Chapter 122: Not Too Late
Chapter 122: Not Too Late
Ultimately, in this battle of wits, the leader of the poacher group was completely defeated, unable to last even a single round against Arthur.
He had originally perhaps wanted to be a bit tougher, to retain some dignity for himself or perhaps bargain for some value, but unfortunately, Arthur completely didn't buy his act.
Captives should possess the self-awareness befitting a captive.
After Arthur forcefully crushed his dignity, this leader finally became much more obedient.
"Alright then, speak in detail. How do you normally conduct transactions with the Stitched Shadow Army? Who is their contact person that interfaces with you? Each time, who initiates the contact? Is it you or them? And where is the trading location?"
This time, the leader finally stopped falsely claiming that there were no transactions. Systematically and in detail, he told everything he had done and everything he knew.
After finishing, Arthur and Frogadier together carried this person back towards the log cabins, tossed him back onto the vehicle, throwing him in together with the other poachers.
Jin and the rest of the poacher group watched as their leader, who had been acting incredibly tough before leaving, returned like soaked, mushy noodles, lying prone in a lump, his body even trembling from time to time. Their fear of Arthur couldn't help but increase by several degrees.
Nobody knew what exactly the two who left that night had done in the small woods...
They only knew that since returning, their leader hadn't spoken another word...
The next morning, the awakened group of rangers checked their vehicles and ammunition, repaired the bracket of the vehicle-mounted machine gun, and stuffed all these people into the several vehicles confiscated from the poacher group.
Then, they set out on the road again, heading west all the way, towards the border of the Star Brilliance Alliance.
After a long journey of a day and a night, on the third day after the firefight, they finally arrived at the border in the southwestern direction of the Viridian Forest.
As they neared the map boundary, their vehicle convoy was stopped by a group of people.
"Vehicle ahead, listen up! This is a nature reserve! According to relevant international conventions, your current actions already constitute a severe risk of damaging the peaceful coexistence between humans and Pokémon! Please stop your vehicle immediately, report your identities, and accept inspection!"
The voice that rang out from ahead used the exact same wording as they had broadcast publicly when encountering the poachers earlier, only lacking the final sentence "otherwise, you will bear the consequences yourselves."
It was clear they had encountered colleagues.
The group they encountered should be the border rangers of the Star Brilliance Alliance.
David signaled to stop the vehicles, then proactively got out himself, raising both hands high and shouting.
"Hey, buddy! It's me! David! Don't shoot, we're own people!"
He had worked this line for several good years; within this forest, regardless of whether human or Pokémon, quite a few knew him.
Before long, the opposing side indeed stopped their external voice broadcast.
One person, holding a gun, walked closer, looking David up and down.
"It really is you, old man. How come you haven't been beaten to death by someone yet? Caught some people and coming over for handover again? Pass then, quick go, quick go! Crap! With that old face of yours, there's no need to show me documents."
The person who came over waved his hand impatiently, not even bothering to check the relevant documents in David's hand.
David happily got back into the vehicle and signaled to continue forward.
Returning to the vehicle, he touched his chin and muttered to himself, "Strange, how come the people here are suddenly so easy to talk to today? This is the first time I've seen them be so friendly."
Arthur, sitting in the front passenger seat, couldn't help but turn his head and look at him with surprise.
"This counts as friendly?"
David chuckled, "It's the Star Brilliance Alliance, after all. It's very normal for them to have no good feelings towards Kubfu. Compared to their usual attitude, that person just now already counted as very friendly."
The historical reasons mentioned previously were now visually demonstrated quite directly for Arthur.
Leaving the forest, separated by merely one gentle slope, at the bottom of the slope lay the capital city of the Star Brilliance Alliance, Don City.
Unlike the Kubfu side's ranger camp, which was situated over a hundred kilometers of mountain road away from the city, here the border between the reserve and the capital was separated by less than a hundred meters.
It was merely the division between the top of the slope and the bottom.
Because this border line was demarcated back then under the auspices of Kubfu's first generation of four Elite Four members after the war.
To put it in a way that shows high emotional intelligence, their city is close to nature, so the pressure on urban greening is relatively smaller.
After entering the city, Arthur and his group, accompanied by some Star Brilliance Alliance rangers, first went to hand over the criminals, completing the corresponding registration. Afterwards, they headed towards the capital's embassy district, preparing to stay at the Kubfu embassy stationed here for a few days.
Next, the trial of these poachers would require David's group to appear in court and testify, so they were destined to stay here for a while.
Fortunately, apart from Arthur, the other seven people in the team were all old hands; this wasn't the first time they had dealt with appearing in court to testify, so they all had experience regarding this.
However, on the way to the local detention center for the handover, David was made somewhat awkward by pedestrians on the street frequently stopping and staring at them for extended periods.
The frequency with which these pedestrians scrutinized them seemed a bit too high.
He couldn't help but ask the Star Brilliance Alliance ranger accompanying them for reception.
"What's going on with the people here recently? Why are people on the street today always staring at me for no reason?"
That ranger shot him an annoyed sideways glance, "Heh, you're asking me about this?"
David was left completely confused by the retort.
If I don't ask you, who else should I ask, myself?
However, just at that moment, the sound of propellers came from overhead.
An armed helicopter quickly flew over the street block above, followed by several Pidgeot flying in a neat, orderly formation, clearly well-trained at first glance.
Arthur was the first to notice the insignia on the helicopter.
"That seems like our Kubfu military?"
This was the first time he had seen modern military equipment like a helicopter in person, but it didn't prevent him from recognizing the Kubfu alliance insignia painted on it at a glance.
David and the others were also shocked upon hearing this.
For the previous few days, they had constantly stayed within the Viridian Forest, without internet or signal, almost completely detached from the human world. Only upon coming out did they discover that it seemed some major event had already quietly occurred.
"Our Kubfu military has already arrived here?" one person asked.
Responding to him was the annoyed glare of the Star Brilliance Alliance ranger beside them.
That person, sitting in the driver's seat, heavily slapped the horn several times, it was unknown whether he was trying to drive away pedestrians or drive away the pent-up frustration in his heart.
At this point, David finally understood why his earlier question had hit a wall.
Pedestrians constantly stopped to watch them primarily because someone recognized they were Kubfu personnel.
And at this sensitive time point, Kubfu people receiving more attention wasn't strange either.
However, Arthur, looking out the window, remained silent regarding this.
He felt that the annoyance of the Star Brilliance Alliance ranger beside him was actually largely unnecessary.
According to what he knew, the Kubfu Alliance was still relatively principled in this aspect. If they said they were coming to clean up the Stitched Shadow Army, they should genuinely just be coming to clean up the Stitched Shadow Army.
Although they would also forcibly require Star Brilliance to open up some airports and transportation routes to cooperate with the operation, Kubfu generally had no interest in directly meddling in the city management of others' homes.
If this were switched to the style of the White Eagle Alliance across the ocean, at this point, a military base would have been slapped down upfront, and all areas traversed by war chariots would have already become occupied zones. How would they still give you the chance to glare annoyedly?
However, the appearance of the Kubfu military did instill a greater sense of urgency in Arthur himself.
Fortunately, he had consistently seized the time previously; applying for volunteer work and coming without waiting for the confirmation slip, without any delays along the way.
His luck was also not bad; the very first group of poachers encountered after entering the reserve possessed the intelligence he wanted.
Otherwise, looking at the efficiency of the Kubfu military, if he had arrived late on this trip, it was truly possible he wouldn't have seen anything at all.
At least, looking at it currently, his arrival should still count as not too late.
End of Volume 1~
(End of Chapter)
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