Leon and the others stepped out of the back room and immediately spotted four uniformed officers standing across the street, openly inspecting their shop.
"So this is that Galaxy Tech company everyone's talking about?" Zayn scoffed, slowly looking around."This place is tiny. Cramped, too. You call this a company?"
An aide standing beside him leaned in and replied quietly, clearly prepared.
"Sir, it's a newly founded business. Less than two months old. The CEO is only eighteen. The two managers are also young—names sound impressive, but there's nothing special about them."
Zayn raised an eyebrow."Oh? Then tell me—have these kids been associating with certain people? Any suspicious partnerships?"
The aide understood immediately.
"There have been a few recent collaborations. From what we found, they originated at a Sasaki Family charity event. No signs of deeper connections beyond that."
"I see."
Zayn nodded slowly. The decision had already been made.
"Well then," he muttered with a smile,"let's hope this company knows how to appreciate hard-working public servants. My men don't come cheap."
"Exactly, sir."
As they spoke, Leon, Ryan, and Noah approached from the opposite side.
"Good afternoon, officers," Leon said calmly, extending a hand."I'm Leon, the person in charge here."
Zayn coughed lightly but didn't take the handshake. Instead, he looked around the shop with feigned interest.
"Yes. We know."
"No problem," Leon said, withdrawing his hand without embarrassment."May I ask what brings you here today? Is there anything we can assist with?"
"If we had nothing to do, why would we come here at all?" one of the officers snapped.
"Of course," Ryan quickly stepped in."Please, let's talk inside. It's messy out here."
Zayn nodded."Fine. We'll explain. This inspection was ordered directly by Chief Mizuno of Celadon City. It concerns Team Rocket."
The words landed heavily.
Leon showed no reaction.
Inside the office, tea was served. Zayn took a sip, clearly pleased.
"Good tea," he said casually."Looks like you've been doing well, Mr. Leon."
"Not really," Leon replied with a smile."Barely covering startup costs."
"We are from the inspection unit," the aide said officially."This is Inspector Zayn, team leader. We're conducting a citywide investigation to eliminate organizations collaborating with Team Rocket."
"I see. You've worked hard."
Leon already knew why they were here.
"For public safety, of course," Zayn continued."Now then—have you engaged in any undocumented transactions recently?"
"Absolutely not," Ryan said immediately."We are law-abiding citizens. Loyal to the League. Very loyal."
Leon nodded."We can provide full sales records. Noah, please print them—tax documents as well."
Noah left and returned quickly with the files.
Zayn flipped through them slowly.
"Hm. The records are clean… but there's a discrepancy here."He tapped the page."A 500,000 credit gap. Care to explain?"
"Oh," Leon said smoothly."Must be a printing error. I'll reprint everything."
He stood up.
Ryan noticed Noah looking confused and gave him a subtle shake of the head.
Leon stepped outside, reprinted the files, and quietly transferred 500,000 credits to an unregistered card.A PIN was written on a slip of paper and tucked neatly inside the documents.
When he returned, Ryan was laughing loudly, entertaining the inspectors.
"Sorry for the wait," Leon said politely."Here's the corrected version."
Zayn opened the file.
Saw the card.
Smiled.
"That's more like it," he said."Inspector Zayn—no issues here."
"Good," Zayn said, standing."Apologies for the disturbance. We're busy these days. Rocket activity outside the city, you know."
"Of course. Thank you for your service."
They left laughing.
The moment they disappeared from view, Leon's smile vanished.
"Damn," Ryan muttered."Five hundred thousand. Clean robbery."
"Five hundred thousand?" Noah asked."So that's what the 'error' was?"
Ryan rolled his eyes."Same documents. Leon just added… extra context."
"So they shook us down."
"Pretty much."
Leon exhaled slowly."Money spent to keep people safe. We'll earn it back."
"This League is rotten," Noah spat.
Ryan shrugged."If it wasn't, Team Rocket wouldn't have recruits."
Leon turned back toward the shop.
"Half a month's revenue," he said calmly."But no blood spilled. Worth it."