Chapter 138: Is It Over? No, It's Just Begun
During the daytime on this day, Arthur also managed to obtain news of Liam's location from a certain street in the slums.
The contact method he had arranged a few days prior with that Stitched Shadow Army spy he had 'carefully poisoned' was precisely to post a missing person notice on a specific street in the slums.
This street originally belonged to the Yharnam Gang's sphere of influence, so that spy was also familiar with it.
Originally, the walls along the slum streets were already plastered everywhere with various small advertisements: offering high rewards for bearing a son, painless abortions, making fake IDs and cutting keys—everything one could possibly imagine.
An extra missing person notice or two would fundamentally not attract any attention.
The specific missing person notice used an agreed-upon secret code to mark a location.
Arthur deciphered that it should be precisely where Liam was currently staying.
Consequently, after returning, he once again lied, claiming he needed to accept that international channel reporter's exclusive interview, and at dusk, slipped out of the embassy once more.
This caused David to mutter to himself in annoyance.
"This reporter doing an interview... how is it like a urinary tract infection? Still intermittent, can't get it done cleanly in one go, has to be multiple times a day, every single day?"
At this moment, far away, that Kubfu Alliance International Channel reporter suddenly sneezed, his reputation innocently damaged...
Due to that unfinished building being in the outskirts, with the surroundings almost desolate and uninhabited, taxi drivers were unwilling to go there. Arthur, helpless, could only once again rent a Dodrio and ride it, braving the rain, towards the location.
However, who would have thought that when he was still over ten kilometers away from the destination, he would be stopped.
The people blocking the road claimed to be from the "water company," here to "repair a water meter."
But Arthur, in the evening wind, distinctly heard countless fine, dense crackling sounds...
Having spent time in the military back in the day, he was quite familiar with this kind of sound—
This was the electromagnetic current flow sound unavoidably emitted when swarms of Magnezone or Magneton gathered together.
Since over two hundred years ago, from the era when warfare communication still primarily relied on telegraphs, Pokémon from the Magnemite, Magneton, and Magnezone evolutionary line were precisely one of the military's essential Pokémon.
They could gather together to act as temporary base stations, receive and send signals, charge equipment, conduct electromagnetic interference and blockades against the enemy, and so on; their uses were numerous.
If truly pushed into a desperate situation, they could all be pulled to the front lines, forcibly ordered to use the "Self-Destruct" skill, and perish together with the enemy.
They could arguably be called a type of Pokémon deeply bound with human armies.
Repairing a water meter requires mobilizing so many Magnezone?
Arthur also counted as having kept up with the times; he quickly realized this explanation seemed strikingly similar to the internet slang "checking the water meter" (a euphemism for a police raid)...
The people currently setting up a blockade line here... their true identity was, with high probability, precisely the Kubfu military!
Thus, Arthur quickly realized: the intel he had obtained from the spy should be true!
It was just very unfortunate that the Kubfu military also seemed to have obtained similar information from other channels.
On the surface, Arthur accepted the persuasion of the blockade personnel, complained a few sentences, and even put on a pitiful act, asking the "repair worker" in front of him to borrow an umbrella before leaving.
In reality, he retreated not far before tossing the umbrella, once again slipping into the darkness of the night, quietly taking a detour, and sneaking back!
If Kubfu was going to make a move, it meant Liam was very likely done for!
And Liam's status was already very high; according to that spy's statement, within the Stitched Shadow Army, besides the leader, the three cadres held the highest rank.
Arthur was very worried that in this operation, Oliver would also be forcibly implicated.
Whether Oliver himself died or not, he was actually completely indifferent.
But Gengar absolutely could not be allowed to come to harm!
...
At the same time, among the Kubfu military forces ahead.
Raymond's cousin, Levi, received a report from his subordinate.
"Reporting to Commander! It has been confirmed: the last enemy team that went out to procure supplies has also returned. It is now presumed that the cadre codenamed Liam and all his subordinates are concentrated upstairs!"
"Judging from the movements of the Noctowl circling overhead, they are currently located in Building D, which we have marked."
Liam and his group were still being relatively cautious; they hadn't lit any light sources near the windows in the unfinished building. Looking from afar, all the buildings in that area were still pitch black, like an uninhabited ghostly domain.
Their nighttime vigilance relied entirely on several Noctowl circling in the sky above.
This type of bird Pokémon possesses extremely good night vision; even in the dark of night, they can see all surrounding movements clearly.
However, within the Stitched Shadow Army, not everyone, after all, was a professional combatant.
These few Noctowl should not have undergone professional reconnaissance training. Simply put: their flying was too amateurish...
So much so that the Kubfu side easily managed to reverse-track their flight trajectory to pinpoint their master's location.
Levi nodded his head. Standing ramrod straight even in the rain, he calmly asked, "Have all the Sandslash been deployed?"
"Yes, Commander! Currently, eighteen have been deployed!"
"Very good. Begin!"
Immediately, in the rainy night, everyone used pre-prepared construction tools and barriers as cover, truly faking a large-scale emergency repair and excavation site.
In actual fact, they were providing cover for the Sandslash inside, allowing them to uniformly use the "Dig" skill to commence excavation.
The purpose was precisely to approach the target building from underground—
And then directly implement a pinpoint demolition!
The Stitched Shadow Army cadre codenamed Liam, according to intelligence, possessed extremely formidable personal strength and had multiple Pokémon; a frontal confrontation carried considerable risk.
Moreover, this person's Pokémon were all Poison-type.
Poison-type Pokémon pose a very high threat in large-scale group battles and are extremely suitable for setting up the field beforehand.
Within Poison-type skills, moves like "Venom Trap," "Poison Caltrops," "Turbid Fog," and "Toxic Thread" are all renowned divine field-setting skills!
Once fully spread out, even an ordinary unfinished building before them could instantly transform into a highly toxic bunker!
Even though the poison from Poison-type Pokémon can all be neutralized using a unified antidote, forcibly charging such a poison formation under conditions of poor visibility is still an endeavor with a very low risk-reward ratio.
To gamble that the enemy, despite being in the building, wouldn't set up any field defenses at all? That would be too disrespectful to Liam.
Therefore, the Kubfu military showed great respect for the enemy, directly choosing not to forcibly charge a home field well-prepared by a Poison-type cadre.
Instead, they directly made a grand move, deploying a full eighteen Sandslash, planning to dig over from underground, preparing to blow up that building first, right before the battle even started!
We, as a qualified electrical meter repair company, having some excavation and demolition tools on hand is also perfectly logical and reasonable, right?
Although, with the continuous innovation of human weapon technology, Pokémon have gradually ceased to be the main output force in modern warfare, in many battlefield support areas—such as trench excavation, fortification construction, electronic blockade, and so on—Pokémon still play an extremely crucial role!
It was still fortunate that the enemy had left a few less-than-professional Noctowl watching in the sky; the Kubfu side didn't dare make too much noise.
Otherwise, the Kubfu military could, in minutes, deploy another dozen or so Steelix!
Never mind one tunnel; digging this entire building area into a courtyard pit overnight wouldn't be a problem!
At this moment, Liam, still inside the building, was unaware that his experience of being homeless and lodging in an unfinished building for the night was not the end of his suffering.
This was, in fact, merely just the beginning...
(End of Chapter)
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