Pokémon: Master System.

"Master, your disciple wishes you a Happy New Year." Xia Yu's reaction was quite quick. He instinctively felt uneasy looking at Long Fan's expression and immediately wished him a Happy New Year.

Seeing Xia Yu's actions, Long Yanning couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Long Fan's anger was largely dispelled by Xia Yu's words. If it weren't for maintaining his master's dignity, he probably would have laughed out loud.

"Don't give me that." Long Fan looked at Xia Yu and asked, "Where did you guys go last night? Why are you only coming back now?"

"Master, please let me explain." Xia Yu quickly spoke up, vividly recounting his experience from the previous night.

"Last night we accidentally entered a dream world..."

Xia Yu kept the part about the Iron Warrior and his reward, but told Long Fan everything else that happened without reservation, including the story of the divine beast man.

Xia Yu changed the storyline from Iron Warriors defeating Articuno to Dream Goddess appearing to save them.

Long Fan's expression grew increasingly serious as Xia Yu recounted the story, especially when he heard about the appearance of the priests; he broke out in a cold sweat. If it weren't for the help of the Dream God, he might never have seen his daughter again.

Long Fan began to reflect in his heart. If something really happened to his daughter, he would hate himself for the rest of his life. Perhaps he shouldn't have restricted their relationship; as long as he kept it within reasonable limits, it would have been fine.

"Master. Master." Xia Yu interrupted Long Fan's thoughts.

"Have you told anyone else about this?" Long Fan asked Xia Yu with a serious expression.

Xia Yu and Long Yanning were unaware of the organization called the Priests, but Long Fan was. Every official member of the Priests was extremely powerful; even he was no match for one.

Anything becomes complicated once it involves the clergy.

"No," Xia Yu replied.

"Don't tell anyone about this," Long Fan said. "From today onwards, you need to be more careful about your safety. Leave the rest to me. Also, if you see anyone wearing a crying mask, remember to run away immediately. Dream God won't always be there to help you!"

Xia Yu scoffed. Without the God of Dreams, he would have beaten the priest to a pulp long ago.

…………

A few days later.

Xia Yu returned to his normal life. Looking at the smiles on the faces of his classmates in the training camp, Xia Yu felt as if the Dream Realm incident had never happened. However, the Dream Fruit, Crescent Feather, and Gastly's Pokémon Egg in the system space were all reminding Xia Yu that this was not a dream.

Another major event recently occurred around Xia Yu.

That means my cousin Lin Yueheng has gone missing! His car and a hostess have also disappeared along with him.

After reviewing the surveillance footage, the Pokémon Association discovered that Lin Yueheng spent several hours in her bar before driving off with a hostess towards a country road. After that, the surveillance cameras stopped recording her, and she and her car disappeared.

The news of his beloved son's disappearance turned Lin Xueyun, who was over fifty years old, gray with worry. He once thought that his son had been kidnapped, but the kidnappers had not even made a phone call in the past few days, and an ominous feeling rose in Lin Xueyun's heart.

After searching for several days, there was still no news of Lin Yueheng. Lin Xueyun became increasingly haggard, as if she had aged decades overnight.

After hearing about Lin Yueheng's disappearance, Xia Yu discovered that Lin Yueheng's disappearance occurred on the night of the Dreamland. Combining this with the last place he drove to, Xia Yu had a rough idea of ​​the real reason for Lin Yueheng's disappearance.

It is highly likely that Lin Yueheng accidentally entered the Dream Realm and died there.

Even if Xia Yu knew Lin Yueheng's whereabouts, he couldn't tell Lin Xueyun, because revealing the truth about Lin Yueheng's disappearance would expose his visit to the Dreamland and cause even more trouble.

Moreover, even if we take a step back and say that telling the eldest uncle about Lin Yueheng's death might not necessarily be a good thing for him, he might not be able to accept the news of his beloved son's death and suffer an even greater blow.

It's better to leave my uncle with a sliver of hope; disappearance is better than death.

