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

Chapter 231 Difficult-to-identify props, wow, this is a dangerous building!
"See that! Who said streamers can't do it!" Liuli's voice was filled with excitement. The golden words "Victory!" on the screen and the barrage of comments made her feel a sense of satisfaction.

"Who said the Burning Bug is useless? Who said the streamer can't beat it on professional difficulty? Haters, speak up!"

The scrolling comments displayed various reactions:
[No wonder the stats were so high; the entire walkthrough was designed with that in mind.]

The physics engine in this game is really detailed; judging from this, the gameplay shown in the trailer has indeed been implemented.

"Tch, consider yourself lucky."

[Hurry up and find some grass, streamer, don't get too cocky.]

"Alright, alright, let's find some grass." Liuli carefully maneuvered the burning insects, avoiding the two still-dazed insects and scattered pebbles on the ground.

Squirtle, who was standing to the side, seemed to still be in shock from the sight of the boulder rolling down. It followed behind the Flamingo, its eyes still a little dazed.

"Squirtle? Are you alright?" Liuli asked through the microphone.

"Huh? Oh! It's nothing!" Squirtle shook his head violently, but his voice was still a little unsteady.

"Liuli, you were amazing just now! You came up with the best solution so quickly – to smash them with stones!"

So fast?
I've restarted it almost seven or eight times already!
Upon hearing this, Liuli coughed.

"Cough cough, of course, let's go, let's go find some grass."

Having gained experience from the first battle, Ruri now has a new understanding of the difficulty of this maze.

At the chosen "professional" difficulty level, she had to be more careful with every step. She no longer charged around recklessly as she had when she first entered, but began to carefully observe her surroundings—the tangled tree roots, the hanging vines, the spider silk that shimmered with an eerie silver light, and even the soft, seemingly unstable soil on the ground became the focus of her observation.

The bullet comments have also become a think tank:
[Hey anchor, look to your left, isn't there something under that tree root?]

Don't go that way! I think I just saw a flash of green light!

Watch out above! There's a dark shadow! Quickly use your webs to wrap around tree branches and block it!

Sure enough, near the entrance to F2, an Arbok suddenly leaped down from a tree and attacked. Having been prepared, Ruri reacted swiftly and made a decision immediately.

Her silk thread hit its target precisely. The Burning Bug pulled backward, and the seemingly rotten branch snapped with a "crack," hitting Arbok right in its path!
Although it didn't cause much damage, it successfully blocked Arbok's attack, buying Squirtle time to use its Water Gun.

"Squirtle! Water Gun!" Ruri immediately gave the order.

"Alright!" Squirtle launched a precise water jet that sent Ekans flying, crashing into a tree trunk and losing most of its strength.

With such an advantageous start, this battle is naturally not difficult.

Soon, a notification popped up:
【Battle won! 】

"See? This shows the importance of observing the environment!" While picking up the tree fruit dropped by the Arbok, Liuli noticed that her stamina had recovered a little in the status bar, and shared her insights with the live chat.

By relying on their keener observation of the environment and the occasional use of small traps, such as using silk threads to trip over charging Geodude, they stumbled through F2 and F3.

The wild Pokémon in the maze are getting stronger and stronger, and there are more and more kinds of them. Caterpie, Wurmple, and Orbspear are basically Bug-type Pokémon... Without exception, they are all shrouded in a thin purple mist, with empty eyes and full of aggression.

Each battle was thrilling; Liuli even used up all the tree fruits she had collected along the way just to barely get through.

However, she also felt that her skills were becoming more and more proficient, and her teamwork with Squirtle was becoming much better.

Although Squirtle was still a bit shy in conversation, he was always very decisive and efficient in executing battle commands, and the strength he showed convinced Ruri that this guy was really good at fighting.

She checked the team's stats and found that Squirtle's stats were indeed much higher than her own.

At this point, she even felt a little regretful.

If I had known, I would have just chosen Torchic to start. Otherwise, I wouldn't be in this situation now, where my Flamethrower is already level four and it's still only able to shoot silk.

If you have a move like Flame at the start, wouldn't it be a breeze to defeat the Bug-type Pokémon in these dungeons?

However, since we've already made our choice, we can only make do with it.

Soon, they reached the final level of the Silk Thread Forest Maze—F4.

The spider silk here is noticeably denser than in the previous layers, and the light is also dimmer.

Liuli focused intently, carefully maneuvering the burning insect to avoid the sticky threads beneath her feet.

