According to the in-game explanation, there are a total of seven rescue team levels, and currently, his team has only reached the second tier—Silver rank.
What's more important is that the degree of randomness in the game's terrain generation is frighteningly high.
Each time you enter a dungeon marked with the same name, such as Graveler Mountains or Glimmering Wetlands, the terrain inside, the branching paths, and even the types of wild Pokémon you encounter might all be different!
In the same location, what was a dry rocky cave yesterday might turn into a humid environment filled with stalactites and underground rivers today, with a Graveler covered in mossy green rocks crouching in the corner that you've never seen before...
Yes, in this game, each Pokémon can sometimes appear as a variant in different terrains, with attributes and moves completely different from the normal version.
The chat comments are constantly scrolling—
[Wind is creating something new again]
[This map generator must be the most expensive part of the entire game, right?]
[What new pit did the streamer fall into today?]
As for the quest system, it's even more diverse.
Helping lost Pokémon return home, searching for lost precious berries, investigating the cause of abnormal rage among Pokémon in a certain area, and even running errands to deliver letters for seniors in the guild.
Not to mention those hidden events that require specific items, specific weather, or even specific times to trigger.
The rescue team's badge level rises slowly, and new areas and more powerful dungeons unlock layer by layer, like peeling an onion before her. Yancy played to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep, feeling that time was completely insufficient.
She thought that if she pushed hard today, she should at least be able to see some new main storyline content.
She controlled Larvesta and Squirtle, exploring with difficulty deep inside a new dungeon for over three hours, finally defeating the terrifying giant Ariados guarding the area and obtaining a "Forest Secret Key" that looked very important.
But just as she used the key to open a stone door deep in the forest covered with ancient vines, the screen went black and that damned classic prompt popped up—[Please look forward to future content!].
Gone!
Cut off at the most crucial place again!
"Ahhhhh! Wind! Come out! I promise I won't hit you!"
Yancy frantically rubbed her hair, wailing into the microphone.
"I grinded for a week! A whole week! And you show me this?! Is cutting it off here something a human would do?! What about the rest? What's behind the door?!"
The live stream chat was instantly flooded with [Hahaha] and [Streamer is mad], mixed with [It seems another streamer is also stuck here!]
[Wind's conspiracy]
[Forced electronic torture, basically]
[Yancy, calm down! Calm down!]
[Pat pat, it's not that the updates are slow, it's that you're playing too fast]
[Go check out Iono's stream! She just finished this part too! She's probably exploded too!]
[Right, right, right! Iono must be mad too, go watch the fun!]
Seeing the chat's reminder, Yancy's eyes lit up. Right!
As the saying goes, suffering loves company.
She's not the only one... suffering.
Regarding Iono, she had, of course, heard of this streamer before and knew her identity—a Gym Leader from the Paldea region.
However, the two had never had any interaction before.
Now it seemed going to check it out wasn't a bad idea.
She hurriedly minimized her game window, quickly typed "Iono" into the streaming platform's search bar, and clicked in.
The screen switched, and what came into view was Iono's iconic face, currently filled with an expression of "life has no meaning."
Her twin tails seemed to droop down, and her beautiful eyes were staring deadly at the screen.
And on her screen was that exact same, gleaming golden [Please look forward to future content!] prompt box.
"I—!" Iono took a sharp breath, as if wanting to swallow back some inappropriate word, ultimately turning it into an even more frantic scream. "Wind—! What are you doing! Cliffhanger again! Show me what's behind the door!
My Pikachu is still waiting for the antidote!
Ahhhh—!"
She grabbed the pillow beside her and pounded it several times, causing her chat to also flood with [Hahahaha].
Watching Iono's appearance, even more agitated than herself, Yancy felt that pent-up frustration dissipate a little and even felt like laughing.
She casually opened the gift menu, picked the most eye-catching [Space Rocket], and sent it straight to Iono.
Boom!
Iono's live stream was instantly filled with the gorgeous special effects of a rocket launching, along with a message she typed.
