At the critical moment, the character Lance was controlling immediately retreated a few steps.
The glow surrounding Eevee's body dimmed slightly, but vigilance remained in its eyes.
"You found it? Take it slow, Lance."
Cynthia's voice came through the headset. She seemed to have temporarily paused her exploration to focus on Lance's situation.
"It's endured mental and physical torment far beyond what we imagined. Building trust takes time and a completely non-threatening attitude. You can do this."
Lance didn't give up, nor did he rush forward again. Instead, he directly input a command to toss all the Poké Balls from his character onto the nearby grass.
"Don't worry, I mean you no harm. Give me a chance, okay?"
He spoke softly, trying to comfort the Eevee before him.
Eevee seemed to be truly too weak. Hunger and thirst finally overcame fear.
At last, it glanced cautiously at the Poké Balls beside Lance, then tentatively moved its head forward and licked a bit of the Fresh Water with extreme quickness.
Lance immediately seized this opportunity and selected a Super Potion from his items.
A gentle pink healing light enveloped Eevee's battered body.
It seemed to whimper softly in relief, its tense muscles visibly relaxing, and the flickering energy phantom around it calmed down somewhat.
It raised its head and looked at Lance's character again. The fear in its eyes had lessened, replaced by a complex, evaluating gaze.
Then Eevee hesitated for a moment, as if making some kind of resolution, before gently touching Lance's character's hand with its nose, seemingly expressing a form of acceptance.
Next, it turned around and began to slowly and laboriously scratch at the ground in front of it with its front paws.
"Cynthia, it looks like it's drawing something with its claws."
Lance immediately spoke through voice chat, his spirits lifting as if he'd realized something.
"Look carefully and tell me what it is."
Cynthia responded right away, her tone focused.
The lines Eevee drew were crooked and looked difficult to make, but their meaning gradually became clear: a large square, a winding line connecting from the outside to the inside, and then at a spot in the lower part of the square, it heavily stabbed a point with its claw.
"It seems to have drawn the outline of a base, a path leading from outside to inside, and then it marked one location inside the base emphatically. It... it pressed that spot really hard with its claw."
Lance carefully described the pattern he was seeing and offered his guess.
"That spot is very likely the detention area, or where important items are stored. It might even be where it was imprisoned.
Why don't you ask about its situation in the base before? You can mention the people who hurt it, but... you must be careful not to trigger it.
After all, this poor thing has been through enough."
Cynthia gave her suggestion.
Lance pressed the interaction button and tried to speak two key words to Eevee in as gentle a tone as possible: "Team Rocket? Jigger?"
Upon hearing that crazy researcher's name, Eevee visibly trembled violently and let out a roar suppressing immense pain and terror.
It frantically used its claws to scratch out the point it had just drawn, as if it represented unbearable memories.
Then it drew several crooked stick figures representing people, and beside these figures, it drew a larger, more menacing and fierce shadow.
Once again, it firmly pointed its claw at that detention spot it had scratched out but was now emphasizing again.
"It seems to be saying... there are guards there, quite a few? Or maybe one particularly powerful guard?"
Lance speculated based on the drawing.
"Woof!"
Eevee let out a faint but extremely affirmative cry and nodded forcefully.
A trace of fear flashed through its deep red eyes, but more than that was a resolute intention pointing to that location. It confirmed Lance's question.
Just then, Cynthia's voice rang out again, carrying a slight hollow echo, as if she were in an enormous space:
"Lance, I've made some discoveries on my end. The ruins where I am might correspond to the upper or outer area of the base on your side.
Although most of it has collapsed here, the basic structure can still barely be made out. If you go in through the secret passage Eevee pointed out, the first major fork you encounter, theoretically you should turn left.
The area to my left has been completely blocked by boulders and metal debris. They must have done it deliberately."
"Received. First fork after entering, turn left."
Lance repeated it, firmly memorizing the path forward in his mind.
He maneuvered his character and, following the diagram Eevee had sketched, carefully felt around in the depths of the rock wall. Finally, he found the extremely well-hidden ventilation entrance.
After pulling away the camouflaging vines and moss, inside was a dark, cold metal duct, so narrow that his character could only crawl forward.
"Cynthia, I found the entrance. I'm going into the duct now."
"Good, stay in communication. I'm moving above a section of severely collapsed ductwork.
Based on what's left of the structural framework, if you follow the main duct forward about twenty or thirty meters, there'll be a vertical shaft going down.
I can see the remains of its framework on my side. On yours, there should still be an intact ladder you can climb down."
Lance maneuvered his character through the dark duct, struggling forward. The duct's inner walls were damp and rough. Soon enough, he found that rusted but structurally sound metal ladder leading down into deeper darkness below.
"Found the shaft and ladder. Climbing down now."
"After you get down, watch for the first fork you encounter. Take the right path.
I can see where that route connects to from here. Also, it looks like there are infrared devices in the ducts on this side, though they're already broken. Yours should still be active.
See how you can deal with them."
"Understood. Turn right after going down."
Lance steered his character toward the right corner, deliberately slowing down.
Sure enough, he saw red lines appearing in front of him and immediately pressed the jump button to successfully dodge them.
This covert infiltration had become a collaborative operation across the dimension of time.
Lance relied on Eevee's primitive intelligence and directional guidance born from painful memories, combined with Cynthia's real-time "navigation" through observing the corresponding base structure that had already become ruins, to slowly and painstakingly advance through this labyrinthine ventilation system.
The ducts weren't completely safe either.
Lance occasionally needed to use Flash to briefly illuminate the darkness and observe the path ahead, or carefully avoid the Zubat and Meowth lurking in the duct shadows, preventing any unnecessary battles that might expose his whereabouts.