"Silver Root Grass... its roots are silver, its leaves are long and thin, and it grows near damp tree roots..." Liuli muttered the quest prompts as she searched carefully. The comments section also joined in the search.

"Ah! Found it!" Liuli's eyes lit up. At the base of a huge ancient tree, several slender grasses emitting a faint silver light were swaying quietly.

The silver light emanating from its roots was particularly striking in the dim environment.

"Great! Mission accomplished!" Liuli excitedly steered the Burning Insect forward to collect the herbs. Just as the Burning Insect's tentacles were about to touch the Silver Root Grass, a purple shadow suddenly darted out from the shadow of the nearby tree roots!
It's a level 5 round silk spider! It opens its mouth and unleashes a [poisonous sting]!
"Watch out!" Squirtle lunged forward to block the Burning Bug, turned around, and used its shell to catch most of the poison needles.

"Thanks, Squirtle! Use String! Get tangled in it!" Ruri immediately commanded.

The burning insect's silk-spinning once again proved effective; although the orb-weaver dodged some of it, it still successfully slowed it down.
Squirtle followed closely behind with its Water Gun. Although the damage wasn't too high due to its level and type, it eventually defeated the Guardian Pokémon by having Sooto constantly harass and restrict its movement with its String Shot.

—Now that their levels have all been raised to level four, the battles are no longer as difficult as they were at the beginning.

As the battle ended, Liuli went straight up to the plant and pressed the interaction button.

[Silver Root Grass Obtained!]

[Unidentified item obtained: ???]

"Huh? Another unidentified item?" Liuli looked at the small stone with an eerie purple glow that had appeared in her backpack and asked curiously, "And this one is different from the white-glowing stone from the caterpillar one... It looks a bit... off?"

This purple light immediately reminded her of the purple mist surrounding the Pokémon in the maze.

The live chat was flooded with comments and discussions:
Indeed, it doesn't seem like anything good.

[Just looking at it makes me uncomfortable, especially the color.]

[Could this be related to the mist surrounding the Pokémon in the dungeon? Revealing the lore so early?]

"Never mind, let's go back and turn in the mission first!" Liuli didn't dwell on it too much, since she would have to find a way to identify it anyway.

This time, since they had already reached the top floor, they no longer needed the tool to leave the cave.

She quickly found the stairs leading to the exit in a corner. The two successfully left the maze and returned to the familiar edge of the forest.

After a brief interlude.

Back in the bustling Wigglytuff Guild Hall, Squirtle seemed to have returned to its previous reserved state, cautiously following behind the Burning Bug controlled by Ruri, with its head down, as if afraid of being seen by others.

Liuli went straight to the Detective Mongoose counter at the registration desk.

"Senior, we're back! This is Silver Root Grass!"

Liuli chose to submit the task.

Detective Mongoose took the small, shimmering silver grass, examined it closely, and then looked up at Liuli and Squirtle. He frowned in displeasure at Squirtle's attempt to shrink itself away.

It pushed up its round-framed glasses, its tone still calm: "Yes, mission accomplished. Although it was just a basic collection task, the fact that you were able to successfully bring it back without the support of your teammates is enough to prove that you have the basic qualities to be rescue team members."

It took out two small green badges engraved with Jigglypuff's smiling face and handed them to Burning Bug and Squirtle respectively: "From now on, you are members of the Jigglypuff Guild's certified [Leafie Rescue Team]." A system notification popped up at that moment.

[Title Obtained: Green Leaf Rescue Team!]

Become a full member of the rescue team!

[Unlock access to guild facilities!]

Squirtle took the green badge, his claws trembling slightly, his face turning red again. He spoke softly, as if talking to himself, "I...I really...became a rescue team member...?"

Looking at his excited expression, Liuli felt a pang of emotion.

"Of course, Squirtle, and this is just the beginning. We'll become the best rescue team ever!"

"Alright, let's save the celebration for later." Detective Meerkat interrupted the compromise, tapping on a newly lit area on the counter. "This is the main quest bulletin board for all official team members. You can now accept quests from here, starting with the most basic one-star quest. Remember to do what you can." It paused, then added, "Also, if any of the items you brought back need appraisal, lay them out in that corner over there." It pointed in a direction with its paw.

The live chat immediately refreshed:

[They've arrived as expected!]

[She's really in the guild, streamer, why don't you go check her out?]

Following the direction pointed out by Inspector Zangief, Ruri controlled the Burning Bug, leading Squirtle through the bustling guild hall and towards that slightly secluded corner.

