For Ye Li, every day working as Giovanni's assistant was like walking a tightrope.
He grew increasingly certain that Giovanni possessed an almost uncanny intuition, always able to "guess" his truest thoughts before he even spoke.
This left him deeply uneasy.
He felt like a transparent man, with all his thoughts and secrets laid bare before this big boss.
To save his own skin, and preserve the last scraps of privacy inside his head, Ye Li began a difficult regimen of self-training.
From an old book he had dug up somewhere, he learned a technique called "Microexpression Management."
Every day, he practiced in front of a mirror, striving to turn his face into a mask devoid of emotion.
Besides that, he developed his own unique "Mental Defense" technique.
Whenever he was alone with Giovanni, or in a high-risk situation such as a meeting, he would start playing songs from his previous life on repeat in his mind.
Especially those insanely catchy hits with simple melodies and brainwashing lyrics.
[You are the loveliest cloud on my horizon; let me keep you here with all my heart...]
[The boundless horizon is my love; flowers bloom beneath the rolling green mountains...]
[What kind of rhythm makes you sway the most? What kind of singing brings the greatest joy...]
He believed that filling his mind with these meaningless, maddeningly catchy melodies and lyrics would effectively interfere with Giovanni's terrifying "mind reading."
Giovanni soon noticed something unusual about Ye Li.
Lately, that clear voice of his "strategist" inside his head had become somewhat strange.
Sometimes, just as he was expecting to hear some brilliant insight, a baffling bit of humming with an odd tune would suddenly ring out in his head instead.
The melody was simple and straightforward, even somewhat vulgar, yet it seemed to possess a strange magic, lingering in his mind and disrupting his otherwise clear train of thought.
Giovanni frowned.
He understood immediately.
Ye Li was guarding against him.
This clever young man had already noticed that his secrets were being stolen, and had begun using this childish yet effective method to fight back.
Rather than angering Giovanni, this discovery only made him find it more interesting.
Prey that knew how to resist was all the more worth conquering.
He decided to put some more tangible pressure on Ye Li, while also giving him a few rewards.
He wanted to see whether, once power and responsibility weighed on this young man at the same time, that head occupied by catchy songs could still come up with anything truly earth-shattering.
That day, Giovanni summoned Ye Li to his office.
"The Rainbow Game Corner's revenue has stabilized."
Giovanni looked at Ye Li and said evenly, "But that money can't just sit in the vault gathering mold."
He pushed a document across to Ye Li.
"I've decided to establish a new department specifically responsible for the organization's logistics and Pokémon reserves."
"And the startup funding for this department will come from the Game Corner's revenue."
"Ye Li."
Giovanni's gaze sharpened. "I'm putting you in charge of this task."
"Starting today, you will have full control over all revenue from the Rainbow Game Corner. I have only one task for you: use this money to expand Team Rocket's forces into the most powerful Pokémon army."
Looking at the appointment document on the desk, Ye Li felt his hands trembling.
Manage the Game Corner's revenue?
Didn't... didn't that mean putting Team Rocket's purse strings in his hands?
This was the most lucrative job in the organization, and also the hottest potato.
Controlling the money meant controlling power.
But at the same time, it also meant he would become the object of countless people's envy, the bull's-eye in the organization's internal power struggles.
From Apollo to the executives lurking in the shadows, who knew how many pairs of eyes would be fixed on him, waiting for him to make a mistake before devouring him alive.
Ye Li went pale. He wanted to refuse.
But one look at Giovanni's gaze, which brooked no argument, told him he had no room to refuse at all.
With trembling hands, he could only accept the appointment document that could change his fate.
Pressure engulfed him in an instant, like a collapsing mountain and a tsunami.
He felt as though he had accepted not a task, but a death warrant.
[What kind of rhythm makes you sway the most...]
That familiar melody unconsciously rang out in Ye Li's mind again.
But this time, the singing carried a hint of tragic, tearful resolve.
Before you continue