Chapter 113: Crisis Arrives

Dusk.

Heaven and earth had both taken on a different appearance.

The whole stretch of desert turned bleak and cold, no longer carrying the daytime's scorching heat; when the wind blew, it didn't just stuff sand into people's mouths, it made them shiver from the cold.

There was no way to light a fire — given the desert conditions, starting one was extremely difficult.

Everyone could only pull their clothes or cloaks tight and try to endure the cold.

And as the brilliant sun set, the difficulty of reconnaissance rose. When the thermal imager was pointed at the Gobi, not a single ghost of a shadow could be seen — so quiet it didn't seem like a place a person could stay.

Very boring.

But Baimu thoroughly enjoyed this boredom and tedium. Compared to fighting bloody battles with others, the withered yellow weeds were tender and lovely beyond words, and the distant mountains had taken on a majestic air.

What's more, he could still listen to the crisp chime of the Soothing Bell.

"Ding ling ling~ Ding ling ling~"

As the large-mouthed girl and the other Pokémon frolicked beside him, the relaxing chime of the bell spread into everyone's ears.

"Baimu, is anyone really going to come? I don't really feel like it."

The thoroughly bored Otsuka held up binoculars, his voice having gone from initial excitement to present weariness — reconnaissance work really did test a person's patience.

Baimu said, "No one can say for sure. It could be that they couldn't take Mine Number Two after a long siege and came here to try an unorthodox approach; or it could be some other force disguised as the Hound Squad."

"Other forces?"

"Mm, you don't think the Quicksand Squad only has the Hound Squad as an enemy, do you? It's possible that some other force has come in to kick us while we're down — just kill everyone here and disguise it as the Hound Squad's doing."

"Holy shit… no way."

"Why not? Setting aside personal grudges, I don't think other forces would want the Quicksand Squad to keep growing either. Everyone fears that once the Quicksand Squad climbs another rung, they'll come after them — that's perfectly normal."

"The way you put it, it almost sounds like we shouldn't have taken this mine at all."

"It's easy to conquer a kingdom but hard to hold it. Especially with enemies lurking on all sides — the top executives are probably riding a tiger and can't dismount. The Hound Squad's boss got captured, and whether they internally elect a new boss or parachute one in, it'll affect us as their neighbors. So rather than sitting by and doing nothing, it's better to strike first and gamble for a path straight to the heavens."

After Baimu finished saying all this, the other four people present looked at him with admiring eyes.

"So this is the power of knowledge? You know so much!"

Otsuka was deeply moved. He'd been attending literacy class for some time now, and every day felt like doing time in prison, constantly wondering what the point of learning characters was.

But seeing Baimu looking so wise, his longing for study flared up again.

The other four felt the same.

"I was just talking off the top of my head — don't take it seriously." Baimu laughed helplessly. He'd merely casually offered a perspective viewed from his own standpoint; it couldn't be taken as gospel.

Perhaps other forces didn't have such strong foresight? Perhaps the top executives simply wanted to beat a drowning dog?

There were too many possibilities.

"Alright, time to relocate — everyone stop for a moment."

Baimu clapped his hands, calling out to the large-mouthed girl who was roughhousing with a group of Pokémon.

This one seemed to be playing some sort of big-sister game, ordering Otsuka and the others' Pokémon to do this and that, having so much fun she didn't want to stop for the moment.

"Cheedoo!"

"It's not playtime now — once this is over you can play all you want."

He coaxed her once, and only then did the large-mouthed girl relent, voluntarily jumping into the truck bed.

Baimu turned on the walkie-talkie and made contact with the outer members stationed elsewhere. Normally they checked in every ten minutes if there was nothing to report, to make sure nothing had gone wrong.

But his anxious nature compelled the outer members to check in every five minutes.

After all, ten minutes of silence could accomplish too many things; five minutes was comparatively shorter.

"Sector Two, copy, beginning movement."

"Sector Three, copy, beginning movement."

"Sector Four, copy, beginning movement."

"Sector Five…"

"Wait." Baimu suddenly called a halt. "Sector Four, what's wrong with your voice?"

"…Accidentally ate some sand, cough cough cough, sorry, Captain."

"Alright, continue the reports."

