Let you make a game, what the hell is Pokemon?.

Chapter 237 The Mysterious Passage, Initial Appraisal?
"Stop it!"

Squirtle yelled and charged forward, shooting its water gun directly at one of the spiders.

Liuli also controlled the Burning Insect and used its web-spitting slowing effect on another Round Silk Spider.

With two clean and efficient water jets from Squirtle, the two spiders were quickly disoriented and hurriedly dragged their injured bodies into the depths of the vines.

Sweet Bamboo was saved. It looked gratefully at Squirtle and Flamebug, timidly thanked them, and hopped away.

next moment.

【任务目标：击败/驱赶丝线森林F3-F4区域内的3只圆丝蛛(3/3)】

[Mission Complete! Reward: 30 Silver Coins!]

The task completion notification popped up, and Liuli breathed a sigh of relief.

Thirty silver coins in hand, still far from fifty gold coins, but at least it's a start.

She controlled the burning insect, habitually searching the area where the battle had just taken place, looking for any items she might have missed. Deep within the shadows cast by those massive vines, in a spot covered by thick moss and glowing mushrooms, something seemed a little different.

She carefully manipulated the fireflies, using their antennae to push aside the drooping vines and moss.

What was revealed behind was not a solid rock wall, but a gap barely wide enough for a small Pokémon to squeeze through!
A faint current seemed to be emanating from the depths of the crevice, carrying a strange aura.

"Huh? This place... I don't think it was here before? Is it newly appeared?"

Liuli manipulated the burning insect to move a little closer.

Squirtle also followed curiously, glanced at it, and seemed somewhat puzzled as well.

"Where is this place? This passage isn't marked on the map."

A thought struck Liuli: she remembered the hidden paths and secrets in the CG. This was probably some kind of hidden path.

She controlled the Flamebug and tried to squeeze into the crevice. Squirtle hesitated for a moment, then followed.

The crevice was narrow and winding, but after walking a short distance, the view suddenly opened up.

A small, natural stone chamber, completely enveloped by rocks and the tangled roots of ancient trees, appeared before them.

In the center of the stone chamber, there is a low, circular altar made of rough stones.

The altar was covered with a thick layer of dust, and its edges were engraved with some blurry, twisted, and strange symbols. Under the light of a few faintly glowing mosses on the ceiling of the stone chamber, it exuded an eerie feeling.

In the center of the altar, there was a shallow, smooth-edged indentation, the shape of which seemed strangely familiar to Liuli.

She maneuvered the burning insect closer to the altar, carefully examining the dent.

Ok?
Wait?

She suddenly remembered something, immediately opened her backpack, and pulled out the stone that emitted an ominous purple light for comparison.

The shape is almost identical; it's as if the base in front of you was custom-made for this stone!
So, since this place is related to this stone?

Could the pollution that the natural bird in the guild mentioned, and the black mist on Hakron's body, originate from this kind of place?

No, that shouldn't be the case, after all, this is just an early-stage maze.

Squirtle also came over, looking at the purple stone and the dent in the altar with a puzzled expression.

"Liuli. What is this?"

Liuli controlled the burning insects and stopped them in front of the altar.

"I don't know either, but it seems to be related to my thing."

Should we... try putting a stone on it?

Liuli hesitated for a moment because she had a bad feeling about it.

The stone, radiating an ominous purple light, was held in the virtual claws of the burning insect, and the concave shape on the altar seemed to be calling to it silently.

To give it a try? Or not to try?
The streamer looks like a cat is scratching at his heart.
Behind her, Squirtle's eyes were filled with confusion and bewilderment. He hesitated as he stretched out his claws, seemingly wanting to stop her, yet also seemingly drawn to the eeriness of the altar.

[Hey streamer! What are you chickening out for!]

[Put it up and see! Maybe it contains hidden plot details!]

[No! Something's about to happen! Squirtle's panicking!]

Just as Ruri was controlling the Burning Bug and deciding to bring the rock closer to the depression, Squirtle moved even faster than her!
Perhaps it was the allure emanating from the altar itself, or perhaps it was pure curiosity that overcame his vigilance, but his claws touched the blurry, distorted symbols on the edge of the altar first.

hum-

The entire stone chamber shook violently!
The thick layer of dust on the altar was shaken away by an invisible force, and the strange symbols suddenly lit up with a dazzling and unsettling deep purple light!
As soon as the light appeared, it instantly wrapped around Squirtle's body as if it were alive!
stand up
Squirtle's body froze instantly, and its once gentle eyes became empty, losing all their luster.

