I've been waiting three hours for them to open the door! (4k)

The researcher in the white lab coat immediately answered.

"My lord, the embryo formation this time has gone remarkably smoothly, and all vital signs are normal."

"It is expected to enter the development stage very soon. This is an unprecedented success! My lord, we'll definitely succeed this time!"

His voice brimmed with fanaticism, and he looked thoroughly excited.

Giovanni, however, did not respond. He remained standing perfectly still, his gaze fixed through the incubation tank on the embryo within, as if deep in thought.

Only after a long while did he slowly speak.

"You have failed too many times already. Do not disappoint me again."

Giovanni's reply made the researcher's expression grow slightly more restrained. He hesitated, then forced himself to continue.

"Also, there was a fluctuation recently from the thing you asked us to monitor before."

At those words, Giovanni finally shifted his gaze away from the embryo and turned toward the researcher.

The latter immediately felt the pressure multiply and hurriedly lowered his head.

"The signal came from the Sinnoh region, near the Mount Coronet range. It was very weak and only appeared for an instant before vanishing, but we repeatedly verified it. It should indeed have originated somewhere near that area."

"Sinnoh."

Giovanni repeated the word.

The researcher cautiously asked again.

"My lord, should we further increase our signal detection efforts? If so, we may need to mobilize more—"

Before he could finish, Giovanni cut him off.

"Increase them."

"The moment you obtain any precise signal location, notify me immediately."

"Yes!"

The researcher immediately nodded with great respect.

Giovanni said nothing more. He turned back, his gaze settling once again on the enormous incubation tank.

Through the murky liquid, he could see the white embryo writhing within, seeming to grow bit by bit.

Team Rocket's future... its greatest masterpiece...

A fanatical light appeared in Giovanni's eyes.

The future would be firmly held in Team Rocket's hands!

Meanwhile, inside the internet café.

After finishing the ribs he had cooked, Luo Chen contentedly rubbed his stomach.

Sure enough, cooking for himself was still the most comfortable.

Still, come to think of it, he had no idea how livestock worked in this world...

There should be normal animals too, right?

After all, in the original anime, Ash and the others had pork cutlet curry omelets at Pokémon Centers all the time.

After spending a few minutes cleaning up the kitchen, Luo Chen had just stepped outside when he saw Gengar sitting on the floor with a huge pile of miscellaneous junk spread out before him.

These seemed to be the spoils Gengar had picked up along the way when they went to Mount Coronet together today.

Just like the stuff in that box, these items came in every strange variety imaginable: several kinds of differently colored leaves, oddly shaped stones, and even a few Berries, one of which had been bitten.

At a glance, none of it looked valuable.

He had thought this Gengar had a habit of collecting good things, but now it seemed Gengar was just scavenging... taking anything he could find.

As long as it was an object, he would pick it up...

At the same time, when Gengar saw Luo Chen approach, he immediately broke into a grin. He stretched out his short claws and gestured at the pile, signaling for Luo Chen to pick whatever he wanted.

Luo Chen could not help but laugh. He crouched down and symbolically picked up a leaf from the pile of junk.

"Alright, put the rest away."

Seeing Luo Chen accept his gift, Gengar looked extremely pleased. Only then did he begin carrying the huge pile of miscellaneous items back into his box.

Watching Gengar bustle back and forth with such a happy expression, Luo Chen seemed to think of something and could not help asking.

"Gengar... do you know what antiques are?"

Gengar immediately stopped moving things. He tilted his head, clearly not understanding the concept of the word.

"If you like collecting things, you might as well look at more of these... Take a look at this."

Luo Chen took out his phone. Ever since arriving in this world, he had discovered that his phone had somehow connected to this world's internet. Although many of its original functions and apps would not open, watching videos online in this world was not a problem.

Of course, this world's internet also seemed to be in its infancy. As a result, whenever he wanted to search for information about this world online, he could only find very limited content.

For example, he could find out how many Trainers this world had, that the Pokémon League was the largest force, and that there were four regions: Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Unova.

But there was very little—almost nothing—he could find about Legendary Pokémon or the Pokémon League's technology.

