Pokémon Detective Case Files.

The tall, thin figure carrying a huge easel approached the detective from afar, walked straight up to him, and, as if they were old friends, asked, "My friend, do you like the scenery around here?"

They actually came looking for him? Hugo gave a wry smile—

"The scenery is beautiful, with clear skies and fluffy clouds, and yellow leaves fluttering in the air. The Feiyun City Art Museum has a distinctive architectural style, which complements the surrounding greenery. Mr. Yati, are you planning to sketch the scenery around here?"

The newcomer wore a green long-sleeved shirt and a red scarf, with meticulously styled brown curly hair, exuding an artistic aura. He was none other than Mr. Artie, the city's gym leader, known as the "strongest insect artist," and the Bug-type expert who held the Beetle Badge at the Flying Cloud Gym.

Hugo noticed the prominent painting tools behind him and immediately understood the other person's intentions. He prepared to get up and leave, making room for the artist.

A few pedestrians gradually gathered around, chattering and forming a loose circle in the distance, watching what Master Yati intended to do.

Artie is undoubtedly a local star in Flying Cloud City. Her paintings have won numerous awards in contemporary art exhibitions around the world and are especially popular among people in the Carlos region.

He himself is a living advertisement for Feiyun City. He has decorated the dojo in Feiyun City like an art gallery, filled with his personal artworks. Tourists from afar often travel long distances to Feiyun City just to see the artistic treasures created by this master artist.

This honor is unparalleled among living artists.

It seems that Mr. Yati is going to paint on the street, and the crowd is naturally full of anticipation, hoping to witness the birth of a masterpiece.

“My dear friend!” Artie pressed down on Hugo’s shoulder with excessive enthusiasm, preventing him from getting up from the bench, and continued speaking passionately—

"Empty street scenes are soulless, lifeless art, no different in essence from images captured by a camera. Just as I was about to sigh and lament my lack of inspiration, you appeared before me!"

"Me?" Hugo stared blankly with lifeless eyes, as if preparing to shoot himself, pointing his index finger at his disheveled black hair like a gun. "What inspiration did I give you?"

"Here stands a traveler from afar, a humble sage, a troubled youth! I seem to see a sculpture, imbued with classical aesthetics, engrossed in reading an e-book! Please remain seated here and serve as my sketching model!"

Are all artists this crazy?

"Sorry, I was so engrossed in my book that I didn't notice how many travelers and wise young men were around. But the statue is a large and heavy object, so transporting it might not be easy. You might be able to catch up if you look around," Hugo replied insincerely, glancing around.

When the chosen model started to play dumb, Yati had a headache. However, he then saw the grass turtles that had just finished playing and returned to the detective's side, and another plan came to mind.

"These three adorable little guys are your Pokémon, aren't they? How about you sit on the bench with your trainer and appear together in the sketch? I always consider myself an artist, but I actually enjoy the creative process more than the result. I'm just a gamer playing with a paintbrush. If you're willing to help me complete the sketch, I'm happy to give you the finished painting!"

Hugo still wanted to refuse, feeling that the current situation was rather strange and that Mr. Artie's enthusiastic attitude was full of oddities.

However, at the same time, the discussion among the Sinnoh starter Pokémon has already reached a conclusion. What an interesting event! I definitely have to participate!

The grass turtles became excited and stared intently at the detective.

It's safe to say that Gym Leader Articuno truly lives up to his reputation as a Bug-type Pokémon master. Trainers who can utilize Bug-types in such diverse ways are no ordinary individuals. This "cutting off the fuel supply" move was truly swift and decisive...

Hugo sighed and finally agreed.

The crowd of onlookers grew larger and larger, blocking the street opposite the art museum and gradually escalating into a serious traffic disruption.

Mr. Atti set up the huge easel, placed a piece of cardboard on it, and then—

It sent out a babysitter insect whose entire body was covered in emerald green leaves.

The nanny bug, dressed in a gown made of green leaves, appeared in the red light emitted by the Poké Ball and bowed gracefully to Hugo.

