Chapter 764: Lei Ji

The aircraft was not small.

Baimu boarded from the rear cabin and found four small aircraft shaped like balance scooters, all showing signs of use.

At least a team of four...

He subtly withdrew his gaze, watching as the young man helped the woman into the inner cabin and silently followed after her.

At the same time, he prepared himself to act.

Yet after waiting a long time, no third person came running from the front cockpit, and no voice came from the speaker above.

Did I guess wrong?

「... 」

Baimu watched silently as the young man frantically found a first-aid kit, pulled out a syringe filled with some unknown liquid, and swiftly injected it into the woman's arm.

「Ugh—」

The woman's body tensed rigidly, like a goldfish gasping for its last breath.

Seconds later, her chest heaved violently a few times; her fever-red complexion rapidly faded, and her breathing grew steady.

The young man asked anxiously: 「Boss? How are you feeling? 」

「Where are Qiao and the others? 」

The woman, leaning back, replied: 「Aren't they with you? 」

The young man's face fell. 「No! Everyone got blown away by the sandstorm! If I hadn't run fast, I wouldn't have even saved the ship! After barely escaping, I immediately used the locator to find you, Boss! 」

She frowned as if to say something, but realized Baimu was present and swallowed the words in her throat.

「Friend, thank you so much! 」

She extended her hand warmly and introduced herself: 「I'm the captain of this ship, Anda. He's my subordinate, Matsubara. 」

Baimu silently chuckled at the near-annihilation of this group, shook her hand, and gave himself a false name: 「Just call me Zhang San. 」

「Zhang San? 」

Matsubara muttered beside him, 「Weird name. 」

Where's it weird?

Zhang San, the Lawless Outlaw—what a normal name.

Once you're caught, you'll remember it forever.

Baimu's gaze remained utterly calm; Anda couldn't help but snap: 「Enough! Go start the ship! Go find Qiao and the others! 」

「Yes! 」

Matsubara sprinted toward the cockpit.

She turned back and said politely: 「My incompetent younger brother has embarrassed you. 」

「Hahaha. 」

Baimu laughed it off and cut straight to the point: 「Young Lady Anda, if I'm not mistaken, you encountered Lei Ji? 」

In an instant.

Anda's eyes narrowed, but quickly she smiled again, sighing as if resigned: 「Yes, we finally found Lei Ji—only to realize we were no match for it. 」

「Now we're not only separated from our companions, but also trapped by wild Dreamsong Cacti, nearly dying in the desert. Luckily, you came to our aid! I don't even know how to thank you! 」

Baimu feigned no awareness of her change in demeanor and smiled:

「It was nothing. To be honest, I came here for Lei Ji too—I have some confidence in my strength. Would you be willing to tell me its location? 」

「Of course! You're my savior! 」

Anda agreed generously, then added: 「But that place is very far from here, with no exact coordinates. Why not wait until my companions return, and let them guide you there personally? 」

He quickly raised his hand to refuse: 「That would be too much trouble. Just point me in the direction—I'll go alone. 」

「Nonsense, don't be so formal! 」

Anda stood up and led him to a cabin that seemed meant for guests, like a lounge. 「Wait here a moment—I'll get you some tea. 」

She turned and left.

Baimu silently pulled out his phone; the screen displayed text from Polybeast II:

【There's a camera in the top-left corner. Move closer to it.】

He moved silently to a blind spot of the camera, then quickly returned.

Polybeast II had already used 【Substitute】 to infiltrate the surveillance system and, following the camera feed, breached the ship's main control system in mere seconds.

【Such a weak firewall.】

Watching the ship's main control system completely at its mercy, it thought to itself: I'm truly the smartest member of the team.

Immediately,

Polybeast II began altering the surveillance footage, while routing the cockpit's camera feed directly to Baimu's phone, allowing him to hear the conversations inside.

Baimu leaned back on the sofa, watching calmly as Anda spoke with her seemingly dim-witted subordinate Matsubara, her smile hiding knives.

Matsubara: 「Boss, why'd you bring up that shady guy? 」

Anda: 「Idiot! What if he recognizes us and reports us to Junsa? 」

Matsubara: 「Huh? He recognized us? 」

Anda: 「How should I know? But before we capture Lei Ji and leave, we can't let him have a chance to report us. Keeping him close is safest. 」

「Besides, this kid took out all those wild Dreamsong Cacti—his Pokémon must be strong. Once we take Lei Ji, we'll steal his Pokémon too, dump him somewhere, and vanish. We'd make another profit! 」

Matsubara: 「Brilliant, Boss! After we capture Lei Ji and steal that kid's Pokémon, we'll be rich! 」

No wonder they wouldn't let him off the ship.

