Pokémon Detective Case Files.

A knife.

He swung it down.

The genius "city defense master" seems to have overlooked a simple equation.

The Blueberry King's Dark type is doubly effective against the Ironhead's Psychic type.

In the three battles between the Elite Four and the Guardian, although Ironrock was threatened by Chandelure's Ghost type, it could also threaten the former with its aggressive Rock type moves. As a result, Wanlong had to act as Lila's assistant in the battle in order to conserve its strength. But in fact, if this Ghost type Elite Four member were to reveal its trump card, it would most likely win even in a one-on-one battle.

As for Lianwu's old craftsman, although he was countered by Ironleaf's Psychic-type, due to the special nature of his training method, his Pokémon moves did not dissipate energy. Therefore, under Zero's deliberate retreat, the battle did not last long.

Errors in information during the two battles led Zero to mistakenly believe that the Guardians and the Elite Four's ace spirits were evenly matched.

However, this is actually an extremely fragile balance, so fragile that even a perfectionist engineer like Jero would scream in despair when performing stress analysis.

With its overflowing energy and the blessing of an "electric field," Ironhead certainly has the potential to defeat the Lemon-Cut Commander head-on.

Its Special Attack advantage was enhanced by Electric Terrain, and its Speed ​​on paper was significantly stronger than Bisharp, a Steel-type opponent. Furthermore, its existing Fighting-type moves could deal four times the super-effective damage to Dark/Steel Bisharp, without any concern for energy consumption. As long as it didn't make the foolish mistake of trying to use a Psychic-type move against a Dark-type, Zero couldn't find any reason to lose.

But all of this is contingent on the battle truly beginning.

Of all the Pokémon types, none is more adept at ending a battle before it even begins than the Dark type.

correct.

At this point, perhaps it should no longer be called the "Cleaving Commander".

"Servant's knife."

The gambler's voice came from the shadows behind Ironhead, so calm that no emotion could be detected.

The Pokémon, clad in iron armor, bowed its massive body like the most submissive subject, its posture humble and its movements silent.

Only the enormous blade at its head traced a perfect, breathtaking arc through the air—

A dark arc of light, embodying all the violence, cunning, and murderous intent.

It appeared suddenly!

Trapped outside the castle and suddenly cut off from their trainers, the companions are now in a state akin to being on the verge of death.

As the "general" who commands all, the immense pressure of this dereliction of duty is transforming into the most intense and coldest flames of revenge.

The blade had already reached the steel neck of the iron head shell.

Chapter 469 Blind Spots in Surveillance Vision

"Ultimately, in this era of ubiquitous surveillance cameras, traditional detective novels have almost completely disappeared from reality, haven't they?"

It was a sunny afternoon—in the now probably ruined offices of the League Champions. Blueberry heard the Ghost-type Elite Four member beside her throw out a question that was almost provocative to any detective.

"Look, whether it's a locked-room mystery or an alibi, as long as there are surveillance devices like this near the crime scene, more than 90% of those brilliant deductive tricks that once shone in history will become unusable, right?"

If Yueju remembers correctly, this private conversation was supposed to be convened by Hugo to comfort Wanlong, who had just suffered a crushing defeat in the Carlos exchange battle and was in a low mood. But for some reason, before the comforting part even began, the topic had already veered off to this completely unrelated direction.

The novelist adjusted his glasses, his mouth still moving—

"Looking at detective novels in recent years, cases seem to increasingly prefer to take place in the past, or even in completely fictional settings. Even when they occur in the present, they are often in places like isolated islands or locked-room mysteries, places where police and technological investigative methods cannot reach them. If this trend continues, the scope of detective novels in the narrow sense will likely become increasingly narrow, eventually turning into an abstract concept suspended in a vacuum, unilaterally declared by the author, and used only for logical self-entertainment. The once strong umbilical cord between it and reality is becoming thinner and thinner, more and more transparent."

"As human understanding of the world develops, detectives and detective novels must also keep pace with the times."

Hugo was not offended by the topic; on the contrary, he quite agreed, saying—

"Actually, this isn't just a problem with surveillance systems. With the increasing development of transportation networks, travel between cities has become more convenient, diverse, and faster. The 'timetable trick,' once popular in detective novels, has almost completely faded from writers' view. At the same time, with the advancement of autopsy systems, readers can no longer accept a strangulated corpse disguised as a suicide or a murder case packaged as an accidental fall. And with breakthroughs in biological technology—especially DNA testing—bloodstains, which were often used as misleading clues in novels, have been given scientific significance for direct identification. Nowadays, criminals who want to hide their identities can't just wear masks and gloves; hair, dander, sweat, and any small detail can expose the criminal's identity. In addition, many criminal methods that used Pokémon to create mystery in the past have become simple puzzles that can be easily seen through in children's science programs in this era of widespread Pokémon knowledge and Pokédex information."