Then, the babysitter worm used its "silk-spitting" technique, spitting out threads of different colors onto the palette that Yati had taken out.

"These are my paints!"

The art master said to the detective with great enthusiasm, "By feeding the babysitter different plants, it can produce threads of various colors. Compared to traditional paints, these threads have no odor, are not easy to fade, and feel very comfortable to the touch. They are the art supplies I have been using since the beginning of my career!"

Next, Mr. Atti used a special pair of tweezers as a paintbrush, picked up a brown silk thread from the palette, and began to paint on the canvas.

With just a few strokes, space appeared on the blank canvas: blue sky, yellow leaves, streets, benches, a young man looking down at a book, and Pokémon affectionately surrounding him. One by one, they appeared on the paper. Although there were only a few lines, the things in the draft each had their own expression, lively and vivid.

"Well? This is the draft of the sketch." Mr. Ayti turned the drawing paper toward the detective, letting him check its contents. "Now please sit here quietly for forty minutes, and I will finish this sketch as quickly as possible."

Chapter 107 The Invisible Intruder

Artists have different attitudes toward their sketching models.

Some masters neurotically demand that their models remain absolutely still, flying into a rage at the slightest movement; while other artists don't care about such things, continuing to paint even if the model suddenly runs away, as if sketching has nothing to do with the reference object.

The owner of the Yati Pavilion is probably somewhere in between the two types.

During those forty minutes, the bored little fire monkeys had changed their poses several times. The artist didn't say anything, but silently picked up a large number of colored threads from the palette and skillfully embedded them into the canvas, his expression one of deep thought.

Judging from the occasional gasps of surprise from the onlookers, the painting must have been quite good.

However, towards the end of the painting process, Mr. Ayti himself began to frown frequently, perhaps making some artistic considerations. He was seen gesturing with the tweezers he was using as a paintbrush, whether to confirm Hugo's proportions or to achieve a certain cinematic effect, it's unclear...

Faced with the painter engrossed in his work, Hugo didn't know what pose to adopt, so he simply continued reading his e-book. Immersing himself in reading slightly relieved the detective from the awkwardness of being watched, but the stares of passersby were still very bothersome, making the reading experience far less enjoyable than before.

Sigh, I really shouldn't have chosen to read here...

The babysitter insects continuously provide the paint for Adi's paintings, swinging their sickle-shaped forelegs, and producing a large number of silk threads from the sleeves cut from green leaves, which flow into the palette.

His owner sometimes uses his "paintbrush" to adjust the angle of the silk threads; sometimes he grabs a handful of "paint" and splashes it boldly onto the canvas, because the paint is made of silk threads and he doesn't have to worry about getting his hands dirty.

In this agonizingly slow period of restlessness, the detective devoured his book. As if trying to distract himself with the dense information, Hugo swiped through the tablet at lightning speed, silently praying that the sketching trip would end soon… Finally!

It's unknown whether Arceus's spirit in heaven heard the detective's prayer.

As Mr. Ayti was finishing his sketching session, a sudden shout rang out from the street corner behind Hugo—

"Oh no! The art museum has been attacked!"

This unexpected turn of events instantly ignited the crowd, and the pedestrians who had been quietly watching outside suddenly became restless.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, a middle-aged man in an art museum security uniform rushed out of the museum door directly opposite Hugo.

When he saw Mr. Yati sketching across the street, his expression became even more flustered, and he even instinctively took two steps back, wanting to retreat back into the art museum.

But in the end, the staff member made up his mind, jogged over to the owner of the Yati Museum, and breathlessly said to the artist—

"Mr. Yati, something terrible has happened! All four paintings you displayed at the Feiyun Art Museum have been vandalized! Have you seen any thieves coming out of the museum?"

Upon hearing this, Hugo, sitting on the bench, narrowed his eyes and, instead of looking around for the bandits, began to observe Mr. Atti's reaction.

Upon hearing that his painting had been destroyed, the great artist's face froze instantly, as if he had suffered a great loss of vitality. At first, he was just stunned, but then his expression gradually became distressed. He shook his head at the same time as his assistant, the nanny, who was following behind him.

