Chapter 167
Realizing she had been tricked, Feebas quickly turned her back in anger, but she didn't swim away.
Lorze couldn't help but want to smile; even though Feebas was a Pokémon, she was a girl after all, and looking at her now, she clearly needed to be coaxed.
"What's wrong, Feebas? Do you really not want to see me?"
Lorze moved to face her, bringing out his talent for smooth-talking girls, coaxing her patiently.
But Feebas turned her back again, ignoring him like a sulking girlfriend.
"But I really wanted to see you. Look, these are the Pokéblocks I spent two whole days preparing specifically for you."
Lorze pulled out two more boxes of Pokéblocks and waved them in front of her, trying to tempt her with delicacies she couldn't refuse.
But this time, Feebas stayed clear-headed and didn't fall into his trap again, turning her face away once more.
Except she still snuck a glance at the Pokéblocks from time to time, showing she couldn't ignore them entirely.
"Feebas, I know humans deeply hurt your heart before, but there are so many people in the world, and everyone's personality is different. Some people don't like you, but naturally, there are those who will. Just give humanity one last chance and become my Pokémon, okay?" Lorze faced her again, dropping the cheap tricks this time and initiating a direct conquest with absolute sincerity.
Perhaps sometimes sincerity is the ultimate weapon; when Feebas heard that someone actually liked her, she couldn't help but feel a flutter in her heart.
Lorze had dove into the deep water just to find her—was this sincerity not enough to prove his affection?
She should drop some of her prejudices and trust a human one last time, just as he said.
Right as Feebas hesitated, Lorze knew the hook was set and immediately pressed harder: "Since I chose you, I will definitely take full responsibility for you. Come with me, Feebas, I will absolutely help you evolve into Milotic."
Lorze had displayed what seemed like his maximum sincerity, assuming these words would finalize the deal.
Little did he expect... a result did come, but it was entirely contrary to his expectations.
Feebas suddenly snapped her eyes up at him, her gaze burning with pure fury, and then dove violently toward the lake bed, vanishing instantly into a rock crevice and leaving Lorze standing there completely dumbfounded.
Hmph, men. After all that talk, he's still just lusting after my evolved form. He doesn't genuinely like me at all. I will never trust him again!
Lorze: "???"
Wait... what the hell is the situation now?
Why did this Feebas suddenly flip her script? Did I say something wrong again?
Is saying I'll take responsibility for you not enough?
Is saying I'll help you evolve not good enough?
Wait... could this creature actually not want to evolve?
Why wouldn't she want to evolve? Is it because everyone pushes her to become a Milotic, creating a psychological rebellion?
Ah... then he had truly failed to consider that aspect.
At the end of the day, all of Feebas's past misfortunes were indeed tied directly to the name Milotic.
If humans hadn't lusted after Milotic's physical beauty, they wouldn't have dragged her out of the wild for research. Without that ordeal, she wouldn't have cared whether she was ugly or not; she'd just be evading predators every day, living meal-to-meal, and accidentally becoming someone else's lunch.
Cough cough. But a warrior can be killed but not humiliated; she would rather die than be called hideous all day!
So there was a valid reason for Feebas to despise the name Milotic. His constant mention of evolution right to her face was the literal equivalent of tap-dancing in a minefield, wasn't it?
Fine, at least he had unraveled the tiny secret hidden in Feebas's heart, which actually made things much easier moving forward.
Lorze's mind whirled; as an expert manipulator, he instantly thought of a new way to make a girl happy.
He immediately signaled Kirlia to dive down with him, arriving before the rock crevice where Feebas was hiding, and spoke to the silly fish jammed inside: "Feebas, do you actually not want to evolve?"
Feebas didn't answer him, remaining wedged motionless.
"If you didn't want to evolve, you should have told me. I always assumed you craved evolution."
"I'm so sorry for hurting your heart. Perhaps I'm not a qualified Trainer."
"But if you're willing to give me one more chance, I can promise never to demand your evolution. Even if you retain Feebas's appearance forever, I am perfectly willing to keep you by my side, proving to you that even a Feebas can be truly loved."
One had to admit Lorze was a true fuckboy; his scripts for coaxing girls came one after another, to the point where even Xue Yi and the girls spying through the underwater drone almost bought it.
And to put it bluntly, Feebas was basically just a six- or seven-year-old little girl; how sophisticated could her inner mind be?
As long as her heart still feared loneliness and craved acceptance, she was incredibly easy to win over.
Forget Feebas; just look at how many girls who have been thoroughly broken by fuckboys still get swept off their feet by their ghost stories time and time again?
Do they not know that a fuckboy's lies aren't worth believing?
Of course they know!
It's just that their hearts are still anchored to the man, so they desperately hope he might change his ways.
When it came to Feebas, though she didn't know if Lorze's promise was genuine, hearing that he wanted to prove a Feebas could be loved made her inner heart behave like a foolish woman blinded by a fuckboy, actually falling for his words a little bit.
Thus, Feebas's fragile inner defenses wavered once more, leaving her intensely conflicted over whether to trust the fuckboy one last time.
Lorze then dropped his ultimate nuclear option, speaking with a dejected tone: "If you still refuse to believe me, I can also grant you your absolute freedom. From now on, you can just live here in peace."
"Let's leave it at that for now. If you're still willing to accept me, I will be waiting for you on the shore at this exact time tomorrow. I hope you'll manifest; I truly want you."
With that, Lorze floated back to the surface without looking back, completely unconcerned whether the unresponsive Feebas was still pondering, or if she was simply wedged in the rock crevice and couldn't get out...
She was a Pokémon, after all; she wouldn't literally get jammed to death by a rock crevice, right?
Otherwise, she'd probably be laughed to death by the other Pokémon...
The moment he cleared the artificial lake, Xue Yi walked over with her arms crossed, completely immune to the absolute garbage this fuckboy had just spouted underwater.
But just to be sure, she pressed him: "You aren't actually planning to let Feebas skip evolution forever, are you?"
Lorze immediately rolled his eyes at her: "What are you thinking? Can't you tell I'm just making a girl happy? If Feebas doesn't evolve, how is she supposed to compete with those baseline Base Stats?"
"Then how are you going to fulfill those promises?"
"Heh, my promises are always kept, obviously. But girls are simple~; once you coax them into a good mood, they won't give a damn about technicalities or promises anymore. They'll naturally do whatever you want by then."
"Heh, you certainly understand these patterns well. A true fuckboy through and through!"
"And yet don't you happen to love a fuckboy exactly like this?"
"Hmph!"
Xue Yi let out a cold snort, offering no denial.
Who liked fuckboys? The person she happened to love just turned out to be a fuckboy, that was all.
Even to this day, she still couldn't fathom exactly why her heart had flipped for such a degenerate piece of trash in the beginning; it was truly bizarre.
But one had to admit this fuckboy's approach was undeniably lethal; before they could even step away from the area, a yellow fish broke the surface of the water.
See? Girls just need to be coaxed, and hadn't he just completely reeled her in?