Pokémon Detective Case Files.

Unfortunately, this statement was so nonsensical that it seemed to have the opposite effect on the prisoners. They looked at the white figure outside the window with increasing panic, as if it were a phantom of a dead person.

Azure walked to the window, intending to open the glass, but was blocked by the prisoners wriggling their bodies. These thugs, who had been robbing and destroying the Qibao Dojo that morning, were now desperately shaking their heads at the girl, hoping she wouldn't do anything foolish and attract the ghosts outside the window.

"What are you doing? That's my friend. I'm going to open the window and let him in."

Azure didn't understand why the plasma clusters were so afraid. She walked straight over the frantically writhing bodies and headed towards the windowsill.

To the prisoners, the girl walking against the moonlight seemed like a sacrifice bewitched by a demon, about to open the forbidden window to depravity.

The screams grew increasingly shrill, until Aloe Vera stuffed another rag into the Plasma Squad girl's mouth, and the earth-shattering screams turned into sobbing whimpers—which only became more chilling.

The girl finally opened the window, and the upside-down figure was let in.

Hugo, looking disheveled, climbed through the window and saw that behind Azure were prisoners everywhere, finally putting his mind at ease.

"What's wrong with them? Why do they look so timid and hesitant?" Hugo asked his assistant, pointing at the prisoners.

Azure shrugged: "They seem to think you're a ghost."

"A ghost?" Hugo tilted his head thoughtfully.

Then the detective turned his back, secretly released the little fire monkey, and at the same time smeared something in his palm.

"What are you going to do?" Azure asked curiously.

"Playing pranks." The detective, with his back to his assistant, spoke succinctly, directing the little fire monkey to light the curtains with its tail while hiding something in his cheek.

"Is this the kind of ghost you're talking about?"

The detective lowered his voice and spoke to his assistant with his back to him, then slowly turned around.

The detective turned around and acted strangely, keeping his head down and his hands covering his face, while the curtains behind him suddenly burst into flames.

Azure saw the little fire monkey and was not surprised at all. She focused her attention on the detective in front of her who claimed to be "playing tricks," intending to see what kind of trouble he could get into.

Then she saw it, she saw the ghostly creature before her—

In the firelight, the detective's face was gaunt and bony, with large whites of his eyes seeping bloodshot from their deep sockets. A huge, gruesome wound marred his face, as if something had gnawed at him. Half of his tongue dangled precariously from his mouth, swaying precariously with his heavy, labored breathing...

The creature in front of them was still vomiting large amounts of a mixture of blood and saliva from its mouth, as if in a convulsive manner.

The Plasma Team members had just caught their breath, thinking that a normal person had entered through the window, when they saw this scene and immediately panicked again. Their fear was even greater than before, and many prisoners fainted again.

In extreme terror, many prisoners desperately tried to push the rags out of their mouths with their tongues, calling out for their parents, their grandparents, and their idolized savior. Those who couldn't get the gags out could only whimper incoherently. The air began to fill with the foul odor of excrement.

Hugo retracted his tongue, lifted his eyelids with his fingers to adjust his eyes back to normal, and couldn't help but burst into laughter at the sight of the plasma clusters crying and writhing desperately, laughing more happily than a ghost.

As for Azure, after a long shutdown, she saw the gleeful detective in front of her.

Taking a deep breath of the cool night air, the girl raised her fist and punched her boss in the nose.

Chapter 051 The Farce That Will Eventually End

"I'm so sorry everyone, please forget about that terrible prank. I just had a close call with death, and I might have gotten a little too excited, so I just impulsively put on a show."

Covered in blood and with his hair disheveled, Hugo touched his nose, which had narrowly escaped disaster, and bowed deeply to everyone with utmost sincerity. Then he turned to his assistant and complained—

"But I must also say that that was a completely harmless punch. Azure, you should at least get some close-quarters combat training. You're not qualified to be a private detective if you can't hit anyone at close range."

"If you keep talking like that, I'm going to send Eevee to bite you." Azure rubbed her hands together, neither humble nor arrogant, and rolled her eyes at the detective, while the little Eevee on her shoulder also bared its teeth.

I hadn't noticed before, but I didn't realize how sharp Ibuki's fangs were. Hugo, feeling threatened, couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.

Suddenly, the museum owner, looking embarrassed, quickly walked up to the detective and whispered, "Mr. Hugo, the curtains you just burned were actually artifacts from the last century, probably worth about ten million yuan..."

