In Xia Hunao's knowledge base, he had only heard of two books that significantly influenced world military strategy: one was "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, and the other was "On Protracted War." Unfortunately, he couldn't recall either of them in full.
What Xia Hunao was more familiar with was the "Thirty-Six Stratagems," and what he intended to do now was to employ all thirty-six of them.
The first stratagem of the Thirty-Six Stratagems: Deceive the heavens to cross the sea.
Xia Hunao, carrying a paper bag, went to the training grounds to find Yu Longdu. Upon arriving, he saw Yu Longdu standing in the center of the field, confronting his fierce companion. Gyarados was baring its teeth, and for reasons unknown, was verbally berating Yu Longdu. However, Xia Hunao didn't have time to mediate their conflict. He mysteriously opened the paper bag and took out a few Poké Balls, walking over and saying, "A'du, try these out."
Yu Longdu reached out to take a Poké Ball. "Aren't these just Poké Balls? What's different about them?"
As Yu Longdu held the Poké Ball, his expression changed. "Something's not right. Why is this ball so light? You didn't buy fakes, did you? How much does a ball cost? You wouldn't stoop that low."
Xia Hunao effortlessly broke open a Poké Ball with his bare hands. "See, this isn't a Poké Ball. It's a special Poké Ball casing we made earlier. With this, you can disguise your Poké Ball as any type of Poké Ball. Don't believe me?"
Saying this, Xia Hunao lifted the hem of his shirt. "Look, I brought six Master Balls out."
Yu Longdu glanced over. As expected, there were six Master Balls lined up, shimmering with the exclusive glow of a "Pokémon Master."
Yu Longdu chuckled. "So, can you tell which Pokémon is in which Poké Ball? After putting on your casing, they should all feel the same, right?"
Xia Hunao, in turn, looked at Yu Longdu. "How do you tell which Pokémon is yours then? Do you engrave them? Can't you just distinguish them by your bond?"
Hearing Xia Hunao's explanation, Yu Longdu was not convinced one bit. However, since Xia Hunao had brought these items, he might as well use them.
Yu Longdu looked at Gyarados. "We'll talk about what just happened later. I'm asking you now, do you think this casing looks good?"
Gyarados didn't speak, merely wagged its tail, indicating that the casing was acceptable. Yu Longdu was about to place the casing of the Dive Ball onto Gyarados's Poké Ball, but Xia Hunao stopped him. "Who told you to do that? You should put this casing on Charizard's Poké Ball."
Yu Longdu was stunned. What was this tactic? Disguising a Dive Ball to hold a Charizard? What a pointless and boring way to play. 138reads.com
Xia Hunao explained, "Your only Water-type Pokémon is Gyarados. If you do this, your opponent will subconsciously send out something that has an advantage, and then a Charizard suddenly appearing would give you an edge."
Yu Longdu blinked. "But, changing from Gyarados, which is quad-weak to Electric, to Charizard, which is double-weak to Electric, isn't that big of a difference?"
Xia Hunao thought for a moment and then said, "Then change it to Dragonair. Dragonair's typing wouldn't be an issue. This move is all about catching them off guard. Besides, when you fought Man Ying, didn't your opponent not have any Electric-type Pokémon, or even Rock-types?"
After Xia Hunao's persuasive talk, Yu Longdu decided to try it out in the match against Man Ying. He just had to keep telling himself it was Dragonair.
After employing the first stratagem, Xia Hunao continued to ponder the Thirty-Six Stratagems. He first chose the fourth stratagem, "To wait at leisure while the enemy labors," but he wanted to stir up some trouble for Man Ying. The mastermind was too obvious, and he considered using "To borrow a knife to kill," but borrowing a knife wasn't very effective on the island. So, he continued to search.
The seventh stratagem of the Thirty-Six Stratagems: To produce something from nothing.
To achieve this stratagem, Xia Hunao decided to visit Man Ying. With one of his Master Balls, he would pretend to have borrowed some divine intervention. After all, there were people on Man Ying's side who knew about his "special effectiveness against Legendary Pokémon." With this false information, he could sow suspicion in Man Ying's mind. Not only would he succeed in producing something from nothing, but he might even employ "to wait at leisure while the enemy labors" as well.
However, there was a small problem with this move. Although it would be difficult for Man Ying to borrow a Legendary Pokémon, if Man Ying wanted to see a Legendary Pokémon, Xia Hunao would have to come up with a way to cover it up. Putting on a complete show was a necessary skill for any deceiver.