Xia Yu looked at his uncle Lin Xueyun, whose hair had turned white with worry, and sighed slightly. He could only silently apologize in his heart.

…………

In such a tense atmosphere, time passed quickly, and before we knew it, it was the end of February. The training course officially came to an end, and Xia Yu boarded a plane back to Xishu Province to participate in the annual University Cup competition.

Xia Yu remembered that half a year ago, when he arrived in the capital, he only had three Pokémon: Nombat, Charmander, and Grovyle. Now, he had caught a total of ten Pokémon: Nombat, Charizard, Sceptile, Dragapult, Axew, Bagon, Scorbunny, Indeedee, Gastly, and Ironhide.

Speaking of Iron Warrior, once it regained its senses, it didn't show much hostility towards Xia Yu, and even obeyed Xia Yu's commands to a certain extent.

This made Xia Yu quite gratified; it wasn't for nothing that he had commanded Gallade to go up and block two attacks for it in the secret realm. He still had a conscience.

Xia Yu currently has ten Pokémon.

Team One: Buzzbat at the peak of Lord level, Lizard King at the peak of Lord level, Charizard at the peak of Lord level, Dragapult Messiah at the overlord level, Axew just broke through to Lord level, and Baby Dragon at the elite level.

In Xia Yu's team of Pokémon, the core main force remains Sceptile, Charizard, and Nombat. The remaining three Pokémon—Shiny Dragapult Mercia, Axew, and Bagon—have limited strength and need more time to grow.

As for Xia Yu's second team of Pokémon, none of them have made a public appearance so far. Xia Yu has also decided to keep all the Pokémon in his second team hidden and train them into his own secret weapons.

The eldest brother in the second team is naturally a champion-level Iron Warrior.

Secondly, there's the newly hatched Aiguanshi, but its strength has already reached the rare level, and its growth rate is extremely fast due to the effect of the Crescent Feather.

Next is Shiny Gastly. With its Ghost type, it can naturally absorb the core energy of the Punishment Pot to accelerate its growth. Its current strength is the same as Indeedee, both being Rare-class.

Xia Yu roughly estimated that the remaining Ghost-type core power in the Punishment Pot was just enough for two Pokémon. If another Ghost-type Pokémon were added, it wouldn't be enough.

Finally, there's Scorbunny, who has now broken through to the Rare tier and is ranked last.

…………

Inside an apartment in the capital city.

Lin Xueyun, with her withered face and gray hair, stared intently at the man opposite her wearing a black and white mask. If Su Ye were here, he would have noticed that this man bore a striking resemblance to the Hu Di man who attacked the Dragon-type Secret Realm.

"Who are you? Didn't you say you had news of my son?" Lin Xueyun's voice was tinged with exhaustion, as if all her energy had been drained away. "Where is my son?"

"Director Lin," the masked man said, his voice hoarse, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but your son is probably already dead."

"Who are you? Don't talk nonsense." Lin Xueyun's voice trembled, but he still tried his best to keep his voice calm: "My son is just missing, he's not dead."

“Director Lin, I understand your feelings. I am a father myself.” The mysterious man spoke softly, his tone cold: “But Director Lin, I have no reason to lie to you. Your son is indeed dead, he died in the Dream Realm.”

"The Dreamland?" Lin Xueyun's pupils dilated in shock. Of course, he knew what kind of place the Dreamland was: "How could my son go to such a place?"

"Your son was unlucky; he accidentally stumbled into a dreamlike realm." The mysterious male footballer sighed, his tone full of regret: "I hope you can accept reality."

"Impossible! Where's the evidence? I need to see the person alive or dead! Don't spout nonsense here!" Lin Xueyun shouted hoarsely.

"Director Lin, I've already told you the truth. Whether you believe it or not is up to you. But the reason I asked you to meet me privately this time is not only to tell you about your son's whereabouts, but also because there's something else I need to tell you."

"What is it?" Lin Xueyun asked, frowning.

"Xia Yu and Long Yanning also went to the Dream Realm that night and came back alive. I heard that your son had a conflict with Xia Yu."

