Pokémon Detective Case Files.

The detective's words echoed clearly in Touko's mind. Yet, at this moment, the girl wished that the conversation had never happened, so that at least she wouldn't be stammering and at a loss for words because she knew Akroma's true identity.

“Um… I don’t really know this Mr. Akromma.”

When treating an enemy as an ally, one thing to be careful about is that when that guy brings about his own destruction, don't let him drag you down with him!

"Really?" Security supervisor Gade looked at the girl with suspicion. "Akroma specifically requested a visit from you, didn't he? And you approved it. In fact, Miss Touko, you went to the meeting room today precisely to meet him, didn't you?"

"I... I was just curious why he came to me; I don't really know him."

Having already denied that he had spoken out, Douzi had no choice but to bite the bullet and answer.

In fact, before today, she had never actually seen Akromma in person. All her information about him came from Hugo's conversation with her before he left... But how was she supposed to explain things like "Akromma is actually a monitor from the Plasma Group" to the people in front of her?

"Speaking of which, when we were discussing the title succession with Champion Hugo, the on-site manager they sent was also named Akromma, right? Could he be the injured person who was attacked?"

The reinforcements appeared from an unexpected place—the security chief's superior, Ms. Gloria, the vice president of the alliance, looked at the investigation materials that Gade had given her and suddenly narrowed her eyes as if she had realized something.

"Huh? Is that so?" Gade, whose rank was not high enough to attend the meeting, pulled out his phone and showed the vice president a photo of Akromma unconscious from poisoning. "Is this the person in the photo?"

"It is indeed him, there's no mistake, after all, that hairstyle is quite eye-catching." The vice president nodded with certainty.

"Ah, that's right, it's Akromma." Douzi unleashed all the acting skills he had accumulated since entering the film and television industry, exclaiming with sudden realization—

“I thought this name looked really familiar! It’s the person Hugo told me about! I’m so sorry, I’ve never seen Akromá in person before, and I’d even forgotten his name. Isn’t he the assistant Hugo hired to help him with his daily affairs? Hahaha, look at my memory…”

"Sigh." A sigh drifted from beside the girl. "Touzi, you're still the same as before, so careless."

A childhood friend, in a lecturing tone, timely offered his sharp retort. This, ironically, completely filled in the awkward and forced parts of Douzi's words, managing to gloss over this part of the story.

"The champion's personal assistant? Then what brings him to Miss Douzi's place?"

Knowing Akroma's true identity, Gade was not satisfied and continued to press Douzi for answers.

"Please forgive my relentless pursuit, but we suspect that Akromma's reason for proposing this meeting may be related to the reason he was poisoned."

The girl shook her head in genuine helplessness.

“I don’t know either. Mr. Gade, who has seen the meeting request record, should know that the reason on it only says one line: ‘Something to discuss.’”

"Does Mr. Akroma have any documents related to the meeting among his personal belongings?"

Hei Lian's calm voice came from beside him—

"And what about the Pokémon they were carrying? Could they know anything about the meeting?"

"Unfortunately, the security department and the police have already investigated. Akromma had nothing on him except a pen, and the pen was nothing special; it was a cheap one that could be bought anywhere on the street."

"I remember Mr. Akromma left some writing on a piece of paper before he fainted, right? What did it say?"

Douzi recalled the scene when he saw the crime scene and asked sharply.

“They’re mathematical equations,” Gade replied.

The middle-aged man then manipulated his phone again, displaying a photo of an evidence item to everyone—

"Although the paper was stained with coffee, fortunately coffee is not ink, and the color is much lighter than the writing, so it will not affect readability."

Douzi and Heilian huddled in front of the screen and saw a piece of paper covered in coffee stains with densely packed formulas and several unintelligible diagrams, which looked like drafts left over from solving plane geometry problems.

"I can't understand a single word."

Douzi said honestly—

"Besides, I don't think Mr. Akromma intends to show this to me during the meeting—after all, I can't understand a single word. Could he have just written it for fun?"

"Judging from the illegible handwriting, it certainly doesn't seem like something meant to be shown to someone. However, although Mr. Akromma fainted in the meeting room, the calculations on the paper were complete, indicating that he did these calculations under conditions of having ample time."

Hei Lian rested his index finger on his chin and analyzed very seriously—

"Unfortunately, there are no units of measurement on this paper, so it's impossible to determine what he's calculating. From my understanding, it seems to be measuring the speed of something... or perhaps the power of some Pokémon move?"

"By the way, speaking of Pokémon. Could the Pokémon that guy who almost died while waiting for someone provide any clues?"

