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"Pah! We finally dug it out."

A young man, covered in dirt and grime, struggled to climb out of the narrow mine shaft, panting heavily. His tattered casual clothes were covered with mud and gravel.

He looked around and saw a dense primeval forest, with towering ancient trees blocking out the sun.

"Is this the new world?"

Lin Dao muttered to himself, his voice trembling with disbelief.

He looked down at himself; his casual clothes, which weren't exactly new to begin with, were now tattered from climbing out of the mine, with two large holes worn through his knees, revealing the skin underneath.

Only the wedge-shaped silver prop hanging around her neck remained conspicuous, its central blue gem shimmering mysteriously in the dappled sunlight filtering through the tree canopy.

Just a few hours ago, or a few days ago? Lin Dao had lost all sense of time.

He was just an ordinary homebody in 21st-century China, living a life of leisure in a cramped rented room.

Being short of money, he couldn't afford the latest game console, so he could only rely on the laptop that had been with him for ten years to play the Pokémon fan games made by various talented people.

Memories flooded back: the can of cola with the cap not screwed on tightly, the old power cord I tripped over, the heavy feeling of the laptop slipping off the table and hitting me, the sparks from the battery connection due to a short circuit...

Then there was darkness.

When he opened his eyes again, what he saw was not the ceiling of the rented room, but a gigantic beast that could not be described in words.

It resembles both a dragon and some kind of mythical entity, surrounded by a chaotic halo.

Later, it told Lin Dao that it was the original form of the "Three Dragons of the Dao" before they split apart.

According to it, Arceus created countless different dimensional worlds when he created the main world.

Based on the principle that existence is its own justification, Arceus allowed these worlds to develop freely, while assigning the divine beasts from the beginning of the main world to take care of a portion of them.

The world under the care of the Three Dragons of the Way accidentally collided with a world entirely composed of humans.

After Arceus helped with the fusion, he left the follow-up processing to the Three Dragons of the Path.

However, the three dragons were about to split up and could not do things personally, so they chose "agents".

"Why me?" Lin Dao could only ask blankly at the time.

"There are countless lives in your world, and you happen to be in the right state at the right time," the voice replied. "Your consciousness resonates with the conditions we use to select our agents."

Then, a beam of light surged into Lin Dao's body, and the entity that claimed to be the "Arceus Phone that stores data" merged with him.

Then, the ancient creature tossed him the wedge-shaped necklace, leaving him with the words:

"This is the Gene Wedge. When faced with an insurmountable predicament, you can use it to find my split forms: Zekrom, Reshiram, and Kyurem. If you gain their approval, they will offer you assistance."

Before Lin Dao could ask any questions, a portal resembling the Ultimate Hole opened in front of him, and a powerful suction force pulled him into it.

As the sensation of falling overwhelmed him, he regained consciousness to find himself in a dark mine, surrounded by collapsed earth and rocks.

Fortunately, his body seemed to have been enhanced, and the mine appeared to be just a small, illegally dug tunnel, so the collapse was not serious.

Using his bare hands and a sharp rock he found, he dug for an unknown amount of time until he finally saw the light of day again.

"Gurgle—" The protest from his stomach pulled Lin Dao back to reality.

He looked around and his gaze quickly settled on a few unique fruit trees not far away.

Those trees stood out from the surrounding dense forest, their canopies laden with blue fruit.

"Orange fruit!" Lin Dao's eyes lit up.

Even without using the detection function of the Arceus phone inside his body, as a seasoned Pokémon enthusiast, he recognized this basic berry at a glance.

Hunger drove him toward the fruit trees, completely ignoring this fact.

In a time when the two worlds have only recently merged, how precious is this fruit, which can heal and restore physical strength, in the wild? And why is it so quiet around this obviously unattended fruit tree?

He stumbled toward the fruit trees, completely unaware of the unusual surroundings of the orchard.

It was so quiet; there wasn't even a chirping of insects nearby.

In this vibrant forest, a place rich in food resources, there is no sign of any Pokémon activity, which should be a dangerous sign.

Lin Dao scrambled up a tree, his fingertips just touching a plump orange when danger was already imminent.

In what appears to be ordinary grass beside a tree, a giant purple cobra is coiled up, its cold, vertical pupils fixed on the unfamiliar bipedal creature.

Its scales gleamed with a dark luster in the shadows, and the unsettling, terrifying patterns on its belly rose and fell slightly with its breath.

"Chabacool~"

The hissing sound came just as Lin Dao had picked the first fruit.

His heart tightened, and he instinctively kicked off the tree trunk, using the reaction force to leap to the side.

Almost simultaneously, the purple figure darted out like lightning, its gaping maw biting down on the spot where Lin Dao had just been standing, its fangs gleaming dangerously in the sunlight.

"Holy crap, Arbok!"

Arbok

Rating: 24

Attribute: Poison

Ability: Intimidate

Moves already learned: Binding, Staring, Poison Needle, Biting...

Physical condition: Healthy

Current emotions: alert, angry...

"Damn it, what's the use of reporting now!" Lin Dao complained as he backed away, his eyes fixed on Arbok, who was readjusting its posture.

Arbok missed its attack, and its snake head slammed heavily into the tree trunk, causing the entire tree to shake violently.

Arbok was clearly enraged by Lin Dao's escape.

It raised its head, its neck membrane expanding into a terrifying hood shape, and its horrifying abdominal patterns fully exposed. This was both a demonstration and a build-up for an attack.

Lin Dao suddenly realized something, and a chill ran down his spine.

"Wait, it's not listed in that move list, and theoretically, a level 24 Arbok couldn't possibly learn it..."

His wishful thinking was shattered in the next second.

