Locke: I rely on intelligence to dominate the world and ensure the survival of my nation.

The territory of the Russian Federation, Moscow Command Center.

Ivan sat at a heavy oak table, with a dozen hand-drawn maps spread out in front of him.

He was tall and strong, with arms as thick as bear paws and calluses on his knuckles.

But his eyes didn't hold the brute force of a reckless man; rather, they held a calmness forged in harsh environments.

Russia ranks third globally in land reclamation progress, behind only the United States and China. This achievement is not due to luck, but rather the result of Ivan and his team's tireless efforts.

"Ivan, we have news from China." The adjutant pushed open the door, holding an encrypted communication in his hand. "It was sent personally by Lin Chen."

Ivan took the communication and read it word by word. His brows furrowed at first, then slowly relaxed, and finally lifted.

"An alliance? To fight the American coalition together?" Ivan placed the communicator on the table and tapped it twice with his finger. "He certainly dares to dream."

"Should we refuse?" the adjutant asked.

"No." Ivan stood up and took the heavy military overcoat down from the wall. "I want to see him myself."

The adjutant hesitated for a moment: "Now?"

"Now."

Training grounds on the Prata Grassland, within the territory of China.

When Ivan entered the training field with two attendants, Lin Chen was squatting on the ground checking the Sonic Hound's paws. He looked up and sized up the burly man from the Russian bear country.

Ivan looks even more muscular than in the video.

Standing at 1.9 meters tall, with shoulders as broad as a door, his footsteps caused the ground to tremble slightly. Yet, his steps were light, his shoes making almost no sound as they trod on the grass.

"Lin Chen." Ivan reached out his hand, his voice deep and resonant like the sound of a cello.

"Ivan." Lin Chen stood up and took his hand.

The two people's hands are vastly different sizes, but when they clasp hands together, the force is equal.

There were no small talk, no formalities.

Ivan pulled a folded parchment directly from his pocket and unfolded it on the stone table next to him.

It was a hand-drawn map of a secret realm, with rough lines, messy markings, and some parts that had been repeatedly erased, leaving marks like scars.

"This is the basic route to the secret realm that we explored over three days, losing more than a dozen pets in the process." Ivan's voice contained no boasting, but rather exhaustion. "We found two safe passages through the outer grasslands. In the Thorn Maze, we're stuck on the third level and can't explore the rest. As for the Poisonous Mist Swamp, we haven't even found the entrance."

Lin Chen looked down at the map for about ten seconds.

Then he looked up, took a printed document out of his backpack, and handed it over.

Ivan took the document and turned to the first page.

His pupils suddenly contracted.

That was a complete map of the secret realm.

It's not a hand-drawn sketch, but a professionally mapped map with coordinates accurate and labeled down to every tree and stream. The boundaries of the four areas—the outer grassland, the thorn maze, the poisonous fog swamp, and the core altar—are clearly defined, and the distribution of monsters, their spawn frequency, and strategies for dealing with them on each level are all listed in a table.

Ivan's fingers began to tremble. He turned to the second page, which contained the complete walkthrough of the thorn maze.

It's not a vague description like "go roughly east," but a route that's precise down to the number of steps, like "turn left at the third fork in the road, count to the seventh mossy stone, turn right, walk straight for fifty steps, then turn left again."

Page three details the safe passage plan through the poisonous fog swamp. The intelligence includes a map showing the toxin concentration distribution, with different colors used to mark safe zones, danger zones, and dead zones. The safe zone route is winding and circuitous, but every step has been verified.

"I reviewed the content you explored over three days in just five minutes," Lin Chen said calmly. "Moreover, what I saw was that the route you took wasn't the optimal one. There's a safer path on the eastern side of the outer grassland, where the monsters are two levels lower and half the density."

You didn't notice because the entrance to that path was blocked by a thicket of thorns; you needed to use fire skills to burn it open.

Ivan looked up, and his gaze towards Lin Chen completely changed.

