Gastly, Gastly!

Gastly, Gastly! "Koujie?"

Gastly, who had been thoroughly enjoying the show, was interrupted by the sharp scrape of the chair across the floor and couldn't help looking curiously at Jing He.

Still muttering nonsense? After confirming that Jing He wasn't in any danger, Gastly turned its attention back to the phone.

But it had no idea what Jing He was going through at that moment.

As a scholar of psychology, Jing He had always been very confident in his own self-control. Yet when he saw the two words "Mewtwo" in the chat window, his mind still froze for a moment.

Mewtwo!

No Pokémon enthusiast could possibly be unfamiliar with that name.

In his previous life, as the Pokémon games developed through regions like Kalos, Alola, Galar, and even Paldea, many powerful and terrifying Legendary Pokémon had appeared. Calling Mewtwo the strongest Pokémon might have been a little rash, but in the hearts of many veteran Pokémon fans, Mewtwo undoubtedly held an extremely important and special place.

Jing He was clearly one of them, and he was naturally very familiar with Mewtwo.

Mewtwo was a Psychic-type Legendary Pokémon, an artificially created Pokémon made by Team Rocket based on Mew's genetic material. It possessed immense strength and destructive power, yet because it had been created by humans, it had always been searching for the meaning of its existence.

If he had encountered Mewtwo in a game, Jing He would certainly have been delighted. But encountering Mewtwo in the real world? That was no good thing.

With Mewtwo's abilities, getting rid of a person, a Pokémon, or even an entire town would not be difficult.

More importantly, it was not an easy Pokémon to get along with, having always questioned the meaning and value of its own existence.

It was a Pokémon that was confused, persistent, stubborn, and immensely powerful. At any moment, it could spiral into the dead end it had created for itself, and once it went mad, no one could stop it.

When it came to psychological issues, Mewtwo could claim second place, and no Pokémon in the entire Pokémon World would dare claim first.

Then Jing He recalled the contents of their previous conversation, along with the username "Who Am I." Everything suddenly made sense.

Wait!

Jing He's expression gradually turned strange.

Judging by the state Mewtwo had displayed, it had most likely only been born recently, right? In other words, Sakaki had just sweet-talked it into joining Team Rocket, turning it into a tool for Team Rocket to capture wild Pokémon and frantically plunder resources? Then the "that person" it had mentioned last time was Team Rocket's leader, Sakaki?! And he had even suggested that Mewtwo try cooking a meal with him... Jing He couldn't help picturing Sakaki Boss wearing an apron and stir-frying. Ahem, that image was a little bizarre.

"Huff—"

Taking a slight breath, Jing He gradually calmed down and sat in front of the computer again.

He looked at the chat window before him, feeling a slight headache.

Even though he now knew the other party was Mewtwo and understood its symptoms, figuring out how to "cure" it would be far from easy for any Pokémon Psychology scholar.

But soon, a faint excitement rose within Jing He's heart.

There was probably no other case like this in the entire Pokémon World! Jing He placed both hands on the keyboard, his thoughts racing as he began to type.

"So, who do you think you are?"

He did not dwell on the name "Mewtwo," nor did he show surprise. He even acted as if he did not care at all.

Because Mewtwo, a powerful Legendary Pokémon, had actually always been searching for the ordinary and mundane.

It longed to be like other Pokémon, to be a Pokémon in the truest sense, rather than the exceptional "Mewtwo."

It was like a child born into immense wealth. Though it had stood at an endpoint others could never reach from the moment it was born, it still longed to become an ordinary person.

Yet in reality, no matter how hard it tried, it could never truly understand what it meant to be "ordinary."

That had been decided at birth.

Therefore, ignoring its uniqueness was the first step in communicating with Mewtwo.

Whether in the anime or manga, those who could communicate with Mewtwo, be it Ash the Idiot or Red, all first regarded Mewtwo as a kind of Pokémon before regarding it as Mewtwo.

That was the difference between "the Pokémon Mewtwo" and "Mewtwo."

".I don't know."

Sure enough, when faced with Jing He's returned question, Mewtwo did not show impatience, only confusion.

It also revealed one thing: it was willing to communicate with Jing He.

