As it was said that the draw would take place in the afternoon, Xia Hu'nao pointed at the tent and said, "You take Captain Wang to the draw. We must draw a good lot. If we can't even get out of the group stage, it will be too tragic."
Meng Tianya glanced at Wang Zhen, who was tidying up, "You still..."
"I think this idea is very reasonable. After all, it's a draw ceremony. If we don't send a captain, it will seem like we are not formal enough. If we send Mu Zhishui, it will seem like a bit of a fuss, so isn't this the best way?"
Xia Hu'nao, avoiding the topic, found an excuse, while Meng Tianya smiled and went to arrange the draw matters with Wang Zhen. Xia Hu'nao, who parted ways with Meng Tianya, wandered around the camp. Xia Hu'nao's information was investigated in many places. Seeing Xia Hu'nao come out, many people came out to establish good relations with this new star from Minglong Country.
With his excellent communication skills, Xia Hu'nao quickly engaged in lively conversation with everyone.
Meanwhile, Wang Zhen and Meng Tianya went to draw lots. A total of nearly two hundred teams were divided into thirty-two groups. Four teams would advance from each group, eliminating less than half. According to the avoidance principle, these four teams would not meet again until the semifinals at the earliest.
When Meng Tianya and his companion arrived, the draw was halfway through. Looking at the dense text displayed on the big screen, Meng Tianya glanced at Wang Zhen and then signaled him to go up and draw a lot.
Wang Zhen walked onto the stage and fumbled in the urn for a long time before taking out a lot. The official in charge of the draw took it, glanced at it, and then announced the lot number: forty-seven. Since each group had six teams, this meant they were group eight, number five. Their first match would be against group eight, number six.
After the draw for Minglong Country was finalized, everyone present turned to look at Meng Tianya's expression. But Meng Tianya was no ordinary person. With a poker face, he revealed nothing, much to the disappointment of those who wanted to glean something from his reaction.
After drawing the lot, Wang Zhen returned to Meng Tianya's side, "Team leader, my..."
Meng Tianya raised his hand to interrupt him and said softly, "Let's go back and do some psychological preparation for them."
Wang Zhen nodded and followed Meng Tianya back without a word. While Wang Zhen and the others were going back to do psychological preparation, Xia Hu'nao was still chatting with those who were trying to gather information about him. When it came to pure conversation, Xia Hu'nao was truly blessed by heaven. No matter how they asked, his answers were flawless. Instead, he subtly extracted information from some of the team members. However, even strong teams like Li Xing Man Ying did not reveal anything to him.
Xia Hu'nao was enjoying the conversation when he saw Meng Tianya and the others returning from the side. Xia Hu'nao waved and asked, "You're back. How was it?"
Meng Tianya shrugged, "You can continue chatting. It's not a big problem. We're heading back first."
Xia Hu'nao smiled and continued chatting with everyone. Someone asked Xia Hu'nao, "Xia, what did you say to your team leader just now?"
Xia Hu'nao replied, "I just inquired about the group draw with my team leader. It looks like we drew a good lot. I just don't know who the unlucky one in our group will be."
Upon hearing Xia Hu'nao say this, the people gathered around him all changed their expressions to varying degrees. They weren't taking it seriously? Was the Minglong Country team that strong? But in reality, Xia Hu'nao was also unsure. Although Meng Tianya said it wasn't a big problem, Xia Hu'nao understood that it was just social courtesy. He couldn't say it was troublesome in front of so many people. If someone truly understood the Minglong Country's words, wouldn't it reveal their hand? Therefore, the real draw results would only be known after they returned.
So, Xia Hu'nao created a facade of casually winning and began to persuade everyone that he could win. However, he couldn't maintain the act for too long. A little performance was enough. Once the pretense became reality, it might lead to more loss than gain.
After a brief chat with his "new friends," Xia Hu'nao said he was returning to his tent, "So, everyone should also go back and check your own groups. Even if you encounter a particularly difficult group, you should still try your best to have good battles with your Pokémon. That is what we, as trainers, should do."
After filling them with what might or might not be considered "toxic chicken soup," Xia Hu'nao returned to the Minglong Country tent. Everyone from Minglong Country had been waiting there since they knew about the draw.
When Meng Tianya returned, Yu Longdu was sitting on a chair, leaning back, with his feet casually resting on the table. He was chewing on a blade of grass he had pulled from somewhere, looking more like he was on vacation than competing, exuding an air of great ease.
Chu Xiaodie asked, "Aren't you even a little concerned about the draw results?"