...That was why Luo Chen had previously been so puzzled about the state of this world.

Luo Chen searched a few keywords, quickly selected a video, opened the newest episode, and placed the phone in front of Gengar.

The video soon began playing. It was an antiques appraisal program.

"Welcome to the second episode of Sinnoh Antiques. I'm your host, Kenta."

A young man wearing glasses introduced himself to the camera.

"Let us welcome today's artifact owner, Mr. Echizen from Solaceon Town, along with his partner, Aipom!"

The scene changed, and a reserved middle-aged man walked onstage with an Aipom. The latter carefully held an object covered in red cloth.

"Mr. Echizen, what treasure have you brought us today?"

At first, Gengar did not quite understand the exchange between the two. But very quickly, when he saw the man bring out a rust-covered compass and the experts lean in to inspect it carefully with magnifying glasses, he suddenly straightened up.

He squatted directly on the floor, held the phone in both hands, and began watching the show with utmost seriousness.

Luo Chen smiled as he watched Gengar's utterly focused expression.

Sure enough, a show like this was just as appealing to a Gengar who loved collecting things.

Maybe this guy would be well suited to becoming an archaeologist?

Should he ask Cynthia to teach him sometime?

Though Cynthia was technically a mythologist, she should know plenty about this sort of thing too...

Leaning against the counter, Luo Chen lightly shook his head, his thoughts turning instead to what had happened today.

There were more and more customers in the shop. This afternoon alone, Lance and Iono had come as new customers. Together with Cynthia, one computer was clearly no longer enough for the internet café.

Just as he was thinking, a string of notifications suddenly popped up before his eyes.

[New main quest acquired!]

[Main Quest: Up-and-Coming Popular Internet Café]

[Quest Requirements: Total guests received reaches 4; total computer usage reaches 12 hours; redeem the first game.]

[Quest Reward: A-rank Treasure Chest ×1, 10 Building Points, internet café level increased to Lv. 2!]

[Internet Café Upgrade Effect: Internal space can be expanded, more tables and chairs can be added, and additional purchasable options will be unlocked.]

Luo Chen froze briefly, then willed the system panel open and checked the total computer usage time.

Cynthia had used it for two hours today, Lance for one hour, Iono for one hour, and Gengar himself had played for one hour... That already totaled six hours.

Cynthia and Lance would definitely come again tomorrow. Adding Iono and Gengar's time, the total of twelve hours should be reached in a single day!

As for the number of guests, if Gengar was included, the requirement of four had already been met.

In other words, aside from redeeming a game, this quest would basically be complete tomorrow.

In that case... he would just wait for them to return tomorrow morning.

Come to think of it, he wondered what effect that adaptation module would have...

Luo Chen yawned and patted Gengar on the head.

"If your phone runs out of battery, use the charger next to you. I'm going to rest first."

"Geh heh."

Gengar did not even look away from the screen. He was clearly absorbed in the program and merely nodded.

The night passed without incident.

The next morning.

Luo Chen slept groggily in bed. Half asleep and half awake, he suddenly felt a wave of wet heat engulf him.

It felt as though he had suddenly fallen into a basin of hot water.

As time passed, the sensation only continued intensifying... wave after wave washed over him, each stronger than the last, and there was even a numbing feeling to it...

Finally, he opened his eyes and jolted awake.

The first thing he saw was Gengar's enlarged face.

Gengar was squatting beside the bed, his tongue still extended in midair.

When he saw Luo Chen wake up, Gengar laughed.

"Geh heh!!"

Then he licked Luo Chen's face again.

Luo Chen: ...

Now he understood where that feeling had come from...

No wonder it had felt so numb. A Ghost-type Pokémon's Lick had same-type attack bonus, so it was super effective against him...

"Morning, Gengar."

He wiped the saliva off his face. Just as he was about to get out of bed and begin another day of running the internet café, he suddenly noticed that Gengar seemed to be holding a small purple stone in his mouth.

Upon closer inspection, the stone was a strange dark purple, with what appeared to be a layer of patterns covering its surface.