"There's another ventilation grate up ahead. Cynthia, can you see what's outside?"
"Let me look... The corresponding position below me seems to be an abandoned storage room, filled with wreckage of damaged equipment and discarded crates.
You can go down, but be extremely careful. Stay alert to your surroundings.
That place might be a blind spot, but there could also be Team Rocket members there."
Lance carefully maneuvered his character down into the room below. Just as Cynthia had described, it was piled with scrap metal and parts, but for now, completely empty.
Following Eevee's map and Cynthia's continuous guidance, he cautiously approached that emphatically marked "point" step by step.
"Based on the direction of the remaining walls and the duct layout on my side, your target area should be very close now. Pay attention.
The area ahead of me corresponds to a huge cavity. Structurally, it might be the central hall or a cell block.
Watch out for guards. There could be quite a few."
Cynthia's voice carried an obvious note of warning.
Lance took a deep breath to steady his heartbeat. He maneuvered his character forward slowly, hugging a thick, faintly vibrating pipe. Sure enough, at another ventilation opening ahead, a cutscene began to play.
Through the gaps in the grate, his character saw the scene in the room below: a brightly lit small detention room where two Team Rocket members had their backs to the vent, chatting idly to pass the time.
Behind them was a sturdy metal cage. The in-game "Lance" was locked inside, leaning against the wall with a grave expression, seemingly deep in thought. In the electronic safe nearby, his confiscated Poké Balls were clearly visible.
"I see him. Two guards, backs to us."
Lance reported in a low voice, his concentration at its peak.
"Get ready to move. The walls of the corresponding room on my side look very thick. The soundproofing should be good, but your movements must be fast. Strike decisively and don't give them a chance to raise the alarm."
Cynthia quickly analyzed the environment and offered her suggestions.
There was no time for hesitation. Lance immediately pressed the interaction button to kick open the ventilation grate and leaped down!
"You... ?!! Where did you come from!"
A swift and intense battle erupted instantly and ended just as quickly.
The two Team Rocket members' Pokémon weren't high-leveled and were easily defeated by Lance's team at full strength, knocked to the ground.
Lance rescued his in-game self and quickly retrieved his Poké Balls, pressing the interaction button to hand them to him.
The in-game Lance's face was full of surprise and urgency:
"You?! How did you find this place? This is way too dangerous! Zager must have already increased security throughout the entire base to prevent the League from sending anyone.
But they probably never imagined it would be you who came!"
"Did you notify the League?"
Lance pressed the interaction button to make his character nod.
"I did, but now's not the time to discuss this."
"Let's escape together first, then rendezvous with the League."
The in-game Lance shook his head, his tone quite resolute: "No, there's not enough time. They're already preparing to evacuate!"
"Since we've already infiltrated this deep, we absolutely can't leave empty-handed."
"When they were escorting me past the main corridor, I overheard a brief communication fragment between Executive Lance and headquarters.
They mentioned things like 'core transport completed' and 'transfer to Zone Zero.'
The base's main database server room is on a lower level. There must be more complete plan details and transport records there! We have to find a way to get it!"
Although doing this carried enormous risk, as Lance had just said, the value of this intelligence was far greater.
After weighing their options briefly, the three decided to take the gamble and head straight for the server room on the lowest level.
The route to the server room was even more complex and hidden, riddled with surveillance and patrols.
Fortunately, relying on Cynthia's difficult reverse-engineering of the structure and directional guidance from within the ruins, they were able to advance smoothly.
"The end of the corridor ahead should be the edge area of the main control hall. All that's left at the corresponding location on my side is a bombed-out expanse of ruins. Follow the wall on my right side.
Look for a metal door marked 'Backup Server Corridor.' On my side, I can still see traces of a door frame and a number in the wreckage."
Carefully avoiding patrols, they indeed found that hidden metal door.
After kicking down the door and forcing their way into the server room, aside from cold mainframes and huge display screens, the place was temporarily empty.
The in-game Lance quickly sat down at a computer terminal and rapidly typed in a string of characters, apparently using some kind of access privileges to successfully log into the system.
"Found it!"
He quickly scanned through the encrypted file list, his voice carrying a trace of shock at discovering the truth.
"...Transport logs! The file records show that the thing called 'Dusk' didn't escape at all.
It was successfully recaptured during the recent chaos and secretly transferred away! The transport destination's code name is... 'Kanto... New Island'!!"
Just as they were startled by this sudden new discovery, an ear-piercing alarm blared without warning throughout the entire base. Red warning lights began spinning and flashing crazily, bathing the entire room in blood-red light!
"See, I knew you'd come back."
Zager's cold, authoritative voice, tinged with mockery, came through the surrounding broadcast system, clearly reaching everyone's ears.
"Unfortunately, you're still one step too late. And this time, don't think you'll leave here! Your lives, the stolen intelligence, and this base... they'll all remain here forever!"
Heavy metal blast doors began thundering down with deafening roars. Team Rocket was directly sealing off all the base's exits!
"Cynthia!" Lance called urgently into the microphone.
"Don't panic!" Cynthia's voice maintained remarkable composure, though her speech was extremely rapid, clearly thinking fast as well.
"While exploring the ruins on this side, I noticed a huge irregular fissure. It looks like structural damage caused by some kind of powerful explosion!
Rush out from the southeast corner of the hall you're in! That location should originally have been an emergency evacuation corridor according to the blueprints! Hurry! Before the blast doors completely close!"
There was no time for doubt or hesitation. Without a second thought, Lance turned and rushed toward the southeast corner of the hall with his in-game self.
Sure enough, a hidden door disguised as an ordinary wall and slowly closing was right there!
Behind them came violent explosions and firelight. Lance's screen flashed and turned a brilliant white.
۞۞۞۞
~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones