Chapter 145: An Inexplicable Persistence

Erika looked at the stern-faced Erika before him, a look of helplessness on his face...

"Erika, you're not pulling my leg, are you?"

A slightly awkward smile hung on Erika's face: "We didn't expect it either, and we have no idea how the Professors got wind of this news, so..."

Chen Ou twitched the corner of his mouth. Wait, this seemed to be his own fault.

"Ahem, never mind. Since it's come to this, we'll just change it to a public lecture. However, I might need to rethink the content of the class."

Chen Ou collected his thoughts. To be honest, the situation developing to this point was entirely his own fault for having a loose tongue. And since matters had reached this stage, he basically had no room for refusal. Moreover, unlike his previous rapid rise from obscurity as a nobody, this time Chen Ou would be presenting his academic report in an entirely different capacity.

If the last report had brought a surprise to the entire research community, this public lecture would be a speech through which Chen Ou established his voice and cemented his status within that very community.

Naturally, it could not be somewhat perfunctory, like a regular lesson taught to students.

Seeing that Chen Ou had entered a state of deep thought, Erika also stood up and said to Hakujiro, "Then I'll take my leave first. You and Chen Ou can discuss tomorrow's lecture content."

A proper and polite smile rested on Hakujiro's face: "Understood. Please let the school know that we will prepare diligently."

Erika cast an appreciative glance at the well-mannered Hakujiro, then turned and left.

Hakujiro watched Erika out the door, then turned back, playfully stuck out her tongue at Chen Ou, and said, "Well, now you know what trouble feels like."

Chen Ou also shook his head helplessly. What else could he say? Complain that Professor Oak and Professor Elm had loose lips?

Joking aside... it was his own slip of the tongue after all. And while this situation was a bit troublesome, it wasn't without its benefits.

As things stood, Chen Ou's public lecture was bound to attract massive attention. Calling it an unorthodox academic summit would not be an exaggeration.

Because of this, whatever Chen Ou lectured on in this class would inevitably spread throughout the entire research community in the shortest possible time.

Therefore, under these circumstances, Chen Ou's best choice would be to treat the public lecture as a fairly standard presentation of research achievements. But doing so would be somewhat unfair to the students. After all, their original intention was to attend a regular class, not to listen to high-level findings they couldn't understand.

Though it wouldn't necessarily be completely incomprehensible; after all, Chen Ou's work wasn't hard-science research like genetics or proteomics. Field surveys and data compilation regarding legendary Pokémon were, after all, more humanities-oriented. Even if they couldn't follow every detail, they could still grasp the excitement without being entirely lost.

Still, a class was a class. Chen Ou had no intention of erasing the original purpose of teaching just to publish a new paper.

Chen Ou pondered for a moment, then abruptly asked, "Rotom, is the paper about Entei that I asked you to write finished?"

Rotom saluted and declared, "Report! The paper has been successfully completed and reviewed by Miss Nanami. Roto!"

Chen Ou nodded and said, "Then let's use Entei as an example in class, and incidentally introduce the new research findings. Send the paper to the editors of *Pokémon Science* and have them publish it as soon as possible."

"Received! Roto! (￣^￣)ゞ"

Seeing this, Hakujiro asked doubtfully, "Are you planning to unveil the paper during the lecture?"

Chen Ou nodded. "Naturally. With so many heavyweights coming, they aren't here to listen to supplementary arguments for things they already know—though I know most of them are just here to network with me. But it's still best to bring out something new for people to look at, or else people will look down on you."

Hakujiro thought about it, and the reasoning was sound. With so many people present, if you merely added a few insignificant fine details to your existing theories, it would smack of making a mountain out of a molehill and using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

It wouldn't even be out of the question for people to assume he had run out of inspiration. Therefore, it was far better to simply publish a new, weighty paper—first to cement his standing, and second to offer the guests something fresh.

"Fine, you go ahead and prepare. I'm heading out!"

Hakujiro didn't overthink it; she couldn't really help much with the rest anyway. After all, Chen Ou's field of research was not something just anyone could meddle in.

"Where are you going?" Chen Ou asked, raising his head.

"Yuyue, Hiri, and I agreed to go shopping together," Hakujiro said with a smile, anticipation clearly evident on her face.

Hearing this, Chen Ou nodded. "Go on, and get along well with those two girls."

Hearing those words, Hakujiro tilted her head in confusion and asked, "Is there something special about either of these two girls that warrants a specific warning from you?"

Hakujiro had very acutely caught onto Chen Ou's unusual behavior. After all, under normal circumstances, let alone offering admonitions, Chen Ou would consider waving goodbye an indication of a pretty good mood at that moment.

"The girl named Hiri has good potential; I'm planning to drag her into my research institute to be a human tool... Ah, no, an assistant. As for the girl named Yuyue... her family background is quite extraordinary. In short, just treat them like normal friends; it doesn't matter if you don't get along well. We don't need to be intimidated by anyone anyway."

With that, Chen Ou waved his hand. "Go, go, go. Don't sit here interrupting my train of thought."

Seeing Chen Ou shooing her away, Hakujiro rolled her eyes at him, then beckoned to the Chimchar. Without hesitation, the Chimchar leaped directly off Chen Ou's head, landed on Hakujiro's shoulder, and then scrambled up onto her head.

"I'm heading out!"

"Come back early. Do you want me to save lunch for you?"

"No need, I'll eat outside!"

"Watch your safety."

"Got it~ You nag like an old man."

The second half of the sentence was muttered under her breath.

With that, Hakujiro walked out the door and headed toward the meeting point she had arranged with Hiri and Yuyue.

***

Shortly after Hakujiro left, Chen Ou, who had been sitting in his chair, suddenly slumped, collapsing onto the desk like a salted fish.

"Ahhh~ This is so exhausting! If I'd known, I wouldn't have agreed to the professors' invitation to lecture!"

Chen Ou's face was plastered with exasperation and helplessness.

Rotom wiped away a non-existent bead of sweat from its brow and said, "Boss, do you want me to help prepare the manuscript? Don't worry, I've carefully studied the public lecture videos of Professor Oak and the others; I guarantee I won't drop the ball. Roto."

Rotom wasn't actually joking about this. After all, this fellow had maxed out literally every skill except for combat abilities.

After practicing culinary arts over the past couple of days, it could even squeeze inside a bread maker and bake a fine loaf of bread.

In short, apart from throwing punches, this guy could practically be considered omniscient and omnipotent.

"No need. Some jobs you just have to do yourself."

Chen Ou picked up the pen and paper he had just been using to discuss problems with Hakujiro and began writing and sketching once more.

Rotom spread its hands in resignation.

This guy always had inexplicable obsessions in the most inexplicable places.