"Name."
"Han Xingwang."
"Gender."
"…"
Xingwang choked for a second. Eyeing the pen twirling in the other's hand, he mumbled, "Male?"
Though he has come across Gender-altering items before, he never actually used one.
Then, Caleb stopped spinning the pen, gripping it firmly. He looked up and asked, "What were you doing before we arrived?"
"Uh…" Xingwang hesitated, then pulled up his updated main quest on his panel and showed it, "We entered a special scripted sequence. The one was to continue working for the Yamamoto family, the other was to refuse. Right after that, you guys showed up."
Caleb nodded thoughtfully and continued, "Second question, during your time there, did you ever interact with Yamamoto Takashi himself?"
Xingwang quickly nodded, then shook his head, saying, "I saw him, but never spoke or had any contact with him. He only came to the manor once in these three months and hasn't been back since."
"So you entered this Instance three months ago?" Caleb asked.
"That's right," Xingwang confirmed, "There were a lot of us players in that batch, but our quests were all different. I didn't know anyone, so we split up."
"Alright, you can go wait outside," Caleb said.
"Got it." Xingwang stood, hesitated as if wanting to say more, then walked toward the door.
Caleb watched his back, mentally sorting through everything he had learned so far: 'Yamamoto Takashi, Team Plasma, and Unova's powerful noble families… what a deep, tangled mess.'
From the Unova League's perspective, even if they uncovered the truth, taking action against Takashi would be nearly impossible. The web of connections was too tangled, too volatile. One wrong move, and the entire League could collapse.
But for now, the priority was locating Takashi and Team Plasma. As for the noble families? That headache belonged to Alder and the others, not him.
Just as Xingwang reached for the door, Caleb called out, "Wait!"
Xingwang froze, then turned cautiously and asked, "Is there something else?"
Caleb nodded, "What date did Takashi come to the manor?"
Although using the time travel was more troublesome than the Book of Answers, he didn't want to waste one of his three precious uses.
Xingwang thought for a moment, then replied, "I think it was September 23rd. That was the day of the Dragon Festival in Opelucid City... yeah, definitely September 23rd."
…
At noon, Caleb and Caitlin had lunch at the police station, accompanied by Officer Jenny.
With Caleb's help, the players whose quests had changed were now temporary police assistants tasked with countering Team Plasma.
They had feared being jailed, failing their main quests, and losing half their points. Now, relief washed over them, along with a deep gratitude toward Caleb.
Xingwang led the group in personally thanking him.
Caleb chuckled at the crowd of players. He had only mentioned to Officer Jenny that they were short on manpower and hadn't expected this reaction.
Still, players were generally friendly, as long as their quests didn't conflict.
Thinking this, Caleb smiled and said, "If you really want to thank me, help me investigate Team Plasma."
"That's already our main quest," the players exchanged glances, then each pulled an item from their inventory.
"If it weren't for you, our quests would've failed."
The Infinite World's system was highly adaptive, so quests shifted based on player actions. If Caleb hadn't shown up that morning, those who chose not to harm the Pokémon would've undoubtedly failed.
Most players assigned such high-stakes quests were veterans who had saved up points for ages. Losing half in one go was something they couldn't afford...
A female player said, "It's fine, just take it. It's a small gift."
She shoved the item into Caleb's hand and dashed off without looking back, saying, "I'm off to investigate Team Plasma! See you all later!"
The other players followed suit, handing over gifts and running out.
Caleb looked down at the handful of high-quality Evolution Stones and the mysterious trinkets now dangling from his arm, shaking his head with a helpless smile...
...
That afternoon, Unova's Elite Four finally arrived in Opelucid City...
They rushed straight from the airport to the police station.
Caleb and Caitlin greeted them in the station lobby.
Caitlin pointed at Caleb and introduced him to the four, "This is Caleb. I'm sure you've heard of the name."
On the far left stood a woman with short purple hair and round glasses. She adjusted her frames, her eyes lighting up with excitement, "Ah! Finally meeting you! I've heard all the rumors, but I didn't expect you to be even better-looking in person–"
"Ahem." The man to her left cleared his throat lightly.
The woman smoothly corrected herself, "Nice to meet you! I'm Shauntal!"
Shauntal; a Ghost-type Elite Four member, and a talented novelist.
Caleb recalled what he knew and replied, "Nice to meet you. I'm Caleb."
The man who had coughed earlier stood with arms crossed, his expression naturally haughty, "Grimsley. That's my name."
Grimsley; a Dark-type Elite Four member. Born into a fallen noble house, he had a gambling habit and viewed life itself as a gamble.
"Hello," Caleb responded politely.
The third to introduce himself was a muscular, dark-skinned man with a buzz cut. He looked even more robust than Bruno from Kanto, "Marshall."
Marshall; a Fighting-type Elite Four member, and Champion Alder's disciple.
Caleb nodded, then turned to the oldest-looking man on the far right, a red-haired figure with a grim expression.
Noticing Caleb's gaze, Caitlin stepped in, "This guy is Alder. I mentioned him earlier."
Alder's face was tight with stress. He gave a curt nod and immediately headed toward the conference room.
The other four followed. Caleb stayed put.
Caitlin turned back and waved at him, "Come on!"
Alder and the others paused and looked over.
Caleb raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you sure I can join?"
After all, he was just an outsider. No matter how many rumors floated around, some would still dismiss them as Kanto exaggerations.
Before Caitlin could answer, Shauntal spoke up eagerly, "Of course you can! I've heard all about what you've done from Cynthia herself! If you can't join, then no one deserves to!"
Grimsley nodded in agreement. He actually admired this young investigator.
Even someone like him, who saw life as one big gamble, had to admit that Caleb's feats were utterly insane...