Bai Ye continued, "What about the people you had Mantine tail afterward?"
"A man and a woman. Although only the man showed up, I know there were two of them," Jin Sha said. "Qin and Alex. They are both Chosen Ones from my world, a very famous couple, and powerful. Both participated in the Hoenn League Pokémon Master competition and made it to the top sixteen."
Bai Ye asked, "People from the Pokémon world?"
"Yes," Jin Sha replied. "Alex's Pokémon attacked the opponent and kidnapped Alex. By the time I chased them out of the church, it was too late to stop them. I could only send Mantine to pursue from the air, but they stopped the car at the entrance of a mall in the Northwest District and took Alex inside. Mantine could no longer track their location."
Bai Ye nodded and began to piece together the current situation.
So…
Alex had already passed through four groups of people.
Bai Ye and Jin Sha were the first group, then the ninja and Rake were the second. The third group was the Pokémon Master couple Jin Sha knew, and then…
It was the Cang Long Hui!
Bai Ye pondered for a moment. The man and woman should have had the same idea as Jin Sha.
Abandoning their car and entering a crowded building like a mall made them difficult to track. Therefore, their intention was likely to stall for time and then find an opportunity to take Alex away.
However, an unexpected event occurred midway: they were targeted by people from the Cang Long Hui!
A sudden flash of insight struck Bai Ye, and he said to Jin Sha, "You said before that this mission failed to activate twice?"
Jin Sha replied, "Yes, both times we gathered one hundred people, but when it was time to teleport, people suddenly went missing. I don't know if someone refused or died."
Bai Ye asked, "How many people were missing?"
Jin Sha said, "One person the first time, two the second time!"
Bai Ye then said, "But I remember when you gave me the item 'Ticket', the mission status showed 88/100?"
"What's strange about that?" Jin Sha asked. "Did someone destroy the item, or die?"
"It's not that simple," Bai Ye said, observing the situation through his scope. "Someone is deliberately hunting people who hold the 'Ticket' item."
Jin Sha was taken aback. "Huh?"
Bai Ye explained, "When one hundred people have gathered, the forbidden zone will open. If someone dies during the opening process, it will cause the number of participants to be insufficient, and the forbidden zone cannot be opened. But after the count reached one hundred, and everyone confirmed their teleportation into the forbidden zone, how much time passed? At most three to five minutes. How could it be so coincidental that twice, just as people were about to teleport into the forbidden zone, someone suddenly died?"
Jin Sha considered this. "You mean, on both occasions, someone deliberately refused to teleport?"
Bai Ye nodded. "Yes."
Jin Sha frowned. "But why? They went through so much trouble to get the item. If they refuse to teleport, it's destroyed directly."
"So, didn't I say? Someone is deliberately hunting people who hold the 'Ticket' item. The number of participants keeps decreasing, and then they take the opportunity to obtain the item and fill the gaps. Until their numbers constitute a significant proportion of the one hundred people, they will have an absolute advantage. And to ensure this, when the numbers are insufficient, they make those who have already obtained the 'Ticket' refuse to teleport, thus delaying the opening of the forbidden zone." Bai Ye observed through his scope again. "Conservatively, there are nearly twenty Chosen Ones escorting Alex right now, accounting for one-fifth of the total number of Chosen Ones."
Jin Sha exclaimed in disbelief, "Are they crazy? Five million each?"
For a hundred million, cooperation was understandable. In fact, many people were choosing this path now.
But there was a reasonable number for cooperation.
Twenty people, five million each…
To Jin Sha, it seemed too much of a gamble, and indeed it was. But Bai Ye didn't know how to explain it to Jin Sha.
Because, they were the Cang Long Hui!
The Cang Long Hui all came from the same world. Their consideration of gains and losses was not limited to a single forbidden zone but concerned the overall situation. As long as they captured enough forbidden zones, everyone in the Cang Long Hui could gain an advantage.
However, the world battlefield had only been open for a little over two months. Although the Cang Long Hui had taken action, not many people knew about them, let alone understood their organizational structure and their terrifying nature. Therefore, Jin Sha's reaction was normal.
Since it was difficult to explain, Bai Ye didn't bother. He directly said, "Anyway, there are that many people, and this group is definitely planning to force their way through the Red Gate Bridge."
The latter half was stating the obvious. With twenty people, they would force their way through the Red Gate Bridge. Police roadblocks wouldn't stop them, and neither would the city's gangs and villains. Only other Chosen Ones could stop them, but the small groups of Chosen Ones couldn't match them, and it was difficult to establish trust quickly for them to unite.
Moreover, the Cang Long Hui was accompanied by a large group of cannon fodder. If nothing unexpected happened, Bai Ye thought they were Alex's subordinates.
In such a situation, not forcing their way through would be foolish!
However…
Bai Ye quickly scanned for Alex's whereabouts through his scope.
The Cang Long Hui were playing dirty, controlling the mission to enter the forbidden zone together. Now that Alex was in their hands, it was indeed difficult to snatch him back, but…
Bai Ye licked his lips. If he couldn't get Alex, then you lot wouldn't be able to take him easily either!
Bai Ye had made up his mind. If he didn't have a chance to snatch Alex away, he would kill Alex!
Then everyone would lose, and no one would get anything.
As Bai Ye thought this, he adjusted the angle of his scope and soon found Alex's location.
The guy was still in prison clothes, protected by five or six people in the middle.
The surrounding streets were already blocked, so they could only escort Alex on foot towards the Red Gate Bridge.
Bai Ye curled his lips, aimed the gun at Alex's head, and slowly moved with Alex.
But at this moment…
On the chaotic street!
The Cang Long Hui members were covering Alex as he moved forward. But after everyone had passed, the manhole cover on the side of the street suddenly made a "gurgling" sound.
Slowly, one by one, purple bubbles emerged from the sewer. Then, countless purple mud spewed out from the sewer and flowed rapidly along the ground, quickly catching up to the Cang Long Hui members.
The next moment, the mud condensed into a mass and actually transformed into a Pokémon. The gaping mud formed a giant mouth, and a pair of eyes appeared above it!