Though Baimu had known Anda meant harm, he hadn't expected her to be this evil—no wonder they were Pokémon Hunters.

One of the most monstrous groups in the anime.

Perhaps I shouldn't have saved her in the first place…

Fine, this guy has a tracker; even if I don't save her, his little brother will definitely come by ship to rescue her.

No rush, no rush.

Wait until these bastards gather themselves, then net them all at once.

Baimu saw the cabin door open; Anda entered with a smile, holding tea, and beneath her veil, his face smiled too.

——

The process of searching for the lost was extremely smooth.

Even these guys, blown away by the sandstorm like Team Rocket's trio, hadn't died at all—most had only minor injuries.

On the contrary, the unluckiest one was Anda, who fell right into the habitat of the wild Dream Song Cacti.

It was hard not to marvel how difficult it was to die in mainstream regions.

Four returned: three men, one woman; adding their leader Anda and the ship's pilot Songyuan, the total was six.

They weren't ugly to look at, but from their demeanor, they certainly didn't seem like good people.

Seeing all his men returned, Anda no longer acted as politely as before; the others looked at him with clear malice.

Baimu acted as if he saw nothing, asking Anda when they would go for Lei Ji.

"Right away, right away."

Anda replied evasively.

Shortly after.

The ship crossed the crimson wastelands and arrived above a vast canyon, where a continuous, violent rumbling drew everyone's attention.

Immediately, a towering purple-black beam of light slashed across in front of the ship, startling Songyuan, the pilot.

In the cockpit.

Everyone looked down and saw Lei Ji surrounded by over a dozen Pokémon, while farther away, a group of people drove off-road vehicles and rode off-road motorcycles.

Despite being attacked from all sides, it was clear Lei Ji wasn't struggling.

Each time it attacked, at least two Pokémon fell; the humans had to quickly replace them with new ones.

Whenever they tried to use some device, Lei Ji would suddenly stir up a sandstorm.

Whether it was an electric capture net fired from a rocket launcher, or some cage made of spheres and rods, none succeeded in trapping it.

Compared to those "you use black tech, I'll get beaten" types in the anime, Lei Ji was far smarter.

Another group of Pokémon hunters…

Baimu raised an eyebrow; the allure of legendary Pokémon was truly immense—one wave hadn't been enough, here came a second.

"Boss! It's Simon's crew!"

Someone cried out.

He turned his head and immediately saw Anda's gloomy face—he wondered, these were fellow hunters he knew?

As the saying goes, "fellow travelers are enemies"; with the underground fencing den in Huang Tie Town destroyed, Pokémon hunter business must've been terrible these past two years.

Under these circumstances, competitors were clearly targets to be eliminated.

Even if not eliminated.

They couldn't let the other side snatch the "merchandise" away smoothly.

As he thought this, another suddenly shouted: "Boss! Act now! If they capture it, we'll be in huge trouble!"

"Yeah, Boss!"

"We already lined up our buyers!"

In their panic, these men dropped all pretense before Baimu, loudly discussing how to fence Lei Ji after capturing it.

"What's the hurry!"

Anda snapped, grinning coldly: "Lei Ji's still full of energy! They can't catch it—even if they do, can't we take it from them?"

The underlings suddenly understood, praising him in unison.

Baimu's expression didn't change; he knew Anda's lack of caution around him meant he was about to reveal his hand.

Sure enough.

"Mr. Zhang San."

Anda turned to him, smiling without warmth: "As you wished, I brought you to Lei Ji. Since the debt of saving your life is repaid, shall we discuss something else?"

The others chuckled, surrounding him.

"No need for subtlety—hand over the Pokémon yourself, we won't trouble you. Once we catch Lei Ji, we'll let you go."

Seeing Baimu silent, Anda put on a sincerely earnest expression.

Baimu glanced at the men closing in, then at Anda before him, and said: "I expected you'd move against me, but I didn't think you'd dare act without even taking anything."

"Hm?"

Anda froze slightly.

Boom!

