Chapter 127: Plan Complete

Inside the venue.

The power outage had been resolved; the shattered light bulbs had been replaced, the floor had been cleaned by someone, not even a speck of glass remained, and everything had been restored to its original brightness.

Most of the guests returned to their seats, while a small portion refused to come back in on the grounds of being frightened, and the auction's person in charge didn't dare force them, so he had to let them leave. Such a baffling move left All Baimu utterly amazed, and he figured the man's job probably wouldn't last long.

Then the host took the stage.

Just as All Baimu had predicted, the host publicly announced the theft of numerous items — not just their target, the Dragonite, but also other Pokémon, as well as valuable antiques and the like.

The guests erupted in an uproar; everyone who had won an item in the bidding grew anxious and loudly asked the host what to do.

From this, one could tell that those who hadn't left weren't unafraid of the incident, but rather carried an enormous burden on their shoulders — they had to bring the target back. Now that the target had been stolen, the host couldn't account for it, and neither could they account for it to the people behind them.

The venue became as noisy as a vegetable market.

All Baimu, however, was somewhat shocked.

Were Yamatsumi and his people really only two people? How could two people manage to haul away so many things in such a short time?

As if knowing his confusion, before he could ask, Yamatsumi took the initiative to lean over and whisper:

"You probably can't imagine how greedy these people are. Setting aside the fact that they aren't a solid block internally, do you know how many poaching teams or thieves are hiding here, front stage and back, just waiting to get paid?"

*Against the Gods*

"Hiss!"

All Baimu drew a soft breath.

"That's right." Yamatsumi's face was expressionless, but a soft chuckle escaped his throat. "Stealing from under their own noses, looting a burning house. When we created the opportunity, these guys who think they're tough characters — the ones who fled to Orei while being chased and blocked by Interpol — wouldn't pass up such a good chance."

"Feels a bit surreal…"

He shook his head. Stealing from under their own noses and all that.

Maybe everyone thought taking a little for themselves was fine, and in the end everyone took "a little"?

Well then.

That's a big problem.

"They were never good people to begin with, so doing something like this isn't strange. Don't think too highly of their 'loyalty' or their IQ." Yamatsumi tapped his own head. "Truly smart people who know how to read the times — why would they need to make money through methods like this?"

Indeed — Giovanni simply turned himself into a capitalist, founding Shangshi Company and an amusement park to feed back into Team Rocket; Lysandre straight up sweet-talked Kalos's nobility and upper society into donating money to him; Colress also has a big company. One could say the scale is worlds apart.

All Baimu said: "So we successfully fished in troubled waters?"

"Don't rush, we're still far from that."

Yamatsumi said calmly and composedly.

His words had just fallen.

Large groups of fully armed people suddenly poured in from outside, sealing off the entire venue hall. The mayor walked in expressionlessly, but anyone could tell he was furious to the extreme — the veins on his forehead bulged as if about to burst.

Yet even at this point, what he shouted was: "We've received a report that someone has robbed the valuable goods here, worth several billion! This is an extremely serious public security incident! Please everyone must cooperate with our work!"

He roared through gritted teeth.

Everyone present was shaken, and they swiftly began trying to contact the outside world, attempting to get the people behind them to step in and help, but the mayor had already jammed the signal in advance.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there's no need to panic. We will protect any innocent person; your personal safety is guaranteed." The mayor said loudly.

The guests could only lower their phones and other communication devices with unhappy expressions.

Yamatsumi tidied his clothes, gave All Baimu a look, and the two walked together toward where the mayor was.

Halfway there, one of the armed men tried to step forward and block them, but upon clearly seeing the former's face, he immediately hesitated, unsure whether his raised hand should come down or not.

When the mayor saw this, his raging expression eased slightly, and he waved his hand to signal the man to let them pass.

The armed man looked as if he'd been pardoned.

"Little nephew Yamatsumi?"

"Uncle Ruby gave me an invitation, how could I not show up? But you being like this now, you might just incur the wrath of the crowd." Yamatsumi said with perfect courtesy, while also revealing a hint of displeasure.

