[Viewer "Fist of Justice": W streamer! Just for saying "The platform takes a cut, don't let the old man waste his money," I'm a fan for life! What streamer nowadays isn't trying to fleece the elderly? Bro's morals are top-notch!]
[Viewer "Dancer on the Keyboard": Insta-subbed! Regardless of whether this Caterpie lives or dies, I completely trust the streamer! True positive energy!]
[Viewer "Manager Ruby": Sticking to your bottom line and not being blinded by immediate profit. Little Miles, you've really matured. I didn't misjudge you.]
[Viewer "Overflowing with Love Meow Meow": The master is so gentle, boohoo. Grandpa, don't worry. We will all supervise this. If this brother and sister really have difficulties, we'll figure out a way to help them later!]
[Viewer "Outlaw John Doe": Damn it, I take back my insults from earlier. Someone with this kind of awareness definitely isn't a lying scammer. Master, if you say it has an ancient royal bloodline, I'll believe you this once!]
[Viewer "Melon Eater Doesn't Mind the Drama": It's over, I feel like my IQ is getting trampled by the streamer again. Could this broken bug really have some hidden secret?]
[Viewer "Wild Electabuzz": Stop baiting us! Since it's top-tier, and since it has an ancient royal bloodline, show us some hard evidence, streamer! We can't be convinced by just words!]
Just as the prevailing wind in the live chat began to shift from pure insults to anticipation and half-belief, a series of visually striking official gift effects exploded across the screen!
[System Prompt: User "League Police - Officer Barrett" has sent you the gift "Shield of Justice" x1!]
[System Prompt: User "League Police - Officer Barrett" has sent you the gift "Shield of Justice" x2!]
[System Prompt: User "League Police - Officer Barrett" has sent you the gift "Shield of Justice" x3!]
"Oh my! Officer Barrett? Why did you go and spend money?" Miles asked politely, though the smile pulling at the corners of his mouth was completely uncontainable.
This was a blue-check verified official account from the Pokémon League!
Even though these "Shields of Justice" were free daily props distributed by government accounts to liven up streams and were technically worthless, an official account dropping gifts at this critical juncture was undoubtedly equivalent to handing Miles a gold medal of immunity and an official endorsement.
Prompted by the official account's interaction, the platform's big data algorithms instantly caught the abnormal activity in the livestream.
Rumble!
A massive wave of fresh traffic flooded directly into the stream!
The concurrent viewer count skyrocketed from fifteen hundred, breaking straight through the three thousand mark!
And it was still climbing at a terrifying speed!
[Viewer "Passerby A": I came over from Officer Barrett's stream! I heard there's a cheating streamer here who can see through Mythical Pokémon at a glance?]
[Viewer "Passerby B": Front row seats! A stream verified by a cop feels incredibly safe!]
[Viewer "Passerby C": Is this the absolute madman who trashed a whole sack of Caterpie but treats a half-dead, sickly bug like a treasure? I've got to see this!]
Watching the densely packed chat feed that was moving so fast it caused the stream to lag, Miles took a deep breath.
He knew the perfect moment to reveal the answer had arrived.
"Good evening to all friends, new and old. I am your all-around Pokémon appraisal streamer," Miles stated plainly.
He dropped his smile, his gaze piercing the camera lens. His entire demeanor exuded a professional aura that commanded respect.
"Many people are questioning me. They say I'm senile, that I'm calling a deer a horse, and that I'm hyping up a defective reject—one that's about to starve to death because it can't fight for food—into some ancient royal bloodline."
He leaned closer to the microphone.
"But have you ever carefully thought about a question that completely defies biological common sense?"
Miles raised a single finger, his voice resonating powerfully in the quiet room.
"This woodshed at Little One's house might be dirty and messy, but as you all just saw, the ground is scattered with uneaten, rotting cabbage and mulberry leaves. There is absolutely no shortage of food!"
"As bottom-tier Bug-type Pokémon, Caterpie have extremely docile and timid temperaments. They rarely engage in life-or-death struggles over territory."
"No matter how scrawny this Caterpie is, as long as it has a mouth, simply picking up two leftover leaves in the corner would absolutely keep it from starving into this skin-and-bones state!"
Miles's questioning hit everyone like a heavy blow to the head.
He was right!
Food was everywhere, and Caterpie weren't carnivorous beasts. Even if it couldn't snatch fresh leaves, eating scraps would be enough to maintain its vital signs. How could it be starving to the point of deformation?
[Viewer "No Drinking Late at Night": Hiss—that actually makes sense! Could it be that it's not skinny from starvation, but contracted some parasite that sucked away all its nutrients?]
[Viewer "Holmes on the Keyboard": The streamer's angle is very tricky. If it's sick and can't absorb nutrients, then it's still a useless bug. What does that have to do with being top-tier?]
