harleyscars Chapter 151 The Solution—The Humanist's Dilemma
Chapter 151 The Solution—The Humanist's Dilemma
Chapter 161 The Solution—The Humanist's Dilemma
"Empathy or indifference, that is the question."
"If your phone breaks, just get a new one. If your clothes are old, just buy a new set. If your car breaks down and becomes unusable, you have no choice but to scrap it. Replacing items with old ones is so common that it's not even common sense."
"But relatively speaking, no one would consider humans to be replaceable. If a friend falls into trouble, you can abandon him and find a new friend; if a patient or a victim has no hope of survival, you can only watch them die indifferently; although partners and children are very precious, rationally speaking, if they are lost, it is not irretrievable, you can find another or have another child..."
"Such values seem perverse and distorted to us normal people because the value of an individual human being is immeasurable and irreplaceable. Anyone who challenges this moral principle will be severely criticized by society."
"If the only object of empathy in this world is humanity itself, then William, the plant manager of Liyong Power Plant, would undoubtedly be a model of high moral character. But unfortunately, there is another kind of amazing creature in the world, whose biological structure is completely different from that of humans, yet which also possesses a soul that is the same as that of humans."
Elf, or Pokémon.
A monster pet that can be put into a pocket.
Hugo turned to look at Miss Goth standing behind him, then turned to Officer Jenny and sighed meaningfully, "But they are different after all."
Pokémon are ultimately "them", not "them".
"Although most of us regard Pokémon as beings equal to humans, cherish their feelings, and believe that they have irreplaceable individual value just like humans, if we look at it with a critical eye, how many people can honestly say that they have never treated humans and Pokémon differently? When it comes to Pokémon, which are in the middle between the other and the same kind, everyone will subconsciously feel confused when they include them in the moral framework—and William Factory Manager went to the other extreme in this confusion."
"Are you saying William lacks empathy for Pokémon?"
Watching the detective talk endlessly about "humanity" and "morality," Officer Jenny finally lost her patience. She forced open her lips and uttered a dry, questioning voice—
"But this is just your conjecture. There is no evidence to suggest that William has such a morbid mentality. There is no record in the past that suggests William is hostile to Pokémon."
"Of course, of course."
Hugo calmly pressed his palm lightly in the air, telling the sheriff to calm down.
“Everyone has different values, and a distorted sense of morality doesn’t necessarily turn a person into a wicked bastard. William may see Pokémon as items that don’t need to be considered morally, but as a normal person, he wouldn’t destroy them for no reason—he just coldly and rationally regards them as tools that can be used.”
The detective tapped the table with his knuckles again, creating a rapid, countdown-like drumbeat. At the same time, he spoke at breakneck speed, confirming one fact after another with Officer Jenny—
“William’s Liyong Power Plant appears to be the company with the best employee benefits in the city, with all employees earning about three times the salary of their counterparts in the same position—is this really the case?”
Officer Jenny possessed the personal information of all employees who had entered and exited the factory on the day of the incident, so it was impossible for her not to know their respective income situations. At this point, she could only nod in agreement: "If company subsidies are included, then that is indeed the case."
Hugo continued, "Given such generous employee benefits, is it true that the Elf's compensation at Li Yong Power Plant is only slightly above average among local energy companies?"
Officer Jenny nodded without hesitation: "It really exists."
"So, ten years ago, during the difficult period of fierce competition in the energy industry in Liyong City, when all companies were ruthlessly exploiting their employees, did the then-weak Liyong Power Plant also have a similar bad reputation?"
The sheriff then shook his head and denied it: "I don't know the situation ten years ago, but that factory has had a reputation for being a conscientious enterprise since its inception, so the treatment of its employees should not have been so bad."
The detective then asked, "Liyong City has only recently begun to improve the living conditions of the Pokémon in the factory. Before that, did this conscientious factory actively advocate for slogans like Pokémon protection?"
Officer Jenny hesitated: "This is not within the scope of the investigation, I'm not sure."
"Regarding this issue, we might refer to the posts made by Arnaud's engineers on social media."
Seeing that Officer Jenny was unable to answer, the detective took the initiative to provide evidence—
"Reading that ten-year chronicle from beginning to end was not easy. However, there are a few short articles in it related to the working environment, which record the changes in the treatment of Pokémon in the Liyong Power Plant at different points in time. Although the narrator's words are extreme and he likes to be sarcastic, it can still be seen that no matter what stage of development the Liyong Power Plant was in, the living conditions of the Pokémon were not fundamentally different from those of the unscrupulous factories at the same time."
