Digimon: I really didn't want to be the Digimon Emperor!

The word "Dad" on the caller ID made Zhao Lu's eyes light up. She eagerly answered the phone, ready to share her joy at the evolution of the Gear Beast—

"Let me finish." Zhao Zheng's voice was hoarse as if he hadn't slept for three days, and he spoke at an astonishing speed. "I've been swamped ever since I got back. The gear beasts of the Public Security Bureau... something happened."

A series of alarm sirens came from the other end of the phone, and Zhao Zheng's voice suddenly turned low: "I'm sorry, Dad probably won't be able to come home for the next few days..."

Zhao Lu's smile froze on her face. She looked at Cheng Yuan and mechanically replied, "Okay, Dad, I understand... You go ahead and do your work. Don't worry, I'll take good care of myself."

Cheng Yuan looked at Zhao Lu's face, from the initial joy of receiving the phone call to the gradual disappearance of her smile, and finally, a disappointed goodbye.

After hanging up the phone, Zhao Lu smiled wryly and waved her phone: "I'm sorry, my dad can't come. Those digital hunters at the door..."

"What's there to be afraid of?" Cheng Yuan smiled confidently. "With Puppymon and the newly evolved Gearmon X, as long as the opponent isn't at the Champion stage, beating them will be a piece of cake."

He made an exaggerated throat-slitting gesture: "Snap them! Anyway, we're super strong!"

Zhao Lu was also infected by Cheng Yuan's inexplicable confidence. Okay, then... let's take them down.

Just as they were about to open the door, Cheng Yuan's phone suddenly rang.

"Class representative, location!" Xu Xin's voice came from the phone.

Cheng Yuan instinctively stood at attention, then awkwardly scratched his head after realizing what had happened: "Digital Center Battle Zone."

"Bring the little dog beast and come to the police station immediately!" Xu Xin paused, "to lend a hand."

"But..." Cheng Yuan briefly explained the matter of the Digital Hunter at the door.

"Such a trivial matter..." Xu Xin snorted coldly, "I know, you can set off now."

Cheng Yuan hung up the phone. Facing Zhao Lu's questioning gaze, he said, "Let's go find your dad..."

"Huh? The Digimon hunters outside...?"

"All done, let's go."

As the two walked out of the Digital Center, they saw a group of Digital Center security personnel leading a group of Labradormon, who were pinning the three Digital Hunters and their Digimon to the ground.

The security personnel at the head of the team also nodded to Cheng Yuan as he walked out of the digital center.

"Comrades, you've worked hard." Cheng Yuan waved to them.

"Hey kid, watch out, we'll remember you! You just wait!" the digital hunter shouted as he was pinned to the ground, before being slapped on the back of the head with a righteous dog paw.

When the taxi stopped at the police station, Xu Xin was already waiting at the door.

He saw Zhao Lu getting off the bus with him, nodded to her, and led the two of them quickly into the Public Security Bureau building.

The surveillance cameras on both sides of the corridor all turned towards them, like countless eyes watching them.

"The Evolution Research Institute is incredibly efficient," Xu Xin said in a low voice. "They developed the Dark Gear Monitor overnight."

"The association directly mobilized a technology company to produce a batch overnight, and the results of this morning's city-wide survey..." He led the two into the elevator and pressed the button for the seventh floor: "It's terrible."

Cheng Yuan and Zhao Lu held their breath.

"Traces of the Dark Gear have been detected in almost every district." Xu Xin's fingertips tapped an uneasy rhythm on the wall. "Do you know where the hardest-hit areas are?"

Now that everyone's here, how could Cheng Yuan not know: "The Public Security Bureau? No, it should be... the place where the Gear Beasts gather, that should be the Public Security Bureau, the factory, the construction site, etc..."

"Not only that... but also the military!"

The military base contains a large number of tanks, armored vehicles, and other similar equipment.

The impact was too wide and too deep; Cheng Yuan gasped in shock.

