"By the way, where is little sis? Isn't she coming back today?"
Ye Qing looked around, failing to spot that mischievous younger sister of his.
Ye Mom looked at her phone and replied, "Isn't the high school entrance examination coming right up? Your sister said she wanted to review her lessons and wouldn't be running back and forth."
Ye Qing nodded. His sister was born to his parents, just three years younger than him. She was currently studying in the third year of junior high in the neighboring city, and in less than a month, she would take the high school entrance exam.
Yet, there was a high probability she would end up attending an ordinary high school; after all, the tuition for a Pokémon School was not something their family could afford, and even his own tuition had been scraped together bit by bit by his parents back then.
Thinking of that sensible younger sister who adored Pokémon, a wave of distress washed over Ye Qing's heart. Things were different here compared to his past life; the high school entrance exam could be called the most crucial stage determining a person's life, but given their family's situation, they could only wrong his sister for the time being.
How could Ye Mom not know what Ye Qing was thinking? Seeing her son like this, she couldn't help but feel secretly pleased with her own acting skills. She thought to herself, That'll teach you not to study properly. Let's see if you feel guilty now!
As for her daughter's tuition, she had actually already figured it out. If push came to shove, she would swallow her pride and go back to borrow money from her maiden family. Either way, she couldn't delay both children-since she had given birth to them, she had to take responsibility for them. However, she wasn't going to tell Ye Qing about this just yet; right now, this brat needed a little pressure.
Taking off Ye Qing's school uniform, Ye Mom consoled, "Come on, eat quickly. As long as you work hard, everything will get better! Mom believes you won't keep wasting your time like this."
Looking at the table full of dishes he loved, Ye Qing nodded and asked in confusion, "Where's Dad? Aren't we waiting for him?"
Ye Mom picked up her chopsticks and shook her head. "We aren't. He's busy at the company."
Ye Qing didn't speak again, looking around as he ate.
Their home was a three-bedroom apartment with a living room. His mother used to keep a Pokémon, but ever since he transferred to the Pokémon Academy, she had no choice but to release it. Doing this served two purposes: first, to save household expenses, and second, not to waste the Pokémon's potential.
One had to know that raising a Pokémon was not cheap. The money spent on a single Pokémon each year was around twenty to thirty thousand Poké Dollars, which was almost higher than the cost of keeping a car in his past life.
As for going into the wild to catch Pokémon, leaving aside how dangerous it was, unless one was a professional Trainer, the Pokémon League forbade private individuals from capturing wild Pokémon.
Moreover, wild Pokémon were extremely aggressive and simply no match for domesticated Pokémon. A single lapse in judgment back then would result in losing one's life.
There was still one of his father's domesticated Pokémon at home, a Machamp, which usually went out to work with his father.
Ye Qing sighed. His sister had always lived in the slightly cramped study. He felt that the two elders might still hold some traditional views favoring boys over girls, but this must have been forced upon them as well-otherwise, who wouldn't want to give the best to their children? It was just that their family's financial strength truly wasn't up to par, so they could only pool their financial resources to nurture one.
After eating his fill, Ye Qing helped his mother wash the dishes. Looking at her smile and the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, he secretly made up his mind that in the future, he must earn a massive amount of money to compensate his parents and sister.
Not long after the meal, the security door was pushed open. A travel-worn Ye Yuntian, clutching a briefcase, stood in the doorway and shouted, "Wife, son, hurry up and pack, we're heading out! I saw a lot of people going to buy Pokémon on my way back just now. If we go too late, there won't be anything left!"
Ye Qing poked his head out for a look. It was still that stern square face, and the black hair on top of his head was already mixed with quite a few gray hairs.
Ye Mom shot him a look, wiped her hands on her apron, and said, "Alright, right away! Son, you go pack up too."
Looking at himself in the mirror, Ye Qing nodded with satisfaction. Fortunately, apart from being a bit younger, his appearance hadn't changed at all: thick eyebrows, large eyes, regular facial features, suppressing all the mighty-properly speaking, a handsome fellow.
The family packed themselves up neatly and hailed a taxi straight to the commercial street. Ye Qing sat in the front passenger seat, looking at the crowds walking their Pokémon along the street, and couldn't help but begin yearning for his own first Pokémon.
As a beginner, Starter Pokémon were naturally good, but there was no help for it if he couldn't get one; besides, the potential of some other Pokémon was no worse than the Starters.
In the back row, Ye Mom first shot a look, then nudged Ye Dad with her elbow. "Did you borrow the money?"
Ye Dad understood in a second, laughing at himself.
His expression changed slightly as if he thought of something bad, and then he patted his wife's hand, speaking in a voice just loud enough for Ye Qing to hear. "Sigh, rest assured, a full hundred thousand."
Even though the two of them spoke in very low voices, the space inside a taxi was only so big, and every word still reached Ye Qing's ears without omission.
Bombarded by various internet short videos in his past life, Ye Qing naturally knew how hard it was to borrow money. Therefore, he secretly swore in his heart that he must make something of himself in the future. Relying on his past life's experience with anime and games, coupled with his understanding of extraordinary combat, he definitely wouldn't turn out any worse than anyone else!
Yet he had transmigrated after all, so why was there no system in sight, and not even a trace of a golden finger!
Stepping out of the car, the commercial street was a scene of prosperity. Various neon lights flashed with colorful radiances, people came and went on the streets, and a large number of Pokémon romped with each other.
Hot air balloons shaped like Pokémon floated in the night sky, Pidgeot and Tranquill soared through the heavens, and in the gloomy alleys, Meowth were chasing a group of Rattata.
Aipom crawled all over the pipes of the shopping malls, and cute Pokémon stood at the entrances of various shops greeting guests. Here, Pokémon and humans lived together, just like a fairy tale world.
"Cough, cough!"
The moment Ye Qing took a deep breath of air, he was immediately choked by cumin and chili powder into a fit of coughing.
Turning his head to look, he discovered that not far away, a stall was selling skewered meat, and next to it, a Magnemite was continuously supplying electricity to the electric grill.
"This shop isn't bad, let's go inside and take a look."
Ye Dad patted Ye Qing's back and led the two of them into a fairly large Pokémon Day Care.
The sales assistant was a young girl. Seeing a youth of Ye Qing's age, her eyes lit up as she hurried forward with a smile. "Welcome! Are you looking to purchase a Pokémon Egg or a newborn Pokémon?"
"Let's just look at everything, look at everything."
Ye Dad smiled and replied very politely.
"This area features carefully selected Pokémon Eggs, which can guarantee the Pokémon's potential and species."
Hearing this, Ye Qing nodded, knowing in his heart what she meant by aptitude.
Aside from its species, aptitude was also crucial to a Pokémon. Every Pokémon's aptitude was different, much like humans-everyone's intelligence and emotional quotient varied, and Pokémon were just the same.
For instance, two Bulbasaur might be identical, but their physical fitness and comprehension of techniques would differ.
In addition, the official announcement stated that a Pokémon's highest aptitude was S+, and the lowest was F−. Evaluating the aptitude of every single Pokémon required expensive machinery for testing. Such machines were bulky, costly, and time-consuming, so basically only companies or certain institutions within the League were equipped with them.
"Vulpix, Pidgey, Nidoran♂, Machop, Geodude, and so on."
Looking at the rows of meticulously selected Pokémon Eggs with labels attached on the shelves, Ye Qing couldn't help swallowing hard.
At the same time, however, Ye Qing also discovered a problem. According to the descriptions on the nameplates, the aptitude of the Pokémon here was mostly E rank and D rank, with almost nothing above D rank.
Even so, the prices of these Pokémon Eggs were still as high as tens of thousands of yuan.
Ye Dad glanced at the prices, pondered for a moment, and asked, "Are there any other Pokémon Eggs?"
The sales assistant instantly understood the meaning behind those words, smiled, and continued walking further inside, pointing to the shelves in the back as she introduced them. "These have all undergone strict inspection, and we guarantee that every single Pokémon is very healthy."
"Oddish, Sunkern, Caterpie, Magikarp, Sentret..."
Ye Qing cast a glance over them. Compared to the previous ones, the items here were indeed cheaper, ranging anywhere from a few thousand yuan to tens of thousands.
However, among these Pokémon Eggs, only the Magikarp had anything worth looking at, though if he didn't have an Evolution Kick, it would probably be very difficult for him to successfully evolve it.
"System! Golden finger! At least give me one!"
Just as Ye Qing was about to resign himself to fate, his eyes suddenly felt a bit sore, and a few seconds later, a line of information abruptly appeared in his mind.
Pokémon: Magikarp (Level 0)
Aptitude: F~F+ (too many variables during incubation, can be determined after hatching)
Status: Just a healthy egg
Gender: Male
Type: Water
Ability: Swift Swim (When raining or during heavy rain, speed stat becomes twice its original value.)
Held Item: None
Egg Move: None
Basic Move: None
Move Tutor: None
TM: None
Remarks: Although Magikarp is very weak, its reproductive rate is astonishing and its vitality is tenacious. It can survive in no matter how filthy the water is, and can live for a long time even on dry land without water.
"Holy shit! There really is a golden finger! As expected, the numerous transmigrator seniors didn't deceive me!"
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