Chapter 409

The owner of the research institute arrived.

Dr. Akari immediately stood up and hurriedly thanked him:

"Thank you so much for lending me your facility and helping me obtain permission from Young Lady Junsa—I truly don't know how to express my gratitude…"

Although Dr. Akari had already achieved notable success as the inventor of the Pokémon Transport System and Polywhirl, he was still young in academia and had once attended Dr. Nasa's public lecture at Jade Rainbow University.

"No need to be so formal, Akari. The priority is to find the lost Pokémon as soon as possible."

The elderly Dr. Nasa waved his hand amiably and said to Baimu: "But your assistant looks unfamiliar—are you bringing a new student?"

"No no no, his name is Baimu—he's a trainer I temporarily called in to help! He's the one who discovered Unit Zero!"

Dr. Akari spoke rapidly, not giving him a chance to introduce himself.

Baimu could only politely nod to Dr. Nasa, "Hello."

"Oh~ You too."

Dr. Nasa gave a slight nod, then leaned forward to stare at the screen for a moment.

Seeing he couldn't discern anything, the old man instructed Inamura briefly to cooperate fully with Dr. Akari's efforts, then turned and walked away on his own.

The moment he stepped out the door, Dr. Akari's expression relaxed, like a student who'd finally tricked his teacher into leaving: "Phew~ Back when New Zi Jin was first being built, when Iron Spin said we needed Pokémon for intelligence, it was Dr. Nasa who helped me make the connection—but sadly, we never succeeded in collaborating."

He couldn't help feeling regretful.

If Polywhirl had successfully been deployed in Inner New Zi Jin back then, wouldn't it have become famous by now?

Who could have predicted that a more suitable Lotoom would appear?

"Alright! No more talk! Let's get back to work!" Dr. Akari regained his spirits—he was remarkably easygoing, likely accustomed to repeated setbacks.

Baimu silently mourned for him.

Meanwhile, the Polywhirl capture team had been out for some time.

But so far, they had found no trace of Unit Zero, making Baimu wonder if the Polywhirl had startled it last night, causing Unit Zero to flee the New Zi Jin city network entirely.

Or perhaps Unit Zero had never existed to begin with—

"Found it! Here's the trail it left behind!"

Dr. Akari's shout drew his attention—he pointed at a string of code on another screen: "See this? Unknown source in the access logs!"

"Though it hid its own breaches into others' firewalls, there's always a higher level! On my computer, nothing can escape! Hahaha! I caught you! Hahaha!"

Why does he laugh like a villain…

Baimu twitched his mouth in silence; unable to read the code, he chose to ask the man directly: "So can you determine its location from these logs?"

"—Not yet!"

Dr. Akari's laughter faded slightly as he shook his head seriously: "Because this log is from just after midnight last night—it's been eleven hours since then."

Last night… just after midnight!?

Baimu froze, then his expression shifted rapidly—he leaned close to the doctor and asked: "What system did it access? The check-in system of New Zi Jin Flower Hotel?"

"Let me check… New Zi Jin Flower Apartment No. 3? Why would it access that?"

Dr. Akari scratched his head in confusion.

On the other side, Baimu was already searching his phone map, comparing locations—his brow furrowed deeply.

New Zi Jin Flower Apartment No. 3 stood directly across from Inner New Zi Jin—the very exit where Polywhirl had sensed the Phantom Polywhirl and chosen to leave last night.

"Doctor! Check if it accessed the surveillance cameras on this street!"

He quickly stepped forward and showed the map to Dr. Akari, who, though puzzled, still helped look it up.

The result revealed that Unit Zero hadn't just checked this street's cameras—it had accessed every surveillance camera surrounding New Zi Jin Flower Apartment No. 3.

"What about the surveillance in Inner New Zi Jin?"

"Inner New Zi Jin… hmm! It accessed those too! Did it successfully evade all those Lotoom probes? No wonder—I built Unit Zero! So powerful!"

Dr. Akari beamed with pride, then added curiously: "By the way, what is it looking for?"

Baimu stared silently into the doctor's eyes and replied softly: "If I'm not mistaken, it's looking for Polywhirl."

"Polywhirl? You mean the one I gave you? Uh… Baimu, your expression is kind of scary." Dr. Akari weakly averted his gaze.

He had never seen this humble, polite young man wear such a frightening expression—he couldn't even meet his eyes anymore.

"Uh, sorry."

Baimu's brow loosened slightly.

