"Half a year? That's faster than I expected." Luo Yuan raised an eyebrow.
Large-scale urban construction projects were notoriously time-consuming, so the fact that Neo Mauville would be operational within just six months was a bit surprising.
"I was also caught off guard when I went to inspect the project myself," Lusamine replied.
Neo Mauville was already nearing completion—its core infrastructure was finished, and all that remained were interior buildings and final touches.
It seemed that Greater Mauville Holdings had canceled the project right before it was set to be completed, despite the enormous investment that had gone into it.
Looking at it that way, it wasn't surprising that the company's cash flow had collapsed, ultimately leading to its bankruptcy.
"So all we need to do is switch Neo Mauville's power source to tidal energy, handle some renovations, and it's good to go?" Luo Yuan asked.
Lusamine nodded.
Although Luo Yuan had already gathered intelligence on the project through Team Rocket's network before deciding to take it over, he was only now realizing that it was even simpler than he had imagined.
That's a good thing.
"In that case, I'll leave it to you," Luo Yuan said.
With Team Rocket already spread thin, there was no way he could allocate extra manpower to handle Neo Mauville. That responsibility would have to fall on Lusamine and her Aether Foundation.
Lusamine had no reason to refuse—after all, she had invested in this project as well.
With business matters settled, Lusamine suddenly scooped Lillie into her arms.
Ignoring her daughter's struggles, she immediately began her usual routine of dressing Lillie up like a doll.
Watching Lillie get fussed over like a living mannequin, Luo Yuan's lips twitched.
Raising a daughter just to play dress-up… If that wasn't Lusamine's true motive, he didn't know what was.
...
The next day, Luo Yuan arrived at the Johto League headquarters and found Lance in his office, reviewing documents.
"Luo Yuan, you're back? I've heard about what happened in Kanto—it was definitely the right decision to send you."
Lance was, of course, referring to the moment Luo Yuan's Deoxys had held off Mewtwo.
From what he'd gathered, if Luo Yuan and his Deoxys hadn't been there, the League would have suffered yet another defeat.
The thought made Lance sigh.
Ever since Team Rocket had successfully created Mewtwo, obtained Deoxys, and even controlled Rayquaza, the scale of their conflict with the League had completely changed.
Before, while Team Rocket had been strong, Lance had still been able to keep them in check.
But now?
Without legendary Pokémon of their own, the League simply couldn't apply enough pressure on Team Rocket.
And that was the real reason behind Team Rocket's rapid rise in power.
Lately, he had been assigning people to track down the Legendary Beasts—Raikou, Entei, and Suicune—hoping that their strength could counter Team Rocket's growing influence.
Luo Yuan had a good idea of what Lance was thinking.
Not because he was using telepathy, but because Lance had entrusted the task of tracking down the Legendary Beasts to someone known for efficiency—Koga.
And Koga?
He had outsourced the mission to Team Rocket's intelligence division.
At this point, half of Team Rocket's upper management already knew that Lance was trying to recruit the Legendary Beasts to fight them.
Not that Luo Yuan particularly cared.
The Legendary Beasts had reputation, sure. But when it came to actual power, they weren't exactly impressive.
And Suicune? Let's not even mention that one.
Even if Entei and Raikou worked together, they still wouldn't last one round against Rayquaza.
Unless Lance was planning to capture Ho-Oh or Lugia, there was nothing to worry about.
Besides, with how deeply Team Rocket had infiltrated both the Johto and Kanto Leagues, there was no way Lance could hide his attempts to capture them.
So there was absolutely nothing to be concerned about.
Lance had no idea that his casual remark had sent Luo Yuan down such a deep train of thought.
He quickly got back to business.
"Luo Yuan, I've got a mission for you."
"What is it?"
Luo Yuan had long grown used to Lance constantly assigning him tasks.
After all, Lance knew him well enough to only give him combat-focused missions—like assisting in Hoenn, backing up Kanto, or investigating Mt. Silver.
And in Johto, most of those missions were related to Team Rocket.
Taking on those missions not only made it seem like he was actually doing something as an Elite Four member but also benefited Team Rocket—a win-win situation.
But this time?
This time was different.
"It's about preparations for the Silver Conference…"
"…I'm out."
Lance had barely finished his sentence before Luo Yuan turned and walked away.
Didn't he just say Lance knew him well enough not to assign him tedious, bureaucratic work?
And yet, here he was, trying to dump the Silver Conference preparations on him?!
Luo Yuan had never personally organized a League tournament before, but he'd been to the Indigo Conference.
And even if he hadn't, he wasn't stupid—any competition that involved thousands of participants and hundreds of thousands of spectators was guaranteed to be a logistical nightmare.
There was no way he was getting involved in that mess.
"Wait, wait! I'm not asking you to organize it!"
Lance quickly stopped Luo Yuan before he could escape.
After all, he did know him well enough to expect this reaction.
Hearing that, Luo Yuan paused and turned around.
"Then what do you need me to do?"
Not wanting to risk Luo Yuan walking off again, Lance got straight to the point.
"I'm overseeing the main preparations for the Silver Conference, and I've assigned the more tedious logistics work to Koga. But there's still one unresolved issue—we're missing a major sponsor."
Under normal circumstances, a League-level tournament wouldn't have any trouble attracting sponsors.
However, because Lance didn't want the Silver Conference to turn into a glorified advertising event, he had set strict standards for potential sponsors.
As a result, only large corporations could even be considered.
But since the Johto League was still newly established, most major companies were hesitant about investing in the Silver Conference.
Which led to the current predicament.
"A sponsor?"
Luo Yuan had assumed it was something serious.
Didn't everyone in Kanto already know that he was a shareholder in Silph Co.?
"Don't worry, leave this to me."
At the same time, an idea popped into Luo Yuan's mind.
Before, he hadn't thought much about it.
But Lance's request suddenly made him realize—the Silver Conference was a prime advertising platform.
Sure, the tournament had strict sponsorship requirements, excluding smaller companies…
But when had he ever owned a small company?
Not only was Silph Co. in play, but so was Greater Mauville Holdings—which he had just acquired—and the Aether Foundation.
They could all get in on this.