Chapter 178: War Erupts on All Sides

Just as Master Liu Ge had said.

Almost no one was willing to accept the Shadow Squad's demands—setting aside the outrageous quantities, they wanted the higher-ups to hand over their Pokémon?

Wouldn't that cost them their lives!

Powerful Pokémon were the foundation of their rule and the only means of protecting themselves; without those powerful Pokémon, they were nothing.

Running was definitely out of the question.

The Shadow Squad's main force was camped just outside the town, eyeing every faction within hungrily.

Someone suggested using other Pokémon to impersonate theirs—surely with so many Pokémon, the Shadow Squad couldn't check them one by one, right?

However, the intelligence the Shadow Squad held was far more than they had imagined.

The Shadow Squad members who had hurried over to deliver the notice directly handed them a list, which recorded in detail which Pokémon they possessed—almost as if they knew everything by heart.

This left the faction leaders utterly astonished. While such matters weren't exactly secrets, for people from Silicon Beryllium City to know in such detail!

They naturally had no idea that some turncoat local had sold them out directly, and that turncoat was specifically in charge of underground intelligence and external liaison work, and was thoroughly familiar with the internal situation of Pyrite Town.

But what truly drove them to unite was not the blade about to fall from the Shadow Squad's hands—for these people, not seeing the coffin meant not shedding tears was the most basic quality of self-cultivation.

—Those Shadow Squad members who should have returned to report were strung up by unknown hands in the most conspicuous spot of their territory.

Seeing those Shadow Squad members swaying in the wind like flags, everyone knew the situation looked bad.

Would the people from Silicon Beryllium City give them a chance to explain?

Most likely not.

After all, they often used such underhanded tactics themselves—whether it was extortion or invading others' territory, it was always a top choice; they never imagined the day would come when it would be used against them.

Since surrender was useless, the major factions of Pyrite Town simply took the opportunity to form an alliance, attempting to resist the Shadow Squad. Of course they held no delusions of defeating the Shadow Squad; the idea behind resistance was to let the lords from Silicon Beryllium City know they weren't easy to bully, and thus choose to compromise—

loubiqu.

Silver Ape had received exactly such treatment.

They longed to enjoy the same treatment as Silver Ape, and to increase the odds of success, they specially sent someone to request Silver Ape's assistance, hoping to boost the success rate.

At the same time.

The commander, who had waited half a day only to see a single Shadow Squad member return, flew into a rage.

"What did you say!?"

"Th-they were all wiped out!"

The returning Shadow Squad member was covered in blood, his protective suit torn to shreds, his face full of panic; it took him a long while to steady his emotions.

"Hmph, seems it's been too long since we visited Pyrite Town—the people here have forgotten their lessons. Good, I never planned to let these bastards off anyway!"

The commander let out a sinister laugh.

At first, Elder Ejin's order had been to suppress the Quicksand Squad, figure out why Pyrite Town was in chaos, and ensure a stable Pyrite Town before the Ohre League could be established.

But after the main force of the Quicksand Squad had voluntarily come to fight them, Elder Ejin's order changed to using force to subdue every faction in Pyrite Town.

Because he realized that perhaps due to the passage of time, the major factions of Pyrite Town were becoming increasingly difficult to manage, with various aspects slipping beyond his control—something Elder Ejin, whose desire for control was extremely intense, could not tolerate.

So even if those factions ultimately chose to hand over their Pokémon, the Shadow Squad would still beat them up.

The only difference was whether it took a little effort or none at all.

"Move out! Let these country bumpkins see what real Pokémon are, what real war is!"

The commander roared, and a host of Shadow Squad members advanced on Pyrite Town.

Inside Pyrite Town.

The scout with binoculars relayed news back to the Pyrite Town provisional alliance—

"They're moving! They've split into six squads, surrounding every exit and pressing in!"

The faction leaders exchanged glances, then looked toward Did Did Yin Ma, who sat in the main seat.

Silver Ape had ultimately refused their request, but his younger brother Did Did Yin Ma had accepted, and became the leader of this alliance.

Of course, for the factions of Pyrite Town, Did Did Yin Ma was fine too—after all, if something happened to the latter, Silver Ape would surely step in. At first they had thought Did Did Yin Ma was declaring war on Silver Ape and the mayor's faction, that the brothers had truly fallen out.

Only later did they realize they had overthought it.

Not to mention anything else, why hadn't the former mayor's faction come out to greet the Silicon Beryllium City forces this time? It was because of the conflict between the Silver Ape and Did Did Yin Ma brothers—they had been caught in the middle and ended up being taken down first.

By now they had completely vanished without a trace.

This made the faction leaders realize the brothers' foundations ran far deeper than they had imagined.

"Since they've split their forces, it's actually easier for us to handle—use the terrain advantage and fight them!"

Did Did Yin Ma divided the many factions into six small groups and briefly taught them the tricks of street fighting: "One word—delay! Delay them as long as possible; once their logistics can't keep up, they'll compromise sooner or later!"

At these words, the faction leaders broke into approving smiles.

Did Did Yin Ma suddenly added, "But I must remind all the bosses, their combat ability is not the same as ours Pyrite Town folk—you need to be prepared to enter the fray yourselves."

"Don't worry, Boss Did Did Yin Ma! You think we don't know this much?"

"Exactly!"

"Rest easy!"

The faction leaders made bold boasts, all declaring they absolutely would not drop the ball.

Did Did Yin Ma nodded on the surface, but inwardly sneered coldly.

You could trust anyone but these unreliable bastards—they were fine throwing their weight around at home, but the moment they faced outsiders they'd be groveling faster than anyone. He had long since seen through this lot.

He looked toward Baimu, who sat among the crowd; the latter quietly nodded to him, indicating that the vast majority of civilians on the outskirts of Pyrite Town had been successfully evacuated.

"Alright, bosses, prepare to move out!"

Did Did Yin Ma abruptly rose his hand and waved with commanding presence.

The bosses responded with loud cheers.

——

All Baimu had returned to the Rainbow Squad's territory.

Master Liu Ge had already organized the personnel and was prepared to resist the incoming Shadow Squad.

Among them were quite a few of his acquaintances.

"Lady Ayana, boss! Terry!"

All Baimu looked at the tall woman at the head and the still-sturdy female driver, his face full of smiles.

These two had been among the earlier defectors to switch sides, especially Ayana — the battle defending the mine had been so brutal that it took her a full half month and more before she could get out of bed.

Therefore, when Cang Zhi Lang departed, he had not brought her along.

Ayana, who considered herself abandoned, naturally welcomed Master Liu Ge's recruitment, and the latter was fairly decisive as well — seeing how things had developed to this point, he agreed at once.

The smooth internal peaceful evolution owed a share of its credit to her.

"Stop shouting nonsense — now you're the boss."

Ayana's personality was, as always, bold and straightforward. She gave All Baimu's shoulder a heavy slap, and seeing that his frame didn't budge at all, she couldn't help feeling a touch wistful. "The bean sprout from back then has actually become my superior…"

"No matter when, I could never really count as a bean sprout, could I."

All Baimu couldn't tell whether to laugh or cry. Perhaps it was because his status and strength had advanced so dramatically over these past few months that Ayana had developed this muddled memory of him being thin and tiny back then.