He mechanically turned his head, his movements stiff like a puppet, staring straight at the burning insect, making a low, indistinct gurgling sound from his throat, looking eerily frightening.

[Holy crap! Squirtle got caught!]

[Well, now the turtle's been controlled. I told you not to touch it.]

[These special effects look like someone got poisoned by eating poisonous mushrooms...]

[Run, streamer! Turtle's about to beat you up!]

Seeing her teammates suddenly turn out like this, Liuli felt a chill run down her spine.

Could it be true, as the comments suggest, that Turtle is about to betray us?
However, at that moment, the depression in the center of the altar also burst out with an even stronger purple light. The light spun and twisted above the altar, tearing the air apart and opening an elliptical void passage with purple lightning flashing at its edges!

The passage was completely dark, with nothing visible except for a cold, ominous wind that blew violently out, causing the burning glass insect to shake violently.

A strong sense of crisis instantly surged into Liuli's heart.

Given the current state of things, the area behind this passage is definitely not a good place!

Squirtle seemed to have been slightly awakened by the cold wind; the emptiness in its eyes faded, replaced by fear and a hint of bewilderment.

He struggled to turn his stiff neck towards the passage, his voice broken and intermittent due to the stiffness:

"Liuli, we have to get out of here! We can't go in! There seems to be something...something really scary inside!"

Nonsense, do I need to tell you?
Liuli pursed her lips, controlled the Burning Bug, looked at the dark passage that emitted an eerie glow, and then looked at Squirtle, whose condition was abnormal and was obviously affected.

At times like these, you have to mention his advantages as a player. No matter how dangerous the situation, he can give it a try because—if he dies in there, he can just reload and start over.

That's the magic of reopening!
With the mindset that she could always restart, she carefully controlled the Burning Worm, taking a small step towards the edge of the ominous passage. However, just as the Burning Worm's tentacles were about to touch the edge of the churning darkness, a huge, blood-red warning box suddenly popped up, filling the entire center of the screen, accompanied by a piercing alarm sound:

[WARNING! Special maze entrance detected!]

This space is in an extremely unstable state, and its laws are in chaos!

If you lose your ability to fight within this space, the space will collapse, resulting in the complete erasure of your current adventure record, which cannot be recovered!

Confirm entry? [Yes]/[No]

There's a lot of information, but to put it simply—if you lose your ability to fight in this special dungeon, your entire save file is lost.

Liuli froze instantly, her fingers hovering over the mouse, cold sweat breaking out on her brow.

The smugness and confidence I felt just moments before vanished instantly.

Holy crap, bro, are you serious?!
Losing your save file is no joke!
After more than an hour of hard work to get to this point, all the items I've collected, the synergy I've built with Squirtle, that troublesome Dragonair I picked up, and that special stone—are they all going to disappear?!
The live chat also started refreshing:
[Save file lost?]

Holy crap! Is Wind Daddy playing this big?!

[Haha, the streamer's face turned pale!]

[Unfortunately, the streamer didn't get in.jpg]

[This punishment is too harsh! Who would dare to go in?]

Seeing the scarlet warning and feeling the cold wind blowing from the passage, Liuli controlled the Burning Bug ten times faster than when she came, and without hesitation, she pulled Squirtle away from the edge of the passage.

Then I decisively pressed [No], and the bloody warning on the screen slowly disappeared.

She let out a breath of relief, feeling her heart still pounding.

Thank goodness I didn't go in...
Now she behaved herself, even more so than Squirtle.

When Squirtle saw the Burning Bug retreat, it seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, its stiff body relaxing slightly. However, the fear and emptiness in its eyes had not completely disappeared, clearly indicating that the effects of the purple light were still present.

He seems to have lost the ability to speak.

Liuli has lost all interest in exploring and just wants to get as far away from this awful place as possible.

She controlled the Burning Bug, carefully avoiding the altar that was still emitting purple light and an ominous aura, and pulled the still somewhat dazed Squirtle through the narrow gap, returning to the previous F4 area.

