Chapter 137

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Chapter 137: Pokémon

Jiang Mengwei’s thoughts churned endlessly as she weighed the pros and cons.

In her slumber, Ye Xiao faintly heard the voice of Sister Tongzi.

“Jiang Mengwei affection +40”

“Jiang Mengwei affection -20”

“Current affection: 70. Host, keep up the good work! Reward: 800 strategy points.”

Jiang Mengwei was currently shaping her emotional path, if left unchecked by external forces, she might drift further and further into a one-sided mindset.

Then, faced with these sudden feelings for Ye Xiao, she might feel scared or unwilling to confront them directly. In the end, even though they harbored love for each other, the two would slowly drift apart.

Ye Xiao slowly opened her eyes. Upon seeing the beautiful face of the older girl right in front of her, there was a complicated tangle of emotion in her gaze—conflict mixed with a trace of bitterness.

But just waking up, Ye Xiao’s eyes shone with something else—a kind of wisdom.

Without a second’s hesitation, she slightly lifted her head off the pillow.

Still lost in emotional turmoil, Jiang Mengwei hadn’t reacted yet when she suddenly felt a soft and sweet sensation on her lips.

At the same time came the intoxicating, irresistible citrus fragrance unique to Ye Xiao.

Jiang Mengwei’s eyes widened instantly. The feeling of resistance lasted only 0.001 seconds—before it completely vanished.

If one doesn’t dare to love boldly, then hasn’t this life been lived in vain?

Once she chose to accept it, the love swelling in her heart could no longer be suppressed. It surged wildly in response, flowing through her entire body until it wrapped her up entirely.

“Jiang Mengwei affection +20”

“Current affection: 90. Host, keep going!”

In the music arena, Ye Xiao, who didn’t even have a beautiful singing voice, still managed to win first place with her dexterous fingers and superb technique.

Meanwhile, Jiang Mengwei, who did have a one-of-a-kind voice, was overshadowed by Ye Xiao in the rankings, firmly held to second place.

In this arena with only two participants, Jiang Mengwei sang song after song to vent the emotions in her heart.

It wasn’t until noon, when her stomach began growling with hunger, that the match finally came to an end.

Devoting oneself fully to singing actually demands considerable skill and stamina.

With multiple vocal practice sessions last night, followed by this morning’s competition—even with breaks in between—Jiang Mengwei felt completely drained. Tiny beads of sweat had even started forming on her forehead.

“Xiao Xiao, what do you want for lunch?”

A taller beauty, worn out and lying in the arms of a petite girl—this strange composition almost made one question whether it was real.

—

Ban Hui was feeling a bit anxious today. Ever since her young boss had personally promised to produce a suitable script for her to illustrate, she’d been extremely excited.

But the best timing for releasing a script had long passed, and the young boss still hadn’t shown up with anything in hand.

Could it be that the boss had only been encouraging her back then, and the talk about a script was just a way to make her write one on her own?

Otherwise, how could the boss fail to show up at the company on time with the promised script?

She didn’t know how much time had passed before Ye Xiao finally arrived, late as usual.

After sweeping her gaze over everyone hard at work, Ye Xiao suddenly remembered the promise she had made.

A basic script for a manga—one suitable for all ages and with the potential to become a hit.

A flurry of ideas quickly flashed through her mind.

For a newly debuted Mangaka like Ban Hui to break into the market, she couldn’t follow the same route as everyone else—drawing pretty girls and the like.

That kind of aesthetic fatigue had already taken root in this world, though most manga artists hadn’t realized it yet.

Because of the way the market was, businesses could only produce what they thought would sell, and readers had to consume what was available. From the perspective of the publishers, maintaining the existing art style seemed like the safest bet.

But hidden dangers had already crept in unnoticed.

“Ban Hui, the boss wants to see you.”

“Ah… oh…”

Ban Hui entered the office, extremely nervous in front of Ye Xiao.

Clearly, before Ye Xiao arrived, all she wanted was for her to hurry up so she could witness her boss’s screenwriting ability.

But now, she was inexplicably nervous.

“Ban Hui, I was a bit busy yesterday, so… you don’t mind, right?”

Ye Xiao spoke with a light smile, casually brushing off her failure to deliver the script as just being busy.

“It’s fine, boss. You’re incredibly busy. The manga script can wait a bit.”

Ban Hui pretended to be unconcerned, but facing the boss directly still made her incredibly anxious.

Ye Xiao smiled and took out the manga script she had just exchanged from Sister Tongzi.

This script had cost her a full ten strategy points. It was so detailed it could practically be published as a novel.

When Ban Hui received the thick stack of A4-printed pages—over a hundred in total—she was shocked.

Could this really have been created in just three days?

More likely, the boss had it prepared long ago.

The story was called “Pokémon”.

From the very beginning, it hooked Ban Hui in.

The story opened with a special chapter—a prologue in the style of a side story. Ban Hui had never seen such a format before. It was truly unique.

It began with a young boy named Ash, who lived in a town called Pallet Town. He dreamed of capturing every Pokémon in the world and becoming a Pokémon Master.

One day, after playing with his friends, the young Ash, on his way home, encountered a group of strangers dressed in identical, strange uniforms from outside Pallet Town.

Their goal was to capture the mythical Pokémon—Mew.

—

Before she realized it, Ban Hui had completely immersed herself in what looked at first glance to be a children’s story.

Her face began to flush. She now felt embarrassed for ever doubting whether the boss could deliver a good script—and even worried whether she herself had the skill to illustrate it.

Flipping through a few more pages, she saw that in addition to the story, the script included designs for countless Pokémon. It was a full Pokémon setting guide.

Even the main characters—Ash, Misty, Professor Oak, Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny—all had detailed illustrations and notes.

This wasn’t just a script—it was practically spoon-feeding her.

She didn’t even need to come up with any character designs. All she had to do was draw them as-is.

Meanwhile, Ye Xiao had actually thought about this a lot. Originally, she just wanted to casually put together something like “Cells at Work”, a simple and easy-to-understand educational story for Ban Hui to draw.

But then she remembered—aside from Gu Tingyuan, she had just offended another person: Ye Chen.

That sudden sense of urgency hit her hard.

So, Ye Xiao decided: the most valuable IP on Earth—”Pokémon”—would be born from her hands in this world, starting with this manga.