Chapter 156: That Night I Got Lost
When Arthur was rescued by Levi and his team, the injuries on his body were truly not light.
Added to that, the breath he had been holding tightly when his life hung by a thread previously was suddenly released, and his entire mind felt dizzy. When asked about the cause, he subconsciously answered truthfully.
It wasn't until he was speaking about the crucial part that he suddenly had a jolt, remembering that the truth about Oliver being a puppet couldn't be casually spoken of; that was, after all, a mess created by his own Specter...
So, he paused midway through speaking and changed "accidentally bumped into a dead person" to "it's also possible I slipped my hand."
However, if he hadn't changed it, it would have been one thing; once he changed his words, the flavor of it completely transformed.
At that time, when the live broadcast footage was transmitted back, the Alliance side immediately exploded into an uproar!
But initially, most people were still half-believing, half-doubting.
No matter how you put it, previously, whether it was Arthur stumbling upon the Stitched Shadow Army hijacking the ship, or getting lost and mistakenly entering the firefight scene in the slums, both could still be explained as passive participation.
Yet this time, it directly transformed into him taking the initiative to attack, running to someone else's territory and slaughtering the number one leader of an international terrorist organization!
Wasn't this accelerator key being pressed a bit too fast?
Even with the throttle welded to the floor, you wouldn't get this kind of speed!
At the time, the barrage comments were still predominantly filled with question marks.
Message boards and forums were also a battlefield of verbal brawls; netizens seemed to be bragging fiercely, but in reality, they were all just hyping things up for fun, not minding the drama.
It wasn't until many days later, after the military had inquired about intelligence through multiple channels, that more and more evidence began to confirm to them: the Stitched Shadow Army had indeed undergone a major change!
Oliver was dead, Dayna had taken over!
This had already become an iron-clad fact!
In this process, Dayna, far away in the enemy camp, even conveniently gave Arthur an assist.
Because within the Stitched Shadow Army organization, there were, after all, still many underlings loyal to the leader and unaware of the truth. Dayna, in order to smoothly seize power, similarly did not publicize the truth about Oliver being a puppet, and, in tacit agreement with Arthur, kept this secret.
Externally, she only claimed that the leader had died under the despicable sneak attack of a Kubfu Alliance person, and incidentally, also used Kubfu Alliance, this powerful external enemy, to strengthen the organization's cohesion.
In terms of consolidating the hearts of the people, Dayna, this woman, had always been a professional.
As a result, this was tantamount to verifying Arthur's previous statement in a disguised form.
Oliver had died that night at the hands of a young Kubfu Alliance man, killed by a sneak attack from him and his Pokémon!
This news, within a week, had already spread throughout the entire world! Even the official spokesperson of the White Eagle Alliance across the ocean publicly issued a condemnation regarding this.
The White Eagle Alliance even condemned it.
That means Kubfu Alliance really did it!
This chain of logic had been verified countless times in the past; it was very reasonable and self-consistent.
Thus, the countless onlooking netizens of the Kubfu Alliance could no longer doubt Arthur's astonishing statement.
For a moment, the forums, message boards, and Starbo within the Alliance once again exploded!
"That Night I Got Lost" quickly became a hot search keyword on Starbo, at one point topping the list and dominantly holding its position.
Countless people enthusiastically began to discuss where exactly Arthur had gotten lost that one night, and what kind of 'getting lost' it was.
So much so that within Kubfu Alliance territory, a Pokémon competition club named "Elk" was consequently implicated; overnight, its official Starbo account received over a hundred thousand replies of "Elk is Awesome!"
This forced the club's public relations department to come out and issue a statement, solemnly declaring: Elk did not participate in the killing of the Stitched Shadow Army leader; Elk really knows nothing...
For a long period of time thereafter, various robbery and gunfight-type videos online would frequently have such barrage comments pop up:
"Someone needs to get lost here."
"There is one person currently getting lost."
"Getting lost, getting lost..."
However, Arthur, far away in the Star Brilliance Alliance, was unaware of all these developments.
