From Vermilion City, heading east and passing through the other end of Diglett's Cave, Wang Qiuer arrived at the entrance to a massive cavern called Rock Tunnel.
The moment she stepped into the cave, the image on the Screen went dark.
Aside from a faint glow barely enough to make out the outlines around her, everything was suffocatingly black. She could not even distinguish the road ahead from the walls.
"What kind of crappy place is this? Can't they afford the electricity bill? They can't even turn on a single light!" Wang Qiuer rapped hard on the Screen, thinking the monitor had broken.
"That's Rock Tunnel. There are no lighting facilities inside," Lu Yuan kindly reminded her. "You need to teach a Pokémon HM Flash to light up the map. Go to the research assistant at the intersection ahead. As long as you've caught ten different kinds of Pokémon in your Pokédex, he'll give you the TM for free."
"Catch ten kinds of Pokémon?"
The instant Wang Qiuer heard that requirement, her money-grubbing eyes flew wide open.
"Boss, don't try to scam me! One red-and-white Poké Ball costs two hundred bucks. Catching ten kinds would cost two thousand even if I caught every one on the first try! And those Caterpie and Pidgey I catch are all useless freeloaders. They can't even be used in battle!"
"Are you stupid? You already caught more than ten before. Just go claim it. It's not like you have to catch another ten!"
The more Wang Qiuer calculated, the more she felt she was losing money. She clutched her in-game wallet tightly and shook her head with absolute determination, not hearing another word Lu Yuan said. "Enough! I'm not catching them! Not catching them! Absolutely not! What can't I buy with two thousand bucks?