Pokémon Detective Case Files.

“I thought only the former king was a madman,” the count said softly. “Could this face itself be cursed?”

“I don’t have any aversion to the game itself—but the real problem is that this world, which is built entirely of words, is too real.”

Hugo ignored him and continued—

"Although the core narrative trick in this story blinds us to the point that we are unaware of the noisy bird's presence or even hear it flapping its wings beside us, everything else goes far beyond what a game host can construct."

Hugo pointed behind Leclerc, where the twilight through the window gilded every piece of furniture—

"I'm not talking about the realism in the details, but the contradictions in the motivations behind the actions—a good writer can certainly depict in detail the details of an empty count's mansion, and set up the feelings of a loyal minister of the late king when he retires behind the scenes, but she simply cannot control the players' senses."

"Right now, Yueju, Lianwu, and Gadria are drinking heavily in a guest room at the Black Crocodile Tavern branch. But what's the point of doing this? In the game settings that Wanlong follows, drinking doesn't increase attributes. If you want to increase your reputation, you have to hold a banquet at the tavern. The three of them closing the door and drinking to celebrate is simply absurd in a pure game."

"There are many other similar suspicious points. For example, when investigating clues in the King's murder case, the three players, who were sitting together at the bar, chose to split up—in this case, the game host's workload should have increased, but their actions were not affected at all. What's even more suspicious is that after the three reunited, they still needed to exchange information with each other again—wasn't that information shared by the players while sitting together in front of the host's screen?"

"Furthermore, there's the standoff between Lingju and you, Earl, in the attic. I really can't imagine what number to roll with a ten-sided die to achieve such a subtle operation as 'one hand grabbing your arm and forcing you to listen to their reasoning'—at this stage, it's impossible to distinguish between the game and reality."

Hugo finally shrugged.

"Ultimately, the fact that the three kings of the United States Alliance could set aside their duties and so happily immerse themselves in a late-night board game is bizarre enough, even now that the alliance's crisis has been temporarily resolved."

It was like a wonderful and sweet dream.

“Let’s assume for now that everything you’ve said is true,” Leclerc said, taking a deep breath to calm himself. “Why would you think I hold the answer to this question?”

"First of all, you are the most important plot character in this detective story."

Hugo's fingertips lightly touched the air—

"Hugo XVI, who was murdered, is already a dead man; Luna and I are just cameo characters, and we don't appear much; as for Emily, the waitress at the Black Crocodile Tavern, and Lopa, the bodyguard, they at most only played the role of introducing the plot and providing clues. Compared to us, you, Earl Leclerc, who is not only the one who issues the quest, but also an accomplice in the case, and ultimately the one who helps the player solve the case, are the one who truly dominates the entire plot."

"So what if you control the plot?"

“Generally speaking, such a pivotal role in the plot must be played by Wanlong herself. After all, only she has all the settings for the character of Leclerc—however, judging from your current reaction, you are clearly not that Ghost King of the United States Alliance.”

"Then who do you think I am?"

"What kind of being could create such a flawless world based on Wanlong's script? And who could extract the ideas from the game host's mind without anyone noticing? And why is this world so bizarre that players mistake it for reality while simultaneously following Wanlong's settings and ignoring the simple fact that Luna is actually a Flying-type Pokémon?"

Hugo looked at Leclerc's face beneath his silver hair and smiled—

"The answer to all this can be found in your title and name—Earl of the Black Moon, Ducham Leclerc."

"This was done on my behalf by the late king..."

There is no such thing as a black moon.

Hugo interrupted the other person's explanation, asserting—

"Although it may be little known in this day and age, the moon actually reflects light from the sun. When the sunlight is blocked by the Earth's shadow, the moon disappears from the night sky, a phenomenon known as a 'lunar eclipse'—but regardless of its phases, a black moon can never appear in the sky."

The man, dressed as a stunt double, spoke softly—

"Perhaps... only when the stars begin to shift and the crescent moon hangs like a hook, that void yet untouched by light is closest to the imagery in your name."

At this point in Hugo's speech, Leclerc, who had been trying to argue just a second ago, suddenly froze.

"Apart from the guest character Luna, none of the characters in this game have a designated surname. Even though the pun name 'Hugo' has appeared so many times, the surname representing royalty has still not surfaced—this should be a deliberate omission by Wanlong to reduce the cognitive burden on game players. The only character in the entire game who has ever used a two-part name is you, Earl Ducham Leclerc."

