Chương 175: Everyone, stop playing around!

While waiting for news, Lu Sha and the others were naturally not idle.

If there's a toy right in front of you, you should definitely make the most of it.

Under the influence of deep hypnosis, Chi Yansong recounted every single thing he had ever done in his life, down to the smallest detail.

He even recounted his childhood misdeeds, such as losing a fight with the neighbor's wolfhound and smashing their windows under the cover of darkness.

However, to be fair, it's hard to say how many heinous crimes Chiyansong himself committed.

Most of the work was done by Chi Yan Song's subordinates.

As for himself...

"Humans, Pokémon, all living things live on land. The ocean will only relentlessly encroach on our living space."

"Only by drying up the sea and expanding the land can terrestrial life have a wider and safer world."

"Come, join us! Let's expand the continent together, for humanity! For all living beings on land!"

Even under hypnosis, Crimson Pine's tone remained fervent when he spoke of his initial motivation and ultimate ideal for founding Team Lava.

Even Lu Sha couldn't help but think that this guy's talent was wasted if he wasn't a pyramid scheme leader.

According to Crimson Pine's own account, he grew up during an era of the Alliance's brutal expansion.

In that era, humanity united as one, continuously exploring and expanding the land.

During this process, as one of the Elite Four trainers, he witnessed countless bloody conflicts caused by territorial disputes.

Every expansion of human cities inevitably means the destruction of wild Pokémon habitats.

The roaring mining machines of the Devon Corporation mercilessly crushed Pokémon homes one after another.

Even the Pokémon Protection Area established by the League afterward was merely a hypocritical form of compensation.

As time progressed, Chi Yan Song began to ponder deeply.

What exactly caused these irreconcilable disputes?

Ultimately, he came to a conclusion that he considered himself a genius: The conflict between humans and Pokémon over living space stems from the fact that most of the world is covered by oceans and land resources are extremely scarce.

By continuously expanding the continent until the land completely covers the ocean, we can create the most ideal utopian world for all mankind and Pokémon.

"Nonsense! If the continent covered the ocean, what would happen to the Pokémon in the ocean?" Yueqi couldn't help but curse angrily.

In his view, the idea of the Crimson Flame Pine was simply foolish and incomprehensible.

"Foolish! Are you only focused on the existing few ocean Pokémon?" Red Pine sneered.

Although he was under hypnosis, Cattleya did not deprive him of his autonomy; she merely gave him some psychological suggestions, allowing him to speak freely.

"Isn't that enough? If the mainland covers the ocean, all the ocean Pokémon will be finished!" Yueqi retorted indignantly.

"There aren't many Pokémon in the deep sea to begin with. From a macro-evolutionary perspective, once the continents occupied the oceans, they were able to create vast and boundless habitats."

"Over time, the land will be able to nurture an even larger number of Pokémon! I've done precise calculations. If we could instantly transform the ocean into a continent, it would only take 10 years to restore the overall number of Pokémon, and the human population could double!" Red Pine said with increasing fervor.

"Um?

Yueqi was stunned for a moment.

He even had the illusion that he had been persuaded.

The ecosystem can be restored in 10 years, and humans can develop even better. This seems like a good suggestion.

But something felt off, though I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Ah, the development of any life should not come at the cost of the destruction of innocent lives. This is the most basic principle we humans should uphold."

Grandma Yuesong, leaning on her cane, spoke coldly.

"Oh, old woman, you're so naive."

"Human survival and reproduction have always progressed by stepping on the corpses of other life forms and Pokémon."

"We built our current civilization on the back of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Since we enjoy everything that our ancestors plundered with a clear conscience, we should not stand on the moral high ground to criticize their actions."

"What we must do is follow in the footsteps of our predecessors and carry forward human civilization!"

"Come on! If you two join me, the success rate of my plan will increase by at least 5%, and the losses to human civilization during the transformation will be reduced by 13%!"

Red Flame Pine spread his arms wide, becoming more and more enthusiastic as he spoke, as if he had returned to his Lava Team base and entered a state of absolute home-field advantage.

"You..."

Seeing that Chi Yansong was completely unyielding, Yue Qi, with a volatile temper, was about to launch a personal attack.

Seeing this, Lu Sha chuckled and waved his paw, stopping Grandpa Yueqi's starting stance.

"Click! (Grandpa, take a break, let me try!)" With that, Lu Sha swaggered up to the Crimson Flame Pine and asked mockingly, "Crack! (Let's assume your plan succeeds and the continent completely covers the ocean. Have you considered the impact this would have on the global ecosystem?)" Because the Crimson Flame Pine was in a special state, Lu Sha's question was translated by Cattleya.

"The impact on the ecological environment?" Chi Yansong paused for a moment.

A hint of hesitation visibly appeared on that fanatical face.

Just then, Gadriya deliberately relaxed her hypnotic suppression of Crimson Pine, only maintaining the bottom line of ensuring that the other party could not escape.

She trusted Lu Sha unconditionally.

Now that her shark has made its move, Crimson Flame Pine's mental defenses are bound to crumble.

