Feebas

"No, as you know, my family doesn't have any powerful Pokémon Trainers apart from my dad. Besides, if everyone crowds into the Secret Realm, who's going to handle things outside?" Xiao Ran shook his head. There was no need to spell everything out; Shen Lang would understand.

"Haha, fair point. I hear your grandfather is a Senior Researcher. He should have his own research institute, right? Sorry for the trouble, but I'll need you to put us in touch later so he can give this Torkoal a proper study!" Shen Lang said with a hearty laugh. He owed Xiao Ran a favor this time, and naturally intended to return it. He couldn't let someone else get the opportunity to research Torkoal.

"Yueyue and I are friends. Of course I should help," Xiao Ran said with a smile. By bringing up his friendship with Yueyue, he also made it difficult for Shen Lang not to acknowledge the favor.

"Then let me thank you in advance!" Shen Lang said, smiling at them. He knew this friend of his daughter's, of course. They had grown up playing together, and Xiao Ran had visited the Cinnabar Gym several times. But only today had he truly begun to take these youngsters seriously.

"You're welcome, Uncle. If there's nothing else, let's go find Uncle Jiang. There are still a few things I'd like to tell you about that cave."

Since he had already brought up Dynamax, there was no point hiding the Dynamax Ore either. Jiang Cheng certainly wouldn't be able to explain it clearly, so Xiao Ran would have to do it himself. If they really treated it as ordinary gemstones, they would lose an enormous amount of potential profit.

Shen Lang nodded, and the group headed toward Jiang Cheng. They weren't far apart, since the Alliance investigators had brought all the prisoners near the entrance. Besides Su Zheng's investigation squad, quite a few reserve personnel had arrived as well. Otherwise, they could never have arrested so many members of the Hall, let alone questioned them. This could be considered the Hall's greatest defeat in years, second only to the incident involving Ye Ling's abduction.

Once they found Jiang Cheng, Shen Lang and his father exchanged another round of pleasantries. They were about to become in-laws, after all, so naturally they knew each other. They also offered their respective children a string of admonitions, leaving both of them thoroughly embarrassed.

"Xiao Ran, when you said you had something to tell us, did you mean the things inside the cave?" Jiang Cheng's father asked him.

Jiang Cheng's father, Jiang Tao, was a slightly plump, middle-aged man. He hadn't taken the path of a Pokémon Trainer, and his life as an ordinary wealthy businessman left him looking older than Shen Lang. Yet he possessed a quiet, commanding presence, cultivated through years in a position of authority.

"That's right. If my guess is correct, this ore is what caused Torkoal to evolve." Xiao Ran took a piece of Dynamax Ore from his bag and addressed the others.

At his words, both Jiang Tao and Shen Lang began breathing faster. A completely new Evolution Stone, currently found nowhere in the world except this mine—there was no need to explain what that meant. This mine alone could put them among the world's richest people. Whether they wanted to make money or train Pokémon, they would never have to worry about funding again.

"I'm sure you both know better than I do what to do next. I have only one condition: my grandfather must have the research rights to this Secret Realm. Remember, I mean the entire Secret Realm, not just this ore." Seeing their solemn expressions, Xiao Ran understood what they were thinking and stated his demand outright.

"Is there something else in this Secret Realm besides the ore?" Shen Lang asked with a frown. He remembered Xiao Ran telling Su Zheng about the giant Tentacruel. Perhaps this Secret Realm contained other things he didn't know about.

"I don't know. We haven't been in this Secret Realm very long. Apart from that Dynamax Torkoal, all we know about is the giant Tentacruel in the ocean. Really, I'm just like you. I want to see whether there's anything else here that we don't know about," Xiao Ran explained, shaking his head.

"All right. As long as we can secure the development and mining rights to this Secret Realm, the research rights will be easy enough to arrange." Shen Lang nodded in agreement.

After discussing the Secret Realm for quite a while longer, Jiang Tao and Shen Lang hurried out. Securing its development and mining rights would be no easy task. They still had plenty of work to do and many connections to call on.

Xiao Ran also made a trip outside the Secret Realm to send his mother and grandfather a message, giving them a rough account of what had happened inside and the cooperation with the Jiang Family and the Cinnabar Gym.

Once everything was settled, the group returned to the Secret Realm. Its days seemed unusually long. It was already nine or ten at night outside, yet the sun still blazed overhead here. Fortunately, Xiao Ran and the others weren't sleepy. With the Hall no longer causing trouble, they could finally explore the Secret Realm.

"Ahh, this is the life. I've wanted to find a beach and go fishing for ages. Too bad Nancheng is inland, and getting to the coast is such a hassle. This is perfect. I can sleep peacefully by the sea. A few beauties in bikinis would make it even better." Sheltered beneath a huge beach umbrella, Jiang Cheng lay on a lounge chair he had found somewhere and cast his fishing rod, letting out a contented groan.