[Streamer, don't be mad, I'm stuck too hahaha.]
"Eh?" Iono, who was hugging her pillow in frustration, froze for a moment. Seeing the gift sender's ID was "Yancy Not Glass," her eyes immediately lit up.
"Wow! Thank you, Yancy, for the Space Rocket! You're too generous!"
She instantly switched to business mode with a brilliant smile.
"Wuwu, Yancy, you're stuck at the door too, right? This Wind is too inhuman! This cliffhanger almost gave me a heart attack!"
Yancy casually sent a colored chat message: [Yeah, just defeated Ariados, opened the door, and that's it, I'm numb.]
Seeing this, Iono immediately nodded vigorously. "Right, right, right! Me too! My Pikachu's Thunderbolt turned that spider into a charcoal-grilled version. I got the key and opened the door, bam, progress gone again! I'm so mad!"
Yancy thought for a moment and directly sent Iono a friend request on the platform.
Iono accepted almost instantly.
Soon, a private chat window popped up in the corner of Yancy's streaming software.
[Iono: Yancy! Fellow sufferers in this world! [Pikachu crying.jpg]]
[Yancy: [Psyduck facepalm.jpg] Iono, who's to say otherwise, grinded for a week, feels like I just barely touched the edge of the main storyline, and then it's gone. How's your progress this week? I heard your partner is an injured Pikachu. Is he okay?]
[Iono: Don't even mention it! This guy still looks the same—cold and stubborn—but at least his body is temporarily stabilized. The Wigglytuff guild master said it's some old injury to his energy core that's relapsed, and we need to find specific items to help him. The clue seems to be behind this door!]
[But then... [Pikachu going crazy.jpg], at this door, the game story is gone again. Now my level is up—Zeraora is 27, Pikachu is 26—but this game has so much content I feel like I've only touched one-tenth of it so far.]
[Yancy: Me too! Larvesta 26, Squirtle 27, this game's content volume is too ridiculous. Dungeons are like blind boxes, different every time you enter. Quests are many and varied, can't stop at all. But... it is really fun, don't feel tired at all hahaha.]
[Iono: Right, right, right! Addicted! Too addicting! Just this cliffhanger is too painful. By the way, Yancy, do you think... will Wind add multiplayer functionality to this game in the future?]
[Yancy: Multiplayer?]
[Iono: Yeah! Look, what we're playing now is single-player, bringing our partner to adventure in dungeons. If there was multiplayer, couldn't our two teams explore dungeons together?]
[Yancy: [Thinking.jpg] That makes sense! We could support each other, and call for help when encountering dungeons we can't beat. But... Wind seems to have said it's currently single-player? Their technology can definitely implement it, but I don't know if they'll release it.]
[Iono: Dreams are still necessary! If there really is multiplayer, Yancy let's form a fixed team! We'll absolutely sweep through all the high-difficulty quests of Wigglytuff's guild!]
While Yancy and Iono, these two victims, were complaining about Wind across screens and fantasizing about a multiplayer future, the atmosphere in another place was equally heated and about to explode.
That chat group originally gathering Gym Leaders and Elite Four members from various regions had now had its group name changed by some troublemaker to [Pokémon Game Tea Party].
And the messages in the group were frantically flooding at a rate of several per second. The discussion content had nothing to do with tactics—all about those three current games: "Emerald," "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon," and "Dark Phantom."
[I Love Rocks: [Screenshot: Magnified image of a peculiar rock in Emerald] Everyone look at this rock! The texture is highly similar to the mural fragments from ancient castle ruins in the Unova region. This game's research details are too amazing! How much more has he hidden?]
[Gorgeous Splash: Steven, you're at it again... [Milotic helpless.jpg], but speaking of details, that Pokémon dancing in the morning mist in Dark Phantom—that elegance and hazy feeling is simply the highest level artistic moment! I've tried to recreate it over ten times but can't capture that spirit...]
