Pokémon Detective Case Files.

Outside the coffee shop, the tense atmosphere, which had been shrouded in the threatening voices of the men in black, was instantly interrupted by the sudden, high-pitched howl of the man who exploded.

Officer Jenny acted decisively and issued the order without hesitation—

"Something's happened inside! Everyone, launch a full-scale attack immediately!"

Chapter 351 Interlude - Poison as Observed as Fire

The interrogation room was lit with a stark white light, like gauze soaked in bleach, as if this incandescent bulb was destined from the day it was born to cover up some unspeakable filth.

The suspect who was caught red-handed destroying evidence at the crime scene—the one who openly took hostages on the street—is now sitting in a stainless steel chair behind the interrogation table, his hands firmly restrained by cold handcuffs.

Sera, the interrogator, sat opposite him in her police uniform, her fingers interlaced, her gaze hidden in a dark shadow.

"Tell me, why did you come to Unova?"

The man who had removed his black robe continued to feign deafness and muteness, turning his head away to intently study the mottled patterns on the iron tabletop.

Many criminals had been terrified by that suspected bloodstain, but according to Sera's recollection, it was just a coffee stain that Officer Jenny accidentally spilled from her cup during her first interrogation...

Faced with the other party's uncooperative attitude, Sera sighed softly, her tone remaining gentle—

"Stop pretending. While that Roaring Bomb's roar was loud, it hadn't evolved into a Podmonkey yet; its 'loudness' wasn't enough to instantly deafen someone. Didn't you recover before being put in the police car? Someone who can't hear won't attack an approaching detective with footsteps while pretending to be dead. Now, just confess honestly."

The man clicked his tongue, still ignoring the interrogator. Miss Serra continued speaking on her own—

"Even if you remain silent, it will be pointless. Following your movements, the Feiyun City police have already searched your previous hideout. There, we found the raw materials for the drug left behind by Servilik before his death, as well as the centipedes he used for large-scale poisoning. There is no doubt that you are closely related to the poisoning case that occurred in the rented house on the east side of Feiyun City."

"What? You think I killed that dead man?"

The suspect turned around and uttered his first words since stepping into the police station.

Sera neither confirmed nor denied this, but responded in a formulaic tone: "The case is still under investigation. Although much of the evidence found so far is against you, we are willing to hear your explanation before we thoroughly investigate the whole story."

A disdainful snort escaped the man's nose. He looked Sera up and down, then turned his head away again, leaving behind two words—"Boring."

Despite this cold reception, the interrogator showed no emotion whatsoever, which was precisely the main reason she was assigned to conduct this interrogation.

In fact, Sera was even a little relieved at this point. Although the suspect in front of her appeared calm on the surface, he must have faced police interrogation before, but his past experience had not taught him any useful lessons, only making him seem hesitant and timid in his answers—this kind of criminal was actually easier to deal with.

Then, Sera calmly and slowly spoke again—

"Furthermore, regarding your identity, our Feiyun Police Department has also made some progress. Your Mightyena and Ancient Armor are very representative Pokémon in the Hoenn region. Therefore, we have just compared your photo with the Hoenn League Police database and obtained the expected results."

After hearing this, the man shut his mouth tightly again and stopped speaking. He probably wanted to escape reality, but how could the interrogator give him the chance to escape?

"Segawa, male, had his first criminal record when he was twenty years old for participating in a gang fight. During his three-year prison sentence, he joined a prison break operation planned by an unknown organization and has been missing ever since... According to the subsequent investigation by the Hoenn police, that organization is most likely the extremist group, the Water Fleet, led by Goto, the former director of Hoenn TV station."

"Who is Segawa? I don't know the person you're talking about."

As Sera calmly recounted the events, the interrogator began to panic. His gaze darted around, his head shook incessantly, and his hand unconsciously pressed against his right shoulder.

The interrogator naturally understood the meaning behind the man's action. The officer who searched the suspect had already told her that the man had a small anchor-shaped tattoo on his upper right arm, which was undoubtedly some kind of mark of a member of the water fleet.

However, Sera knew that now was not the time to reveal this evidence to provoke the other party. She needed to patiently wait for the right opportunity to further break down the suspect's psychological defenses.

"Your ancient armor..."

Miss Serra adjusted her square-rimmed glasses, deciding to approach the suspect from a different angle. To obtain the most accurate testimony, she needed to tighten the noose around the suspect's neck little by little.

"The forensic department of Feiyun Police Station has already extracted a simple genetic sample from it, and we will compare it with evidence from a past case in the Hoenn region."

The policewoman's voice was calm and composed.

"In that incident, the transport truck carrying the ancient Pokémon embryos from Devon Corporation was switched. However, the research lab that created the Pokémon embryos still has complete data from the fossil restoration experiments. By comparing the two, we can confirm the lineage of this ancient armored creature."