"That's right. The experimental results confirmed that ordinary Digimon can only be infected, but Gearmon are like virus incubators. Once infected, they will continuously replicate new Dark Gears and then further infect other Digimon. The infection range is mainly Rookie-level Digimon."

Zhao Lu's face turned deathly pale instantly. What about the security system...?

Xu Xin nodded.

He looked at Zhao Lu: "Yesterday, the association suspended Zhao's mission and urgently recalled her to Pengcheng. She and we searched all night and found the Demon Beast in the underground sewer network. We then engaged in a fierce battle to encircle and destroy it."

"At the time, Devimon was forming its evolution cocoon, and we abruptly interrupted its evolution process."

"At the same time, 198 cases of Digimon attacking Tamer Partners occurred throughout the city. These were all infected Digimon summoned by Devimon."

"However..." Xu Xin continued, "Although we successfully stopped Devimon and interrupted the evolution and summoning process, we also paid a price."

"Team Leader Zhao's guardian beast... has been infected... and is dying."

The moment the elevator doors opened, a pungent smell of disinfectant hit us. A middle-aged man with a stubble beard was roaring at the screen: "How many times have I told you! We need a quantum isolation chamber! Ordinary treatment devices are simply not enough..."

"Dad!" Zhao Lu exclaimed, covering her mouth.

Zhao Zheng turned around abruptly, and Cheng Yuan finally noticed that the dark circles under his eyes had spread to his cheekbones, and there were dried coffee stains on his uniform collar. This elite police officer, who often appeared in security news, looked as haggard as a programmer who had been working overtime for a month straight.

"Lulu?" Zhao Zheng quickly stood up, frantically straightening his wrinkled uniform.

In front of his daughter, he is a dignified and upright public security officer, but now that he is showing his disheveled appearance to her, he feels very uncomfortable.

"What are you doing here instead of training?" His shout echoed down the corridor, and several security guards shrank back and hurried away.

Cheng Yuan noticed Zhao Lu's shoulders trembling slightly, but she quickly straightened up: "Dad, I have something important to tell you. My gear beast has become even more powerful. It's getting..."

"Nonsense, do you think I don't know what level your gear beast is at?" Zhao Zheng rudely interrupted her. "Do you think just getting into the Beast Tamer Security University is enough? How many times have I told you, can't you relax? Back in my day..."

Cheng Yuan then realized that Zhao Lu had always lived in the shadow of her father's reputation as one of the "earliest professional animal trainers".

At Zhao Zheng's age, to become one of the earliest professional animal trainers back then, his abilities were undoubtedly top-notch.

However, as Digimon are constantly being developed, new generations surpass the old, while Zhao Zheng's Digimon has remained at the Champion level for 15 years.

Because the link between the mature-stage Guardian Beast and its ultimate evolution is broken.

The evolutionary mechanism of Andromon has not yet been discovered by the Eastern Kingdom.

Nevertheless, possessing a Champion-level Guardian Digimon already places one among the elite in society, typically starting as a law enforcement officer. Those who fail to possess a Champion-level Digimon generally only become law enforcement officers.

Zhao Lu, a top student, is burdened by the halo of the older generation of elites, constantly pushing herself to grow and catch up, to become like the previous generation.

The light in the girl's eyes gradually dimmed. She glanced at Cheng Yuan, saw him nod, and then took a deep breath, as if to encourage herself...

She held up the Digimon, "Dad, take a look at this first."

After speaking, he pressed the summon button on the Digivice.

The Digimon machine emitted a dazzling blue light, and the hum of its spinning metal gears echoed through the corridor.

As the light faded, Gearmon X hovered in the air, its three gears meshing perfectly, and data flowed across the surface of its optical lens eyes.

"This..." Zhao Zheng's eyes widened. The data automatically scanned by the Tyrannosaurus Rex machine made him gasp: "The data volume exceeds the standard value by 50%?!"