The rain hammered on the corrugated iron roof, and Zhao Feng wiped his face with his sleeve, squatting in the alley behind the convenience store, rummaging through a trash can.
A moldy sandwich, covered in water droplets with green mold on the cheese, he poked it and suddenly laughed—three days ago, he was overjoyed to find an intact rice ball, but now he was being picky.
“To hell with the initial Pokémon,” Zhao Feng stuffed the moldy sandwich into his mouth, the sour taste of decay exploding on his tongue.
Chewing his food, his mind raced.
The Alliance in this world was like the government in his previous life, divided into several large regions, and he was in the East Huang region.
According to regulations, he had to pay 100,000 alliance currency annually from birth, and only when he turned sixteen could he receive his initial Pokémon.
If he were a child of an Alliance direct lineage Trainer, it would be even simpler; he could go directly to the Alliance Breeding House to choose a Cycada Family Pokémon, even skipping the payment process.
Rainwater dripped from the eaves as Zhao Feng recalled the car accident three months ago.
He only remembered that he had just gotten off work when he was hit by a speeding truck and was thrown flying. When he opened his eyes again, he was lying in a leaky, dilapidated house.
The original owner, an orphan whose parents had died, was three months shy of adulthood. Without identification, he was unable to obtain a work permit according to regulations, and couldn't even apply for the most basic living allowance.
Although he had memories from his previous life and had played several Pokémon games.
However, for Zhao Feng, who couldn't even get an initial Pokémon, this knowledge was useless.
During that time, unable to work, he wore worn-out rubber shoes, constantly wandering between the garbage station and convenience stores, relying on collecting scrap metal for a little change and eating expired food thrown away by convenience stores to fill his stomach.
But adversity turns to prosperity; as a transmigrator, he had also obtained a golden finger a few days ago: the “Pokémon Hunter System”!
However, the first mission issued by the system was extremely difficult, nothing like a novice mission.
Zhao Feng opened the mission panel, and a highly futuristic blue screen appeared before him.
Mission: Steal any Pokémon from Dr. Li Xiang’s New Moon Research Institute.
Time limit: 1 month.
Reward: “Corresponding Pokémon energy cube formula” and “Basic Psychic Cultivation Manual—Calm Mind Method”.
Being a Breeder is a lucrative industry, and Psychic users are even more so; skills like Teleport and telepathy make people incredibly envious. The system’s rewards were indeed tempting.
“Dr. Li Xiang…” Zhao Feng softly uttered the name he had heard in Alliance documentaries. Dr. Li Xiang, as the discoverer of hidden abilities and the Fairy type, was absolutely a household name in the East Huang region, holding a status equivalent to Dr. Oak in his previous life.
Considering his current situation, Zhao Feng decided to go all-in.
Dr. Li Xiang’s New Moon Research Institute is located in the suburbs, with a large open area next to it converted into a Pokémon ecological zone.
Fortunately, Zhao Feng’s dilapidated house was in the suburbs, only three hundred meters from the research institute’s back wall.
There was an abandoned delivery box nearby, which had been his observation point for three consecutive days.
From there, Zhao Feng clearly saw the research institute’s main gate and the guards on both sides.
As a powerful and influential Doctor, Li Xiang’s research institute was absolutely heavily guarded.
The guards were all Advanced level Trainers employed by the Alliance, and even more troublesome was the security system at the main entrance: a dual-verification device with a fingerprint lock and iris recognition embedded in the alloy door frame. Each time a researcher entered, it would trigger ripples in a translucent energy barrier.
(Pokémon strength is clearly divided, from low to high: Newborn, Beginner, Intermediate level, Advanced level, Professional, Gym, Quasi-Elite, Elite, Champion, and Master. A Master level Pokémon’s combat power is equivalent to a second-tier deity with divine authority.)
“Conventional methods simply cannot breach this Defense,” Zhao Feng sat behind the abandoned delivery box.
These past few days, he had been at the old computer in the library, trying to piece together a general outline of the research institute from publicly available Alliance files.
Unfortunately, most of the research institute’s information was sealed by the Alliance. The information Zhao Feng could see only stated that the research institute was built in a square shape, with an open-air Breeding garden in the center for rare berries, an incubation room in the north, a visitor hall in the south, and laboratories in both the east and west. The research institute had two doors: a main entrance and a side entrance.
The security levels of the main and side entrances were identical, with Advanced level Trainer guards combined with energy barriers, making it difficult for even a Rattata to sneak in.
The only hope lay in the north perimeter wall—there was a row of ventilation pipes, half a meter in diameter. When Zhao Feng observed from a high vantage point, he noticed the ventilation pipes snaked through a overgrown substation area, connecting to the laboratory’s incubation room.
This was the only breakthrough point currently.
If he could successfully steal a Cycada Family Pokémon egg, not to mention the two stages of evolution of these Cycada Family Pokémon and their excellent base stats, the fact that they were personally bred by the Alliance alone guaranteed their potential.
