The news that Ye Li had officially taken over the Johto Branch sent enormous ripples through Team Rocket, like a stone cast into a lake.
The old power structure had been shattered, and a new order was taking shape.
Ye Li had no time for the overt and covert attempts to court and probe him. He devoted all his energy to rebuilding the Ghost Unit and establishing an intelligence network.
Using the sweeping authority Giovanni had granted him and the nearly unlimited financial support, he spread an invisible intelligence net that answered to him alone into every corner of the Johto Region in just a few days.
Soon, that net brought him its first highly valuable "catch."
"Boss, urgent intelligence." Lin Feng's holographic image appeared on the communications screen in Ye Li's office, his expression unusually grave.
"Our highest-level mole within the Pokémon League sent word that the League will secretly conduct a field performance test of a new biological weapon in Goldenrod City in three days."
"Goldenrod City?" A cold glint flashed in Ye Li's eyes.
It was the Johto Region's most prosperous commercial metropolis, densely populated and served by an extensive transportation network. The League's purpose in choosing it for the test went without saying. They wanted to gather the most realistic combat data in the place with the heaviest foot traffic.
"Send me the files." Ye Li's voice was icy.
An encrypted file immediately popped up on the screen.
Its contents made Ye Li's brows knit tightly.
According to the intelligence, the new weapon the League was testing was code-named "Rampage." It was a killing machine created by stripping away a Pokémon's pain-sensing nerves and implanting a mechanical control core, leaving it without emotion or any sense of pain, knowing only how to carry out orders to