Is this some kind of hint, meant to be fair? — The detective smiled as if he knew everything.

"I've heard that when people want to conceal their identities, they often use the name of their enemy as a disguise."

Hugo's fingertips lightly traced the rim of the glass—

“A certain illegal organization I know once misappropriated the name of a regional energy giant to carry out smuggling—that way, even if they did something wrong, it would only cause trouble for the people they dislike.”

His gaze suddenly sharpened like a needle.

"You agree, Cresselia... It's been over a decade since the incident at the Full Moon Island Festival, hasn't it? I wonder why you've come to Unova this time?"

A crisp snapping sound rang out.

The entire capital shattered in an instant, like a dream awakened from a nightmare.

Chapter 454 The Moment of Awakening

People often forget the moment they fall into a dream.

In this realm devoid of anchors to reality, perception becomes ambiguous, yet occasionally, inexplicably, it suddenly surpasses the intensity of the waking state. You can smell non-existent flowers, taste illusory sweetness, and feel weightless drifting in your dreams, while simultaneously accepting all the distortions and paradoxes within them with equanimity. The concept of time silently crumbles here—sometimes a mere ten minutes' nap is enough to encompass a dream with an extremely broad scope. As if solely for the sake of this illusory existence, dreams gently dissolve the self-reflexivity of logic, and all unconventional settings find a natural justification within the dream world. Sometimes even memories and emotions succumb to the arrangements of dreams, and intense emotions can even penetrate the dream world, continuously permeating the consciousness upon waking.

From this perspective, the essential difference between nightmares and pleasant dreams may not entirely depend on the bizarreness of the dream content, but rather on whether it ultimately disturbs or soothes the fundamental state of the mind. The core characteristic of nightmares is a strong and persistent experience of negative emotions—fear, anxiety, and helplessness permeate the entire dream, often continuing to disturb consciousness even after waking, preventing the mind from returning to peace. Conversely, pleasant dreams are characterized by their positive emotional tone—such as pleasure, satisfaction, and a sense of security. Even with equally absurd plots, the mind remains at peace, leaving behind an inner harmony and stability upon waking.

At this moment, the three Unification Kings who have solved all the mysteries, and the host Wanlong who has successfully completed the mystery script, are undoubtedly waking up from a beautiful dream.

When Gadriya opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Hugo, who had already organized the documents in his hands. He was urging the sleeping Agent Luna to wake up.

The screen in front of them, used to display the host, had fallen to the side at some point. Wanlong, like her, was rubbing her sleepy eyes, while Lianwu and Yueju looked around as if facing a formidable enemy—the ice in the latter's glass had not yet completely melted.

The Psychic King immediately sensed something was amiss and glanced at the clock hanging behind the café counter; it was just past midnight. Less than half an hour had passed since Hugo appeared at the café entrance.

"Huh? Is the board game over?"

Still dazed, Luna propped herself up and patted her cheeks, trying to wake herself up.

"I remember that King Linguine found a clue about the king's murder at the end, but I can't remember the specific details... Did I fall asleep halfway through and miss the ending?"

"Miss Luna, haven't you been flying around the capital with your wings flapping all the time? How could you not know the outcome of the king's murder case?"

Seeing the bewildered look on the intelligence agent's face, Yueju couldn't help but feel furious, but she glared at the novelist who had just poked his head out from behind the bar.

“Narrative tricks are also part of the gaming experience.”

Wanlong shrank back, frightened by the gambler's fierce gaze, and instinctively defended herself—

"No one stipulates that players who make cameo appearances in the story must play normal human characters, right? Besides, I've already given plenty of hints in the script. Luna always repeats other people's lines. I even changed the pronouns I used when describing Luna, just in case the text version of the script gave me away because of the difference between 'she' and 'it'. Isn't that enough of a hint?"

"We haven't even read the written version!" This time, even the King of Fighters couldn't hold back anymore.

"Repeating someone else's lines?" Luna tilted her head in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"Hmm? Didn't Wanlong tell you about the settings beforehand?"

Seeing Luna's confused expression, Lian Wu forcibly ignored the fact that she "repeated other people's lines like a noisy bird," and instead rubbed his chin, vaguely sensing a certain sense of disharmony.

The novelist continued to defend himself over there—

"Besides, I didn't expect you to push this part of the plot so far. Logically speaking, this trick should have been exposed by the players around the middle of the story due to the unnatural behavior of the NPCs, which would have served as the final piece of the puzzle to complete the reasoning. But who knew that you would skip this line and directly find the real king's head using [Find Lost Items] - according to my original design, this part of the plot would have taken several weeks to complete."

"The plot is moving so fast, it's probably not just because of skipping clues—what exactly happened in that coffee shop just now?"

Blueberry raised her glass, looked at the remaining ice, swirled it around, and downed the slightly bland drink in one gulp.

"No matter what, we are the kings of the alliance. With the United Alliance besieged on all sides, even if we are so bored that we start trying out that board game designed by Wanlong, we shouldn't be so engrossed in the game."

That's certainly true; it's quite unusual.

This was even more unusual, as everyone had just woken up from their sleep!

"It's there!"

Suddenly, Cattleya stood up and pointed sharply into the air in front of her, as if she had locked onto something.

The next moment, immense superpowers surged forth along with the Psychic King's flowing golden hair.

The ripples spread like waves throughout the room, and at the center of the vortex, a slender, light blue body was forced to appear, revealing a crescent-shaped yellow ornament on its head. Behind it, crescent-shaped pink wings swayed gently in the void.

"It's you!"

Cattleya's pupils suddenly contracted, and her voice sounded as if she were facing a formidable enemy.

Cresselia, a Psychic-type Pokémon—the Cresselia Pokémon revered as the Goddess of Dreams in the Sinnoh region.

Not long ago, Sinnoh Champion Cynthia found a Crescent Wing belonging to this Pokémon deep in the mansion of Eternal Forest; and even more recently, Cattleya was cornered in her own mansion in Ripple Town by Team Plasma King N, who was commanding this Pokémon!

Judging from the frequency characteristics of the superpower fluctuations, the Cresselia in front of me is even the same Pokémon!

"Where is that N? Were you the one who caused all this just now?"

The superpowered king stared intently at the unexpected guest, and the superpowers that had been lurking in the coffee shop not only did not lessen, but became even more severe.

"Wasn't N just on the cylindrical bridge east of Snowflake City? Even if he could 'teleport,' he wouldn't have had time to get to Suicune City in the south of Unova right after fighting Team Aqua, would he?"

Just as the grinder was about to take flight again, the detective's calm voice came from behind the superhuman.

"The dream we just experienced was indeed related to this Pokémon," the Champion said casually. "It seems that when the Goddess of Dreams visited, she sensed that although the Elite Four were playing games, their minds were constantly tense and unable to relax, so she kindly used the move 'Secret Guard'."

As for why Cresselia's use of the "Mystic Guardian" move, which grants immunity to abnormal status effects, caused everyone to fall into the dreamlike state of the board game, since no one asked, there's no need to explain further here.

Hugo gave Cattleya a meaningful look—

"The reason it chose to conceal itself and not appear directly in front of us seems to be because of you, Cattleya. It seems that our last encounter left both of us... somewhat apprehensive. Cresselia doesn't actually want to have a conflict with us."

The Elite Four member, unusually, threw a tantrum and snorted, "If it weren't for this Pokémon, I would have won the battle back then."

"Even though there is the influence of that person being able to hear the Pokémon's thoughts, when this Pokémon that is close to psychic powers chooses to side with N, you have already lost."

Hugo's gaze swept past Cresselia and across the various Heavenly Kings before him.

"Speaking of which, since N once challenged Cattleya, it seems that the other Heavenly Kings have also accepted challenges, right?"

The atmosphere fell silent in an instant.

Only Luna, who had just regained consciousness, and Cresselia, who was floating in the air inside the room, tilted their heads together, seemingly unaware of what was happening.

Chapter 455 The Puzzle Named N

A silence, a mixture of shame and embarrassment, filled the café, its intensity almost matching that of Cattleya's not-yet-fully-repressed superpowers.

The four kings' gazes moved in unison across the floor, the wine glasses, and each other's faces, like a group of accomplices caught red-handed at a crime scene.

“It seems…” Hugo’s voice broke the silence, “I probably don’t need to ask you all whether you have also ‘entertained’ that maverick King of Plasma.”

The detective looked around in the dim light and saw Lian Wu's tense jaw, Wan Long's fingers unconsciously fiddling with her hair, and Cattleya's constant glances at Cresselia. Finally, his gaze fell on the glass of Lingju, which was now only filled with ice.

