However, he pushed a few times, but the team member showed no signs of waking up.
Startled, he was about to shout when he suddenly felt something stir behind him. He quickly turned around and saw a large, dark, round face pressed against his own.
Before he could even scream, a thick, slightly drooling Lickitung had licked his face.
Instantly, he felt a dizzying sensation, and like his companion, he fainted directly onto the ground.
"Hehehe…" Gastly chuckled, "Have a good nightmare!"
After dealing with these two Team Rockets members, Gastly surveyed the various monitoring equipment in front of him, condensed a Shadow Ball beside him, and smashed it onto the main controller. The next second, with crackling sparks, rows of screens all went dark.
"That should do it."
Looking at his results, Gastly nodded in satisfaction. Just as he was about to disappear, the walkie-talkie beside him suddenly crackled to life.
"Is this the monitoring room? I think I just heard something. What's going on there?"
Gastly's body began to change, eventually taking on the appearance of the Team Rockets member from earlier.
He picked up the walkie-talkie and, using the same voice and tone as the original owner, replied, "Report, everything is normal here. The sound just now was me accidentally bumping into a chair."
"Oh, I see." The person on the other end of the walkie-talkie didn't suspect a thing. "Keep monitoring!"
...
In an office on the fifteenth floor, Xia You once again poked his head into the corridor. Seeing the red light on the monitor disappear, he knew Gastly had succeeded. He gestured to Natsume, and then the two quickly walked towards the stairs.
In this situation, they naturally dared not take the elevator. If they were discovered, there would truly be no turning back.
However, they didn't expect to get off to a bad start. Just as they were about to reach the stairs, chaotic footsteps suddenly came from inside.
Xia You's heart sank. The footsteps were so close, it seemed they would meet in an instant. And because they had already walked quite far, there wasn't enough time to return to the previous room.
While he was still reacting, Natsume grabbed his sleeve and pulled him into an adjacent room.
They had just closed the door when they heard several people exit the stairs and actually come to their floor!
Exchanging glances with Natsume, both of them knew that they were still far from the top floor and absolutely could not expose their whereabouts. So they both turned to look for a hiding place.
This room seemed to be a recreation room at Silph Co. It contained several billiard tables and sofas, with green plants in the corners, and at the very back, a row of tall changing cabinets stood side by side.
They quickly walked to the changing cabinets and reached out to pull the cabinet doors, but they pulled several in a row, and they were all locked!
Just as Natsume was about to use Confusion to open the cabinet locks, Xia You happened to open one of the cabinet doors. Seeing that this cabinet was just big enough for the two of them to hide, and hearing the footsteps getting closer, Natsume didn't have time to think and quickly squeezed inside first.
Xia You took out a Poké Ball, recalled Kirlia, and likewise squeezed into the cabinet.
However, no matter how spacious the cabinet was, accommodating two people was still a bit cramped. Xia You and Natsume leaned against each other, inevitably making physical contact, and even their breaths landed on each other's faces.
But at this moment, neither of them had time to think much. As the recreation room door opened, several Team Rockets members slowly walked in.
One of them said, "Everyone, search carefully again. Make sure not to miss anyone!"
"I say, Captain," someone replied, "Haven't we already searched the entire building once? Why do we have to search again?"
"Idiot." The captain reprimanded, "This company is so big, and those researchers are very cunning. There might be some stragglers hiding somewhere. Our plan cannot fail. All of you, open your eyes wide and search more carefully!"
The footsteps gradually approached. One of the Team Rockets members walked to the changing cabinets and reached for a cabinet door, but it didn't open. He shook it forcefully, confirmed it couldn't be opened, and then moved on to the next cabinet.
Several in a row were locked. When he reached Xia You, Xia You's heart sank, and he was ready to burst out of the door. However, when that Team Rockets member reached out to pull the cabinet door, he found that, just like before, it remained motionless.
"Why are they all locked?" the Team Rockets member muttered softly.
Xia You was surprised and turned to look at Natsume. It turned out she had used Confusion.
The captain asked from the other side of the room, "Are they really stuck? Huh? Are they all locked? Then forget it, let's quickly go to the next room."
"Huh?" Someone complained, "Captain, let us rest for a bit. We've already searched several floors continuously, and we really can't walk anymore."
"That's right, let us rest for a bit," the other Team Rockets members echoed repeatedly.
After a moment of thought, the captain finally nodded: "Alright then, we'll rest here for five minutes. After five minutes, we'll continue our operation."
The team members cheered and all sat down on the sofas.
Inside the dim changing cabinet, Xia You and Natsume were silent. The air here didn't circulate well, and as time passed, it began to become stuffy, and the temperature slowly rose.
In the recreation room, the Team Rockets members, taking advantage of the rare break, cleared their minds while casually chatting.
"Captain, what exactly is the purpose of such a large-scale operation this time?"
As low-level members, they didn't know much about the details of this operation, but because they were very curious, they wanted to take advantage of the break to inquire from the captain.
At first, the captain was unwilling to reveal anything, but unable to resist everyone's incessant questioning, he pondered for a moment and then spoke.
"Alright, alright, I can't say too much, but I can reveal a little to you." He coughed lightly and continued, "Besides the assets of this company, our true target is a type of Poké Ball they are secretly developing—the Master Ball!"
"Master Ball!?" A team member asked in Confusion, "What is that?"
"This is the most precious Poké Ball." When talking about the Master Ball, the captain also showed a hint of longing. "It is said that no matter what kind of Pokémon, as long as this ball is used, it can capture it 100% without even needing to battle or expend stamina!"
"That powerful!?" The Team Rockets members gasped in unison.
"Of course it is." The captain laughed heartily, "Otherwise, why would our Team Rockets go to such great lengths to occupy this place? If we truly obtain this Master Ball, capturing powerful and rare Pokémon will no longer be a dream!"