Pokémon Detective Case Files.

Hayden speculated that the head of this financial magnate was likely a descendant of an ancient family from the Galle region, commonly known as the "aristocratic class."

As for why he was able to enter the sights of those noble figures when he first arrived in Galar, it was because a mysterious organization that called itself "The Club" acted as a go-between.

...A club? That doesn't sound like the full name. This seems to be new information.

Could it be a newly emerging underground organization in the Galar region? No, considering that they can control enormous capital, that organization should already have enough power to operate openly.

Officer Jenny listened quietly, her hidden recording device faithfully recording their conversation.

Having invested such a huge sum in sponsoring Hayden Pharmaceuticals, the ultimate goal of both the financial magnate and that noble descendant is equally simple and clear—

When a person's wealth and reputation have reached their peak, and their social status is unparalleled, their future pursuits will naturally be limited to continued existence in a biological sense.

Since Pokémon souls can be transferred into android bodies, wouldn't human souls be able to do the same thing if technology advances further?

If the theory is correct, then humans only need to keep replacing one bionic body after another, and then the ultimate goal of medicine—immortality—can be achieved so naturally and easily, right?

Hayden, in collusion with Medan, moved the research site from Binhai City to the deepest part of Baidai Forest in order to conceal the fact that the android experiment had been successful.

No, it's less about concealment and more about delaying the issue.

The company founder's real purpose was to extract funds.

As the android project neared its end, based on the subtle attitudes of the investors during regular meetings, as well as the intelligence and rumors gathered in the business world, Hayden keenly realized a rather grim fact—

Professor Medan and Hayden Pharmaceuticals are indeed close to successfully completing their bionic humanoid project and are already leading the world in fields such as bionic materials and Pokémon consciousness transfer technology. However, considering the follow-up of this research, they have actually not ventured into the next step of the investors' plans—the technology of "human consciousness transfer."

The financial tycoons that invested also showed no intention of making any further investments or commissioning them to research "human consciousness uploading" technology.

This situation arose partly because Hayden Pharmaceuticals itself lacked sufficient technological expertise. However, it was also because the investors, through the "club" channels, deliberately outsourced the research and development of this crucial technology for achieving "immortality" to other companies.

Hayden speculated that the institution he was dealing with was likely the Vladali Institute in the Carlos region, whose achievements in holography and brain science were unparalleled, and which also had intricate connections with the "Club" in the Galar region.

They want companies other than Hayden Pharmaceuticals to develop technologies for uploading humans into entirely new bodies, in order to prevent Hayden Pharmaceuticals from acquiring immortality technology at the same level as them. Otherwise, they would not be able to achieve a complete monopoly on "life" and "death."

It is conceivable that if Hayden had announced two years ago that the android project had been completely terminated, investors would have stopped investing without hesitation, taking all the information about the android project with them, leaving behind a small sum of money as consolation, and then withdrawing completely.

Moreover, once the financial ties between the two parties are severed, the relationship between the "club" and Hayden Pharmaceuticals may even evolve into hostility. The aristocratic conglomerates will not allow another company that also controls android technology to compete with them, and will inevitably do everything in their power to suppress Hayden Pharmaceuticals, which they previously supported.

By then, even the distributor alliance that is currently firmly on the side of Hayden Pharmaceuticals will become a thorn in the side of the company's board of directors, and who knows what underhanded tricks they might pull.

It was for this reason that Hayden finally decided two years ago to relinquish most of his power within the company and retire gracefully, becoming a freelance director specifically responsible for liaising with the Galar region.

Rather than watching the company fall into crisis and let years of hard work go to waste, it's better to adopt a posture of complete alignment with the Galar conglomerate, making the android project a secret between themselves and Medan. In this way, Hayden Pharmaceuticals would transform from a threatening enemy back into an ally with whom they could make money, leaving the other party with absolutely no reason to harm Hayden Pharmaceuticals.

Meanwhile, Hayden, still harboring a faint sense of resentment, also launched his own insignificant act of revenge.

Using the excuse that "the final stage of the secret research needs to be kept secret," the project, which was supposed to have ended two years ago, is still receiving a steady stream of funding from investors.

Hayden only needs to send back research data that Medan has already implemented to its partners little by little each month, like squeezing toothpaste, and a large amount of net profit will be generated out of thin air for Hayden Pharmaceuticals, which urgently needs to consolidate its foundation due to rapid expansion.

