my pokemon player.

By the time Hao Ren and his team returned to the shore, the originally tragic battlefield had been almost cleaned up.

If it weren't for the slightly salty smell in the sea breeze and the traces of battle left on the reefs and beaches, it would be almost impossible to tell that a fierce battle had taken place here.

The ones cleaning up the battlefield were the members of the Shadow Church who had managed to survive. They worked extra hard, wishing to sift every grain of sand, just to show their own value and gain a glimmer of hope.

The only two idle prisoners were Molde and Monroe. The former was injured and thought he had exchanged intelligence for his life, so of course he was unwilling to do these dirty and tiring jobs.

The latter was answering Ryan's questions, although he was just an ordinary church member and did not possess important information like Mord.

But the questions Ryan asked were simple, so he was able to answer most of them.

For example, what he did before joining the Shadow Church, the previous identities of other members, and their experiences after joining the Shadow Church, etc.

The reason why Ryan asked Monroe these simple questions was to deepen his understanding of the Shadow Church through the perspective of the grassroots members.

Other forces only care about the cadres of the Shadow Church and look down on ordinary members. Even the Shadow Church itself is the same and never cares about their lives.

However, Ryan is different. His experience in his previous life has taught him the importance of mass power. He knows that these seemingly insignificant grassroots members are the key to truly outlining the flesh and blood and foundation of an organization.

The Shadow Church is not a newly established force. After so many years of development and changes, the top leaders who founded the church may have already turned to dust.

Among the current senior management, there may be some strong people who joined in the middle, but most of them still climbed up step by step from the bottom.

Therefore, if Ryan wants to completely destroy the Shadow Church and prevent them from reviving, he must cut off their channels for absorbing fresh blood from the root, so that the Shadow Church loses the soil for spreading and breeding among ordinary people, and can no longer seduce and recruit new members.

However, it is not easy to do this. According to Monroe's answer, many of the members he has met joined the Shadow Church only because they could not survive any longer.

Others, like him, had offended the nobles or the followers of the Temple of Poseidon, and as a result, their families were broken up and they had nowhere to go, so they were forced to join the Shadow Church.

It cannot be said that there are no members who actively seek to join the Shadow Church because they believe in the so-called devil, but they are very few.

Moreover, these members were mentally normal before joining the Shadow Church, and at most they had an obsession with revenge and the pursuit of power.

But they will soon be corrupted by the church environment and gradually degenerate into lunatics and perverts in the eyes of normal people.

There is no other way. In a cannibalistic organization like the Shadow Church, only by becoming crazier than others can you have a chance to survive. Those members with good intentions are often the first to die.

Even if these members adapt to the survival rules of the Shadow Church, their mortality rate is still very high, because the church's top leaders have never regarded them as human beings, but as cannon fodder and consumables.

This is also the reason why a large number of members still voluntarily sign up to participate in the Blood Hell Trial, even though it is so cruel - instead of dying inexplicably in a certain mission or sacrificial ceremony, it is better to go to the Blood Hell Island and take a gamble!
If you lose the bet, you will just die, but if you win, you will get the attention of the Shadow Church, escape from the precarious fate, and get a chance to climb up.

In fact, Monroe also wanted to participate in the Blood Prison Trial, but he still retained a bit of rationality. After evaluating his own strength and concluding that his chances of passing the trial were almost zero, he decisively gave up the idea.

After hearing this, Ryan admired Monroe even more. It was already rare for him to have self-knowledge, not to mention that he could still maintain his sanity in an environment like the Shadow Church. This guy was undoubtedly a talent.

It's a pity that Li Xiang's undercover mission also requires this kind of talent. Ryan had to give up the idea of ​​recruiting Monroe and continued to ask:

"If you had enough food to eat before and had not been oppressed by the nobles, would you still join the Shadow Church?"

Monroe glanced at Ryan strangely, as if he didn't understand why Ryan asked such a stupid question.

However, his life was still in Ryan's hands, so he could only lower his head and answer honestly:
"Forget about having enough food. As long as I can keep myself from going hungry, I will not join the Shadow Church."

"As for the oppression by the nobles you mentioned, it's nothing. We are used to it."

