Pokémon Detective Case Files.

Zhu Lan shook her head and pointed to the wall lamp that had survived the earthquake not far away—

"It could be more precise. Because if all the electrical appliances in the Forest Mansion had restarted due to a short circuit, the people inside would have noticed the sudden flickering of the lights. Professor Medan, who had been in the basement monitoring the screens, would have noticed the circuit anomaly immediately—but none of the people in the mansion at the time, whether it was Medan and Zina who were already in the house, or us who were the first to arrive, or Neil and Venetian, noticed anything unusual."

"The only reason why everyone missed the moment of the power outage at the same time is because that moment overlapped with something else—my coaching match with Neil's assistant."

"Only during that period of time were we either outdoors or standing by the window looking at the open space in front of the Mori Mansion, which is how we narrowly missed the most crucial moment of the whole incident."

"Was the android's 'decapitation' moment actually at this time?" the investigator pondered.

"Then, Rotom disassembled his body as described above, first using the electrical wires to leave the attic, then wandering around the mansion before unfortunately getting trapped behind the wall of the master's room. There, he overheard Madon and Hayden's conversation. Because he was trapped by the 'Light Wall,' he was forced to make strange noises, banging on the wall, which attracted us all to the master's room."

"It's ironic that a plasma being capable of freely moving through electrical wires could be trapped by a mere 'wall of light.'"

"It's probably because when Rotom travels through the electricity, it needs to convert its entire body into a special type of electric energy, and 'Light Screen' can reduce the effect of special moves by half, which is why Rotom in the circuit becomes a half-energy, half-solid entity."

In response to Officer Jenny's complaints, Cynthia, who had previously assisted Dr. Yamanashi in collecting the encyclopedia, speculated.

"It was precisely because it partially materialized at that moment that it was able to make a sound when it hit the wall. Considering that it was willing to make a sound and expose itself rather than continue to endure this state and wait for the two people in the room to finish their conversation, being forced to maintain that state must have been very painful, right?"

"Yes, it hurts a lot."

The man answered in a straightforward voice, indicating that he was truly impressed.

"Then you came up with the idea of ​​blowing up this mansion and then sneaking underground to find the naughty bombs, right? Meanwhile, we were busy running around in circles with your head in the mansion."

Officer Jenny pounded on the android's head and complained.

Come to think of it, it was she who had examined this head herself before, and she didn't really have much awe for something that looked exactly like a real head.

"Tell me honestly, how did you obtain information about the Mischievous Thunder Bomb back then?"

Rotom confessed honestly: "The wild Rotoms that live in this Forest Mansion originally relied on the electrical energy that leaked out near the Naughty Thunderball to survive. So I knew from the beginning that there was a huge round creature sleeping in a steel cocoon beneath the Forest Mansion."

"Did you know back then that plucking that crescent feather would awaken that guy?"

"Of course it's impossible to know. When you explored that cave, the giant creature inside was no longer there, which is why you were able to approach that device so easily. Normally, that place would emit an aura of oppressive power that would make us dare not approach at all, and there would be violent electric currents around it that would frighten even us Rotom. It's impossible to know what's inside."

"Huh?" Officer Jenny raised an eyebrow warily. "Then how did you break the seal on Electrode? Wasn't Electrode inside the device when you broke the seal?"

“I learned about the method to break the underground seal from the researchers of the Galactic Group,” Rotom said.

"Just as people wouldn't deliberately explain things to their experimental subjects, they also wouldn't intentionally withhold information from them. Therefore, I heard from a short, imposing human about their speculations about subterranean creatures and their plans to liberate them..."

“Wait, that short human you mentioned—he wouldn’t happen to be a researcher who wears red round glasses, looks old, has sparse hair, and a flamboyant hairstyle, would he?” Officer Jenny interrupted the android’s statement impatiently.

"It seems you know that human."

The man didn't deny it and continued—

"That's right, he mentioned in front of us that it's not necessary to go deep into the device. All we need to do is continuously release low-frequency, massive infrasound waves in the direction of the sealing device from close range, and we'll have a chance to make the Pokémon inside the device agitate. The agitated sealed Pokémon will inevitably cause electromagnetic tremors in the vicinity. As long as the sound waves continue long enough, the core of the device will eventually collapse on its own because it can't withstand the tremors."

