Bobo flew back to the gate first. Zhou Zhiwen saw Bobo return and bark at him a few times. Though he didn't fully grasp the meaning, he could roughly understand that it meant his owner would be here soon.
Zhou Zhiwen waited there, and before long, he saw Wen Qi riding over on his Gogoat. From a distance, Wen Qi noticed the person at the gate—someone he didn't recognize—but the Arcanine beside him was indeed powerful, as Bobo had said, no weaker than his own Gogoat.
Fortunately, even though Wen Qi's system couldn't check human information, seeing this person at the gate gave him the impression that he wasn't a bad guy. The aura about him felt familiar, somewhat like what he'd sensed at the police station before.
But this startled Wen Qi, and his mind raced in an instant. Had his earlier dealings with Zheng Qian been exposed? No, that couldn't be—he'd handled it cleanly. Even if the body had been found, there were no traces linking back to him. How could they have tracked him down?
In that split second, Wen Qi thought through many possibilities, concluding that he probably hadn't been discovered. If he had, there would be more than just one person here today. Besides, if they were coming to arrest him, they wouldn't bother being so polite—they'd just barge in.
So he needed to stay calm, absolutely not show any weakness in front of this man. As long as he kept his composure, didn't get nervous or agitated, and most importantly, didn't bring out his Dratini, they'd have no evidence, and he'd be safe.
After mentally planning this out, Wen Qi looked at Zhou Zhiwen and said, "Hello, sir. I'm Wen Qi. May I ask what brings you here? This must be our first meeting."
Zhou Zhiwen studied the young Wen Qi before him and replied, "Hello, I'm Zhou Zhiwen from the City Bureau's Investigation Team. We've recently discovered that your parents' deaths may have other circumstances, so I'm here today to inform you of the specifics."
Hearing it was about his parents, Wen Qi relaxed a bit, though he remained cautious—this could just be a pretext to probe him. Still, since this was someone from the city investigation team and it concerned his parents, he couldn't keep the man standing at the gate. He said, "Officer Zhou, you've gone to the trouble of coming all this way for my parents' matter, and here I am leaving you at the door—how embarrassing. Please, come in for some tea, and we can talk slowly."
Zhou Zhiwen was also keen to interact more with Wen Qi, so he didn't refuse and followed him inside. Along the way, they made small talk about the farm's situation.
Wen Qi didn't lead Zhou Zhiwen to the villa but instead to a pavilion. After they sat down, a Bellossom brought over two cups of tea and then went to the side to watch a show. The Bellossom seemed to enjoy the environment near the big tree and usually spent its free time there binge-watching.
Zhou Zhiwen watched curiously as the Bellossom skillfully picked up a tablet, snacking on desserts while watching a show. Pointing at the Bellossom, he said to Wen Qi, "Your way of raising Pokémon is quite unique—I've never seen anything like it."
Wen Qi gave an awkward smile at Zhou Zhiwen's comment and explained casually, "My Bellossom doesn't really like battles and isn't keen on training. It's more like my head housekeeper—mainly cooks, cleans, and spends the rest of its time watching shows or scrolling through videos."
The Bellossom shot Wen Qi a sour look. Lately, it had grown increasingly disdainful of him—he did nothing all day and just lazed around. He'd promised to find other Pokémon to help with the chores, but a month had passed, and he still hadn't. Now the Bellossom was quite unhappy and had plenty of complaints. Especially in the past few days, it had become even more fed up with Wen Qi. He knew why and, feeling guilty, didn't dare say much. If not for the guest today, he wouldn't have even dreamed of getting the Bellossom to pour him tea.
Wen Qi thought to himself that after handling today's matters, he'd go find a household-type Pokémon tomorrow to share the chores, so the Bellossom would stop giving him the cold shoulder.
With Zhou Zhiwen present, Wen Qi couldn't dwell on other things, but he still intended to ask Zhou Zhiwen thoroughly about his parents' situation. Even though he wasn't the original Wen Qi, since he now inhabited this body, he had to take responsibility. He didn't know his parents in this life, but as their son, if he learned their deaths were suspicious and didn't investigate or ask, he wouldn't be able to live with himself. Since Zhou Zhiwen had come today to say their deaths were questionable, he would pursue the truth. If they were killed by someone, he would seek revenge, as a way to repay the karma of this body.
Wen Qi took the initiative to ask, "Officer Zhou, you said my parents' deaths were suspicious? Wasn't it a plane crash? What could be wrong? Was it caused by human interference?"
Zhou Zhiwen sipped his tea and replied, "Your parents did die in a plane crash—that's correct. But you're right about one thing: the crash was man-made, not an accident. At first, we thought it was accidental, but during a recent operation, we uncovered something fishy. The earlier crash wasn't an accident. I can't tell you the specifics of that operation, but I can say the crash was orchestrated by a dark organization. Your parents were just unlucky to be on that plane, caught in the crossfire, leading to the crash and their deaths."
Wen Qi asked curiously, "Then why didn't you tell me this before, but you're telling me now? Isn't that a bit contradictory?"
After saying this, Wen Qi stared intently at Zhou Zhiwen, waiting for his explanation. Zhou Zhiwen knew it was indeed contradictory—keeping the truth from Wen Qi earlier and now coming specifically to reveal it seemed abnormal, as if there was a purpose. Before coming, he'd anticipated Wen Qi would ask this, so he'd prepared an answer.
In fact, when Zhou Zhiwen arrived at the farm and saw Wen Qi in person, he knew this young man was no ordinary person. It wasn't just because of his impressive Gogoat, but more so his overall demeanor. How to describe it? It was like he had absolute confidence in everything—carefree and unrestrained. Zhou Zhiwen couldn't figure out where this aura came from. Even the Champion-level trainers he'd occasionally encountered hadn't given him this feeling. Yet here it was, emanating from Wen Qi, who wasn't even as strong as him. It was strange, and he wondered what gave Wen Qi such confidence.