chsdbacks Chapter 253 Reversing the Heavenly Gang
Chapter 253 Reversing the Heavenly Gang
Chapter 253 Reversing the Heavenly Gang
"The ledger...?"
'
Ze Shu sighed, then ignored the shopkeeper's ashen face and turned to look at the drawer where he had mentioned storing the ledgers. The drawer was half open, and stacks of notebooks were almost full.
That's quite a lot.
Ze Shu frowned slightly.
He casually picked up a book and flipped through it. Some records were of Pokémon hunters "receiving" Pokémon, while others were records of buyers purchasing these "unknown" Pokémon.
This tavern is essentially a black market operating between Pokémon hunters and buyers.
"Is this kind of black market only here in the entire Sinnoh?" Ze Shu asked casually. "You're already caught. Talking about it might get you a reduced sentence."
"Uh..." The shop manager shivered, feeling as if he had fallen into ice.
To be honest, he desperately wanted a reduced sentence, especially to be released from this frozen, Alolan Sandshrew form, but he opened his mouth, his voice trembling with disappointment, and said, "It's...it's just us here..."
'
"Originally there were three, but after Hunter J was arrested... the supply chain became insufficient, and coupled with their fear of the League, the other two cowards gradually fled at the first sign of trouble."
"just me....
'
"They're still managing to keep going!"
As he spoke, the store manager's pale face still faintly revealed a sense of smugness.
Ze Shu chuckled. This guy's pretty proud of himself.
"Insufficient supply chain... you mean the Pokémon supply you received after Hunter J was captured, right? But even so..."
"Ze Shu turned to stare at the shopkeeper and said, "Why are there so many new Pokémon hunters joining Sinnoh now? It's ridiculously high."
The shop manager strained his voice, but the cold made it difficult to utter a sound. He could only manage a hoarse, strained whisper: "Could you... give me... a little while...?"
"6
"OK."
Ze Shu nodded, and a white shadow flashed in the room, followed by a ghostly "whooshing" sound.
The store manager trembled involuntarily upon hearing the voice. This voice was the culprit that had frozen him instantly—it was utterly inhuman! It was the most unbearable experience he had ever had in his life!
Now, even though the temperature has only slightly decreased, it has made him feel an unusual warmth despite being in extremely cold conditions.
"Waaah..."
'
After easing the person's "freezing" somewhat.
The Snow Fairy no longer hid and appeared affectionately beside Ze Shu's shoulder.
It gently pressed its cool cheek against Ze Shu's cheek, curiously looking at the open ledger in Ze Shu's hand, and together they looked at it, cheek to cheek. "Huh?"
Ze Shu said softly, "It's okay if you don't understand it, it's all disgusting stuff."
The snow fairy narrowed her eyes, nodded obediently, and continued to rub her cheek against Ze Shu's profile, whimpering.
It doesn't seek to understand; it enjoys the process of "seeing" Ze Shu.
"Uh..." At this moment, the shopkeeper finally recovered a little from the freezing cold. He looked at the snow fairy next to Ze Shu, who seemed to be in love but did not notice him. After hesitating for a moment, he gave up the idea of running away.
Although he was weak in combat, his years of dealing with Pokémon had given him a keen eye for them.
Having just experienced that inexplicable, bone-chilling freezing attack, he knew that his chances of escaping were... probably even lower than Nidoran's chances of having offspring!
"Why are there so many Pokémon hunters lately...?"
'
"Just because...."
'
"We have a big... sugar daddy."
"The big spender, or rather, they placed numerous orders—orders that emptied my entire inventory and still couldn't fulfill."
"Because Hunter J was arrested, the supply chain shrank, but the profits were still substantial... So, I had no choice but to repeatedly raise the price for acquiring Pokémon, which naturally led to an increase in Pokémon hunters..."
"
The store manager, shivering from the cold, spoke submissively.
"Oh?" Ze Shu became interested and asked, "The big spender? Which big spender?"
The shop manager shook his head, trembling. "We're all...doing secret deals. I don't know their identities. But, the several new ledgers added to that drawer are all theirs..."
'
All I know is that they... come from United States.
Ze Shu looked through the drawer and easily found two ledgers with identical "buyers" listed anonymously.
He flipped through the pages, frowned, and asked, "This sugar daddy you're talking about... he buys all sorts of Pokémon? Even Caterpie from the roadside?"
The store manager nodded: "They accept all kinds of Pokémon."
Ze Shu then asked, "When did they first start buying from you?"
The store manager thought for a moment and said in a low voice, "We started cooperating a long time ago... They bought a lot a month and a half ago, but the surge in orders... happened two weeks ago."
