Pokémon, Ash's art style is off!

He turned back to look at the exam terminal in front of him. The screen was lit up, and the first question was already displayed.

I only glanced at the question before I locked onto an answer.

Tap your finger lightly to move on to the next question.

Take another look, then click again.

A series of gasps of surprise came from behind me.

"Hiss—so that's how you answer this question?!"

"The answer is actually like this? Option C was a trap...?"

"This speed... I've never seen anything like it! It's absolutely terrifying..."

Xiao Zhi ignored them, his eyes blazing, his fingers never stopping.

The problems that once stumped countless challengers were child's play for him, who had studied at Oak's Labs.

Answers to simple questions.

In less than five minutes, the progress bar on the screen reached the end.

"Ding—Congratulations, you have completed all the questions. Score: 100 points."

A cheap firework effect exploded on the screen, with pixelation as low as an arcade game from the last century, but at that moment, no one noticed it.

"Perfect score?!"

"real or fake?!"

"I've been queuing here for a month, and this is the first time I've ever seen a perfect score!"

The crowd immediately erupted in uproar.

Xiao Zhi's expression remained quite calm.

To be fair, some of the questions were indeed quite difficult; even he had to look at them for a few extra seconds before he could answer them.

Just as everyone was discussing this, a dull "boom" sound rang out.

At the far end of the hall, the heavy metal door that had been tightly closed slowly slid open to both sides, revealing a corridor leading deeper into the hall.

The second door opened.

Ash stood up and, under the watchful eyes of everyone, strode toward the door.

Xiaogang and Xiaoxia exchanged a glance and immediately followed.

However, they had only taken two steps when the uncle behind them hurriedly called out.

"Hey, wait a minute! That one can only be in for one person at a time!"

To prevent challengers from getting a free ride.

The gate will automatically close as soon as it detects someone passing through.

Sure enough, after Ash stepped over the threshold, the heavy metal door began to close, emitting a low mechanical creak, and it was now only half a body length away.

But Xiaoxia just smiled.

A mere metal door!

"Ash!"

Having understood Xia's meaning, Xiaozhi easily reached out and stopped the metal door from closing.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, with just a slight effort, Xiao Zhi forcefully pushed the door, which weighed several hundred pounds, open it again.

The two of them went inside, and only then did Xiaozhi let go of his hand.

The door slammed shut with a loud bang, causing the entire ground to tremble slightly.

Outside the door—

Dozens of people looked at each other in bewilderment.

The uncle's mouth was open, and he couldn't close it for a long time.

"He...he...he just pulled it off like that?" His voice was dry, as if it were being squeezed out of his throat.

Could it be... that this door is actually easy to open, and it's just for show?

He walked to the door, tentatively reached out and grabbed the crack, pulling hard to pull it out.

His knuckles gripped the gap, the veins on his arms bulging, his face flushed red, but the door remained unmoved.

He changed positions several times, using his shoulder to push and his feet to kick.

The door remained as solid as a mountain.

"This doesn't make sense..."

The middle-aged man muttered to himself, his face full of confusion.

The boy just now used only one hand to hold the door open, so how come it's like he's welded shut now?

Could it be that old man Xia Bo heard me chirping behind his back again today?

180. Ha! I knew it!

The three of them passed through the gate and entered the second level, continuing their journey.

But before they had gone very far, only forty or fifty steps, the passage abruptly ended.

At the end of the road is a closed wooden door.

Xiao Zhi walked up and gave him a push.

The door creaked open, but the sight before them stunned the three men and the mouse.

"This..." Xiaoxia blinked several times, looking around, "This is the battle arena of the Crimson Lotus Gym?"

"It's completely different from what I imagined..."

“Pikachu…”

As far as the eye could see, there was no crater as one might have imagined.

There was also no lava arena with churning magma.

There was no scorching hot floor like the kind that could bake you alive if you stepped on it.

This is just an ordinary indoor battle arena.

The rectangular space was neatly marked with white lines, and the lights in the four corners illuminated the entire space.

There were even several rows of plastic seats on the sidelines, making it look like an auxiliary hall of a municipal stadium, outrageously ordinary.

If I had to point out something worth mentioning, it would probably be that there was a deck chair placed on one side of the venue.

A person is lying on the recliner.

No, to be precise, it was a blond old man.

He was reclining in a chair, wearing a loose dojo uniform, with an ordinary face beneath his thick hair.

At this moment, he had his hands folded on his stomach, his breathing even, and his chest rising and falling rhythmically.

They appear to be enjoying a rather pleasant afternoon nap.

On the small table next to the recliner was an empty, chilled drink, with water droplets clinging to the outside of the glass, indicating it had just been taken out.

"Is that the owner of the Xia family?"

Xiaoxia asked in a low voice.

"I think so..."

Xiao Gang answered in a low voice as well.

"Senior!" Ash took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Are you Gym Leader Blaine?"

He roared loudly.

The person on the recliner visibly trembled and almost fell off.

Blair frantically steadied himself, barely managing to avoid making a fool of himself. He opened his sleepy eyes, his gaze sweeping over the three of them, and then—

"Ok?"

Blair's voice carried obvious surprise.

He instinctively sat up straight.

He rubbed his eyes, looked at it again, and his expression changed from confusion to bewilderment, and then from bewilderment to shock.

"How...did you get in?"

Xiao Zhi was taken aback by the question, scratched his head, but still answered honestly.

"Of course we walked in."

"Pikachu".

Pikachu puffed out its chest.

Xiao Zhi walked in.

But the mouse arrived in its own vehicle!

Blaine: "?"

Is that what he meant?

What's wrong with young people these days?!

"After passing the first round of written tests, the door opened automatically, so we were able to come in."

As the most reliable of the three in normal times, Xiao Gang added a sentence.

Xia Bo didn't speak. His gaze passed over the three of them, glanced at the door behind them, then looked away, his brows furrowing even more.

"That's not right..."

He muttered something to himself, then, as if remembering something, pulled a tablet from beside the recliner and began swiping his fingers across the screen rapidly.