Arbok opened its massive jaws, and a bright yellow energy gathered and compressed deep in its throat, emitting a low, humming sound.

The surrounding air seemed to be distorted as a result, and fallen leaves moved without wind, drifting outwards from Arbok.

"Destructive light! It really is destructive light!" Lin Dao's heart pounded wildly.

The game describes this move as having a power of 150 and preventing the user from acting in the next turn, but the reality of the situation completely exceeded his expectations.

Yellow energy converged to a critical point, transforming into a massive beam of light nearly half a meter in diameter that shot out.

Lin Dao practically tumbled and crawled to the side.

The beam of light grazed his back and struck a grove of trees behind him.

There were no sound effects from the game, only deafening explosions.

The trees were vaporized the moment they came into contact with the beam of light, and the shockwave spread in a ring, leveling everything within a radius of twenty meters.

Lin Dao felt as if he had been hit by a truck, thrown into the air, and crashed heavily ten meters away.

He felt as if his internal organs had shifted, a sweet taste rose in his throat, and blood surged into his mouth.

"cough!"

He forced himself not to spit it out, quickly stuffed the orange in his hand into his mouth, chewed it haphazardly a few times, and swallowed it.

A warm, soothing energy immediately spread from the stomach to the whole body, significantly reducing the pain in the internal organs, and the injured skin began to heal at a visible speed.

"Are the effects of real-world tree fruits really that strong?" Lin Dao was surprised and didn't dare waste time observing his injuries.

Does the "post-use stun" effect in games actually exist in reality? He dared not gamble.

Arbok did show obvious signs of fatigue after unleashing such a powerful attack, with wisps of smoke rising from its mouth, but it still stared intently at Lin Dao, ready to launch its next attack at any moment.

Lin Dao's gaze swept around and settled on a stream about fifty meters away.

The water flowed swiftly, shimmering in the sunlight.

"This is the only way!"

He suddenly stood up and rushed towards the stream with a speed that surprised even himself.

Arbok immediately gave chase, but the destructive beam clearly slowed it down considerably.

Twenty meters, ten meters, five meters—

Lin Dao leaped into the icy stream.

The current immediately swept him downstream. He managed to adjust his posture, took a deep breath, and dived underwater.

He dared not surface, holding his breath and drifting with the current until his lungs were about to burst before cautiously surfacing to breathe.

Looking back, Arbok was nowhere to be seen on the shore; only the lush forest receded into the distance.

After drifting for several hundred meters, Lin Dao finally managed to climb ashore with difficulty, collapsed on the pebble beach, and gasped for breath.

The sun had begun to set, and the sky was tinged with orange-red.

Lin Dao lay on the riverbank, gazing at the gradually darkening sky. The Gene Wedge hanging around his neck rose and fell slightly with his breath, the sapphire glowing faintly in the twilight.

"I survived..." he murmured, then shook his head with a bitter smile, "but this is just the beginning."

He sat up and checked his condition.

His clothes were even more tattered, and he had many abrasions and bruises on his body, but the effects of the orange fruit were still continuing, and these superficial wounds were slowly healing.

Having experienced such a crisis and escape, he was certain that his body had been strengthened, but he didn't know how much weaker he was compared to Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town.

Lin Dao touched the Gene Wedge on his neck; the cool touch reassured him slightly.

Next, he tried to communicate with the Arceus phone inside his body.

"Hey, can you hear me? Give me some basic information about this world."

After a brief silence, the mechanical voice sounded again:

[The merging of two worlds: Initial stage. Current area: The intersection of the edge of the Pokémon World's Viridian Forest and the human world's East Asia region. Recommendation: Find a human city, secure basic survival, and wait for the quest to begin.]

"Quests? There's a quest system?" Lin Dao raised an eyebrow. "Are there any newbie gift packs or anything like that?"

[Arceus Phone's main functions include: data search, Pokémon detection, map recording, and basic crafting guide. Special functions require specific conditions to unlock. No gift packs are currently available for redemption.]

"Well, it's not that good after all," Lin Dao sighed. "At least the map function is useful. Can it show me my surroundings?"

Suddenly, a semi-transparent grid map appeared in his field of vision, extending about 100 meters outwards from him.

On the map, the mine he had just escaped from and the orchard area where Arbok was located were marked, a stream meandered through the forest, and further away was a fog—an unexplored area.

"Not bad, this function is useful." Lin Dao's spirits lifted. "Let's find a safe place to spend the night first, and then look for a human city tomorrow."

As night fell, various unfamiliar calls echoed through the forest. Some were clearly Pokémon calls; he recognized Pidgey's cooing and Rattata's squeaking, but most were completely unfamiliar sounds.

Lin Dao munched on wild fruit, leaned against a safe rock wall, and gazed at the twinkling starry sky outside the cave.

"The merging of the Pokémon world and the human world... what does that mean?" he muttered to himself.

"Does the city still exist? How will humans and Pokémon coexist? The Three Dragons of the Way have appointed me as their 'proxy,' but what exactly do they want me to do?"

Questions came one after another, but no answers were found. Only the genetic wedge on his neck shimmered faintly in the firelight, as if responding to his doubts.

Exhaustion washed over him like a tidal wave, and in the final moments before he fell into a deep sleep, the terrifying image of Arbok unleashing its destructive beam flashed through his mind.

"Real-life Pokémon... are far more dangerous than those in the games."

This was his last thought before he drifted off to sleep.

Unconsciously, Lin Dao gripped the gene wedge on his chest while he was asleep.

At the center of the sapphire, a faint light pulsed, like a heartbeat, slow and steady, gradually synchronizing with some deep rhythm of this newborn world.