The person who pushed open the door made wtwo freeze in surprise.
It was two figures wearing black uniforms with the distinctive "R" logo, their faces cold and stern!
This outfit was exactly the sa as the group in his mory, those people who stood before him, watching with either fanatical or icy gazes.
They strode in, their eyes like precision scanning machines, instantly locking onto wtwo standing before the counter.
It looked like these people were targeting the ga character he controlled, but to wtwo's perception, those gazes seed to pierce through the virtual world and stab directly at him in reality!
"It's ti for maintenance on Test Subject 102." One of them spoke in a flat, emotionless voice, as if stating a predetermined fact with no room for negotiation. "Co back with us."
wtwo's consciousness was violently ripped from that state of understanding!
The virtual world's image instantly beca blurry and distant. His primary perception was forcibly dragged back to reality—that cold, hard cultivation tank filled with nutrient fluid and monitoring probe signals.
He still maintained that motion of trying to pet Marshtomp, but in reality, his arm was bound by complex tubing, unable to move an inch.
All his dispersed consciousness instantly returned to his body. He resud his identity as a test subject bound by countless wires, eyes tightly shut in the cold nutrient fluid.
The tank's hatch was opened. Through his psychic senses, wtwo could clearly see a stern, imposing face appear before him.
This face was one wtwo was seeing for the first ti.
Team Rocket's leader—Giovanni—had appeared here.
Giovanni didn't look at the data on the screen but fixed his gaze firmly on wtwo, observing the cultivated body in the tank as if examining his most outstanding weapon. Deep in his eyes, hints of fanaticism and excitent showed, though he suppressed them well, almost imperceptibly.
A researcher in a white lab coat beside him quickly knelt halfway down, lowering his head to report: "Giovanni, sir, the test subject's ntal wave frequency has shown several abnormal peaks recently, but overall stability is maintained. Power output paraters continue to steadily increase, far exceeding expectations. Overall condition is excellent."
"Good."
Giovanni's voice was low and satisfied. He reached out his hand—not to gently caress, but to pick up a helt gleaming with cold tallic luster, covered in complex circuits and suppression runes, and examined it in his hand.
"It's ti to proceed with the next phase of stress testing. Let see... just where this thing's limits... truly lie."
"Yes, sir."
The researcher took the helt from his hand and placed it on a nearby machine. Imdiately, a chanical arm reached deep into the cultivation tank and firmly fastened it onto wtwo's head, a perfect fit with no chance of escape.
The cold sensation and the pain of internal probes piercing his skin instantly shattered the warm images of the Pokémon Center that had just lingered in wtwo's mind!
Three notifications appeared before his eyes, then vanished.
[Warning: External connection under severe interference!]
[Forced instruction reception interrupt!]
["Invitation Card" connection terminated!]
anwhile, on the other side.
Kairos felt his vision suddenly go black. The happiness-filled Pokémon Center he'd just seen through wtwo's perspective, the newly evolved and energetic Marshtomp, the well-aning Beedrill, and wtwo about to reach out and pet his Pokémon—everything ca to an abrupt halt.
Finally, through the invitation card's connection, he seed to vaguely sense that in so distant laboratory, all that remained was the humming of running equipnt and suddenly illuminated, ominous lights that seed to signal the start of a new round of testing.
Kairos sighed and sat up straight in his chair, his expression sowhat complicated.
---
Although the invitation card's ga link had been severed, he could still see wtwo's emotional state on the system panel before him. The screen was now dominated by negative emotions like pain and anguish.
Clearly, Team Rocket was instilling new thoughts in wtwo, imposing further restrictions on him, or conducting dangerous tests.
Kairos couldn't help but feel so regret. If only Team Rocket hadn't chosen this exact mont to experint on wtwo, interrupting that hard-won seed of self-awakening.
If he could've had just a little more ti, wtwo should've been able to grasp so crucial truths...
Just as he was pondering this, a dialogue box suddenly appeared before him, different from the system's usual style—archaic and severe, with edges flickering dark red light, like blood stains!
[Ding!]
[Key story node detected and triggered!]
[Host has triggered SS-rank special mission—"wtwo Strikes Back"!]
[Mission Description: Team Rocket has clamped cold shackles onto wtwo. The fate of this strongest artificial Pokémon in history will be written and decided by you.]
[Mission Objectives: 1. Free wtwo completely from Team Rocket's control!]
[2. Prevent the "wtwo Strikes Back" incident from occurring!]
[3. This mission has hidden additional conditions related to the character himself. Please explore on your own, Host.]
[Mission Reward: This mission's reward will be calculated based on the Host's final completion rate. The higher the Host's completion rate, the more generous the mission reward will be, with no upper limit!]
[Current Mission Ti Remaining: 38 days 23 hours 59 minutes 30 seconds]
Seeing the mission notification that suddenly appeared before him and the continuously counting down tir, Kairos couldn't help but freeze slightly.
A special mission? This seed to be the first ti he'd triggered one of this nature.
Not only did the mission objectives contain hidden content, even the mission reward was determined by his final completion rate.
His gaze fell on this mission's objectives.
Setting aside that hidden additional condition for now, the first two items didn't look very easy to complete either.
First was freeing wtwo from Team Rocket's control.
Although he'd now connected to wtwo through the invitation card, the other party was still under Team Rocket's firm control, and he had far too little information...
At the very least, he'd need to figure out where wtwo was before there'd be any possibility of rescuing him.
And besides that, completely guiding and steering wtwo onto the right path, preventing the "Strikes Back" incident from happening, was another difficult point.
However, judging from wtwo's performance in the ga just now, Kairos felt... this might actually be easier.
He could only say it was fortunate he'd arrived early.
If wtwo had already been completely brainwashed by Team Rocket, and he'd only then started helping him understand everything, that would've been a bit difficult.
Well, if he had to make a comparison...
It'd probably be slightly harder than beating the Erald version he was currently making with a level-one Magikarp as a starter Pokémon.
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