“You shouldn’t have to bear all this blame!” Ling Fei insisted.
Just two short sentences, and the people present immediately imagined a million-word web novel.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t understand either?”
“So, there’s a secret behind A Li’s retirement?”
…
Ling Fei patiently waited until everyone quieted down before speaking.
“One of the reasons A Li retired back then was that he sacrificed his personal interests for the Kingdom,” Ling Fei said with emotion. “Perhaps everyone still remembers the situation of our Kingdom back then.”
“Due to lingering issues from the last century, although our Kingdom developed very rapidly, it still faced many difficulties, the most important of which was advanced Pokémon battle technology.”
“At that time, all Kingdom had fully invested in researching powers like Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, and Dynamax. I believe after so many years, everyone has seen the importance of these powers to Trainers.”
“It can be said that any one of these abilities can qualitatively change the strength of an Elite Level or Champion Level player. However, at that time, our Kingdom still did not pay attention to this issue, but instead focused all its attention on building military capabilities.”
“By the time we noticed this, we had already suffered great losses in international competitions.”
“In fact, the public might have noticed this, but what you didn’t see was that in the military exercises of various Kingdom at that time, our Kingdom also suffered greatly because of it, and our results plummeted.”
“A more intuitive point is that a few years ago, our borders began to become unstable, and the surrounding small Kingdom even started to bully us. This is the most direct result.”
“However, A Li, with his individual strength, overpowered players from all Kingdom and swept all honors related to Pokémon battles, which also dealt a great blow to other Kingdom.”
“In a sense, the Pokémon battle event is no longer an Olympic sport; it’s more like a military exercise for each Kingdom.”
“Losing in table tennis or swimming might only mean losing some honor, but losing in a military exercise represents the strength or weakness of a Kingdom.”
As Ling Fei explained, everyone gradually realized the true significance of the Pokémon battles they usually watched.
The audience also began to discuss amongst themselves.
“No wonder all Kingdom are so diligent in demonstrating their strength in Pokémon battles. This is not only battle honor but also represents the national power of a Kingdom.”
“So, what does it mean that A Li overpowered all Kingdom to become the strongest active Champion back then?”
…
Ling Fei continued, “When A Li emerged, he completely broke the previous balance. In the past, world-class sports events were about everyone sharing medals, but as soon as A Li appeared, whether it was individual or team, the opponents had almost no room to resist.”
“No one believed that a genius like A Li would appear in the world to contend with him, and facts have shown that after so many years, everyone’s idea was correct.”
“Therefore, the Kingdom of the world, led by the United States, tried various methods to suppress A Li. This is also why the rules of the World Tournament kept changing in those years.”
“Until finally, they found that these restrictions were completely useless. A Li was not only not suppressed but instead showed a dominance far beyond ordinary people.”
“Finally, out of helplessness, they brought out the most advanced Pokémon technology from various Kingdom to share with us in exchange for A Li’s retirement.”
Ling Fei, in one breath, explained all the international factors behind Mu Li’s retirement.
The stage immediately fell silent.
After a long time, applause began to ring out, growing louder and louder, even starting to include whistles.
“A Li!! Amazing!!!”
“So that’s how it is!! Those Kingdom are truly shameless!!”
“This also shows A Li’s importance!!”
“Invincible!!!”
…
Seeing everyone like this, Mu Li felt a bit embarrassed.
He was about to say something but was interrupted by Ling Fei again.
This old man, who knew whose home turf it was today?
“Actually…” The audience quieted down again after hearing Ling Fei’s words. “Actually, this is only a small part of the reason.”
Ling Fei smiled and continued, “For us, those advanced Pokémon battle technologies actually didn’t have that strong an effect.”
The audience members were all dumbfounded.
Didn’t he just say they were very important?
Didn’t it even affect military exercises?
Ling Fei shook his head and said, “Actually, because A Li researched a series of battle tactics, the existence of these tactics directly compensated for the disadvantages caused by the lack of advanced technology. By the third year of A Li’s debut, various armies had already begun to implement the battle tactics A Li researched, and the results were unexpectedly good.”
“So, everyone at the time unanimously felt that those advanced technologies would be researched out sooner or later anyway, so there was no need for A Li to sacrifice himself.”
At this point, a bitter smile inevitably appeared on Ling Fei’s face: “But in the end, it was A Li himself who proposed his retirement.”
The audience immediately fell silent.
Didn’t they say he was forced to retire?
How did it become a voluntary retirement again?
Did our A Li not suffer any grievances back then?
Or did A Li throw a tantrum back then?
…
Ling Fei explained with a bitter smile, “I was like you back then, asking him many questions at once. The most important of which was that question—why did you retire?”
Yes, why retire?
A Li was at the peak of his career back then!
“At that time, he only answered me with one sentence, and I even remember how he looked then.” Ling Fei sighed, shaking his head slightly, “He said, ‘Teacher, I’m a bit tired of it.’”
The audience was somewhat confused.
Tired of it? What does ‘tired of it’ mean?
Wasn’t becoming the strongest Pokémon Trainer A Li’s dream?
Or was he pushed too hard by the frequent competitions?
“Actually, I also can’t understand why someone would get tired of pursuing their dream,” Ling Fei sighed. “I asked him then, ‘What is your dream?’”
“A Li said, ‘To become the strongest Pokémon Trainer in the world.’”
“I immediately retorted, ‘Then why do you feel tired? Isn’t the process of pursuing a dream the most interesting part?’”
Ling Fei smiled, looking at Mu Li, and continued, “I still remember how he answered me then, ‘But Teacher, I’m already the strongest Trainer in the world!’”
“I was stunned at the time, and I thought, ‘How dare you say that, kid?’”
“It wasn’t until later that I found out this kid had secretly gone to fight Austan a while ago.”
“The final result was, out of ten matches, he won eight, Austan won one, and one was a draw.”
Ling Fei smiled, “Everyone here is Chinese, so you should know what such a record means.”
The audience present was once again in shock, and then, a deafening clamor erupted in the venue.