[Alder: Steven, Wallace, one of you does art, one likes rocks, you're both the same]
[Diantha: I'm actually obsessed with the Contest Spectacular in Emerald, researching the stage effects of different move combinations... to think this could be a competition, it's really interesting.]
[Speak with Fists: Ha! I'm playing all three alternately. In Emerald I just pushed to the sixth gym with an all-Fighting team, Mystery Dungeon is about to reach Silver rank. Dark Phantom I just started a few days ago, progress is a bit lower, currently at the third gym]
[Lorelei: ...Bruno, is your liver okay? [Sweat.jpg] I just played "Mystery Dungeon" to Wigglytuff's guild, partner is a Taillow, feels pretty good. It's just that the dungeon randomness is too great. Yesterday I found good stuff in the same forest dungeon, today I went in again and fell into a pit.]
[Agatha (Ghost Elite Four): This old woman thinks playing slowly like this is quite good. Young people, don't be too impatient. [Psyduck drinking tea.jpg]]
Messages in the group came one after another. These champions and Elite Four members from various regions all put down their usual identities and airs, like a group of ordinary gamers, enthusiastically exchanging strategies, complaining about game content, and sharing their adventures and discoveries in different game worlds.
The originally serious discussion group was now filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
Well, actually before the games appeared, it wasn't very serious here either.
But after the games appeared, it did indeed become more cheerful.
However, whether it was the two streamers going crazy on air or the champions hotly discussing in the group, none of them knew at this moment that the game creator whose true identity they were all curious about was facing the system interface before him, revealing a thoughtful expression.
The speed of completing tasks is faster than I expected... if that's the case, then let's depart directly.
Given the situation there, delaying one day might mean one more variable.
Kairos didn't delay and directly called over Chandelure.
In the air, ghostly red flames flickered. Chandelure floated cheerfully to Kairos's side, looking at him somewhat puzzled.
"You weren't there last time; this time I need you to come with me."
As he spoke, he directly took out the Dimensional Communicator and activated it. The humming sound of activation rang out again, and a ghostly red vortex spun open in the villa room.
Kairos took a deep breath and stepped into it with Chandelure.
After the familiar dizzying sensation, the familiar touch came from underfoot, carrying the mixed smell of engine oil and dust.
Pungent air rushed into his nostrils. Dim light leaked through the gaps in rusted pipes. It seemed this transmission location was still that underground city district where he first arrived.
However, this time he wouldn't be lost like before. He directly led Chandelure with practiced ease toward the direction of the Watchmen's base.
Soon, that hidden entrance surrounded by abandoned industrial zones appeared before him.
At the base entrance, the heavy metal gate was tightly closed, and two Watchmen warriors wearing modified simple armor and alert expressions blocked the way.
One burly man with a stern face roughly barked, "Halt! Who goes there? State your name! Not just anyone can enter here!"
Kairos's steps paused. Before he could explain.
Another slightly younger warrior's eyes suddenly widened. After carefully identifying Kairos's face, his expression instantly changed.
"Renn, stop, it's that person!! That person from two days ago!"
The man called Renn froze, looked carefully at Kairos, and the alertness and seriousness on his face instantly vanished, replaced by embarrassment and surprise. He quickly made way.
"You are... that person? I apologize, I wasn't at the base that day. Please forgive me. The gates of the Watchmen are forever open to you. Please enter!"
The heavy metal gate slowly opened with the roar of hydraulic devices. Kairos didn't say much and walked straight in.
Just entering the relatively spacious area inside the base, Kairos saw a familiar figure.
Old Smoker was holding his old metal pipe, sitting on an overturned metal barrel talking to a Watchmen member about something.
When he heard the commotion and looked up, seeing clearly it was Kairos, his whole person suddenly froze.
"?!"
Old Smoker almost choked on his smoke and quickly took down the pipe, eyes wide.
"It's you, you... came back so fast?!"
Kairos nodded.
"Yes, I found a solution."
At these words, Old Smoker directly stood up and grabbed Kairos.
"Quick, come with me!"