Does the Streamer's Cape Have a Link?

Lance stared blankly at the Dragon Scale in his hand, which was even larger than his thumb.

Just as his mind went blank, a translucent system notification quietly appeared before Luo Chen.

[Detected that customer "Gengar" has obtained the special edition Ability "Pickup"]

["Pickup" (A+)]

[Ability Effect: Once every other day, you may actively activate this ability to automatically obtain the second most valuable ownerless item within a 500-meter radius.]

Luo Chen swept his gaze over the lines of text and froze slightly.

Just like with Cynthia before, the ability the game granted to its customer would be enhanced once before being passed on to him.

But... Pickup?

Was a Gengar with an Ability like that even legal...

And wasn't this effect ridiculously overpowered? Even if they brought out the original Levitate Gengar, it felt like it wouldn't stand a chance against this Ability...

No wonder a scale like that had suddenly appeared... So Gengar had picked it up.

As he pondered this, another notification appeared beneath the panel.

[You have obtained the upgraded ability: It Ain't Mine, Nobody Wanted It (S)]

[Effect: May be activated once every three days. Automatically obtain the most valuable ownerless item from a location visited by a randomly selected player in the internet café within the previous 24 hours.]

Luo Chen blinked at the notification.

A place they had visited within the last 24 hours... that made the range far too broad.

There would definitely be more and more customers at the internet café. If one player happened to visit a desert ruin or a deep-sea cavern, wouldn't he be able to freeload on the top-tier resources there...

After all, the good stuff there should all count as ownerless, right?

Luo Chen nodded.

This ability... seemed pretty good.

It was a pity he could only use it once every three days, making it slightly worse than Gengar's. He could give it a try later.

He put away the panel and looked at Lance, who was still staring blankly at the Dragon Scale.

"You can keep what Gengar gave you. It's useless in my hands."

Lance suddenly snapped back to his senses.

He looked at the scale in his hand, then at Luo Chen. After hesitating for a moment, he finally agreed.

"...Okay."

"Thank you."

Lance took a deep breath and carefully tucked the Dragon Scale into the inner pocket of his clothes.

This thing was probably worth nearly a year's worth of his salary.

Although he was a descendant of the Dragon Tamer Clan and carried its bloodline, the Dragon Tamer Lineage had long since faded into history and gradually vanished from sight. He could only be considered someone with a remnant bloodline; otherwise, his power would not be so incomplete.

But the good news was that his power had grown stronger, and now he had a scale too.

And all of this had been brought to him by the internet café before him.

That was why Lance had not chosen to refuse the gift. Perhaps, in the eyes of this internet café owner, this scale truly amounted to nothing at all...

With that thought, he raised his head and looked toward the computer in the distance.

After Gengar finished using the internet, it had suddenly gained such a special ability. What would his own reward be like?

He eagerly sat down in front of the computer.

As someone from the Pokémon League, he used office computers often enough, so using the mouse and keyboard did not feel unfamiliar to him.

As for games... though he had tried few due to his busy work schedule, he was not an antique like Cynthia. He had played some before.

He soon noticed the only icon on the desktop and clicked it.

Ultimate... Emerald?

What a strange name.

The screen lit up, and the game's opening animation began to play.

In the blurry pixel graphics, Pokémon ran, flew, and swam through different landscapes.

He noticed that many of the Pokémon were familiar to him, but some were ones he had never seen before.

He carefully observed these new Pokémon and could not help evaluating them in his mind.

These Pokémon didn't seem to have been made up at random... Instead, they gave him a very real feeling.

However, Cynthia had mentioned this before, so he did not dwell on it.

He clicked the mouse and successfully skipped the following animation. Yet in the next moment, an emerald-green figure appeared before his eyes, leaving him dazed for an instant!

Though it did not possess any powerful aura or oppressive presence, that figure made the Dragon-Taming Power within him tremble instinctively!

The green figure flashed past and transformed into words before disappearing.

[Pocket Monsters—Ultimate Emerald]

The Dragon-Taming Power within Lance had already settled back down.

He could not help frowning.

What had that been? A Pokémon?

Or... an illusion?

Forget it. It didn't matter.

Lance did not investigate further. At that moment, his game officially began.

As he went through the simple beginner tutorial dialogue at the start of the game, the livestream on the right side of the screen automatically opened as well, with a title prominently displayed above it.

[Kanto region Elite Four member Lance's livestream.]

There were not many people in the livestream at first, but as Lance continued progressing through the story and time passed second by second, viewers began entering the stream. Before long, there were seven or eight people watching.

Their reactions were quite intense as well. Nearly everyone who entered the livestream sent comments; no one merely lurked.

[Just came over from Gengar's stream... Holy shit? Another one?]

[Yesterday it was Cynthia, and today even Lance is here?]

[Looks like they're streamers from the same company... The actors this company hired look more convincing than the last. I'd say they're actually the real people. So cool.]

[Does anyone know what this streaming company is called? You don't see companies this dedicated very often these days...]

[Someone asked me how cosplayers make money, and I was like:]

The flying text naturally drew Lance's attention, making him pause slightly.

Just like Gengar earlier, he had started a livestream too. These people had entered his room and begun watching him play games; that much, he could understand.

But judging from their reactions, why did they seem not to believe he was really Lance?

Unlike Cynthia, Lance was not a particularly meticulous or steady person. In fact, people who knew him described him as "a little arrogant."

But he did not think there was anything wrong with that. After all, as Kanto's strongest Dragon-type Trainer, he truly had the right to be arrogant!

With that thought, Lance directly pulled a dark-gold leather wallet from his clothes, opened it, and held it up before the camera.

It was his investigator's identification. Not only did it bear the Pokémon League's official seal, it also contained his photograph, name, and identification number.

[Kanto Chief Pokémon League Investigator—Lance, No. 1]

"I am Lance himself. This is proof."

He spoke in a deep voice.

However, the scene of everyone reacting in shock that he had imagined did not appear at all.

Instead, it was replaced by something entirely different—

[Oh, the prop looks pretty realistic!]

[The streamer really went all out for this livestream. Where did you get that ID made? It looks pretty high-end.]

[Does the streamer's cape have a link on Taobao?]

[If you're really Lance, then I'm Red. Watch this: ...]

Lance stared at the screen, opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"...?"