"Click! (Right, what drastic changes would occur if this planet lost its oceans? As a genius, have you ever done even one scientific simulation of this?)"

"It would cause a massive extinction of marine Pokémon and marine life, allowing us humans to have more land to supply..."

Before Crimson Flame Pine could finish describing his grand vision, Lu Sha ruthlessly interrupted him: "Crack! (Even the oceans are gone, so what makes you so sure humanity can survive?)"

"If the ocean is gone, why can't humans live?" Chi Yansong asked, his face full of confusion.

"Click! (Illiteracy is truly terrifying...)" Lu Sha showed an extremely speechless expression and turned to give the young lady a look.

The young lady nodded knowingly, a sudden flash of blue light appearing in her emerald eyes.

The next second, it was as if a book on Earth Ecology had been forcibly injected into Crimson Pine's brain. Scientific deductions about the environmental disasters that would result from the loss of the ocean played out wildly in his mind: Seawater is the largest heat reservoir on the planet, and the ocean plays a dominant role in regulating global temperature differences.

Once the oceans disappear, the planet will completely lose its climate buffer.

During the day, the ground surface is exposed to the scorching sun, and the surface temperature can easily exceed 60°C.

At night, it has no heat retention capacity, and the temperature will drop rapidly to below 0°C.

Without ocean currents and sea breezes, all monsoons and trade winds will disappear completely, and the world will rapidly degenerate into permanent deserts, turning into extreme inland climates.

When marine algae and other organisms die off en masse, the oxygen content in the atmosphere will plummet.

Simply put, in such a harsh environment, let alone fragile humans, even most Pokémon with strong vitality would absolutely not be able to survive.

Pfft!

Although the knowledge points forcibly instilled through superpowers couldn't make Chi Yansong memorize them all instantly, they were enough for him to realize his problems in the most intuitive way.

He realized how absurd and anti-intellectual his own land reclamation plan was in the face of science.

"impossible..."

"How could this happen... How is this possible..."

"If all of this is true, then what has been the meaning of everything I've done in my life..."

Chi Yansong's knees buckled, and he collapsed heavily to the ground, his bloodshot eyes wide open, his face filled with the despair of a shattered faith.

Lu Sha did not argue with him from the perspective of moral right and wrong, nor did she stand on the high ground of justice to criticize him. Instead, she directly and thoroughly refuted him from the perspective of scientific facts.

In fact, if it's a moral accusation, no matter how harsh the insults, Chiyansong doesn't care at all.

He believed himself to be a man destined for great things, born to bear everything, even the infamy of a thousand years.

But what if his plan, which he has devoted everything to advancing, ultimately results not in saving humanity, but in causing human civilization to be destroyed even faster?

Then all his efforts and sacrifices would become a huge joke, completely meaningless.

"I need to verify this... I don't believe it! My thinking must be correct..."

The Crimson Pine stood up unsteadily, as if possessed, and began to stagger down the mountain.

Seeing his desolate figure, like a stray dog, the elderly couple Yueqi and Yuesong couldn't help but feel sorry for him, and their eyes showed a hint of reluctance.

If it were just them, they might let the Crimson Pine go.

They could see that Crimson Pine was not inherently bad; he was simply blinded by his ideals.

Once he figures it out, he might still be a good trainer.

Only Lu Sha curled her lip in disdain and secretly gave the young lady a look.

The next second, Crimson Flame Pine's body instantly froze on the spot.

"Click! (Where are you rushing off to? Today's trial isn't over yet.)" There's still no definite news from Genji, so Lu Sha isn't going to let this culprit get away.

He is not some compassionate saint.

The people who were killed directly or indirectly by the Crimson Flame Pine in the past had absolutely nothing to do with him.

But this time, this guy killed Lily's mother and just happened to run into their line of fire, so this debt must be settled.

As for how to settle the score, that depends on what Genji Tenno can find out.

Less than two minutes later, Genji called. Gadriya answered and put it on speakerphone.

"Found it."

Hearing the slightly heavy and complex tone of King Renji coming through the receiver, everyone present felt a jolt in their hearts.

That tone... sounds ominous.

"Stop beating around the bush, what exactly did you find out?" Yueqi urged impatiently.

"Yan Yue is 31 years old this year. She was born in an orphanage in Kanaz City and was raised by the League. She later entered Kanaz University with excellent grades. Eight years ago, she was recruited as an informant for the League's Investigation Bureau and went undercover in the Ocean Team."

"Four years ago, due to his outstanding performance during his infiltration, he was highly appreciated by the leader of the Marine Team and was subsequently sent to the Magma Team to continue his undercover work."

"But during her time infiltrating Team Lava, some problems arose within the league..."

At this point, Genji's voice abruptly stopped, as if he had some unspeakable secret.

"Keep talking! What's wrong with you being mute? What's wrong with saying this!" Yueqi let out a cold laugh.

The expressions of the others were mostly speechless and silent.

When people are extremely speechless, they can actually laugh out loud in anger.

