It took a full half-minute before he slowly raised his head, his voice hoarse as he dropped a bombshell that no one expected.
"Master Miles... actually, after diagnosing this Machop's condition, the hospital's genetic research institute didn't recommend putting it down. Instead, the director personally came to my ward. He said that this extremely rare berserker gene—one capable of ignoring physical pain and continuously secreting adrenaline—holds incalculable research value in the fields of medicine and biological weaponry."
Hodor bit his dry, cracked lips, tossing out a tempting number. "The hospital offered a one-time compensation of two hundred thousand dollars under the guise of a research grant. They also promised I wouldn't have to bear any future responsibility, as long as I completely transferred the Machop's ownership to their laboratory for in-depth in-vivo vivisections and extreme physiological drug testing."
Boom!
Two hundred thousand dollars! The moment that number was revealed, the livestream chat boiled over!
[Viewer "Late Night No Drinking": Holy crap!!! $200k?! Bro got blessed in disguise! A normal Machop is a few grand at most. That's a massive multiplier!]
[Viewer "Wild Electabuzz": SELL SELL SELL! Tf is there to hesitate about? You ditch a ticking time bomb AND get $200k for medical bills. Literal free money!]
[Viewer "Frontline Melon Eater": Hodor bro, don't be stupid! $200k is enough to buy a top-tier, obedient Pokémon! Why keep a punching bag around just to get beat up?!]
[Viewer "Keyboard Holmes": Money AND safety? This isn't even a debate! Take the cash, go eat a good meal, and forget this nightmare ever happened!]
Everyone urged Hodor to take the money and run. In the face of absolute danger and massive profit, this choice seemed like the only correct and rational one. However, Miles caught the lingering hesitation in Hodor's tone.
"Hodor, you're hesitating, aren't you?" Miles's voice was light, yet it struck straight at the soul. "If you had truly decided to take that two hundred grand, you wouldn't be sitting here covered in injuries, streaming with me tonight. What exactly is going through your mind?"
Hearing Miles's words, Hodor's broad shoulders slumped. This muscular, six-foot-three iron-blooded man actually had red eyes, choking back sobs like a helpless child.
"Master Miles... you understand me! They don't get it!"
With great difficulty, Hodor used his uninjured hand to turn his phone camera. After a burst of shaky footage, the lens focused on an extremely thick, high-strength alloy isolation cage in the corner of the ward, completely surrounded by a high-voltage electrical grid. Inside that cold, dim cage, the once-arrogant Machop that had treated Hodor like a punching bag was now securely locked down by heavy electronic shackles on its limbs. Its body was covered in injuries sustained during its capture, with blood still seeping from some of the wounds.
But what completely shocked the viewers was that this Pokémon—appraised as extremely violent—wasn't roaring or struggling madly in its cage. Instead, it was curled up quietly in the deepest corner. Its head was bowed, its originally ferocious gaze hidden by the shadows. Motionless, its lonely, desolate posture made it look like a pitiful child who had committed a terrible mistake and was sinking into deep self-blame and remorse.
"Master Miles, everyone in the chat... look at it right now..." Hodor's voice was fraught with the agony of being unable to let go. "Two hundred grand is indeed tempting, and I admit my heart skipped a beat when I heard that number. I spent every last penny of my savings trying to raise it, after all."
He took a ragged breath. "But... but when I saw it locked in that freezing cage, about to be sent into a pitch-black laboratory as a guinea pig to suffer endless shocks and vivisections every single day... my heart ached like it was being sliced by a knife! I raised it by hand since it was a baby! I was the one who sweated with it in the gym every day, the one who fed it chicken breasts bite by bite! Even though it has a genetic defect, even though it couldn't control its temper and beat me up... just look at it now. It's sitting there so quietly. It knows it was wrong. It's regretting it!"
"If I sold it into that kind of hell for two hundred thousand dollars, my conscience would never let me live it down! What kind of man would I even be?!"
Hodor's deeply emotional confession hit the livestream like a tear-gas grenade, instantly detonating a massive emotional storm. Many viewers who had just been clamoring for him to sell it couldn't help but fall silent as they looked at the seemingly repentant Machop in the cage. Some even began to waver.
