Elf: Starts with small diamonds, then mutates into Diancie.

In the end, Bai Du is just like him. On the surface, they seem to be going all out, but in reality, they have countless hidden cards in their hands.

What a damn old hag.

Today he finally got a glimpse of the strength of one of the world's top combat forces.

Actually, he just laughed out loud because Su Hao had been playing chess with Articuno during this time, using waveguides to simulate a chessboard.

He had just deliberately won by half a point over Articuno, and watched with a squinted eye and a look of pleasure as Articuno went from victory in sight to disbelief and then to scratching its head in frustration.

Only then did he laugh out loud happily.

However, while overwhelming victories may feel good in the moment, if you do it too often, your opponents will stop playing with you.

After much thought, Su Hao felt that the best strategy was to use benefits as bait, supplemented by a seemingly surmountable power imbalance.

After all, Articuno itself wanted to take a break during its "work" period to return to its own secret habitat to see the little birds.

The very generous Su Hao said that as long as Articuno beats him on the chessboard, he will not only grant Articuno a vacation, but he will even go to Articuno's house with him.

I'm such a good person...

------------

small theater:

Wearing a safety helmet, the middle-aged man with a weathered appearance gaped open, exclaiming incredulously, "What...what is this?!"

Zhang Tiedan, an ordinary construction worker, worked his way up to become the foreman of a renovation team after a long time.

Because their company has a good reputation in Chengdu, the renovation and repair work of Taikoo Arena was assigned to their small company.

In the afternoon, just as the renovation project was nearing completion and only needed some minor repairs before he could leave work early to enjoy the warmth of his wife and children, he suddenly received a notification.

"The higher-ups issued an order to give everyone the afternoon off, and the rest of the work can be done as soon as possible tomorrow morning."

Two hours later, when he finally went home happily,

Just as I sat down to take a sip of hot tea, I received a call from my superiors—

"Holiday canceled. We will work through the night to repair the Taigu Arena battlefield."

Thus, Zhang Tiedan, who hadn't even had a sip of hot tea, had to rush to the Taigu Arena again.

However, the scene that unfolded before his eyes made him suddenly feel dizzy...

The entire battle arena was either ravaged by a giant beast or struck by a meteorite. Even the base, made of special materials and supposedly able to withstand the aftershocks of attacks from Gym-level Pokémon, lay pitifully to the side.

A strong wind blew by, leaving Zhang Tiedan and his group of workers bewildered in the wind.

However, we still have to get things done.

Who can resist five times the salary...?

------------

A hybrid of Gardevoir and Gallade, a Paradoxical type Iron Warrior with Fairy/Fighting attributes.

Chapter 222 Undercurrent

"Hello, is this Lao Liao?"

High in the sky, Baidu, riding a majestic and imposing Dragonite, leisurely made a phone call.

On the other end of the phone was Liao Xingchen, Bai Du's peer and the current champion of the Shenzhou League.

"Well, aren't you in Chengdu? What do you need me for?"

A deep, magnetic, pleasant male voice came through the microphone, and Bai Du's features scrunched up. He looked so uncomfortable that he held the phone a little further away.

A moment later, Bai Du brought the phone closer again and complained, "What I can't stand the most is your voice. I don't know how many girls and boys you've fooled."

Hearing Bai Du's complaint, Liao Xingchen seemed to have unloaded some burden, and her tone suddenly became casual: "After all, I was just working, and my voice isn't ready for business right away. What's up? If not, I'm hanging up."

Bai Du looked at him with a pained expression and said, "Ugh, so I really don't understand why you would accept the perfect champion persona. I definitely couldn't do it. It's much easier to pretend with a cold face."

Liao Xingchen hit Bai Du's sore spot and said, "Your turn? Let's talk about it when you beat me once."

At this point, Bai Du immediately woke up, looking at him with a "you just wait and see" expression, and snorted, "Hmph, that's not necessarily true. Once I come out of seclusion, your advantage will be completely gone~"

Liao Xingchen perked up and asked curiously, "Oh? Did you finally find them all?"

"I guess so. I've gathered almost everything, and I even found a promising talent. Even I accidentally messed things up." Bai Du's tone unconsciously carried a hint of self-deprecation.

Liao Xingchen's eyes lit up, and she instantly sprang up from the beanbag chair, her tone becoming joyful: "Who is the other party? Since you've already failed, you must already have the strength to challenge for the championship path and become our candidate successor, right?"

Bai Du's old rival knew his strength very well. It was unlikely that sending out an ace would result in such a silent defeat. That meant that the other person's strength had not yet fully challenged him, which was why Bai Du said he had found a promising talent.

"The road to the championship? It's probably still a long way off, maybe six, seven, or eight years from now."

Bai Du waved his hand and continued, "But it seems the Great Britain Alliance has made a breakthrough?"

Bai Du deliberately changed the subject; he didn't want his old rival, Liao Xingchen, to know that he had lost to a high school student.

Upon hearing Bai Du's question, Liao Xingchen's expression and tone became serious: "Yes, we have made a breakthrough. It is said that the thing can also affect the strength of Pokémon, but because their secrecy measures are very good, there is no way to know the specific details."

"However, it should be related to those Pokémon that mysteriously grow to gigantic size, because they have recently been trying to add related rules to the World Championship."

Du joked, "Maybe we'll see their Elite Four and Champion Pokémon grow several times bigger on the field?"

"It's hard to say, but since you have the opportunity to further improve your strength, that's a great thing. The tasks you haven't finished can be shared by the rest of us. Go and break through quickly."

"Okay, that's it then, I'm hanging up~"

After chatting for so long, Liao Xingchen roughly understood why Bai Du had called him.

I just want to take a vacation, it's no big deal.

It's just changing his 24-hour workday to 25 hours; it's not a big problem.

He was still somewhat worried; his intuition told him that the Great Britain Union was hiding something extraordinary.

Now all we can do is try our best to improve the team's strength. The World Championship, with its two formats, is not a place for individual heroes; teamwork is indispensable.

Many leagues have also seen the emergence of many new talents in recent years. Although they are not yet able to surpass the five of them in terms of strength, they will be unable to participate after this year due to age restrictions. At that time, new players will be needed, and this rule cannot be changed.

After all, this rule brought them many conveniences when the Shenzhou Alliance was not yet powerful.

There is no age limit for the Four Heavenly Kings' championship title, and they will not choose to relinquish their positions until someone defeats them with sheer strength.

The reason there are so many "Four Heavenly Kings" and champions in the World Championships is simply because they are all highly skilled.

Having reached the World Championship stage, the title of one of the Four Heavenly Kings and the championship are naturally within reach.

......

At 6 p.m. on June 3, a hotel room in Chengdu was transformed into a temporary meeting room.

The four finalists from different groups in Yangcheng were sitting together, listening to their team leader Zhong Li's request for a pre-match meeting.

"I won't go into too much detail, but I'll briefly talk about your next opponent."

"First of all, Li Hua, you seem to be having a lot of luck lately. Among the entire group, your group's opponents aren't too strong. They're three elite-level early-stage Ground-type specializers. If you can't take them down, you'll be in big trouble!"

"Jiang Chengcheng, your opponent is a Fighting-type trainer just like you, only slightly weaker than you. We'll talk about it in more detail later."

"Kong Lingwei, the opponent is a Ghost-type trainer. You must be extremely careful."

"And then there's Su Hao..."

At this point, Zhong Li took off her reading glasses and rubbed her temples with a terrible headache.

The daytime was so exciting, it almost scared her to death.

After rubbing her temples, Zhong Li moved on to her brows. Rubbing her brows, she continued, "Since you say your Blazing Roaring Tiger is at the professional level, then I can understand your purpose a little."

"You want to send out the Blazing Roaring Tiger to show its power and strike the opponent from both physical and mental levels. The difference in strength and the instant kill can directly convey the idea that you have been holding back all along. Otherwise, sending out the Blazing Roaring Tiger directly would be a sweeping victory."

Zhong Li sighed helplessly as she finished speaking, "Since you're so confident, I won't stop you too much. But when you and your ace go out to fight, remember not to reveal too much beforehand. Try to fight without showing your trump cards."

Li Hua and Jiang Chengcheng: "Pfft..."

Forgive them; after watching the game earlier today, they simply couldn't hold back anymore.

Zhong Li glared at them both and continued worriedly, "Because... I heard that another region also has professional-level Pokémon participating this year."

Su Hao became interested and tilted his head curiously, asking, "Which region has produced a professional-level Pokémon?"

Zhong Li closed her eyes and recalled, "The capital city..."

Su Hao rested his chin on his hands and said meaningfully, "Wow~"

"In short, the post you sent last night has generated a lot of buzz. It's gotten to the point where most of the attention in the Sichuan region is focused on your battle tomorrow, and even other regions are watching."

"Your real stage should be the finals, not the regional qualifiers here. Try to fight without revealing your trump cards in advance... even if you can't kill in three moves."

"In the end, the winner takes all, and the opponent's temporary triumph means nothing."

Zhong Li's biggest worry was that in order to withstand Su Hao's offensive, Cang Yun would choose to go into complete defense.

His nut dumbbell is excellent in terms of durability, and with the rain nerf, Incineroar might not be able to one-shot him.

"Don't worry, Teacher Zhong, I have absolute confidence," Su Hao reassured Zhong Li.

A clown is just a clown after all; there's no need to worry about it.

He hasn't paid any attention to this matter since posting that message.