Even Lu Sha didn't expect that Yan Yue was actually a genuine Alliance spy.

So, what exactly went wrong within the alliance? Lu Sha's curiosity was completely piqued.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just that I don't know exactly what went wrong. Ever since she was ordered to infiltrate Team Lava, her contact records in the League database have been completely cut off."

"It's as if, from that moment on, this person was no longer a member of the Alliance. I had to resort to unconventional methods to barely uncover her old files," Genji explained gravely.

"What about Miao Wang?" Jia Deliya suddenly asked.

This was also the question Lu Sha was about to ask, but before Lu Sha could even give a signal, the young lady, who seemed to understand him perfectly, asked it for him first.

"Miao Wang... is also 31 years old this year. Born in the Water City Orphanage, he was raised by the Alliance and later gained admission to Kanaz University with excellent grades..."

"Wait! You're not suggesting that this person was also recruited by the league as an undercover agent back then, are you?"

Yueqi almost burst out laughing in anger as he listened to the background report, which sounded like a copy-paste job.

Who the hell made the decision to send two promising young researchers to the Lava Team and the Ocean Team as undercover agents? Are they out of their minds?

"Yes. Moreover, Miao Wang was recruited by the Alliance nine years ago, even before Yan Yue. Eight years ago, he married Yan Yue, and the Alliance, based on the principle of secrecy, took advantage of the situation and recruited his wife as an undercover agent as well." Yuan Zhi's voice was heavy as iron.

"Click! (So to sum it up, Yan Yue and Miao Wang, this couple are both undercover agents of your alliance?)" Lu Sha suddenly interjected to summarize.

"That's right!" Genji readily admitted.

"Click! (So here's the question. Since they're undercover agents, who authorized them to conduct the research projects on the vermilion and indigo orbs?)" Upon hearing Lu Sha's pointed question, Yuan Zhi fell into a deathly silence for several seconds, with only the rustling sound of turning pages audible on the other end of the phone.

Soon, Genji's voice came again, his tone grave: "The Alliance's classified report doesn't contain any specific description of this. This is extremely unusual! According to regulations, all research projects undertaken by Alliance personnel, even those under false pretenses, must be meticulously registered at headquarters."

"However! Documents in the archives of Kanaz University show that the couple only officially started their research on these two jewels after receiving huge sums of money from Water Willow and Crimson Flame Pine respectively..."

"Bullshit!"

Before Yuanzhi could finish speaking, he was rudely interrupted by Chiyan Song, who had just been questioning his existence: "I never ordered those two traitors to research any precious pearl! It was that bastard Miaowang who revealed the matter of the Crimson Pearl and the Earth God to me!"

The ideal of reclaiming land from the sea was ruthlessly shattered, which had already brought the spirit of the Red Flame Pine to the brink of collapse.

Now he's even heard that his most trusted confidant is not only an undercover agent for the alliance, but is also suspected of fabricating evidence to frame him. This is worse than killing him.

"When exactly did Miaowang reveal this to you?"

Genji clearly realized the flaw in this, and his voice instantly took on a sense of urgent pressure.

"Two years ago! I only found out about this two years ago!" Chi Yansong answered decisively.

He was a smart man; with a little thought, he quickly figured everything out.

He was used as a pawn!

While the failure of one's own plan is undoubtedly painful, seeing the enemy who betrayed him also suffer greatly would bring him immense comfort.

In his mind, he had already identified the only suspect.

It must have been that bastard Shui Wutong who did it!

Only a fool with his brain in the ocean would fantasize about the ocean covering the continent!

"Two years ago... But according to the university's project records, Miao Wang and his team started their research on the two precious pearls three years ago." Yuan Zhi's voice trailed off completely.

Since Chiyansong only learned about it two years ago, the record of Chiyansong supporting Miaowang's research must be false.

So, here comes the most critical problem.

Three years ago, who was behind the financial support of this undercover couple?

Who exactly instructed them to study those two precious pearls?

And who... has become greedy for the ancient deity behind those two precious pearls?

"Click! (This is getting more and more interesting. It seems there's something fishy going on within the Hoenn League's upper echelons.)" Lu Sha grinned.

This matter is already very clear.

There's no problem with Crimson Pine, but Water Wutong, that muscle-bound maniac who's even more clueless than Crimson Pine, probably doesn't have that kind of brain either.

Since the leaders of these two evil organizations have been used as scapegoats, the real mastermind behind the problem must be within the alliance itself.

"Impossible! It must have been that idiot Shui Wutong who did this!"

Crimson Flame Pine, his eyes red, vehemently denied it, like a wolf eager to bite. He hastily pulled out his personal cell phone from his pocket: "Wait! All of you stay silent! I'm going to call that idiot right now and record the whole thing! That's irrefutable evidence! With this evidence, your alliance can use the law to arrest that bastard too!"

He has been arrested, and his lifelong ideals have been ruthlessly shattered.

For him now, there is only one thought left in his life.

Now that I, Crimson Flame Pine, am finished, then you, Water Wutong, can forget about having fun outside!

If we're going to die, we'll all die together!