Officer Jenny's pupils contracted. As one piece of seemingly ordinary evidence after another surfaced, a harsh reality quietly unfolded before her eyes.
Hugo began slowly, his knuckles tapping on the table like the approaching footsteps of death, sending chills down one's spine—
"Now please answer one more question for me. It's a very simple question: How many elves does William himself keep? Officer Jenny, you can't possibly not know, can you?"
The number of Pokémon owned by citizens needs to be reported to the League regularly, which is information that the police department can easily access.
"...421."
After a moment of silence, Officer Jenny announced a number.
"So, how many Pokémon are used to assist in production at the Liyong Power Plant? Compiling these figures should be an essential step in the on-site investigation, right?"
"Four hundred and twenty-one."
Officer Jenny sighed and gave the exact same number as the previous question.
"This is the total number of all Pokémon working at the Liyong Power Plant, including the seventy-one Electric-type Pokémon that died in the explosion of the power generation system," she added.
421-421=0.
This means that William doesn't have a single handheld sprite on him.
This is abnormal, especially for a big entrepreneur like Factory Director William; it's particularly unusual.
Some people don't catch Pokémon because they believe they are not capable enough; out of excessive pity, they choose a lifestyle that doesn't burden their Pokémon. Others, however, choose to isolate themselves from Pokémon simply out of indifference.
Hugo stared into Officer Jenny's eyes and said, "Now what kind of person do you think William is? Is it so strange that such a gentleman would choose to let the elves use spontaneous electricity to save his power plant that is benefiting society?"
The tapping on the table stopped, and the world returned to silence.
Officer Jenny took a deep breath; she regretted pressing the detective for details about the case.
However, the detective's decryption didn't stop just as the sound of tapping on the table ceased—
"In interpreting William's personality, many previously abrupt contradictions are also explained. Why did the Pokémon's protest occur at the Rikyu Power Plant, where Pokémon are treated well, instead of in other factories with worse conditions? This is because the employees at the Rikyu Power Plant are paid three times more than those at the same level. In the eyes of the Pokémon, whose treatment remains the same, the gap between them and humans is even more pronounced, naturally leading to greater dissatisfaction."
"Why would the spirits of the power generation system target William, the leader of the entire factory, for intimidation, rather than figures like production managers who have more contact with them? And how did they come up with such a remarkable idea as violently resisting capitalist oppression?"
"That's all thanks to Miss Arnaud's nonsense," Hugo smiled, shaking his head as if answering his own question.
"She, who is at odds with the factory manager, now works in the electrical machinery maintenance department, and the equipment in the bio-power generation zone, which needs to withstand the power of the electrical system's 'big bang,' is the most crucial power collection device in the entire factory, one that cannot be taken lightly."
"It was because of this transfer that Arno regained the opportunity to communicate face-to-face with Electric-type Pokémon. It's not hard to imagine what kind of complaints she would have about those naive self-destructing Pokémon when she was working, given her deep involvement in the Pokémon liberation movement."
Officer Jenny muttered to herself, "Factory Manager William is naturally the target of Arno's fierce attacks, which is why Electric-type Pokémon see William as the evil, cunning, and ruthless source of all evil... to the point that during the final negotiations, they used such an extreme method to start the countdown of self-destruction... But Arno shouldn't be so inclined to encourage Pokémon to deliberately self-destruct and destroy the factory. She is different from William; she wouldn't use Pokémon to do such a thing."
"That's exactly right!"
The detective in the white coat jumped to his feet, his fingers snapping crisply—
"There's more to the case than meets the eye. There's a mastermind behind everyone, stirring things up! A cunning old fox is quietly inciting everyone's discontent and darkness! Tsk tsk, the last time I encountered something like this was at the Feiyun City Police Station."
As if in response to the detective's announcement, a series of noises came from outside the door, and the once quiet office became lively.
"They're very punctual. They're a group of people you can really trust."
Hugo sighed and looked behind him.
Another bang.
The door to the sheriff's office was kicked open with what seemed to be the force of a Pokémon move, and a small blue penguin jumped in.
"Poga, Poga Poga Poga!"
Under the detective's satisfied gaze, Pogaman strode confidently into the room.