Chapter 150: In the Name of Greed

Early morning.

Baimu rubbed his somewhat groggy head, got up, and washed up.

Chansey had gotten up early and arranged the ingredients for breakfast in the kitchen, within easy reach for him.

"Thank you."

He thanked her softly, went to the kitchen, and began cooking while recalling last night's dream.

For someone like him, who was gradually shedding the identity of an illiterate, rashly interpreting ancient texts and learning ancient writing knowledge was indeed a bit of a strain.

Tomorrow he'd switch to Smeargle's painting memories — painting seemed like it would be a bit more fun.

Baimu portioned out the food and shouted toward the house, "Brothers and sisters, time for breakfast! We've got something big to do today!"

His words had just fallen.

Giratina was the first to dash out of the bathroom, with Chansey behind it holding a toothbrush, somewhat helplessly giving up the arduous mission of brushing the new companion's teeth.

Mawile floated out of the room yawning, then let its limbs hang limply like a zombie.

"Lucky!"

Chansey blocked Mawile's path.

The latter took a hazy look, changed direction, and headed into the bathroom.

Aggron, meanwhile, came in from outside — the fellow had gotten up early to water the trees and flowers; the sun in Iron Town was harsh and the soil had little moisture, so it needed to get up early and work hard.

At the dining table.

Baimu rested his chin on his hand, recalling his excited self from yesterday.

Three fixed rewards plus three selectable rewards — setting aside the levels, the lv. 70 cap had already accumulated ten levels.

As for moves, 【String Shot】, 【Roost】, 【Psychic】, and 【Thunder】.

【Thunder】 Aggron could learn, but he'd just taught it 【Surf】 — there was really no need to keep stuffing things into its mouth.

The important thing was the clue — one excellent one used, leaving one assignable stat and one assignable base stat — yes, base stat!

If the note hadn't said legendary, mythical, and ultra beasts were all excluded, he would have closed his eyes and picked the highest one, or the standard sub-legendary's 580 base stat.

Unfortunately, that wasn't allowed.

So Baimu could only turn his attention to other Pokémon, like pseudo-legendaries and the like.

Unable to contain his mixed feelings of surprise, he realized he simply couldn't remember the specific base stats of many Pokémon — everyone knew some Pokémon were really useful, but who knew what their base stats were?

In a game, you could work backward from stat values, but in an anime setting, where would that ability come from?

However.

This reward clue seemed to have its benefits too — for example, directly choosing a high-base-stat Pokémon. If he picked a 600-base-stat pseudo-legendary, he'd most likely get a fully evolved one outright, saving a long growth period.

He recalled that above five hundred twenty or five hundred thirty, there weren't many ordinary Pokémon left…

Baimu silently finished his breakfast, and after Aggron and the others finished their portions, said, "Same as usual, I'm counting on you all!"

"Gudo!" "Keido." "Lucky!"

Three neat cries.

Then four faces all turned to the bewildered Giratina, who instinctively let out a cry.

"Mo Nao!"

"Very good! Get ready to set off!"

Baimu recalled all of them.

——

Morning hours.

Baimu brought Otsuka and the others to rendezvous with Master Liu Ge's squad.

After many days apart, seeing these Quicksand members whose gear and bearing were both extraordinary, an indescribable feeling welled up in him for no reason.

"Like-minded, after all…"

He murmured softly.

He had learned earlier from Furbo that among these Quicksand members were some International Police mixed in, but most came from the various blocks under Quicksand's control — originally peripheral members unwilling to endure oppression.

It was Master Liu Ge's help that gradually turned them into full Quicksand members, building strength to tear through the gloom over Iron Town.

Beyond that, there were also large numbers of peripheral members as backing, even including many common folk at the bottom — among them happened to be civilians from Qingyi Street.

And when Baimu asked why he hadn't heard a single whisper of it, Furbo told him that their clashes with Shibata had been too high-profile — absorbing them wouldn't be conducive to staying hidden—

But they actually did have a member of the rescue organization among them.

When Furbo told Baimu that person's name, the latter was quite surprised.

That person was the most honest and quiet one among them — although he'd failed the assessment to become a full member, he hadn't lost contact in daily life; Narihiro and the others often invited him for drinks.

Including some of the other old partners from before.

He hadn't expected that fellow actually had this other identity — thinking about it, perhaps that person had deliberately kept a low profile.

While reminiscing.

Furbo approached and handed out earpieces.

"This mission is a solo one for you. I trust you won't act without aim, but I still need to remind you — as long as the green mountains remain, there's no worry about firewood."

"Mm."

Baimu nodded.

The last mission had let Master Liu Ge see his outstanding performance, so this time Furbo didn't need to lead him.

In return, he needed to spare more energy to direct Narihiro and the others.

"Baimu, once you finish this mission, you'll be able to be promoted to officer, right?"

Otsuka's voice reached his ears.

All Baimu turned his head and said, "Not sure."

"I'm sure there will be! Think about it — they grabbed so much territory, they definitely need people to guard it, right? And they can't hand it over to those guys from the Mad Dog Squad, so All Baimu definitely has a share!"

Someone chimed in, their tone not lacking envy.

"Alright, enough nonsense, hurry up and switch the channel. This mission isn't simple, things won't go that smoothly. Don't let your guard down just because their top fighter isn't here — our opponents are still mid-to-lower-tier members with plenty of strength."

All Baimu cut them off. "Let me make this clear first — when the time comes, occupying territory is the priority. Don't get stuck staring at money. You'll get your share afterwards, understood?"

"Understood!"

The group responded in low voices.

A few short days aren't enough to change the way a group of people think.

For people like Chenghong who came from poor neighborhoods, money isn't all-powerful, but without money, nothing can be done. Expecting a few words to give them the resolve to flip the world on its head is basically a fool's daydream.

Therefore.

All Baimu didn't recklessly lay everything out for them. Instead, he planned to use real action to show them what should and shouldn't be done.

Not long after.

More than half of the Sand Squad's members had gathered.

Same as last time, they wouldn't send everyone out to avoid someone raiding their home base. But for a territory-grabbing operation like this, as long as you survive, there's definitely a big, big pile of money coming your way.

Danger comes with opportunity, causing many Sand Squad members to rush forward one after another, eager to join the assault team.

And those who couldn't get in could only watch with envious eyes as others ran off to the Mad Dog Squad's territory to make a fortune.

"You should be grateful."

All Baimu felt those gazes and knew clearly that this operation probably wouldn't end peacefully.

According to his plan, the Quicksand Squad might well encounter some kind of accident during this operation.

Especially the Stone Squad and the Crystal Squad.

In the last assault on the mine, they barely took any damage. With their numbers swelling again, they were bound to put pressure on the Sand Squad, which had suffered losses last time.

Thus causing internal chaos.

Especially Chester, who was full of ambition. Even if he'd been temporarily suppressed by the boss, he wouldn't pass up the chance to target the Sand Squad and weaken it.

After that, presumably, would be Master Liu Ge's scheme.

Using greed as bait, luring the enemy into the trap.

"Move out!"

Master Liu Ge's voice came through the earpiece. All Baimu twisted the throttle and led his team members speeding toward the Mad Dog Squad's territory.