Ye Li was utterly unwilling.
Once again, he had been thrust into the eye of the storm.
Attacking the Pokémon League's secret supply transfer station was far more dangerous than taking on Team Magma last time. If they failed and gave the Pokémon League evidence against them, the consequences would be unthinkable.
But he could not disobey Giovanni's orders.
He could only shut himself in the command room, pull up all the satellite images and intelligence on the transfer station, and begin drawing up a battle plan.
[Since I can't refuse, I can only do the best possible job and minimize the risk.]
Ye Li's mind raced.
[A head-on clash is the worst option. We have to play to the Ghost-type unit's strengths.]
[Silent infiltration, targeted elimination, paralyzing their command system, sowing chaos...]
A perfect "decapitation raid" plan gradually took shape in his mind. He timed every step of the entire operation down to the second.
On the night of the operation, the moon was hidden and the wind was strong.
Apollo's main force had long since concealed themselves without a sound in the woods surrounding the transfer station, waiting for the signal.
Inside the command room, Ye Li sat before the screen and used a special communications device to establish a mental link with thirty Shiny Golbat.
"Begin the operation."
He gave the order.
The thirty Shiny Golbat, equipped with sound-suppressing flight wings, slipped silently from high above into the deep darkness of the night like thirty green phantoms.
In a loose formation, they glided silently over the transfer station.
On the ground, the Officer Jennys on patrol and their Arcanine noticed nothing unusual. The sky above their heads was empty.
The miniature infrared detectors on the Golbat's heads clearly relayed every moving heat source below to the screen in front of Ye Li.
The patrol routes, the surveillance cameras' scanning ranges, the location of the command center... everything was laid bare.
Using their infrared detectors, they easily evaded all ground surveillance and patrol routes like ghosts, weaving through the shadows of the buildings without making a sound.
Soon, they precisely pinpointed the heart of the entire transfer station-the command center.
It was a small, brightly lit three-story building.
Without a sound, the thirty Golbat clung like geckos to the walls and rooftops around the command center, surrounding the entire building without leaving a single blind spot.
Ye Li took a deep breath. Seeing on the screen that the moment was right, he pressed the button for the all-out attack.
"Do it!"
Through the mental link, the same command instantly reached every Golbat's mind.
The next second.
All thirty Golbat unleashed their signature move at once.
"Confuse Ray!"
Thirty distorted rays brimming with chaotic energy pierced the command center's glass windows from every direction, instantly engulfing every person and every piece of equipment inside.
An eerie silence instantly fell over the command center.
The officers operating the defense system suddenly looked dazed. They began hammering randomly at their keyboards, entering strings of incorrect commands.
The communications operator began babbling nonsense into the microphone.
In an instant, the entire command system was completely paralyzed.
The transfer station's automated defense turrets began rotating and firing indiscriminately, the alarm system let out shrill, chaotic wails, and every electronic door lock failed. The entire transfer station's defense system descended into unprecedented chaos.
"Apollo, your turn," Ye Li calmly notified the troops outside.
"Roger!"
At Apollo's command, Team Rocket's main force, who had long since grown impatient waiting, charged in through the front like tigers descending a mountain, seizing the opening created by the chaos in the transfer station's defense system.
Without unified command, the Pokémon League guards could not mount any effective resistance and were soon scattered by the assault.
The battle became a one-sided affair.
With hardly any effort, Team Rocket's main force easily took control of the entire transfer station.
In its first battle, the "Ghost-type unit" achieved a sweeping victory with almost terrifying combat efficiency.
When Apollo entered the command room that had been swept by Confuse Ray, he saw Pokémon League officers lying all over the floor, foaming at the mouth, their eyes unfocused.
As he watched those green figures fly silently back into the night sky and disappear, he felt a deep awe for Ye Li's "technical department" for the first time.
This kind of bloodless, surgical decapitation strike was more chilling than any head-on bombardment.
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