Seeing Mayor Ruby look toward All Baimu beside him, he said unhurriedly: "This is the rising star of Team Sandstorm, All Baimu. I get along with him quite well, and I took this chance to bring him out to see the world, to see if there's any Pokémon worth purchasing."

The mayor saw All Baimu bow in greeting, and casually nodded and exchanged a few polite words.

If Yamatsumi hadn't been present, no matter how famous the latter was, he wouldn't have given any face under these circumstances.

"Little nephew Yamatsumi need not worry, I have my own plans." He waved his hand, then said: "Since we've bumped into each other, you two stay by my side for now. The robbers' location is still unknown, who knows what they might do — staying with me is safer."

His tone eased slightly, showing trust in Yamatsumi and All Baimu.

But to be honest, keeping them by his side made it easier to investigate — if anything was off, he'd know immediately.

The mayor certainly didn't think someone of Yamatsumi's background would do something so foolish, but his suspicious nature made him suspect everyone.

"…Fine then."

Yamatsumi nodded, his attitude still showing a hint of displeasure. All Baimu, meanwhile, said nothing from start to finish, playing the role of a sidekick perfectly.

Just hilarious.

The most dangerous place is the safest; following the mayor gave them protection on all fronts, and it wasn't easy to be exposed.

——

The manpower the mayor deployed was greater than All Baimu had imagined.

This made All Baimu worry about Wu's situation — he should have already gotten out of the underground city, right? The mayor's forces were reacting a bit fast; a target as big as him would leave traces no matter where he went.

He wondered what method he'd use to get out.

While he was musing, the mayor's forces had tracked down the first wave of robbers and thieves who'd reached for the auction goods.

Seeing their plot exposed, those people decisively chose to cut a bloody path out, engaging in an extremely fierce clash with the mayor's forces — the two sides fought so intensely the entire underground city shook.

And at this moment.

All Baimu and Yamatsumi were sitting safely in the rear, drinking tea, eating pastries, and even playing video games.

So comfortable, not at all looking like people who had just snatched things back.

After this wave died down, the mayor's expression improved considerably — presumably he'd recovered a sizable amount of loss. At the same time, he had no choice but to release everyone in the auction hall.

Because contact with the outside world had been cut off for so long, and news of the auction house theft had spread, more and more people were calling into his office, forcing him to release them.

One or two was fine — as a local tyrant, he wasn't afraid at all.

But once the number exceeded ten, he gradually couldn't withstand the pressure any longer, and had no choice but to restore the guests' personal freedom.

Ten minutes later.

Shanren took Baimu and drove out of the underground city, welcomed back by the bright sunshine on the surface.

When the car reached a spot with no one around, he couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Hahaha, my good uncle really does have a great bunch of subordinates! Not one of them dares to cross me!"

"What do you mean—"

Baimu in the passenger seat was momentarily stunned, then saw the back seat suddenly melt like a candle, revealing Awu and Ditto's figures — clearly the seatback had at some point been hollowed out into a large hole capable of hiding them.

"Phew, held it in so long I nearly died."

Awu rubbed his hair and smiled at the surprised Baimu in the front. "Couldn't get out, so I was just planning to hide for a bit, but ended up hiding all the way until now."

"That group basically dismantled and inspected every single person's car, but only gave mine a cursory check before giving up, afraid I'd cause them trouble afterward."

Shanren said with a half-smile, "Made some of my later plans seem rather redundant."

So what kind of background do you actually have, to be this awesome.

Baimu grumbled inwardly, feeling that the MVP of this operation wasn't any one of them, but Shanren's background.

Without his background, how could things have gone so smoothly.

"If your Alakazam could teleport me along with it, why would I have to work so hard."

Awu wiped the sweat from his head and sighed helplessly.

"You wish. Teleporting other people along isn't some advanced technique I can make Alakazam pull off — you think I'm some born superhuman?" Shanren was in a great mood.

Hearing them talk about this, Baimu grew a little curious.

Is teleporting people really that difficult? Like Heal Pulse treating injuries, is it some kind of special technique? In the anime, Sabrina and Sabrina's dad weren't—

Alright then.

Those two themselves are extraordinary to begin with.