This is bad!
That smell—
There's a nine-in-ten chance the base down below has already self-destructed!
"Put me in the ball! Get down there, now!"
Shiko communicated with Himeko through Telepathy.
Beneath this tree was a bottomless-looking staircase. One glance was enough to tell it led deep underground—to a hidden base.
But the steps were steep and narrow.
With his four-meter-tall body, there was no way he could squeeze inside.
So Himeko could only recall him into a Poké Ball and carry him in.
Pidgeot dove straight down.
Himeko flipped off and landed, recalled Shiko with a Poké Ball, then crossed the gap Shiko had torn open and started down.
It was pitch-black to an absurd degree below.
The heavy smell of gunpowder smoke drilled into her nostrils, making her feel sick.
The City Defense Forces members followed close behind.
A Pokémon in the rear used Flash, lighting up part of the dark corridor.
They went down the stairs.
After several hundred steps, they finally reached the bottom—estimated to be nearly two hundred meters underground.
What appeared before them was another massive alloy door.
A keypad panel was embedded in the wall near the door.
The surface of this alloy door had the same white color as the one above.
Looks like it was the same type of alloy.
With no password, if they wanted to force their way in, only Shiko could do it.
Fortunately, the space here was tall enough.
Himeko released Shiko from the Poké Ball again.
Shiko didn't hesitate.
He walked forward, and with two slashes of his claws, tore a huge opening into the thick alloy door.
With two loud crashes—
The alloy door toppled backward.
A dense stench of smoke and char surged out instantly, choking everyone into coughing until their eyes streamed with tears.
They looked through the doorway.
Inside was chaos and ruin.
Large amounts of experimental equipment and high-end precision instruments had been destroyed, a complete mess.
The floor was littered with burned ash—apparently paper materials that had been set on fire.
The huge laboratory was completely empty.
"They really ran fast," Himeko couldn't help saying.
A secret base like this cost an enormous amount of money to establish and operate.
Yet the moment anything seemed off, they abandoned it decisively and relocated at full speed.
That judgment and execution—
No wonder the League had spent so many years and so much effort and still hadn't managed to arrest them all.
Himeko and Shiko led the City Defense Forces into the base.
They searched everywhere, looking for anything valuable that had been left behind.
Shiko did the same.
From Dayu's defeat to the discovery of this secret base, less than twenty minutes had passed.
Logically speaking, evacuating everyone in the base in such a short time was already difficult enough.
Let alone also finding time to destroy all data and equipment.
So there was a high chance some valuable items hadn't been taken away—
And were still here.
With that in mind, Shiko searched carefully.
Sure enough.
A few minutes later—
Beneath thick floor tiles, he sharply sensed a mix of different type energies tangled together.
After confirming again and again that he wasn't mistaken, Shiko locked onto the exact point where those complex energies were coming from.
He stepped onto the spot where the energy was densest.
Then he stomped down with force.
Boom!!
Cracks split across the floor, connecting together—
Forming a pit.
He looked down into it.
Below really was the storage area in this secret base used to keep precious items!
Light Clay, Everstone, Never-Melt Ice…
Large quantities of items were sorted by type and function, placed into frames on shelves.
This underground space was nearly half the floor area of the base above.
The item racks alone—at a glance—numbered at least a hundred!
Shiko couldn't help muttering in amazement.
No wonder they could support so many people.
These evil organizations really were rich.
The deep pit was about ten meters down.
When everyone else in the base saw this, they also gathered at the edge and carefully checked the situation below.
Seeing that mountain of items—
Everyone's eyes filled with astonished light.
Shiko was already searching through the heap of rare items for what he wanted.
Steel Gem, Metal Coat, Metal Powder, Iron Ball…
From these items, Shiko could more or less sense the aura of Steel-type laws.
He didn't hesitate.
He immediately began absorbing the laws within them.
After all, everything he'd done today—
Was for the sake of entering this warehouse and absorbing the energy inside these items.
The City Defense Forces members up above took one look and then left one after another.
Even though they felt tempted, they understood these weren't things a small squad member could lay a hand on.
Most likely they would be confiscated and turned in.
After marveling for a moment, they hurried off to keep searching the research base for any useful information that hadn't been completely destroyed—
And to look for any hidden escape routes the researchers might have used.
Himeko stayed crouched above.
Silently watching Shiko's actions.
After observing for a while, she noticed Shiko was rummaging specifically for Steel-type-related items.
Her expression immediately turned surprised and confused.
GeoGreymon was Ground- and Dragon-type.
In that case—
Even if he needed items, he should be looking for Ground-type or Dragon-type ones.
Why was he so fixated on Steel-type items?
Himeko frowned, utterly puzzled.
After watching a bit longer, still completely lost, she gave up—
And joined the City Defense Forces to keep searching.
Over here, Shiko kept absorbing these Steel-type items, and the Steel-type laws inside his body began to grow steadily.
Steel Gems worked best.
One gem steadily gave him a 0.1% increase in mastery.
The other items were much weaker.
But weaker was still better than nothing.
In less than half an hour, Shiko had completely drained the energy from every Steel-type item in this pile.
The Steel-type laws within him—
Rose from 13%
To 20%!
A full 7% increase at once made Shiko extremely satisfied.
His original plan had been to try his luck at Mt. Silver and look for an opportunity.
He hadn't expected this extra windfall here!
It seemed the goddess of luck was always on his side.
While thinking that—
Shiko noticed something placed on the deepest shelf.
It was something special, covered beneath a glass dome.
A purple crystal chunk about the size of an ordinary person's fist.
Even through the glass, Shiko could feel the strange energy fluctuations emanating from it.
That aura—
Made Shiko's body produce a faint, inexplicable resonance.
(End of Chapter)
[200 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/Zukooo]
[Thanks for your support!]