Team Rocket's strength expanded rapidly, snowballing.
The Breeding Base churned out highly gifted Pokémon without pause, while the Rainbow Game Corner acted like a money printer, supplying ample fuel for this war machine.
This almost unchecked rate of expansion made the Kanto League increasingly wary.
Lorelei, the Ice-type Elite Four member, had not given up after her initial probe into the game corner yielded no results.
She decided to take a more covert approach and continue her investigation through business cooperation.
Soon, an elite Pokémon League agent disguised as a business consultant successfully established himself at Celadon Department Store under the pretext of discussing joint business ventures between the department store and the game corner.
The agent's real mission was to use his position to gain access to the game machines specially supplied by Team Rocket that had been placed in the department store.
He attempted to steal Team Rocket's trade secrets by analyzing the machines' data interfaces, or even locate their backend servers' physical location.
However, every one of his covert moves was immediately detected with perfect clarity by the ghost lurking in the online world-Lin Feng.
"Boss, a rat's trying to sneak in through the back door."
Lin Feng sent a data anomaly report to Ye Li's terminal.
As Ye Li read the report, a cold sneer curled his lips.
The Pokémon League really won't give up.
You couldn't find any evidence last time, so now you're trying a technical infiltration?
It's a good idea, but unfortunately, you've run into Lin Feng, a bug in the online world.
Since you want to look, I'll show you some 'good stuff.'
A plan to turn their scheme against them took shape in his mind.
"Lin Feng, don't alert him."
Ye Li issued his instructions.
"Open a back door for him. Let him in."
"Then build a completely separate fake database and lead him into it."
"Whatever data he wants, we'll feed it to him."
Lin Feng immediately understood Ye Li's intent, and a wicked grin identical to Ye Li's appeared on his face.
"I guarantee he'll get his fill."
The Pokémon League agent's infiltration proceeded unusually smoothly.
With barely any effort, he successfully "hacked" into the game machines' backend system and entered an enormous database.
Overjoyed, he began frantically downloading the data and files inside.
What he did not know was that every line of code and every document he saw was part of a "stage script" Lin Feng had carefully prepared for him.
He treasured each piece of fabricated intelligence that appeared highly valuable, packaging and encrypting it before sending it back to Pokémon League headquarters.
This intelligence was eventually compiled and placed on Lorelei's desk.
Lorelei's brow furrowed as she read the report in her hands.
The report's contents were simply too outrageous, too inconceivable.
According to the intelligence, Team Rocket was secretly conducting a mad research project codenamed "Singularity."
They were attempting to harness the enormous bioelectric currents and psychic energy generated by all the machines in the Rainbow Game Corner, using some kind of resonance device to artificially create a small, unstable "spatial distortion" in the center of Celadon City.
The report even included detailed theoretical models and formulas for calculating energy values, making it look quite convincing.
"Spatial dis-distortion?"
Looking at the term, Lorelei felt her understanding challenged.
This was already beyond the scope of an ordinary criminal organization. It sounded more like the plot of a science fiction film.
She instinctively felt something was wrong with this intelligence. It was too fake.
Yet the detailed data and formulas in the report kept her from dismissing it entirely.
What if it was true?
If Team Rocket really succeeded in creating a spatial distortion, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Following the principle that it was better to believe it existed than to assume it did not, Lorelei, though full of doubts, had no choice but to assign large numbers of personnel and experts to secretly investigate the supposed "anomalous fluctuations in spatial energy."
Just like that, a piece of false intelligence from Ye Li led the Pokémon League's precious investigative resources by the nose, sending them down the wrong path.
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