[Viewer "Fawn in the Woods": T_T Hodor is a real one. A Pokémon is literally like your own child. How could anyone be cruel enough to sell it for lab experiments just for cash!]
[Viewer "Legend's Descent": Unbreakable bond right here. Even if it's a demon, in its master's eyes, it's still his day-one partner.]
[Viewer "Late Night No Drinking": Damn, my bad for yelling earlier. This Machop actually looks like it knows it messed up. Maybe... maybe give it one more chance, Hodor?]
However, just as everyone—including Hodor—was deeply moved by the Machop's 'remorseful' disguise, Miles, sitting in front of his screen, suddenly felt an extremely cold chill shoot up his spine!
On his retinas, the System panel belonging to the [God-Level Pokémon Insight Eye] flashed with a blinding, blood-red warning light. The text floating above the head of the seemingly quiet, pitiful Machop pierced through all those warm fantasies like a barrage of venom-soaked thorns!
[Target: Machop]
[Fate Entry (Black): Born Rebel - This Pokémon possesses an extremely egocentric nature and thoroughly despises being ordered around. In its eyes, a weak master only deserves to be a weighted punching bag. Its so-called "obedience" is simply because it hasn't reached its breaking point yet. It is currently faking remorse to lower its guard and find an opportunity to strike.]
Bang!
Miles slammed his palm onto his desk. The loud crash echoed through the microphone, instantly shattering Hodor's choking sobs and the livestream's sentimental atmosphere.
"Hodor! Put away your pointless self-indulgence and bleeding heart!" Miles's voice was like a biting winter wind laced with ice—cruel and cold-blooded, yet extremely lucid. He punctuated every word, stabbing straight into Hodor's heart. "You think it's sitting there repenting? You think it knows it was wrong?! Dead wrong!"
Miles pointed at the cage on the screen, his gaze carrying the ultimate oppressive weight of someone who saw through everything. "I guarantee you on my career as an appraiser! The word 'guilt' doesn't even exist in its dictionary! The reason it's so quiet right now isn't because it discovered its conscience. It's lying dormant in that oppressive environment, gathering its strength! It's acting like a venomous snake, coldly calculating the exact moment to break free of those shackles! If you dare walk over there right now, open that door, and undo its chains... it won't hesitate to rush out and smash your throat with a single punch!"
Boom!
Miles's bloody, unvarnished, and cruel declaration hit Hodor in the back of the head like a club, utterly shattering the newfound sympathy of the thousands of viewers in the stream. Deathly silence filled the entire ward. Hodor's one open eye stared fixedly at Miles, his body trembling violently from extreme shock and disbelief.
"Master Miles... you're lying to me, right? It... it clearly looks so pitiful..." Hodor's voice completely broke.
"I have no reason to lie to you, nor am I in the mood to joke around." Miles leaned back in his chair, his eyes as cold as an emotionless god. "[Born Rebel] combined with its berserker rage creates a pure malice that defies standard biological logic. In its eyes, you were never its master. You're just a weighted punching bag that provides food."
Miles took a deep breath, cruelly handing the final choice back to the man who had already been tortured beyond recognition. "Hodor, I'll ask you one last time. Are you willing to sign that agreement right now, take the two hundred grand, hand it over to the lab, and completely free yourself from this nightmare?"
As Miles's words fell like a final judgment, the entire livestream descended into a brief, suffocating, dead silence. Then, like boiling water poured into hot oil, the chat feed erupted like never before!
[Viewer "Late Night No Drinking": SIGN IT! Hodor, you better freaking sign it! That's $200k! Ditch the time bomb and take the bag. Wtf are you hesitating for?!]
[Viewer "Wild Electabuzz": Master Miles just cooked! That Machop isn't repenting; it's plotting your murder! You only have one life, bro. Don't let emotions get you killed!]
[Viewer "Outlaw John Doe": Legal and rational perspective: selling to the lab is the only W. A Pokémon with severe antisocial traits and a berserker gene is a massive public hazard!]
[Viewer "Keyboard Holmes": Bro, drop the savior complex! It never saw you as its master, why throw away your life for it? $200k for an obedient starter sounds like a massive W.]
