Father

In the silent corridor, the sinister laughter resembling a clown echoed:

"Where did my good daughter go? Do you want to play hide and seek with Daddy? If you don't behave, you'll receive punishment when Daddy catches you!"

Nidoking's roaring followed along.

Chen Yue kept running down the corridor, holding Amber. He didn't know how long they had been running.

Meanwhile, Professor Fuji calmly followed behind them. He had lived in this mansion for so many years, and he was extremely familiar with everything here.

"Brother," Amber's grip on Chen Yue's hand gradually relaxed. She looked at the approaching dark figure and whispered, "Put me down and go."

Chen Yue frowned, "What nonsense are you talking about? I promised to take you out of here. Oh no, there's no way ahead!"

Amber broke free and shook her head, "It's okay, Brother, cough..."

As she spoke, her face quickly turned pale, and blood started flowing from her nose, eyes, and ears.

Professor Fuji, who had been preparing to wreak havoc, had a sudden change in expression when he saw this scene.

The rage in his eyes subsided, replaced by reason. He looked at Amber with shock and panic in his eyes.

"No! This can't be right... How could it only last for three months this time?"

Amber had no strength left to speak. She wanted to hold Chen Yue's hand to reassure him, but halfway through, her hand fell limply.

Chen Yue picked up Amber, and the light in her eyes slowly faded. She glanced at Chen Yue, her head tilted, and she lost consciousness.

At the same time, a hidden mission update appeared on the panel.

"Unique hidden mission [Amber] progress updated!"

"Objective: ???"

"Mission completion: 50%!"

Watching his daughter not even leaving a final glance for him, Professor Fuji sighed deeply. He wanted to take Amber from Chen Yue, but Chen Yue avoided him.

Chen Yue stared into his eyes and asked, "What did you mean by what you just said?"

The now somewhat normal Professor Fuji showed a painful expression in his eyes. "As you can see, Amber is a clone. With current technology, perfect human cloning is not possible. The lifespan of each clone can only be maintained for about five months."

Chen Yue clenched his teeth. "So, you secretly cloned Amber for your own desires, using immature technology, and watched as they one by one suffered and died in pain?"

"What else could I do?!" Professor Fuji's eyes were red, and he almost roared out his words.

Just when Chen Yue thought he might go crazy and attack again, Professor Fuji suddenly knelt to the ground with a thud. He covered his face with his hands, like a father who had just lost his daughter, and said in anguish,

"In the days just after Amber's death, I could hear her saying in her dreams every day, 'Daddy, it's so dark here, I'm so scared, I want to go home.' At that time, I missed her so much that it drove me almost insane! I even thought about suicide to be with her underground... But... I admit that I am a weak person, a failed father..."

"..."

"Sigh."

Chen Yue sighed and walked past Professor Fuji.

Taking advantage of the fact that the other person's crazy state had entered cooldown, Chen Yue held Amber and left the mansion directly.

The mission hadn't displayed as failed yet, which meant that Amber was still alive.

Now, he needed to take Amber to the hospital.

One hour later.

Ariana, who had been anxiously waiting for Professor Fuji to return, arrived at the Fuji Mansion.

As soon as she entered, she saw the scene in the corridor.

Ariana furrowed her brow, stepped onto the staircase, and eventually found Professor Fuji who had inexplicably fallen unconscious on the top floor.

She went over to help him up, and Professor Fuji, with a lifeless look in his eyes, tearfully muttered, "Amber is dead, my daughter is dead..."

Ariana asked quietly, "What happened here?"

But Professor Fuji seemed to be in a daze, as if trapped in a bad dream, repeating the same sentence over and over.

Helpless, Ariana had to seek answers on her own.

She looked up at the surveillance camera in the corner of the wall, then headed to the control room. After some operations, she retrieved the surveillance footage from an hour ago.

Watching the handsome young man in the footage, Ariana gritted her teeth. "Chen Yue!"

Because of him, the location of the Celadon Base was exposed, leading to the loss of countless crucial research projects and experimental equipment that couldn't be moved in time!

Because of him, at least a hundred Team Rocket members were arrested!

With a heart filled with rage, Ariana turned off the surveillance and returned to the corridor, but Professor Fuji, who had been there just moments ago, had disappeared without a trace.

She furrowed her brow, took out a Poke Ball, and released a Growlithe with a very sensitive sense of smell.

Following Growlithe, Ariana made her way to the basement. As she entered, she saw Professor Fuji tightly embracing a girl's lifeless body.

It was... Amber!

Ariana remembered the news that Chen Yue had told her not long ago. She walked up to Professor Fuji, her voice cold, and said, "Amber died two years ago!"

Professor Fuji widened his eyes in anger, shaking his head frantically. "No! Amber didn't die! You're all lying to me, it must be a conspiracy!"

Ariana couldn't stand it any longer, especially after being infuriated by Chen Yue while watching the surveillance. Her voice became even colder. "Professor Fuji, I'll say it one last time. Amber died two years ago. Whether you admit it or not, that's the truth!"

Professor Fuji buried his head in Amber's long hair.

Ariana didn't hesitate to expose the last layer of shame in his heart. "Actually, you know it very well, don't you? You just refuse to admit it. Oh, evasion is shameful but effective, I know that. I want to say, Fuji, after all these years, you're still so weak, disgustingly weak."

Professor Fuji, in a daze, shook his head. "No, I'm not weak..."

Saying that, he released his daughter and stood up. He picked up a surgical knife from the lab table and, at a speed that Ariana couldn't stop, plunged it into his own heart.

This already insane old father, in the last moments of his life, finally showed a gentle smile at the corner of his mouth. He lay down slowly and firmly beside his daughter.

Amber, Daddy is here to accompany you.

Professor Fuji closed his eyes in contentment.

Ariana watched this scene in silence.

After a while, she picked up her phone and called Giovanni.

"Boss, there's been a change..."

Celadon City Police Department.

Lance returned with a triumphant smile, but when he heard Officer Jenny say that Chen Yue had disappeared, his expression instantly turned serious.

Lance furrowed his brow and asked, "Captured by Team Rocket?"

Officer Jenny's expression was somewhat strange. She shook her head and replied, "No, he ran away on his own. I was evacuating the crowd at that time, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone."

Dragon-type Champion Lance had never been so speechless from childhood to adulthood. He pondered for a long time but couldn't come up with any clues. He asked in disbelief, "So, what does he want to do? Does he still have unfinished tasks?"

Lance muttered to himself, puzzled, "Huh, this shouldn't be the case. He has already successfully completed his mission. He can't possibly not want the mission rewards, can he?"

The destruction of a Team Rocket base in the Kanto League had severely weakened Team Rocket. With such an achievement, it could be said that whatever requests he made to the League would be fully met.

**********

Yo guys, remember to check out the link in the comments to read 30 chapters of another Pokemon novel I've been working on!