Chapter 131: The Choice

Chapter 3: The Choice

A thunderous roar echoed through the long, narrow corridor. The final, mournful cry of the Houndoom before it lost consciousness lingered in the air.

A sharp glint flashed in Lu Yun’s eyes. Seeing that the Houndoom was incapacitated, he did not linger. His feet, planted firmly on the ground, pushed off with explosive force. As he sent a spray of floor debris and gravel flying, he retreated rapidly into the shadows. With a few agile leaps, he vanished back into the gloom of the corridor.

*Hiss—*

A viscous, foul-smelling, deep purple venom erupted from the Arbok’s maw, striking the spot where Lu Yun had been standing only a moment before. Its intense corrosiveness melted a small crater into the floor. Because of the interference from the Ghost-type energy used just moments ago, the Arbok’s reaction had been a beat too slow, causing it to miss its chance to intercept Lu Yun.

Although Burt and his men had undergone professional training at headquarters, they were ultimately human. Compared to Pokémon, they possessed an inherent disadvantage in physical prowess. Even using their fastest reaction times, all they could see as they spun around was Lu Yun’s silhouette fading into the darkness.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Brilliant muzzle flashes flickered in the pitch-black hallway. Metal bullets rained down like a violent storm, pouring relentlessly into the deep shadows. But it was a futile effort. As if sinking into the ocean, the bullets were swallowed by the darkness, save for the occasional brilliant spark produced when a shell casing struck the wall. The violent vibrations from the metal housing of his pistol made Burt’s hands ache and go numb.

Staring into the darkness ahead, Burt gritted his teeth, his face ashen. Seeing that the enemy had escaped, he reluctantly raised his arm and gestured for the team to stop wasting their ammunition.

"Pat-pat-pat!"

Rapid footsteps echoed through the ranks. Under the cover of their comrades, a few team members rushed anxiously to the side of the severely injured Houndoom to inspect it.

"How is it?" Burt asked with concern. The Houndoom was one of only two Pokémon in their squad; any issue with it would significantly diminish their overall strength.

A heavy silence permeated the group. The security team member in charge of the inspection did not speak; he simply stood up and shook his head slowly at Burt.

"Damn it!"

Burt clenched his fists so tightly it felt as though he might crush the air in his palms. He stared deep into the long corridor ahead. While flames of rage burned within his black pupils, they could not mask the profound fear buried in the depths of his heart.

"Did anyone see... what that thing was?" his voice was hoarse, as if squeezed from his throat.

"Captain, it looked like a Machop... a black one." One of the members, who had a clear line of sight, had caught a glimpse of Lu Yun’s body.

"A Machop?" Burt muttered, repeating the words in disbelief. He took two deep breaths to calm his racing heart, then slowly said, "Keep searching! This corridor is a dead end; it can't escape!"

He signaled to the Arbok behind him. "Make the Arbok the center of the formation. Tighten up. Keep your focus—don't let something like this happen again."

The Houndoom was out of commission, leaving only his own Pokémon: the Arbok. Burt knew clearly that if the culprit truly was a Pokémon, given the strength it had just displayed, they humans would likely be reduced to a supporting role in the upcoming fight. The key would still rest on the Arbok’s performance. Though he had full confidence in the Arbok he had lived and fought alongside, the memory of that ghostly silhouette filled him with apprehension.

"Be careful!"

After a brief regrouping, the security team resumed their march into the long, dark corridor. A heavy, tense atmosphere hung in the air. Unlike their aggressive entrance, the team now moved with extreme caution. The pitch-black shadows of the corridor seemed like a giant, invisible maw, gradually swallowing Burt and his men.

...

"Hoo... hoo..."

Lu Yun pressed himself against the wall, breathing heavily. The cold touch of the stone helped settle his boiling blood. Although his ambush had lasted less than two seconds, it had drained a significant amount of his physical and mental energy. Controlling the situation, shifting between moves, managing the distribution of energy within his body—all these factors left him feeling somewhat fatigued.

"That was exhilarating!"

He knew that if any step of that ambush had gone wrong, he could have been pinned down by the guards' gunfire or the Arbok's venom, leading to a disadvantageous, drawn-out battle. Fortunately, everything had gone smoothly. A look of relief rose in his eyes. He had planned this ambush long in advance.

The base's security force was composed of two parts: human guards and Pokémon. For Lu Yun, if he wanted to wipe them all out, he would have chosen to charge head-on in a game, but in the real world, that was completely impractical. Fighting multiple opponents at once was extremely difficult for him right now. Therefore, he had to pick off a portion of their strength from the side to defeat them one by one. This required a choice of priority between the "guards" and the "Pokémon."

After a moment of simple thought, he had made his decision. While the human guards carried plenty of firearms, they actually posed little threat to him. As a Pokémon with physical abilities far surpassing humans, Lu Yun relied on his powerful dynamic vision. He didn't even need "bullet time" reflexes; he only needed to see the humans' fingers squeeze the triggers to predict the trajectory and dodge. He could even use his internal Ghost-type energy to unleash area-of-effect status moves to incapacitate the entire squad. He had realized this when he attacked the laboratory researchers. Human bodies were not like Pokémon; a "Leer" move that might only cause a Pokémon momentary dizziness or fear could cause a human to faint on the spot.

Thus, he decided to deal with the Pokémon first, then the humans. But this led to a new problem: there were two Pokémon in the squad—the Arbok and the Houndoom. With his current strength, he could not handle two at once while finishing the fight quickly. He had to choose one that he could take down fast.

The Arbok was bulky, slower, but had high defense, and its toxic venom could provide powerful crowd control. The Houndoom had high burst damage, strong attacks, and was agile, but it was fragile—a classic "glass cannon" archetype.

Comparing the two, the result was simple. The Houndoom met all of Lu Yun’s requirements. Consequently, it naturally became his "target."

Hidden in the shadows of the corner, Lu Yun took a moment to rest before setting off again. With his current strength, he didn't need any complex tactical planning for a security team that now had only one Pokémon left.