Chapter 293: No Rest for the Vigilant
"Not enough space!"
Xiu, standing at the edge of the freshly dug pit, was a little annoyed. He whispered to himself, "I didn't expect to dig it too shallow." It seemed he had underestimated the combined bulk of the two fatter men.
He frowned. A series of sickening crunches echoed from the pit as he used his telekinesis to ensure all its occupants were deceased.
Xiu then took out a bottle of strong alcohol from his bag, poured it down into the mass of bodies, and then, with a flick of his psychic energy, ignited it.
A faint blue flame flickered to life, momentarily illuminating the gruesome scene before settling into a more steady burn, casting eerie, dancing shadows on the surrounding trees.
From a distance, it looked quite unsettling and scary. After several more bottles of accelerant were poured down, the flames intensified, emitting a strange, almost gorgeous, yet macabre light.
Xiu stood there and watched for a while. He could already smell the acrid scent of burning clothes and soon, the sickeningly sizzling sound of flesh being roasted by the flames reached his ears.
Xiu turned aside, levitated himself up to a sturdy tree branch, sat down, and leaned back against the trunk, looking utterly exhausted.
"Come and have a rest," Xiu called softly to the side. Abra floated out from the darkness and settled next to him on the branch. Xiu looked at Abra beside him.
Although he couldn't see its expression in the dim light, he could feel that it, too, was very tired. Today's frequent and intensive use of psychic powers was a significant burden for Abra as well.
This was why he hadn't used their combined psychic abilities to dig the hole just now; he had to reserve some psychic energy in case of unexpected accidents or further threats.
Xiu took out a tube of nutrient paste and handed it to Abra. He also took out one for himself, mixed it with a little water from his canteen, and took a sip.
In the dark night, the two of them sat on the treetop, with the bright, consuming flame in front of them. The sound of grease popping and hissing occasionally came from the pit below.
"Huh… I can finally take a break," Xiu murmured, a profound weariness in his voice.
A car was speeding along a deserted highway late at night, soon approaching the outskirts of Pallet Town. However, the vehicle did not enter the town proper but turned off onto a less-traveled side road.
After a while, Xiu was seen wandering along a darkened road. Unknowingly, he now possessed two more cars. This one, plus the one from earlier, was easily worth three to five hundred thousand Poké Dollars.
However, he probably wouldn't need to use them personally. When the time came, they could be "donated" and turned into official vehicles after a little renovation and change of papers.
The Pallet Town local government could save a lot of money. As for those who were looted… they wouldn't be needing them.
Xiu walked slowly, already considering how to deal with the ownerless items he had "picked up."
Only a moment later did he seem to remember something. He took out a red and white Poké Ball. This contained the little Rattata that Xiu had used as a probe to find the drug lures.
It was useless for that purpose now. Having accomplished such a great deed, however, Xiu decided to release it.
By this time, the effects of the Stun Stem had mostly worn off, and the Rattata seemed very irritable as soon as it materialized.
Xiu was about to take out some of the newly prepared antidote to give to it, but the little Rattata suddenly bolted, running purposefully in one specific direction.
As if realizing something, Xiu paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and then, with a cold, resigned expression, chased after it.
He thought he had cleaned up all the drug lures around Pallet Town, but the Rattata's determined reaction spoke for itself.
This level of excitement meant the source the other little Rattata was heading towards must be a very significant, "fat" stash.
Xiu now felt like a factory worker who had just dragged himself home after a long shift, only for his boss to call him right back for mandatory overtime— but this did not affect the grim determination in his actions.
He found himself approaching a camp hidden deep within the dense forest.
Camouflaged tents were pitched in the center, and a circle of crude traps and warning tripwires had been set up around the perimeter. It was obvious that the occupants had some experience in surviving and securing a position in the wild.
At this time, two people were inside one of the tents, sorting their equipment and packaging more of the drug into bags. They rested during the day and waited until night to deliver these caches to their contacts in town.
"Did those losers actually do anything?" one of them, a man, complained casually. "Why haven't any significant numbers of Pokémon appeared to attack the town in two days?