Professor Medan, being a stickler for logic, would certainly not readily agree with such an obviously deceptive practice. Moreover, he had a long-term collaborative relationship with the Galler scholars hired by the conglomerate, and the psychological pressure of lying and giving false testimony would be immense.

Therefore, as a condition for binding his old classmate to the same chariot, Hayden remembered the theory that Meidan had mentioned in the past to prove the reality of the gods, so he proposed a plan to renovate the Forest Mansion and set up a computer cluster in it, and continue to fund Meidan's second research project.

Compared to the ill-gotten gains amassed from the Galar conglomerate, this tiny, insignificant investment is truly just a drop in the ocean.

Although Officer Jenny had mentally reconciled the events leading up to this, Hayden's own account presented a completely different motive—

Hayden claimed that he continued to swindle investments from his benefactors who had helped him greatly not out of revenge or insatiable greed, but out of opposition to the "immortality" goals of aristocratic investors.

"...Although our company's main business is equipment development, we are ultimately in the medical industry. We provide hospitals and the public with scalpels that can remove tumors, instruments that can detect cancer, spray containers that can cure Pokémon, vaccines that prevent children from catching colds, and prosthetic legs that allow disabled people to walk freely... While most of these devices can certainly extend the lifespan of users to some extent, our ultimate goal is not the eternal survival of humankind, but rather a broader range of health."

"Given the current level of technology for all of humanity, even if my investors were to achieve immortality through androids, it would only be a privilege reserved for a small number of top-tier wealthy individuals."

"Wouldn't such a future be terrifying?"

"A large group of unproductive, privileged classes, with our help, have survived by using advanced technology, changing into bionic bodies to live on forever, and passing on their depravity and incompetence from generation to generation."

"In such an environment, wealth will become increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few. Future millionaires will no longer invest in conquering diseases and eliminating poverty, but will only compete for the right to use android bodies. Ordinary people will be regarded by the former as inferior lives that can only live for a few decades. The 'death' that can bring ultimate fairness to all mankind will no longer exist, and 'life' will become a special commodity that a small number of people can give and demand—such a future is 'unhealthy'."

"Therefore, although I dream of the birth of androids, I really can't approve of the projects of those collaborators. If possible, I hope to seal that terrible future within this forest mansion for as long as possible."

"Like the jar of punishment in the myth of Carlos, which seals away all the greed and evil in the world."

...They make it sound so nice, but what they actually do is no different from fraud.

Listening carefully to the words of the person being interrogated, Miss Officer Jenny certainly wouldn't accept all of the other party's ideas, but if she refuted them, she would interrupt Hayden's desire to communicate, so she could only silently complain in her heart.

Hayden's delaying tactics were actually quite clever—in order to keep the research content confidential, the cross-border funding of Hayden Pharmaceuticals by financial conglomerates was carried out covertly, thus leaving this cunning entrepreneur with a huge amount of room to manipulate the data.

Officer Jenny reviewed the Alliance's existing laws, and given the current situation, even if the Galar conglomerates discovered Hayden Pharmaceuticals' current improper behavior, they would most likely have no choice but to accept this loss in silence due to the lack of contracts and related evidence.

Hayden was essentially a cunning businessman who was so mature that he was almost overly shrewd.

For him, whether it's lofty "ideals" or down-to-earth "reality," they are all like the fighting stance of the Shield and Sword Monster, which can be switched at will.

To realize his science fiction dream, he was willing to cooperate with dubious and unknown organizations to put it into practice. When he wanted to seek practical benefits for his company, he could also concoct a set of lofty theories that were in his own best interest and believe them to be his ideals.

If you have to choose one side of the scale, then use any means necessary to take the entire scale away—that's the kind of person Hayden was.

As for Hayden's old friend Medan...

.

Just as Miss Officer Jenny's thoughts were shifting, and the interrogation of the two people in the corner of the reception room was drawing to a close, in the center of the spacious hall—

"Bamboo Orchid Champion, what you said... is it true?"

Professor Medan's cry of shock mixed with terror came through the room.

Chapter 292 Resolution – Zhulan's Turn

"Professor Meidan, are you aware of the implications of the experiment you are conducting?"

Just as Officer Jenny pulled Director Hayden aside to whisper in a corner of the meeting room, Champion Bamboo Orchid stood in front of Mei Dan, her expression more solemn than ever before, as if facing some kind of taboo.

"Is your...computer program already running?"

"Of course it's already running. Otherwise, what have I been doing all this time in the Mori Mansion for the past year and a half since the alphabet was compiled?"

Medan's sunken eyes shone brightly as he faced the most renowned mythologist in the Sinnoh region. His mind, which should have been drowsy in the dead of night, was more excited than ever before.

"Theoretically, if we fully utilize the highest refresh rate and maximum text utilization of electronic screens, it would only take a day and a night of processing time to play all nine billion names of the gods. Of course, such a high-frequency approach certainly carries many risks—data information might occasionally have subtle encoding errors, causing the text to not display correctly; at high speeds, the monitor might also experience screen tearing in a certain frame, and that fatal real name might just happen to be embedded in it... In short, if after such a hasty all-night calculation, the creator god still hasn't personally issued a divine decree, I can't confidently guarantee that I've proven the non-existence of gods, can I?"

Faced with the enthusiastic and sincere old professor, the Sinnoh champion's initial assertiveness was completely ineffective, and he could only nod and follow along—

"Yes. And such an attempt can most likely only be repeated once. No matter how humble a god is, he cannot show the same answer twice to the same person."

"That's right! So—in order to shut up those who might raise questions in the future, I adopted the safest calculation method."

The old man waved his arm downwards, as if directing a cluster of computers in the basement to form an array—

"To reduce all possible risks, I slowed down the display speed of each group of names to a level that was barely recognizable to the naked eye, and the list of names was changed from a dense array that covered the entire screen to a more eye-catching and clear, loosely distributed one... More importantly, I set a principle for this experiment."

"Principles?" The Sinnoh champion suddenly recalled a detail from when they entered the mansion. "Could it be that you must..."

“Yes,” Mei Dan said proudly, interrupting.

"As the computer monitor slowly refreshed at four times per second, displaying the list that included the true names of the gods, I, Medan, the one who was trying to summon the gods to question their existence, had to be present in person to supervise the entire experiment—this was the principle I set for myself."

In other words, although the experiment of listing the names of gods had already begun, it was temporarily suspended now that Medan had left the basement.

Sure enough...

Zhu Lan shook her head helplessly, trying to shake off the inexplicable sense of frustration.

If Hugo were here, the detective would have realized the truth instantly—when he and Officer Jenny first visited the Forest Mansion, they were greeted by the maid Zina, not by Medan, the mansion's owner.

Professor Medan finally appeared behind them after the three of them had wandered around the Forest Mansion and arrived at the sewage pool where the stinking mud was kept.

At the time, Zhu Lan didn't find anything strange about it; she just thought that Mei Dan probably heard the noise somewhere on the first floor of the mansion and rushed over.

But at that time, the guests that Mori Mansion was scheduled to receive were not them, but Director Hayden.

For Mei Dan, Hayden was an investor who had shown her great kindness and support. Even disregarding that, the professor and Director Hayden were not only old classmates but also close friends. Furthermore, given the professor's eagerness to share the experimental progress in the main room, Mei Dan, knowing in advance of Hayden's visit, would have undoubtedly waited in the mansion's lobby, ready to greet him at the first knock.

But the reality was quite the opposite. Professor Medan didn't even appear until the maid nervously descended from the second floor and hesitated for a long time before opening the door to greet the guest. Wouldn't such hospitality seem overly cold and distant?

The only explanation for this is that Professor Medan had more important things to do than leisurely entertain guests.

Until the guests he was entertaining entered the mansion, he was unwilling to waste a single second of the time that could have been used to advance the experiment. He remained in the dark basement, observing the constantly changing names on the computer screen.

What a desperate surveillance project this is!

Among the endless array of phonetic scripts, a large majority are meaningless combinations of letters, but similarly, the true names of all people in this world, all self-aware life forms, are also contained within those nine billion lists…

What Mei Dan wanted to find was that original name.

More than a year and a half has passed since Meidan created the new alphabet and wrote the name output program in the Forest Mansion.

As if sensing the dazed look on the Sinnoh champion's face, Meidan continued frankly—

"The experiment has been going on for a year and eight months. I spend ten hours a day in front of that monitor. Considering that the monitor refreshes every quarter second and displays forty names at a time, we have now tried..."

The old man lightly hooked his finger in the air in front of him, solving a mathematical equation.

"We've tried about 3.4 billion names. It will take at least three more years to count all 9 billion names. I've been thinking about spending a few more hours in front of that screen every day, but Hayden always tells me not to worry about the time. I really don't know where he got his money."

Why drag out a task that could be completed in one night into several years?

Is the old professor in front of us also subconsciously afraid of something?

