After maneuvering his character through a thorough search, Lance finally found a hidden mechanism deep within the secret passage.
He clicked the dialogue option to confirm, and the hidden compartment popped open, revealing a black screen resembling a computer interface.
As the screen lit up, a line of numbers and letters appeared at the top.
Clearly, this was a locked door that required a password to open.
Lance stared at the unassuming input device before him, his fingers hovering over the keyboard, momentarily uncertain of what to do.
Based on his law enforcement experience, entering the wrong password in a place like this could have extremely severe and deadly consequences.
The entire passage might collapse in an instant.
The good news was that this was inside a game. Even if his character got buried under rubble, he could respawn at the Pokémon Center and continue playing.
Plus, the save and load features gave him unlimited attempts to explore this area.
So getting the password wrong wasn't really a problem. But there was a new issue: the sheer number of letters and numbers on the keyboard was overwhelming, with some symbols he didn't even recognize mixed in. There were nearly a hundred in total.
If he relied purely on guessing and kept trying different passwords, he'd have to run through that long corridor every single time he came here. It would be incredibly inefficient.
And even worse, he had no idea how many digits the password even was.
Lance fell into deep thought, planning to look around for any relevant clues or check if those Team Rocket NPCs might be carrying password-related items.
But just then, a clear yet steady voice suddenly rang out from behind him, shattering the deathly silence of the underground passage.
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
Lance's heart jolted, his fingers instantly pulling away from the keyboard. This voice, for some reason, struck him as strangely familiar.
The next moment, the game screen froze, and a figure emerged from the darkness in the distance.
When the image on screen came into focus, his hand tightened around the mouse, and his pupils contracted slightly in surprise.
Because standing behind his character, stepping out of the shadows, was a figure he knew all too well: a striking red cape, unruly crimson hair, and a handsome, resolute face.
It was "Lance"!
The Dragon-type Elite Four member from this game... who was also himself!
Although he'd guessed from the start of playing this game that he might encounter such a situation one day, he hadn't expected it to happen so soon.
Also... why did this pixel character's model look... slightly more handsome than him?
Lance couldn't help but reach up and touch his face, a trivial yet somewhat painful thought flashing through his mind.
The in-game "Lance" didn't seem to realize he was being observed by someone from the real world.
He continued speaking in that characteristic NPC manner, with a dialogue box appearing: "Those Team Rocket members outside, did you take them down? What are you doing here?"
Lance took a deep breath, steadying himself.
He pressed the interaction key and answered using voice input: "Yes, that was me. I'm here to investigate Team Rocket's schemes."
The on-screen "Lance" nodded, his pixelated face seemingly showing a hint of approval.
"Oh? So it really was you. To be so capable at such a young age, you must be an excellent trainer."
"However, this place is a bit too dangerous for you... Try not to run into places like this alone in the future, okay?"
The in-game Lance said this as he slowly approached, his gaze falling on the password input device at the end of the wall.
"This password lock... I should know what the password is."
As he spoke, he walked forward and without hesitation quickly and precisely input a series of characters into the password device.
With a soft "click," the seemingly impenetrable wall slowly slid open, revealing an even deeper, darker passage beyond.
This scene left Lance completely stunned.
Why would the in-game version of himself know Team Rocket's password?
Had he obtained relevant information somewhere and rushed over specifically?
That must be it.
Otherwise, could the in-game version of himself actually be working for Team Rocket?
But just as he was pondering this, the in-game Lance turned around and voluntarily explained.
"You must be wondering why I know Team Rocket's password, right? It's simple, because I worked for Team Rocket for a while."
Lance: ????
Dude, even if you look like me and are even more handsome, you can't just defect to the enemy!
At that moment, the in-game "Lance" seemed to see through his silence, or perhaps anticipated Lance's possible misunderstanding, and added seriously:
"Trust me, it's not what you think. I was undercover."
"Let's go."
The real-world Lance froze, the sudden development and information leaving him momentarily unable to process it all.
But he had no time to think deeply. He immediately controlled his character and followed the red-caped figure into the more restricted core area of the Team Rocket base.
The scene beyond the door was more oppressive than anywhere they'd passed before.
The lighting here was even dimmer, with only a few emergency lights casting pale red light that barely illuminated the outlines of the surrounding space.
The air was thick with a mixture of rusted metal and some indescribable chemical smell that Lance could almost smell through the screen.
Various instruments and equipment had been hastily abandoned on the ground, cables scattered everywhere like black vines.
Some screens were shattered, exposing complex mechanical innards.
The walls bore obvious traces of explosion burns and claw marks, clearly indicating this place had experienced more than one chaotic incident.
"Unfortunately, it looks like we're too late."
The in-game "Lance" said in a low voice as he began carefully searching around, examining the damaged equipment.
Lance himself controlled his character, scanning every corner with sharp eyes.
In the shadows beneath an overturned lab table, he discovered a half-charred notebook with a damaged cover.
He pressed the interact key, and his character successfully picked it up, followed by a game prompt:
[Obtained [Damaged Experiment Log]]
Lance scrolled the mouse wheel and began reading the text that appeared on screen. However, as he read line after line, his expression shifted from initial seriousness to shock, and finally to barely suppressed rage.
In reality, his hands unconsciously clenched tight, his knuckles turning slightly white from the pressure.
As a law enforcement officer in the real world, he'd always known Team Rocket was no good, engaging in many underground deals and illegal activities.