"To be honest, ever since I joined the Shadow Church, I have often felt regretful. I felt that I was too impulsive and should not have offended that noble lord."

"At the end of the day, I am still young and hot-tempered. If I could have a chance to start over, I would definitely endure it silently. That's what everyone does anyway."

When Ryan heard this, his brows slightly frowned and he muttered to himself:
“Everyone is doing this, so it’s right?”

"What did you say?" Monroe asked cautiously.

Ryan shook his head and said to Monroe with a smile:
"Nothing, thank you very much for your answer, I think I know what to do."

After all, the root of the problem lies in this chaotic era.

As long as he becomes the ultimate winner, builds a world where humans and Pokémon coexist in harmony, and uses Pokémon to increase productivity and improve the living standards of the indigenous people, the Shadow Church will lose the basis for its spread.

Therefore, in the process of realizing his dream, he was also cutting off the foundation of the Shadow Church, causing it to gradually die out.

Looking at the smile on Ryan's face, Monroe was confused. He didn't say anything, but just answered a few simple questions. Why was Ryan so happy?

Before Monroe could think more, a dragon's roar interrupted his thoughts.

He subconsciously looked in the direction of the sound, and saw two dragons flying towards them, with two young nobles sitting on their backs, and
Monroe looked at the two extra figures on the dragon's back with an expression of surprise on his face.

It was normal for Priest Kalina to be caught. No matter how fast the Toucan flapped its wings, it could not catch up with the speed of Dragonite.

But why was Xianyu also caught? This guy is just an ordinary trial-taker and should not be caught.

Could it be that the two young nobles were ambitious and regarded him as a cadre of the church, or were they attracted by his unique sword sheath?

Just as Monroe was lost in thought, two Dragonites folded their wings and landed lightly on the ground.

Hao Ren and Lao Ma looked at each other and officially began their performance.

They climbed down from the dragon's back, bringing Li Xiang and "Kalina" to Ryan, and reported with pride:

"Master Ryan, we have successfully fulfilled your mission and brought the priestess from the island back to you."

Ryan nodded in agreement and praised: "Very good, your contribution this time is not small, I will reward you handsomely!"

"Thank you, Lord Ryan!" Hao Ren and Lao Ma said with a smile on their faces, without any trace of acting.

Li Xiang glanced at the two colleagues in surprise, wondering if they had received acting training as well? Their acting skills were so outstanding!

Little did they know that when Ryan started to praise, Hao Ren and Lao Ma received a notification that their favorability had increased. Their happiness was not an act, but a genuine expression of their feelings!

"Roar~" Hao Ren, who was immersed in joy, suddenly heard a low roar. He turned his head and saw that the male Dragonite was giving him a crazy look, indicating that he should not forget his promise.

Hao Ren nodded in understanding, coughed twice, and then said to Ryan:
"By the way, in this operation to capture the priest, the two Dragonites performed extremely well."

"Especially this male Dragonite. Not only did it help us capture the priest, it also managed to take down a shadow church guard named Cliff!"

Although Ryan didn't know why Hao Ren specifically praised the two Dragonites, he still praised them with a look of satisfaction on his face:

"You guys did a good job. Take these boxes of Pokémon Cubes and eat them first. There will be other rewards when you return."

Ryan took out a few boxes of Pokémon Cubes and threw them to the two Dragonites.

After receiving the Pokémon Cube, the female Dragonite immediately opened the box and stuffed a few into her mouth, enjoying them happily.

The male Dragonite looked at the Pokémon Cube in its claws with surprise, its two big eyes filled with happiness.

It put the Poké Cube away with a look of respect, and then gave Hao Ren a satisfied look.

You are not bad, you can handle it! Don't forget to look for me next time if you need such a good job!

Then, it looked at the old horse with disdain, as if to say, "It's better not to bring him along next time."

Hao Ren almost laughed out loud when he saw this. Just as he was trying to suppress his laughter, Ryan's voice came again:

"Who is this person? Didn't I just ask you to capture the priest?"

Ryan fixed his eyes on Li Xiang. This was the first time he had seen him in the game. He was indeed a handsome man, with an appearance almost catching up with him and the reader in front of the screen. No wonder he had bewitched Karina to such an extent.