"Such a treacherous method...it's totally that person's style," Officer Jenny remarked.

Pluto, formerly the chief scientist of the Galactic Cluster.

Everything in this forest mansion seemed to revolve around this prisoner.

Was his statement to Rotom intentional or unintentional? Was Rotom's misunderstanding of Hayden Pharmaceuticals entirely his doing?

“Infrasound…” Zhu Lan stared at the android head for a moment, then nodded. “I see, you used the ‘Noisy’ move.”

"This skill is called 'noisy' by humans, which is quite an apt name. Because I can hear those sound waves myself, continuously unleashing that attack is incredibly painful, but I persevered in the end... even though it was an effort that only led to disastrous consequences."

Rotom said somberly in the language module.

"After the seal was broken, I saw for the first time the giant Pokémon that I used to draw energy from to survive. Its reddish-brown body, radiating immense electric light, was like a god to us Electric-type Pokémon."

"However, this god was filled with rage and completely ignored me, the culprit who woke it from its slumber. Instead, after breaking free of the steel cocoon, it used a shocking green energy to clear away the ancient tunnel that was originally buried by rocks, and leaped and zigzagged like lightning towards the Forest Mansion above."

"You who awakened the mischievous thunderbolt, didn't you ever consider that you might also encounter misfortune?"

Zhu Lan asked calmly.

She was neither as sarcastic as Medan, nor as frivolous as Hayden, nor did she conceal her motives for gathering intelligence like Officer Jenny.

She simply looked quietly at the blind android head with concerned eyes.

"There was no other way, after all, I misunderstood the situation back then. I am truly sorry to everyone who has absolutely no connection with Team Galactic. But at that time, even if it cost me my newborn life, I was determined to take revenge on my imagined Team Galactic allies."

"Rotom, what exactly have you misunderstood?"

The museum owner's daughter, Miss Vinnie, who had witnessed the entire incident, asked the increasingly faint voice of the android head.

"Sigh." Mei Dan sighed and put her hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"It's our fault. Hayden and I spoke too easily and were misunderstood. This is truly the retribution for our years of speaking carelessly."

"What exactly did you say in the curator's room back then?"

The girl then turned her gaze to her father's old classmate.

"Mass production of androids".

Perhaps influenced by Rotom, Hayden finally stopped beating around the bush and began to state the answer in a straightforward manner.

"Hayden Pharmaceuticals had previously produced a large batch of chips for the android soul module, but due to a change in the sponsor's demand, they were temporarily shelved. Before coming to this Forest Mansion, I negotiated with Galar's investors once again. This time, I finally made the difficult decision to cut my losses and gave the order to the project manager in the company."

The former chairman, who served as a director in the company he founded, displayed an unprecedentedly authoritative expression, as if he had returned to the moment he made the decision, and declared decisively—

"To protect the technology, we destroyed the souls of all five hundred androids."

"Hayden was very unwilling to make this decision, so I pretended to be cheerful and talked a lot of big talk in the owner's office to distract him from business."

"That's what the owner of Meidan Museum said."

"Naturally and conventionally, this included a lot of vulgar language about so-called 'gods.' I even said things like, 'Even if the Creator created humankind, there is no nobility about it,' and 'It is the duty of the created to provoke the gods,' and so on..."

In front of the androids he created, these words were like "bone boomerangs," hitting Professor Medan on the back.

"Sigh. Even without your instigation back then, my actions probably wouldn't have changed."

Rotom, inside the android head, sighed, deeply regretting his misunderstanding—

"After all, based on the information I obtained in the Galactic Group's laboratory, given the brutal nature of that organization, those five hundred chips must undoubtedly contain the remains of my former brothers and sisters. Being placed inside chips that never see the light of day and destroyed without anyone noticing... To me, who personally experienced all of this, this is undoubtedly an inhumane massacre."

