Bai Ye continued, "What about the people you had Mantine tailing later?"
"A man and a woman. Although only the man showed himself, I know there were two of them," Jin Sha said. "Qin and Alex. They are both Chosen from my world, a famous couple, and incredibly powerful. Both participated in the Hoenn League Pokémon Master competition and made it to the top sixteen."
"People from the Pokémon world?" Bai Ye asked.
"Yes," Jin Sha replied. "At the time, Alex's Pokémon ambushed 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 dispatch Mantine to pursue them from the air, but they parked their car in front of a mall in the northwest district and entered the mall with Alex, making it impossible for Mantine to track their location."
Bai Ye nodded and began to piece together the current situation.
So, it meant…
Alex had already changed hands multiple times.
Bai Ye and Jin Sha were the first group, then the ninjas and Ike 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 vehicle and entering a crowded building like a mall made them difficult to track. Therefore, their intention might have indeed been to stall for time and then find an opportunity to spirit Alex away.
However, something unexpected happened midway: they were targeted by the Cang Long Hui!
Bai Ye suddenly had an idea and said to Jin Sha, "You mentioned earlier that this mission hasn't been successfully activated twice?"
"Yes, both times a hundred people were gathered, but just as we were about to teleport, people suddenly went missing. I don't know if someone refused or died," Jin Sha replied.
"How many people were missing?" Bai Ye asked.
"One person the first time, two the second time!" Jin Sha said.
"But I remember when you gave me the item, the mission status showed 88/100?" Bai Ye questioned.
"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 battle through his scope. "Someone is deliberately hunting those who possess the item."
Jin Sha froze for a moment. "Ah?"
"When one hundred people are gathered, the restricted zone will open. If someone dies during the opening process, it will cause the number to be insufficient, and the restricted zone cannot be opened. But after the full hundred people confirmed their teleportation into the restricted 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 restricted zone, someone suddenly died?"
Jin Sha thought for a moment. "Are you suggesting that the reason the restricted zone couldn't be opened twice was because someone deliberately refused to teleport?"
Bai Ye nodded. "Yes."
"But why? It's a hard-earned item. If you refuse to teleport, it's directly destroyed."
"So, as I said, someone is deliberately hunting those who possess the item, causing the numbers to decrease. They then seize the opportunity to obtain the item and fill the deficit. Once their numbers constitute a significant proportion of the one hundred people, they will have absolute dominance. To ensure this, when the numbers are insufficient, they make those who have already obtained the item refuse to teleport, thereby delaying the opening of the restricted zone," Bai Ye observed again through his scope. "Conservatively estimating, 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 crazy? Five million per person?"
For one hundred million, cooperation was understandable. In fact, many people chose this path.
But there was a reasonable number of collaborators.
Twenty people, five million each…
To Jin Sha, this seemed too costly, and it truly was. However, Bai Ye didn't know how to explain it to her.
Because they were the Cang Long Hui!
The Cang Long Hui all came from the same world. Their calculation of gains and losses was not limited to a single restricted zone but rather to the overall situation. As long as they secured enough restricted zones, everyone in the Cang Long Hui would be one step ahead of others.
However, the world battlefield had only been open for a little over two months. Although the Cang Long Hui had taken action, few people 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, "Regardless, there are that many people, and these people are definitely planning to force their way through Red Gate Bridge."
The latter part was obvious. With twenty people, Bai Ye could also force his way through Red Gate Bridge. Police roadblocks were no match, nor were the gangsters and villains in the city. Only other Chosen could stop them, but small groups of Chosen couldn't defeat them, and building trust among them temporarily was difficult.
Furthermore, the Cang Long Hui was accompanied by a large group of cannon fodder, who, if nothing unexpected happened, Bai Ye believed were Alex's subordinates.
Under such circumstances, not charging forward would be foolish!
However…
Bai Ye quickly scanned Alex's whereabouts through his scope.
The Cang Long Hui was playing dirty, controlling the mission to enter the restricted zone together. Now that Alex was in their hands, it wouldn't be easy to snatch him back, but…
Bai Ye licked his lips. If he couldn't get Alex, then they wouldn't be able to take him away easily either!
Bai Ye had already made up his mind. If he didn't get an opportunity to snatch Alex away, he would kill Alex!
Everyone would lose, and no one would profit!
As Bai Ye thought, he adjusted the angle of his scope and soon located Alex.
The guy was still in prison attire, guarded by five or six people in the middle.
The surrounding streets were already blocked, so they could only escort Alex on foot towards Red Gate Bridge.
Bai Ye curled his lips, aimed his gun at Alex's head, and slowly followed Alex.
But at this moment…
On the chaotic street!
The Cang Long Hui members were covering Alex as he moved forward. After everyone had passed, the sewer entrance on the side of the street suddenly made a "gurgling" sound.
Slowly, one by one, purple bubbles emerged from the sewer. Immediately after, countless purple mud gushed out from the sewer, flowing rapidly along the ground and quickly catching up to the Cang Long Hui members.
The next instant, the mud condensed into a mass, surprisingly transforming into a Pokémon. The cracked mud formed a massive mouth, and a pair of eyes appeared above it!