Rather than seeing this as the end of the golden age of detective fiction, it's more accurate to say it reflects the overall improvement in humanity's critical thinking and knowledge base—our tolerance for "ignorance" is gradually decreasing. Therefore, instead of clinging to traditional models and forcing readers to accept the logical flaws in old-school detective stories in a modern context, detective fiction writers should expand the boundaries of their imagination, using new technologies as a premise to conceive new mysteries. This is precisely the direction detective fiction continues to explore.

"Besides, mystery works set in non-realistic backgrounds also have their unique charm. It's not about being stuck in the past and indulging in self-entertainment, but rather a kind of retro or fictional romance. For example, even if both are set in the early days of the Alliance a hundred years ago, the writing style and perspective of contemporary writers will inevitably be vastly different from those of writers from that era. This detachment from the realistic background can sometimes enhance the purity of the intellectual battle in mystery works. Ultimately, where exactly is the boundary between reality and the surreal? Even non-fiction literature contains dramatic elements at its core. Those originally real events, from the moment they are transformed into stories by writers, actually already possess a certain degree of 'fantasy' quality... As a writer, Wanlong Tianwang, you must also deeply understand this, right?"

"Hmm...that's indeed hard to refute."

The novelist nodded, resting his chin on his hand, but still seemed somewhat unwilling—

"But in my personal opinion, surveillance cameras have always been an aesthetically unappealing thing. They overwhelm the qualities that classic detectives rely on for survival with their massive amounts of unfiltered raw information—a web of logic, unique and sharp observation, and insight into the subtleties of human nature. As a professional in this field... haven't you ever felt this way?"

“Surveillance has indeed replaced many of the tasks of private investigators—but mainly in a positive sense.”

Hugo stated without any hesitation—

"The original private investigation profession, or private detectives, involved a large part of their daily work in stalking, tracking, and invading privacy. This is one of the reasons why the industry had a bad reputation before the rise of detective novels. Public surveillance facilities, to some extent, replaced many of the detectives' unsavory tasks. As for those classical 'aesthetics,' they may have always existed only in the realm of literary works. Therefore, as a detective myself, I don't care whether their aesthetic appeal has been compromised..."

"You two wait a moment."

The evil-type king, who was becoming increasingly uneasy, gestured for a pause.

"We were supposed to start by talking about how to help King Wanlong get back on his feet, right? Why does it feel like the conversation is going off-topic?"

"Because in my opinion, Wanlong doesn't need any extra encouragement. She has already regrouped."

Hugo stopped his increasingly enthusiastic conversation with Wanlong and spoke directly to Yueju—

"I'm asking you, where did you find Miss Wanlong and bring her to this office?"

"Of course, it was her usual secluded room, the king's room. She was fast asleep, buried in a pile of blank novel manuscripts." Yueju certainly hadn't forgotten the scene she had just witnessed.

"Really?" Hugo looked at the Ghost King with a serious expression, while Yueju, who followed his gaze, saw a guilty look in Wanlong's eyes as he desperately looked away.

“If I remember correctly, King Wanlong has been in poor condition lately, not only staying in his room all day but also turning down a lot of publishing work. In fact, it is precisely for this reason that Yueju brought you here for a tea party out of concern. But if that’s the case, it seems strange that Miss Wanlong was sleeping in a pile of completely blank manuscripts at three o’clock in the afternoon.”

The new champion didn't give Wanlong any more chance to hide her true feelings, calmly dissecting the situation—

"Although it was hidden by her glasses, a careful look would reveal that Miss Wanlong's dark circles were not fake, indicating that she had indeed stayed up all night to engage in some activity. Of course, this could not be due to creative block, since Wanlong did not have any urgent writing commissions, and given Wanlong's abilities as a novelist, she should not be unable to write a single word after staying up all night."

"So... what exactly is the reason that our Ghost King is staying up all night?"

The evil-type king narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping over Wanlong's slightly tense face, as if he understood something.

"No, I just spent the whole night doing nothing... Yes, reading novels. I stayed up all night reading mystery novels on my phone. Writing requires nourishment, so what I did is perfectly reasonable, right?" Wanlong explained in a panic.

"For a decadent novelist who is 'doing nothing,' you're wearing your everyday king-like suit while you're sleeping."

