'Basement Level 10?'
Julian walked to the elevator door and pressed the downward button. The button lit up, and the elevator doors opened.
He stepped inside with Metagross but didn't see a button for B10. The lowest was B2, meaning this elevator didn't go down to B10.
He tried the other five elevators, but without exception, none of them went to B10 either.
"Seems like only a special elevator can reach it," Julian muttered.
This was quite normal. Some highly classified areas wouldn't be accessible to the general staff, so they were usually built in hidden or restricted places.
B10 was probably some kind of underground research facility.
"Metagross, go find the server room," Julian ordered.
They were currently in the lobby on the first floor. Based on his understanding, special elevators wouldn't be placed here—they'd likely be on floors reserved for high-ranking personnel like the CEO or general manager.
If he wanted to gather information about the entire building, the server room was the simplest and most straightforward option.
Julian stayed in the lobby while Metagross went off to locate the server room.
Celebi, perched on Julian's head, asked: "Do you think there's a fried chicken shop here?"
This ruin was a modern city, and the level of technological advancement was actually higher than the world Julian came from.
Cars without wheels and the presence of alternate energy sources were proof enough.
That's why Celebi wondered if there might be a fried chicken shop around.
"Even if there is, no one's here to make it for you," Julian replied speechlessly.
Celebi: "I wonder if the fried chicken here would taste better than the ones outside…"
Clearly, Celebi hadn't listened to a word Julian said and was lost in its own fantasies.
"If you dare drool, I'm throwing you on the ground," Julian warned.
Celebi: "I'm not gonna drool." (Slurping sound)
Julian's face darkened. Thankfully, he spoke up in time.
Not long after, Metagross returned.
"Meta~"
Metagross: "Infiltration complete. I've copied all the data from this place. However, the computers and network on B10 are completely independent—I can't access them."
For Metagross, which housed a supercomputer in its body, ordinary networks were its playground—firewalls were no different from paper screens.
Unless the opponent also had a Metagross or a Porygon, Metagross was virtually unmatched in cyberspace.
Since this technological ruin was abandoned, hacking into the network was even easier for it.
By connecting to the servers in the server room, Metagross instantly accessed all the building's data.
"Take me to that elevator."
Metagross nodded—it already had the location of the special elevator mapped in its mind. Without wasting any time, it used Teleport to bring Julian directly to the elevator entrance.
The elevator doors opened, revealing just three buttons: B8, B9, and B10.
Julian pressed the B10 button—but nothing happened.
"Access card required."
The screen on the panel showed a keycard prompt. Julian glanced at Metagross.
Metagross promptly ripped open the display panel, exposing the internal circuit board and wiring. It gently placed a claw on the wiring, its internal supercomputer brute-forcing the security system.
Soon, the elevator began its descent.
'Just how deep is this B10?' Julian checked the time—it took a full twenty minutes to reach the bottom.
This underground level was probably even deeper than the entire height of the building above ground.
When the elevator doors opened, he was greeted by a glass door. Through it, Julian could see various machines and equipment inside.
He had no idea what any of them were, but he could take a wild guess—this was definitely a lab.
The burning sensation in his chest intensified.
"Go in! Go in!"
The Unown inside him emitted an urgent psychic pulse.
As expected, the glass door didn't open. It also needed a keycard to unlock.
Using the same method as before, Metagross used its supercomputer to override the lock and got the glass door open.
Stepping inside, Julian took one look at the rows of unfamiliar devices. Without hesitation, he waved his hand and stored them all in his system space.
Since the tech in this ruin was more advanced than the outside world, the equipment here had to be better too.
The lab was massive—divided into dozens of rooms, covering an area about the size of three or four football fields.
Julian began sweeping through the rooms. Anything that looked useful was tossed into the system space.
The Unown inside him kept urging him to move forward, but Julian ignored them. He wanted to finish looting first.
Soon, they reached the lab's server room. Once Metagross finished copying all the data, Julian even took the physical servers with him.
"Is this the place?"
Everything else had already been taken. All that remained was a large silver metal door—and the Unown were desperately pushing him to go inside.
Whatever was drawing them had to be behind that door.
"Metagross," Julian said.
"Meta~"
Metagross nodded—this was familiar territory.
It floated to the metal door and searched around, but soon it was frowning.
There were no electronic components—no keycard slot, no fingerprint scanner, no retina scanner, not even a password keypad.
This was a purely mechanical door, requiring either a physical key or a mechanical code to open.
Julian: (⊙_⊙)?
"You've got to be kidding me…"
Julian stared at the massive metal door in disbelief.
This was a high-tech ruin—and a research lab, no less! Instead of some futuristic biometric lock, they installed a rusty old mechanical door?!
Faced with this kind of primitive security, even Metagross's supercomputer brain was completely useless.
It was like handing a world-class hacker a computer with no ports, no Wi-Fi, and a smashed screen—no matter how skilled they were, in that situation, they'd be completely helpless.
"Open it! Open it!"
The Unown's voice grew increasingly frantic in his mind.
"Is there any information about a key or password?" Julian asked.
Metagross had just copied the lab's server data. Maybe the data contained something related to opening the metal door.
"Meta~"
Metagross shook its head.
"Open it! Open it! OPEN IT!"
The psychic voice in his skull was getting unbearable.
"I get it, shut up. If you keep yelling, I'll leave right now," Julian snapped.
His words seemed to have an effect. The Unown fell silent, but their anxious energy still pulsed violently.
"Break it down," Julian ordered.
"Meta!"
Metagross reared back and slammed its fist into the metal door.
BOOM!
A deafening impact echoed through the chamber—but the metal door didn't show any damage. Not even a scratch.
"What?"
Julian's eyes widened.
Even though Metagross hadn't used a move just now, its physical strength alone was terrifying. And yet, the door didn't even have a mark.
Frowning, Julian ordered, "Again."
"Meta!"
This time, Metagross got serious and motioned for Julian to step back a bit.
Meteor Mash!
BOOM—CRACK!
*****
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