Zhu Lan couldn't believe what the person in front of her was saying and couldn't help but question him—

"Did you sit in front of that monitor like a monk meditating against a wall for almost two years, and even plan to continue doing so for another three years?"

It's hard to imagine that a rational believer in science like Medan would do such a thing; this behavior is even more meaningless than listing nine billion names of God.

However, it was this inexplicable meaninglessness that made Zhu Lan, as a mythologist, frantically sound the alarm bells.

—That obsessive behavior seemed to be manipulated by some kind of will.

"It was a bit uncomfortable at first, but I gradually got used to using my peripheral vision to observe the situation on the screen."

Professor Mei Dan was completely oblivious to Zhu Lan's wavering and continued speaking naturally.

"Hehe, maybe I already found that meaningful name at the very beginning. It's just that the guy known as 'God' by the world lacks the magnanimity and ability to support His omnipresence on this planet. Next, we just need to keep running this process to the end, and this high-ranking existence of God can be completely denied by mankind—whenever I think of this, I can't help but feel happy. Compared with this kind of joy, what are a few tedious steps?"

"Besides, I don't need to read all the names on it; I'm just monitoring whether the list is refreshing smoothly. If I detect a malfunction, I can rewind the progress to a previous stage and recalculate—but such a malfunction hasn't occurred in the past year and a half. I don't need to stare at it every second; once I'm familiar with the pattern of the screen's movement, I can balance the frequency of inspection and relaxation. Even if I have to spare most of my attention to think about other tasks—such as the follow-up details of the android project—it's not a problem at all."

"That's why your room was set up in front of that huge monitor in that underground laboratory."

Zhu Lan suddenly realized what was happening, and then changed her mind again—

"No, it should be the other way around. It's precisely because that location is easily visible from the room's lounge area that you installed the computer monitor there on the opposite side."

Mei Dan nodded: "Yes, the monitor Hayden bought for me is wide enough that even when I'm resting on the bed in the small room, I can clearly see the forty names listed on it. Besides reviewing it, I also take notes on the desk next to me in the research reports that weren't fully detailed in the previous android project. Sometimes I also write some notes, recording the side technologies that I didn't have time to develop when I was rushing to finish the project. Now, I'm even starting to think that this method actually improves my research efficiency."

This is why the desk lamp in the basement room shows signs of long-term use, which must be indirect traces left by Professor Mei Dan as she diligently wrote in the dimly lit basement...

"The only downside is that I can't check the screen while reading the book," the professor continued.

"After all, whether it's literary works or academic materials, you can't help but immerse yourself in them when you're reading. But if you don't get into it, it's far from being reading—which contradicts my purpose of monitoring the screen."

“I see. So when Miss Jenny and I checked the basement, we couldn’t find any books in the small inner room. We were misled by Professor Medan and thought it was a scene of evidence destruction. It turns out they were on the bookshelves in the librarian’s room from the very beginning…”

"Don't worry about such trivial details, they're mostly just for some pointless reasons anyway," Mei Dan waved her hand.

That was by no means a trivial reason. The mythologist thought, gripping the hard wooden cover of the ancient book in his hand.

The real devil is in the details.

Deep within the Hundred Generations Forest lies a place where immense life force and supernatural energy converge, making it a site of urban legend – the Forest Mansion.

Through rigorous exhaustive investigation, if Medan's theory is correct, the true name of God can almost certainly be obtained.

And Professor Medan, who embodies will, knowledge, and fervent emotions, and who stands by the side throughout the ritual.

The ritual altar, the offerings, and the person performing the ritual.

All the most crucial elements have been prepared.

From Medan's perspective, this was merely an experimental study initiated to pursue self-satisfaction. But from her point of view as a mythologist, this rational to the point of madness, this atheist, had somehow managed to gather all the necessary conditions for completing a séance in a completely counterintuitive way.

Considering the object of the invocation, this ritual is even slightly higher in status than the summoning ritual performed by Akari atop Mount Tenguan. However, the latter ritual possesses a binding force that transcends time and space, while the possibility of Medan successfully invoking a deity is extremely slim.

However, there are always exceptions.

Will the legendary Pokémon that the world reveres as a belief, the one that created the world and all things, commonly known as "Arceus," appear here in person at some point in the future, when computers have exhausted the possibilities of words, when His true name is fully revealed?

……

"No, there are still a few doubts."

Before that ultimate answer arrived, Zhu Lan forcibly pulled herself back to reality and asked earnestly—