Douzi almost let something slip, but he quickly covered it up.

“There are no leads,” said the security chief at the United Alliance headquarters.

"Mr. Akroma was only carrying a taciturn Daewoo. It seemed unable to communicate and was indifferent to the trainer's plight. Even when we brought in another Psychic-type Pokémon to communicate with it, it didn't reveal any useful information at all."

Chapter 329 Poison Chain - Target

"By the way, Mr. Akromma's poisoning was also very strange."

Despite the already heavy atmosphere in the office, Mr. Gade, bound by his duty, could only continue speaking, adding insult to injury.

"No toxic substances were detected in the coffee residue on the table, and there were no traces of poison on the inside of the coffee cup. In the end, that cup of instant coffee was a standard item in the Alliance's break room, and it was brewed for Mr. Akromah by the staff at his own request—this was entirely a whim of the visitor, and neither the break room manager nor the clerk in charge of reception could have imagined that anyone would use this opportunity to poison him."

“I made myself a cup when I first came here,” Douzi testified, sticking out his tongue. “The taste wasn’t great, but it was pretty good at keeping me alert.”

"Are there any signs of Poison-type Pokémon intrusion at the scene?" Ignoring the acting champion's statement, Blackie asked with furrowed brows.

The security chief shook his head: "The police are investigating the ventilation ducts leading to that meeting room. They have also brought in Ghost-type Pokémon trained by Elite Four member Wanlong to check for any signs of spirits penetrating the walls of the meeting room, but so far we have not found any clues."

"Are there any surveillance cameras on site?" Douzi asked casually.

"The champion's private facility is not equipped with such facilities, but there is a camera in the corridor outside that can see the door to the meeting room. After reviewing the footage, no one other than Akroma was seen entering or leaving. In the surveillance footage in the lobby of the league headquarters, we can only see Mr. Akroma entering the headquarters with his hands empty, which is completely normal. In short, there is nothing unusual."

"Then... does Mr. Akromma have a habit of biting his pen?"

After pondering for a while, the girl with the high ponytail suddenly asked with an expectant expression—

"Is it possible that someone deliberately smeared poison on the cap of his pen, so that whenever the scholar encountered difficulties while calculating those formulas and subconsciously put the pen tip in his mouth in distress, the poison would unknowingly enter Mr. Akromma's body?"

"Hey, do you think this case is some kind of detective movie you made?"

Hei Lian pressed his brow, a little embarrassed, feeling sorry for his childhood playmate's naiveté.

"Regardless of how low the success rate of such a trick as smearing poison on the surface of a pen is, Mr. Akromma is, after all, an assistant appointed by the league champion. Judging from his neat appearance in the meeting room, he probably wouldn't have the kind of weird quirk that only a dim-witted person would have..."

“And the pen evidence is with the police.” Mr. Gade fiddled with his phone for a moment, seemingly communicating with someone on social media. After Blackie finished speaking, he continued, “They checked the evidence when they put it in the bag, and there were no bite marks or poison on it.”

"However, the fact that 'the injured person brought the poison into the Alliance headquarters from the outside' is indeed a very worthwhile direction for investigation."

The vice president of the alliance, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up—

“It’s almost impossible for the Alliance headquarters to have a way to obtain poison. Could it be that Akromar was poisoned in some way beforehand, and because the poison was in a capsule or for some other reason, it took a certain amount of time to take effect, so he only showed symptoms of poisoning after arriving at that conference room, and then fell into a coma there?”

“I personally think this is highly likely. If that’s really the case, then the whole incident has nothing to do with the Elf League itself,” Director Gade said respectfully, nodding.

"However, whether this is the case or not depends on the final diagnosis from the medical department. As I mentioned earlier, the current test results are completely unable to determine the type of poison Mr. Akromma was in."

“That’s certainly more rigorous.” Gloria nodded, her expression gentle as she continued, “So, Mr. Supervisor, is there anything else you’d like to ask these two trainers?”

"Yes, there is indeed one more thing... Just in case, I have another question I'd like to ask you both." After thinking for a long time, the middle-aged man said, "Miss Douzi, Mr. Heilian, have either of you offended anyone recently?"

"What does this mean?" The champion agent was a little confused and asked bluntly.

Gade coughed awkwardly twice: "Actually, it's nothing serious, just a routine social relations investigation. However, although it was Mr. Akromma who was poisoned in that meeting room, the method and means of poisoning remain unknown. So I have some suspicions that the person they really wanted to poison might not have been Akromma..."

"You mean, Akromma's poisoning might have been due to the perpetrator's mistake, and that Douzi and I could also have been the targets of the poisoning?" Hei Lian's expression changed, and he immediately asked seriously.