At this moment, his entire body was wrapped up like a zongzi (glutinous rice dumpling). He was lying in a hospital bed, with nothing much to do each day except stare at the ceiling while on an IV drip, occasionally chatting a bit with his Pokémon.
For the first few days, Frogadier lay in a child-sized hospital bed next to him. Man and frog, lying side by side every day, looking up at the same piece of ceiling; the scene was, for some reason, inexplicably harmonious...
Subsequently, after his injuries had stabilized somewhat, people began to visit him one after another.
The first to come was ranger captain David.
By now, even if David were any duller, he should have guessed that Arthur coming to volunteer wasn't really about wanting to be a ranger at all.
"You kid are something else, huh? This 'getting lost' trip of yours... I'm afraid you came prepared from the very beginning, didn't you?"
Arthur, lying in the hospital bed, managed a weak smile, tacitly admitting it.
"Forget it. Anyway, I long guessed that with your skills, you wouldn't be a proper volunteer. Letting you be a ranger truly was a waste of your talent."
"These past few days, the poacher case has already gone to court; we should be leaving too. You just continue recovering here. Later, military personnel should come to take you back. Raymond is also around; if you need anything, just find him. Anyway, he'll be your big brother-in-law sooner or later."
After speaking, David dashingly turned his head, and with a posture he considered very cool, brought two fingers together to his temple in a salute from behind his back, then left without turning his head again.
Leaving Arthur lying in bed completely baffled, unable to even press for clarification.
Wait a minute...
Where did this 'big brother-in-law' talk come from?!
It wasn't until a few days later, when Levi from the military came to visit again, that Arthur finally understood the reason behind it.
Actually, there was originally nothing much between him and Monica. The two had previously, in Lavender Town, through a fateful coincidence, gone to the Ghost Tower together. However, unfortunately, Raymond, this sister-complexed brother, was too sensitive, guarding against him day and night. As a result, he "achieved his wish" by making everyone around them misunderstand...
Levi came over and first inquired Arthur about some details from the battlefield that night, verifying with him one by one the gunmen Arthur had killed in the trenches, stating that any merit due to him would absolutely not be shortchanged.
After official business was concluded, Levi said jokingly, "In a couple of days, it's our family's grandfather's big birthday. That girl Monica will also be returning home. Little friend Arthur, would you also like to come join us for a meal?"
"..."
Arthur looked at Levi with unfocused eyes.
His face an expression of "What in the devil are you talking about?"
Levi immediately burst out laughing, "Don't worry, don't worry! This isn't to rush you to meet the parents. I know it's still early; we won't interfere in you young people's affairs, no interference. It's just that this time, didn't you accidentally get lost and become a Kubfu Alliance hero? Grandfather sincerely invites you over; he wants to meet you."
"Oh, right. The family's Eevee also had cubs. Grandfather said, if little friend Arthur is interested, after you go over, if you happen to hit it off by fated connection, you can pick one to take with you."
Arthur was momentarily speechless as well.
This Levi was an uncle almost rushing forty, yet unexpectedly, he was still quite trendy; this "got lost" meme also rolled right off his tongue.
One look and you could tell he usually surfed the net quite a lot.
However, suddenly hearing about Eevee did arouse some interest in Arthur.
Two hundred years ago, he had also raised an Eevee.
"Your family's Eevee, is it very special?" he asked.
Levi's face revealed surprise.
"Eh, Arthur, you don't know? Our family's Eevee is a descendant of a meritorious Pokémon! Its earliest ancestor was passed down from Marshal Everhart's (Lyneth Everhart's) Leafeon from two hundred years ago! That Leafeon was said to have been inherited by Marshal Lin back then from her master: the youngest Elite Four member in Alliance history, Elite Four Arthur."
"Right, speaking of which, you're also called Arthur. You share the same name as that historical genius of a generation."
"..."
Arthur was momentarily speechless as well.
Indeed. Not just the same name.
It's even the same person.
(End of Chapter)
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