"For example, say my name is 'Gastly,' and your name is also 'Gastly.' How would we tell you and me apart?"

"Me..." Mewtwo was momentarily at a loss.

"There are so many Pokémon and Pokémon species in the world. Are there two completely identical Gastly?"

"I think... probably not."

Jing He smiled slightly and continued, "Then how do we distinguish among so many Gastly?"

"I... I don't know." Mewtwo fell into thought.

"Then if one Gastly liked eating noodles and another liked inhaling gas, could you tell them apart?"

"Yes."

This time, Mewtwo answered very decisively.

"How would you distinguish them?"

"Their preferences are different."

"Very good!"

Jing He's fingers flew across the keyboard as though he were writing a paper he knew by heart. He asked again, "Then if there were four Gastly, two that liked noodles and two that liked inhaling gas, how would you distinguish them?"

".I don't know."

"Of the two Gastly that like noodles, one always floats in the sky while the other often slips into walls. Can you distinguish them now?"

"Yes. Their behavior is different."

It was even answering before he finished asking. Jing He was very pleased.

"So, have you drawn any conclusions?"

"Preferences, behavior, thoughts, goals."

Mewtwo's answer exceeded Jing He's expectations somewhat. He had not expected it to not only summarize, but also infer further conclusions.

This greatly increased Jing He's interest.

Mewtwo's learning ability was indeed very strong.

"Then let's return to you. You said you don't know who you are. Let me ask you: if you were facing two dying Gastly, one burned and one starving, and with just one thought you could save one of them, but could only choose one, which would you choose?"

Mewtwo was silent for a moment before replying, "I'm not sure. I can't make a choice."

"Then if you knew the burned one, how would you choose?"

"I think... it would be the burned one?" Mewtwo phrased its answer as a question, expressing its hesitation.

"Very good. You are the 'you' who would save the burned Gastly."

What followed was a barrage of questions from Jing He.

"Continue. If the starving one died, do you think you would regret it?"

"Would you blame yourself for indirectly causing a Gastly's death?"

"If you were given another chance, would you still choose the burned Gastly?"

"If the burned Gastly blamed you for not saving its companion, would you be angry?"

"If you were given another chance at that moment, would you choose again?"

"If..."

At this moment, only Jing He's questions remained. The other side had fallen completely silent.

Jing He was not in a hurry. He gave Mewtwo time to think independently, because this was a process of understanding the "self."

And the broad concept of "I" mainly referred to the "self," the "I" that embodied an individual's characteristics.

After waiting around thirty seconds, Jing He typed his final line.

"None of your answers to this string of questions truly matters. When you follow these questions and provide answers, the 'you' giving those answers is the real 'you,' the 'you' that no number of Mewtwo could ever become!"

He pressed send.

Thud! The computer made a dull sound.

It indicated that the message had failed to send.

Only then did Jing He notice that Mewtwo's account had gone offline! The system prompt read: "The other party is offline and cannot receive messages."

"Hm?"

Jing He froze for a moment.

"Achoo—achoo—"

Beside him, Gastly kept sneezing, spraying saliva all over the screen.

"Koujie?"

Gastly kept rubbing its cheeks.

A cold? Or was someone thinking about me? Viridian City.

A nearly sealed underground laboratory.

Thud! Thud! Thud! The alarm lights on the walls flashed wildly, their rotating red light bathing the entire laboratory in crimson.

At the center of the laboratory stood a Pokémon clad in highly modern armor, its eyes tightly shut and its brow furrowed.

A large number of data cables, power cables, and control cables extended from the armor on its back. Meanwhile, dozens of researchers in white lab coats scurried around like ants on a hot pan, desperately operating countless computers and control panels. More of them were losing their minds.

"Damn it, what's going on?! Has a hacker infiltrated us? The entire network is down!"

"Infiltrated my ass! Do you think our Team Rocket Porygon Firewall is just for show?"

"The Porygon Firewall? Take a good look at the Porygon yourself! It's already passed out!"

"And what the hell do all these 'Gastly, Gastly' messages mean?!"

On the giant screen on the wall, as well as on screens of all sizes throughout the room, the words "Gastly, Gastly" kept flashing.

They were packed so densely that they could not be counted.

Gastly, Gastly!