A peaceful life ultimately has its limits.
For the Extreme Path.
As long as there's a possibility to expand power, there's no way to let it drift away with the wind.
On this day.
Baimu came to Liu Ge's office at his summon and was surprised to find all the Squad Leaders under Liu Ge's command present. As he opened the door and entered, they all turned their heads to look at him in unison.
He quickly apologized, indicating that he was late.
"Sit down!"
Liu Ge directed him to sit, saying seriously, "Two days ago we received confirmed news that the boss of the Evil Dog Team has been captured."
As the words fell.
The Squad Leaders each showed different expressions.
Baimu was taken aback for a moment, remembering that the boss of the Evil Dog Team and the boss of the Quicksand Team had been called to a meeting in Silicon City. The meeting lasted several months, causing a sense of unrest among their subordinates.
On the Sand Group's side, fortunately, Cang Zhilang had high prestige to suppress it, but things were not so good for the Crystal Team and Stone Team.
One quickly began to rot, deceiving others while amassing wealth recklessly. The other quickly mutated towards betrayal, striving to be like the second master, dividing the family assets to return to Gao Village and reign supreme.
The Evil Dog Team wouldn't be much better off; everyone is just as rotten, rotten competing with rotten.
Now the boss of the Evil Dog Team has been caught, what about our boss?
"The boss is fine. The boss of the Evil Dog Team was first placed under house arrest in Silicon City, after escaping through a passenger ship from the Ore Region, he was captured by international police."
Liu Ge explained again, "The news reached inside the Evil Dog Team not long ago, and now they're in complete chaos internally."
International police, in Baimu's past life was purely a ceremonial organization, but in the Pokémon World, their power and scale are terrifyingly great, a classic organization against crime.
Unlike Officer Jenny who only protects one city, they involve themselves in almost every region.
Now that the international police have captured the Evil Dog Team boss, does it mean they'll go after Pyrite Town or even the entire Ore Region?
Baimu felt a hint of joy, but upon further thought, he couldn't help but sigh.
The problem with the Ore Region can't be solved just by catching those members of the Extreme Path, its entire social aspect is different from other regions, catching one batch will only spawn a second batch with the same issues.
How many batches can the international police catch?
Rather than simply going after those evil leaders, what the Ore Region needs is an awareness cleansing from the ground up, someone needs to stand up and tell them what is right and what is wrong.
Only then can it truly align with mainstream regions.
He furrowed his brow, listening to the focus of this meeting.
"Boss Cang Zhilang held a remote discussion with Yogo and Chester yesterday and decided to seize this opportunity to test raid the Evil Dog Team."
Liu Ge snapped his fingers, and a light screen appeared on the wall behind him, "The goals of the Stone Team and Crystal Team are unrelated to us, so let's not discuss them here.
"There are five mining locations established by the Evil Dog Team outside Pyrite Town, two of which are adjacent to us and are large-scale mining sites. Our action this time is to take these two mines and aim to turn them into our territory."
The big one is coming.
Baimu understood that the Quicksand Team intended to take advantage of the Evil Dog Team being leaderless and cruelly tear off a piece of its flesh.
However, even though the Evil Dog Team no longer has a boss, they are still formidable in terms of strength. Therefore, the danger level of this task is high, no wonder Cang Zhilang mentioned that performing well would land him on the list for prospective candidates.
So, they've been planning to target the Evil Dog Team since then.
Not far away.
Flop stood up, took a stack of white papers from the table and distributed them to each squad leader.
"Our team will cooperate with Ayana's Team and the Sanghe Team to guard one mining site. The paper contains the scope of the responsible area and the process of the specific implementation plan. The task is heavy, make sure to destroy it after reading."
Liu Ge added, "Due to the urgency of the situation, to prevent the leak of tactics, remember not to tell your subordinates too much, just tell them it's a mission."
"Understood!"
"1 PM is the key time when their defenses are lax, quickly gather your team, and convene for action promptly at noon 12 o'clock!"
"Yes!"
The group stood up and saluted, then dispersed like a flock of birds.
Baimu also wanted to leave, but was stopped by Liu Ge.
"This is your first big mission, you're probably not used to everything, remember to let your team get close to Flop's team, I've already instructed him."
"Okay, thank you, brother."
"Don't rush off, I want to ask you what you would do in case of conflict with the mine guards, or even with the miners? Would you kill?"
"...Brother, what do you mean?"
"Remember, if you don't have to kill, don't kill. Focus on capturing the opponent. On the one hand, people are valuable resources in Pyrite Town, taking over the opponent's mines also needs manpower, machines can't completely replace them. On the other hand, you're still too young, suddenly taking too many lives could confuse you, remember to suppress the beast within you."
Liu Ge earnestly patted Baimu's shoulder.
Taking too many lives can cause a huge shift on a conscious level, harmful to a young man's future, Liu Ge absolutely didn't want a talented young man like Baimu to have his thinking warped.
Theoretically, he didn't even want Baimu to go on missions, but Cang Zhilang had specifically named him.
Probably, the boss felt he might be giving a young man an opportunity, after all, he went through the same process himself, and understood the importance of "opportunity."
But Liu Ge didn't think that way.
"I understand, brother."
Baimu nodded again, this time his tone was much more sincere.
He's not an ungrateful person, Liu Ge's reminder before the battle and even letting his team take care of Baimu was already a caring kindness.
Emotions and rationality dictated he should express his gratitude to the good brother.
The other party could be considered his benefactor. If he were under any other boss, how could he have the opportunity to rake in money without offering filial respect, his wallet would've been squeezed countless times.
——
He reached the surface.
Baimu quickly gathered his subordinates—
Cheng Hong and eight other men from Cyan Iridium Street, and Otsuka.
Altogether nine team members.
He used the most concise way to explain they were about to go on a major mission, and when these guys showed excited expressions, he poured a cold bucket of water on them.
"This mission is dangerous, rather than creating any major achievements, what we need to focus on is preserving ourselves, surviving if possible."
Baimu said seriously: "Don't forget your skills are still immature, except for Otsuka who barely qualifies, your Pokémon are weak. If your Pokémon lose fighting ability, what will you do? Fight with your bodies?"
Cheng Hong and the others looked at each other, their enthusiasm suddenly dampened.
"So I reiterate our mission once again—survive, apart from this sentence, there's nothing else, do you understand?"
"Understood!"
Everyone shouted loudly.
"Good, prepare to set off!" Baimu nodded in satisfaction.