"I'll go let Grandpa know."
"Sure."
Looking at Zhuge Zijing's state, both of them silently agreed to just leave him alone.
I mean, there's nothing they could do about it — did they really have to go listen to him vent?
"Grandpa, nothing else going on? I'll head back."
"Mm, go ahead."
Lu Xing Guo didn't even look up from his work, waving Lu Ze off with a gesture that said don't bother me.
Lu Ze pursed his lips. He knew better than to push — researchers, right? It's just how they are.
"Let's go."
Once back, Lu Ze waved to Zhuge Ziyu, and the two of them headed out together.
"You know, might as well swing by the National Vault and pick up your reward while we're at it."
"Oh right — I still have a reward coming!"
Lu Ze suddenly remembered, slapping his palm as he said it.
The doctor really did have some skill. His dislocated arm had been reset, and after a bit of rest, it felt just like nothing had happened.
"It's not far, just over at the official residence. Let's go while my brother's not around."
"Let's!"
Lu Ze's eyes lit up. He and Zhuge Ziyu exchanged a look, then both broke into sneaky laughter.
The National Vault was nominally under Zhuge Zijing's management too.
But with his penny-pinching personality, every time someone went in to collect a reward, his mood soured.
So this time, Zhuge Ziyu was taking Lu Ze to collect the reward while his brother was away.
That way, when Zhuge Zijing got back, he wouldn't have one more thing to stress over.
"I'm such a good little brother."
Zhuge Ziyu thought to himself with satisfaction. See? This is how I help you avoid extra worries.
"Let's go!"
"Let's go!"
The two of them snickered, climbed into the car parked at the entrance, and drove off toward the official residence.
"Okay, this is so boring. Deoxys, you don't think Xiao Ze forgot about us, do you? Hoopa?"
"En."
Deoxys shook its head at Hoopa, who sat with its chin propped in its hands and a worried expression.
Speaking of Lu Ze, Deoxys couldn't help but lick its lips too — just thinking about the food Lu Ze made, it found itself licking its lips.
(Xiao Ze's cooking is almost gone too. Let me think of some excuse to go see him again.)
With that thought, Deoxys found itself sighing right alongside Hoopa.
And so there in the valley, two Pokémon — one big, one small — sat on a rock together, chins in hands, eyes glazed and expressions glum.
"We're here — this is it."
"That fast?"
"I told you, it's close."
Zhuge Ziyu smiled and opened the car door.
Lu Ze climbed out after him. "This is where you guys work? How come it feels like one of those old residential compounds?"
"Yeah, that's exactly what it is."
Zhuge Ziyu nodded — it really was one of those old residential compounds from that era. But then, because budget was tight, Zhuge Zijing had repurposed it as the official residence.
"Don't let the outside fool you — the security measures in here are no joke. Absolutely safe."
And how could it not be? Rayquaza wasn't far from here at all. All the security needed to do was hold out long enough for Rayquaza to arrive.
"Yep, just enough, barely enough..."
Zhuge Ziyu groused to himself. He really did despair over his stingy brother.
"Come on, I've got the key — let's just head straight over."
"Mm, sure."
Not sure why Zhuge Ziyu's mood had suddenly dipped, but Lu Ze didn't ask. He just followed.
"So, you should have five selection chances now, right?"
Lu Ze did the math in his head and nodded. "Yeah, five. That's right."
He had twenty National Vault Key Fragments total — from the first Church raid, the Pokémon evolution forms, and the large batch of Church operatives captured in Mongolia.
Those rewards came to twenty Key Fragments, which meant two selection chances.
Then there was Mega Evolution — Mega Evolution gave three complete National Vault Keys, so that was three more chances.
Altogether: five.
He could use them all at once, or take his time — pick a few now, a few later.
"All in one go, or...?"
"We'll see."
Lu Ze shook his head. He didn't even know what was inside the National Vault yet.
What if it was all stuff with no clear purpose, just odd-looking relics or flashy-looking items that were completely useless?
Like, say, Mo An Guo had been sitting on a piece of food scrap that had fallen from Rayquaza's mouth for decades.
"Suit yourself."
As they talked, they arrived at a warehouse door.
Lu Ze stared at the building in front of him and felt a wave of secondhand embarrassment. The official residence really was this... plain?
This? The National Vault looked just like one of those old grain storehouses from decades past.
Lu Ze was half-convinced that whichever tightwad was in charge of the official budget had simply converted a grain storehouse into the National Vault.
Or maybe hadn't even bothered converting it. Just used it as-is?
Seeing Lu Ze's expression, Zhuge Ziyu understood exactly what he was thinking. He clapped Lu Ze on the shoulder.
"Yeah, pretty much what you're thinking. But don't worry — he does have some sense of face. So he had the two big characters taken off the top."
Lu Ze's mouth twitched. You know what? You should've just kept your mouth shut. Did you even look? Whether those two characters were removed or not — does it actually change what this grain storehouse looks like from the outside?
It wasn't just Lu Ze doing a mental facepalm, either. Zhuge Ziyu was right there with him.
Because he remembered his brother's exact words on that topic:
"If I'd known taking those two characters down would cost me fifty, I wouldn't have bothered. Should've just left it as is — call it camouflage."
"Then why didn't you just put them back up?"
"Putting them back up is eighty..."
"..."
Zhuge Ziyu felt like he'd be remembering this conversation for the rest of his life.
Slap!
"Hm?"
Lu Ze startled as Zhuge Ziyu suddenly slapped his own cheek.
" Uncle Ziyu, are you okay?"
"Nothing. Just remembered something unpleasant."
Zhuge Ziyu shook his head and pulled out his key to unlock the main door.
The moment the door swung open, Lu Ze realized just how wrong he'd been.
Outside looked like an eighty-to-nineties grain storehouse. But the moment that door opened, the interior was pure sci-fi.
Iris verification, fingerprint verification, voice verification, AI — it had everything.
Zhuge Ziyu went through each verification step one by one. Only after all the thick security doors opened did the corridor lights flicker on one by one.
"How's that? Not bad inside, huh?"
"Yeah, definitely. I mean, from the outside, you'd never know it looked like this."
Lu Ze nodded, then followed Zhuge Ziyu deeper inside.
"So, any targets in mind? If not, we can just start from the beginning."
"What targets? This is literally my first time here."
Lu Ze laughed and shook his head, then turned his gaze to something displayed at the very front.
"What the—"
(End of chapter)
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