What? Didn't Karina fall in love with Li Xiang because he looked like her white moonlight?

Are you kidding? No one really thinks that anyone can be Bai Yueguang, right? No way, no way?
The white moonlight does not necessarily have to be very beautiful, but it cannot be without beauty either. Only the good-looking ones are called white moonlight, and those with average looks can only be called that man or that woman.

If Li Xiang didn't have this appearance, let alone getting close to Karina, he would probably be thrown into the cargo hold to fend for himself the moment he got on board.

Sure enough, whether in the real world or in the Pokémon world, good looks always have certain advantages.

"Reporting to the lord, when we found the priest, this kid was following him. We suspected that he was the priest's confidant, so we captured him." Hao Ren answered respectfully.

"Confidant?" Ryan raised his eyebrows and turned to Monroe beside him and asked, "Is he a confidant of your priest?"

At this time, Monroe was still immersed in the shock of Chris's death and did not hear Ryan's question.

Compared to the capture of Priest Kalina, Cliff's death had a greater impact on him.

After all, he has always regarded Cliff as a target to be pursued and a mortal enemy that must be eliminated.

As a result, Cliff, whom he had to work hard to deal with, was nothing more than an insignificant enemy in the mouths of these two young nobles. They only took half a sentence to tell Cliff's final fate.

This sense of gap made Monroe feel mixed emotions, made him deeply understand the gap between people, and stimulated Monroe's ambition.

He absolutely could not die quietly like Cliff, he had to climb to the top step by step, and even if he died, he had to die in a blaze of glory!
"Monroe? Monroe!" Ryan's voice pulled Monroe back from his drifting thoughts.

He quickly apologized to Ryan, "I'm sorry, the momentum of the two Dragonites was too amazing, I was shocked and lost my mind for a moment, please forgive me!"

Ryan looked at Monroe with interest. He always felt that Monroe had changed a little.

But now is not the time to explore these changes; the play must go on.

So Ryan waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter. Answer my question first. Is this guy a close confidant of your priest?"

Monroe looked at Li Xiang with complicated eyes, then gritted his teeth and said:

"Reporting to the Viscount, he is not! He is just a captured civilian trial participant!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Hao Ren shouted, "Impossible! How could he be a civilian trialist? I clearly saw that he had a close relationship with the priestess!"

"That's because of his outstanding appearance, so Priest Kalina takes good care of him." Monroe explained stiffly.

Upon hearing this, Hao Ren glared at Monroe fiercely: "Who do you think you are? You are just a scumbag from the Shadow Church! Do you have the right to butt in here?"

Monroe was frightened by Hao Ren and shrank his neck. He immediately closed his mouth and cast a helpless look at Li Xiang.

Li Xiang remained calm on the surface, but he was a little confused in his heart. Why would Monroe speak up for him? Would this shrewd egoist be so kind?
He couldn't figure out Monroe's intention for the time being, but Ryan on the side saw Monroe's little thoughts clearly.

This guy was just using the excuse of speaking for Li Xiang to prove to Ryan that he still had good intentions.

He should have heard Ryan's appreciation from the conversation just now, and knew that Ryan was different from other nobles. He would not treat civilians as grass, nor would he kill innocent people.

That's why he risked offending the two young nobles to speak for Li Xiang, in order to improve Ryan's impression of him.

Ryan, who saw through the situation, raised the corner of his mouth slightly. Since Monroe took such a big risk, he didn't mind cooperating.

Ryan then said to Hao Ren with a cold face: "Who do you think you are? You dare to speak nonsense in front of me. Have you forgotten your noble etiquette and respect for the lower class?"

Seeing Ryan was angry, Hao Ren immediately knelt on one knee and said in fear and trepidation: "I was just anxious for a moment, please forgive me!"

Seeing Hao Ren's superb acting skills, Lao Ma silently gave Ryan a thumbs up in his heart, then knelt on one knee and began to show his acting skills:

"The good knight is right! Please forgive his offense for the sake of his meritorious service!"

"If you really want to punish him, punish me too!"

Ryan sneered and said, "It's a deal, double happiness!"

Lao Ma: “???” (End of this chapter)