"The destroyed bionic chips were the next generation model, which only had artificial code pre-loaded on them. This is what Meidan called the fourth generation of bionics controlled by programs, following the Pokémon-controlled bionics. However, before those chips were activated by the bionic bodies, they had never even developed consciousness in the form of data. In fact, the reason I was determined to destroy them was largely because I was worried that these chips might be taken by industrial spies or negligent company insiders and activated on their own during long-term storage."

Hayden explained.

"Rather than risking morality by executing those inhuman digital life forms after they have emerged, it would be better to nip such a possibility in the bud."

Hayden, who once disregarded scientific ethics and initiated research on androids on his own, has now become more conservative.

Is this because his own perception has changed, or because the market trend has shifted?

Officer Jenny believes it should be the latter.

The mere Rotom inside the android was enough to shake the entire Forest Mansion. Officer Jenny couldn't even begin to imagine what the world would become if five hundred such robots were released into the world.

People today, whether they are aggressive financiers, kitsch enthusiasts with strong consumer desires, or new generation students deeply influenced by science and culture... even they are definitely not psychologically prepared to face the era of androids.

"Now that things have come to this, I can certainly fully understand the situation that shrewd humans are talking about. But yesterday, there was only one thing I could do—to check this entire Forest Mansion to see if any of my companions still lived here."

“The Rotoms have all moved far away because of the new cable connection,” Hayden’s henchman, Steward Aying, said sympathetically.

"Yes, of course that's the most reasonable explanation. But, but I misunderstood back then... Not only that, I was also blinded by my desire for revenge."

.

This was the final outcome of the Mori Mansion incident.

Under the rising sun, an orange Pokémon, surrounded by translucent blue plasma, emerged from a human's head like a genuine soul.

Then, a waterfall of blue tears gushed from its eyes, turning into flashing arcs of electricity and disappearing.

The Rotom phone of the bamboo orchid flew to its side, seemingly wanting to comfort it, but it had no idea what to say at this moment.

Having turned its thoughts into a machine, it couldn't even understand its own people's language smoothly...

No, there is another language that can be expressed smoothly in any situation.

Rotom, floating in the air, spread its materialized plasma arms and tightly embraced the tiny red mobile phone Rotom in front of it.

I was reluctant to let go for a long time.

"Your people are all safe and sound, and they are still living well."

The Sinnoh champion spoke in a gentle voice.

"Some of them, though abused by Team Galactic, have now recovered their spirits at the Pokémon Hospital; some, like you, were scattered to some corner of the Sinnoh region, but as Team Galactic disintegrated, they were gradually discovered and liberated by the League; some returned to this pleasant Eterna Forest and resumed their free lives; some became interested in the research of the League scientists and voluntarily became Rotom Pokédex members; and some Rotom, like this child, found Pokémon Trainers who recognized them."

Sunlight streamed through the gray windows of the Forest Mansion, falling on the champion's long, golden hair.

"So please put your mind at ease. Rotom, the leader of the Hundred Generations Forest, or rather, the head of the Rotom family of the Forest Mansion."

Chapter 300 The End of the Forest Mansion Incident

"Phew... We finally got rid of this incident. To use that troublesome investigator's words, it was like a sea cucumber spitting out its entrails to escape—a huge loss indeed."

Inside the impressive luxury limousine, Chairman Hayden reclined his seat, propped his shoes-clad feet against the windshield, and made a remark with utterly no grace.

"Mr. Hayden, the Alola box cucumbers are actually surprisingly brutal. Their name isn't without reason; once stepped on, their gutted organs will brutally beat the enemy like fists. Therefore, rather than shedding their tails to survive, their act of gutting out their internal organs is more like a suicide attack..."

The man known as Aying adjusted the car navigation system in front of his seat, carefully correcting his employer's words.

"Speaking of which, is it really appropriate for me, the driver, to sit in the car with you, the employer? Although Corviknight itself remembers the route back to the center of Eterna City, it's still easier to control the stability of the flight if a trainer is riding on its back."

"Don't be so formal, Aying."

Director Hayden waved his hand with his eyes closed.

