Su Bai's suggestion was like opening a brand-new door for the rookie trainers.
Especially for Zhang Qun, who had just received a pseudo-legendary—his eyes immediately lit up with excitement.
"Store Manager Su Bai, that's a brilliant idea! Let's form a team!"
"As long as you're all willing to team up with me for missions, I'll cover all the potion costs!"
As he spoke, he turned to Su Bai again, offering his gleaming gold card with both hands.
"Store Manager, please give me a few full sets of healing items!"
As a businessman's son, his mindset was a bit different from that of a typical Awakened.
His Gible was a pseudo-legendary in its juvenile stage.
Sure, "pseudo-legendary" sounded powerful—but didn't the store manager just explain how difficult they were to train early on?
With all the low-level missions basically wiped out by Wang Tao and his Turtwig, trying to level up Gible through battle alone was too risky.
But Gible's current combat power was far from enough to take on even slightly harder missions.
So what could he do other than cling to a strong ally?
And in his eyes, Wang Tao—the man who had rampaged through weak beasts with his Turtwig—was practically a golden thigh to hug tight.
Su Bai took the card and glanced at the group.
Wang Tao scratched his head with a sheepish grin.
"If you're covering all the potions, then… I guess I'm in."
His Turtwig had already evolved into Grotle. While its defense was stellar, its offensive power left a lot to be desired.
Going solo as a tank would require tons of recovery items.
Having a rich guy willing to foot the bill? Not a bad deal at all.
Liu Yunlan and Murong Nan exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.
Liu Yunlan shrugged.
"I don't really need your potions, but I am curious to see how strong a pseudo-legend becomes later."
"So, sure. Let's team up!"
They didn't lack the money for recovery items. The problem was that low-level missions were gone.
Even if they teamed up, Chimchar and Piplup probably couldn't survive being swarmed by D or even C-rank dead beasts.
At best, they'd be badly injured.
But with Grotle—the walking tank—in the front lines? That changed everything.
Su Bai smiled and nodded. He quickly swiped Zhang Qun's card, prepared a hefty bundle of potions, and handed them back along with the card.
"Well then, best of luck out there."
This world was nothing like the peaceful one Su Bai had come from.
With dead beasts roaming everywhere, the danger level was constantly sky-high.
In a normal world, Pokémon could gradually gain strength and evolve over time.
But here, in a high-powered society where nearly everyone awakened abilities…
Pokémon didn't have the luxury of growing slowly.
Once an Awakened outgrew their Pokémon's usefulness in battle, the Pokémon's role would shrink drastically.
And that was not the future Su Bai envisioned.
In his world, Pokémon would be the main force, while humans—Awakened or not—just needed to survive alongside them.
His Su Pet Shop would change the fate of this entire world.
____________________________________
Two days later.
Inside Su Pet Shop…
"This Psyduck you pulled is a Water-type Pokémon—quite a solid one."
Su Bai said with a professional smile to a provocatively dressed girl in front of him.
"That'll be 500,000 Federal Credits. Would you like to pay by card or cash?"
The girl's excited look instantly vanished the moment she heard the price.
"F-Five hundred thousand?!"
In the small shop, her shrill voice practically shook the walls.
"Are you robbing people or what?!"
"Why does a pet cost so much? Is it made of gold?!"
BANG!
The shop door slammed shut behind her, echoing with rage and disbelief.
Su Bai's commercial smile collapsed in an instant.
"Melo~ Meloetta~~"
Meloetta flew up to him with concern, gently nudging his frowning forehead with her own.
Su Bai sighed, patting her head.
"People still don't understand the value of Pokémon…"
"Looks like I really do need to run some ads soon."
He muttered, annoyed.
"Liu Yunshuang's using her Jigglypuff already, but she still hasn't advertised for me."
"At this rate, I'll only finish the Pokédex upgrade by next Lunar New Year."
He let out a long sigh.
Over the past two days, the squad of rookie trainers—fully stocked with potions—hadn't returned even once.
Zhang Qun, the walking ATM, had made a massive purchase, giving Su Bai a nice profit.
But it also made the shop feel unusually… empty.
The few customers who did show up usually left as soon as they saw the price tags.
That girl from earlier? Honestly, her reaction was one of the more polite ones.
"Oh? Did I just hear someone talking behind my back?"
Just as Su Bai finished muttering to himself, the shop door opened again.
A gentle, melodic voice floated in with a teasing lilt.
Su Bai looked up to see a tall, elegant figure—Liu Yunshuang—with a chubby pink puffball sitting on her shoulder, smiling brightly.
Caught red-handed gossiping, Su Bai felt a little awkward.
He quickly stood up.
"Well well, look who it is—our celebrity's here!"
"No, no, you must've misheard. Why would I say anything bad about you?"
"Puuuu~ Puff~"
Jigglypuff let out a series of curious and whimsical sounds, staring right at Su Bai.
Liu Yunshuang gently cradled Jigglypuff and laughed.
"She says you're lying, and your face doesn't even turn red when you do it."
Su Bai scratched his head awkwardly.
Fairy-types always had these strange little abilities.
Especially Jigglypuff—sometimes it could even sense people's emotions.
Still, wasn't it a little rude to call him out like that?
Liu Yunshuang chuckled.
"Relax. You were just complaining I haven't advertised your shop, weren't you?"
"But if I did run ads, you'd be even more annoyed."
"Your little shop wouldn't be able to handle all the window shoppers."
Su Bai blinked.
Wait… she had a point.
He hadn't set up any customer screening or scheduling. Visitors came entirely by chance.
Most people, once they saw the prices, would probably just turn and leave.
Realizing this, Su Bai suddenly felt like he'd seen the light.
Liu Yunshuang smirked at his dazed expression.
"Looks like our Store Manager Su doesn't know much about doing business."
"Do you know why I came today?"
Su Bai made a guess.
"Out of potions? Running low on Pokéblocks? Berries used up?"
"No, wait. You bought enough to feed Jigglypuff for a month."
Liu Yunshuang's shopping habits put Zhang Qun to shame.
After all, she was spending her own hard-earned money.
Even the hungriest Jigglypuff wouldn't burn through supplies that fast.
Liu Yunshuang waved her hand.
"Nope, none of that. Tomorrow is my little sister's ranking match."
"I came to see if she's improved."
"Also… I'm waiting for someone."
Su Bai blinked.
"Oh, right—the ranking matches are tomorrow."
Since leaving Hai City First High School, he hadn't paid attention to school events at all.
It had only been a few days since his awakening failed… but that life already felt like a distant memory.
Still… waiting for someone?
Su Bai frowned.
"Why wait at my tiny shop?"
"Wouldn't home be better?"
The Liu family's estate was located right here in Hai City—a literal mansion!
Why would she leave her luxurious villa just to wait at this modest little shop?
Liu Yunshuang smiled slyly.
"Wait at home? But my house doesn't sell Pokémon."
"Store Manager Su, I'm here to bring you business."