"Did you hear? Psychic Elite Norman died in that Ruin in the Hara Desert."
"You're kidding, right? Elite Norman was at the peak of Pseudo-Champion level, and he's a Psychic-type on top of that—his ability to escape is top-tier!"
"Wait, there's a Ruin in the Hara Desert?"
"A newly discovered one. They say there were three mid-stage Champion-level Regis inside, and Elite Norman died at their hands."
"Three mid-stage Champion Regis?! Forget Elite Norman—even if Champion Duke himself went, he would be crushed."
"Sigh… our nation has lost a future pillar."
"Elite Norman was at the peak of Pseudo-Champion—maybe even ready to become a Champion this very year."
"Too bad he died in a Ruin just like that."
"You know how dangerous it is to explore newly discovered Ruins and Secret Realms."
Norman was the Psychic-type Elite. His death couldn't be concealed, so it had to be announced to the public—but how it was announced was another matter entirely.
They couldn't exactly go and tell people that one of the nation's top ranked Elite—a respected Psychic master—was in fact a major villain, guilty of countless murders and crimes, and even a secret high-ranking operative for the terrorist Z-Organization.
Revealing the truth outright would not only devastate public morale but also erode trust in the Drakorian government.
How could someone like Norman—a traitor and criminal—rise to such a high position (Psychic-type Elite—a position of real authority) without being discovered?
Who knew what else he had done while holding that title?
Such a revelation would not only destroy public trust domestically, but also make the nation a laughingstock abroad.
So, after deliberation, the authorities decided to conceal the real circumstances of Norman's death.
Only a small number of people knew the truth.
After leaving the Ruin, Julian used what he had seen in Norman's past memories to track down one of his hidden bases.
There, he uncovered a wealth of evidence of Norman's crimes, along with the identities of some of his operatives and allies.
These materials were handed directly to the Elder Council, who, upon reviewing them, were enraged.
It turned out Norman had done far worse in secret than they had imagined.
Over the years, dozens of Advanced-level secret realm outbreaks in Drakoria had been, to some extent, instigated by Norman behind the scenes.
All for the purpose of sparking wars between humans and the Pokémon of the secret realms, so that Chandelure could feed on the souls of those killed in the process of stopping the outbreaks.
And that was just within Drakoria. His manipulations in East Africa (where Drakoria held no jurisdiction) were even worse.
But this was information that could never get out. If the East African nations learned that Norman had played no small part in their ongoing internal conflicts, they would demand reparations from Drakoria on the global stage.
Norman's ability to commit so many atrocities was, of course, not solely his own doing—after all, there were many things one person alone simply couldn't accomplish.
By taking advantage of his official position, he had built an enormous network of connections, many of whose core members were influential veteran trainers.
If you combined the power of these people with Norman's, then this group could have dealt a devastating blow to Drakoria if they had turned against the nation during an invasion.
The Elder Council was both shocked and enraged by this discovery, and immediately organized operatives to secretly arrest all of these individuals.
But none of this concerned Julian anymore. After handing over the evidence, he had returned to Lake City.
However, he didn't go home—instead, he went straight to the headquarters of the Walker Group.
Before coming, he had already notified them to prepare the main conference room. So when Julian entered the conference room, he found Henry waiting alongside dozens of the company's top technical experts.
"Uncle."
Julian spotted Henry the moment he walked in.
His uncle looked younger these days, undoubtedly thanks to his new romance—of course, he also radiated that unmistakable 'sickly-sweet aura' of someone in love.
"Julian!"
Henry strode forward and pulled Julian into a bear hug.
Julian knew exactly what this was about and chuckled. "Uncle, no need to be so polite—just give me some extra pocket money later."
"Alright, I'll have Finance transfer you 100 billion." Henry agreed without hesitation.
The surrounding staff nearly choked.
Since when was "pocket money" measured in billions? Were they serious?!
Still, these were all seasoned professionals from various departments. While they were burning with envy inside, their faces showed little reaction.
Though a few even looked mildly disdainful, as if thinking, 'Only 100 billion? The Chairman's being stingy.'
"Julian, why did you want me to gather all these experts here?" Henry asked curiously.
When he'd received Julian's call, he had immediately summoned the company's top talents he absolutely trusted.
Whatever Julian was about to reveal had to be monumental—and there couldn't be any traitors present.
He had also prepared the equipment Julian had requested.
"Uncle, I've brought you a gift that will make Walker Group the number one corporation in the world," Julian said with a smile.
With that, he gave Metagross a glance.
Metagross floated over to the terminal and began uploading data: magnetic levitation tech, spatial backpack tech, and tenth-generation solar energy tech—copied from the Ruin.
However, the data wasn't complete—Julian withheld the core algorithms. With dozens of people present, he couldn't be sure if all of them could be trusted.
After all, corporate espionage was far too common.
Moreover, these three technologies wouldn't just affect the Walker Group—they would significantly boost Drakoria's national strength too. There was no way they could be allowed to fall into the hands of other countries.
Currently ranked fifth globally, the Walker Group still had a considerable gap to bridge before claiming the top spot. Yet any one of these three technologies alone could propel it to top.
Once Metagross finished transmitting the data, the dozens of assembled experts immediately pulled out their phones to review the synchronized files.
After skimming through the information, gasps of awe quickly filled the room.
"Young Master, where did you obtain this spatial backpack tech? Our R&D team has been researching it for years and only had the vaguest leads—and here it seems you've got the entire set of core data!"
"Magnetic levitation… If we commercialize this, won't traffic jams become a thing of the past?"
"Solar energy tech—wait, isn't that supposed to be outdated? Oh, right, it's tenth-generation… With this, our energy subsidiary alone could become a giant in its own right!"
There were some other technologies included too, but compared to these three, they weren't nearly as significant.
The wave of astonished exclamations made Henry's eyes widen. Hearing their reactions, he instantly grasped the magnitude of what his nephew had just delivered.
His expression tightened instantly—after all, there were dozens of people in the room. Even if he trusted them broadly, he hadn't personally vetted every single one.
If this kid had told him beforehand what exactly he was bringing, he would have brought only a handful of the most trusted people.
"Don't worry, Uncle—the core algorithms are still with me," Julian said calmly.
"Thank goodness."
Henry finally let out a breath of relief.
*****
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