An unusual recruitment notice soon went out through the internal system to the terminals of all Team Rocket's noncombat personnel.
[Strategic Development Department internal recruitment notice] [This department is dedicated to improving the organization's core competitiveness through technological innovation. Applications are now open within the organization for the following specialists:] [1. Network security engineers (2 positions): expertise in data attack and defense required. Preference given to those capable of writing or cracking encryption programs.] [2. Mechanical modification specialists (2 positions): in-depth understanding of machinery such as Poké Balls and portable teleportation devices required. Preference given to those with strong hands-on skills.] [3. Pokémon genetics researcher (1 position): experience raising Pokémon for battle is not required, but applicants must have original insights into Pokémon genetics and ecology.] [...] [Note: This recruitment has no combat ability requirement. Seniority and background will not be considered. Selection will be based entirely on technical assessments. Successful applicants will receive generous compensation and separate project bonuses.]
The notice was like a stone tossed into the stagnant pool of Team Rocket's logistics departments.
Many talented technicians, who had struggled to find any path to promotion because they were poor at battling, lit up when they saw the notice.
Combat ability didn't matter?
Only professional skills counted?
There were even separate project bonuses?
This opportunity was practically tailor-made for them!
For a while, application emails flew into Ye Li's inbox like snowflakes.
As Ye Li read the enthusiastic letters of self-recommendation, he did not make any immediate decisions.
He personally designed a series of assessment questions that could only be called fiendishly tricky.
For the network security position, the task was to decrypt a fragment of encrypted internal Pokémon League communications intercepted by the surveillance system in Giovanni's office.
For the mechanical modification position, the applicant was given a pile of scrapped parts and required to assemble a jamming device capable of blocking Pokédex signals within three hours.
As for the genetics researcher, the question was even stranger.
Ye Li provided just one sentence: "Discuss the feasibility and implementation methods of artificially increasing the natural occurrence rate of Shiny Pokémon by one in a thousand under existing technological conditions."
These questions went far beyond the scope of routine work.
They tested not only technical skills, but also imagination and the ability to solve unconventional problems.
On the day of the assessment.
A group of "oddballs" who looked utterly out of place in Team Rocket arrived outside the Strategic Development Department's office.
A young man with thick black-framed glasses, messy hair, and what appeared to be severe social anxiety successfully decrypted the encrypted communication in less than an hour.
His name was Lin Feng, a computer genius known online as "Ghost."
A taciturn middle-aged man whose arms were covered in grease and burn scars hammered and clanged away for over two hours, and actually assembled a palm-sized signal jammer from a pile of junk.
His name was Engineer Wang, an oddball obsessed with mechanical modification.
Finally, a quiet, scholarly female researcher wearing gold-rimmed glasses, who looked more like a university lecturer, submitted a thirty-page paper.
In her paper, she detailed theoretical models for increasing the probability of Shininess from multiple perspectives, including gene sequences, cellular energy mutations, and external environmental stimuli.
Although she believed this was almost impossible to achieve in practice, several of the theoretical hypotheses she proposed happened to match the game mechanics in Ye Li's memory.
Her name was Dr. Anya, a researcher at the Breeding Base whose specific job was to perform health examinations on Pokémon Eggs.
These three successfully passed the assessment.
They became the Strategic Development Department's first members.
Ye Li was very satisfied as he looked at the three "tech geeks" before him, each with a different demeanor, but all with eyes blazing with fervor for their respective fields.
He organized them into different project teams.
"Lin Feng, you'll be in charge of network intelligence."
"Engineer Wang, you'll be in charge of equipment development."
"Dr. Anya, you'll be in charge of biotechnology."
"Our department's first project..." Ye Li looked at the three of them, took a deep breath, and stated the objective that, in his view, could change the world.
"Will be to optimize the Breeding Base's genetic screening algorithm and turn the theories in Dr. Anya's paper into reality."
"Our goal is to increase the occurrence rate of Shiny Pokémon by one in a thousand."
Far from frightening off the three tech geeks, this seemingly impossible task instead kindled an intense desire for a challenge in their eyes.
In their new office, they immediately threw themselves into working day and night.
Lin Feng tapped out code at his computer, Engineer Wang tinkered with various instruments at his workbench, and Dr. Anya covered the whiteboard in densely packed genetic formulas.
The entire department instantly filled with an intensely academic atmosphere, utterly unlike anywhere else in Team Rocket.
When Apollo and the others heard about this new department full of "oddballs" and their fanciful "Flash Plan," they all scoffed.
"A bunch of lunatics wasting the organization's resources."
That was their unanimous assessment.
Giovanni, however, watched it all with keen interest through his office surveillance feed.
He might not have understood those complex lines of code and formulas.
But he understood the light in those people's eyes.
It was a light called "focus" and "passion," one capable of creating miracles.
He knew this seemingly peculiar department held terrifying potential-enough to overturn the entire Pokémon world.
Before you continue