If he remembered correctly, this thing had not been among the strange items Gengar had dug out last night.

"Where did you get that?"

At his question, Gengar spat out the stone, held it in his hand, and shook it.

"Geh heh, geh heh."

As he spoke, he pointed outside.

Without the Voice of All Things, Luo Chen could no longer directly understand Gengar's words, but he could still grasp the meaning from his body language.

He had gone out to look for it last night.

"You don't need to sleep?"

Luo Chen noticed the phone to Gengar's left, which was still playing the antiques appraisal show, and could not help feeling curious.

Gengar vigorously shook his head.

"You Ghost-type Pokémon really have it good. You don't need to sleep or eat. If I got the chance, I'd like to try it too."

Seeing that, Luo Chen could not help muttering with emotion.

However, the moment he said that, Gengar's cheerful expression froze. Then he frantically waved his claws.

"Geh heh! Geh heh!"

Boss, don't say things like that!!

You can't joke about that!

Luo Chen could not help smiling at Gengar's reaction.

"Relax, I was joking. I didn't mean what you think I meant."

Only then did Gengar let out a long sigh of relief and wipe away sweat that did not exist from his forehead.

Luo Chen rubbed his face, got up, washed up quickly, and headed into the kitchen.

After unlocking the kitchen yesterday, he had moved the Berry drink-making machine straight inside.

But now, as the number of customers kept growing, making only three drinks a day was clearly no longer enough. He opened the Berry maker's panel and checked the upgrade requirements. Advancing it to the next level required five Building Points.

Clearly, he would have to wait until tonight's settlement before upgrading it.

With no other choice, he began mixing today's drinks.

First, he used two chances to make two cups of Dragon Scale Berry drink. Those were reserved for Dragonite and Garchomp.

With one chance left, Luo Chen decided to try a new Berry combination.

He put in one purple star-shaped Berry and one dark red Berry, then pressed the activation button.

A moment later, a red can popped out, accompanied by the corresponding information prompt.

[Congratulations, you have successfully made a C-rank drink: "Mixed Juice"]

[Description: Extremely sweet, but has no special effects.]

Looking at the information before him, Luo Chen could not help frowning.

Another dud, just like that Thunder Sprite from last time...

It seemed the odds of producing special drinks really were not high. Being able to make so many attribute-infused drinks over the past two days had already been quite lucky.

Still, as long as he upgraded the machine tomorrow and increased the number of times he could make drinks, he would sooner or later figure out more recipes.

With that thought, he placed the three cans of drinks on the counter and checked the time.

It was 8:45. Gengar had woken him at just the right time. In another fifteen minutes, the internet café could begin its third day of business.

He wondered who would be the first to come online at the internet café today...

What Luo Chen did not know was that as he waited, a flash of white light appeared outside the entrance.

Dragonite's orange figure appeared before the door, accompanied by a red-haired man.

Looking at the familiar surroundings and the closed internet café doors before him, Lance could not help feeling a little emotional.

Just by thinking of its name, he could teleport here directly from the Kanto region...

It was simply too convenient.

If I could travel between several regions like this while handling cases, how amazing would that be?

Come to think of it, if he remembered correctly, the internet café was supposed to open at nine.

He still had another fifteen minutes to wait.

But honestly, after going online yesterday, he had barely slept at all that night, thinking about the internet café the entire time.

So early this morning, he had called out the name and come straight over.

With that in mind, he plopped down in front of the internet café.

Whatever. He would wait here. Once the internet café opened, he would be the first one inside to get online!

He could not help feeling a little pleased with himself.

Arriving early—this was the professional standard of a top prosecutor!

However, just as Lance was pondering this inwardly, he suddenly seemed to realize something.

He turned his head.

Then... his eyes met Cynthia's and Garchomp's as they sat on the ground beside him.

The air fell into a brief silence. The two stared at each other, and the atmosphere became rather awkward.

In the end, Lance spoke first:

"Cynthia... what a coincidence. You two are up early too."

"Are you waiting for him to open the place too?"

Cynthia nodded.

"Mm."

"I've been waiting for three hours."

Lance: "...?"