"Well, so it's not impossible."

The security supervisor sighed and shook his head, saying—

"We learned about the situation from the combat supervisor, Mr. Kachi. It was by an unexpected coincidence that the two of you accidentally extended the time for the combat assessment, which caused you to arrive at the meeting room an hour later than scheduled. Perhaps it was this one hour of downtime that caused the poison to be directed at Mr. Akroma, who was sitting there quietly."

"So that's why you're asking if anyone harbors murderous intent towards me or Douzi?" Hei Lian asked.

Gade nodded: "That's right, please forgive my intrusion."

“After all, a case really did happen, so it’s understandable.” Touko waved her hand magnanimously, but then she became troubled again. “But speaking of which, I really don’t have any mortal enemies. Even if there are some unlucky guys who lost prize money to me in battles, that’s just the rule of competitive games, and they shouldn’t complain about me no matter what…”

“Me too. I don’t think I’ve ever done anything that would make anyone hate me so much,” Hei Lian added. “Besides, it was by chance that I followed Douzi into that meeting room. I didn’t originally intend to join the meeting.”

"Then the real target of the poisoning is me, right?" The girl pointed to herself in surprise. "Wait, could it be that Team Plasma wants to get rid of me? After all, I seem to have ruined a lot of their plans during our past travels... But, but it's too much of a fuss to wait so long before they suddenly decide to kill me. That makes no sense."

"Group Plasma? Is that the organization that causes all sorts of incidents across Unova, yet enjoys the support of many fanatics?"

Mr. Gade, the security chief at the Union headquarters, asked with some confusion, seemingly unfamiliar with the massive organization lurking in the shadows of the Union.

"Yes, that organization claims to be working to liberate all Pokémon, but in reality, they've committed many atrocities, such as stealing other people's Pokémon and deliberately destroying important public facilities... Could I really be being targeted by them?"

“I also know something about that organization. It’s a terrifying organization where the higher you stand, the more fear you feel. It’s also something Mr. Adek and the Four Heavenly Kings are very wary of.” Ms. Gloria brushed a strand of hair from her forehead and then calmly continued—

"However, when it comes to a planned poisoning attack, compared to Team Plasma taking revenge on Miss Touko for old grudges, is there another possibility?"

"what do you mean?"

Blackie had a vague idea of ​​what the vice president was thinking, but the assumption was too important and far beyond the capabilities of a prospective gym leader.

However, Gloria did not hesitate at all, and with her usual calm expression, directly stated the young man's guess—

“What I mean is, neither Mr. Akromma nor Miss Touko may be the real target of this poisoning incident. If Mr. Gade’s ‘manslaughter theory’ is true, then the perpetrator who poisoned the victim may actually be someone else—and that person, like you and Miss Touko, did not appear in that meeting room on time for some reason.”

"Huh? Who is that person?"

Only Douzi remained oblivious to the somber atmosphere that permeated the scene.

The vice president of the United Alliance tapped the wooden desk of his office with his index finger, like the click of a crossbow bolt.

"It's the league champion who entrusted you to act as his representative, the one who doesn't want to reveal his identity to the public."

Chapter 330 The Poison Chamber – Bloodstains

When Hugo received the urgent message from the champion's agent, it was already the afternoon after his meeting with Karuni.

The Carlos champion's schedule remained as busy as ever. After attending a charity gala in Flying Cloud City, she immediately boarded a train to Raven City to attend the opening ceremony of an international fashion week.

That morning, Hugo and Azure had just brought Mia, who was troubled by dreams, to Dr. Makomo's Dream Research Institute. That reliable assistant was still there, helping with dream testing. The two Dream Egrets in the institute were very close to her, probably because Azure had previously accepted a pet-finding commission and brought them back to the institute from the vast city.

Incidentally, Miss Mia dreamt of the agaric mushroom she had released back into the wild again last night, though the details and scenes were all blurry. Hopefully, Dr. Makomo's dream connection device will work smoothly this time, helping her recover more memories.

To be honest, Hugo actually preferred to believe the psychoanalytic view of dreams, believing that dreams are merely a projection of a being's own desires, like a disordered mirror. Although they may seem bizarre at first glance, after sorting and analyzing them, people cannot see more information in them than they already know...

However, this world is full of strange and supernatural phenomena. Among the Ghost, Psychic, and Dark-type moves, there are skills capable of interfering with dreams. And it's not just Pokémon; even Gadlia, with a little effort, can use her psychic powers to create a dream-like effect in someone else's mind—this suggests that Mia's dreams were very likely interfered with by some supernatural factor, which explains the abnormality that led her to her death.