It's not the look in the eyes of an ally, nor the look in the eyes of an opponent, but the look in the eyes of someone far stronger than oneself—a look that is a mixture of awe and resentment.

"How did you know?" Ivan's voice was a little hoarse.

"I have my own channels," Lin Chen said without explaining. "You just need to tell me, whether or not this alliance will be formed."

Ivan didn't answer immediately. He lowered his head and flipped through the document again from beginning to end. He read each page slowly, as if confirming that it wasn't an illusion.

Ten minutes later, he closed the file and reached out his hand.

"Knot."

"But I have conditions."

Lin Chen remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"First, in the secret realm, the Russian team can follow your command. But your command must include me in the presence of others, so I know the reasoning behind every decision."

"Secondly, all resources, rewards, and spoils will be distributed according to contribution. The Russian nation will not take advantage of China, but it will not be taken advantage of by China either."

"Third—" Ivan paused for a moment, "If my men discover that your command has made a major mistake, I have the right to take my men away from the battlefield and act on my own."

Lin Chen looked into Ivan's eyes for three seconds.

"make a deal."

The two people held hands.

This time, the grip was tighter and lasted longer than the last.

The adjutant whispered a reminder from beside him: "Ivan, we haven't reported back home yet..."

"Report what?" Ivan didn't turn around. "I've already made up my mind."

The adjutant shut his mouth.

Ivan released his grip, carefully tucking the document into his inner pocket and pressing it against his chest. He looked at Lin Chen, a slight smile finally appearing on his lips—not a smile, but more of an acknowledgment.

"Lin Chen, I'm starting to understand why you were able to get China into the top three in the world in such a short time."

"It's not because you're lucky."

"It's because you see further than anyone else."

Mount Vesuvius, fringe area.

After finalizing the alliance, Lin Chen didn't rest. He led Wang Hao and Su Muxue directly across the northern border of the Plata Grassland and into the edge region of Mount Vesuvius.

The air here is dry and scorching. Cracks appear in the ground beneath our feet, from which a dark red light shines through, like wounds on the earth. In the distance, the main peak is emitting smoke, black columns of smoke shooting straight into the sky, with occasional sparks falling from them.

"Brother Chen, what are we doing at the volcano?" Wang Hao wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve; his T-shirt was already soaked with sweat.

"Catch a pet." Lin Chen crouched down and brushed aside a patch of black volcanic ash to reveal a shallow pit underneath. There were some small claw marks in the pit; the claw marks weren't large, but they were surprisingly deep.

"Amiyat. A Stone-type pet with extremely high defense and a god-tier skill that is underestimated by all players—[Stone Soul Blast]. The damage of this skill is based on the pet's defense value; the higher the defense, the higher the damage. A fully-trained Amiyat can reach thousands of defense in the later stages of the game, and a single Stone Soul Blast can instantly kill most offensive pets."

Su Muxue opened her notebook: "Amiyat, Rock type, evolved form Amiya. Stone Soul Blast, power 60, but the damage calculation formula includes a defense bonus."

With full talent, one can deal over 100 damage in the mid-game.

"And it's physical damage, so it's not affected by special defenses," Lin Chen added. "It's perfect for withstanding the giant bouncy flower's vine entanglement and leaf storms."

Wang Hao understood: "A meat shield?"

"A tank that can both withstand damage and deal damage."

Lin Chen stood up and followed the claw marks. The claw marks were getting denser, indicating that the target was nearby.

Ahead appeared a black rocky area with strangely shaped rocks, resembling magma that had been melted by high temperatures and then solidified again.

In the very center of the rocky area, a sturdy rock-type pet is lying on a flat rock, sunbathing.

Its body is dark gray, and its surface is covered with diamond-shaped patterns, like it is wearing a layer of natural armor.

Four short, thick legs support its round body, its tail is short, and it has a single horn on its head.

Amiyat.

