"Is there anything we can do?"
Balza said the expected words.
Mei Yali poured three cups of strong coffee, listening quietly and seriously.
After all, this matter is closely related to their future lives, even if they did not grow up in the Valley of Creation, they could not remain indifferent.
"This... it depends on the specific arrangement of the operation."
Baimu stated that the overall person in charge of the operation is a former boss of his, named "Liu Ge."
Whether they have room to help depends on the other party's opinion... He already took some flak from Liu Ge for coming to the Carlos Region.
'Don't you have anything to do?'
Liu Ge's voice over the phone was filled with a sense of disappointment, making Baimu inexplicably guilty.
Anyway, he wasn't going to provoke that guy for a while.
Balza didn't push further upon hearing this; he believed in the principle of letting experts handle professional matters, and said, "Alright then, but if there's anything we can help with, please feel free to ask!"
Mei Yali nodded along.
"I will... hmm?"
Baimu turned his head to look for Hoopa, only to find it fast asleep on the sofa, uncertain of how much it had actually heard.
It was just before 3 AM in the Carlos Region, and the night was deep outside the window.
At this time, there was no worry about attention from others aside from surveillance cameras when going to Mr. Da Wu.
In principle.
Baimu hoped Fladari didn't know he was in the Carlos Region. This would aid in surprising them when charging into Lysandre Labs with Z1 and the Alternate-colored Rayquaza to rescue Z2.
Yes.
If he was going to make a move, he wanted it to be significant. Previously, he had enlisted the help of the Alternate-colored Rayquaza, so there was no reason to leave it out at the crucial moment.
"I'm not intentionally spying on you while you sleep, Mr. Da Wu..."
He muttered, not sure who he was speaking to, and after waking Hoopa, he explained the situation in detail, waiting a while as it seemed half-awake.
Hoopa's Golden Ring has a "deadly" flaw—
It must fully understand the object or place to open the portal correctly.
Otherwise, it might end up like a short in the Little Demon God series, summoning a Graveler instead of a rolling pin desired for kneading dough.
Or ask for rain and get a shower of candy instead.
While reliable at crucial moments, its little mishaps can make one want to pull their hair out.
Mei Yali once scoffed that although Hoopa wasn't good at many things, it was unmatched in finding donuts, never failing from childhood to adulthood.
In the past, whenever Baimu sought its help, he had to painstakingly explain multiple times before barely achieving his goal.
The hardships in between are unimaginable to outsiders.
And now.
For Hoopa to open the door accurately, Baimu had to answer its seemingly endless curiosity.
"Why under the bed?"
"Because we need Porygon II to go in and ensure there are no surveillance cameras. Do you understand surveillance cameras? They capture images of you, like this..." (pulls out phone)
"Oh~ Then why can't we be recorded?"
"If you're recorded, you'll be discovered, like playing hide and seek..."
After a lot of effort.
Baimu finally resolved Hoopa's queries, though he suspected that Hoopa sometimes understood but pretended not to in order to mess with him.
Otherwise, how could Mei Yali's angry glare make it say it understood?
"Open sesame~"
Hoopa commanded with its left horn's Golden Ring.
Its usual incantations for using the ring were "Hoopa fetch" and "come out quickly," but after Baimu narrated the story of Alibaba and the Forty Thieves, "Open sesame" was added to the repertoire.
Not to mention, it was quite catchy.
The Golden Ring opened, with blue light waves flowing inside.
Baimu took out a backup phone, turned on the camera, and slowly extended the upper half into the ring, revealing pitch blackness on the screen.
The environment was secure.
He slowly rotated it, seeing slivers of light from one side, vaguely recognizing...
The scene under the bed.
"How is it, how is it?"
Hoopa squeezed over to take a look.
He quickly shushed it, fetched another phone, and whispered, "It's up to you now."
Porygon II in the screen nodded, transferred to the backup phone, reappearing on the other side of the ring.
Its tasks were twofold.
First, to determine whether there were any cameras in the room.
Second, if cameras were present, to attempt tampering with the surveillance footage without alerting the other party's system.
Undoubtedly, the second task had its risks, so Baimu advised it to proceed cautiously.
Fortunately.
After Porygon II's reconnaissance, no cameras were found in the room.
But, unfortunately, it seemed their covert actions had been detected.
A familiar voice came through the ring.
"Friends under the bed, may I ask what you're conspiring about, whispering so furtively in the middle of the night?"
Baimu and the others instinctively looked at Hoopa, which shook its head vigorously, firmly denying it was speaking that caused the exposure.
The startled Porygon II quickly dove back into the phone, while the voice on the other side gave a soft "hmm."
All of a sudden.
The spare phone's screen lit up brightly.
It turned out Mr. Da Wu had ordered Metagross to lift the whole bed into the air.
"Mr. Da Wu! It's me, Baimu!" Baimu hurriedly called out, even though he didn't dare poke his head out, fearing a Meteor Fist from Metagross... although the possibility was low.
Upon hearing his voice, there was a momentary silence on the other end.