Bai Ye continued, "What about the people you had Mantine tailing later?"
"A man and a woman. Only the man showed himself, but I know there were two of them," Jin Sha said. "Qin and Alex. They are Chosen from my world, a famous couple with formidable strength. Both participated in the Hoenn Pokémon League tournament and reached the top sixteen."
"People from the Pokémon world?" Bai Ye asked.
"Yes," Jin Sha replied. "At that time, Alex's Pokémon attacked and abducted Alex. By the time I chased out of the church, it was too late to stop them. I could only send Mantine to pursue from the air, but they stopped their car at the entrance of a mall in the northwest district and took Alex inside. Mantine couldn't pinpoint their location then."
Bai Ye nodded, then began to piece together the current situation.
So...
Alex had already changed hands between four groups.
Bai Ye and Jin Sha were the first group, then the ninja and Laike were the second. The third group was the Pokémon Master couple Jin Sha knew, and then...
It was the Canglong Hui!
Bai Ye pondered for a moment. The man and woman should have had the same idea as Jin Sha.
Abandoning their vehicle and entering a densely populated area like the mall made them difficult to track. Therefore, their intention was likely to stall for time and then find an opportunity to escape with Alex.
However, an accident occurred midway: they were spotted by the Canglong Hui!
A spark of inspiration lit up in Bai Ye's mind, and he asked Jin Sha, "You said before that this mission failed to activate twice?"
"Yes, both times a hundred people were gathered, but just as we were about to transfer, people suddenly went missing. I don't know if someone refused or died."
"How many people were missing?" Bai Ye asked.
"One person the first time, two the second time!"
"But I remember when you gave me the item, the mission displayed 88/100?"
"What's strange about that?" Jin Sha replied. "Did someone destroy the item, or die?"
"It's not that simple," Bai Ye said, observing the battle through his scope. "Someone is deliberately hunting those who possess the item."
Jin Sha froze for a moment. "Huh?"
Bai Ye continued, "When a hundred people are gathered, the restricted area will open. If someone dies during the opening process, it will cause the number to be insufficient and the restricted area to fail to open. But after the hundred people are assembled and everyone confirms their transfer into the restricted area, how much time passes? At most, three to five minutes. How could it be such a coincidence that twice, just as the numbers were full and people were about to transfer into the restricted area, someone suddenly died?"
Jin Sha thought for a moment. "You mean, both times the restricted area failed to open because someone deliberately refused the transfer?"
Bai Ye nodded. "Yes."
Jin Sha asked, "But why? After all the effort to obtain the item, refusing the transfer destroys it directly."
"So, as I said, someone is deliberately hunting those who possess the item, causing the numbers to continuously decrease. Then they take the opportunity to obtain the item and fill the deficit. Until their numbers constitute a large proportion of the hundred people, they will have an absolute advantage. To ensure this, when the numbers are insufficient, they have people who have already obtained the item refuse the transfer to delay the opening of the restricted area." Bai Ye observed the situation again with his scope. "Conservatively, there are nearly twenty Chosen escorting Alex right now, making up one-fifth of the total number of Chosen."
Jin Sha exclaimed in disbelief, "Are they insane? Five million per person?"
For one hundred million, cooperation was understandable. In fact, many people chose this path.
But there was a reasonable number for cooperation.
Twenty people, five million each...
To Jin Sha, it seemed too much of a sacrifice, and in reality, it was. But Bai Ye didn't know how to explain it to her.
Because, they were the Canglong Hui!
The Canglong Hui all came from the same world. Their consideration of gains and losses was not limited to a single restricted area but encompassed the overall situation. As long as they captured enough restricted areas, everyone in the Canglong Hui could advance ahead of others.
However, the world battlefield had only been open for just over two months. Although the Canglong Hui had taken action, there were still few who knew about them, let alone understood their organizational structure and terrifying nature. Therefore, Jin Sha's reaction was normal.
Since it was difficult to explain, Bai Ye didn't bother. He directly said, "In any case, there are that many people, and these guys are definitely planning to force their way across Red Gate Bridge."
The latter part was stating the obvious. Even with twenty people, Bai Ye could have forced his way across Red Gate Bridge. The police roadblocks couldn't stop them, nor could the gangsters and villains in the city. Only other Chosen could stop them, but the small groups of Chosen couldn't defeat them, and it was difficult to establish temporary trust for them to unite.
Moreover, the Canglong Hui were accompanied by a large group of cannon fodder, who, if nothing unexpected happened, Bai Ye believed were Alex's subordinates.
In this situation, not forcing their way through would be foolish!
However...
Bai Ye quickly scanned for Alex's whereabouts with his scope.
The Canglong Hui were acting unscrupulously, controlling the mission to enter the restricted area together. Now that Alex was in their hands, it would be difficult to snatch him back, but...
Bai Ye licked his lips. If he couldn't get him, they wouldn't take him easily either!
Bai Ye had already made up his mind. If he didn't have a chance to snatch Alex away, he would kill Alex!
They would all suffer losses, and no one would get away clean!
As Bai Ye thought, he adjusted the angle of his scope and soon found Alex's location.
The guy was still wearing a prison uniform, guarded by five or six people.
The surrounding streets had already been blocked, so they could only escort Alex on foot towards Red Gate Bridge.
Bai Ye curled his lips, aimed his rifle at Alex's head, and slowly moved with Alex.
But at this moment...
On the chaotic street!
The Canglong 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, purple bubbles emerged from the sewer one by one. Immediately after, countless purple mud gushed out from the sewer, flowing rapidly along the ground and quickly catching up to the Canglong Hui members.
In the next instant, the mud condensed into a mass, transforming into a Pokémon. The cracked mud formed a huge mouth, and a pair of eyes appeared above it!