Chapter 75

"Saint Tenu... Sakaki is really willing to spend money." Huo La lay flat on the big bed in the room, his fingertips sliding over the soft silk bedsheets, and sighed sincerely.

This bed was several times softer than the temporary bed in the Pokémon Center, sinking into it almost made one unload all fatigue.

On the round table in the room, the exquisite white porcelain plate was filled with cut melon, strawberries, and various snacks, and beside it was a pot of iced black tea, with a card printed with the words "Free refills, call the waiter at any time".

This kind of treatment, let alone ordinary Trainers, even mid-level researchers in the League might not be able to enjoy—Team Rocket was truly willing to invest to "lure" Trainers.

He got up and walked to the window, pushed open the porthole, and the sea breeze mixed with salty and damp breath surged in.

The Saint Tenu was divided into three floors, the bottom floor was the restaurant, Pokémon battle room, and storage room, the second floor was the Captain's cabin, staff lounge, and VIP guest rooms, while the top floor was the open deck and observation deck.

Except for the Captain's cabin marked "No Entry", other areas were open to passengers. The ship even had a small Pokémon medical station and store, with complete facilities like a floating small town.

"Xiao Gang must be buried in the store by now." Huo La chuckled, with Xiao Gang's obsession with breeding supplies, he was probably already picking and choosing in front of the shelves with a shopping list, maybe even asking the clerk for the recipe for energy blocks.

Withdrawing his gaze, Huo La tapped his fingertips in the air, and the familiar system interface unfolded quietly.

He skipped the flashing Task Center and clicked directly into the "Badge Collection" interface—the orange badge of Vermilion Gym was already steadily displayed among them, floating side by side with the Boulder Badge and Cascade Badge, the surface of the three badges flowing with faint light, and there was a line of small print under each badge.

Boulder Badge: Pokémon Rock-type skill proficiency permanently +5%

Cascade Badge: Pokémon Water-type skill proficiency permanently +5%

Thunder Badge: Pokémon Electric-type skill proficiency permanently +5%

"All add 5%... but damn it, except for Nidoqueen learning Rock skills, none of the other Pokémon can use them." Huo La rolled his eyes, couldn't help but complain in his heart.

Scyther specialized in Bug and Flying types, Zubat was Poison and Flying type, Beedrill was even more Bug and Bug type, the only Water-type Pokémon Krabby was sent to Professor Oak by him to satisfy his own bad taste.

The attribute bonuses of these three badges were simply tailored for others, and had almost no gain for his current main lineup.

Complaining was complaining, he still raised his hand to close the badge interface, and instead clicked on "Task System".

Only two unfinished tasks remained, clearly floating in the center of the screen:

Capture a Golden Magikarp

Join Team Rocket and become an executive

Huo La's gaze lingered on the second task for a long time.

A large part of the reason he took the initiative to board the Saint Tenu was for this "pitiful task".

"Sakaki spending so much effort to operate this ship, it can't just be to snatch a few ordinary Pokémon." Huo La tapped the table with his fingers, falling into contemplation.

Combined with the "Sakaki paying attention to Vermilion City" revealed by Lt. Surge earlier, and the super-ancient Pokémon craze triggered by Zheng Hui's thesis, this ship might also bear the function of "screening talent"—observing the strength and potential of boarding Trainers, and absorbing fresh blood for Team Rocket.

After all, those attracted by the "free cruise", and Trainers who had the confidence to board, were either Trainers confident in their own strength, or "targets" carrying rare Pokémon.

"What a pity... this idea is destined to be destroyed by Ash." Huo La leaned against the head of the bed, sighed helplessly. In the memory of his past life, after Ash and his party boarded the Saint Tenu, Team Rocket's plan was messed up, and even the Saint Tenu sank.

The Saint Tenu counted as a mobile stronghold of Team Rocket, there must be a person in charge sent by headquarters on the ship, and this task was even personally paid attention to by Sakaki; since Ash's "destructiveness" was uncontrollable, it was better to actively participate in it, and see if there was an opportunity to do something.

