“Great, we won 5000 game tokens.”
In just over ten minutes, Na-zi had won 5000 game tokens, a big step towards her goal of 100,000.
“Let’s switch to a different machine.” Xiao Mao wasn’t foolish enough to blatantly fleece one pachinko machine.
Na-zi had been playing for over ten minutes, and nobody in the arcade had noticed anything. This meant that losing a few thousand game tokens on one pachinko machine wouldn’t trigger any alarms or anything.
Xiao Mao felt like an alarm was about to go off and they needed to switch machines, otherwise, they’d run out of pachinko balls in the machine they were using.
Xiao Mao and Na-zi would win 5000 game tokens on each pachinko machine before moving on. Thankfully, there were plenty of machines here.
They only needed 100,000 game tokens. At 5000 per machine, they only needed to win on 20 machines. Of all the machines in the arcade, the most numerous were pachinko machines – there were a full 100.
An hour later.
Xiao Mao was holding a basket full of game tokens, and another basket full of game tokens was sitting on the ground next to him. Two baskets in total.
The two baskets of game tokens added up to exactly 100,000.
The pachinko balls they won could be directly exchanged for game tokens at the machines, so they didn’t have to go to the counter to exchange them. If they kept going to the counter to exchange them, it would raise the suspicions of the staff.
“Na-zi, we can go now,” said Xiao Mao.
“Are you sure this is okay?”
Na-zi looked at the two large baskets of game tokens, and her heart started pounding. 100,000 game tokens was equivalent to 10 million yen – it was probably close to the arcade’s monthly profits.
If they saw so many game tokens, would they let them leave?
“Don’t worry, it’s definitely fine. Let’s go.”
“Hmm.”
Na-zi nodded.
Thus, each carrying a basket, they went to the game token exchange counter at the arcade.
“Ah… Sir, you’ve won so many game tokens!!!” The pretty girl at the counter was dumbfounded. In all her time working here, she had never seen anyone win so many game tokens in one go.
“Yeah, exchange them for two Eevee,” said Xiao Mao.
“Okay, but we need to count these, there are too many game tokens.”
“Then hurry up and count them.”
The girls at the counter all rushed over to start counting the game tokens. With the help of a machine, they could finish counting quickly.
As the game tokens were being counted, the pretty girl at the counter brought a woman wearing a manager’s uniform to the counter.
The woman had shoulder-length purple hair and wore a pair of black-rimmed round glasses. She exuded an aura of competence, a typical career woman.
“…San-jo!” Xiao Mao recognized the woman.
San-jo was the secretary of the leader of Team Rocket, could it be that he was in the underground base?
“Hello, my name is San-yu, I’m the manager of this arcade. I just watched the security footage of the two of you playing pachinko, and you never lost once. Every single pachinko ball went through the correct channel. Could you explain why?” San-yu asked.
Na-zi’s heart tightened. They had been caught cheating, and she couldn’t help but feel nervous. However, she still had that same cold expression, making it impossible to tell what she was thinking.
“Why, because I’m just lucky, what’s it to you? Does your arcade only allow customers to lose money, and not win any?,” Xiao Mao countered.
San-yu had thought that Na-zi was the mastermind of this scheme. Seeing Xiao Mao step in to answer, she was stunned.
But Xiao Mao’s explanation was too weak. Even if he was lucky, there’s no way all the pachinko balls could land in the correct channel every single time. Did he really think they were idiots?
“Of course not, we allow our customers to win and lose. If you truly won by pure luck, then you can take your prize. But if it’s through some unknown method, we will investigate thoroughly,”
As she spoke, San-yu deliberately lowered her voice, with a clear warning in her tone.
“So you’re saying I’m cheating, then fine, call the police,” Xiao Mao said without hesitation, pulling out his phone and preparing to call the police.
“Wait.” San-yu immediately stopped him.
“What? Don’t you suspect me of cheating? Then call the police already.”
Xiao Mao was acting arrogant and domineering.
San-yu was furious. If their boss wasn’t in the underground base, she would have called Officer Jenny, but that was obviously not possible.
“I hope you will voluntarily confess. I can see you two are young, so this time we’ll let it go. But if you push it too far, you’ll end up suffering the consequences. You’ll be punished, and your parents will know about it,” San-yu warned.
“Just say whether you’ll exchange them or not. If you don’t, I’ll call the police, I’ll give you one minute to think.” Xiao Mao ignored her.
San-yu: (?へ?╬)…!
This kid was really stubborn.
But San-yu really had no way to deal with Xiao Mao. If they really did call the police, it would be a huge hassle for them.
“Manager San-yu, I have something to tell you.” Just then, Xiao Li, who had greeted Xiao Mao and Na-zi earlier, came over.
San-yu was unhappy, feeling that Xiao Li was inappropriate to be speaking at this time. But she still let her speak.
“What do you have to say?” San-yu asked.
Xiao Li approached San-yu and whispered something into her ear.
San-yu’s eyes widened in shock, and she looked at Xiao Mao with a look of astonishment. Xiao Li smiled and stepped aside.
Xiao Mao was also confused. He didn’t know what Xiao Li had said to San-yu. Although Xiao Li was a greeter, this was a Rocket Grunt property. Who knows if she was actually a Rocket Grunt?
San-yu didn’t say anything else. She turned to the girls at the counter and said: “Give him two Eevee.”
“Ah… Yes!”
The girls at the counter were also confused. They didn’t know why San-yu had conceded, but since she had given the order, they could only obey. They went to the back room and brought out two Poké Balls, placing them on the counter.
“Sir, here are your Eevee.” The girls at the counter opened the Poké Balls, releasing two Eevee.
“Bu-ee!”
“Ee-bu!”
The two Eevee, looking like foxes with brown fur all over and large, oval cone-shaped tails, were released.
The two Eevee were not afraid of the people around them, they clearly interacted with humans often. They were likely bred at a specialized breeding facility.
Xiao Zhi knew that Team Rocket had its own breeding facilities. Eevee, with its adaptable nature, was definitely bred by Team Rocket. Breeding Eevee with potential to be used in gyms wasn’t difficult for them.
Team Rocket would even modify their Pokémon. For example, Yamato and Musashi had received a special Hypno from Team Rocket’s breeding facilities, and the Hypno could release hypnotic waves that could directly manipulate the target.