"Appraisal shop, appraisal shop... Let me see where it is... Ah, here."

She discovered an inconspicuous little stall in the corner.

Behind the stall sat a Pokémon wearing a deep purple cloak.

Its shape was strange, with the hood of its cloak pulled low, almost covering its entire body, revealing only the tip of its beak and a few wisps of grayish-white feathers.

"This design... is quite mysterious," Liuli muttered to herself, controlling the burning insect to step forward.

"Excuse me, senior? We'd like to have something appraised." Liuli selected the interactive option.

The Pokémon slowly raised its head, and a pair of eyes, gleaming with a deep light, lit up in the shadows beneath its hood.

Its voice is deep and hoarse, with a peculiar rhythm.

"Oh? New green leaves... bring... an echo from the depths of the forest..."

Both Ruri and Squirtle were taken aback by the opening remarks.

The live chat was instantly flooded with comments:
Wow! That aura!

What kind of Pokémon is this? A bird?

[This voice acting is amazing, it has the feel of a reclusive master.]

[They always spout riddles; is this the kind of high-class atmosphere you get at an appraisal shop?]

"Uh... Hello, senior. We just came back from the Silk Thread Forest and found this..." Liuli quickly took out the stone that emitted an ominous purple light from her backpack and chose to show it.

The moment the purple stone appeared, his eyes under the hood narrowed sharply, a glint of sharp light flashing across them.

He extended the wings hidden beneath his cloak, and with a gentle beckoning, the stone seemed to be lifted by an invisible hand, floating to its front.

It did not touch the stone immediately, but simply stared at it.

After a moment of silence, its voice became even more solemn:
“Chaos…contamination…young rescuers, you have brought back something…extraordinary.”

“This thing is tainted with something… that shouldn’t be there.” The natural bird’s wings swished around the stone a few times, and the purple light seemed to fluctuate slightly with its movements. “To safely remove this level of contamination, an energy channeling and purification ritual is required.”

It raised its head.

"Therefore, a preliminary appraisal will require... fifty gold coins for materials."

“Fifty…fifty gold coins?!” Liuli repeated. She immediately opened her backpack interface, where the bottom right corner clearly displayed: Silver Coins: 10.

One hundred silver coins are equal to one gold coin... She only has ten silver coins now...

This...this is such a huge difference! Is it really that expensive?

This is robbery!
The barrage exploded instantly:

[Fifty gold coins?! On the first day of server launch?! Has the game developer gone mad?!]

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

[That makes sense, since it sounds like a key item in the main storyline.]

[Hilarious! The poor streamer is completely overwhelmed!]

[To the person upstairs: You don't need to spend real money; you can earn it in the game.]

Squirtle also came over and looked at the stone that was emanating an ominous aura again, and whispered to comfort him, "It's...it's okay! We...we'll take on more quests! We'll save up enough soon! Fifty gold coins...it doesn't sound like a lot..." His voice trailed off, clearly also thinking that so much money was expensive.

The natural bird seemed not to hear Liuli's exclamation or Squirtle's comforting words, and calmly pushed the purple stone back in front of Liuli: "Come back to me when you have enough gold coins. Remember, keep this item safe and secure until it is appraised."

Having said that, it lowered its head again, the shadow of its cloak once more enveloping its face, as if it had returned to being a quiet, inconspicuous corner decoration, no longer speaking.

Liuli looked at the purple stone in her backpack that cost fifty gold coins to appraise, then looked at her pitiful balance and let out a long sigh.

Okay, looks like I'll just have to figure out what this thing is later.

Just then, a notification popped up.

Today's adventure is over.

The animation begins.

"It's getting late, Liuli, shall I take you home?"

"Although it's a bit small and a bit old, I think it's still a place to live!"

Squirtle opens its mouth.

The insect and the tortoise bid farewell to the guild hall's hustle and bustle. They walked along a path at the edge of the forest for a short while before arriving at the edge of a relatively open but somewhat desolate sandy area.

Behind several huge rocks, there stood a solitary building... which could barely be called a "hut".

It was roughly built up with stones of varying sizes and shapes, the gaps filled with dry grass. The roof was made of a few huge leaves, which whistled in the sea breeze.

The most pitiful sight was the door—a thick wooden plank that looked barely hanging there, swaying back and forth in the wind.

Liuli was dumbfounded.

Dude, this is more than just "a little small and a little old"!

This is practically a "dangerous building"!
(End of this chapter)