The woman blocking the front flew backward suddenly, crashing into the metal wall with a bang, groaned twice, then passed out.

The cockpit fell silent.

The others stared in shock at Baimu as he slowly lowered his foot—until two reacted quickly and screamed as they lunged forward.

Admittedly, at such close range, he couldn't have dodged it alone.

Good thing he had his Oddish to help.

From the floor's shadow, a bloodied maw suddenly appeared, swallowing Baimu whole, causing the two to lunge into empty air.

Andy, holding a Poké Ball, was about to activate it, when a voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.

"Get started."

"Crack!"

A strange Pokémon burst out from the ship's main control panel, its body crackling with flickering electricity, eyeing everyone with ill intent.

The next moment.

Exploding lightning filled the entire cockpit!

【Discharge】!

Screams erupted everywhere, especially from Matsumoto, who was nearly twisted into a knot; Anda's Poké Ball dropped with a clatter to the floor.

She had anticipated Baimu would release a Pokémon to resist, but never imagined that Pokémon would leap straight off the control panel!

And the Gengar in the shadows—had it eaten him?

The electric current ceased.

The stunned Pokémon hunters fell one after another, each blackened like charcoal, smoking with blue vapor, limbs twitching uncontrollably.

Gengar poked its head out from the corner, but did not release Baimu; instead, it pulled a ball from its belly and hurled it to the ground.

Pop!

Psssshh—

A pale blue-purple mist rapidly spread throughout the cockpit.

Sleep Powder!?

Anda's eyes widened—he never expected Baimu had such a trick; clearly, he had prepared for this!

And such practiced movements…

Could they have stumbled upon a fellow hunter!?

Twitching, Anda could not cover his nose and mouth, could not even hold his breath; he could only watch helplessly as, after a few breaths, he fell into unconsciousness.

The others were the same; within moments, they were all snoring loudly.

Once the powder had settled or dispersed, Gengar reappeared and slapped each person hard across the face, confirming they were all asleep before pulling Baimu out from its "belly."

"Phew… good thing I brought an oxygen tank."

Baimu, wearing a gas mask, shook his head—Gengar's belly had everything, but no oxygen.

He'd had to prepare an oxygen bottle inside, or else he'd have to hold his breath.

He looked at the sprawled villains, then at the ship, steadily landing via a Poliwhirl II, and said: "Thanks for the effort."

"Crack!"

"Grrr~"

The two Pokémon responded each in their own way.

The Sleep Powder was a high-dose concoction he'd specially developed, drawing on the Pharmacist's memories and several formulas from the Incense Catalog.

Not even Hyperactive Monkeys or Magmar would escape a half-day nap.

Baimu tied them all up with rope, then confiscated every single Poké Ball they owned. After completing these actions, the group below still hadn't captured Lei Ji.

The booming explosions continued.

"Amateurs?"

He found it strange—why, in cartoons, Pokémon hunters could chase after Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, yet here, they couldn't catch one even after so long?

The ship landed at Gao Po.

Baimu stepped out and saw: the Pokémon hunters were fighting a group of Trainers.

Both sides released Pokémon to attack each other, engaged in a wild, rule-free battle.

Lei Ji was tightly bound by a restraint made of iron rods and spheres, half-sunk into the sand, its H-shaped orange dot-matrix flickering back and forth.

In the end, even it couldn't resist the capture-specific black tech, ending up much like Suicune.

And the Pokémon hunters, as usual, had run into righteous teenage Trainers, forced into a struggle over possession.

"They'll be laughed at for life by Lei Jiaisi and Lei Ji."

Baimu chuckled and released Steel Column and Ice Column.

Thud! Thud!

"Dududu—"

"Jijiji—"

Their facial dot-matrices flashed—one yellow, one red—and soon resonated with Lei Ji below.

Then.

The restraint binding Lei Ji shattered with a loud bang.

"Wwwwwww—le! Jii! Gok!"

It emitted an extremely loud sound, drawing the attention of the battling Pokémon hunters and teenage Trainers.

More importantly.

They noticed Lei Jiaisi and Lei Jisqilu standing on the distant cliff.

"Ah! The other two Legendary Giants!"

"How did they get here!?"

"There's a person there!"

"Really! Have these two Legendary Pokémon already been tamed by him? Is he here to capture the third?"

In an instant.

The canyon erupted in chaos.