Lin Chen released a low-level Grass-type Pokémon, deliberately letting it walk past the edge of Amiyat's field of vision. Amiyat immediately became alert, sliding off the rock and gripping the ground tightly with its four paws, assuming a defensive stance.

But it moves very slowly.

The common weakness of Rock-type pets is high defense but slow speed.

"Sonic Hound, Flame Assault, approach from the flank, don't charge head-on." Lin Chen's command was very soft, as if afraid of startling the prey.

The Sonic Dog leaped from the badge, its four paws treading on flames as it glided silently along the ground. Its speed was precisely controlled at the edge of Amiyat's perception threshold, neither too fast to arouse alarm nor too slow to be caught.

Amiyat sensed the danger and began to retreat deeper into the rocky area. But it was too slow; Sonic the Hound circled around to its side in just three seconds.

"Now, Flame Assault, hit its right hind leg."

The Sonic Hound accelerated suddenly, flames exploding on its four hooves, its entire body transforming into a golden streak of fire that precisely struck Amiyat's right hind leg.

Amiyat lost his balance and tilted to the left, exposing the soft, unarmored area of ​​his abdomen.

Lin Chen took out a mid-level Gulu Ball.

"Capture the window, now!"

The sphere traced an arc and struck Amiyat precisely in the abdomen. A burst of light erupted from the sphere, enveloping Amiyat entirely.

fall to the ground.

shake.

Once. Twice. Three times.

"Ding! Capture successful!"

Lin Chen walked over and picked up the Gulu Ball. The ball was slightly warm, and through its translucent shell, he could see Amiyat curled up inside, like a sleeping stone.

"Full of talent." Lin Chen put away the Gulu Ball. "The core tank for the Secret Realm BOSS battle is mine."

Wang Hao leaned closer for a look: "Just one? Is that enough?"

"A fully-developed Amiyat is equivalent to ten ordinary Stone-type pets." Su Muxue answered for Lin Chen. "Its maximum defense stat is 20% higher than that of an ordinary Amiyat. With the defense bonus from Stone Soul Blast, it can withstand the full-force attack of a level 50 boss at level 40."

Wang Hao whistled.

It was almost dark when the three left Mount Vesuvius. On the distant horizon, the setting sun had dyed the clouds a deep purple, like a patch of congealed blood.

Lin Chen walked at the front, with Amiyat's Gulu Ball hanging on his waist, arranged alongside several other balls.

He opened the system interface and glanced at the countdown to the opening of the secret realm.

Six days and eleven hours.

Jason's allied forces are assembling. Kenichi Sato's Japanese team is undergoing final intensive training. Park Jung-ho's Korean team is frantically stockpiling potions and Gulu Balls.

Meanwhile, in China, allies are in place, pets are ready, and plans have been formulated.

Lin Chen closed the interface and quickened his pace.

What he didn't know was that in Zhao Tianyu's villa, an encrypted communicator was flashing a red light.

Zhao Tianyu sat on the sofa, holding a microphone. His voice was so low that even his subordinates standing at the door couldn't hear him.

"I've already obtained a portion of Lin Chen's secret realm plan."

"What do you need me to do?"

On the other end of the microphone, a voice with a Japanese accent coldly said, "Wait."

"What are you waiting for?"

"Wait until the secret realm opens. Wait until Lin Chen leads the main force of China into the core of the secret realm. Wait until he clashes head-on with Jason's men—"

"You only need to do one thing."

"Cut off his escape route."

Zhao Tianyu hung up the call and put the microphone back on the encrypted communicator. He leaned back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, a slow smile spreading across his face.

Lin Chen, do you think you've won?

You think that if you defeat my main team, I'm completely finished?

You're too naive.

In this world, some things are more important than pet levels, team size, or resource reserves.

For example, a way out.

Zhao Tianyu turned off the light, plunging the entire room into darkness.

In the darkness, only the red indicator light on the encrypted communicator flashed on and off.