The detective was instantly dumbfounded, his mouth agape, unsure of what to say. He turned around abruptly as if he were about to snap his neck to look at the tattered curtain that had been burned to ashes by the little fire monkey. The look of terror on his face was even more exaggerated than that of the prisoners.

Aloe then patted Hugo on the shoulder and laughed heartily: "That's a lie! It's just an ordinary curtain, just a little revenge, revenge."

Hugo looked at the woman in the apron in front of him with lingering fear, and immediately understood that although she seemed nonchalant, she was probably angry at him for damaging the museum's public facilities.

Now is not the time to haggle over every little thing. The detective decisively made a concession, rubbing his hands together and speaking in a negotiating tone: "The compensation for the curtains can be deducted from this case fee... of course, at the normal price of curtains."

The older sister patted the detective's shoulder hard again, and Hugo tried to break free but was held firmly by her.

“I understand, I understand,” Hugo said, grinning. “The compensation can be increased by 50%, consider it compensation for emotional distress. Now, can we talk about recovering the lost collection?”

The heavy pressure on his shoulders finally disappeared, and Hugo breathed a sigh of relief.

"Serves you right." Azure, who had witnessed everything, made a face. Didn't she know that her salary also came from the commission fee?

.

Meanwhile, in the darkness, far away from the assembled detective group.

"Tsk, these guys are all useless and only cause trouble. They all got caught by the other side."

The leader of the Dark Triangle lurked at the museum entrance, his gaze piercing through the darkness towards the only bright spot inside.

Even though these minions were originally intended as smokescreens to distract the enemy, it was a disgrace to Team Plasma to have them all wiped out so quickly—especially after that final hysterical screaming concert. It seems this group of members is beyond saving.

"Putting all that aside, where exactly is the real Dark Stone? And where is it hidden so that everyone can see it?"

The leader muttered to himself, just like a tourist visiting a museum, exploring the exhibition route from the ticket booth at the entrance.

However, this visitor was a bit special. Instead of walking on the museum floor, he wore special adhesive gloves and crawled backwards against the ceiling.

He has already checked the entrance to the museum.

The leader had assumed the stone would be hidden near the statue outside the gate, since the gate was a place every visitor had to pass through. He thought that if the dark stone was disguised as part of the statue and placed there, it would only be seen as a replica and no one would covet it.

Unfortunately, the leader's plan fell through immediately. Only after he walked out of the Qibao Museum did he realize that there were no such decorations outside the museum at all.

But that makes sense, no matter how bold the detective is. He couldn't possibly convince the museum to leave the national treasures exposed outdoors like that.

His second idea was that the Dark Stone could be hidden in the lintel and ceiling above the exhibition hall, and the translucent glass resembling a fluorescent lampshade could also become an ingenious display case. If arranged properly and placed among other decorations, the Dark Stone could blend into the overall environment above people's heads, being seen by everyone without attracting their attention.

For this reason, the leader of the top assassin organization in this plasma cluster is crawling across the museum's ceiling like a silken spider, inspecting every light fixture and every decoration on every floor.

The designers of Qibao Museum seem to be very good at making use of space. As the leader expected, many non-artifact decorative items were placed on the ceiling. The ceiling of the central exhibition hall even has a replica of a huge creation myth mural. If combined with lighting effects, it will create a fantastic feeling of traveling through historical fragments.

But no matter how hard the leaders of the Dark Triangle searched with night vision goggles, they still couldn't find any trace of the Dark Stone.

He then searched the ground again, from the empty display cases that had been looted during the day to places outside the display area such as restrooms and lounges. He searched everywhere again many times, but unfortunately, he found nothing.

—You will pass by the national treasures of the founding of the nation countless times, and witness the true face of the founding stone countless times, yet you will find no trace of it.

The detective's words echoed in the leader's mind once again, and even he couldn't help but question his previous deductions.

The cold-blooded and ruthless martial arts ninja has, unusually, begun to think—

Could that detective really be lying? But if he was lying, where is the real Dark Stone? Is it hidden outside the museum, or was it simply taken away by the deputy curator? That's impossible. That frail deputy curator doesn't have the strength to protect the Dark Stone. If he wanted to move it, he should at least send out someone like Aloe, who is at the level of a museum owner.

How did they manage to evade the first round of raids? With a search involving that many people, no secret room or passage could be overlooked.

Is it possible that the Dark Stone we already have is the real one? No, that possibility doesn't exist. The stone we got has the words "Imitation of Qibao Museum" engraved on it. The real Dark Stone shouldn't have any words engraved on it, right?

"Have I really seen that founding stone?" As if he were questioning the meaning of life, the leader asked himself again.

