Chapter 76

There will be another update tonight, with extra chapters for flowers.

Three days later, the entire Trial Base was deserted. Aside from Coach Frostwolf, only a few Team Rocket Grunts remained.

The Trial Base would become lively again when the next batch of Trial Participants arrived.

A black-haired youth with sleepy eyes and a nest of hair crawled out of bed. After yawning and washing up, he woke Golbat, who had been hanging upside down on the wall while sleeping.

Almost all the Trial Participants had boarded Team Rocket's transport planes and returned ahead of him to Team Rocket's headquarters. There, they would be split up and assigned to various teams to carry out Team Rocket's missions.

Only Qing Wu had stayed at the Trial Base for another day because he had to carry out Leader Sakaki's mission. Once the Trial Base's supply ship arrived, Qing Wu boarded it and headed for Kusaba City, the Kanto Region city closest to Trial Island.

Qing Wu exchanged all the Pokémon he did not need for Team Rocket points, recovering nearly twenty thousand points in total. After all, the Yellow Quality Sharpedo and the Arbok that knew the Death Makeup Technique were both quite valuable for research.

Thunder and Ailian had rushed to the headquarters of Team Rocket's Dark Department with Cang and Qiong on the very night they parted from Qing Wu.

Leader Sakaki had urgently assigned additional missions. Team Rocket had also unilaterally announced that Cang had died from incurable poisoning, all to draw out the League's undercover agents hidden within Team Rocket.

The League had made a huge move and wiped out all of Team Rocket's undercover agents. Sakaki was unwilling to show weakness and retaliated in kind.

Qing Wu carefully stored his belongings in his backpack. The backpack contained all kinds of precious resources Qing Wu had stored at the Team Rocket base, a Pokémon Egg that was currently hatching, valuable TMs, and prepared Poffin.

Unnoticed by Qing Wu, a white Pokémon let out a sinister cackle, stuck out its red tongue, and kept sneaking bites of the tempting, fragrant Poffin Qing Wu had made.

It had stolen too much the last time and had nearly been discovered by Qing Wu. Thus, the Pokémon had adopted a new strategy: eating only one Poffin a day so Qing Wu would not notice too many of them disappearing.

Besides, Qing Wu made Poffin from time to time. If it stole a little here and a little there, it would be even less likely to get caught.

I'm such a little genius. Sinister laughter came from the Space Backpack. The Pokémon had already made the Space Backpack its home.

After Qing Wu finished packing, he opened the door and walked toward Trial Island's wharf.

A medium-sized yacht was already waiting at the wharf.

A short, one-eyed captain wearing an eyepatch and a captain's uniform was smoking a dry pipe as he waited for Qing Wu. He had been waiting for quite some time, and smoke curled through the air around him.

The supplies transported to the Team Rocket Trial Base had long since been unloaded from the yacht.

Several Machoke stood beside the captain. They were all wearing sailor uniforms and looked extremely formal.

"Are you Lord Qing Wu? Sorry for the trouble, but you need to show me your Team Rocket Medal. I have to verify it before I can set sail." When Captain One-Eye saw Qing Wu arrive, he hurriedly welcomed him aboard, scratched his head, and asked Qing Wu to show him his Team Rocket Medal.

Qing Wu handed Captain One-Eye the Team Rocket Medal bearing the Three Stripes.

After operating the verification device for a while and confirming that the Team Rocket Medal was genuine, Captain One-Eye respectfully bowed to Qing Wu.

"I'm very sorry, Lord Qing Wu. Your identity has been officially verified. Please find somewhere to put your luggage. The ship will be setting sail shortly." All Team Rocket members leaving Trial Island had to follow a strict procedure, so Qing Wu did not give the captain too much trouble.

Qing Wu followed Golbat onto the deck and stood there with both hands resting on the railing.

Qing Wu listened to the yacht's rumbling engine as it started. Team Rocket's yachts were coated with a special scent that caused Sharpedo to flee as soon as they smelled it.

Qing Wu gazed at the clear blue sky and the snow-white clouds. The sea breeze brushed his cheeks, while the cries of Pelipper and Wingull rang around him. It was incredibly comfortable.

Golbat happily circled above the deck, surveying the sea.

"Golbat, don't go too far. Otherwise, the Pelipper and Wingull will attack you." Qing Wu reminded Golbat, who nodded.

After all, Golbat had been chased by Pelipper and Wingull before, with Water Gun attacks raining down from the sky.

Even with Tailwind boosting it, Golbat could not evade such a dense barrage of attacks.