A few minutes later, Xia Hunao, stroking his chin, had only confirmed two more stratagems. One was "To feign madness but keep one's sanity," pretending he hadn't trained much while secretly training intensely. This was something all teams did. Xia Hunao's use of this stratagem now was better than nothing. The last stratagem was the more difficult "The beauty trap."
Speaking of the beauty trap, Xia Hunao took a mirror in his room and repeatedly slashed at his reflection. Then he looked into the other people's rooms. "Alas, there's nothing I can do. In the entire Ming Long Kingdom's lineup, I'm the only one who can use the beauty trap. It's no help being handsome."
While Xia Hunao was indulging in self-admiration, he had forgotten to close the door. Mu Zhishui and Wang Zhen, standing at the doorway, looked at him with complex expressions. After hesitating for a long time, Mu Zhishui, who was more familiar with Xia Hunao, finally spoke. "So, you're planning to sell your looks?"
Xia Hunao turned around and frowned. "What do you mean 'sell my looks'? I don't like hearing that. I'm just using my exceptional appearance to do some things that are hard to say."
Wang Zhen asked, "If you really go, how confident are you of success?"
Xia Hunao cupped his chin and thought. "Hmm, about ninety percent. Can't be too sure, but I think ninety percent should be about right."
Hearing Xia Hunao's confidence, Wang Zhen couldn't help but be awestruck. He then took a few steps back, making way for Xia Hunao. "Please, Boss Xia, please proceed. Our victory depends on you."
Mu Zhishui was still a bit worried. "You should explain it carefully. I'm afraid you'll get yourself into trouble."
Xia Hunao, rummaging through his backpack for something, said, "What's there to explain about the beauty trap? Besides, among Man Ying's entire team, only a few people would fall for my beauty trap. There's nothing to explain in detail."
"Of course, we want to know if you plan to target Ninja Mei or the Witch. You don't plan to have both, do you?"
Yu Longdu appeared from somewhere, smiling and asking Xia Hunao questions.
Xia Hunao didn't answer. He took out a blue suit he hadn't worn in a long time from his backpack, lightly patted it, and said, "It's time for this outfit to return to the battlefield."
Yu Longdu looked at Xia Hunao changing into the blue suit and smacked his lips. "Tsk, you're certainly handsome, but is it a bit too much to use the clothes Shen Yu made for you to woo Man Ying's girls?"
Xia Hunao examined his appearance in the mirror, adjusted the six Poké Balls on his belt, leaving only one Master Ball casing and discarding the others. He continued to answer Yu Longdu's question. "Aren't clothes meant to be worn? If Xiao Yu knew that her designed clothes made me charm countless girls, she'd be very happy."
As Xia Hunao spoke, he straightened his clothes and then, with a radiant expression, walked out of the room and headed towards Man Ying's camp.
Xia Hunao's attire was a limited return, causing Su Xiaojiu and Chu Xiaodie, who had come to find Mu Zhishui with something to discuss, to freeze. Su Xiaojiu rubbed her eyes and asked Chu Xiaodie, "Xiaodie, wasn't that Xia Hunao who just walked by?"
Chu Xiaodie nodded. "Yes, it was him. I've seen him wear this outfit before. But doesn't he only wear this for important occasions? What major event is happening on this island that warrants him wearing this?"
Yu Longdu, overhearing Chu Xiaodie's question, joked with them. "You don't know, do you? It's rumored that the Pokémon League is going to give Xia Hunao an award to commend his outstanding contributions. He's rushing off to accept it."
The two girls became very excited. "Really? What award?"
Mu Zhishui, standing between the three, intervened. "Alright, you two, don't listen to his nonsense. Xia Hunao is busy with something, that's why he changed. Did you two come for something?"
Mu Zhishui ultimately felt embarrassed to tell the two girls that Xia Hunao was dressed like this for a beauty trap. After all, such things were difficult to explain.
Su Xiaojiu quickly said, "Yes, we have a question about something we were practicing just now, so we came to ask."
...
Meanwhile, as Xia Hunao, dressed in this outfit, walked on the island, he quickly drew everyone's attention. Wearing such formal attire on a tropical island generally made one look like an idiot. Not far away, someone stopped him and asked, "Where are you going?"
Xia Hunao stopped. "I was thinking of arranging some training matches with Milan, so I thought dressing formally might increase my chances of success."
"I see. Then I wish you success."
After they parted ways, Xia Hunao continued towards Man Ying's direction. Although Xia Hunao had dressed himself up handsomely, in his heart, he had no intention of using the beauty trap, as such methods were too low. However, this did not prevent Xia Hunao from using this outfit to execute other stratagems. "Come on, let me show you the power of all thirty-six stratagems combined!"