"Sector Five, copy, beginning movement."

Including Baimu, ten sectors in total, each responsible for a different direction, slowly began moving under his command.

And he let out a breath of stale air, looked at the teammates waiting beside him, and said with a complicated tone: "Something's happened."

Otsuka and the others' faces stiffened abruptly.

"Wh-what?"

"The person in Sector Four has been swapped out. I observed that side earlier — there wasn't much wind, so I should have been able to hear the drone's buzz, but just now I didn't hear it."

Baimu sighed and hurriedly used his earpiece to contact the mine, but only the crackling hiss of static came back.

He'd just contacted the mine a few minutes ago, yet now he couldn't reach them at all.

It proved that someone had used some method to cut off the mine's external communications — just like when they'd raided the Hound Squad's mine and severed their communications.

At this point, Sector Four being infiltrated by the enemy was almost a certainty.

They hadn't even managed to send out any warning, and the mine had been struck in such a short time — the attackers' strength was plain to see. Such a silent approach made it all the more chilling.

He was suddenly glad he hadn't scattered his people out; this bit of reconnaissance force wouldn't even be enough for them to pick their teeth with.

Hopefully the mine had already noticed.

He glanced at his phone—

Sure enough, no signal.

"Go back! Back to the mine!"

All Baimu said to the other four, "We can't rule out the possibility that the enemy plans to hunt scouts like us. We have to rejoin the main force as quickly as possible."

Only by staying with the main force can we improve our odds of survival.

Of course, that's only one reason.

The other reason was that he still had four team members inside the mine — leaving without going back to check on them and fleeing straight back to Iron Town left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Besides, with Lady Ayana holding down the mine, the ambushers might not have everything go their way. There's no need to write everything off before we even see the situation clearly.

"Yes, sir!"

Otsuka and the others replied in unison.

—

Mine Number One.

Just as All Baimu had suspected, all means of communication with the outside had already been cut off.

The ambush squad sent by the Hound team, as if led by someone, broke through every line of defense All Baimu knew or didn't know with great ease and reached the outskirts of the mine.

Although they very much wanted to carry the ambush through to the end, they were still detected by the vigilant Quicksand team members.

The instant the alarm bell rang inside the mine, three officers and two hundred Hound team members launched their assault on the mine. Though not as seamless as Master Liu Ge's command, it still caught the defenders completely off guard.

*Treading the Stars*

The defense line at the main gate was breached. Countless Hound team members poured into the mine, beginning to destroy everything indiscriminately and attack anyone connected to the Quicksand team.

"Smash it all! Smash every last thing!"

An officer roared, directing his Houndoom and Mightyena to destroy those expensive large machines.

"You're asking for death!"

A furious shout rang out from a small building, followed immediately by a thick column of water tearing through the air, blasting that officer's Houndoom straight away!

"Ambush!"

The officer waved his hand and shouted. His Mightyena immediately charged toward the direction the water column had come from, but when it had advanced about halfway, it suddenly twisted its body — a giant toad, entirely water-blue in color, burst out of the ground right where it had been standing!

The Mightyena lunged at it with a claw, but collided with the trembling arm of the Toad King.

Boom!

A muffled thud.

The two Pokémon each retreated backward.

Lady Ayana, her anger barely concealed, walked out of the small building, followed by an exceptionally tall Swampert.

But before she could say anything, another person stepped out from the smoke on her left side.

"Oh, if it isn't Lady Ayana, what a coincidence. My worthless little brother really gave you so much trouble — this time I'm here to collect the interest."

The dark-faced man, who bore a three-part resemblance to the dark-faced man who had led the team at the charity event, laughed.

"You talk too much."

Even though she was about to be attacked by two people at once, Lady Ayana did not panic; her expression grew ever more composed and calm.

Unfortunately, the officer who had attacked first seemed to have no intention of joining the fight. He said to the dark-faced man, "I'll leave it to you. No problem, right?"

"No problem. Just watch!"

The dark-faced man threw out a Poké Ball and charged toward Lady Ayana.

The other man prepared to leave, directing his subordinates to continue the sweep.

"Not on your life!"

Lady Ayana hurriedly had Swampert use Hydro Pump to block that officer's path.

In an instant.

The scene became even more chaotic.