He always prioritized his own and his Pokémon's safety, but without knowing Unit Zero's intent, he could only rely on Dr. Akari to capture it soon.

Even if it couldn't be captured, he had to confirm it posed no threat.

Otherwise, he'd never dare use the network again.

But.

Baimu glanced at the mechanical clock beside him and said: "Doctor, I have a gym challenge scheduled this afternoon, so…"

Aside from fetching tea and water, there was nothing here requiring his presence—so as a half-dead computer novice in the Pokémon world, standing here waiting for news was no different from going to challenge the gym and waiting for news.

Dr. Akari understood this perfectly and nodded generously: "Oh! Go ahead! Good luck!"

"Then I'll take my leave."

Baimu nodded to Inamura beside him and turned to leave.

—

New Zi Jin Gym.

Located within Inner New Zi Jin, its leader Iron Spin specialized in Electric-type Pokémon.

Baimu stood before the gym's entrance, hesitating—he didn't push the door open immediately, but cautiously extended his hand.

Boom!

The door collapsed.

A long tunnel was revealed.

He stared at the fallen door panel, stepped forward firmly, then swiftly retreated—and immediately saw two metal handles emerge from either side of the panel, rumbling as they shot inward toward the dojo.

"So there really are traps."

As a top-tier mechanical engineer, Tie Xuan loved installing prank-like traps throughout the dojo; online reviews were actually quite poor.

Many challengers found them annoying.

When Ash and his party came to challenge, they unfortunately fell for them too.

But Tie Xuan never expected Pikachu to draw immense electrical power from the Mechanical Lei Gong, and all his Pokémon were instantly knocked out by Pikachu's Electric-type moves, leaving him emotionally shattered and nearly forcing New Zi Jin's dojo to shut down.

Baimu moved forward again, then swiftly retreated once more.

Snap!

The large floor tiles he had just stepped on also lifted their handrails, rumbling as they rolled deep inward.

He remained silent, as if hearing a furious shout beside his ear.

Since Rotom partnered with Tie Xuan, the dojo's traps had rapidly improved in both safety and prank intensity, constantly devising new ways to torment challengers—and indeed attracted many curious trainers drawn by novelty.

Thus, Tie Xuan's earlier claim that he was popular was not entirely false.

He advanced for the third time.

Finally, no traps remained.

As Baimu passed through the long tunnel and reached the pool area, he did not use Dragonite to fly over, but instead ordered Milotic to dive down and open the valve at the very bottom.

After the large pool drained completely, a massive waterproof door appeared on the side of the pool's base.

【Emergency Safety Exit】

A bright green sign came into view.

"The online guides were actually true?"

Baimu felt lucky—he had once read a post about New Zi Jin's dojo mentioning that Officer Junsa had deemed Tie Xuan's traps a safety hazard, forcing him to build an emergency safety exit beneath the pool.

He'd only tried it out on a whim, never expecting it to actually exist.

He turned the handle; the iron door beeped twice, first glowing red along its edges, then green—checking for surrounding water; if water was present, the drainage system activated to prevent the door from being blocked by water pressure.

The door opened.

Baimu blinked, closed the door, and turned to the ceiling camera: "This isn't right—placing a Mechanical Lei Gong inside an emergency exit? Doesn't that violate safety regulations?"

Just as the door opened, he spotted a powered-on Mechanical Lei Gong standing inside—its lifelike form nearly made his heart skip a beat.

But he quickly regained his composure, realizing it was fake—he'd seen the real one not long ago, larger and with thicker teeth.

The camera gave no response to his question.

Only when the safety door reopened was the Mechanical Lei Gong gone.

Baimu continued forward and soon reached the true main hall of New Zi Jin's dojo, a vast space filled with countless mechanical creations, including fake Pokémon like the Mechanical Lei Gong.

Tie Xuan strode out from a door, laughing loudly: "Gahahaha! Modern trainers are getting smarter by the day! All my carefully prepared traps went unused! I'm impressed!"

Behind the balding old man walked a brown-haired young man with glasses, sighing: "That's why I've always suggested removing the traps, Master—every month the dojo spends a fortune just maintaining them!"

"No way! Walt! You must understand—many people love my traps! They even call me the King of Traps!"

Tie Xuan said seriously.

King of Traps? Isn't that your best friend? Oh right—that's from the special episodes; different version.

Baimu muttered inwardly, then stepped forward to greet: "Good afternoon, Master Tie Xuan. I've come as promised to challenge your dojo. Do you still remember me?"

