Chapter 20: Continuous Task

Deep within New Island, in a Rocket Team laboratory hidden inside a mountain, a pallid light illuminated the cold metal instruments.

A researcher clad in a white lab coat was holding a tablet, repeatedly scanning the culture dish jar above the central console; the screen displayed a dense stream of data, and the red anomaly markers were especially glaring.

He furrowed his brows, his fingertips sliding swiftly across the tablet, as if confirming a crucial datum.

After a long pause, he handed the tablet to the assistant beside him, also in a white coat, his voice carrying a barely perceptible weight: "Import these data into the main computer, cross‑compare them with the monitoring results of the previous three trials, and focus on analyzing the abnormal peaks in the energy fluctuation curve— I need to know why it suddenly exhibited such a strong life response."

"Yes, Doctor Fuji." The assistant took the tablet, his fingertips flushing slightly from nerves, and hurried toward the computer terminal in the lab's corner, his steps so light he dared not make any extra sound.

The man known as Doctor Fuji did not turn around, his gaze fixed on the culture dish jar—within the clear nutrient solution, a vague Pokemon silhouette floated, surrounded by a pale violet energy aura, and occasional tiny sparks flickered across the jar wall, leaving fleeting glints.

"What exactly triggered you…" Doctor Fuji extended his hand, his fingertips nearly touching the icy jar wall, his voice low as if muttering to himself, "The vital signs are clearly becoming more stable, even more active than when first delivered, so why… does it never fully awaken?"

As Doctor Fuji stared at the figure inside the jar, the Pokemon's eyelids in the culture dish twitched lightly, the faint violet aura suddenly brightened a few degrees, and an invisible Telekinesis wave silently spread outward; had a Psychic been present, they could clearly decipher the chaotic fragments of consciousness within:

"Where… is this?"

"Who am I? Why… can't I recall anything?"

"Who… brought me here?"

The Telekinesis wave was extremely weak and was instantly absorbed by the dish's Energy Barrier, drawing no one's notice.

Doctor Fuji only saw the energy aura in the jar flash once, then revert to its prior faint state; he frowned, assuming it was his own illusion.

"Could the nutrient concentration be the issue?" he stepped back, picked up a spare tablet, and prepared for another round of scanning, yet failed to notice that on the sensor at the bottom of the dish, an extremely faint spiritual imprint was slowly forming, like a seed about to break soil, silently gathering power in an unnoticed corner.

—————

Huo La pushed aside the last clump of blocking brush and finally emerged from the dense forest.

He raised his hand to brush off a few dead leaves hanging from his head, then gave his dust‑covered coat a firm pat; when his gaze fell on the broad, flat road ahead and the faint outline of a town in the distance, he couldn't help exhaling a deep, sour breath, as if the days of fatigue had largely dissipated with it.

"Finally made it out!" Huo La stretched lazily, his bones emitting a faint "clack" sound, "If it weren't for the system map's precise positioning, relying only on the vague route markings in the Pokemon Pokedex would have kept me wandering the woods for at least two more days."

Thinking of the past two days, he couldn't help frowning.

Two successive sudden downpours had left his camping gear half‑wet, his clothes damp and sticky, and his mood equally sluggish.

"I have to go to the Pokemon Center first! Take a Hot Water shower, change into clean clothes, then eat something warm— at this rate I'll start molding."

Fortunately the rain was intermittent, not endless, and he had earlier found a higher, wind‑sheltered rock crevice in the woods as a temporary spot, preventing both him and his Pokemon from getting into trouble.

And the earlier decision to forgo heading straight to Viridian City now seemed exceedingly wise; this forest teemed with Caterpie, Metapod and other low‑level Bug-type Pokemon, the perfect "training ground" for evolving Iron Shell Kun.

Just as Huo La's steps crossed the border of Viridian City, the familiar System Prompt Sound rang out in his mind without warning.

He rolled his eyes and, out of habit, quipped, "Geez, what's up with this system lately? It's issuing tasks more often than Ash encounters Divine Beasts— is it… in heat?"

The moment his words finished, the system's cold mechanical voice replied, "Host, improper criticism detected. The upcoming task will be temporarily altered; task difficulty increased."

"I—" Huo La began to retort, even wanting to spill all his complaints, but the words caught in his throat and he forced them back down.

He hadn't even seen what the new task looked like, yet a casual jab already spiked the difficulty; if he dared utter another insult, who knows what twisted task the system would concoct.

Three years of fishing without even spotting a Magikarp was still decent, at least there was no life danger; but if he messed up and caused another unintended time‑travel, that would be truly disastrous.

In the anime world of the previous life, the Pokemon World seemed like an "easy survival mode," but that was solely because Ash could be counted as Arceus's "biological son"— falling off a cliff could be rescued by wild Pokemon, encountering a Divine Beast could be defused with a tongue‑in‑cheek retort, and even when defeated, a benefactor would always appear, allowing self‑progress, eventually turning him into a figure revered worldwide.

But what about me?

Even though his protagonist setup bears the "time‑traveler + system" label, at best he's a "distant relative," maybe even a "stowaway," a world apart from the treatment of a "biological son"; faced with a high‑difficulty task, whether he can survive truly remains a question mark.

"System Father, I was wrong!" Huo La quickly confessed in his mind, his tone utterly humble, "I shouldn't blurt out complaints; you, great one, have abundant resources— don't test me, can you lower the task difficulty back?"

The system ignored Huo La's internal "confession and plea," and after the cold mechanical voice faded, a brand‑new task panel popped directly into his consciousness.

The instant he grasped the task details, Huo La's steps halted abruptly, his eyes bulging, nearly thinking he'd misread it.

The text on the panel was crystal‑clear, even bearing a glaring "strikethrough" mark:

"Publish Task:

Task Type: Continuous Task

Task Content: Join Rocket Team (Part 1)

Original Task Goal: Join the Rocket Team, become a member of the Rocket Team (struck through)

New Task Goal: Join the Rocket Team, become a Rocket Team Executive

Task Time Limit: 1 year

Task Reward: Unlock System Points feature, unlock System Shop