"As you know, this heterochromatic armored raven has undergone professional training by the Galar Racing Company. No matter who sits on its back, it's practically just for show. So don't stay up there in the cold wind. At worst, just make it fly slower."

"Ok."

Upon hearing the employer's instructions, the bodyguard/driver, dressed in a butler's uniform, calmed down, pressed the button on his headset again, and gave the order to the Steel Raven on the roof of the car to take off immediately.

Hayden gazed at the slowly descending horizon and the villa in the woods gradually disappearing from view, letting out a groan-like sigh—

"I don't know why, but ever since I entered that Forest Mansion, I've had this uneasy feeling. Even now, after we've driven away from that strange building in the Steel Raven, that ominous premonition still lingers and won't go away. Aying, do you feel the same way?"

Could it be that the business owner insisted on having the driver sit in the truck with him because he was worried about a plane crash?

The steward sitting next to Hayden shook off his inner grumbling about the wealthy and, spreading his hands, answered the question truthfully—

“I don’t feel that way at all, sir. Rather, because I designed most of the interior furnishings myself, I feel quite at home when I stroll around the mansion. I was a bit surprised when the earthquake happened, but before I could react and realize that something was wrong, Zhu Lan Champion had already solved all the problems neatly and efficiently.”

"As expected. Whether it's Medan or the builder from a hundred years ago, their schemes have absolutely no effect on someone like you."

Hayden tugged at his seatbelt, shifting to a more comfortable leg-crossing position, then wagged his index finger at his steward and said—

"It was the same when I sent you to inspect the mansion in the past. You personally experienced that abandoned mansion, which was a hundred times more eerie and terrifying than it is now. But when you came back, you were as calm as if you had just gone for a walk. With the same indifferent expression as usual, you reported to me that the mansion could be completely renovated. I was terrified when I just glanced at the photos you brought back. Those images, which at first glance looked no different from ghost photography, gave me the creeps."

"That was probably a prank by the ghost Pokémon in the mansion back then. I've lived in similar remote mountain villages since I was a child, so I'm very familiar with this kind of environment."

Ah Ying shrugged.

"This is not just a problem of living environment."

Director Hayden finally put his feet down, then turned to the butler, carefully examining Ah Ying's middle-aged face, which was much younger than his own.

"When that champion made his declaration of solving the mystery, revealing the nature of the experiment, and disclosing the historical truth, you were still as uninterested as ever, weren't you? Ah Ying, you are completely indifferent to elements like the supernatural, the bizarre, the sublime, and the sacred. Compared to Mei Dan, who tried to prove it, you, who always maintain an attitude of no doubt, are more like a more steadfast atheist, aren't you?"

"It's just that my senses are dulled. I do not believe in gods, though. I think it's better if such things don't exist, whether they are real or not. But in this respect, how could I possibly compare to Professor Medan?"

The manager gave an awkward, wry smile.

“Mr. Hayden, you clearly know my background perfectly well. There’s no need to pry into my mind like this. Just ask me directly, and I will answer honestly.”

“Okay, then I’ll just ask directly.” The employer didn’t stand on ceremony and said directly.

"Although it was just out of curiosity, how did you feel when my old classmate, Professor Medan, mentioned the Arceus Society in the mansion?"

"I don't feel anything. If you know my past, you can understand. I have no attachment to that place."

"Really? Then the second question is the one I'm most curious about."

Director Hayden then asked—

"As the saying goes, 'once bitten, twice shy,' having suffered a great loss in this informal interrogation, I really want to know—how exactly did you manage to successfully conceal your true identity from Officer Jenny?"

"Is that the intelligence investigator who's been relentlessly pursuing the master?"

Manager Aying was not surprised by the term "true identity," and simply recalled it calmly.

“When you and Professor Mei Dan were chatting in the curator’s office, she asked me a question. At the time, I felt that hiding it from them might cause some trouble, so I took the initiative to tell her about the construction of this Forest Mansion. She seemed very satisfied with my voluntary confession, and in addition, those people were later distracted by the chaos in the curator’s office, so they didn’t pursue the matter any further… Can you accept this explanation?”