After understanding what had happened, Yueju tugged at her collar near her neck, her tone laced with sarcasm—

"Even that signature big scarf is still tied around his neck. It looks more like he's ready to go out than something he'd wear to bed."

"Miss Wanlong's real reason for staying up all night is special training, right? If we examine the soles of her shoes like the detectives of the Golden Age did, we should be able to see the mud on the road to victory."

Hugo had no interest in teasing his subjects; he looked at Wanlong and stated it directly—

"After all, the training rooms inside the headquarters will be recorded by the League and may be seen by other Elite Four members. Therefore, if you want to train secretly, you would naturally choose this nearest outdoor training ground. I suppose you were secretly training in the mountain paths around the League headquarters until Blueberry came to your door."

"I see. No wonder no one answered the door for so long and no one answered the phone."

Blueberry stroked her chin and nodded repeatedly.

"It seems that it wasn't because you were sleeping too soundly, Wanlong... but because you weren't even in that room."

"At that time, Miss Wanlong was probably busy using 'Spiritual Assault' to pass through the walls of the Heavenly King's room."

Hugo added—

"I experienced it once at the hospital before. In terms of movement speed, this skill is only slightly slower than the superpower 'teleportation.' The reason she buried herself in the manuscript paper was probably to pretend to be fast asleep in front of the person who came."

"Secretly working hard, and then surprising everyone at the end—that's probably your plan, right?" The Dark Elite King coldly delivered the final blow.

"Heh, hehehehe..."

Wanlong slumped back into the sofa, letting out a series of weak laughs, as if some intricate mechanism had finally stopped working.

"So this is what it feels like to be relentlessly pursued by a detective as if you were the murderer. This is truly valuable...writing material."

But the next second, as if remembering something, she suddenly sprang up and raised the sole of her shoe at Hugo and Blueberry—

"But I'm sorry! There's no dust or mud on my feet. Reality isn't a detective novel, you know. If you want to catch me, you'll have to produce tangible evidence!"

"Ah, they're starting to get arrogant and self-destructive..." Yueju sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"You changed your shoes after going out, which makes sense."

Hugo nodded noncommittally, then picked up the tablet he usually used for handling official business related to the championship and raised it to Wanlong.

"While it's possible to point out indirect clues like the condition of the companion spirits or wrinkles in their clothing, those kinds of things are easy to refute..."

He raised his eyes, looked at the bewildered Wanlong, and spoke in a calm and normal tone—

"Now that things have come to this, why don't we check the surveillance footage?"

Chapter 470 There is no perfect machine in the world

Basically, there are three ways to evade surveillance—although the process was a bit complicated, Yueju still managed to hear the detective's experience as a security consultant from him later in the tea party.

The simplest and most basic method is, of course, to physically destroy the surveillance camera.

To facilitate mass production and assembly, these surveillance devices are typically highly integrated in structure. Therefore, individual devices rarely have redundant mechanisms to ensure continued operation even after lens damage. In other words, intentional sabotage or interference, such as a well-timed flash of light or a smokescreen obscuring the view, can often temporarily disable them—a similar incident occurred recently in the Hoenn region.

However, this approach can only work if there is no second "eye" nearby. Otherwise, no matter how fast the vandal is, by the time they destroy the first camera, the footage recorded by the other cameras will have already been uploaded to the cloud server, and any subsequent remedial action will be too late.

The second method is hacking.

A classic approach is to extract a segment of footage from a surveillance camera and repeatedly play it on a screen in the monitoring room, thus deceiving the defender. However, this method has become so well-known due to its appearance in various films and television shows that any moderately advanced surveillance system will have some defenses against it.

Real hacking techniques go far beyond this. To achieve the effect of blocking vision, they can also attack servers to change timestamps, pre-spread viruses that can remain dormant for a long time, design artificial blind spots by targeting camera deflection mechanisms, or even forcibly shut down the entire monitoring system... In short, compared to maintaining the seamless operation of a vast monitoring network, finding its vulnerabilities and launching precise attacks is often much easier. However, this requires powerful technical means. Nowadays, some large cybersecurity companies even train dedicated multi-sided beasts or Rotoms as electronic sentinels to guard against such risks, making these types of hacking attacks even more difficult.

The third approach is to exploit blind spots in the surveillance system to bypass its limitations from the front. This is precisely the method that Lanju actually used inside the castle maze.

Bisharp doesn't use the "Light Screen" move that can distort light, otherwise Cranberry's movements would be much easier—but this Dark-type Pokémon's limbs are equipped with weapons far more reliable than Optical Trick: blades capable of cutting through steel.