At this moment, he was being lowered from the ceiling by a steel cable, then flipped onto the ground. In front of him was a magnificent display case that had been inspected countless times—the very one that originally held the fake Stone of the Founding of the Nation.

The glass of the display case had long been broken, and only the small sign below, which displayed the explanatory text, was still emitting a faint light. The text introduced the origin and history of the Dark Stone and its archaeological discoverers. After the text, a projector was thoughtfully used to project a phantom image of the Founding Stone.

"The Stone of Nation-Building: Legend has it that this is the form of Zekrom, the black dragon that founded the nation, after its physical body was destroyed. It is said to be waiting for the arrival of a hero. It was discovered by Kiku in the tourist desert. In mythology, Zekrom is a legendary Pokémon that used lightning to burn the world to ashes and will assist those who create an ideal world. In the mythology, if humanity loses its sense of justice, it will destroy their kingdom with raging lightning..."

"Wait, what if this isn't a slide projector, but a projection of real objects?"

The intellectual figure in the dark triangle suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

Thinking about it this way, the display case here is indeed particularly sturdy. I originally thought it was just to highlight the main exhibits, but now it seems that it may also have been specially reinforced for protection as a safe.

Visitors who come to see the exhibits will definitely browse the explanatory text first, which, from this perspective, also aligns with the detective's hint.

The leader's eyes grew brighter behind his mask, but there was still a problem—the display case was firmly fixed to the ground, and dismantling or taking it away would make a huge noise, which would attract the attention of the police and detectives, making it impossible for him to search for the Dark Stone again.

But looking around, what part of the entire museum hadn't he already searched? In that case, why not... the leader threw out a Poké Ball.

"Koma-tō soldier, use 'Metal Claw' and dismantle this platform!"

Before its evolution, Bisharp appeared as a Pokémon covered in swords and shaped like a little soldier, its blades slashing towards the tall display case.

As the blade made contact with the explanatory text on the table, alarms suddenly went off all around, and warning lights appeared out of nowhere, flashing red light.

Seeing this, the leader was not alarmed but delighted, and laughed arrogantly, urging the soldiers with the daggers like whipping a spinning top: "Faster, faster, use force to shred this platform into iron filings, start with the explanatory board, and take out the target first!"

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In the distance, Hugo, who was mixed in with the elite police officers, heard the commotion and yawned lazily: "The farce is finally coming to an end."

Chapter 052 The Detective's Anti-Theft Lecture

By the time the police resurfaced the main exhibition hall, which was flashing warning lights, the white-haired assassin dressed as a ninja had already escaped.

The scene was littered with traces of Pokémon using slashing moves. The leader had dismantled the booth that Detective Hugo and Deputy Curator Kuri had painstakingly set up, but left without taking anything with him.

The police officers stared blankly at the shattered pieces of sheet metal and the remains of some kind of electronic device resembling a recording device. They had no idea whether tonight's mission had been a success or a failure.

"Hugo, is this display case base the safe you and Muli prepared to store the Founding Stone? Did the thugs retreat because they obtained the treasure?"

The aloe curator followed the detective through the encirclement of many people and arrived at the front of the wreckage.

"How could that be? The real Founding Stone is still in this museum." The detective spread his arms and looked around at the crowd, beginning his detective speech in the dead of night surrounded by thousands.

"Where exactly is that stone?" asked the detective's assistant, Azure, cooperatively. "We still need the prisoners to lead the way to retrieve the artifacts, so now is not the time to waste."

“Don’t worry about that.” Officer Jenny from Qibao City, who seemed to appear out of nowhere, pushed past her colleagues and called out to the detective, “Fortunately, the demonstrators outside have dispersed, and the police have already diverted resources to recover the artifacts. More than what’s happening outside, I’m curious about where Hugo hid the Founding Stone.”

There are three main ways to perfectly hide an item.

Hugo was not at all surprised by the developments before him, and waved his fingers as if he were about to give a concluding speech.

"One is to win by surprise. The most dangerous place is the safest place. Hide things in the place that others are most likely to think of. This way, they will easily think that they have already searched that place and will miss the inspection. There is another way to use this strategy. You can openly give the other party what they want to hide, and then try your best to imply that it is a fake, and then make the enemy obediently return the treasure."

"You mean the one that was stolen this morning was the real Founding Stone?" Officer Jenny asked, her eyes wide with confusion.

