Giovanni's gaze was like a sharp scalpel, as though it would dissect Ye Li inside and out, leaving nothing unexamined.
Ye Li felt as if his heart were about to leap out of his throat.
It had come.
It had finally come.
The final showdown he had imagined countless times.
Ye Li was scared out of his wits, his mind completely blank. His only thought now was to play dumb.
Even if it killed me, I had to keep playing dumb to the end!
"M-my... opinion?"
Ye Li forced an expression of bewilderment and innocence onto his face that looked worse than crying.
Even his voice was shaking.
"B-Boss, I... I'm just a tech guy. I don't know anything..."
"Fighting a war... I... what opinion could I possibly have..."
His acting was laughably poor. With that panicked look, he might as well have written "I have something to hide" across his face.
The other executives in the conference room all looked at him as if he were an idiot.
The Boss was asking for your opinion. Even if you didn't understand, couldn't you at least say something to show your loyalty? Wasn't answering like that asking to die?
Yet Giovanni found his clumsy performance rather amusing.
He was now one hundred percent certain that all his "flashes of inspiration" had come from this young man desperately playing dumb before him.
He did not expose him.
He decided to play along and see this act through.
Giovanni slowly withdrew his gaze, turned, and faced everyone again.
"Since none of you have any good ideas, listen to mine."
He cleared his throat, then began to repeat it in a steady, clear voice.
He repeated the "insane" plan Ye Li had just conceived in his mind, a plan that would shock everyone.
"First, we won't hide. Instead, we'll take the initiative."
"Matori, go to the Celadon Gym immediately. Take the initiative and ask Erika for 'help.'"
"Tell her that Team Rocket's intelligence department has discovered an unidentified armed force targeting Celadon City, attempting to destroy the business environment we work together to maintain."
"Second, we need to tie Team Rocket's interests to those of the Celadon Gym."
"Use our partnership with the Celadon Department Store to tell Erika that our Rainbow Game Corner's security department is willing to give the Gym its full support in jointly establishing a 'City Joint Defense Force' to resist 'outside enemies.'"
"Third, we need to muddy the waters."
"That way, when Lorelei's forces arrive at the city's gates, she will no longer be facing Team Rocket, but a joint force of our people and the Celadon Gym, operating under the banner of 'protecting the safety of citizens' property.'"
"An Elite Four member of the Pokémon League attacking a city's Gym and 'law-abiding merchants'-I believe you all know what that means under Pokémon League regulations."
Giovanni's voice echoed through the silent conference room.
Every word struck everyone's hearts like a heavy hammer.
Apollo and the other executives were already listening in stunned disbelief.
Their minds simply could not comprehend how the Boss had devised such an inconceivable yet flawless strategy in so little time.
This was no longer a hidden scheme. It was an open stratagem!
An open stratagem that accounted for everyone and forced the opponent to jump into the pit you had dug!
Meanwhile, Ye Li stood dumbly behind Giovanni, his whole body ice-cold.
He listened as Giovanni calmly recited the plan he had just formed in his mind, word for word, in front of everyone.
It felt as though the other man had pulled his soul out of his body, laid it on an operating table, dissected and analyzed it cut by cut, then casually displayed it for everyone to see.
Fear.
An unprecedented fear, one that penetrated to the marrow, engulfed him completely.
This Boss was beyond terrifying.
He was a devil.
Before you continue