The meeting finally ended around midnight. Uhe orders of the City Bureau Chief, the three District Bureau Chiefs and the ten officers immediately sprang into a.

  "This search operation is going to be a nightmare. We have ten officers, each leading a search team of twenty and every single member o be at least an Advanced-level Trainer."

  "That means we need a total of 200 Trainers."

  One officer groaned, rubbing his temples.

  "Chief is really making things difficult for us. The three district bureaus plus the city bureau bined don’t even have 300 Advanced-level Trainers."

  "If we pull 200 of them for this mission, we won’t have enough left to keep up with our other works!"

  "Isn’t that what outside reinforts are for?" another officer suggested.

  "Reinforts? We’re dealing with an S-Css fugitive, a Ghost-type Elite! What kind of insane person would take on such a dangerous mission?"

  "If I wasn’t wearing this uniform, I wouldn’t take this job myself, one wrong move, and you’re dead before you even know it!"

  Ghost-types had tless ways to kill, and most of the time, their victims never even saw it ing.

  "Enough talk, just start recruiting! Didn’t you see those guys already rushing over to the City Bureau to grab people?"

  Even though the City Bureau and three district bureaus didn’t have enough Traio form ten full teams, they could still put together at least five teams.

  And the first oo act would get their pick of the best personnel.

  "Damn it, these guys have no morals!"

  Realizing he was falling behind, one officer hurried toward the exit, as he stepped outside, he spotted a colleague standing still, staring at his phone.

  "Mark, what are you doing?! Get moving! If we don’t act fast, those bastards will take all the good people, and we’ll be stuck recruiting outside help!"

  Mark gnced up, then grinned and waved his phone.

  "Rex, I think I already found an outsider willing to help."

  "One person? That’s not nearly enough!"

  His colleague finally looked at Mark’s phone s.

  "Wait… you’re not talking about 'him', are you?"

  Dispyed on it was a group chat message:

  "Heading to Secret Realm No. 98 tomorrow!"

  The sender’s name?

  Julian.

  "Yep, but let me call and firm first to make sure he’s actually iwood City."

  Mark smiled and immediately dialed the number.

  Eastwood City – Hotel Room.

  Julian, Slowking, and Celebi were fully focused on an intense otle, the match had reached a critical fight whoever won this round would destroy the enemy’s crystal and cim victory.

  Then, suddenly his ph.

  Julian: "Damn it."

  Without hesitation, Julian hung up.

  Back at the bureau, Mark was slightly taken aback when he heard the busy signal.

  "He didn’t pick up?" his colleague asked.

  "Yeah… looks like he’s busy."

  Before Mark could say anything else, his phoarted ringing.

  The caller ID fshed-Julian.

  After destroying the enemy's crystal, Julian called Mark back, figuring that Mark probably needed something from him. After all, the two of them rarely kept in touch.

  For Mark to call directly without even sending a message, it was almost certain that something urgent had e up.

  The call ected quickly.

  "Hello, Julian, are you iwood City right now?"

  "Yeah, I’m at the Charizard Hotel i District. Senior Mark, do you need something from me?"

  Mark was a member of the Imperial Uy school team, whiaturally made him Julian’s teammate.

  However, Mark was already in the sed half of his senior year, so he was barely on campus anymore.

  Most graduates at this stage were usually out “job hunting.”

  For academy-trairainers, graduatioo several paths. Some chose to bee freencers, taking on tasks from the Drakorian Trainer App or local Trainer Associations to make a living and hoheir skills.

  Others joined panies over ageo tinue w in fields reted to Pokémon training.

  And some simply went home to i the family business.

  Mark had chosen the sed path, joining a gover department, seg the dream job of every mother-in-w: a civil servant.

  With Imperial Uy on his résumé and peak pseudo-Elite-level strength, Mark was immediately recruited by the Eastwood City Iigation Bureau.

  Why did he choose a third-tier city like Eastwood when he could’ve easily stayed in the capital?

  The answer was simple, his girlfriend.

  Men often found it hard to say no to love.

  Since his girlfriend had chosen to return to her hometown to bee a teacher, Mark decided to follow her.

  "Alright, got it. Senior Mark, I’ll head over now, wait for me there."

  After hearing the situation, Julian agreed without hesitation.

  A criminal like Viktor was far too dangerous to be left alone. Even if Mark hadn’t called him, if someone else had asked, Julian would have stepped in anyway.

  Climbing ontonite, Julian took off, flying toward the Iigation Bureau.

  "So, he agreed?"

  "Of course. Julian’s on his way now, let’s wait for him."

  "Viktor is ae Ghost-type trainer, and he’s at mid-stage. that guy really handle him? If something happens to him, fet us even the Chief will be forced tn!"

  "That’s because you’ve never seen how monstrous my junior is. If you had, you’d uand, 'genius' is a word for ordinary people. 'Monster' is the only way to describe him."

  His colleague still looked skeptical.

  Just then, a gust of wind blew overhead. Looking up, they saw a Dragonite desding, its powerful wings fpping as it nded in the Iigation Bureau’s pound.

  Julian jumped down fronite’s bad grinned.

  "Senior Mark, I’m here to help, and you’re badmouthing me behind my back? That’s not cool!"

  "I was just praising you," Mark said with a smile.

  "Let me introduce you, this is my colleague, Larry."

  "o meet you, Mr. Walker."

  Larry quickly extended his hand, internally shocked by Julian’s youth and even more stunned by the Dragoanding beside him.

  "Just call me Julian."

  Seeing Mark in his Iigation Bureau uniform, with a rank insignia indig a leadership position, Julian was a little surprised.

  "Senior, didn’t you say you disliked the strict rules of gover jobs? Weren’t you pnning to bee a freerainer after graduation?"

  In fact, most professional Trainers avoided w for the gover.

  pared to the freedom of expl ruins a realms, sleeping aing whehey wanted, gover jobs were tid and bureaucratic.

  More importantly, w in a gover agency often stagnated a Trainer’s growth. A fortable enviro corroded the ce and ambition o push one's limits.

  "Well, my girlfriend works here as a teacher," Mark smiled wryly.

  Making it onto the Imperial Uy school team meant he was a genius among geniuses. If not for his deep love for his girlfriend, he would never have given up his dream.

  'One day, I will bee ae'

  Still, w in a gover office didn’t mean he had abandoned his dream, just that it would take loo achieve.

  'Sure enough, women truly are the greatest obstacles on a man’s path to success'

  Julialy gratuted himself on being smart, he would ake the initiative to provoke such troublesome creatures.

  *****

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