Pokémon Detective: Cynthia Forces Me to Adopt a Pokémon

Chapter 117 Navigation and Case Analysis

The sea rippled gently, and a few pink, swaying boats curiously chased the spray kicked up by the ship. However, the detective and his assistant had seen this kind of scenery countless times last month, and were now more concerned with the condition of the ship itself.

"I never expected that Mr. Doug would start a coastal passenger ship after selling his whaling boat. I thought that old man would continue to go out to sea to catch more roaring whales."

Azure gently patted the railing, filled with many emotions.

The roar of old Doug as he faced the giant whale during the pursuit of the Aquaman still seems to echo in my ears, but now, this old captain has actually found such a proper job, going back and forth on a fixed route from nine to five... It just feels a bit out of place.

"The roaring whale king has a huge appetite, and most people without a stable income cannot afford its three meals a day."

Hugo, still with his usual air of taking everything for granted, answered with little interest.

"Moreover, Doug has another advantage in conducting coastal passenger transport."

"What is it?" The girl tilted her head.

"The Whale Roar King's enormous size requires a vast space to roam, so it needs to frequently travel around the waters in this area. However, as a port city, Feiyun City has numerous waters of varying sizes that are inaccessible due to various reasons. There are privately contracted fish farms, dedicated diving areas for tourists, and important shipping lanes for ships. The Whale Roar King could easily cause a safety accident if it simply rolls over in those places, so releasing it directly would be extremely dangerous."

"Sigh, so many restrictions. So what? What does this have to do with Mr. Doug's new job?"

"It is the interwoven rules that make up this rational world, Azure," the detective in the white coat said mysteriously, arms crossed. "Mr. Doug used another rule to solve Wailord's walk problem."

Azure wanted to hear more, but then Hugo turned around and shouted "Hey!" at the sea.

Then, a fountain shot into the sky from the sea in front of the two, and a huge blue head emerged from the splitting waves.

"Huh? Is Wailord following behind this ship?"

Having dealt with them before, Azure wasn't surprised. She waved to Wailord, who responded with a friendly, deep call.

“That’s it.” Seeing Wailord emerge, the detective tapped the railing with his knuckles in delight.

"Just like I can throw Piplup into the waters near a ship and let it swim, it's perfectly reasonable and legal for ships and tourists to send Water-type Pokémon to escort them. Even though they're still in the ship's private lane, as long as they don't stray too far from the ship, it won't be considered illegal encroachment. As for whether the escorting Pokémon is Wishiwashi or Kyogre, who cares? The Unova League's regulations don't restrict the types of Pokémon they can use."

Before Azure could respond, tourists who had noticed the fountain and the whale song rushed to the deck, and the surroundings suddenly became noisy.

"It's Wailord!" "It's so close to us!" "What a huge fish!"

The bustling crowd of people taking photos with their phones made conversation extremely difficult, and the two detective assistants, feeling out of place, returned dejectedly to their seats in the cabin.

The nearby passengers were all drawn to the deck by Wailord, and Hugo, seeing that no one was around, got down to business—

"Have you finished reading the bombing information that Officer Jenny obtained through internal channels? What are your thoughts?"

Hugo pulled out a stack of paper documents from somewhere and asked while tapping the papers.

"I've finished watching it, and it feels a bit strange," the assistant honestly expressed her thoughts.

"I compared this explosion with previous power plant explosions in the United States and found that the scale, speed, and intensity of this explosion were unusually rapid. Normally, power plants should be equipped with explosion prevention measures, but these measures were completely ineffective in this explosion."

"Yes, very astute. The scale of this explosion far surpasses that of previous ones, unlike a typical accident. This will be a key focus of our investigation." Hugo nodded.

"Could it be sabotage?" Bilan wondered. "If it was someone familiar with the factory who deliberately planted the explosives, it should have been able to cause this effect."

"Sabotage?" The detective stroked his chin, staring seriously at the documents in his hands. "But what benefit could the perpetrator possibly gain from deliberately sabotaging a power plant?"

Azure thought for a moment and said, "Probably to vent hatred or express extreme views? Don't Team Plasma often do that?"

"Plasma clusters are indeed infamous, but that makes things even more suspicious. Don't forget who our clients are."

"Ah, that's true. If this was the work of Team Plasma, that young leader would have heard something about it..."

The assistant looked puzzled. Besides Team Plasma, who else in the Unova region would launch such a crazy terrorist attack?

After pondering for a long time without success, the girl changed her approach—

"By the way, Hugo, there's one more point of doubt."

"You mean that factory manager William, who is highly suspected by the police?" The detective glanced at his assistant, guessing his thoughts immediately.

Azure nodded generously: "That's right. Although the power plant manager's timely evacuation of the employees was excellent and saved everyone's lives, how exactly did he detect the signs that an explosion was about to occur?"

“He might know some inside information. But you have to understand, even the police couldn’t get that information out of him. As amateur detectives, it would be even more difficult for us to do so.”

Hugo shrugged, flipped the file to a page containing his conversation with Douzi, and continued—

"The only information left is what Mr. N provided. He said it was eyewitness testimony from a Bean Dove that flew by – at the scene of the explosion, all seventy-one Pokémon in the entire power plant died, and their shattered bodies were in the deep crater at the center of the explosion, and were disposed of by the police afterwards – this is something that did not appear in the report."

“I’m not sure whether to accept this testimony or not,” the assistant said hesitantly. “It’s not just a matter of the source of the intelligence; it’s a revolutionary lead. If we believe this lead, the whole picture of the bombing will change completely. The casualties are much more serious than the official reports, and even the behavior of everyone in Liyong City has become strange… Could there be a cover-up that even the local police have had to actively cover up?”

"Well... it's not impossible that a terrible scandal has occurred, to the point that the entire city has to be covered up with a devastating and complete explosion to cover up the whole truth."

The detective stroked his chin thoughtfully—

"If this is an internal scandal within the Alliance, it's no wonder that His Highness the Prince of Team Plasma is so interested in it."

"Should we still participate in this investigation? Isn't the Plasma Group our enemy?"

As the passengers who had been led to the deck by Wailord gradually returned to their cabins, Azure looked around and asked in a low voice.

“Of course.” The detective leaned back in his chair, casually folded the case files in half, closed his eyes leisurely, but his tone was resolute.

"I've always believed that only by bringing the truth to light and exposing the wounds to the air can they possibly heal. Plasma clusters don't appear out of thin air. If we simultaneously clear away their sprawling branches while continuously watering and fertilizing the soil that breeds them, the Unova problem will never be truly solved. And, Azure—"

The detective assistant, who was engrossed in listening, was startled when he suddenly heard his own name.

Hugo, at that moment, resembled a hunter on the move, his grey eyes hard and focused, like two steel needles capable of piercing the heart. He faced me, a smile playing on his lips, and said—

"We're detectives, after all. We can decide on the next steps after we've uncovered the truth—the mystery of this perplexing case is still unknown."