Since household Pokémon don’t need exceptional aptitude, they’re mostly red or orange in quality, so their strength is relatively low. However, their prices are quite steep. Typically, Pokémon with red or orange aptitude cost just a few thousand to tens of thousands, but after training at a household company, their value can increase tenfold or more, with the lowest price starting at one to two hundred thousand, and better ones reaching four to five hundred thousand. Among them, Indeedee is the rarest and naturally the most expensive. A yellow-quality Indeedee could cost nearly a million!
Before long, the employee brought five Audino and five Mr. Mime before Wen Qi. Although Wen Qi didn’t care much about the aptitude of household Pokémon, having higher aptitude was still beneficial. He inspected these ten Pokémon and found that eight were red-quality, with only two being orange-quality. It seemed that even in the household industry, which didn’t emphasize aptitude much, yellow-quality Pokémon were still scarce. The two orange-quality ones were an Audino and a Mr. Mime. For some reason, looking at them, Wen Qi felt they were lacking, their aptitude too low. So he asked, “Do you have any yellow-quality household Pokémon here? Either an Audino or a Mr. Mime would do.”
Hearing this, the employee immediately knew this was a big client and quickly replied, “Yes, we do.” However, yellow-quality ones were precious; if the gentleman wanted to see them, he’d have to follow him to the back room. With that, Wen Qi followed him to the rear room. The employee asked Wen Qi to wait there while he went to notify the supervisor to arrange the Pokémon. Wen Qi didn’t wait long before the employee returned with a middle-aged bald man.
Zhao Ji was a supervisor at this household shop, usually resting in his office. Ordinary transactions didn’t require his presence; he only came out for clients spending over five hundred thousand. Though Zhao Ji saw a young man in the room, dressed modestly and not like someone from a wealthy family, as a supervisor, he had long moved past judging by appearances. He cheerfully greeted Wen Qi and exchanged pleasantries. Zhao Ji brought out five Poké Balls, releasing three Audino and two Mr. Mime. He said, “These five are carefully trained by our shop, each with yellow-quality aptitude. Here are the certification papers for you to check. Every one of them has been meticulously trained and is a master at household chores.”
After hearing Zhao Ji’s words, Wen Qi thoroughly examined the five Pokémon, confirming they were all yellow-quality as stated. He then asked about each Pokémon’s specific skills, like what they excelled at in household tasks. After listening, Wen Qi thought for a moment and finally chose an Audino that was good at cooking and a Mr. Mime that was best at cleaning. Once he made his choice, they haggled over the price for a while, eventually reducing it from the original 1.2 million to 1 million. After paying, Wen Qi didn’t linger and returned home with the two Pokémon.
Back home, Wen Qi released the two Pokémon. The Audino and Mr. Mime looked at him without any fuss, obeying him perfectly. These household Pokémon were specially trained; as long as they weren’t mistreated, they’d behave well. Wen Qi communicated with them, assigning the Audino to handle grocery shopping and cooking, and the Mr. Mime to take care of cleaning and tidying up. The room had been cleaned once by Wen Qi before, but in their eyes, that was substandard. As the Mr. Mime started cleaning, Wen Qi explained his eating habits to the Audino, introduced the surroundings—where to buy things, where to go, and where not to go. He also gave them some money for future household purchases. Since these basics were covered in their training, Wen Qi only gave a brief overview before leaving them at home and heading to the battle hall with his Growlithe.
Arriving at the Cold Front Battle Hall, where he’d met Li Xiang before, Wen Qi recalled that Li Xiang had said it was run by a relative and he worked there. Now it seemed “working” was just an excuse to battle. After their last meeting, Li Xiang had insisted on giving Wen Qi a membership card for this hall. Wen Qi hadn’t planned to take it, but Li Xiang forced it on him, and later Wen Qi figured he’d need many opponents, so accepting the card was fine. Today, when he first came, he only had a Turtwig, a little level-10 Pokémon. This time, things were completely different; he focused on training, and besides Grotle and Dratini, his other Pokémon had also improved. Grotle’s size was now too exaggerated to be seen by many, as it might attract unwanted attention, and the same went for Dratini—his current strength couldn’t protect them yet.
Showing his membership card to the staff, Wen Qi asked for a battle room, choosing a three-on-three format with Pokémon levels not exceeding intermediate.
Wang Qi was a social drifter. After high school, like Wen Qi, he didn’t go to college, though Wen Qi chose not to, while Wang Qi failed the entrance exams. Over a year had passed since then; luckily, his family ran a business and had some money. Seeing their son idle after graduation, his parents, when the time came, exchanged the reserved starter Pokémon for him. Having a Pokémon indeed captured Wang Qi’s interest; he stopped loafing around and trained his Pokémon daily at home. Now, over a year later, his original Squirtle had evolved into a Wartortle, now at level 28. Not only that, he’d also caught a Pidgey, now at level 20, and his family bought him a Phanpy, which he’d only had for a short while, currently around level 13 or 14.
Today, he came to the nearby Cold Front Battle Hall, a place he knew well and frequented. The staff recognized him, and since he often battled there, he’d gotten a membership card. Upon arrival, Wang Qi grinned and asked the pretty receptionist, “Hey, beauty, any good opponents today? Preferably someone new, someone suitable for me.”
The receptionist was used to Wang Qi’s slick talk. If he weren’t a member, she’d ignore him, but the customer was king. After a moment, she said, “A young man came today, also a member, but I haven’t seen him before. He’s about your age and has a Growlithe with him. You might be interested.”
Hearing about the Growlithe, Wang Qi got excited. Trainers with Growlithe were rare, and even rarer were those to battle. This was a chance he couldn’t miss. He asked, “So, has he started battling yet? Any opponent arranged? If not, put me in.”
The receptionist saw that Wang Qi’s strength matched Wen Qi’s requirements, and since no opponent had been arranged yet, she had someone lead Wang Qi to Wen Qi’s battle room. Wen Qi had expected to wait a while, given his specific demands, but within ten minutes, Wang Qi walked in.