"This has happened? This world is truly full of surprises..."

In the end, Mr. Yati showed no anger whatsoever, but simply said this with a sense of helplessness.

.

"Detective Hugo, your agency's business never seems to stop. You just dealt a heavy blow to an evil organization from out of town, and this morning, the director is already out on the street personally soliciting clients. Has the detective industry become this cutthroat?"

Policewoman Sera, dressed in a beige police uniform and wearing square-framed glasses, scrutinized the detective with a suspicious look.

Her boss, Officer Jenny, was on leave today, leaving her to work the shift at the police station. Clearly, working alone was making the deputy quite unhappy.

“Your tone of voice is starting to sound more and more like Officer Jenny’s,” Hugo retorted irritably. “I was just going for a walk; who knew I’d run into something like this? Besides, I didn’t even take on this case…”

Who could have predicted this?

After the detective and the gym leader entered the art museum, they witnessed a tragic scene—

On the display wall directly opposite the entrance of the art museum, four paintings by Mr. Atti used to hang side by side. But now, the wall is as white and empty as a clean snowfield, forming a stark contrast with the mess on the ground.

"Ooh..."

Hugo heard the insect artist beside him emit a short, mournful cry, like the last groan of an old cricket before winter.

Although I had already heard from the staff that the painting had been destroyed, what I saw before me was still too shocking.

All four canvases were divided into countless small pieces, with wisps of silk scattered at the edges, and some cracks still connected by a few swaying thin threads, like a prodigal son looking back longingly at his vanished homeland.

Needless to say, the vibrant colors woven from insect silk on the canvas were completely crumpled, crushed, and dismantled into a murky brown mess, a vulgar swamp.

The detective lives in Feiyun City and has, of course, visited the Feiyun City Art Museum.

He also recalled that the four damaged silk paintings were Mr. Artie's most famous works, which were themed around the "Four Virtues" and were named "Wisdom," "Courage," "Temperance," and "Justice."

The work uses symbolism to depict four historical events that shine with the light of human ideals in the history of Feiyun City, from its initial settlement to its development into a cosmopolitan metropolis that embraces all cultures.

These four paintings were on display in this art museum for nearly ten years, welcoming and seeing off tens of thousands of visitors, and now they have finally come to their end.

In Hugo's view, the current events were far too ironic—

Moral nobility was overthrown and torn to shreds by unjustified violence.

The murderer didn't even bother with theft; he was merely mocking ideals in the name of cruel reality—look around the world, wisdom has vanished, courage is gone, materialism is rampant, justice is hard to find, where are the four virtues anymore?

This is not only a destruction of art, but also an insult to art.

Who on earth would commit such an atrocity against an artwork that is neither able to resist nor cry for help?

"Alright, let's begin the statement taking now." The policewoman's calm, routine voice interrupted Hugo's recollection. "Now, tell me, who was present when you entered the art museum?"

"There were six people in total: myself, Yati, the security guard who discovered the crime scene, the museum director, the ticket seller, and a tourist visiting the museum."

Hugo answered without hesitation, then casually asked—

"Speaking of which, I shouldn't be the one being questioned, right? Compared to the other five people, I'm just a passerby who got involved unintentionally. If you want to know more information, you should ask the ones who are connected to the art museum, right?"

“We need to know what happened outside the art museum at the time of the incident. Mr. Yati is a celebrity in Feiyun City; he greeted the chief and left. The security guard's testimony alone is not reliable enough, and he didn't know what happened outside before he left,” Sera said expressionlessly.

"Fine, I guess I'm just unlucky." Hugo didn't bother to argue and crossed his legs in the interrogation room. "You just mentioned the phrase 'at the time of the incident,' so does that mean the time when the artwork was damaged has been determined?"

“That’s the strange thing. It’s as if the paintings in the museum were damaged by an invisible person.” Miss Sera pushed up her glasses.

"The first person to notice the anomaly was the ticket seller at 10:15 a.m., and just ten minutes earlier, the only visitor in the museum saw the complete 'Four Virtues' artwork when the doors opened. During this time, the ticket seller and security guard kept an eye on the museum's entrance, but they both said that they had not seen anyone else enter the museum between the two points in time."

"Hugo, I'll ask you one more time. From your perspective, sitting on the bench directly opposite the museum, were the only people you mentioned really the only ones who entered the museum this morning?"

"Oh, yes."

Without the slightest hesitation, the detective shrugged and spoke with ease.

Chapter 108 The Mystery of the Locked Room

"If that's the case, then the space in front of the display wall becomes a closed, enclosed visual chamber."

Sera said as if she had just realized something.

If you were to simply illustrate the terrain of the crime scene, it would roughly resemble the shape of the Chinese character "拦" (latch).

The dot at the top left of the character “烁” can be seen as the director’s office. When the director is at work, he closes the office door and hands over the management of the art museum to the staff.

The horizontal line inside the "latch" represents the wall where Mr. Yates' paintings are hung; it serves as both the museum's signboard and the first exhibit in the exhibition.

This long wall separates the museum's exhibition area from the exterior; of course, the actual exhibition halls are much larger than this. Visitors enter from the left, tour the exhibition halls, and exit from the right.

On either side of the wall were the ticket counter area where the ticket seller worked and the exit area where the security guard was located. Due to their positions, both of them were facing the only main entrance of the art museum, which placed Mr. A.J.'s painting on the wall in a blind spot in their field of vision.

Despite this, security guards and ticket sellers could still clearly see the entrance to the art museum, and they couldn't possibly have missed anyone entering or leaving the area.

Both individuals stated that no one had entered or left the museum during the period when the artwork was destroyed.

Furthermore, Hugo, who lives across the street from the museum, also claimed that no one had entered the museum's doors, completely eliminating the possibility of an intruder breaking in from the outside and damaging the "Four Virtues" artwork.

How were the artworks destroyed in this untouched space? Was it the work of Pokémon that infiltrated it, just like last time? What was the culprit's purpose in destroying the artworks?

"It's a locked room, a locked room, Detective Hugo."

The policewoman waved her finger in front of Hugo's eyes like a cat toy. She remembered the detective's obsessive love for locked-room mysteries during the "Sandstorm Murder Case" and wanted to use the same trick to lure him into investigating.

"A confined space limited by people's perspective—what detective novels call a surveillance-type locked room. How about that? Intriguing, isn't it?"

However, this time the detective didn't take the bait—

"Reality is not like mystery novels, Miss Sera. A truly perfect locked room mystery will not result in a crime."

Hugo yawned and said, completely uninterested, "Always using these terms from novels makes you seem very uninformed."

Seeing Hugo's lazy attitude, alarm bells went off in Sera's mind.

Back at the Feather Residence, who was it that excitedly explained the definition of a locked room to everyone? Which detective in the white coat repeatedly told her and Officer Jenny afterward that they should hand over any future locked room cases to him?

This detective definitely knows something!

"Hugo, you are the best detective in the Union. Officer Jenny often tells us about your glorious deeds. The Alliance's success in thwarting Archie's conspiracy this time is all thanks to your early warning. Lord Hugo, what are your thoughts on this case?"

The policewoman praised the detective to the skies and tried to get Hugo to help with the investigation.

The detective scratched his head sheepishly, but a smile just like the sunflower monster's appeared on his face—

"Oh dear, those cases were just solved by chance. How could an amateur detective like me have any reliable opinions? Investigating cases should be done by professionals like the police."

Isn't this something stubborn cops always say?!

Sera suppressed the urge to complain and continued to flatter with a forced smile: "You can't say that. How can Mr. Hugo be compared to other detectives? In my opinion, if you were to take charge of this kind of case, you could definitely solve it in the shortest amount of time."

"This is too much. Although I am not very knowledgeable, I still understand the saying that there are always people more knowledgeable than you. Look, I have explained everything I know about the situation at the scene, and now it's about time to return to Yuqi Residence..."