The morning mist had yet to fully clear, but Team Rocket's underground base was already running like a precision machine.
Matori and Apollo each hurried out of the base with a team of elite operatives.
"What's gotten into the boss this time? Suddenly he wants to set up some game corner."
In the car heading to Celadon City, Apollo's deputy could not help asking in a low voice.
Apollo leaned back in his seat, resting with his eyes closed, and merely grunted at the question.
"Don't ask what you shouldn't. Just follow orders."
That was what he said, but he was just as puzzled himself.
Boss Giovanni's change at yesterday's meeting had been far too abrupt.
One moment, he had been planning a robbery; the next, he suddenly had grand ambitions to build a business empire.
That turn had been more jarring than his Golbat's U-turn.
"Do you think something happened to set the boss off?"
Meanwhile, in Matori's convoy, people were also murmuring among themselves.
Sitting in the back seat, Matori was using a tablet to review a map of Celadon City and information on its commercial districts. At the words, she merely gave her subordinate a cool glance.
"Are the boss's thoughts yours to speculate about?"
Her voice was quiet but carried a chill, and the murmuring in the car immediately stopped.
Yet she had questions of her own, too.
She would carry out Giovanni's orders to the letter.
But such a complete about-face had given her a whiff of something unusual.
It was as though an invisible hand were steering Team Rocket's course from behind the scenes.
Inside Giovanni's office.
He had not slept all night, but he was unusually energized.
He had already gone through the files on those clerical employees on his desk more than a dozen times.
Ye Li, male, twenty years old, orphan, joined Team Rocket three months ago, responsible for meeting minutes and organizing files, unremarkable performance, nothing outstanding.
There were several others as well, all ordinary people with simple backgrounds who would vanish into a crowd.
On paper, none of them looked like a "strategist" capable of orchestrating plans.
Giovanni knew full well that trying to find a flaw in these flawlessly disguised records was nothing but a pipe dream.
He needed a more direct approach.
An idea took shape in his mind.
The truly wise often had their own unique views on worldly desires.
Perhaps he could start there.
He pressed the internal communicator again and connected to the finance department.
"Give every clerical employee who attended yesterday's meeting a special bonus of one hundred thousand."
"Call it... an 'Outstanding Meeting Minutes Award.'"
"After the money is distributed, record each person's reaction in detail and report back to me."
Setting down the communicator, Giovanni's eyes flashed.
A hundred thousand was nothing to an executive, but to a low-level clerk, it was an enormous sum.
Would they be ecstatic, or take it in stride?
Different reactions would reveal different mindsets.
He wanted to see just who this hidden "strategist" really was.
Ye Li was in his little cubicle, yawning over a tedious report.
Just then, the internal communicator on his desk rang.
[Ding-dong! Finance department notice: Employee Ye Li, for your detailed minutes and outstanding performance during recent meetings, you have been awarded a bonus of 100000. The bonus has been transferred to your personal account. Please check that it has arrived.]
Ye Li froze.
He stared at the notification and read it three times, word by word.
A bonus?
A hundred thousand?
For taking good meeting minutes?
He pinched his thigh hard enough to make himself grimace in pain.
He was not dreaming!
An immense wave of joy instantly swept over him.
[Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!]
[A hundred thousand! I'm rich!]
[Has Team Rocket turned over a new leaf? They actually know how to give employees bonuses now? The sun really must be rising in the west!]
[The last bonus was a thousand for the New Year holiday, and this time they've gone straight to a hundred thousand! The boss is so generous!]
[Now I can add two eggs to my instant noodles! No, I'll buy deluxe tonkotsu ramen instead! Every day!]
[I can also save some money and see if there's a cheap Pokémon Egg on the black market. If I ever have to make a run for it, at least I'll have some company.]
Ye Li was already planning how to spend the hundred thousand, utterly immersed in the joy of his unexpected windfall, the broad grin never leaving his face.
He had no idea that Giovanni had already singled him out for close observation.
The atmosphere in Giovanni's office was somewhat tense.
He was listening to the finance director's report.
"...Subject three remained calm after receiving the bonus and merely nodded in thanks."
"...Subject four was somewhat surprised and repeatedly confirmed the amount before returning to work."
"...Subject Ye Li had the strongest reaction. According to the surveillance footage, he first went blank, then... became very happy. He's been smiling ever since."
Giovanni listened quietly.
When he heard Ye Li's reaction, the anticipation in his eyes slowly cooled.
His outlook.
It was far too limited.
How could someone who casually suggested using Dratini as a draw become ecstatic over a mere hundred thousand?
That was exactly how a low-level nobody who had never seen the world would react.
Genuine. Far too genuine.
But precisely because it was so genuine, it did not fit Giovanni's image of the "strategist."
"Rule Ye Li out for now."
Giovanni waved a hand, dismissing the finance director.
He removed Ye Li's file from the list of priority observation subjects and set it aside.
The screening seemed to have reached a deadlock.
The remaining people had all reacted too calmly, as still as stagnant water, offering no clues whatsoever.
Giovanni realized he might have underestimated the other man.
This "strategist" was hidden far more deeply than he had imagined.
Such indirect probing would probably never make him reveal himself.
He had to find a way to force the man to speak up himself.
A more direct, and more dangerous, plan began to take shape in Giovanni's mind.
Meanwhile, at a distant black market.
Apollo's face was thunderous.
"What did you say? You want to raise the price?"
Across from him, a short, plump black-market merchant rubbed his hands together, a fawning yet greedy smile on his face.
"Lord Apollo, please don't be angry. This baby Dratini is a rare find. I'm the only one in all of Kanto who has one. Besides..."
The merchant lowered his voice and spoke with an air of mystery.
"Recently, some group showed up out of nowhere and started asking around about Dratini, too. Their offer isn't low, either. My hands are tied. It'll have to go to the highest bidder."
Apollo clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked.
He knew perfectly well that this was just an excuse for the merchant to jack up the price.
More troubling still, the appearance of another faction had complicated matters.
This assignment was far trickier than he had imagined.
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