[Viewer "Frontline Melon Eater": I'm dying of anxiety over here! Hodor, if your hands are too busted to hold a pen, drop the addy! I'll fly over and sign it for you!]
[Viewer "Fawn in the Woods": NGL sending a Pokémon to a lab is cruel... but the way it faked being pitiful is terrifying. Hodor, listen to the Master. Stay safe!]
[Viewer "Even Straight Men Cry": Don't be stupid! This isn't a shounen anime. You can't reform a demon with the power of friendship!]
[Viewer "Legend's Descent": The ultimate gamble between humanity and logic. Miles just hit him with the harsh truth. It's all up to his choice now.]
In the ward, the pale incandescent light struck Hodor's bandage-wrapped face. He used his single, bloodshot right eye to stare dead at Miles's calm, almost ruthless expression on the screen. Then, he turned his head and looked back at the high-voltage alloy cage in the corner, where the Machop was still feigning its remorseful act.
Two hundred grand. In this world, it was enough for a down payment on a decent house in a tier-two city. It was enough to swap for an extremely high-potential, gentle, and obedient high-level Pokémon. It was enough to wipe out all the debt he had incurred to raise this Machop. Just by signing his name, he could be reborn.
Trembling, Hodor raised his left hand—the one without a cast—and covered his face. The ward echoed with his heavy, suppressed panting, sounding like a wild beast on the verge of death.
A full minute passed. Hodor slowly lowered his hand.
The confusion, agony, and conflict in his eyes had miraculously solidified into an indestructible, stubborn resolve.
"Master Miles..." Hodor's voice was so hoarse it sounded like he was chewing gravel, but he gritted his teeth and spoke, pausing between every single word. "Since I was a kid, I've had a one-track mind. Once I set my sights on something, not even a herd of eight Tauros could drag me back. Whether it's a born rebel or completely devoid of emotion... I hatched it from a Pokémon Egg bit by bit! I fed it mouthful by mouthful! It called me master, and even if it was faking it, I have to own up to that!"
"If I take this two hundred grand today and push it into hell... how will I ever have the face to look at another Pokémon? What kind of Pokémon Trainer would I be?!"
Hodor threw his head back. A moving, iron-blooded passion erupted from his bruised and swollen eye. "I don't want the two hundred grand! I only beg Master Miles to teach me! Even if it beats me to death, I'm going to personally correct this bastard's bones, inch by inch!"
Boom!
Hodor's bold words flashed like lightning across the dark night, instantly shattering the psychological defenses of everyone in the livestream chat. There was no so-called rationality, no so-called profit. There was only a man's sense of responsibility, and the ultimate romance of a stubborn Trainer!
"What an unyielding tough guy!" Miles couldn't help but praise as he looked at Hodor on the screen. "Since that's the case, let me tell you the plan. When dealing with a monster that has violence carved into its very genetics, the more you back down, the more it will think you're weak and easy to bully!"
Miles's voice exploded through the stream. "Step one! Immediately cut off all of its avenues for power advancement. Lock down its future at the genetic level! This Machop hasn't even evolved yet, and it's already beaten you so badly you're hospitalized. If you let it continue to grow, once it evolves into a Machoke, or ultimately into a four-armed Machamp... by then, let alone you, even a fully armed riot squad wouldn't easily suppress its tripled adrenaline output!"
"So, the very first thing you do when you are discharged is go to the black market or a high-end item shop. Spare no expense to buy an Everstone of the highest quality and purest energy! Forge it into a slipknot collar and weld it dead onto that Machop's neck! I want you to thoroughly strip away its right to evolve on both -a physical and fundamental level!"
"Make it clearly understand that as long as it refuses to submit to you, it will forever remain a bottom-tier Machop! That will be the first heavy hammer to smash its pride and arrogance!"
Hearing Miles's vicious, root-striking plan, the viewers in the chat gasped collectively.
[Viewer "Late Night No Drinking": Holy crap! 500 IQ play! Using an Everstone to lock its evolution! Master Miles is ruthless; he just nerfed this monster's potential right at the source!]
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