Chapter 39: A Brand New Plan and Task, Iono Goes to Prison?

After modifying the CG using the presence module, Ling Feng made a few tweaks to the Regirock Shrine within the game.
With the mission accomplished, he clapped his hands in satisfaction.
Now, all that remained was to wait for the next lucky soul to visit...
Just at that moment, a series of new notification prompts popped up right before his eyes.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host! You have unlocked a new S-grade side quest: "Wild Sales"!]
[Quest Objective: Reach a total sales volume of 50,000 copies for the game within this week!]
[Quest Reward: Random Intermediate Module x1, 1,000 Emotion Points, Special Item "Rare Candy Gift Box" x5!]
His eyebrows arched upward instantly.
Side quests were appearing again, and this time the requirement was to hit 50,000 total game sales within the week...
Without a doubt, this should be quite easy to achieve.
Just earlier this evening, Ling Feng had checked the game's backend and found that sales were already fast approaching 40,000 copies.
Clearly, the game's reputation had spread rapidly thanks to those few videos online.
And once the Regice/Rock Pillar CG was exposed... let alone 50,000 copies, reaching 100,000 copies this week probably wouldn't be a problem at all!
After a brief moment of thought, Ling Feng's gaze landed on the final reward item.
Wait a second?
Rare Candies??
Is this the Rare Candy from my imagination, the kind that can directly level up Pokémon the moment you use it?!
As he stared at it, a series of item descriptions materialized.
[Special Item: Rare Candy Gift Box]
[Description: Each set contains 10 "Rare Candies." When consumed by a Pokémon, its strength and level will directly receive a certain boost!]
[Of the 10, the host can freely feed them to their own Pokémon or give them to others, while the remaining 5 can only be given away.]
[Note: When the host chooses to gift this box to someone else, the gift box will instantly appear right at the target's doorstep.]
Ling Feng: ???
This really was that cheat-like, mysterious little item from the game!
Friends who loved using modification tools should understand the sense of salvation brought by having 999 candies in their backpack...
While those who didn't use mods should also understand the thrill of saving this stuff specifically for a level 99 Pokémon...
He hadn't expected the system's rewards to actually bring this thing directly into reality.
He rubbed his chin.
Although he didn't know how significant the boost from these Rare Candies would be to Pokémon in reality, it probably wouldn't be too bad, right?
In other words, if he got his hands on this stuff, he could directly elevate the strength of a Pokémon to an incredible level.
Well, for someone like him who had no intention of becoming a Trainer, that was secondary.
But if he could gift them directly to others...
He looked at his newly acquired [Game Online Module] and suddenly came up with a bold idea!
He sat back down in front of his computer desk, opened the game folder, and quickly began operating...
...
Meanwhile, Ling Feng was clearly not the only one staying up late.
In the Paldea region, Iono sat in front of her computer screen with a somewhat twisted expression.
To put it simply, she was currently stuck serving time in the Rock Tunnel.
Iono genuinely suspected at this point that the game's creator harbored a deep malice toward Electric-type Pokémon.
—Even though the cave was called the Rock Tunnel, why on earth were there so many Ground-type Pokémon here?!
Sandshrews, Digletts, Onixes, Geodudes... they had all gathered in one place!
Every single one of them was the absolute nemesis of the Electric type!!
This situation forced her to constantly rely on Pikachu's "Iron Tail" to carve a path forward...
If that were all, it would actually be fine.
The real problem was that not only was this tunnel pitch-black and complex to navigate, but there were also several Team Rocket NPCs lurking in the shadows, ready to ambush her at any moment...
On top of that, Iono had given all her money to that middle-aged man searching for his daughter back in Rustboro City, leaving her unable to afford a single supply item...
Consequently, Iono could only cycle painfully back and forth between the second basement level of the cave and the Slateport City Pokémon Center...
Her misery was enough to move listeners to tears and break the hearts of onlookers.
Except, of course, for certain gloating viewers who were spamming the chat with uproarious laughter.
[Hahaha, the streamer really gives off this hopeless destiny vibe.]
[Is this the charm of an Electric-type specialization? Pretty interesting.]
[Hahaha, streamer, do you want to go pick up some trash to earn some money first? Looking at how poor you are makes me feel kind of sad for you.]
...
When Iono re-entered the Rock Tunnel for the fifth time, she couldn't help letting out a complex, sorrowful sigh.
If she had known better, she shouldn't have been so generous when handing over her money; she should have at least kept one or two thousand for herself...
Look at her now, she couldn't even afford the lowest-tier Potion!
She had no idea what use that broken stone given to her by that NPC was...
It better come in handy later on!
Iono muttered resentfully in her heart and set off once again toward the depths of the cave.
Her previous forays into the second level of the tunnel had allowed her to successfully clear out most of the Team Rocket NPCs.
This time, she also finally succeeded in locating Brawly deep within the second level, triggering the cutscene that sent him back to his Gym.
"Mission accomplished!"
Iono smiled, eagerly manipulating her character to prepare to leave the Rock Tunnel.
This ghost town full of Ground-type Pokémon, pitch-black and full of detours... she didn't want to stay here a single second longer.
Just then, however, a golden paid superchat message caught her attention.
[Farfetch'd's Leek: Streamer, don't rush to leave. The third level is very safe, and there's a surprise waiting. You'll regret it if you don't go.]
"Really?"
Iono glanced at the chat, hesitant to believe it for a moment.
—Wasn't this just a trick to get her to go down and keep suffering?
However, she soon noticed that many viewers in the live stream chat were telling her not to rush off and to go down and take a look.
[Streamer, go down and check it out. There really is good stuff down there, no cap.]
[What on earth is down there? Why are you guys all so excited?]
[——Non-Disclosure Agreement Signed——]
[Spoilers are malicious behavior; I won't reveal any related content, please see for yourselves.]
....
This situation inevitably stirred up Iono's curiosity.
What on earth was on this third level...?
She quickly made her decision, took a deep breath, and maneuvered her character toward the passage leading to the third level.
"Fine, since everyone wants to see it, I'll put it all on the line."
Upon entering the third level, the scene before her left Iono momentarily stunned.
It wasn't dark here at all; instead, a beam of light streamed down from a crack in the ceiling of the cavern, illuminating the spacious area around it and making it look quite safe.
After carefully and cautiously observing her surroundings for a moment, she let out a long sigh of relief.
Phew, good.
It seemed very quiet here... no Pokémon, and no NPCs...
The very next instant, however, something caught her sharp gaze.
"Huh?"
"—Why is there a stone tablet here?"