"Yueyue's here!" Xiao Ran said calmly, making Jiang Cheng jolt.

"Phew... Seriously, do you enjoy scaring me like that all the time?" After looking around, Jiang Cheng sighed in relief and grumbled at Xiao Ran. Shen Yue had taken Ye Ling with her and headed toward the island's center again, escorted by bodyguards. Since there were volcanic lava caves here, plenty of Fire-type Pokémon were bound to live nearby. Shen Yue wanted to see whether she could find any rare ones.

"It's fun. But speaking of which, this Secret Realm has solved a pressing problem for me. Popplio is a marine Pokémon, after all. Keeping Popplio splashing around in freshwater all the time isn't a solution. I'll probably be coming here often from now on. Looks like I'll have to ask for a pass in advance once they start managing this place." Xiao Ran smiled as he watched Popplio having the time of its life in the sea.

"That's true. Seawater and freshwater are different. And finally, this stretch of ocean doesn't have so many Magikarp. I can actually catch some other Pokémon." Jiang Cheng looked excitedly at the Horsea he had just caught in his bucket. Back at Sweet Spring Lake, catching Magikarp over and over had nearly driven him mad.

"Heh... Hm? I've got a bite." Xiao Ran had been about to say something else when he felt his fishing rod shake. A fish had taken the bait. He immediately flicked his rod up, pulling a muddy-yellow fish out of the water.

"Eww... What kind of fish is that? It's so ugly! And it smells weird." Jiang Cheng pinched his nose. The moment the fish came out of the water, it began giving off a foul odor. It wasn't strong, but no one would willingly sniff it.

"This is Feebas. It's a relatively rare fish, but it's extremely difficult to evolve, just like Magikarp. I didn't expect it to be this ugly or smell this bad, though." Watching Feebas flop around on the ground, Xiao Ran couldn't help frowning. He had guessed that a real-life Feebas wouldn't look particularly attractive, but he hadn't expected it to give off an unpleasant odor too. Raising one would be a pain.

"Tsk, just like Magikarp? Let it go, then. It stinks! And it's so ugly I wouldn't even want to eat it!" Jiang Cheng said with undisguised disgust. He grabbed Xiao Ran's fishing rod and flicked it, releasing the Feebas back into the sea.

Xiao Ran shrugged without saying anything. He had been considering raising one—what if it evolved? But seeing what Feebas actually looked like, he began to abandon that idea. There was no helping it; he was a shallow person. He didn't know whether Milotic would be beautiful, but this Feebas was a little more than he could stomach.

The two continued fishing, chatting idly as they went. They had to admit that this Secret Realm really did contain plenty of Pokémon that couldn't be found in Nancheng: Corphish, Qwilfish, Remoraid, Chinchou...

They even caught the rarely seen Octillery and Luvdisc. The presence of Luvdisc meant that there were definitely Corsola down below. Unfortunately, none of them specialized in Water-type Pokémon. Otherwise, they could have found practically all their future Pokémon here.

With so many Pokémon in the ocean, the two suddenly grew curious about what Shen Yue and Ye Ling had found. Surely this Secret Realm also contained plenty of Fire-type Pokémon unavailable in Nancheng? If so, Shen Yue's future team might become stronger than ever.

The real world wasn't a game. You couldn't catch whatever Pokémon you wanted simply by spending some time looking. Some rare Pokémon might only be sighted once in many years, and Pokémon with base stat totals above five hundred certainly weren't everywhere.

Most people could only raise common Pokémon. Why else would the Alliance devote enormous amounts of manpower and resources to breeding starter Pokémon? It was precisely because they were easy to raise and had great growth potential. For an ordinary person, finding a wild Pokémon with a higher base stat total than a starter Pokémon was no different from winning the lottery.

As they chatted, Jiang Cheng's voice grew quieter and quieter until snores began drifting over. Xiao Ran turned to look at him and couldn't help smiling. Whatever the weather was like here, it was late at night, after all. They hadn't rested all day and had been through so much excitement. Now that things had quieted down, it was only natural that they couldn't stay awake.

"I should get some sleep too!" Seeing Jiang Cheng like that, Xiao Ran thought it over, set down his fishing rod, and prepared to take a nap. It wasn't as if the Secret Realm would run away. He could come fishing anytime.

But just as Xiao Ran set his rod down, the line he hadn't reeled in was tugged again—a sign that another fish had taken the bait. He roused himself a little and pulled hard on the rod, wanting to see what his final catch of the day would be. Yet when he saw it clearly, he froze.

"Do you really want to come with me that badly? Aren't you afraid I'll cook and eat you?" Xiao Ran asked with a helpless, wry smile. He had lost count of how many times he had caught it that night.

Despite his words, looking at the Feebas on the ground, its body bloodied by the hook, he ultimately had no choice but to use the power of the moon to heal its injuries. Then he took out a new Poké Ball and caught it.