The area Silas entered was a luxurious residential section within the base. Every room here belonged to someone holding a position of moderate importance. The lowest rank allowed to stay here was Squad Leader.
As expected, he was stopped by guards at the entrance. This district was not accessible to ordinary Team Rocket grunts, so security checks were much stricter.
However, Silas' identity as a Squad Leader allowed him to pass easily. The ordinary Rocket soldiers did not dare question him further.
After locating a room, Silas slowly pushed the door open.
The moment he stepped inside, several sharp gazes turned toward him.
Silas' face remained expressionless beneath his mask. Ignoring the scrutiny of his "colleagues," he calmly walked over and sat on the sofa.
Inside the room were three people , two men and one woman. Each wore the same badge on their chest, proving that they were also Squad Leaders.
"May I ask… are you Black Sky?"
A slightly seductive voice sounded. It came from the female squad leader.
"Black Sky" was the alias Silas had used while chatting on Team Rocket's internal network.
The people before him were the same individuals he had spoken with earlier. Like him, they had been secretly transferred to the Hoenn region to investigate the activities of Team Aqua and Team Magma.
"Mm."
Silas responded indifferently.
Then he fell silent.
The more you spoke, the more chances you had to make mistakes.
Thus, listening more and speaking less was Silas' first principle when operating in the gray world. Naturally, that rule applied inside Team Rocket as well.
The two men looked remarkably similar.
'Twins?' Silas thought.
Seeing Silas' cold attitude, the others didn't bother trying to be overly friendly. After all, anyone who could climb to the position of Squad Leader within Team Rocket was no ordinary person.
Besides, they were all carrying out the same mission and held equal rank.
"Everyone here must have received the emergency transfer order, right?"
The female squad leader spoke first while casually twirling a strand of her wine-red hair.
The three others in the room showed different reactions. Even Silas turned his attention toward her, curious about what she intended to say.
Anyone who dared act so boldly in the underworld was almost certainly dangerous.
Silas also caught a faint fragrance drifting from the woman.
Most people might not notice it.But Silas, as a Pokémon breeder, frequently worked with medicinal herbs and natural ingredients.
That subtle scent could not escape his senses.
"Yes. Originally, the four of us were tasked with investigating Team Aqua and Team Magma."
"Now our missions were suddenly canceled and we were urgently transferred to Mauville City."
"I believe something major is about to happen."
One of the twin men spoke cautiously, offering his speculation.
Silas also felt puzzled.
After all, in the original chatroom there had only been four members.
Only the four of them had their missions canceled and were urgently summoned to Mauville.
The rest were still continuing their investigations into Team Aqua and Team Magma.
The alluring woman seemed to have realized something.
Her eyes flickered slightly before she spoke again.
"I think I've discovered something we all have in common…"
"We're not members of the Hoenn branch."
"We were all urgently transferred here from Kanto."
The moment she said that, the other three,including Silas-felt a sudden realization.
They all scanned one another's expressions, trying to glean information.
Unfortunately, everyone present was experienced enough to keep their emotions perfectly hidden.
The air became tense.
"Everyone," the woman said as she stood up, "we're all strangers here."
"If we want to survive and do well in Hoenn, we should work together and support each other."
"I agree."
"That's reasonable."
The twin brothers were the first to agree.
After all, what the woman said was clearly beneficial to all of them.
The fact that the four of them had been specially transferred from Kanto to Hoenn meant they all possessed unique abilities. At the very least, they were elites among the Squad Leaders.
For example, the original owner of Silas' identity had been a psychic.
Naturally, none of them intended to remain Squad Leaders forever. Everyone wanted to climb higher within Team Rocket.But in Hoenn, they had no foundation or support network.
Under such circumstances, cooperating with each other would help them survive the early stages.
After the three of them expressed their agreement, they all turned toward Silas.
They wanted to see how the cold and silent "Black Sky" would respond.
Silas glanced at them indifferently.
"Fine."
With that single word, the tense atmosphere immediately eased.
After all, they were all strangers in a foreign region.
Thus, a simple alliance of mutual support was formed.
The group chatted briefly afterward, their words filled with subtle probing.
Silas deduced that the woman was most likely a Grass-type specialist trainer.
The fragrance coming from her body likely came from a Grass-type Pokémon that had spent a long time by her side.
As for the twin brothers, Silas failed to extract any useful information. He only managed to determine which was the older brother and which was the younger.
Every one of them is as cunning as a fox.
Silas remained quietly in the corner of the room, observing the three as they continued probing each other with their words.
The meeting ended quickly.
It lasted less than half an hour.
Before leaving, they exchanged contact information.
Silas left one of his rarely used phone numbers.
After leaving the room, Silas did not immediately depart the base.
Instead, he began wandering around inside.
The base had four floors, and the deeper one went inside, the smaller the area became.Silas was currently on the second outer layer.
The lowest rank allowed to enter here was a formal Team Rocket member,a Rocket grunt.
Outsiders were not permitted.
The first outer layer mainly contained unofficial personnel and trainers who operated within the gray market.
As for the third and fourth layers, Silas did not have the authority to enter.
Access required the ranks of Platoon Commander and Battalion Commander respectively, and those inner areas were much more secretive.
Eventually, Silas arrived at Team Rocket's internal resource market.
This was a place where Rocket members conducted private transactions.
The reason Silas came here was simple.
He wanted to purchase toxins.
"The piece of Black Sludge I obtained earlier has recovered quite a bit after feeding it these past few days."
"But it can become even more potent if I strengthen it with additional toxins."
Silas had been busy with many things lately and had almost forgotten about it.
Now that he remembered, he naturally wouldn't waste the opportunity.
Poisons could have unexpected effects in certain situations.
Moreover, this was a Team Rocket base, so Poison-type Pokémon and toxic materials were extremely abundant here.
As a result, the prices were much cheaper than on the open market.
Silas currently had around four million PokéDollars remaining. This included the first payment he received from the Solans family for creating the breeding plan.
First, he bought a bottle of Elite-grade Weezing toxic gas.
Next, he purchased Arbok venom.
Finally, he acquired a small bottle of Qwilfish poison.
"It only cost less than 400,000 PokéDollars in total. Quite cheap."
Silas was in a slightly better mood.
With these materials, he could produce poisons capable of threatening Elite-level Pokémon.
After all,Since ancient times, medicine and poison had always been closely related.
As a breeder capable of producing various potions, Silas could naturally create poisons as well.
In fact, poison itself could be considered a branch of medicine.
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(End of chapter)