The rest of the journey went exceptionally smoothly, or rather, Liuli had no interest in exploring further and only wanted to get rid of the impurities as quickly as possible.

They quickly found the stairs leading out of the maze and returned to the edge of the forest.

【mission completed! 】

[The maze has been successfully explored!]

The system notification popped up, but Liuli felt no joy. She controlled the Burning Bug, carrying the Squirtle that was even a little unsteady on its feet, and quickly returned to the bustling Jigglypuff Guild Hall.

At the mission registration desk, Detective Mongoose remained as businesslike as ever, pushing 30 gleaming silver coins onto the counter after Ruri submitted her mission.

Liuli put away the silver coins, glanced at her and Squirtle's nearly empty yellow hunger bars in the status bar, and saw the weakening status icon next to them indicating hunger. She immediately grabbed Squirtle and rushed towards a small food stall in the corner of the guild hall, its aroma filling the air.
The main character is a chubby, smiling Snorlax.

She glanced at the goods in the menu, quickly spent 10 silver coins, and bought two foods that looked like long loaves of bread, sprinkled with tiny specks of gold powder.

[Obtained 2 C-grade food items - 'Stardust Bread'!]

The two of them didn't care about their image and found a secluded spot in the corner of the guild hall to sit down.

Liuli controlled the Burning Bug, and Squirtle picked up its own piece of bread and started taking big bites.

As the bread was eaten, the yellow bar representing hunger in the status bar began to rise at a visible speed, and the weakness debuff icon flashed a few times and disappeared.

As Liuli watched her character recover, she began to summarize into the microphone:

"Guys, have you noticed? There are so many details in this game. When we were fighting those last two spiders in the maze, we were both starving. Our yellow bars were almost empty, and Squirtle's water gun was losing its accuracy. I also felt a bit sluggish. It seems that hunger isn't just a simple stat drop; there are other debuffs too."

The comments echoed:

Indeed, I've noticed it too; the attribute drop is quite noticeable.

[I didn't even notice until the streamer mentioned it; Squirtle was a bit slow just now.]

Are hunger systems really this meticulously designed?

Liuli watched the Burning Worm eat the bread and couldn't help but feel a little regretful—it's a pity that the game isn't so overpowered that she could taste the bread herself...
She continued, "Secondly, the game is incredibly rich in elements! I just wandered around the hidden stone chamber near F4, and with what I picked up during the previous battles, I now have fifteen items in my inventory!"

"Unfortunately, thirteen out of the fifteen are unidentified, all question marks, with no idea what their effects are. The owner of this appraisal shop must be making a fortune every day."

"Then there's the freedom, it's really high. In combat, you can use silk to bind monsters, or pull branches to smash them. Outside of combat, it feels like there are many other possibilities, like whether you can use silk as rope? Or start a fire? It's a pity that all I can do right now is use silk."

Speaking of this, Liuli couldn't help but complain again:
"Third point! And this is the most frustrating one for me, okay? My special character had a decent start, but can someone explain why my Burning Worm only knows how to spit silk?!"

"This is already level four! And all it can do is shoot silk! Is this even fair?! It's all thanks to Squirtle for the carry role! I should have started with Torchic..."

[Haha, I like choosing the hidden option...]

Why is your face red?

[A Bug-type Pokémon that can only shoot silk is quite reasonable, isn't it?]

[Father Wind: Play if you want, otherwise you can keep playing.]

Clearly, the comments section was filled with merciless mockery.

Liuli sighed and resignedly continued eating her bread.

After eating the bread, my energy was restored and I was full.

She glanced at her backpack; she now had 25 silver coins left.

Since we can't handle the 50 gold coin purple stone for the time being, and we can't afford to mess with that dangerous secret realm, why not appraise some other cheap items first?
At least figure out what all those question marks in the bag are, right?

Who knows, there might actually be some useful and useful stuff out there?
At this moment, Squirtle seemed to have recovered quite a bit after eating; the emptiness in its eyes had faded, but it still looked somewhat listless.

He led Squirtle back to that secluded corner of the guild hall.

The natural bird, still draped in a deep purple cloak, sat there like a sculpture.

Liuli, controlling the Burning Insect, stepped forward and directly chose to interact with it.

(End of this chapter)