Picked up eighteen thousand for free.
Though it's just a small amount, Baimu found it quite amusing.
The opponent's tactics were obvious: to lure you step by step into increasing your investment through repeated rebates until you're eager to put all your money into it.
Once the big fish is hooked, whether the bet was won or lost, the person would likely have disappeared.
It's a basic scam, but there are too many fools in Pyrite Town dreaming of getting rich overnight. The scammers aren't even enough to go around, which allows this kind of person to flourish. The opponent is quite clever, specifically targeting those who are alone and not wearing team uniforms, avoiding hard targets.
Yet, did Lanya Village know he was Baimu?
If they knew and still tried to scam him, that would be very interesting. Perhaps there's someone deliberately trying to harm him behind the scenes—
The Crystal Team.
Whether it's Leader Chester, his cadres, or squad leaders under him.
Baimu didn't believe that after offending the Crystal Team so many times, they would just let it go. The Crystal Team has already incurred a certain sunk cost, eager for results, and they will only continue to target him more crazily.
It's like drawing cards; once you've paid a certain price without getting anything, it's easy to get addicted.
Unfortunately, whether it is or not, Baimu, who saw through the scam, would never be deceived. He also didn't have the perverse interest to deliberately fall for it and counter-fish.
He'd rather spend that time considering the upcoming competition.
Before leaving, he looked around and suddenly saw many mobile ticket sellers like Lanya Village, in coats, selling betting tickets to others.
However, Lanya Village might not be in league with these people.
Returned to the Quicksand Team.
Baimu went to Liu Ge's office to report the results, and the latter seemed very interested in his performance in the competition.
"It went quite smoothly."
"I got lucky and encountered a few that relied entirely on brute force in battles."
"Haha, the trainers here aren't very skilled, indeed. But don't let your guard down, there are still capable people, and you might meet one," Liu Ge's expression was quite playful.
Baimu didn't understand and subconsciously replied, "I will, big bro!"
"Hmm, keep up the good work."
Liu Ge waved his hand to dismiss him.
He bowed and retreated, secretly greeting the hanging Gliscor before closing the door under its shiny gaze.
The Gliscor of the good brother had a lively personality, somewhat a clown, but it always made people smile involuntarily.
It was vastly different from the prematurely aging Lairon at home, the obedient Chansey, and the pampered lady Mawile.
Baimu really liked this guy.
When will he encounter a Pokémon that's equally lively?
Baimu, the rookie trainer lacking challenges, sighed.
Outside the door.
Flop was sitting at his workstation idly reading a magazine, with his feet up on the desk, lazily shaking them. Besides him, a few other squad leaders displayed the same lazy posture, looking bored.
Not showing off in front of subordinates, not raising his Pokémon, hiding here slacking off?
Baimu couldn't understand and realized he had never seen Flop's Pokémon. This person always appeared alone, with no sight of a Pokémon by his side.
"...Flop, got a moment?"
He pondered a bit, then approached slowly.
At his words, Flop's eyes lit up, and he tossed the magazine aside, "Got time! Lots of it! What do you want to do?"
"Uh."
Baimu hesitated slightly because when he approached Flop, the other squad leaders also noticeably shifted their attention to him, "It's just that in the arena..."
He spoke anyway.
Mainly worried about any special situation behind Lanya Village, he wanted Flop to help come up with ideas or look into it.
A little caution is never wrong.
If Flop thought it necessary to inform Liu Ge, it would save him the trouble of talking.
After listening, Flop's face lit with a smile, "So you're worried he's from Chester's side, sent to scam you? Trying to make you lose everything this way?"
"Well, maybe I'm being overly sensitive—"
"Sensitive? No, it's a reasonable suspicion." Flop interrupted him, saying, "The Crystal Team has been engaging in nasty business not just for a day or two, and this sneaky little move is their style.
"And your thinking is right. The Crystal Team won't let you go. From the moment you joined the Sand Group, you'd face their endless scheming. Especially now in the Quicksand Team, you're the most popular one."
"Me?"
Baimu was taken aback.
"Of course." Flop, along with the other squad leaders, burst into laughter, "The Copper Mill Street District One and Two incidents, you handled them so brilliantly, your fame has spread throughout the team.
"Even Cang Zhilang praised you highly and mentioned your name to the boss. Now, the Crystal Team wants to kill you, but they're worried doing so would anger the boss."
Baimu was speechless.
"Alright, leave Lanya Village to me. I'll handle him; you focus on the competition, aim to win and bring back a trophy."
Flop patted him on the shoulder.
Not so easy to get.
Baimu secretly groused, but before he could ask how he planned to do it, the tie on Flop's chest suddenly started moving, turning into a piece of pink gum that rapidly covered Flop's face.
Four or five seconds later.
A brand-new "Baimu" appeared in front of him.
"This!"
He looked at the fake Baimu in amazement, who coughed twice vigorously, suddenly changing his voice to almost match his own.
"How about this, Ditto's Disguise Techniques combined with my Voice-Changing Techniques, pretty amazing, right?"
The fake Baimu grinned, causing real Baimu's skin to crawl.
He had heard of Ditto's special ability, but seeing its transformation firsthand was still incredible, especially transforming into his own likeness.
No wonder he never saw Flop's Pokémon before.
Turned out to be a Ditto disguised as a tie.
"I'll borrow your face."
The fake Baimu smiled, making the real Baimu nervous inside.
——
The next day.
The preliminary round officially began.
The initial nearly thousand participants were immediately cut down to just sixty-four.
All trainers whose Pokémon were lacking in power or who commanded poorly were eliminated, leaving only sixty-four outstanding ones to compete for higher rankings.
Unlike the entry round, in the preliminary round, participants could use two Pokémon, adding more variables.
Baimu donned a baseball cap with a hoodie pulled over his head and walked down the long corridor to the competition arena.
He slightly obscured his appearance as per Flop's instructions but didn't completely hide it, giving Lanya Village, possibly watching him, the wrong signal.
Then, with Flop testing as the fake Baimu, it's easy to find out if they have ulterior motives.
Hearing Flop's relaxed and carefree attitude, Baimu stopped worrying and chose to concentrate fully on the current competition.
Wondering how far he could go.
He truly felt a bit of excitement.
Swiped his card at the entrance.
The opponent at the far end of his line of sight immediately came into view.