome new viewers into empty air. Instead, she quietly waited for people to enter the stream.

A few seconds later, the number in the upper right corner flickered.

Iono instinctively started to speak.

"Hello, everyone, I'm..."

Before she could finish, a strange feeling suddenly welled up inside her.

The feeling was vague, but it made her feel extremely... uncomfortable.

It was as if something were telling her that if she opened with those words, the viewers' reaction would definitely be bad!

She froze for a moment, then instantly understood.

This was... the ability called Emotion Prediction!

Iono immediately swallowed the words at the tip of her tongue. Her heart raced as her mind began working at high speed.

Since that won't work, what should I say now?

Countless suggestions from the bullet chat flashed through her mind at that moment.

Iono suddenly raised her head, looked at the camera, and delivered an opening unlike anything she had ever said before.

"Counting me, there are only three people in the stream right now... Since there are so few of us, I'll quietly tell you a secret."

"Do you... want to hear it?"