BOOM!!!!!
The deafening explosion mixed with scorching, acrid airflow suddenly burst forth from the deepest part of the passage.
Lance's screen was instantly flooded with blinding red light and billowing dust!
In reality, he was so startled by this sudden violent impact that he instinctively jerked back, nearly losing his grip on the mouse—though it was all pixels, this game's immersive experience had always been incredibly realistic.
"Watch out!"
On the game screen, the "Lance" wearing the iconic red cape reacted with astonishing speed.
With a short, powerful shout, he threw himself and Lance's controlled character toward a safe corner, barely dodging the most violent center of the shockwave and the high-speed metal shrapnel flying everywhere.
His red cape was violently whipped up by the raging blast, snapping behind him.
Lance's heart pounded violently in his chest. When the screen stabilized, his character quickly got up.
The interior of the passage was now a complete mess. The already dim lighting flickered even more erratically, as if it might go out completely at any moment.
The air seemed filled with dense smoke and dust composed of countless gray pixel particles, with extremely poor visibility.
"What happened?!" the real Lance couldn't help but blurt out, his voice tinged with alarm.
"A trap... or some kind of self-destruct defense mechanism was accidentally triggered."
The in-game "Lance" also quickly stood up, his sharp gaze sweeping over the chaotic surroundings, his face full of vigilance and gravity.
"Looks like we inadvertently touched on some core area they absolutely didn't want outsiders to discover. But the passage doesn't seem completely blocked. Let's go down—the answer should be below."
He raised his hand and pointed to a section of metal stairs exposed by the explosion, leading down into even deeper darkness.
The real Lance didn't hesitate for a moment and immediately controlled his character to carefully follow.
The surrounding environment became even more oppressive and terrifying.
Damaged pipes hissed as they leaked unknown strange liquids or gases, and the charred explosion marks and deep claw prints on the walls became increasingly dense and gruesome.
Just as they maintained high tension and entered a relatively intact circular experimental area, a twisted, maniacal laugh that made their skin crawl suddenly rang out, violently shattering the suffocating silence.
"Hehe... hahahaha... new test subjects! Fresh test subjects that came right to my door!"
A figure stumbled out from behind a severely overturned large instrument.
He wore a filthy white lab coat covered in unidentifiable stains, his eyes vacant yet filled with fanaticism, his hair greasy and disheveled like weeds—a researcher driven completely insane!
He waved a broken syringe, drool uncontrollably flowing from the corner of his mouth, looking both ridiculous and terrifying.
"Perfect... perfect vessels! They'll definitely withstand the great power of 'Twilight'! Much better than that unstable failed Eevee!"
The real Lance's brow furrowed tightly, a strong sense of disgust rising within him. This person didn't deserve to be called a researcher—he was purely a madman.
The in-game "Lance" had already stepped forward without hesitation, slightly shielding Lance's character behind him, shouting sternly:
"Team Rocket remnant? Stop this insanity immediately!"
"Insanity?
No!
This is evolution! Sacred devotion toward a new world!" the researcher shrieked hysterically, suddenly waving his hand as if conducting an evil ritual.
"Come! My precious darling! Let these ignorant fools see... see the prototype of our great power!"
From the shadows, a Pokémon slowly, stiffly walked out.
It was actually... an Eevee?!
But not a normal, cute Eevee.
Its fur was dull and lifeless, mixed with large patches of unnatural, sickly gray, and its eyes were filled with indescribable immense pain.
The energy field around its body was extremely unstable, with phantom images of different evolutionary forms—Water, Fire, Electric—rapidly flickering and alternating across it like a TV with poor reception.
The next moment, its crimson eyes locked onto Lance's direction!
[Team Rocket Researcher Jiggler wants to battle!]
[Sent out Mutated Eevee!]
The black screen instantly switched to the battle interface!
The left and right sides of the screen showed the character portraits of both sides, with the background being that dilapidated experimental laboratory ruins.
"What the hell is this?"