Tie Xuan's smile didn't fade: "Of course I remember! I'm not that old yet! But are you truly prepared? My Pokémon won't be as easy to bypass as my traps!"

"I'm ready!"

"Excellent! Full of spirit! Hahaha!"

With his signature laugh, Tie Xuan led him to the battle arena.

The referee was Walt.

This surprised Baimu—he'd expected a flying Rotom to pop out from some corner.

Walt raised his flag and announced loudly: "The New Zi Jin Gym Challenge now begins. Each trainer may use four Pokémon. Only the challenger may freely switch Pokémon. The match ends when either side's four Pokémon are unable to battle."

Tie Xuan, brimming with determination, pulled out a Poké Ball and shouted: "Now you'll witness the true power of a Gym Leader! Go!"

The Poké Ball flew out.

Boom!

A flash of Bai Guang.

A flying-saucer-shaped Magneton appeared, its body sinking slightly before rising swiftly; three massive magnets embedded beneath it spun with a gurgle, releasing electromagnetic waves to shielded weight, "Tōnnyi!"

"Gahahaha! Remember it? It just evolved into Magneton yesterday—let it be your first opponent!" Tie Xuan laughed heartily.

Opposite.

Baimu silently threw out a Poké Ball.

"Grrr…"

A shimmering silver Bisharp landed, unusually quiet, staring coldly at its opponent.

The giant beast hadn't fought a proper battle in a while—perfect as the vanguard for Poliwhirl, and a chance to test Super Evolution in real combat.

"Nice Bisharp! No wonder you're so confident!"

Tie Xuan crossed his arms, confidently saying: "Good! Attack! I'll let you strike first!"

Perhaps confident in his strength, the cheerful old man granted Baimu the initiative.

He met Bisharp's gaze as it turned to him—one pulled a pendant hidden in his clothing, the other turned its side to reveal the Super Stone embedded in its hollow.

In an instant.

Brilliant light blazed from both of them.

Just now still brimming with confidence, Tie Tie Xuan froze abruptly, exclaiming in shock, "This is—"

"It's time to verify the results of these past few days."

Baimu, as if reciting an opening line, completed a spiritual resonance with the low-roaring Aggron, their thoughts linking in that instant and triggering a one-of-a-kind miracle.

An evolution beyond evolution—

"Mega Evolution!"

The moment the shout rang out, Aggron's response rose higher, its form completing a startling transformation at visible speed beneath crimson and azure light!

The horn on its brow retracted straight toward the sky, sharp spikes sprouted from its arms, the steel armor originally confined to its back swiftly spread to wrap its chest and belly, two crescent-shaped blade plates grew from its shoulders, and its tail was bound tight by ring upon ring of thick steel.

In an instant, a Mega Aggron appeared like a war fortress, its terrifying steel armor radiating a captivating silvery-white halo beneath the lamplight.

"Gurr!"

It let out a thunder-like roar, white vapor continually drifting from the corners of its mouth, its aqua-blue eyes locked onto the distant Magnezone.

Mega Evolution!

Tie Tie Xuan stared at Mega Aggron in shock. Without a doubt, although he knew of this power's existence, this was the first time he had seen it from a challenger.

This also raised a faint, ominous premonition in him.

And it quickly became reality.

"Hundred Thousand Horsepower!" Baimu's voice was rather low, as if suppressing something.

"Gurr!"

Mega Aggron leapt high as if gravity did not exist, orange-red vapor igniting across its body, transforming into a materialized energy airflow in the shape of an aura.

Then, like a meteor, it arced straight into the Magnezone!

The air let out a terrifying explosive roar as it moved!

Rumble rumble!

"Reflect Shield!"

Snapping back to himself, Tie Tie Xuan shouted at the top of his lungs. Before the Magnezone, a mottled, multicolored square barrier instantly rose—"Dwoong!"

But the next instant, the square barrier was pierced straight through by Mega Aggron as if it didn't exist, its half-ton body slamming thunderously into the Magnezone!

Boom—!

A deafening explosion!

Tie Tie Xuan only felt a piercing whistle suddenly ring past his ear, a silver figure whooshing by his side, then with a heavy crash embedding itself into the wall behind him.

He turned his head to look, and clearly saw the Magnezone with more than half its body embedded in the broken wall, the black rings on its left and right proving it had already lost the ability to fight.

Tie Tie Xuan turned back in astonishment, and saw within the billowing dust a colossal figure looming in and out of view, those aqua-blue eyes extraordinarily bright, full of an unsettling gleam.