Qing Wu looked out over the magnificent sea, where countless Sharpedo leaped from the water. They were extremely bloodthirsty Sharpedo raised by Team Rocket.

If not for the yacht being coated with a scent the Sharpedo hated, and if not for the conspicuous red R symbol on the yacht, these Sharpedo would surely have been delighted to tear the entire yacht apart and swallow it.

Qing Wu changed his standing position, allowing himself to bathe more comfortably in the ocean breeze.

"Lord Qing Wu, if you're feeling bored, I have a Good Rod here," the captain called from the control room.

Qing Wu shook his head. If he fished in these waters, he would definitely catch Sharpedo every single time.

The vicious Sharpedo had driven all the other Pokémon out of the surrounding waters.

In his previous life, Qing Wu had left the island by taking Team Rocket's transport plane back to Team Rocket's headquarters.

The entire journey had been rushed, filled with constant urging and prompting. It was nothing like the leisurely sea voyage he was enjoying now.

After Qing Wu had stayed on the deck for a while, the sun climbed high overhead. The scorching sunlight and humid sea breeze soon left him drenched in sweat.

After asking the captain, Qing Wu found a room and went to rest.

Qing Wu's mission this time was to infiltrate the League in the Hoenn Region. As long as he reported some useful information on schedule, that would be enough.

All of this was recorded in Qing Wu's system, so he was not worried about providing incorrect intelligence.

Most of the items on Qing Wu did not bear Team Rocket's logo. Only his Team Rocket Medal and Dark Department Medal did. The uniforms had Team Rocket's logo, while Team Rocket had specially modified the communicator so that it looked almost identical to the ones sold on the market.

Only someone familiar with communicators could notice the specific differences.

When Qing Wu woke up, it was already night. The weather was fine, with a bright moon and sparse stars. The enormous full moon rose from the horizon.

Countless sea Pokémon broke through the surface one after another to bask in the moonlight. Several Gyarados burst from the water and roared at the bright moon.

"Lord Qing Wu, isn't this beautiful?" Captain One-Eye emerged from the control room.

"I've switched on the autopilot." Captain One-Eye strolled over to Qing Wu's side, leaned against the railing, and gazed at the scene outside.

"I used to be one of Team Rocket's elites. I lost an eye during a mission, and as I grew older, I could no longer raise Pokémon as effectively. That's why Leader Sakaki arranged this job for me." Captain One-Eye spoke casually about his past as he puffed on his dry pipe.

By the moonlight, Qing Wu studied Captain One-Eye. The captain was not tall, but his body was muscular, his hands covered in calluses, and his waist laden with Poké Balls. He was smoking his pipe and gazing into the distance.

... ... ...

He was clearly a veteran elite of Team Rocket—an old steed still aspiring to gallop a thousand miles.

"Team Rocket is filled with factions. Do more and talk less, and you're less likely to make mistakes." Captain One-Eye spoke slowly, blowing out ring after ring of smoke. His eyes were hazy as he stared at the moonlight, as if he had fallen into his memories.

Qing Wu said nothing and did not disturb Captain One-Eye, who was lost in his memories.

The two fell silent. Only the surging sound of the waves broke the stillness.

"I'm old. Truly old. Only when you grow old do you start reminiscing about the glory of the past." Captain One-Eye emerged from his memories. After saying this, he strolled back toward the cockpit beneath the night sky.

"By the way, Lord Qing Wu, we'll reach the waters near Kusaba Port in half a day. At Leader Sakaki's request, this old man can only escort you to the vicinity of Kusaba Port. You'll have to take a lifeboat the rest of the way to Kusaba Port yourself," Captain One-Eye reminded him leisurely.

Qing Wu could not let anyone from the League discover his connection to Team Rocket. That was a basic rule for an undercover agent. Besides, he had no intention of using the identity card made by Team Rocket.

He already possessed an identity as a resident of the Hoenn Region, and it was currently lying safely in his backpack.

Some might ask: if that was the case, why did Qing Wu not simply return to the Hoenn Region and ignore Sakaki's orders? But Qing Wu had absolutely not forgotten that his life and death were still in Sakaki's hands.

After all, the Micro Bomb implanted beside the second vertebra in his neck had not yet been removed.

Sakaki could take Qing Wu's life at any time through the Micro Bomb. Only Team Rocket's headquarters could remove it. If Qing Wu foolishly tried to have a League hospital remove it, one wrong step would cause his head to be blown clean off.

However, Qing Wu would not simply sit and wait for death. He had been a Breeding Master in his previous life, after all, and knew exactly how to remove a Micro Bomb. He had even removed enhanced Micro Bombs before.