The moment the teleportation device on the city wall was triggered, and before the blue light at the other end of the castle had dissipated, Commander Chopping, who had entered the unfamiliar space with Yueju, made his move before even landing.

It was neither a test nor a parry, but rather a compression of all explosive power into a single line – the "Guillotine".

Aim at the nearest wall!

The energy, enough to kill any Pokémon in an instant, extended into a thin blade at the tip, so that the sound of it cutting into the wall was as slight as tearing silk. In the blink of an eye, a hole with edges as smooth as an industrial cut was formed. This kind of slash, completed in an instant, combining explosive power and precision, is something that even a master craftsman in the martial arts world would find difficult to replicate.

At the same time that Commander Chopping Slash launched his attack, Cranberry disappeared into the rift he created.

In other words, from the very first second he entered the maze, this gambling king was never in any of the "passages".

His hiding place was in a gap between layers that existed within the maze walls themselves.

No matter how meticulous the "City Defense Master's" surveillance network is, its pre-set observation targets are limited to "passable spaces." The walls themselves, as part of the maze, are not within the system's surveillance logic. Because the castle itself has a transformation mechanism, even the monitor, Gerald, cannot remember the length and details of every wall in the maze. Therefore, when Lanju disguised herself as part of a wall using a cut-off wall panel, Gerald completely lost the means to track her—after all, when he saw the image of an empty corridor, he would only subconsciously conclude that "the target has escaped to another area."

As a result, the blueberry gained valuable time to act, as well as an observation window that no one could discover.

Although he couldn't directly see those "eyes" hidden deep within the decorative lines and embedded in the shadows of the wall crevices, those eyes that monitored the maze in place of the "city defense masters," he didn't need to see them.

As a frequent visitor to casinos, a rule deconstructor, and even an "insider" who designed a super casino from scratch, Yueju also possesses an almost instinctive intuition about the underlying logic of surveillance layout. He knows that no matter how concealed a camera is, its field of view will inevitably have a fixed range; no matter how real-time a system is, its signal processing will inevitably have sequence delays; and no matter how dense the coverage, its nodes will always have deliberate time differences in scanning to avoid mutual interference.

He doesn't need to be faster than the speed of light; he only needs to be faster than the system's recognition interval and the operator's reaction time of a fraction of a second.

By using the Splitter Commander to create a feint, throwing stones and brick fragments into blind spots to trigger sensor misjudgments, and combining this with the Splitter Commander's mobility to slip into wall gaps at any time, the Blueberry is like a precisely calculated error, always navigating the crack between the system's "perception" and "judgment".

Now, the accumulation of errors has reached a critical point.

Just like winning or losing in a casino—

A true fatal blow can be delivered in an instant.

"There really are legendary elf-level guardians here."

Standing before Ironhead, its horns and hooves now devoid of light, lying limp on the ground, Yueju gently touched the cold metal shell with the tip of its shoe. Confirming that the creature was completely incapacitated, it slowly let out a sigh of relief.

"Judging from this guy's reaction speed just now... the person behind the surveillance camera really didn't notice my whereabouts before."

He muttered to himself, still shaken—

"It's alright. I was worried that my hiding movements might have been recorded by the surveillance cameras—if those embarrassing poses made under the camera were saved, it wouldn't just be 'laughable'."

Bisharp, the main force of the Dark-type Elite Four, had actually met the evolution requirements a long time ago. The reason why it didn't take the final step in the past was twofold: firstly, to use the pressure of suppressed evolution to hone Bisharp's strength through a kind of weighted training; secondly, to give some real enemies a surprise.

Upon seeing Ironhead, Yueju judged that it was no longer time to hide its strength, so it told Bisharp Commander not to suppress its evolution any longer.

At the same time, he also gave the evolved Pokémon a Capsule, temporarily changing its original "Unyielding" ability to "Admiral" which increases the power of its moves based on the number of fallen allies. This Dark-type Elite Four member was particularly adept at using such items, which some trainers considered "shortcuts" or "forbidden," and even Kalos, the Fire-type Elite Four member, had stumbled on this before.

There were still no obvious surveillance cameras in the corridor, but Yueju's gaze remained fixed on the seemingly endless darkness ahead.

“‘City Defense Master’ Jero…you’re the one who controls this castle, aren’t you?”

The gambler's voice echoed with unusual clarity in the confined space—

“When I infiltrated the cult last time, I already noticed Team Plasma’s strange money flow. I never expected that you would donate money to the underground renovation project of the Unova Alliance headquarters. As the current Unova Elite Leader, shouldn’t I… say thank you?”

The long, narrow corridor was silent, offering no response to the mockery.