Chapter 76: A Hundred Variations of Sound and Form

Free pickup of eighteen thousand.

Although it was only a small sum, Baimu found it quite interesting.

The other party's scheme was fairly obvious—using multiple cashback rebates to gradually lure you into investing more, until you couldn't wait to pour every last coin you had on you into it.

Once the big fish took the bait, no matter whether the betted-on target won or lost, the person would likely have vanished by the time the result came out.

A very basic con. But unfortunately, in Iron Town there were too many fools dreaming of getting rich overnight, and there weren't enough swindlers to go around, which let fellows like this one run rampant. The guy was clever, too—he specifically picked out people who were alone and not wearing a team uniform, to avoid biting down on hard bone.

Still, does Rotten Tooth Village know he's Baimu?

If they knew and still came to swindle him, that would be very interesting—perhaps behind them lurked someone deliberately trying to set him up—

The Crystal Faction.

Whether it be their leader Chester, or the cadres and squad captains under him.

Baimu didn't think that after he'd offended the Crystal Faction so many times in a row, they'd be willing to let things rest. The Crystal Faction had already sunk a certain amount of cost into it; eager for results, they would only keep targeting him more frantically.

It was just like pulling gacha—once you'd paid a certain price and still hadn't gotten the goods, it was easy to lose your head.

Unfortunately, whether it was them or not, Baimu, who had seen through the con, couldn't possibly fall for it. He also didn't have the bad habit of deliberately falling for it to counter-phish.

With that kind of time, he'd rather think about the upcoming matches.

Before leaving, he looked around and suddenly spotted many mobile ticket-sellers like Rotten Tooth Village—folks in overcoats peddling betting slips to others.

However, Rotten Tooth Village wasn't necessarily in cahoots with these people.

He returned to the Quicksand Team.

Baimu headed to Master Liu Ge's office to report his results. The latter seemed quite interested in how he'd done in the tournament.

"Went pretty smoothly."

"Got lucky, ran into a few whose whole fighting style was just charging in blind."

"Haha, the trainers here really aren't all that great. But don't let your guard down—there are still capable ones out there, you might just run into one." Master Liu Ge's expression was quite teasing.

Baimu didn't get it and instinctively replied, "Got it, big bro!"

"Mm, keep it up."

Master Liu Ge waved his hand and dismissed him.

He bowed and retreated. Before leaving, he quietly greeted the upside-down King Scorpion, and shut the room door under its gleaming gaze.

Good big bro's King Scorpion had a lively personality—a bit of a clown, sure, but it always made people laugh without meaning to.

A far cry from his home Aggron, who seemed to have entered old age early; the utterly obedient Chansey; and the precious, noble Young Lady—his big-mouthed baby.

Baimu really liked this fellow.

If only he could run into a Pokémon about this lively someday.

The sigh came from Baimu, a rookie trainer who was starved for a little chaos.

Outside the door.

Flobo was sitting at his workstation idly flipping through a magazine, both feet propped up on the desk, jiggling away—pure sloth. Besides him, several other squad captains had struck the same lazy pose, looking so idle they were about to panic.

Not showing off in front of their underlings, not training their own Pokémon, hiding here slacking off?

Baimu couldn't make sense of it. He also realized he'd never seen Flobo's Pokémon before—this guy showed up alone every single time, with no Pokémon in sight.

"... Brother Flobo, got a minute?"

He thought it over, then walked over slowly.

Flobo heard him, his eyes lit up, and he tossed the magazine aside. "Got time! Got way too much time! What do you want?"

"Uh."

Baimu hesitated slightly, because the moment he approached Flobo, the other squad captains clearly shifted their attention this way too. "It's just that, in the arena, I..."

He told him anyway.

Mainly he was worried there might be something special going on behind Rotten Tooth Village, and wanted Flobo to help brainstorm or look into it.

Being careful was never wrong.

If Flobo felt it necessary to tell Master Liu Ge, that saved him the trouble of saying it twice.

And Flobo, after listening, broke into a grin. "So you're worried he was sent by Chester's side to set you up? Trying to use this kind of trick to leave you with nothing?"

"Mm, although maybe I'm being too sensitive—"

"Sensitive? No! That's a reasonable suspicion." Flobo cut him off. "The Crystal Faction's love of nasty tricks isn't anything new—this kind of sneaky, underhanded stunt is right up their alley.

"And your thinking is correct—the Crystal Faction absolutely won't let you off. From the moment you stepped onto the Sand Faction's ship, you'll be facing their endless schemes and plots. Especially now, in the Quicksand Team, you're the one in the spotlight."

"Me?"

Baimu was taken aback.

"Of course." Flobo and the other squad captains laughed together. "What you pulled off in Bronze Mill Street, Districts One and Two—that was beautifully done. Your fame has already spread through the whole team.

"Even Boss Cang Zhi Lang has nothing but praise for you—he's carried your name straight to the boss's ear. The Crystal Faction people right now want to kill you, but they're also worried that killing you would make the boss angry."

Baimu was at a loss for words.

"Alright, leave that Rotten Tooth Village to me. I'll handle his business. You just focus on the tournament and try to bring back a championship."

Flobo clapped him on the shoulder.

As if it were that easy to grab.

Baimu grumbled inwardly. But before he could ask what Flobo planned to do, the tie on the other's chest suddenly trembled, and in the blink of an eye transformed into a pink piece of taffy that swiftly covered Flobo's face.

Four or five seconds later.

A brand-new "Baimu" stood before him.

"This!"

He stared in surprise at the fake Baimu, who coughed sharply twice, and suddenly his voice was nearly indistinguishable from Baimu's own.

"How about that? Ditto's disguise art plus my voice-changing technique—pretty amazing, right?"

The fake All Baimu wore a simple, honest smile, giving him goosebumps all down his back.

He had heard long ago about the special ability of Ditto, but seeing its transformation with his own eyes was still utterly unbelievable. Especially when it transformed into his appearance.

No wonder he hadn't seen Flo Bo's Pokémon before.

Turns out it was a Ditto disguised as a necktie.

"Borrowing your face for a moment."

The fake All Baimu's smile made the real All Baimu's heart uneasy.

—

The next day.

The preliminary round officially began.

The original nearly thousand contestants were directly cut down to just sixty-four.

All contestants whose Pokémon lacked strength or whose trainers gave poor commands were eliminated, leaving only sixty-four top performers to vie for higher rankings.

Unlike the entry round's rules, the preliminary round allowed the use of two Pokémon, adding more variables.

All Baimu wore a duckbill cap, then pulled his hoodie hood over his head again, and headed along the long corridor toward the competition arena.

Following Flo Bo's instructions, he partially concealed his appearance, but not completely, sending a misleading signal to anyone from Rotten Tooth Village who might be watching him.

Then Flo Bo, in the guise of fake All Baimu, would go probe them — and whether the other party had ulterior motives would be revealed at once.

Seeing Flo Bo's relaxed, easy expression, All Baimu stopped worrying and chose to focus all his attention on the current match.

Just how far could he go?

He was genuinely looking forward to it.

He swiped his card and entered.

His opponent at the far end of his line of sight immediately came into view.