We knew we couldn't rely on those incompetent fools! We still have to do it ourselves." He was clearly very dissatisfied.
The other person, a woman, did not stop her work and spoke slowly, her voice calm, "If you expect those who can't even pass the basic operative tests, to accomplish anything significant, you might as well get to work more quickly yourself."
The man was silent for a moment, but his dissatisfaction was still evident in his curt movements.
Suddenly, there was a rustling sound from outside the tent, followed by the distinct twang of a warning trap being triggered, and then a series of high-pitched squeals.
The two Team Rocket agents reacted immediately, their hands already on the Poké Balls at their waists.
"That's just a Rattata's squeal. I'll go take care of it," the young man said. He stood up and walked outside with a night-vision light. It was common to encounter such minor disturbances in the forest, and it would be easy for him to deal with a small, stray Rattata.
The woman sitting in the tent didn't pay much attention, continuing to work on packaging the drugs.
A moment later, there was a noise outside the tent flap. The curtain was drawn aside, and a figure walked in, slightly bent over as if ducking under the low entrance.
"Hello," a calm voice said— a strange, unfamiliar greeting. The woman who was still working suddenly looked up, but what she saw was not her companion.
Instead, a strange yet chillingly familiar face met her gaze.
It's him! The woman reacted with trained speed. She threw the package of drugs in her hand towards Xiu as a distraction, her other hand simultaneously reaching for the Poké Ball at her waist.
However, Xiu had already entered the tent; how could he give her a chance to resist?
He just raised his hand and waved it— a shimmering blue psychic wave instantly engulfed the entire tent. The package she had thrown was suspended harmlessly in mid-air.
The woman, too, was confined to the spot, unable to move a muscle.
Xiu stretched out his hand towards her, and the three Poké Balls hanging on her belt flew from their clips, escaping her control and landing neatly in Xiu's grasp.
It's psychic powers! the woman thought, a jolt of alarm going through her. The organization's intelligence on this target was wrong… dangerously wrong!
Having lost her greatest support as a Trainer, the resolute, hardened expression on the woman's face instantly showed a flicker of fear. But she did not completely lose her composure. She just stared at Xiu coldly, her eyes full of defiance.
Xiu paid little attention to her reaction and began to psychically "search" her. He did not dare to relax at all when dealing with this operative, who was obviously one of Team Rocket's trained operatives.
Logically, a comprehensive physical search would involve removing all clothes and then meticulously checking key areas such as the mouth, under the nails, in the hair, and even body orifices.
For women, other specific areas would also need to be checked. Nothing could be left on the body, not even decorative metal like earrings, as one never knew if they were truly just earrings or concealed devices.
This set of checks would only be the first step; then, the clothes themselves would need to be thoroughly examined.
Anyway, after such a process, the person would definitely be "clean," but it was incredibly troublesome and invasive.
Of course, Xiu also had to adopt a similar level of thoroughness, but he had a much better, more efficient way. There are no secrets hidden from powerful psychic senses.
With a slight mental exertion from Xiu, the woman's body began to glow with a faint blue psychic light. Then, she floated up slightly, and various objects hidden on her person came out one by one, drawn by his telekinesis.
There was a wax-bean-sized dissolving bead concealed in her mouth, a thin, sharp wire was hidden in her intricately styled hair.
Many strange little tools and lockpicks were sewn into the linings of her clothes. And her shoes had hidden compartments in the soles, containing small, razor-sharp blades.
If it weren't for his psychic abilities, it would have been almost impossible to discover all these concealed items.
After seeing this array, Xiu realized he had underestimated her. She was indeed an elite operative, thoroughly trained and equipped by Team Rocket.
Xiu retreated outside the tent. The woman, now stripped down to her underwear by his telekinetic search, also floated out, still immobilized.
Only then did the woman see the situation outside clearly. Her companion, in the distance, was also clad only in his underwear, his hands tied above his head, and he was hanging from a tree branch.
He seemed to have lost consciousness, his head tilted limply to one side.