But he'd never imagined their actions could be this vile and cruel! This wasn't just a criminal organization pursuing profit, but a group of complete lunatics with no regard for life!
The notebook's records coldly and cruelly displayed:
[...Experiment Subject #734 (Zubat) injected with TX-7 enhancement agent, speed and sonic wave intensity significantly increased, after three hours entered extreme frenzy state, attacking indiscriminately, then vital signs rapidly declined... death confirmed. Autopsy showed multiple ruptured organs...]
[...Attempted forced evolution theory. Applied high-energy shock to Experiment Subject #1020 (Haunter)...
evolution successful (Gengar), but new individual extremely unstable, displaying strong destructive tendencies and self-destructive phenomena... existence time: 7 minutes 14 seconds...
failure.]
[...Live energy extraction experiment #11. Target: Experiment Subject #341 (Nidorino) successfully induced evolution (Nidoking), extraction performed at peak energy activity moment... obtained high-purity life energy sample, but target Pokémon crystallized... sample activity maintained only 30 seconds.
Conclusion: need to improve extraction efficiency, or find higher quality, more vital hosts...]
Each line was like a cold knife, piercing through Lance's nerves and mind.
What kind of experiment records were these?
This was a catalog of torture documenting the suffering and deaths of countless Pokémon!
For power, for their insane goals, Team Rocket had reduced Pokémon lives to experimental materials that could be freely consumed and discarded!
"These... damn bastards!" Lance said through gritted teeth.
He felt nauseous and furious, his blood boiling throughout his body.
This abnormality even caused his in-game character to begin trembling slightly.
On screen, the in-game "Lance" noticed his strange state and walked over.
"Find something?" he asked.
Lance said nothing, directly controlling his character to hand him the [Damaged Experiment Log].
The in-game "Lance" took the notebook and quickly skimmed through it.
Soon, his brow furrowed deeply, his face showing the same anger and disgust as the real Lance. "This is... unforgivable. Scum." He cursed under his breath, his voice filled with suppressed rage.
"Team Rocket... always pushing the limits of morality. Though I knew they'd stop at nothing for power, this behavior no longer qualifies them as human."
However, his gaze soon seemed drawn to the last few pages of the notebook.
There wasn't ordinary text there, but a series of strange symbols and geometric figures forming a code, somewhat similar to those incomprehensible symbols on the wall earlier.
"This..." The real-world Lance also noticed this unusual content and pressed the interact key to speak.
He'd actually already seen these strange characters but couldn't understand them at all. "What do these symbols mean?"
"It's encrypted text used internally by Team Rocket," explained the in-game "Lance," his tone becoming extremely serious.
"They use this to record their most core secrets, and also use it for passwords like the one at the entrance."
He leaned closer to the notebook, as if this would help him decipher those strange symbols more clearly. Soon, he began decrypting and reading aloud:
"...Project codename: 'Twilight'... Phase One... genetic sampling completed... covering 147 species of high base stat and special ability Pokémon from the Kanto and Johto regions..."
"...The key to overcoming rejection reactions lies in... the genetic material extracted from 'Mew' eyelash fossils... incredible compatibility... perfect foundation..."
"...Embryo stabilized in artificial simulated womb... vital signs weak but sustained... injected with enhanced gene fragments extracted from 'Twilight' project..."
"...Objective: surpass Legendary Pokémon, create an absolutely controllable, absolutely powerful, ultimate living weapon belonging to Team Rocket..."
As the in-game "Lance" deciphered and read out the content word by word, the real-world Lance felt a chill run from his spine to the top of his head, leaving him frozen before the screen.
His brain went momentarily blank, filled only with constant ringing.
Live experiments, forced evolution, energy extraction... he'd thought this was the limit of Team Rocket's cruelty and insanity.
But the facts proved him wrong, terribly wrong.
Team Rocket's ambitions went far beyond plundering and transforming existing life.
They were actually... they were actually collecting, assembling, and fusing Pokémon genes!
Team Rocket wanted to play God, creating from scratch in test tubes and petri dishes a twisted, artificial Pokémon that should never exist!
Even something with power surpassing Legendary Pokémon.
But... creating life?
They actually called this "creation"?!
Lance's gaze swept over the wreckage scattered around. After understanding the content of those words, he clearly knew how many inhumane things had happened here.
This wasn't creation at all, but a desecration of life!
Team Rocket was using Pokémon lives to satisfy their own ambitions and fantasies!
When he came back to his senses, those cold words from the notebook—"embryo," "gene fragments," "living weapon"—hammered repeatedly at Lance's nerves like heavy blows.
He could almost see the cold laboratory, those cultivation tanks glowing with eerie light, and within them that unformed life, forcibly stitched together from countless genes, twisted and agonized, quietly being born and dying...
And those Pokémon that had their genes forcibly extracted for experiments and were then "disposed of"...
The real-world crisis and the game's plot collided violently in this moment, bringing unprecedented heavy pressure.
Lance suddenly realized that Cynthia's earlier concerns about him were completely justified.
This game wasn't just a game. In some incomprehensible way, it was simultaneously revealing Team Rocket's terrifying world-shattering plan that was actually underway in the real world!
Right now, he had to contact Cynthia immediately. He had to tell her everything he'd discovered here!
But just as he picked up his phone:
"BOOM!!!!!!"
On the computer screen, a dazzling red light, accompanied by an explosive shockwave and tremendous noise, suddenly struck!