Presumably, no one would have thought that someone would dare to infiltrate the research institute to steal an egg, so Zhao Feng decided to take the risk.
If his actions were exposed, Zhao Feng would face the highest level of punishment from the Alliance, possibly even being shot on sight.
Anyway, things couldn’t get any worse; rather than slowly starving to death in a dilapidated house in the slums, he might as well go all out.
As long as he could escape New Moon City with the Pokémon egg before the Alliance reacted, he would be safe once the commotion died down.
For this operation, he had secretly observed the laboratory for a long time. Based on days of observation, midnight at 12 AM, during the guard change, was the best time to infiltrate.
Zhao Feng tightened his slightly thin black clothes, his brows furrowed into a “river” character.
He had found this set of black clothes in a garbage heap and put them on after a simple wash in the river.
He then tore a piece of black cloth and wrapped it around his face, leaving only his eyes exposed.
Zhao Feng hid in a shadow outside the laboratory. Without a watch, he could only rely on sounds to confirm the time.
Punctually, a burst of noise came from the laboratory entrance. The changing guards greeted each other and handed over their duties. The sound, though not loud, was exceptionally clear in the silent night.
Zhao Feng took a deep breath, held it, and crouched low. Using this brief moment of chaos, he quickly rushed towards the ventilation pipe opening.
He grabbed the edge of the pipe with both hands, pushed himself up, and agilely flipped inside.
An old metallic smell permeated the pipe, and the space was narrow. Zhao Feng had to curl his body to move forward, and with each step, the pipe wall emitted a faint “creak”.
He secretly prayed that the guards outside wouldn't hear the sound, his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat, which slid down his cheeks.
Zhao Feng, in his previous life, was just an office worker busy in a cubicle, living a routine and mundane life. The system immediately made him do such a big thing. The immense pressure weighed heavily on his heart, almost making him unable to breathe.
In the narrow, confined ventilation pipe, he crawled forward with difficulty.
After an unknown amount of time, a faint glimmer of light finally appeared ahead. Zhao Feng’s heart filled with joy, and he murmured to himself, “Finally, I’ve arrived.”
He cautiously approached the vent, peering into the incubation room through the small gap.
Inside, several incubation devices were arranged, with three or four Pokémon eggs resting quietly within them.
Zhao Feng looked down at the bag on his back; space was limited, only enough for one Pokémon egg. If he took more, his movements would inevitably be hindered, potentially ruining the entire effort.
He could only constantly reassure himself, “One cannot be greedy!”
With a resolve, he gritted his teeth, opened the vent, braced himself on its edge with both hands, flipped over with force, and landed on the table below.
The moment he landed, his gaze locked onto the Pokémon egg closest to him. Without the slightest hesitation, he reached out and quickly stuffed the egg, along with its incubation device, into his backpack.
However, just as the Pokémon egg dropped into the bag, a sharp, piercing alarm suddenly blared in the room, instantly shattering the previous silence.
Zhao Feng’s face instantly turned pale, his heart pounding wildly in his chest.
The adrenaline rush kept his movements swift; he quickly threw the backpack back into the ventilation pipe with all his might.
Zhao Feng knew that the Pokémon egg was protected by the incubation device and should be fine with a fall, but if he were caught, he would be in deep trouble.
Immediately after, he pushed off with his feet and leaped back into the vent.
Fortunately, the table was quite tall, and the ceiling not too high. With this advantageous position, Zhao Feng’s extremely light body, due to long-term malnutrition, barely reached the edge of the vent. He gripped it tightly with both hands, pulled himself up with all his strength, and flipped into the ventilation pipe.
After crawling back into the ventilation pipe, Zhao Feng began to retrace his route.
The Breeding House definitely had surveillance, and his whereabouts must have been exposed. Zhao Feng no longer cared about the noise he was making and desperately crawled outwards.
Zhao Feng struggled out of the ventilation pipe and immediately sprinted according to his pre-planned route.
His only target was the vast Xin Yue Forest next to him.
At this moment, the alarm in the laboratory was still piercingly loud. Fortunately, the guards were all drawn inside the research institute, buying him valuable escape time.
Zhao Feng sped all the way, plunging headfirst into the embrace of the Xin Yue Forest.
The moment he stepped into the forest, a damp scent of grass and trees wafted towards him.
This seemingly tranquil forest was actually fraught with danger.
This was not the world of anime; wild Pokémon had strong territorial instincts, and as an uninvited intruder, he could be attacked at any moment.
He certainly didn’t have the ability to fight Pokémon bare-handed like a certain idiot; once encountered, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Zhao Feng dared not stop. He knew the wild Pokémon here were not to be trifled with, but compared to being caught by the Alliance, the forest was safer.
Moonlight filtered through the leaves, and his figure quickly disappeared into the depths of the dense forest, with only the rustling of leaves in the wind echoing in the empty forest.
