For the first time, Nathan found himself thinking—it wasn't so bad hearing Lily speak again.
"Don't worry. In my eyes, aside from you and Mom, every other woman is just a skeleton!"
At this moment, nothing worked better than calling other women ugly.
Although Lily still looked upset on the surface, deep down she was already fairly certain that Nathan had been wronged.
She was just disappointed that she hadn't heard the words she truly wanted to hear.
"Alright, I need to go home. It's getting late."
Lily stood up and headed toward the door.
Nathan's mother quickly gestured to him, telling him to follow her.
He nodded and followed behind Lily down the stairs.
But just as they reached the ground floor, Nathan spotted Meilin sitting in her car.
She had waited outside for a long time, and the moment she saw Nathan come downstairs, she got out and walked toward him.
At that moment, Nathan's mother also came down and immediately stepped in front of Meilin to block her path.
Silently, Nathan gave his mom a thumbs-up in his mind.
With her blocking the way, Meilin couldn't chase after him—at least for now.
"Auntie, look—I even have a child with Nathan. Why don't we go inside and discuss marriage plans?"
Realizing she couldn't get past the blockade, Meilin promptly switched tactics and targeted a new goal.
"No need to go inside—we can talk right here."
You've got to be kidding. There's no way she'd let that walking disaster into their house.
After escorting Lily to the entrance of her building, Nathan intended to watch her go inside before returning home to deal with Meilin.
But just as she reached the entryway, Lily suddenly stopped and turned around.
"Nathan, what exactly are we?"
She had waited so long, yet those words she wanted to hear never came.
At first, Lily hadn't been in a rush.
But after everything that happened with Meilin, the uncertainty started to bother her.
Sure, Nathan had rejected one or two women—but what if more came?
What if one day he actually liked one of them?
Nathan wasn't dumb. Now that Lily had made her feelings clear, if he still said they were just childhood friends, he might as well find a cliff to jump off of.
"Boyfriend and girlfriend!"
He gave the correct answer without hesitation.
Hearing his words, Lily couldn't help but laugh.
So, he wasn't that dumb after all.
"To be my boyfriend… at the very least, you'd better become a world champion~"
She said playfully, pretending to be troubled.
The moment Nathan heard the first half, his heart clenched—he was worried she was going to set some outrageous demand.
But a world champion? That was easy.
"Don't worry, I'll definitely become a world champion—and you can only be mine!"
Nathan promised seriously.
There were many things he wouldn't dare guarantee,
But when it came to Pokémon, if he wasn't number one, then no one deserved to be.
"Bye-bye~"
Lily turned around and gave him a beautiful departing view as she headed upstairs.
Now that she was finally settled, it was time to deal with Meilin.
Though deep down, Nathan hoped that by the time he got back, his mom had already taken care of that devil.
…
On the way home, an idea suddenly popped into his mind.
When you can't satisfy a woman's desire—change her desire!
He couldn't give her the Pikachu, but he could give her something else.
Sure, Meilin's money could buy most things in the world,
But he had access to the System Store.
There had to be something in there she couldn't buy.
The System Store had all kinds of mythical items—surely one of them could make her go away.
Even before he reached home, he saw Meilin's luxury car still parked outside.
That alone was enough to tell him she'd already gone into the house.
"You're back. She's all yours."
His mother stood up and headed straight to her bedroom.
In just under an hour of dealing with Meilin, she had finally come to understand her son's despair.
It wasn't that young people had strange ways of thinking—
It was that this woman's logic couldn't even be called strange anymore.
It was like a tiny maze with 18 twists every two meters.
…
"Hon—"
"Stop. Speak properly."
The moment Meilin opened her mouth with "Hon—", Nathan immediately cut her off.
"How much?"
Seeing his mother had gone to her room, Meilin dropped the act and got straight to the point.
Nathan had turned her down many times, but… what if he changed his mind?
"I'm not selling you the Pikachu. But I can sell you something else—it's definitely good."
Nathan rubbed his aching head.
Meilin was puzzled.
What could possibly be better than that giant Pikachu?
"What is it, then? Tell me."
She asked.
"The Celestial Flute. One blow and the sound echoes across the sky. It's a Pokémon flute—no matter how bad you are at playing, the music will sound beautiful."
Nathan browsed the System Store as he spoke.
"Tch. Isn't it just a louder flute that sounds nice?"
Meilin scoffed, unimpressed.
"The Celestial Flute can be heard across an entire province.
The Pokémon Flute, once played, will be adored by any Pokémon."
Nathan explained, quoting the System description.
"Oh?! Really? A whole province can hear it?"
Meilin's eyes lit up.
If that was true, then this item had to be incredibly powerful!
Nathan suddenly realized—if a thing like this ended up in this woman's hands, peace wouldn't exist in any province she visited.
But… if he wanted to train peacefully and participate in the world championship, he had to stop thinking about others.
"I'm serious. Just imagine—next time you travel somewhere, you blow the flute the moment you arrive. Wouldn't that be… grand?"
He spoke persuasively.
Seeing her lost in imagination, Nathan's heart lifted with hope.
"Or you could hire someone to compose a signature tune—
Every time people hear that melody, they'll know you have arrived."
It was the first time Nathan had ever abandoned his pride just to shake off a woman.
After a long round of temptation and persuasion, Meilin finally decided to spend 50 million to buy the Celestial Flute.
Of course, in the System Store, the item was only worth about 2 million.
But after all the torment she'd put him through, Nathan couldn't bring himself to sell it cheap.
Meilin wasn't short on money either.
The moment he named the price, her bodyguard made the transfer.
After receiving the money, Nathan returned to his room and purchased the item from the System Store.
"This is the Celestial Flute—an extremely rare treasure. If you lose it, I can't get you another one."
Nathan said solemnly, handing the item over.
"Hold on—if I sell this to you, you must stop bothering my Pikachu."
Just as Meilin was about to take it, Nathan pulled it back.
Annoyed, she scowled—but her excitement over the item quickly overcame it.
"Don't worry. Now that I've got the Celestial Flute, I won't bother you about Pikachu anymore."
She nodded, her eyes fixed greedily on the flute.
With her promise in hand, Nathan finally handed it over.
Just as Meilin touched it, he pulled back one last time.
"Also, clean up those online rumors about me."
"Fine! Are you done yet? If not, I might just give up the flute and go back to buying Pikachu!"
She gritted her teeth, clearly on the verge of snapping.
"Here. Take it. Goodbye. Don't come back."
Eight clear and simple words.
Nathan shoved her out the door and slammed it shut behind her.
She wasn't happy with his attitude—but the item was in her hands now.
And such a rare treasure—of course she had to try it out.
After sending Meilin away, Nathan felt the air grow fresher around him.
As expected, humans and devils simply couldn't coexist.
Even being in the same room was unbearable.
…
From the next day, the online rumors about Nathan gradually disappeared.
As time passed, those stories faded away, buried under new events.
After staying home with Lily for two days, Nathan headed off to a secret realm to help his Pokémon level up.
The Pacific regional tournament was over.
Up next was the World Championship.
It would be a grand competition, featuring top talents from around the globe—
A truly thrilling spectacle.
(End of Chapter)
(TN: Celestial Flute is not same as the Azure Flute mention in the early chapters.)