"Look, it's such a coincidence that your son and Xia Yu had a conflict, they both accidentally entered the Dream Realm, and as a result, your son died, but Xia Yu came back alive."

"Director Lin."

"Don't you think about it? Judging from the time and place your son disappeared, it's not hard to tell that he must have accidentally entered the Dreamland."

"Then why did Xia Yu hide the matter of the Dream Realm from you, and hide the whereabouts of your son, and not tell you until now?"

The mysterious middle-aged man's words were like the whispers of a devil, pulling Lin Xueyun into an abyss.

"There is only one possibility: Xia Yu killed your son in the secret realm."

…………

Chapter 187 Starlight City

The capital city, the Xiao family.

The day before the start of the University Cup.

"Is there any movement from Lin Xueyun's side?" Xiao Wanyu asked, looking at the middle-aged man standing to the side, as she lay lazily on the sofa, her charming voice ringing out.

Xiao Wanyu has many identities: the richest woman in Shanghai, the queen of fairies in South China, the most charming married woman, etc., but she only has two of the most mysterious identities.

One was a collaborator with the Dawn Society, and the other was a prospective priest. These two identities were also her greatest secrets.

Xiao Wanyu frowned, her face full of worry. Since the second half of last year, she had been experiencing a series of misfortunes.

First, there's the long-sought-after Jar of Punishment. We finally found some information, but a mysterious person beat us to it, and we still don't have the Jar of Punishment.

Without the Judgment Jar, Xiao Wanyu had no way to use the Dark-type core energy within it to attract Darkrai, and therefore could not capture it.

This means that without a divine beast, even with her great strength, she is not qualified to become a formal member of the priesthood.

Xiao Wanyu really couldn't imagine who could get the news about the Punishment Jar earlier than her, find its location earlier, and take it away ahead of time.

Could it be someone else among the priests? Xiao Wanyu had been anxious about this for a long time.

Immediately after hearing that the Dawn Society was preparing to launch a surprise attack on the Dragon Realm, Xiao Wanyu also planned to have her butler, Liu Yunhan, cooperate with the Dawn Society to take advantage of the opportunity and get a share of the spoils.

To everyone's surprise, Liu Yunhan thought he had found some valuable experimental notes in Xia Yu's dormitory, but what he found in the end was the classic "Rich Woman Game Theory".

Even now, when Xiao Wanyu thinks of Xia Yu's words and the seductive portrait he drew of her, her cheeks burn and she feels a burning hatred. The only good news, however, is that she discovered Xia Yu has a shimmering Doronmesia in the group photo he brought back.

From that time on, Xiao Wanyu began to pay attention to Xia Yu. With Xia Yu's scientific research talent, those powerful Pokémon, his own trainer skills, and his daughter's liking for him, Xia Yu was undoubtedly an excellent candidate for son-in-law.

Therefore, after watching Xia Yu and Li Miao's battle some time ago, and witnessing the powerful lizard king in that fight, Xiao Wanyu felt even more strongly that Xia Yu was the most suitable son-in-law.

So even though Xia Yu had done that to her, she still suppressed her hatred and shame and tried to be nice to him, reminding him to choose the Treasure Spirit's egg.

As a result, Xia Yu took the coins from the money spirit, ignored what she said, and directly chose a servant spirit egg.

The series of setbacks made her wonder if she had been too impatient lately. Then, a month ago, Priest-12 brought back some explosive news.

Xia Yu possesses a mysterious Pokémon that rivals a legendary Pokémon, and he battled Priest-12 in the Dreamland, defeating Priest-12 head-on.

According to Priest-12 himself, Xia Yu's Pokémon is like a combination of Gallade and Gardevoir, and it is full of technological features.

This news ignited the entire priest organization. Although Priest-12 was the weakest of the official members of the priest organization, he should not have been defeated by a young upstart like Xia Yu.

Regarding Xia Yu, the priestly organization is now divided into two factions. One faction supports recruiting Xia Yu, arguing that both his scientific research abilities and his strength are valuable to the priests. The other faction supports assassinating Xia Yu directly.