"It's hard for me to explain clearly to you at the moment, and this requires time to verify."
Shanren said, "I can only tell you that once he leaves Pyrite Town, this town will completely be out of his control."
Hmm?
The impending storm in this tone made Baimu pause, just about to ask something, when he heard Shanren continue.
"Are you having a headache now, wondering how to handle Deino's daily care?"
"Uh, indeed."
He had to admit that Deino was currently a hot potato.
As soon as he's exposed to others, the mayor will soon know that someone involved in the auction happens to have a talented Deino.
With the Poaching Team taken down, the mayor is bound to consider Deinos as private property, he absolutely won't let him off.
Considering this, Baimu even thought of running away on the spot.
But now he really couldn't run. The recent rush on the Evil Dog Team's mine got him thirty million and cadre status, but also put him in the spotlight, making it hard to keep a low profile.
Moreover, Cang Zhilang had already reported him to the boss, intending to decide based on his situation whether to appoint him to a cadre position.
The Crystal Team, with old grudges, would surely be keeping a close eye, figuring out how to bring him down, rather than continuing to cultivate a great enemy.
Leaving now, whether successful or not, would implicate Otsuka, Cheng Hong, and even the people on Cyan Iridium Street. Even Flop and Liu Ge would be affected.
These two might have some grand plan. Having been under their care for a long time, he shouldn't involve them, emotionally and rationally.
What would he become if he just threw everything aside and ran away?
So what should he do...
Temporarily keeping Deino away from the public isn't much of a problem; the key is it can't forever skip check-ups. Training inevitably leads to injuries, and he can't completely fix these damages.
Keep stalling until the day he can leave?
Baimu, troubled, received Shanren's thoughtful advice.
"Personally, I can't help you for now, with too many eyes around me it's inconvenient to do anything. Besides, you don't need to look far, just go find Flop, tell him your predicament, he'll help you."
"Flop!? You know him?"
"...Huh? I thought seeing that Ditto would remind you; I even mentioned the Ditto was borrowed."
"...That was foolish of me."
Baimu covered his forehead.
He couldn't have imagined Shanren having any connection with Flop. After all, at first glance, they seemed unrelated, except for both having used a Ditto.
Do these two know each other? Are they a group? Or do they have some special connection?
Perhaps seeking help this time could yield some answers from them.
——
The small office building in the Underground City.
Even though he had become a candidate for a cadre position, until fully appointed, Baimu still belonged to the squad leader under Liu Ge's command.
He needed to follow his instructions.
"Huh? The cadre is here?"
"The cadre has time today? Is the restaurant closed? I wanted to have a meal."
Other squad leaders under Liu Ge jokingly spoke out.
Baimu wasn't angry, glanced around and asked, "Where's Flop? Have any of you seen him?"
"—Over here~"
A hand was raised in the corner of the office area.
He quickly moved there and immediately saw Flop lying on a long bench, the latter wearing an eye mask, "Why don't you go home and sleep?"
"All the same wherever I sleep." Flop waved his hand, groaning lightly, "What do you want with me?"
Baimu instinctively glanced at the other squad leaders around, leaned in and whispered, "It's about something related to the recent auction."
Upon hearing this, Flop immediately removed his eye mask.
"Did someone see Wu?"
This statement practically confirmed Flop's connection with Shanren.
Recalling what Shanren had said mysteriously earlier, he felt that something big was about to happen.
Upon hearing Flop's words, the other squad leaders also cast curious glances.
Baimu, seeing he had no intention to hide, said:
"No, it's that the grandmother in Dragon Land allowed me to adopt a Deino, but as you know, the mayor is investigating, I can't expose it casually..."
"Wait a minute, you said the grandmother in Dragon Land gave you a Deino?" Flop seemed surprised, "Why?"
"Because... Wu and the grandmother believe I am a descendant of a Dragon Tamer."
Baimu hurriedly explained, only to see Flop staring wide-eyed at him, along with the stupefied expressions of the surrounding squad leaders.
"You're a descendant of a Dragon Tamer?" someone said with a trembling voice.
"I don't know! I hardly have any memory of my parents, just purely raised by neighbors!" He spread his hands helplessly, "I asked those neighbors a couple of days ago, they said my family moved here from somewhere else."
"And then?"
"Then I found the original residence, but the people there didn't know I existed at all!"
Baimu spoke with distress, "I also checked Quicksand Team's household registration, found out their registration management is a mess! My parents' entry actually shows as the parents of one of my team members!"
"It's as if I fell from the sky, yet neighbors swear they've seen my parents, and they had jobs!"
Flop listened to his complaints, exchanged glances with the other squad leaders.
They had investigated Baimu's background long ago and knew he was an orphan, including the fact that the parents on the registration weren't his real parents.
But since Quicksand Team had many without identity, hidden underground laborers, and it was matter from over ten years ago that couldn't be traced, they stopped pursuing it. They knew what kind of person Baimu was, and that was enough.
Who would've thought Baimu, after all the stirring, turned out to be a descendant of a Dragon Tamer!
Flop fell into deep thought, while someone went to inform Liu Ge of this news.
Before long.
Liu Ge emerged from the office, grabbed Baimu, and repeatedly examined his face, "How can you tell a descendant of the Dragon People?"
"It's unclear, the oldest Dragon People branched out in different regions millions of years ago, with varied hair and eye colors."
Flop shook his head.
Baimu raised his hand and said, "Well, actually, there's something else urgent I came here for, not to pursue my identity."
"Urgent? What urgent matter?" Liu Ge was taken aback.
"It's that my Deino can't enter the Pokémon Center for check-ups, the mayor will find out..." he said in a somewhat hushed voice.
Upon hearing this, Liu Ge was puzzled, then curiously asked, "Why did you come to us for help?"
"Shanren told me to."
The surrounding people, hearing this name, revealed amused expressions.
"That guy, really no hesitation, what does he take us for?" someone said speechlessly.
Flop waved his hand, "Hey, it's not like that, after all, he does inform us when taking action and seeks our opinion, that's already respectful enough."