The next day.
Baimu heard the news that Yoshikawa had been stripped of his position and sent to the depths of the Underground City to mine.
Under normal circumstances, this guy would never see daylight again for the rest of his life; the mine would be his final home.
In just one day, a once-glorious Squad Leader has fallen to such a level...
Of course, this was partly due to Yoshikawa's own actions, but Chester's swift abandonment of a subordinate was shocking to others. It seems that yesterday's loose talk was taken advantage of.
"Poor guy."
He sighed and continued to invest himself in the endeavor of raising Pokémon.
The Pyrite Arena battle tournament wasn't far off; there might be Manager Level opponents—Pokémon all above Level 50—participating, so there's no way around preparing more.
Cheng Hong and the others, after receiving the money, did not disappoint Baimu, using it where it was most needed, which was somewhat comforting.
But the real challenge was just beginning; examples of people sharing hardships but not wealth are numerous.
Among the bosses from zones A and B, there were surely some unwilling to pay double and hoping to bribe them to speak on their behalf.
Indeed.
In the afternoon, Cheng Hong came over with a big envelope, saying it was left at his doorstep by someone unknown, its contents exactly as Baimu had anticipated.
No sender was identified.
"This is an attempt to drag you down,"
He chuckled, "If an ordinary person got this much money without the big brother knowing, they'd definitely choose to keep it. When it's time to collect, and those people explode, your situation would be awkward.
"If I choose to turn against you then, the collection remains the same. If I choose to protect you, they'll use some so-called rules, unspoken rules to pressure me, hoping I consider your face and collect less. They probably heard somewhere that we're particularly close."
Cheng Hong's expression changed, "But..."
"A reckless move, right? But that's all they could think of, betting on your greed and my protection, and adhering to the so-called rules. It's a lucky-thinking mindset, but understandable, since they grew up under such rules."
Baimu opened the envelope and counted, "Wow! Quite a bit! I'll take this one; from then on, when they send you money, just split it among you."
"Huh? Isn't that inappropriate?"
"What's inappropriate about me taking it myself? When others throw sugar-coated bombs, you eat the sugar coating and throw the bomb back. It's that simple." He patted his shoulder, "Go on, earning some extra money isn't bad."
Cheng Hong then left.
Baimu watched his departing figure and tucked the thick envelope into his bag.
If he didn't take a share, Cheng Hong and the others wouldn't dare split it. The rule of the Quicksand Team was that the big brother had a share before the little brothers could have theirs. If the big brother took nothing while the little brothers indulged, they'd feel very uneasy.
In the following days,
As expected, the bosses sent money twice more.
Cheng Hong and the rest took part of it for themselves, but adamantly refused to take some, secretly throwing it into Baimu's yard, pretending not to know.
It's both laughable and exasperating.
And during this time, Otsuka was discharged from the hospital.
With his injuries turn from severe to mild, he just needs to recuperate well to return to his previous state. The medical level of the Pokémon World is indeed extraordinary.
Upon hearing about the events outside, Otsuka couldn't help but regret not being there to cheer when Baimu clashed with Yoshikawa.
Baimu laughed and told him to save it.
——
Time flew by in a blink.
In a flash, two weeks passed.
During this period, Baimu successfully received twice the previous amount from the bosses in zones A and B and told them it was blood money paid to Liu Ge.
Supposedly, betrayers die young; how could Liu Ge easily let them off for siding with the Crystal Team?
Spending money to save lives was the hard truth.
Of course, whether these people believed it didn't matter to Baimu. If they were foolish enough, he couldn't be bothered to stop them.
However, during the fine collection, Liu Ge's gaze was very intriguing.
This good big brother didn't even glance at the pile of money in front of him, merely asking why Baimu submitted everything instead of keeping a share for himself.
Those eyes seemed to be testing something.
Baimu's answer was "The big brother should distribute."
And so.
He received another large sum of money, as Liu Ge seemed never to be stingy on this matter.
In fact, though, he wasn't very interested in protection fee-like money. Taking it was one thing, but he had to keep a low profile and not act too differently.
Ultimately, he exchanged all this money for necessities and distributed them to the aging or lonely and helpless neighbors on Cyan Iridium Street.
In the past, this was not something easy to do with no status, but now it didn't matter.
Many Quicksand Team members who also started from humble beginnings would do this, just not as frequently or generously as Baimu.
When Flop found out, he came to ask whether Baimu understood that giving up protection fees meant losing a significant income. In this situation, why be pretentious when what's needed should be used boldly?
He also asked a classic question: with two stacks of money in front, could Baimu tell which was righteous and which was evil?
Baimu only laughed and told him that people were inherently foolish, sometimes they don't shed tears until they see the coffin. Since he was still young and had some money, let him be foolish for a while longer.
When truly impoverished to the point of living off protection fees, he'd stop being foolish.
Until then, he'd be foolish for as long as he could.
Lairon, Mightyena, and the others supported him, even Mawile, after a visit to Cyan Iridium Street, believed its lunch standard could be lowered by a level.
Chansey even wanted to give away all its food, and Lairon often played with kids there, carrying them back and forth like a pony.
After saying this.
Flop's expression was etched in Baimu's memory.
It was a mix of joy and disbelief, filled with both pity and regret, as if finding a pile of gold in murky sand, overflowing with noble delight yet unable to keep it, just watching it slip away with the rushing river—a complex gaze.
Human faces are indeed amazing, able to produce so many changes in a short time.
Why did he look at me like that?
Baimu was unsure, but there must be some big secrets about Liu Ge and Flop, just like the Pokémon, like Mightyena, that were taken away earlier.
He had seen the feedback videos.
Those three Pokémon, which were mere killing machines under Jian, lived blissfully in that Eco Park, under blue skies and white clouds, among grasslands and rivers, joy shining on their faces.
Baimu was completely relieved.
The territory matters were thus temporarily settled.
In these two weeks, the simulator completed two more cooldowns.
Unfortunately, it didn't bring Baimu a spectacular performance like Miniskirt did. One was a Mountaineer who wandered the hill bases, always using Pokémon with Solid Traits to cause trouble.
The other was a Birdkeeper skilled in using Pidgeot.
Together, they brought Baimu three benefits of [Level Up by One Below Level 50], along with rewards of [Invisible Rock] and [Random Flying Attribute Skill].
[Invisible Rock] was given to Chansey, and the Flying Attribute skill ended up randomly choosing [Feather Rest] as the big prize.
Which was frustrating as nobody could learn it.
Could only set it aside for now.
Level rewards all went to Lairon, and with a month's accumulation, it had reached Level 43.
Baimu couldn't recall exactly what level it needed to evolve, but it seemed to have met the basic requirements, if not now, then soon.
Next up.
Still needed an opportunity.