The armored rhino and the small sandslash trained together, and based on size, the armored rhino should have been the leader. But the armored rhino wasn't that cunning, and since the sandslash was stronger, after spending some time together, the sandslash ended up becoming the "rat boss" of the armored rhino. Seeing this, Wen Qi didn't say anything. After all, the sandslash was older and stronger, so being the leader wasn't a problem. However, if over time the armored rhino's strength surpassed the sandslash's, the sandslash would likely have a tough time. By letting the armored rhino spend more time with the clever sandslash, Wen Qi hoped it might boost the rhino's intelligence.
Wen Qi's last Pokémon was the Noibat he had luckily snagged at the auction earlier. He had been quite happy at the time, thinking that with the Noibat, the farm's nighttime safety would be mostly guaranteed. If it later evolved into a Noivern, its combat ability at night would be even stronger than a pseudo-legendary. That meant Wen Qi essentially had two pseudo-legendaries: Dragonite for the day and Noivern for the night. The Noibat had only recently hatched, and when it was born, its cries were so loud that if Wen Qi hadn't used his psychic powers to protect his ears, he would have been driven crazy. Taking care of the Noibat over the past few days had nearly worn Wen Qi out to the point of a nervous breakdown. As a Dragon-type Pokémon, the Noibat was incredibly energetic and particularly rowdy. Although it didn't grow as slowly as a pseudo-legendary, it was still much slower than other Pokémon, and it would probably take about half a month to get through its infancy.
In truth, this month had been relatively calm and leisurely for Wen Qi. However, in Chunhua City, it was a different story. On the surface, everything seemed peaceful, but beneath it, turmoil was brewing. All of this was because of what Wen Qi had done that night after visiting the black market. That night, the big shot from Box 1 had made it back safely, but the Dratini he had won at auction was stolen. Recalling the battle that night, his Pokémon had been severely injured. If he hadn't given up on the Dratini in time, he probably wouldn't have made it back himself. He had no idea how those people dared to do it. The person in Box 1 was from the Zhao family of Chunhua City. Without considering the authorities, the Zhao family was practically the top clan. Zhao Xianzong, the eldest son of the current Zhao family head, was in his thirties. Barring any accidents, he was basically set to be the next family head. That day at the black market auction, Zhao Xianzong had been overconfident and hadn't brought anyone with him. After the auction, he was too careless, not believing anyone would dare rob him. So when he left, he didn't bother much with hiding his tracks, and because of that negligence, he was ambushed. Although there was a gap between Elite and Gym-level strength, there was no qualitative difference before the Champion level. Before Champion, a few Elite-level Pokémon could take on a Gym-level one, but at Champion level, even a dozen Gym-level ones might not be enough. Even though his Pokémon were stronger than theirs, they had numbers on their side—as the saying goes, many ants can kill an elephant. Despite having several Gym-level Pokémon, he was still forced to abandon the Dratini and flee for his life. After that night, Zhao Xianzong didn't dare to openly investigate the attackers, but he used his family's influence to put some pressure on the police station, making things even harder for Zhou Zhiwen, who was already struggling.
Zhou Zhiwen, the head of the search team, had a tough job. There were too many attackers that night. Even if they weren't all attackers, plenty were just taking advantage of the chaos, and the black market had such a huge flow of people. Everyone had their faces covered, and those who could participate in the attack were all fairly strong. On the surface, an attacker might just be a clan elder or a skilled bounty hunter. Each one had power and connections; he couldn't just go around searching and interrogating people because they used the same Pokémon. If Zhou Zhiwen actually did that, he'd probably have to resign the next day. Everyone was a handful, and it was giving him a massive headache. Still, there was some good news: the person who had snatched the leftovers that night had been identified. After all, the sandslash that appeared that night, with its strength, combined with Zheng Qian disappearing right after the auction, made it easy to track down. But all they knew was that Zheng Qian had left the city that night and vanished into the wilderness. The wilds were vast—how was Zhou Zhiwen supposed to investigate that? So, he couldn't look into the attackers, and he couldn't find the snatcher—nothing was working out. This made his superiors question his investigative abilities. Zhou Zhiwen felt bitter inside. As the head of Search Team One, the position seemed powerful, but he came from a common background. He had only gotten this job because his starter Pokémon had a stroke of luck, going from yellow to green quality. With his careful training, it eventually reached Gym-level. Without that luck, Zhou Zhiwen would have been stuck at level 40 with a yellow-quality Pokémon, forever a low-level search team grunt. It was only after he got stronger and became the search team leader that the League gave him a chance to buy a green-quality Pokémon with points. Plus, he secretly bought one from the black market, and another got lucky with an evolution stone that boosted its quality, allowing him to raise three Elite-level Pokémon. But reaching Gym-level would still take some time. He didn't have the tools Wen Qi had to speed up Pokémon growth; after Elite level, progress slowed down significantly. Don't compare Wen Qi's Pokémon—after Elite level, they could gain several levels in a month thanks to the system and the small world's help. Under normal circumstances, gaining two or three levels a year was good, and that was without considering the bottleneck between Elite and Gym. Not every green-quality Pokémon could reach Gym-level; most got stuck at Elite. Gym-level Pokémon, whether in the wild or in cities, were formidable. In the wild, they could become the ruler of a small forest, and in cities, they could be important officials or gym leaders—big names. The Zhao family had become the top clan in Chunhua City because the Zhao family head was the gym leader of the Chunhua Gym. Though Chunhua City was small, its location was strategically important. The Zhao family head at the Chunhua Gym didn't have Champion-level strength, but he had several pseudo-Champion, level-60 Pokémon, so his power was not to be underestimated.
Zhou Zhiwen was under so much pressure that he sent people out to the wilds every day. But it seemed fate was still on his side. Whether it was his subordinates' luck or something else, they actually found the spot where Wen Qi had fought Zheng Qian. Even though Wen Qi had cleaned it up, he wasn't a professional. Even after using Grassy Terrain to cover it up, traces of the battle were still discovered. They also figured out that it wasn't a fight between wild Pokémon but a human battle. Wen Qi had no idea how they determined it was a human fight—it was just his bad luck.