"The underground fighting gym in Fanba City collapsed for unknown reasons last month. Afterwards, many people saw the wild Pokémon that had gathered there migrating to the mountains in western Unova. It also seems that someone applied for a small batch of medical supplies for them in the name of Elite Four member Lianwu," Hugo said casually, as if flipping through an internal report. "Did N persuade you to help him after winning the battle?"

The fighting king's Adam's apple bobbed, but he didn't make a sound.

Hugo's gaze shifted to the novelist—

“Outside the Carleton Arts Center, a group of editors who had been looking for you, Mr. Wanlong, said they heard ghostly noises. They thought it was the writer trying to drive them away, so they risked going against the current and ended up witnessing a terrifying scene of a hundred ghosts walking at night. Some of them were even hospitalized that day because they were so frightened.”

Wanlong tucked half her face into her signature black scarf.

Finally, the detective looked at the Gambler King.

"As for Blueberry, next time you try to reimburse the high-rise windows shattered by the aftershocks of a battle under the 'cleaning fee' charge, perhaps you could come up with an even more inconspicuous excuse. The Alliance's accountant has already come to me. You just made a fortune on the Royal United, there's no need to jeopardize your recently exonerated reputation for such a small amount of money, is there?"

Yueju chuckled twice: "The champion holds the second-highest level of oversight power within the league, after the chairman. When Mr. Aldak was in charge, it didn't seem like a big deal, but now that a detective has taken over, it's like he's been stripped bare from head to toe."

Don't misunderstand.

Hugo waved his hand—

“I don’t usually pay much attention to this kind of intelligence. It’s just that Agent Luna’s department is a bit paranoid about the whereabouts of that Plasma Group King, and they become extra vigilant at the slightest sign of trouble.”

He gave a meaningful glance to Miss 'Silent Footsteps,' who had just figured out the situation.

“Actually, N’s movements are quite interesting, like playing a carefully designed game of hide-and-seek. Since he wants to avoid the omnipresent ‘shadow’ of his own Plasma Team, it means that he will inevitably leave indelible traces in the sunlight on the other side—that is, in the League’s field of vision. After all, in this country, trying to completely avoid one side is almost equivalent to submitting a detailed report on his whereabouts to the other side.”

“I admit, I lost to him.” Lian Wu finally found his voice. “It was a fair duel, I have nothing to say—that king didn’t even deliberately choose a type-advantageous Pokémon. However, I don’t think N’s strength surpasses that of Master Alder before his retirement. I didn’t expect that even Lantana and Cattleya couldn’t stop him.”

"Why isn't my name listed here...?" the novelist protested.

“If it weren’t for a formal occasion, I feel like Wanlong would easily lose the match.” Lian Wu scratched his temple. “After all, didn’t you always say that a match without an audience is like a novel without readers—it just doesn’t get exciting?”

"That's just an excuse this guy uses to skip practice matches." Before Wanlong could respond, Yueju sneered, then shook her head. "But I lost in the end myself, so I have no right to say anything about others."

“If I had really lost by accident, I wouldn’t have been so frustrated afterward,” Wanlong said dejectedly. “Even Wu said that N’s strength is not as good as Mr. Adek’s, but I think that person’s command ability is close to that of the former champion, at least he has left me behind.”

Upon hearing this, Lian Wu was alright, but Yueju and Cattleya looked at each other with serious expressions.

"What's wrong?" Wanlong looked at the two of them, puzzled.

“In that battle, I used the arena to devise many off-field tactics. Based on past experience, even if Aldek himself were there, he would have been caught off guard.” Yueju said with a heavy expression. “But even though he fell for the trap, he was not slowed down by those incidents. Instead, he seized the opportunity to turn the advantage back to his side many times. In my opinion, his on-the-spot reaction has definitely reached Mr. Aldek’s level.”

“I don’t usually compare my opponents.” Cattleya narrowed her eyes, shifting her gaze from Cresselia to Hugo. “However, I sensed an aura similar to that of Bamboo Orchid from N.”

"So, you believe that N's strength is not only enough to defeat the Heavenly King, but is even gradually increasing with each battle?"

Hugo paused for a rare moment, tapping his fingertips lightly on the table, as if calculating some kind of probability.

"If N challenges you, what do you plan to do?" Lian Wu asked the detective directly. "He has defeated four of our Heavenly Kings in a row and has the right to challenge the league champion directly."