The real Lance smacked his lips and quickly, precisely selected a Pokémon from his team—his currently strongest fighter, Gyarados.
The in-game "Lance" almost simultaneously, without hesitation, sent out his trusted Dragonite.
This battle seemed to be a two-on-one double battle!
"Useless! Useless! Eevee, show them what true evolutionary potential looks like! Use Hydro Pump!" the researcher ordered frantically and chaotically.
[Mutated Eevee used Hydro Pump!]
The animation effect immediately appeared, with an abnormally thick high-pressure water column blasting toward Dragonite.
However, just as the Hydro Pump was about to hit, the attribute phantom on Eevee's body began rapidly flickering and changing.
Its type seemed to undergo unpredictable changes, but the move had already been launched according to the command and couldn't be recalled.
[It's not very effective!]
Despite being not very effective, Dragonite's HP bar dropped by half!
But this bizarre situation obviously caught Lance's attention.
"This thing..."
Text appeared above the game Lance's dialogue box, his expression becoming extremely serious.
"Gyarados, use Crunch!"
The real Lance also immediately commanded Gyarados to attack, but—
[Mutated Eevee's ability Gene Disorder activated!]
[Mutated Eevee dodged the attack!]
[Mutated Eevee became Electric-type!]
As the text prompt appeared, Eevee's phantom form briefly stabilized into Jolteon's appearance, but its actual body still trembled slightly from pain.
Seeing this, the researcher let out an even more triumphant laugh: "Useless! Your attacks are futile! Eevee, now's the time, use Thunder!"
[Mutated Eevee used Thunder!]
[It's super effective!]
Dazzling golden light flashed, and Gyarados let out a pained cry. Its massive body crashed heavily to the ground, HP instantly dropping to zero, losing its ability to battle.
"What?!" The real Lance was completely stunned. This Eevee not only switched types with no discernible pattern, but the power of its moves was also alarmingly strong, completely beyond normal limits!
"Careful, its type seems to have changed again!" Game Lance timely issued a warning.
His Dragonite immediately followed up with a fierce Dragon Breath, but Eevee bizarrely switched to Fairy-type just before the move hit, completely nullifying the Dragon-type move's damage.
The battle instantly became a desperate, agonizing war of attrition—no matter how the two commanded their moves, Eevee's completely random yet extremely high-priority form switches always cleverly neutralized their offensive and turned around to instantly knock out their Pokémon with super effective moves.
Dragonite, Gyarados, Arcanine... one Pokémon after another fell!
In the battle screen, the visual effects of moves were dazzling yet deadly. Under the powerful bombardment, both Lances' Pokémon HP bars rapidly decreased at a visible rate.
"This Eevee... it's been modified too far! Its life is being devoured by this power!"
Game Lance's voice came through, carrying unprecedented heaviness and gravity.
The real Lance's palms were covered in cold sweat. He could even feel through the screen the immense pain that mutated Eevee was enduring, and that wildly violent power forcibly twisted and unleashed without control.
This feeling of powerlessness and rage in the face of everything was probably even stronger than actually facing a Legendary Pokémon!
Just as their last Pokémon was on the verge of falling, Researcher Jiggler let out a victorious, maniacal laugh and issued his final command:
"Enough! Eevee, even if it exhausts all your life energy, take them down completely! This is my final order!"
The next instant, on screen, the mutated Eevee that had been emitting pained whimpers suddenly stopped all movement.
Its body began violently, completely uncontrollably trembling. All the phantoms of its forms around it—the azure brilliance of Water, the scorching heat of Fire, the raging current of Electric—exploded simultaneously with unprecedented intensity at this moment!
Its body was engulfed by an extremely chaotic, dazzling multi-colored energy vortex, emitting blinding intense light impossible to look at directly!
"WUAOAOAOAO—!!!"
A roar containing endless pain and overwhelming fury seemed to pierce through the screen, directly shaking Lance's heart!
The next moment, that twisted energy accumulated to the extreme, capable of destroying everything, didn't blast toward the two Lances and their Pokémon as commanded, but suddenly reversed direction, pouring entirely toward the mad researcher!
