Venusaur watched the three figures walk away and finally let out a sigh of relief. However, it soon realized that its little grandson hadn’t been found yet. But with its own injuries being quite severe, recovery would take time. It decided to head back first to recuperate, have other Venusaur summon the Kecleon leader, and then conduct inquiries later.
The forest incident was largely settled for now, but unless the Bulbasaur issue was properly resolved, trouble was likely to follow. The three who had left quickly exited the forest. They handed Wang Jian over to other team members to be taken back and locked up for subsequent interrogation. Jiang Tiansheng and Zhou Zhiwen began sharing their views on the matter.
“Captain, don’t you think this whole thing feels a bit off? Sure, the dominant Venusaur always cares about its clan, but its reaction this time was way too intense. Every year, the Alliance takes several Bulbasaur from it without any such response. But this time, just losing one Bulbasaur—even if it’s its grandson—the reaction is still way over the top.”
Jiang Tiansheng, hearing Zhou Zhiwen’s analysis, fell into thought. Indeed, as Zhou said, the reaction was too extreme. It had not only sparked a forest riot but also engaged in such a fierce battle with him, nearly ending in mutual destruction. If this were the dominant Venusaur in its younger days, such behavior might make sense, but now it was so old that a single misstep could cost it its life. Why was it fighting so desperately? At this stage, shouldn’t it be handling clan affairs, resting in its old age, trying to live longer, and raising more Venusaur?
“Zhou Zhiwen, I find your reasoning quite plausible. So, what do you think caused Venusaur to react so strongly this time?” Jiang Tiansheng couldn’t help but ask.
“Captain, I didn’t get it at first either, but later I noticed that all the Venusaur in the clan were willingly searching for the Bulbasaur, without any sense of coercion. That leaves only two possibilities.” At this point, Zhou Zhiwen deliberately held back.
Jiang Tiansheng, seeing Zhou Zhiwen playing coy, found it amusing and scolded with a laugh: “Spit it out already. Don’t tell me you’re expecting some reward from me? Don’t worry, your contributions in this operation won’t be overlooked, and your points will be plenty. As for anything else, don’t get any ideas. I heard you’ve hooked up with a senior breeder and have plenty of high-quality energy cubes. You’ve been making a killing lately, haven’t you?”
Zhou Zhiwen, hearing the captain bring this up, felt a bit awkward and thought to himself: “Oh man, how does the captain know? He couldn’t have guessed I bribed the subordinates, could he? I was hoping for some perks, but now there’s no chance. I’ll just have to spill it.” Aloud, he said, “The captain’s always well-informed—nothing gets past you. That was just pocket change, mutual benefits with colleagues. Where was I? Right, two reasons. First, maybe there’s some issue within the Venusaur clan, like fewer Bulbasaur being born recently, and with outsiders daring to steal, they wanted to make an example. That’s why the reaction was so huge. But the subsequent fight with you, Captain, seemed counterproductive. So this first reason is just a guess, not very solid.”
Jiang Tiansheng, after hearing the first reason and its analysis, thought Zhou Zhiwen was quite sharp, matching his own speculation closely (though he was being shamelessly self-congratulatory). Seeing the captain’s approval, Zhou continued: “Second, as the forest’s dominant force for so many years, it must be able to gauge its clan’s potential. The fact that the Bulbasaur provided each time are mostly yellow-grade shows that. Since the dominant Venusaur can distinguish its clan’s quality, and considering that bounty hunter Wang Jian went to great lengths and risks to reach the forest core’s Venusaur territory, why would he just steal any random Bulbasaur and leave? Taking such a huge risk for just a few hundred thousand to a few million—that doesn’t add up.”
Zhou Zhiwen then said in a grave tone: “Wang Jian is a veteran bounty hunter with over thirty years of experience. He wouldn’t make a losing deal. Even under such intense search, he didn’t give up on that Bulbasaur. He must have noticed something special about it. Based on the reactions of the dominant Venusaur and Wang Jian, that Bulbasaur’s quality is at least cyan, with even a slight chance of being blue-grade.”
When Zhou mentioned blue-grade, even Jiang Tiansheng, who hadn’t been paying much attention, showed a look of longing, mixed with a hint of greed. No Pokémon trainer could remain indifferent to a blue-grade Pokémon. Zhou Zhiwen was also deeply fascinated by his own speculation, especially the blue-grade part. Jiang Tiansheng knew it was just a guess—blue-grade Pokémon were incredibly rare, with even regional champions having at most one or two, and some none at all. Thinking this, the faint greed vanished.
Zhou Zhiwen continued: “Only then would a high-quality Bulbasaur be worth Wang Jian’s effort, make the dominant Venusaur so irrational, and trigger the subsequent battle.” After hearing the analysis, Jiang Tiansheng felt the last point was the most likely and asked, “So, what do you think is the most probable quality of that Bulbasaur?” Zhou thought for a moment, looked around to ensure no one else was nearby, then leaned in and whispered: “I secretly asked Wang Jian why he didn’t just capture that Bulbasaur in a Poké Ball and escape with it. Guess what he said, Captain?”
Jiang Tiansheng found this odd too—why not use a Poké Ball? But how would he know? He shot Zhou a glare, as if to say, “If you keep stalling, get lost.” Zhou, startled by the look, said, “Wang Jian told me that Bulbasaur couldn’t be captured in a Poké Ball.” After saying this, he waited for the captain’s surprised expression, and he wasn’t disappointed. Jiang Tiansheng was genuinely shocked. Noticing Zhou’s amused look, he quickly composed himself, though inwardly he was far from calm.
Zhou might not know what it meant for a Pokémon to resist a Poké Ball, but as a mid-to-high-level Alliance figure, Jiang knew information others didn’t. Alliance records showed that when a Pokémon couldn’t be caught in a standard Poké Ball, it was either due to a special local environment affecting the ball’s magnetic field, or the Pokémon was too powerful for a standard ball. Since that Bulbasaur wasn’t strong, the only remaining possibility was that it was connected to a Legendary Pokémon. At this thought, Jiang began to get excited again. A Legendary connection! Any ordinary Pokémon tied to a Legendary would gain benefits, with quality at least cyan-grade. So, this Bulbasaur was at least cyan-grade and linked to a Legendary.