Ze Shu: "Heh."
He lowered his head in deep thought.
Two weeks ago...
At that time, he was in Beishang Township, where he arrested N and the seven old men.
"A buyer from the Unova region..."
Outside, in the tavern lobby, things were still "lively."
When Ze Shu came out, many people looked at him.
"Why did he come out alone? Where is the store manager...?"
"
"Ha! That shopkeeper must have made a killing! He's probably in that room with those two Alolan Vulpix and Ampharos... counting his accounts!"
"Hey! Hunter J's subordinate, can you tell me how much money you made from selling all the animals you captured?"
Someone asked Ze Shu with interest.
Ze Shu thought for a moment and casually said, "It should be around 50,500 Alliance Coins, right?"
Everyone was taken aback.
"How much?!"
"That Alolan Vulpix and Ampharos are so rare, even if the shopkeeper is incredibly stingy, he couldn't possibly quote such a price, right?!"
"Kid? You really sold that Alolan Vulpix and Ampharos to that guy for such a cheap price?!"
Zeki: "Of course I didn't sell my Six-Tails and Electric Dragon."
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately stopped their excitement.
But some people wondered, "If you didn't sell it, why did you say you should get 20,000 Alliance Coins?"
Ze Shu replied, "Because this is the money I'm owed for capturing you."
Everyone was stunned. Ze Shu's words came out too naturally, and they hadn't quite processed them yet.
Then they listened as Ze Shu explained in detail, "Of the 50,050 Alliance Coins, 50,000 is the reward the Alliance will likely give me after I capture you."
"The other fifty League coins are the money the League should reimburse me for the ice cream I used to bribe the champion."
"6
'
'
"It's an alliance?!?"
Everyone present had their pupils shrink as they suddenly realized what was happening.
Then, even the timid Radamen, their fur standing on end, despite the terrifying ordeal, moved swiftly and scattered in all directions.
Some summoned a Mightyena to ride on its back, some summoned a Tank Skunk to unleash a stink bomb, some summoned a Corpse Crawler using "Dragon Dance" in an attempt to escape to the outer sea, and some didn't summon any Pokémon but still tumbled and crawled away...
Despite their strong desire to escape.
But they hadn't yet escaped the tavern...
A bone club appeared out of thin air and swung, striking the large wolfhound in the abdomen, causing it to howl and fall to the ground along with the trainer on its back.
As soon as a Garchomp appeared, it couldn't help but glance at the Lobster soldier performing a strange dragon dance.
Then it roared and suddenly unleashed a remarkable leaping power, instantly arriving in front of the lobster soldier with…
The "pure dragon" suddenly knocked it unconscious with a single swipe of its claw!
A massive, sprawling "Vulcan Moth" blocked the tavern entrance.
Those thick, furry, powerful forelimbs were so strong that they sent a Pokémon trying to escape flying with sheer force.
Even the sizable skunk tank was knocked to the ground and paralyzed.
It lay sprawled on the ground, its rear end still emitting foul-smelling farts.
The stench was so bad that the men trapped inside the tavern kept gagging.
These people made a startling discovery.
There were dozens of them...
They were surrounded by three people!
The difference in strength was too great; most of their Pokémon couldn't even withstand a single attack! They posed virtually no threat or disruption to the three opponents... and were completely routed!
"Who...who are you?!"
They questioned him.
But there was no response at all.
Garchomp moved with unparalleled ease, its scythe-like claws wielding deadly power, crushing any Pokémon that dared to resist with a single swipe.
The Pokémon that managed to escape flew to the outside world and was feeling relieved when it found an adorable Togekiss coming up in front of it, and then brought down the "Air Slash" bestowed by God.
There was absolutely no need for Ze Shu and Xiao Lan to clean up the mess.
Cynthia's two Pokémon could easily defeat them all.
Ten minutes later, there were no more Pokémon hunters who could stand up inside or outside the tavern.
With the bone club tucked into his waistband, Cynthia's Lucario skillfully used a rope to bind the incapacitated fighters, rendering them even more immobile.
Sniffing its nose, Little Blue's Ground Wings chose to eat the "leftovers" that the Pokémon Hunters hadn't finished eating.
This stunned Little Blue, who quickly grabbed the fur on its back, but couldn't pull it off.
"This is all alcohol, you can't drink it, you crawling wing..."
'
Ground-crawling Wing: "Gurgle 0v0!"
Zhu Lan looked at the scene, then at Ze Shu who had come to stand beside her, and couldn't help but complain, "If you want to arrest them, can you not do it so suddenly?"