"Damn it, what are you doing..."
Researcher Jiggler's face was instantly overtaken by extreme terror and disbelief. His shocked cry was completely drowned out and consumed by the massive red explosion effect.
After the explosion's bright light faded, the researcher lay charred on the ground, his fate unknown.
After exhausting its energy, the mutated Eevee's body returned to its original size and form, but its color became even more sickly gray, as if its life force had also drained away.
Extremely weakened, it turned its head, and its deep red eyes briefly looked toward the two 'Lances,' its gaze complex beyond measure, mixed with a hint of relief and deep, deep exhaustion.
Then, without lingering, it used its last strength to transform into a blurred afterimage, darting into a damaged ventilation pipe at amazing speed and completely disappearing into the darkness.
[Team Rocket Researcher Jiggler is unable to battle!]
[You won!]
[Received ₽10,000 in prize money!]
The battle-ending prompt popped up coldly, but Lance before the screen felt no joy of victory whatsoever.
This experimental laboratory area returned to its deathly silence, with only the occasional electrical crackling from equipment wreckage.
The real Lance stared blankly at the screen, speechless for a moment, his heart filled with indescribable heaviness and oppression.
The in-game "Lance" silently recalled his Dragonite that had lost its ability to battle, his expression also quite grave, as if pondering something.
"...A pitiful test subject. Another of Team Rocket's sins. Damn them."
After a long while, the in-game "Lance" finally spoke in a low voice, his tone filled with barely suppressed rage.
"We must keep going and thoroughly figure out exactly what research they've been conducting here."
They bypassed the motionless researcher lying on the ground and continued toward the deepest part of the base.
The atmosphere around them was even more oppressive than before. That brief but intense battle, and Eevee's final look, were deeply branded in Lance's mind, impossible to shake off.
Finally, they seemed to reach the end of their journey—a much more spacious hall, but also much more severely damaged.
In the center of the hall, a massive glass cultivation tank had completely shattered, viscous nutrient solution emitting a faint eerie glow spilled all over the ground.
Most of the various precision instrument screens around it were pitch black, with only a few red lights still flickering uncertainly.
"Looks like... we're still one step too late. The most important thing is no longer here."
The in-game "Lance" said in a low voice. He quickly walked to the main control panel, his fingers rapidly and skillfully operating the not-yet-completely-failed touchscreen.
The real Lance controlled his character to stand guard vigilantly nearby, but his gaze was involuntarily drawn to the broken massive cultivation tank in the center.
An inexplicable chill uncontrollably rose from his spine, making him feel a pang of dread.
"Found it."
Game Lance's voice pulled him back from his uneasy state to reality.
"This is... a fragment of the 'Twilight' project's core log. Encrypted with Team Rocket's highest-level password.
Fortunately... during my early undercover years, I was lucky enough to encounter some of their encryption methods."
His fingers flew rapidly across the keyboard.
Countless strange symbols and obscure code scrolled quickly across the screen, ultimately transforming into readable text records.
The real Lance immediately leaned close to the screen, carefully reading the black text appearing line by line.
[Project Codename: 'Twilight'... Ultimate Phase Activated... Gene Sequence Forced Fusion... Attempting Stabilization]
[Vital Signs Confirmed... Energy Response Surging Dramatically... Exceeded Estimated Peak... Warning: Restraint Device Overload!]
[Final Restraint Device Complete Failure... Target Individual Breached Containment... Location Unknown... Repeat... Location Unknown]
[Highest Alert: All Personnel Evacuate Immediately!]
The cold text before his eyes, the mechanical records, pieced together a terrifying truth that made his scalp tingle.
Team Rocket wasn't just conducting dangerous genetic experiments—they'd actually succeeded, at least halfway—in creating a living "thing" with unimaginable power that had completely spiraled out of control!
And it had already escaped into the outside world!
Lance couldn't help but take a deep breath.
True, this was the game's storyline...
But what about in reality?!
۞۞۞۞
~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones