Chapter 99: Cynthia and Lance's Doubts, Ranking Rewards Distribution!

At this very moment, all the viewers in Iono's livestream watched with their eyes glued to the screen as her character rushed through the gym doors she had hesitated to enter for ages. Everyone was completely dumbfounded.

[What's going on? Did the streamer lose her mind?]

[No clue, feels like something suddenly triggered her.]

[Didn't you all say the streamer was too scared to go in? Now she's proving us wrong!]

[Whatever! Go Iono! Show that old-timer what it means when the new generation surpasses the old!]

[I just came back from another stream, and knowing what's about to happen makes me want to laugh LOL]

Meanwhile, Cynthia had no idea that after seeing her message, Iono had thrown all caution to the wind and charged into Norman's gym, ready to challenge him so she could rush to Mauville City's power plant tonight as fast as possible to trigger the Zeraora storyline.

She continued typing in the chat window.

"You need to be careful, though—that storyline is extremely difficult. Under normal circumstances, it'd be nearly impossible to clear. I only managed to break through thanks to an unexpected encounter with a mythical Pokémon called Victini."

"If you want to see Zeraora, you'd better find a way to get this Pokémon on your team. To catch this Pokémon, first you need to go to the tunnel on the left side of Mauville City to get the Strength HM, then..."

Cynthia gave Iono a detailed rundown of how she encountered and captured Victini.

After a brief moment of thought, she also reminded Iono that if she hadn't started challenging Norman's gym yet, she should definitely prepare well, because Norman's gym was incredibly tough.

But after sending this string of messages, the forum showed them as unread—apparently, Iono had already left.

Seeing this, Cynthia couldn't help but pause, then immediately realized what had happened. This girl probably heard about Zeraora and couldn't wait to rush off and challenge the gym, right?

If that was the case, then all she could do was wish her luck.

Hopefully, after getting crushed twice, she'd come back and see the warning messages on the forum.

After messaging Iono, Cynthia didn't immediately close her computer. While sharing Zeraora's information with Iono, Cynthia also thought of another person—naturally, that was Lance.

When they had originally exchanged intelligence, they both assumed that the Pokémon emerging from Ultra Wormholes would all be dangerous Ultra Beasts like Guzzlord had described.

Now it seemed that Ultra Wormholes might contain other Pokémon as well. Whether it was today's Mega Evolution or Ultra Beasts as a special branch of Pokémon, Cynthia felt this was valuable new intelligence worth sharing.

So she picked up her phone, opened the messaging app, and sent Lance both the Mega Evolution battle footage she'd recorded today and the CG scene featuring Zeraora and Regieleki. She then began typing, describing in detail everything she had witnessed today.

"Today I met a girl on the forum who told me this Pokémon emerged from an Ultra Wormhole..."

After Cynthia finished her several-hundred-word description and sent it, she shut down the computer and went to wash up.

Ten minutes later, when Cynthia returned to sit on her bed and picked up her phone after finishing her routine, she saw Lance's reply.

But unlike before, this time Lance's attitude seemed quite serious.

[I've looked at everything you sent, but honestly, Cynthia, I'm becoming increasingly suspicious about the reliability of the information this game provides.]

[Remember what originally made us believe that this author knew everything about the real world and had access to intelligence we didn't have?]

[It was because the game showed us things that actually exist and can be verified in the real world, like those precise submarine blueprints, or that Pokémon you mentioned called Lileep.]

[But what is he showing us now? Whether it's these so-called Ultra Beasts, Mega Evolution, or these incredible mythical Pokémon you're talking about...]

[While I really want to get information about Ultra Wormholes from this game, these things are making me question whether they actually exist.]

[At the end of the day, maybe this is just wishful thinking on our part. After all, it's just a game.]

Lance sent many messages, and Cynthia quickly scanned through them, understanding his concerns and worries.

Actually, during today's gameplay, similar thoughts had constantly crossed her mind, too.

Cynthia had just chosen to follow her instincts and think deeper about these things.

But now Lance's words brought her back to reality from her excited state.

Right, when it comes down to it, this is just a game after all...

Maybe this game's author does have access to certain unknown, important information and has made surprising discoveries in certain fields, perhaps even surpassing Professor Oak's research team.

But in the end, you can't believe everything.

Seeing Lance's words, Cynthia didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Then another message from Lance popped up in the chat window.

[Although this might be our only chance to explore clues about Ultra Wormholes...]

[But what if none of this is real, and it's all just made up by that game author called "Kairos"?]

[Cynthia, sorry, I think I need to cool down first. You know this matter can't be taken lightly for me.]

After saying this, Lance's profile picture went dark—clearly, he had gone offline.

Seeing this, Cynthia put down her phone and sighed softly. For Lance, the Ultra Wormhole matter was like a massive boulder on his heart, ready to collapse at any moment.

Wasn't it the same for her?

As a Champion, she understood clearly that with great power comes great responsibility.

Facing such a crisis, only strong people like herself could step forward and shield everyone else.

Recalling what Lance had just said, Cynthia couldn't help but have a thought flash through her mind.

Right, maybe everything about this game was just wishful thinking on her part.

Her original intention in playing this game was simply to gather information and clues about legendary Pokémon work.

Setting such high expectations might indeed not be a good thing.

Cynthia suddenly smiled bitterly.

How could she make such a mistake at her age?

What she didn't know was that at the same time, thousands of miles away, in a luxurious villa in Cerulean City...

"So? Did you understand? Is there anything else you need me to explain again?"

Kairos pointed at the jumping pixels and constantly running programs on the screen, then turned to look at the Gengar behind him.

Gengar immediately showed a completely confused expression. While he had indeed learned about many things in the human world during his time in the Ghost World, and had heard about things called games...

But now this human was telling him to help make games right off the bat—wasn't this difficulty a bit too high?

The lengthy explanation Kairos had just rattled off was like listening to scripture to him—he couldn't understand any of it.

This was purely making things difficult for a ghost!

Gengar was about to shake his head to express his confusion and bewilderment, but before he could make any move, he felt a terrifying and powerful killing intent lock onto him from behind, making his whole body go cold.

He stiffly turned his head and glanced behind him. Sure enough, that quietly burning deep blue flame was staring straight at him with a pair of eyes.

Gengar suddenly felt like his soul was about to leave his body, and quickly turned around, nodding frantically at Kairos.

"Gen-gar! Gen-gar!!"

I understand, I understand!

Big brother, who would dare say they don't understand?!

Kairos wasn't stupid either—he could see what was happening at a glance. He turned and smiled at the Chandelure in the distance.

"Alright, don't pressure him. This is indeed a bit difficult for him."

"Come on, Gengar, let me explain it to you again. Listen carefully this time..."

Hearing this, Gengar's whole body stiffened, and his face showed a somewhat tragic expression.

Having to listen to those incomprehensible technical terms Kairos had just described again—he'd rather have Chandelure just finish him off...

But just then, Gengar noticed the human in front of him suddenly pause, and his mouth that was about to open also closed.

The human stood still for quite a while before focusing his gaze back on him.

"How about this—it's getting late today, and I have some other things to handle. Gengar, you can rest today. I'll continue teaching you tomorrow."

Hearing this, Gengar immediately felt relieved, showing a moved-to-tears expression as if he had escaped disaster.

He turned and floated toward the Poké Ball, very considerately preparing to return to it, but was called back by Kairos halfway there.

"Didn't I say you could rest? What are you doing?"

Now Gengar looked completely confused again, glancing at the Poké Ball, then at Kairos, seeming very puzzled.

"Gen-gar?"

According to his understanding of the human world, after Pokémon were captured by trainers, didn't they have to stay in these tiny balls? Only when humans were willing would these Pokémon be allowed out to move around.

This was what he had heard from predecessors who had visited the human world before, and it was also the main reason most Ghost-type Pokémon considered "being captured by humans" a terrifying thing.

Because once captured by a human trainer, it was almost no different from losing freedom.

But then Kairos shook his head, rejecting Gengar's assumption.

"My Poké Balls aren't top quality—they might not be spacious or comfortable inside. Just sleep around the house like Chandelure does, whether on the sofa or bed. Sleep wherever you find comfortable."

Gengar was stunned by this. He hadn't expected this human to say such things.

He had just tried to drain this person's soul earlier—even though it was just a little; if he had succeeded, it would have made the other person uncomfortable.

How come this human didn't seem worried at all?

Also, wasn't he afraid that he might sneak away in the middle of the night?

Honestly, after hearing this human's description of those so-called games and the tasks he wanted him to do, Gengar had been thinking about finding a chance to escape tonight.

But now it seemed this human wasn't afraid of such things at all.

Just as Gengar was feeling confused, he saw the human suddenly turn around, walk to the brown cabinet, open it, and take out a large container, placing it in front of him.

"From what you said today, you've been wandering around for so long without eating—you must be really hungry. Here, try this."

Gengar looked at the container in the human's hands—it seemed to be filled with brown-colored pellets.

What was this stuff? It didn't look edible at all...

Moreover, even if Ghost-type Pokémon like them were starving to the point of losing mobility, they generally wouldn't eat these ordinary things like other Pokémon.

Because while eating these things would let them taste the food itself, it provided virtually no energy replenishment for their bodies—you could say it was completely useless.

Only the power of souls could make their bodies and hearts feel fulfilled.

But just as he was about to shake his head in refusal, he caught a familiar scent coming from the container.

Wait, what was this smell?!

Gengar instinctively took the container, opened it, reached in to take out a piece, and put it in his mouth to chew.

The next moment, his eyes suddenly lit up!

These brown pellets not only contained the soul power his life required, but tasted better than anything he had ever eaten in his entire life!

"Gen-gar!!"

At this moment, the starving Gengar couldn't care about anything else. He hugged the container, buried his head in it, and began frantically devouring the contents.

Watching Gengar eat, Kairos smiled slightly. This behavior was quite similar to how Litwick had acted back then.

"Eat slowly, eat as much as you want. After following me, you'll never go hungry again."

Hearing Kairos's words, Gengar's eating movements suddenly froze.

A strange feeling inexplicably welled up in his heart.

He had thought that being captured by this human was the worst thing that had happened to him since leaving the Ghost World—not only losing his freedom, but also having to work as slave labor for this human every day.

But now it seemed the current situation wasn't so bad after all...

With this thought, Gengar suddenly became alert again.

No, wait, this had to be a trick by this human, meant to make him let his guard down so he could be completely controlled.

No way, he absolutely couldn't fall for it.

When he got the chance, he definitely had to escape.

Thinking this, he looked down at the food in front of him.

But before that...

He'd stay a couple more days and eat his fill before running...

On Kairos's end, he had no idea what Gengar was thinking.

His attention was already focused on the line of text that had appeared before him—this was also why he had stopped teaching Gengar earlier.

[Ding! Today is Monday!]

[Please note, Host: This week has ended, and the game progress rankings will now distribute rewards!]

[Current real-world rewards available for distribution: "Rare Candy Gift Box" (Intermediate) x5]

[Since this is the Host's first time distributing limited-time rewards, the system provides an additional special reward "Thunder Stone—Premium Quality" x1]

[Please immediately distribute rewards to players according to the progress rankings!]