Sera watched the prisoner before her, noticing how he gradually lowered his guard because of these seemingly insignificant details. A barely perceptible smile appeared on her face as well—

"The mastermind behind that theft has now been arrested for another incident. He is being held in a prison under the Interpol organization in the Johto region, where he confessed to all his crimes. You may have heard of his name and his underworld nickname... a high-ranking officer in the Water Fleet, known as 'Runaway Alarm.' And he just so happens to have been caught in a smuggling case that our Feiyun Police Station helped solve."

The interrogator's face, which had just relaxed, suddenly tensed, and his eyes widened. He opened his mouth as if to ask something, but ultimately frowned and held back.

"That cadre named Tide already had a long list of crimes in the Hoenn region."

Sera paused slightly, her gaze fixed intently on the eyes of the person being interrogated.

"While he was suspected of smuggling in the United States, he also committed another murder against an innocent bystander. Under normal legal procedures, he would definitely be sentenced to life imprisonment this time. You've been to prison before, so you know how long it can feel. However, that officer was lucky; he signed a witness protection agreement with Interpol. If he confesses to the crimes he knew about while in the Aquadron, his endless sentence can be reduced to less than ten years."

As she spoke, Sera leaned forward slightly, looking intently into the other person's eyes, and said, word by word—

“Mr. Segawa, although your style of doing things seems quite tough, I think... you haven’t been involved in murder yet, have you?”

.

About fifteen minutes later, Sera, who had maintained a poker face the whole time, got up and slowly left the interrogation room.

As soon as she stepped out of the interrogation room, her superior, Ms. Jenny, quickly emerged from behind the one-way mirror.

Officer Jenny, beaming, went straight to her capable deputy, grabbed Serra's hand, and began to express her undisguised admiration—

"Sera! Your interrogation skills are as excellent as ever! I never expected that Segawa would be able to reveal so much useful information!"

"Ugh, this is awful..."

Faced with her superior's praise, Sera's face fell slightly, and she said with a look of annoyance—

"Even though we had convinced him to that extent, we still couldn't completely break through the suspect's psychological defenses."

"what?"

Officer Jenny's smile froze, then she quickly recalled the previous interrogation process, and then, as if waking from a dream, she said regretfully—

"That's true. Although the prisoner confessed his identity and the firsthand information he found at the poisoning scene, he still refused to say anything about what the Water Fleet was plotting."

Watching Sera's composed and confident demeanor in the interrogation room, Officer Jenny was unconsciously drawn away from the main point by the atmosphere.

Sera picked up a bottle of mineral water prepared outside the interrogation room, moistened her throat, and shook her head as she said—

"Think about it carefully, the information he provided was either related to the Hoenn case, which had nothing to do with our Unova region, or it was about the scene when he discovered Selvik's poisoned body. Just as Detective Hugo speculated, he came to Flying Cloud City to track down someone. That person, like Selvik, was keen on using poisons, which is why he mistook his target. As for stealing the evidence from the crime scene, it was because he suspected that the murderer who poisoned Selvik was the very person he was searching for, so he took all the evidence related to poison to his hideout for research."

"To be honest, the reason we were able to capture him so quickly was thanks to the fact that he was using his Mightyena to use 'Scent Detection' to search for Poison-type Pokémon. That guy charged straight at the bait we'd set up without hesitation."

Recalling the scene in the early hours of the morning, Officer Jenny shrugged, feeling both annoyed and amused.

"That's why Segawa's reaction during the interrogation seemed so unusual. I think someone must have pointed out the bottom line to him beforehand... Could it have been Gotoku personally instructing him? The prisoner is worried that if he leaks key information, he will likely face retaliation from the Aqua Fleet after his release, and his family and friends may also be implicated. Therefore, even if we try to bribe him with a reduced sentence, he absolutely refuses to confess any information related to the organization..."

Sera was furious, but at the same time, she couldn't help but sigh—

"Just how terrifying is that organization... that Fleet of the Aqua? It's said that the 'Reef Alert' is kept very tight-lipped by the criminal investigation team. Although they confessed to a whole bunch of crimes committed by their accomplices in the Hoenn region, they won't say a single word about the Fleet of the Aqua's most core secrets."

In fact, back in the interrogation room, Sera had cleverly played a word game with Segawa regarding the sentence for the "runaway alarm."

Die did sign a witness protection program with the police, but the sentence reductions provided by the program only applied to the smuggling and murder cases he committed in the United States.

As for the numerous misdeeds committed by that Fleet officer in the Hoenn region, he will need to undergo another trial after serving his sentence and being repatriated to the Hoenn region. The exact length of his sentence will depend on "Reef Alert's" reformatory behavior in prison.

"Could it be because even the officers within the Navy Fleet are not fully aware of the organization's planned operations?"

Looking at the troubled Sera, Officer Jenny rested her index finger on her chin and pondered.

Her deputy shook his head and said with certainty, "Perhaps that's a factor, but as far as Segawa is concerned in the interrogation room, there's definitely more information we haven't been able to extract from him."

Officer Jenny looked at Segawa in the interrogation room through a one-way mirror that offered one-way vision.

The criminal, who had traveled a great distance to Hezhong, was now hunched over with his head down. His sun-darkened face was filled with a complex expression of guilt and worry, clearly still uneasy about his previous confession.