"Knock, knock, knock—"

The knocking sound suddenly sounded, interrupting Huo La's thoughts. He raised his eyes to look at the door, and said loudly: "Please come in."

The door was carefully pushed open a crack, and a Meowth wearing a small bow tie poked its head in, still wearing that ill-fitting, ridiculous small suit.

It scanned the room left and right, confirmed there was no one else, then tiptoed and jumped in, taking a few steps to jump onto the round table filled with snacks, its tail scanning the desktop vigilantly.

"Meow~ Brat Huo La, what do you want to do by taking the initiative to board this Saint Tenu?" Meowth lowered its voice, its paw not forgetting to grab a strawberry and stuff it into its mouth, "Meow warns you, there is one of our Team Rocket's nine great captains sitting on this ship, if you dare to spoil things, even the three of us can't protect you!"

"One of the nine great captains, huh..." Huo La's eyes lit up instantly—sure enough, such a level of mobile stronghold, it was impossible not to have a core executive sitting in town.

A squad leader might count as an executive of Team Rocket, but the nine great captains were characters who truly held real power within Team Rocket; if he could talk to the other party, or even show his value, the task of "becoming an executive" might be able to take a key step.

But he didn't show any color on his face, instead, he put on a look of indifference, picked up a biscuit and broke it: "What could I want to do? Just saw you three wearing uniforms distributing flyers, curiously went over to ask, heard it was a free luxury cruise, naturally came up to experience it."

He deliberately paused, catching a glimpse of Meowth's ears moving out of the corner of his eye, only then pretending to realize: "Why? Is this ship Team Rocket's? Are you guys planning some big mission? If you need help, I can lend a hand—after all, I count as 'one of our own' now, can't just watch you three busy back and forth."

This remark hit Meowth's heart exactly. It swallowed the strawberry, its paw drew on the desktop: "Meow~ Count you as having a bit of conscience! To tell you the truth, this ship is indeed one of the strongholds of headquarters, on one hand, it's to attract Trainers, see if there's any talent worth absorbing; on the other hand... it's to 'verify the goods' on the ship."

"'Verify the goods'?" Huo La captured the keyword, and asked without changing his expression, "Verify what goods?"

"Meow doesn't know the specifics, Meow only knows that a batch of rare Pokémon eggs from the black market will be traded on the ship." Meowth's voice lowered even more, its eyes filled with caution, "The captain specifically told me to keep it secret, even the three of us can only do odd jobs on the periphery, responsible for attracting attention."

Rare Pokémon egg trading? Huo La's heart chilled, sure enough, the real purpose of the Saint Tenu wasn't just snatching the Pokémon of the crowd as in his memory, even screening talent wasn't important.

Just at this moment, Musashi's angry shout suddenly came from outside the door: "Meowth! Did you sneak away to eat alone again? If you don't come out, I'll throw all your dried fish into the sea!"

Meowth was so scared it shuddered, almost falling off the round table.

It hurriedly grabbed two biscuits and stuffed them into its pocket, made a "shh" gesture at Huo La: "Meow~ If there's nothing else, Meow suggests you hurry and get off the ship, leave the Saint Tenu."

As soon as the words fell, it darted to the door like a gust of wind, pulled open a crack to confirm no one was there, and flew out, leaving only the scattered strawberry stems on the table, proving Meowth's presence just now.

"Rare Pokémon eggs... one of the nine great captains..." Huo La tapped the table with his fingertips, the corners of his mouth curling into a deep smile.

Originally thought it was just a "free ride", and helping Ash as the Masked Child by the way, didn't expect to run into such a key clue.

It seems this trip on the Saint Tenu was much more interesting than imagined.

He got up and walked to the window, looking at the Trainers gradually gathering on the deck, his gaze sweeping through the crowd—Ash and Pikachu hadn't appeared yet, it seemed they hadn't arrived at the port.

But it didn't matter, good shows never lacked people to open the scene.