"Captain Wang, did you find any clues?" Uncle Ye asked, brows knitted tightly as he watched Wang examine the scene in Miss Su's room.
Earlier, with Nidoking and Nidoqueen's arrival, the battle had swiftly turned in their favor. Even setting aside Nidoking, the mere appearance of a Gym Leader-tier Nidoqueen had left the Flying Eagle Gang scrambling.
Seeing the situation deteriorate rapidly, Lin Ke had been forced into a bitter retreat. The cost had been severe: more than half his men had fallen, and even his ace Pokémon, Arbok, had perished while covering their escape.
If Arbok hadn't sacrificed itself, Lin Ke himself might never have escaped alive.
In addition, his Ariados had been seriously injured, and both his Vileplume and Raticate had died, leaving only Sandslash and Golbat still able to fight. After such devastating losses, Lin Ke's position as a hall master in the Flying Eagle Gang was uncertain at best.
After a careful inspection, Captain Wang stood puzzled, muttering quietly to himself, "This doesn't make sense... Their strength shouldn't be so high..."
Hearing Wang's murmuring, Uncle Ye asked again impatiently, "Captain Wang, what did you find? Any clues at all?"
Wang turned around, responding seriously, "Mr. Ye, based on my investigation, the person who kidnapped Miss Su must have had a Psychic-type Pokémon. Only something like [Teleport] could whisk her away so quickly and silently."
"Moreover, the kidnapper instantly subdued the Gym Leader-tier Breloom without even giving it time to react. That Pokémon's strength must be at least Pseudo-Elite Four, perhaps even Elite Four."
"But if Lin Ke had such a powerful ally, why would he retreat in such disgrace?" Wang continued, baffled.
Indeed, if an Elite Four-level Pokémon joined the battle, victory would have easily been theirs—so why resort to underhanded kidnapping? Furthermore, judging from Lin Ke's behavior, he seemed unaware of this kidnapping.
Wang fell deep into thought again.
Uncle Ye listened impatiently, but after hearing no useful information, his face grew even darker.
What should've been a happy victory over the Flying Eagle Gang had suddenly become disastrous—their young miss was kidnapped right under their noses. How could he possibly explain this to the chairwoman?
"Mr. Ye, Captain!"
"Mr. Ye, Captain!"
At this moment, one of the bodyguards rushed up the stairs, clearly agitated.
"Mr. Ye, Captain—Mr. Guo is here!" he panted breathlessly.
Uncle Ye frowned irritably.
"So what if Teacher Guo is here? Is there a need to panic?"
Instead, how will I ever explain this mess to Teacher Guo?
He felt particularly ashamed, having relied heavily on Teacher Guo's Nidoking and Nidoqueen, only to lose Guo's own student.
But before he could worry further, the guard caught his breath and blurted out, "Teacher Guo... he's carrying Miss Su in his arms!"
"What?!"
Both Uncle Ye and Captain Wang exclaimed at once.
Just as they moved toward the stairs, Guo Yi walked calmly into view, Su Qingxue sound asleep in his arms. They opened their mouths to speak, but Guo Yi immediately stopped them.
"Let me put Qingxue to bed first. I'll explain afterward."
Without another word, Guo Yi walked past them into the room.
"Nido!"
Inside, the awakened Nidorina immediately ran up anxiously, staring at her trainer with worried eyes.
Guo Yi gently placed Su Qingxue on the bed, carefully pulling the covers over her. He then reached down and patted Nidorina's head reassuringly.
"Relax. Qingxue's perfectly fine. I still have something to deal with, so I'll leave it to you to protect her."
In truth, after tonight's chaos, no one would dare attack again anytime soon. Guo Yi only spoke this way to ease Nidorina's guilty conscience. After all, being helpless against an enemy—even if it was due to overwhelming strength—could weigh heavily on a Pokémon.
And indeed, after hearing Guo Yi's words, Nidorina immediately straightened up and started pacing the room diligently, looking every bit the faithful bodyguard.
Chuckling softly, Guo Yi stepped out of the room and quietly closed the door behind him.
"Teacher Guo, why was Miss Su with you?"
The instant Guo Yi emerged, Uncle Ye and Captain Wang surrounded him, blurting out the most pressing question on their minds.
Guo Yi quickly summarized the events. Of course, he deliberately omitted and downplayed several details—like Wu Yao's ability to control wild Pokémon, and Gengar's true strength. In his version, Gengar was merely Veteran-tier, and after a fierce battle, his Beedrill finally managed to win and even advanced to Veteran-tier itself.
But Guo Yi hadn't counted on Uncle Ye's hidden safeguard: a Gym Leader-tier Breloom assigned to protect Qingxue. This made his simplified story rather unconvincing.
"Teacher Guo, your story is just too—" Captain Wang was about to call out his obvious lie, but Uncle Ye quickly cut in smoothly.
"—Too wonderful, Teacher Guo! Thanks to you, Miss Su is safe."
"It's getting late, Teacher Guo. Why don't you head back and rest? Leave the aftermath to us."
Guo Yi didn't quite understand why Captain Wang looked so skeptical, but he gladly accepted Uncle Ye's offer.
"All right, then. I'll head back now. Oh, I'll leave Nidoking and Nidoqueen here. If anything happens, feel free to command them."
Yawning slightly, Guo Yi left with Beedrill, heading toward his thatched cottage.
Once he was fully out of earshot, Captain Wang asked incredulously, "Mr. Ye, Teacher Guo was obviously lying—why didn't you let me question him?"
How could a mere Veteran-tier Gengar kidnap Miss Su when a Gym Leader-tier Breloom guarded her? Teacher Guo had clearly fabricated the story!
Uncle Ye shot him a sharp glance.
"Captain Wang, did you forget your own words earlier?"
"You yourself said the Pokémon that kidnapped Miss Su must've been at least Pseudo-Elite Four or even Elite Four-tier. If Teacher Guo only had a single Beedrill, how could he possibly have rescued Miss Su from such an opponent?"
Hearing that, Captain Wang's eyes widened as understanding dawned.
Regardless of whether Teacher Guo's story was entirely true, two undeniable facts remained:
One—Miss Su had indeed been safely rescued.
Two—the Pokémon that kidnapped her was undoubtedly very powerful. Even in the worst case, it had to be at least Gym Leader-tier.
The answer, therefore, became obvious.
Teacher Guo is hiding his true strength!