The Wishiwashi in School Form resembled a monstrous beast from the deep sea, frantically pursuing Barbaracle through the water.
"Swim toward the crowded areas—especially where there are lots of Chinese people!"
Seeing the Wishiwashi in School Form drawing closer and closer behind him, Andrew's mind raced. He immediately pointed and ordered Barbaracle, which had dove into the sea, to swim toward a nearby Overlord-level Wailord in the distance.
Behind that Wailord, there were quite a few Chinese survivors.
Andrew's intentions were extremely sinister. He had completely embraced the philosophy of sacrificing others to save himself. Now, he only wanted to use the other Chinese survivors as human shields to force Jacob into action.
You want to save people, don't you?
Then I'll use Chinese people as shields. Let's see if you'll intervene then.
"Boom!"
Roughly ten seconds later, the Wishiwashi in School Form caught up to Barbaracle and immediately launched an attack.
"Aqua Tail!"
A massive tail, carrying the momentum of surging waves, slammed directly into Barbaracle, striking its body with tremendous force.
The impact sent Barbaracle flying backward, but simultaneously, Barbaracle used the momentum to its advantage, leaping directly out of the sea and landing on Wailord's back. This startled everyone already aboard the massive Pokémon.
"Ah!" The survivors on Wailord's back screamed in shock.
Clearly, they hadn't expected this battle to reach them.
Andrew's gaze swept across the crowd. At this moment, to ensure his survival, he needed to take hostages—and the identity, status, and influence of this hostage had to be significant enough.
Otherwise, if he took some nobody hostage, who would care about their life or death?
After scanning the survivors, Andrew finally fixed his gaze on Elise.
Among all the people present, Elise was dressed most luxuriously.
Therefore, Andrew unhesitatingly selected Elise as his abduction target and immediately launched his attack.
"Barbaracle, grab her!"
Andrew's voice rang out, and Barbaracle immediately lunged at Elise. Facing the assault from a Champion-level Barbaracle, Elise was completely caught off guard. Before she could react, everything went dark, and she was immediately seized as a hostage by Barbaracle and Andrew.
"Elise!" Everyone watching was shocked by what was happening before their eyes and shouted loudly.
"All of you, shut up! Don't move! Whoever dares to run, I'll kill them!" Andrew's eyes revealed a fierce glint as he roared at the people before him.
Everyone fell silent, intimidated by the ferocious Andrew and the menacing Barbaracle beside him.
Watching this scene unfold, Preist-3 frowned slightly. His time was running short. He glanced at Jacob and stated, "In this situation, I can't guarantee the safety of those people."
"Regieleki, Thunderbolt!" Preist-3 didn't give Jacob any chance to respond after finishing his statement. He immediately commanded Regieleki to attack.
He was growing increasingly anxious now. Warning messages kept flooding his phone. The Chinese reinforcements were drawing closer and closer. He couldn't afford to worry about collateral damage at this point. If he didn't eliminate Andrew now, he wouldn't get another opportunity.
Listening to Preist-3's words, it became clear that he intended to kill everyone there, hostages included.
Meanwhile, Andrew, backed into a corner, clearly intended to use the hostages in his grasp to force Jacob into action.
Jacob sighed inwardly. The situation had escalated in a direction completely beyond his expectations.
Should he save them or not?
If it were anyone else, Jacob might hesitate. But Elise's identity was special—he couldn't simply watch her die.
Elise's face had turned deathly pale, her mind completely blank.
Today had truly been an unlucky day for her.
Originally, she had come to Golden Gamble Casino just to gain some experience, but she'd accidentally gotten carried away. She'd lost all her chips and even her precious necklace in the end.
When the gambling ended, Elise had already started regretting it deeply. She regretted getting so caught up in the moment and was thinking about how to redeem her necklace.
Before she could even formulate a plan, an explosion rang out. The entire Ocean King began sinking, and she'd immediately rushed to the emergency rescue area to survive, eventually boarding Wailord's back with a few fellow tourists.
She'd thought she only needed to wait patiently for rescue, but then this happened.
Looking at the approaching lightning, Elise felt overwhelming despair and closed her eyes.
"G-Max Hydropump!"
A G-Max Hydropump from Gigantamax Lapras roared from the distance.
It directly interrupted Regieleki's attack.
Andrew's face showed an expression of wild joy.
He'd gambled correctly! Jacob really would save them.
"You..." Preist-3 looked at Jacob with furious indignation, his tone laced with undisguised coldness.
Time no longer allowed him to remain here. He had never expected this operation to end in failure.
"Very good, very good. I'll remember you!" Preist-3 laughed bitterly in extreme anger. He glanced at both Gigantamax Lapras and Gigantamax Darkrai, then spoke to the Salamence beneath him. "Let's go, Salamence."
"Let's go, Regieleki."
"Come back, Wishiwashi! Sirfetch'd!"
After recalling his Pokémon, Preist-3 took one final look at both Andrew and Jacob. Then Salamence flapped its wings powerfully and disappeared into the vast night sky over the ocean.
"Ding! Task 'Savior' completed."
"Calculating rewards..."
"Distributing rewards..."
Watching Preist-3's retreating figure, Andrew finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, he didn't dare let his guard down in the slightest, because he wasn't certain whether his recent actions would infuriate Jacob.
Simultaneously, the figures of the Chinese rescue team appeared in the distance. They had clearly spotted the gigantic Gigantamax Lapras and Gigantamax Darkrai as well, and their expressions turned solemn.
Such enormous Pokémon—they had never seen anything like them before. Although they'd received intelligence reports before arriving, seeing such colossal Pokémon for the first time still filled them with immense surprise.
Jacob looked into the distance and spotted Maximus among the rescue team members.
It seemed Master had ultimately decided to travel to the East China region after all.
"You can let them go now. Come back, Darkrai. Let's go, Lapras." Jacob recalled Darkrai, then commanded Gigantamax Lapras to dive beneath the ocean's surface.
Traveling across the surface would make it easy for them to be tracked down, but traveling from the ocean floor meant no Pokémon would be a match for Gigantamax Lapras.
Seeing the Chinese rescue team appear and watching Jacob and Gigantamax Lapras dive beneath the waves, Andrew finally felt truly relieved. "Let them go, Barbaracle."
"I'm sorry, beautiful lady." Andrew wiped his wet golden hair, his face filled with apologetic expressions as he looked at Elise. "It was a special situation just now—unavoidable circumstances. Please forgive my presumption. I'd like to treat you to a meal to express my sincere apologies."
Elise regarded Andrew with a cold expression, her face full of disgust. "Get lost."
Andrew's actions had truly disgusted her. He was incredibly hypocritical.
However, at that exact moment, a bone-chilling coldness broke through the water's surface and struck instantly.
"Freeze-Dry!"
Gigantamax Lapras emerged from beneath the ocean floor and directly unleashed its Freeze-Dry attack. The frigid air permeated the area, instantly freezing Barbaracle solid.
Simultaneously, Darkrai appeared beside everyone. With a raised hand, it activated Dark Void, directly putting Andrew to sleep. Then it lifted Andrew's unconscious form and returned to Jacob's side.