On the day of the Genesis Gate's activation ceremony, the atmosphere at Team Rocket Headquarters was as oppressive as the dead silence before a storm. All personnel in nonessential areas had long since been cleared out. Only the cold footsteps of Personal Guard members echoed through the deep, silent alloy corridors.
Deep underground, within that immense subterranean chamber, Giovanni wore his signature orange suit and personally presided over the central control room from its main seat. Behind him stood Athena, Apollo, and the other most senior executives, every face filled with irrepressible fervor and anticipation.
"Ye Li, begin." Giovanni's voice was calm, but carried a barely perceptible tremor.
"Yes, boss." Ye Li stepped forward, serving as the chief technical adviser for this activation ceremony. He took a seemingly ordinary data chip from his pocket and, under everyone's expectant gaze, steadily inserted it into the slot in the main console.
[Deception Program... successfully implanted.]
He took a deep breath and entered the final activation command on the control panel.
"Humm-!!!"
An exceedingly deep roar came from the enormous ring-shaped metal apparatus. Its structure began to rotate slowly, and countless icy-blue energy pathways lit up one after another across its intricate framework. At its center, the deep darkness began to twist and spin violently like the surface of water struck by a stone, forming a slowly expanding vortex.
Unstable energy fluctuations filled the entire underground chamber, and a pungent smell of ozone permeated the air, as though space itself were groaning before that terrifying power.
"The energy readings are starting to rise!" Engineer Wang's voice rang out in the control room, brimming with excitement.
On the main screen, the progress bar representing the energy input was climbing at a steady rate.
Ten percent...
Thirty percent...
Seventy percent...
Giovanni stared fixedly