harleyscars Chapter 340 Detoxification Begins
Chapter 340 Detoxification Begins
Have you come up with any ideas yet?
Hearing the detective's confident declaration, Azure, who had been mingling among the champion kings as the detective's assistant, quickly asked—
"Could it be that, just like Mr. Greta's locked-room incident last time, you received a breakthrough inspiration when you stepped into this meeting room?"
The premier reception room in front of us, exclusively for the league champions, is spacious yet monotonous, with a predominantly off-white modern style.
Although the details of the tables and chairs and the wall patterns look high-end, the overall color scheme is no different from other rooms in the Alliance headquarters.
Due to the previous champion's personal habits, this meeting room did not even undergo any multimedia facility renovations.
In this vast, enclosed room, resembling an ancient arena, a huge rectangular black wooden table is placed in the center, with two rows of armchairs sitting in a solemn, almost identical fashion, like cut-and-paste templates. The only thing that disrupts the overall rhythm of the space is probably the crime scene where Mr. Akromma was attacked and collapsed.
Could we really find clues to solve the case from this? Azure couldn't help but wonder.
Unlike the Sandstorm Squad murders, in this public place where there are few personal belongings, both the perpetrators and the victims are merely passersby in this room, and it is impossible to discern much of their personal characteristics... not to mention that this is a poisoning incident without any bloodstains or signs of struggle.
"No, absolutely no inspiration." Faced with his assistant's question, Hugo shook his head without a trace of shame, denying it.
"In fact, the Alliance had already sent me photos of the surrounding area right after the poisoning incident occurred. To be able to grasp the progress of the investigation even before the police is truly a first in my detective career. I must say, the taste of this power is really hard to give up..."
Pachira frowned: "Since we haven't found any useful clues at the scene, how can we solve the mystery? Mr. Hugo, men who love to boast are never popular."
“You can’t be afraid of offending people when you’re a detective. Evidence and clues are fair to everyone. Unless there are extremely rare exceptions, there’s no reason why a large group of police officers would spend days without finding any useful clues, while we can find the answer simply by stepping into this room.”
The detective tapped his head with his index finger.
"Let's have a little more trust in the Alliance and the police. In this case, their investigation and search have been almost perfect. All that's left is to be skeptical and thoughtful—think about it, what's the difference between what we saw when we arrived here and the crime scene as seen by those diligent police investigators?"
"Is the victim's body still in the room?" Carlos's Fire King asked. "Could there be some clues left on Akromma's body?"
“That’s probably the place that was searched most thoroughly. I don’t think we’ll find any new clues on the victim,” Blueberry objected. “Besides, if the clues are on Akromma, what would we be searching this room for? The air?”
"Hmm... When the police arrived at the scene, Mr. Akroma, who was unconscious, should still be there, right?"
As Azure pondered and deduced, she approached the crime scene in the reception room—
"Could it be that the victim's fallen body obscured any traces left by the murderer? Or perhaps some important clues were concealed by the perpetrator—for example, Pokémon moves, like 'Light Wall' which refracts light to create blind spots, or 'Sneak Attack' which drags evidence into another dimension to hide it. If it's one of those mechanisms that only reveals the hidden object after the skill expires, it might have been overlooked by the officers investigating earlier."
“It’s unlikely,” said Yueju, standing behind the group. “After all, this case happened at the Alliance headquarters. This room has been searched repeatedly since the incident. There’s no way we would leave evidence hidden by a body. Besides, the possibility of someone using superpowers or spiritual power to tamper with it is also extremely low.”
"Why are you so sure?" Pachira turned around and questioned the Dark-type Elite Four member who didn't like her.
Yueju shrugged: "Not long ago today, the League asked some superpowered and psychic individuals who have regular cooperation with the police to assist in the investigation. Naturally, they found nothing. If you don't believe me, you can send out your own Pokémon of those attributes to check it out."
Before the King of Mischief could finish speaking, Chandelure reappeared in the room, followed closely by a fox Pokémon with red and yellow fur resembling a priestess, holding a burning branch in its hand. It was none other than the Fire/Psychic type, Fiery Fox.
"The truth never grows on the tongues of others, especially gamblers." Placing the two empty Poké Balls back at his waist, the Fire-type Elite Four member's face appeared particularly cold amidst the interplay of red and blue flames.
The crystal chandelier spirit flickered its pupil-less yellow eyes, while the demonic red fox gripped its wand with both paws. Although it couldn't be seen with the naked eye, there was no doubt that there were two parallel fluctuations in different dimensions, scanning the entire room without interfering with each other.
A few seconds later, the search stopped.
Chandelure swayed slightly, while Fiery Fox turned its gaze to its trainer, a flash of red light in its eyes indicating the activation of telepathy.
Pachira sighed, "Elite Four member, it seems your subordinates are a bit incompetent. There are indeed no signs of Ghost-type moves being used in the room, but the psychic energy fluctuations are as conspicuous as a coal-colored turtle shell in the sunlight."
"If you had examined it more carefully, you wouldn't have said that. The 'coal tortoise shell' you found is probably here, isn't it?"
With an indifferent expression, Lingju strolled to the vicinity of where Akromma had fallen unconscious, lightly tapping the ground with the tip of her pointed leather shoes—
"Unfortunately, this is the very place where Mr. Acromega received emergency treatment. Since ordinary antidotes were ineffective against the poisoned Acromega, after trying various methods, the doctors in charge of the emergency treatment finally decided to treat the patient using a Pokémon healing move—including the Psychic-type 'Heal Pulse'."
The gambler shrugged and spread his hands mockingly at Pachira: "The superpower fluctuations that your Fiery Red Fox sensed should have shown no signs of being deliberately concealed, right? This energy even revealed a certain benevolence, yet you regard such traces as a trap set by criminals to rob and kill—is this the empirical spirit that journalists tout?"
Pachira remained silent, seemingly having been struck where it hurt.
"It was just a momentary judgment. If Elite Four member Pachira continues his investigation, he will likely reach the same conclusion soon." Hugo smoothed things over for the guest from the Kalos region. "Putting aside personal grudges outside the case, the League Medical Department did indeed use the power of Pokémon during the emergency treatment. Acromuma's poisoning symptoms were significantly relieved after receiving Pokémon treatment, but he is still not fully recovered—this seems to reveal some nature of this 'nameless poison'."
"Could it be a compound toxin?" Azure asked.
"It might be, it might not. We haven't reached the end of our rope yet, so there's no need to jump to conclusions. Since the doctors can't determine the type of poison, it's best to respect their expertise and not speculate." The detective waved his hand at his assistant.
"The real question, as I said before, is: what are the differences between the crime scenes at the two points in time? Believe me, this is not a difficult question to answer."
"I understand."
The news anchor's clear, crisp voice rang out in the meeting room. She smoothed her hair and returned the two Fire-type Pokémon beside her to their Poké Balls.
"That is indeed an overly simplistic question. So that's what you were suspecting. No wonder you drove away the nearby Alliance guards beforehand. As expected of the new champion of the United States Alliance, you are not to be underestimated."
Pachira walked up to the detective, looking directly into his gray eyes through her tinted glasses.
"The difference between the crime scene that the police investigators saw and the scene that we saw was quite obvious."
She smiled and announced the answer in perfect standard Mandarin—
"At the crime scene we saw, the large group of paramedics and investigators who were diligently working around the scene were missing, and if nothing unexpected happened, there were also coalition officials supervising the search at the scene."