[Viewer "Outlaw John Doe": Master, stop keeping us in suspense! My thirst for knowledge is completely hooked. What exactly is going on with it?]
[Viewer "Lost Fawn in the Woods": Could it... could it have used its nutrients for something else?!]
[Viewer "Manager Ruby": Little Miles, your observation is indeed meticulous. Since external factors are ruled out, the cause must be its own internal consumption. What exactly is it consuming?]
[Viewer "Wild Electabuzz": I bet a gifted sub the streamer is about to drop a word that will shatter our worldviews!]
[Viewer "Kindergarten Meal Snatcher": Mom, save me! I'm watching an appraisal stream but it feels like a suspense thriller!]
Seeing that the viewers' thoughts had been perfectly guided into place, Miles couldn't suppress the smug curve of his lips any longer.
"That fan named 'Lost Fawn in the Woods', you are very smart. You've guessed the edge of the truth."
Miles snapped his fingers, dropping a bombshell guaranteed to detonate the entire internet.
"It indeed used all the nutrients it consumed for something else. Furthermore, it's a near-masochistic, extreme conversion!"
"This Caterpie isn't just a Bug-type, or rather, it is attempting to break through the limits of the Bug-type!"
"According to my hypothesis, a one-in-ten-million lightning mutation has awakened deep within its genes! Only this mutation can explain its malnutrition."
"In a terrifyingly abnormal manner, it has completely bypassed the laws of its species, converting ninety-nine percent of its caloric and nutrient intake into highly concentrated biological electrical energy!"
Miles narrowed his eyes.
"And since it is biological electrical energy, there is a very high probability that it is weaving a web of destruction made of pure lightning right within its own body!"
"Therefore, this Caterpie, which can't even crawl, might have innately mastered a cross-tier Electric-type ultimate move that would make all low-level Pokémon tremble in fear..."
"[Electroweb]!!!"
Boom!
As soon as the word "Electroweb" was spoken, the entire livestream instantly fell into a frenzied shock comparable to a magnitude-twelve earthquake!
If the "ancient royal bloodline" from earlier was just an ethereal adjective, then [Electroweb]—a concrete, tangible, and devastatingly powerful Electric-type move—was like a heavy hammer smashing everyone's Pokémon common sense to pieces!
[Viewer "Wild Electabuzz": Holy crap!!! Electroweb?! Are you freaking kidding me?! I spent over a hundred thousand dollars buying a Technical machine for my Pikachu and special-trained it for three months, and it still hasn't learned Electroweb! You're telling me an unweaned Caterpie knows it innately?!]
[Viewer "No Drinking Late at Night": Insane! This world has gone completely insane! A bug mastering a high-tier Electric-type move? That's totally busted!]
[Viewer "Holmes on the Keyboard": My scientific worldview just shattered... But if that's really the case, then the reason for its extreme emaciation makes perfect sense! Creating high-strength electrical threads requires an energy consumption that a few leaves could never make up for! It's overdrawing its life force to store electricity!]
[Viewer "Overflowing with Love Meow Meow": Oh my god, what a strong little guy! Willing to starve itself to skin and bones just to master an ultimate move... That is so inspiring, boohoo!]
[Viewer "Goji Berries in a Thermos": I have studied Pokémon breeding for thirty years and have never heard of such a bizarre anomaly! If it is truly as the streamer says, once this bug emerges, it will absolutely be the Bug King that instantly one-shots anything in its tier!]
[Viewer "Outlaw John Doe": Stop bragging! I admit it makes logical sense, but words are empty! Streamer, how can you prove it?! How do you prove it can discharge electricity?!]
[Viewer "Melon Eater Doesn't Mind the Drama": Exactly! All talk and no action! If it really has Electroweb, make it use it! If it can't, you are the biggest scammer of the century!]
Facing a screen full of chat demands for practical proof, Miles remained as steady as a mountain.
"Proof? How is that difficult?"
He looked at Little One and his skinny sister, who were still standing in a daze on the other side of the screen, and issued his orders coldly.
"Little One! Go and get a whole basket of the freshest, most tender green mulberry leaves!"
"Then, in front of all the viewers, dump that basket of leaves directly in front of this shriveled Caterpie!"
A fervent anticipation flashed in Miles's eyes. It was as if he could already foresee the overwhelming Bug King supremacy match about to unfold.
"Everyone, keep your eyes peeled!"
"Today, I will let you witness with your own eyes what a true ancient God of Thunder bloodline looks like! What an absolute, suppressive aura that can dominate the entire woodshed even at one percent health looks like!"
"The show is about to begin!"
As Miles's decisive, resonant words fell, the atmosphere in the livestream was instantly stretched to its absolute breaking point.
It felt like a fully drawn longbow, just waiting for the final, piercing arrow to fly!
On the other side of the screen, the chubby boy, Little One, swallowed hard.
He had been completely awed by Miles's unquestionable, emperor-like aura.