Yu Longdu snorted lightly, "Whether it's Man Ying or Li Xing, I'll face them one by one and defeat them all."
Despite his words, the tone of Yu Longdu's voice indicated that he wasn't as confident as he claimed. As expected, as soon as Meng Tianya and Wang Zhen returned, Yu Longdu blurted out, "How was it? What kind of lot did we draw?"
Meng Tianya gave Wang Zhen a look. Then, Wang Zhen said with a complex expression that in the same group as them were Li Xing, Milun, and Dunhe, Yasen, and a small country that no one had heard much about.
With each team Wang Zhen named, the temperature in the tent dropped a little. By the time the other five teams were named, the atmosphere in the tent had solidified. Yu Longdu's rocking stool gradually stopped, and then he leaned back and fell to the ground with a thud.
Rubbing his head, Yu Longdu got up and asked, "Say that again? Li Xing, Milun, Dunhe, Yasen. What kind of death group is this?"
Meng Tianya picked up his thermos. "Why are you so agitated? I know you like battles, but please restrain yourself. This isn't Minglong Country. Acting like this is embarrassing us."
Yu Longdu took a few deep breaths. "This isn't about embarrassment. Li Xing and Milun are strong contenders in Pokémon battles. Dunhe might not be that great, but their active involvement this time must mean they have some preparation. As for Yasen, that team completely counters Xia Hu'nao's lineup. The group stage is going to be incredibly difficult."
After saying this, Yu Longdu suddenly remembered something. "Does Xia Hu'nao know about this result?"
Meng Tianya shook his head. "He was chatting outside just now, so I didn't tell him. But I think his reaction if he knew would be different from yours."
As they were speaking, Xia Hu'nao hummed a little tune and walked into the tent from outside. "How was it? What was the result? Did we draw a good lot?"
Yu Longdu, sitting on the ground, pointed at himself. "You can see my current state and know exactly how it was."
Yu Longdu's tone was quite sharp. Xia Hu'nao took Chu Xiaodie's notebook from her. "Hmm, let me see. Good, it's truly a 'down-up' lot."
Xia Hu'nao always managed to say things that made everyone's eyes darken. Everyone had heard of 'bottom-of-the-barrel' lots and 'top-tier' lots, but where did this 'down-up' lot come from?
Xia Hu'nao clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention. "Everyone, look. Although our group is quite a death group, the benefits are also very obvious. As long as we break through, we won't have to deal with these annoying guys before the semifinals. Isn't this a 'down-up' lot?"
Hearing Xia Hu'nao say this, everyone thought about it and agreed. As long as they could get out of the group stage, the intensity of their battles would significantly decrease by one level.
Then, Xia Hu'nao continued, "Actually, everyone knows that the final winner has limited choices. Let's just consider it as fighting the finals in advance. Who is our first opponent?"
"Tuol'ertai, not very well-known, should be a relatively easy opponent."
"Then there's nothing else. I'm going to rest."
Xia Hu'nao's indifferent attitude still eased everyone's minds considerably. But soon, the bad news spread: Tuol'ertai forfeited.
This sounded quite mystical. In such a grand event, after finally arriving, they wouldn't even play the group stage and would withdraw directly? Didn't they have any pride?
But Tuol'ertai had their own difficulties. Look at the group they were in. Any random group would be fine, but this group, how could they possibly fight? Who were the strong opponents they were facing? Could they win? No, they didn't have the capability! Now, it was fine. First, they would lose to Minglong, then to Milun and Li Xing, and finally to Yasen and Dunhe. Well, after being eliminated, no one would lose to them, but wouldn't they lose face?
Everyone could understand Tuol'ertai's withdrawal, given the gap. And no one expected that several teams considered championship favorites would be assigned to the same group. They had originally thought that the major favorites would be spread out among the over thirty groups, and they wouldn't be so unlucky as to encounter each other. But now, a death group had appeared. Any slightly weaker team entering it would be crushed with a 5-0 record. The pressure was too great, so it was better to protect their reputation and withdraw first.
Xia Hu'nao sat on a chair looking at the schedule. "This is bad. Now there's no one to practice with. If we don't warm up, we'll have to fight other strong teams. What should we do about this?"
But after thinking about it, he dismissed the worry. Originally, it was six teams advancing to four. Now it was five teams advancing to four. In a sense, this was also a good thing. At least the point requirement was lowered, and those who were supposed to play against Tuol'ertai in the first round would now have a bye, giving them time to study the playing styles of other teams.
With this thought, Xia Hu'nao sat up. "Since there's nothing important to do, I'll go find some trouble."