"Ugh……"

Officer Jenny sighed deeply—

"It seems we have no choice but to resort to this last resort."

.

After a ten-minute break, Segawa saw Officer Jenny, the officer who had confronted him on the street earlier that morning, push open the door outside the interrogation room with a blank expression.

"Where is that policeman from earlier?"

He asked with droopy eyelids.

Officer Jenny ignored Segawa's question and simply placed a walkie-talkie on the table. Since the suspect's hands were firmly handcuffed, Segawa had no way of touching the walkie-talkie.

"What are you going to do?" the interrogator asked again, but Officer Jenny still did not answer.

She simply took out something that looked like a remote control, pressed a button on the corner of the ceiling, and then walked over to the one-way mirror and drew the curtains on the window that looked like a mirror from the inside.

"Hey! What exactly do you want?"

Segawa was truly frightened this time, and he roared at Officer Jenny.

After completing this series of actions, Officer Jenny remained silent, turned around in silence, pushed open the interrogation room door, and walked straight out.

In this room, which was completely surrounded by soundproof walls, only the suspect, Segawa, remained, sitting helplessly opposite a police walkie-talkie.

"Tch... What on earth are these people up to?"

Just as the member of the Aquarion fleet was filled with doubt, a red dot suddenly flashed on the walkie-talkie, indicating that a call was in progress.

rustling sounds... followed by human voices—

"Now that I've heard your voice successfully, I think we can start the call. To cut to the chase, here's the thing: I asked Ms. Officer Jenny to create an environment where we won't be eavesdropped on or monitored by anyone for the time being, so our communication can be a little less restrictive compared to a formal police interrogation."

The voice coming from the walkie-talkie was calm and smooth, clearly belonging to a young man.

"You must be an officer sent to Unova by the Hoenn region's Fleet Aqua to carry out a certain mission, right? It seems a bit impolite to make such a confirmation unilaterally. Let me briefly introduce myself. My name is Hugo, and I am a private detective who has some cooperation with the Feiyun Police Department."

Unlike the previous interrogator who seemed unfathomable, the owner of this voice gave off a lazy feeling, as if she didn't care at all about the conversation between the two of them at this moment.

"I understand your desire to protect the Navy's classified information, so in this conversation I will try to avoid touching on those topics and only ask questions within your acceptable range. Is that alright with you?"

Almost under the influence of that hypnotic, relaxed tone, Segawa nodded subconsciously before suddenly realizing that he was talking to a walkie-talkie that couldn't see the image.

Just as he was about to speak, the man's voice rang out again.

Since you haven't answered, I'll take that as a yes. After saying all that, I just wanted to ask one question.

Segawa held his breath nervously.

Then, the man who called himself a detective asked a question over the walkie-talkie—

"Did you and Voodoo ultimately succeed in destroying the Lava Team's secret base?"

Chapter 352 Interlude - The Poisonous Curtain Reopens

After listening to the testimony provided by Segawa, a member of the Aqua Team, Hugo silently hung up the phone and stared blankly at the view outside the top floor of the Alliance Building.

"How did it go? Did you get the key clue you wanted?"

Champion Carlos's languid voice came from behind the detective. She had only knocked on the Champion's office door yesterday evening, yet she was already acting as if she owned the league headquarters.

"Ah."

Hugo did not turn around, but simply replied.

"Although I heard your and Miss Azure's detailed account last night, to be honest, I still don't really have a sense of what you mean by the serial poisoning."

The actress, who had just finished her acting career, walked over to the detective and together they gazed at the scenery of the mountains surrounding the United States headquarters.

"Is this really a case that warrants the league champion's personal attention?"

She turned to Hugo and asked earnestly—

"Based on the information I have, the dead are all unforgivable criminals. At this rate, even if you find out the source of everything, you'll probably only discover a bunch of criminals fighting amongst themselves."

I agree with your point of view.

Hugo leaned on the railing, his gaze fixed on the distant sunrise.

"Given the criminal records left by Vudu and Servilik in their respective regions, their deaths don't really have anything to mourn. However, setting aside their identities as criminals, both were renowned poison experts, and both had disappeared from the Alliance's sights for a long time. Considering their talents, abilities, and the time they each spent, the destructive power they may have accumulated during their disappearances might far exceed the value of their own lives—therefore, even if it might waste some time and energy, this case is absolutely necessary to investigate thoroughly."

"Is it your old economic theories again?" Champion Karuni laughed. "So, what were your survey results?"

"It's incredible."

Hugo replied with a complicated expression.

"As various clues were gradually pieced together, I realized that the scale of this incident was unimaginably huge in every sense. As you who heard the phone call just now probably already know, not only Team Plasma in Unova, but even Team Aqua and Team Magma across the ocean have been involved in this incident."

"So, the reason you called me here is..."

The champion woman narrowed her eyes slightly; she had already discerned the subtext in the detective's words.

Hugo nodded without hesitation: "At this point, this is no longer an ordinary case where all the problems can be solved simply by the detective opening his mouth and giving the answer. Therefore, I need your help."

Karuni blinked in confusion—