Even though his rationality was still screaming that 'this is just a dying, sick bug', his body instinctively obeyed.
"Sis... hold the phone and keep it aimed at it! I'll go get the leaves!"
The boy hurriedly shoved the phone into his skinny sister's hands. Acting as if his pants were on fire, he turned and sprinted out of the woodshed.
Less than half a minute later, hurried footsteps echoed again.
Little One rushed back in, panting heavily, his arms wrapped tightly around a massive bamboo basket.
The basket was packed to the brim with top-tier, tender green mulberry leaves freshly picked from the mountain that very day, some still glittering with morning dew!
This was originally the premium rations his father had prepared to reward the plump, high-quality Caterpie tomorrow.
"Ma... Master! I brought them! They're all the freshest!" the boy shouted into the camera between gasps for air.
"Very good."
Miles sat back in his gaming chair, his hands clasped against his chin.
His deep gaze pierced through the screen, locking dead onto the space beneath that piece of rotting wood.
The corners of his mouth hooked up into a fanatical curve as he delivered the final command.
"Now, dump that entire basket of mulberry leaves right in front of this 'sick bug'! Don't leave a single leaf!"
"Dump it!"
The boy gritted his teeth and violently tipped the basket forward.
Whoosh!
Like a pouring green rainstorm, that overflowing basket of fresh, tender leaves exuding a rich botanical fragrance instantly piled up into a tempting miniature mountain in that dark, damp corner.
And that shriveled, emaciated Caterpie, which looked like it could breathe its last at any moment, was lying right at the very front of the pile.
This scene directly detonated the emotions of the thousands of viewers!
[Viewer "Charizard Who Doesn't Eat Cilantro": Holy crap! This brat actually dumped it! With so many fresh mulberry leaves, that smell will absolutely drive every bug in the woodshed crazy with greed!]
[Viewer "No Drinking Late at Night": GG, it's over. This is simply murder! This shriveled bug can't even crawl right now; even if you piled a mountain of gold in front of it, it wouldn't be able to eat it!]
[Viewer "Wild Electabuzz": I get it! The streamer is throwing it a 'last meal' ceremony, right? Letting it pass away peacefully surrounded by the aroma of food? That's too dark of a joke!]
[Viewer "Holmes on the Keyboard": Everyone, don't laugh yet. Haven't you realized the severity of the problem? There are hundreds of starving-ghost-like Caterpie in this woodshed! Dumping such a huge basket of top-tier leaves down is equivalent to throwing a piece of bloody raw meat into a pack of starving wolves!]
[Viewer "Lost Fawn in the Woods": Ahhh! Oh my god! Everyone, look at the background! Those fat bugs are moving! They're all swarming over! This poor little thing is going to be trampled alive!]
[Viewer "Outlaw John Doe": Intentional murder! The streamer is inciting murder by proxy! I've already screen-recorded this. If this bug gets trampled to death, streamer, you cannot escape the blame!]
[Viewer "Manager Ruby": ...Little Miles, this move is too dangerous. Although Caterpie are docile, under the temptation of premium food, a stampede will occur. This little bug absolutely cannot withstand that kind of impact!]
Just as the perceptive viewers in the chat had predicted, the moment that uniquely sweet and incredibly alluring fragrance of fresh leaves permeated the cramped space, the entire woodshed rioted.
Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!
Hiss—!
From all directions, from every nook and cranny, and even from the rafters overhead, the plump Caterpie that had previously been sluggishly gnawing on rotten scraps suddenly let out violently agitated hisses, reacting as if they had been injected with stimulants.
Dozens—perhaps over a hundred—robust Caterpie, each three or four times the size of that shriveled bug, formed a surging green flood.
Waving their prolegs, they swarmed madly toward the mountain of fresh mulberry leaves!
Their massive bodies scraped against the ground, producing a scalp-numbing rustling sound.
And at the absolute dead center of their charge was that seemingly dying, shriveled Caterpie, flickering like a candle in the wind!
"Ah! They're coming over! Master! It's going to be crushed!" his skinny sister screamed in terror, instinctively reaching out to grab the poor Pokémon.
"Don't touch it!"
Miles's angry shout instantly halted the girl's movement.
In his eyes, which seemed capable of piercing through all illusions, there was not a shred of worry. Instead, an unprecedented fanaticism erupted from them.
"Open your eyes wide and watch closely!"
In the fraction of a second after Miles's words fell, a sudden mutation occurred on the screen!
Facing the massive kin crashing down on it from all directions like a tsunami, the shriveled Caterpie, which had been lying in the mud as if completely dead, suddenly moved.
It didn't curl up in terror like an ordinary weak bug, nor did it attempt to flee.
With extreme difficulty, inch by agonizing inch, it raised its massive head that had previously been drooping powerlessly to the dirt...
Upto 20 chapters ahead on patreon :-
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