"Of course not, the Plasma Cluster isn't that easy to fool." Hugo shook his head regretfully, then raised his second finger—

"The second best way to hide things is to hide them in the forest. The best place to hide a branch is a forest, the best place to hide a dagger is a battlefield, and the best place to hide a murder is a series of serial murders."

"I'll remember your words next time there's a serial murder case." Seeing that Hugo wouldn't reveal the truth immediately, the policewoman simply gave a weak reply this time.

"From this perspective, the best way to hide the founding stone is to put it in a pile of identical imitation stones and then randomly shuffle their positions, so that no one will know which one is the real stone."

Aloe made an X with her arms and explained to Officer Jenny, "The Qibao Museum would never do that. We firmly oppose the production of counterfeits. The Founding Stone that was previously made to prevent theft also had text written on it to avoid confusion with the genuine article."

Hugo ignored the curator's protest and continued to explain: "Similarly, placing treasures among a pile of treasures is a similar hiding method based on a similar logic. An excessive quantity will hide the value of an individual, which is the core of the theory of hiding a tree in the forest."

"But... Group Plasma stole all the artifacts. They cut down the entire forest, not just the trees."

It was Azure who offered the sharpest criticism. While grooming Eevee's fluffy tail, she reviewed the detective's speech. Judging from her ability to immediately offer such incisive commentary, she must have learned a great deal.

The detective did not directly answer Azure's question, but continued his lecture on burglary prevention, because he knew that the answers to all the questions lay in the following narrative.

"The third principle is to take the initiative. As the saying goes, it's not the theft itself that's scary, but the thief's eye on it. When something you want to hide is targeted by a specific person or group of people, we should not use a passive defensive attitude to protect what we want to hide, but should take the initiative to find ways to deal with those people with ill intentions."

Azure chimed in, "Just like today, when we let the plasma cluster walk right into our trap."

"That's right. In fact, my anti-theft design for Qibao Museum is based on the above three principles, so that the most dangerous things can be avoided under any circumstances."

“What do you mean?” Officer Jenny asked.

“It’s past midnight now, so it must have been yesterday morning. The Plasma Group inhumanely looted most of the museum’s collection. They thought they had stolen the Founding Stone and completely emptied the museum, so they left without a second thought. But they didn’t expect that when designing the museum’s security system, I replaced the most important Dark Stone with a fake.” Hugo pointed to himself.

"If I, as a detective, hadn't made it to the museum in time, this design would have served as a safety net. Even if Team Plasma had taken all the artifacts, they would never have found their most important objective—the legendary stone that could awaken the mythical creatures of the Unova region—and it would have been troublesome if they had actually succeeded in doing so."

“But this is just a myth, isn’t it?” Museum Director Aloe frowned in dissatisfaction. “You’re essentially using our entire collection as a shield for the founding stone of our nation. I simply cannot agree with this approach.”

"Fortunately, your husband, Mr. Muli, doesn't think so. Having studied the history of the founding of the United States, he believes that the Dark Stone is of paramount importance. The attacks from the Plasma Group yesterday, both day and night, have also proven that the Founding Stone is indeed of unparalleled value to that ambitious religious group."

"However, after the counterfeit project succeeded, you discovered that Group Plasma was still entrenched in Shippo City, and the crisis at the museum was still not resolved. So you decided to take the initiative according to principle three, release information that the real artifact was in the museum, and lure the bandits who coveted the Dark Stone into your trap, thereby capturing them," Azure succinctly summarized.

“Exactly!” the detective snapped his fingers.

"And while we're at it, we'll recover the cultural relics." Officer Jenny emphasized the word "while we're at it," winking at Aloe.

Before Aloe got angry, Hugo quickly stopped these people from sowing discord: "But in fact, only this method can minimize the museum's losses. If it were any other unprepared museum, whether it was the stones or all the other collections, they would have been looted on that scale long ago."

At this point, Hugo's plan was crystal clear, but Azure still didn't understand the last part, so she directly asked the detective, "But since you were able to use the genuine article to attract the plasma cluster, why were you able to confidently guarantee that the stone hadn't been stolen and was still in the museum? How exactly did you do that? In other words, where exactly did you hide the Founding Stone?"

The detective, with a "I've been waiting for you to ask this" look, snapped his fingers again: "Precisely to deal with this situation, Deputy Curator Muli and I prepared a backup plan."

With his arms outstretched, Hugo showed everyone only a pile of shards on the ground.

Aloe was puzzled: "I know this is the display case in the exhibition hall where the fake Founding Stone of the Nation was placed. You promised that you would let visitors see the legendary Founding Stone of the Nation in some way. But it has been dismantled now, and there is nothing inside."