As for Hugo when he received the call, he was in the rented house where the "Plague Scholar" Servić had been murdered.

For this detective, the greatest advantage of becoming the league champion was that he could freely enter and exit various crime scenes without police escort, simply by using the league's high-level privileges.

While this access comes with various limitations, such as prohibiting unauthorized entry into the scene before a formal police investigation and ensuring each access is recorded in the alliance's database, the alliance, even formally, must prevent high-level access holders from becoming the perpetrator or their accomplice…

Even after all these restrictions, being able to walk alone to the crime scene where a murder had recently occurred, like taking a stroll, being seen off by unfamiliar police officers as if he were a leader on an inspection tour, and tearing off the yellow seal on the door of the crime scene without any psychological burden and striding into the room, was truly a rare and exhilarating moment for Hugo since he started working as a detective.

Perhaps infected by this good mood, the detective seemed to grasp a spark of inspiration as he observed the thoroughly searched house and the crime scene markers that the police had marked on the ground with white lines, showing the shape of the body lying on the ground.

"Speaking of which, when Officer Jenny and the others found the body, the deceased was lying face up, right? Miss Joy, because of the blood coming from the mouth and nose, as well as the unusual pupils and complexion, immediately determined that the deceased had died from some kind of poison, and further deduced that the scattered furniture around was due to the deceased's muscle spasms before death..."

Hugo looked around at his surroundings once more—

The furniture in this one-bedroom apartment was actually not much. In the living room where the body was found, apart from the desk in front of the deceased, the only items that could be considered furniture were a few low cabinets in the corner of the room, a table and chairs used as a dining table, a sofa, and two wooden decorations that looked like standing hat racks.

However, at this moment, all the cabinets were overturned, and the dining table, chairs, and sofa were all displaced from their original positions, with the latter also being overturned.

Keep in mind that the cabinet by the door was more than ten steps away from the desk, and the sofa and dining table were not objects that could be easily moved with a touch. If all of these were knocked over by Servić's uncoordinated limb twitching before his death, wouldn't such a large movement and relocation be too heavy and cumbersome for a poisoned person on the verge of death?

The most puzzling thing is the two standing hat racks that are still standing tall in the living room.

These two wooden shelves were clearly located on either side of the overturned sofa, along the route from the cabinet to the body. However, until the police arrived at the crime scene, these two wooden shelves, which should have collapsed at the slightest touch, remained firmly and upright in their original positions, completely unaffected by Servić's convulsive movements before his death.

Barring coincidence, it would have been impossible for the deceased to deliberately avoid the hat rack while struggling, and it would have been impossible for the intruder who later broke into the room and stole the documents to deliberately lift them from the ground...

Does this mean that the deceased's convulsions before death did not actually travel that far?

Ultimately, the claim that Servić, who died of poisoning, struggled in excruciating pain was merely a preliminary assessment made by toxicologist Joey upon seeing the crime scene.

Indeed, the deceased's facial expression was ferocious and distorted at the moment of death, and the furniture around the room was unusually scattered. A considerable number of people who died from poisoning would indeed convulse and roll around in a frenzied manner before death. However, Joey, who was responsible for examining the deceased's body, was after all just a doctor with relevant knowledge. Even though she was proficient in poisons and medicine and had rich experience in autopsies, she could not simply connect this information with the crime scene search.

Moreover, Miss Joey had just participated in the investigation of the Selvić poisoning incident and had been completely deceived by the despicable method of poisoning. Furthermore, due to her past experience as a doctor, she was aware of the "plague scholar's" past misdeeds. Upon seeing the victim's body, she probably felt a sense of satisfaction or gratification. Therefore, it was understandable that her judgment was influenced by her emotions, and she subconsciously believed that this abhorrent criminal had died in agony.

However, reality has its own logic that must be followed; people do not die for no reason due to cause and effect.

In this room, there is even more direct evidence to support Hugo's suspicions—the blood that has been flowing from the deceased's mouth and nose.

According to photos of the victim taken by the police before the autopsy, most of the blood from the victim's nose was on the lapel of the clothes he was wearing at the time.

After examining the entire scene, Hugo discovered a small bloodstain on the desk that Servilic had used as a drug mixing table. Judging from its location near the center of the desk, it was undoubtedly blood from his nose that had slid down his clothes.

And so, the contradiction arose—

If the deceased had struggled painfully in the room when the poison took effect, the blood flowing from his mouth and nose must have been everywhere with his violent breathing.

However, the detective also checked the other floors in the living room, but there were no traces of blood like those on the table.