Just now, Ze Shu casually mentioned "capturing Pokémon hunters," which startled Cynthia, who was immersed in her disguise and was cautiously avoiding speaking out.
She dared not speak recklessly, but this investigator dared to say anything when he was pretending!
What kind of investigator is as arrogant as Ze Shu, who goes "disguised infiltration"?
Ze Shu casually replied, "Isn't that because of you?"
Zhu Lan scoffed, unmoved by Ze Shu's flattery: "If it weren't for your detailed explanation just now, which gave me time to react..."
'
If the Pokémon hunters currently lying unconscious on the ground, trapped like cocoons by Lucario, had chosen to escape immediately before Zeju's "detailed explanation," there might have been a 0.1% chance they could have escaped...
But in their daze, they all chose to listen to Ze Shu's detailed explanation.
"Now that they've all been captured, but these Pokémon hunters certainly aren't all of them, we still need to find their whereabouts..."
"
"then."
Zhu Lan looked at Ze Shu suddenly throwing a piece of clothing at her, somewhat bewildered.
"This is...
'
"Employee uniforms".
Ze Shu smiled. "This tavern does have staff, but they were sent out by the manager to attract customers," which is why we haven't seen them yet.
"I see..." Zhu Lan nodded, but still looked at the employee uniform that Ze Shu had thrown at her with a puzzled expression. "Then why did you throw this over here...?"
Ze Shu said, "Why don't you come and be an employee?"
Zhu Lan: "Why?"
Ze Shu smiled and said, "You just said that not all the Pokémon hunters in Sinnoh are here, so we still need to capture the rest. Right?"
Zhu Lan nodded: "Yes."
Zeshu added, "And this is the only place where Pokémon hunters dispose of their trash."
Zhu Lan wasn't stupid. Looking at the employee uniform that Ze Shu had thrown at her, she understood what Ze Shu meant: "You're thinking of... waiting for a rabbit to run into a tree stump."
"Whether those Pokémon hunters are captured or not while operating in the Sinnoh region, they will eventually have to come here, to stand before us."
Ze Shu laughed and said, "That's exactly what I mean. We'll stay here and wait for them to come to us one by one."
Zhu Lan sighed, "I see...."
She had just been thinking of finding information about the Pokémon hunters who came to trade in this tavern, and then having the League capture them one by one.
Well, thankfully she didn't finish her sentence!
Zhu Lan was feeling fortunate.
But then she suddenly realized something: "Wait!"
"Since I'm an employee, then you...."
'
Zhu Lan stared at Ze Shu.
Ze Shu, seemingly having prepared his answer beforehand, said, "Since you're an employee, of course I'll be your boss—the store manager!"
Bamboo Orchid:
'
Why do you, a mere junior investigator, specifically emphasize the word "boss"?!
You're rebelling against the Heavenly Gang, aren't you!
"Don't get me wrong—" Ze Shu shrugged helplessly and said, "It's just that the shop manager's build is a bit like mine."
"Besides, we have to stay here because... this tavern has a big spender."
'
Zhu Lan: "...Okay!"
Since the goal is to impersonate the manager of this tavern, the Pokémon hunters who have already been subdued and bound like giant dumplings in the tavern will naturally need a place to "store" them.
Fortunately, Ze Shu didn't need to worry too much about this difficulty.
The tavern's basement has many such enclosed rooms in its long, narrow corridor.
Obtain the key from the shopkeeper, who is dazed from the cold, and you can open this room to rescue the Pokémon trapped in the iron cage. Then, by throwing the Pokémon hunter into the iron cage, you can easily solve this problem.
The rescued Pokémon will have to endure some hardship for a while and will need to stay in that room. It's not easy for them to go out, as this tavern doesn't even have a Pokémon teleportation machine!
At this moment, the tent at the end of the corridor.
Ze Shu had already taken off the real store manager's clothes, washed them, and put them on.
When will that big spender from the Union Empire next come here to trade...?
'
"It's a week from now."
Ze Shu murmured to himself.
The landline telephone in the accounting office suddenly rang.
Ze Shu picked up the real store manager and answered the call.
The excited voices of the tavern's employees, who were out on business, rang out: "Manager, we've had a great haul! We'll be back soon! Please allow us!"
"Well....
'
The store manager, who was being carried by Ze Shu, looked at Ze Shu, who was already wearing the "store manager's clothes," and his expression was uncertain.
At that moment, he really wanted to shout at the top of his lungs—
"Don't come back, don't come back... It's a trap, a trap!"
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