Pokémon Detective Case Files.

Upon seeing that the mode of transportation they were to ride was a Pokémon, Hugo hesitated for a moment, but finally made up his mind, put on a heroic expression, and followed Officer Jenny as she mounted the Thunder Zebra.

The moment their buttocks touched the horse's back, Officer Jenny and the detective screamed simultaneously.

"Electric zebras are usually very docile; they must have accidentally leaked electricity just now," the policewoman explained awkwardly.

Hugo seemed used to this kind of thing, waving his hand with a pained expression: "It's nothing, it's nothing..."

.

It was nearly evening, but the second Pokémon Center in Flying Cloud City was still brightly lit.

Hospitals in big cities are ten times busier than those in small cities, hospitals in Feiyun City are ten times busier than those in big cities, and Pokémon hospitals in Feiyun City are ten times busier than human hospitals—this common saying among doctors and nurses is enough to demonstrate the hectic daily work conditions at the Feiyun City Pokémon Center.

Medical staff moved in and out of wards and outpatient rooms, and all sorts of Pokémon were taken to different departments to receive treatment from doctors. Trainers waiting outside the wards with their partners changed batch after batch, but the total number didn't decrease much.

However, at this moment, amidst the crowded hospital, several police officers, dressed in plainclothes, were vigilantly scrutinizing the various people in the hospital.

After repeated patrols and searches, the officers went to inconspicuous corners such as stairwells and toilet stalls, took out their walkie-talkies, and reported in low voices:

"Report: There are no suspicious persons in front of the special clinic where Cool Leopard is located."

"Report: Everything is normal near the emergency room."

"Report: Everything is normal near the meth and narcotics department."

……

There was a moment of silence on the walkie-talkie, then a reply came from above: "Keep an eye on the pet adoption area at the Pokémon Center. After the Leopard finishes its treatment, if someone comes to claim it, follow them as previously instructed. Oh, and don't suddenly stick to them..."

The officer suddenly screamed during the call, and the signal was cut off.

A few seconds later, Officer Jenny's icy voice came again: "Move out immediately. I'll be there in ten minutes."

The officers received orders to assign two officers to focus on the adoption area, while the rest continued to patrol various parts of the hospital.

The pet adoption area at the pet center is probably the least crowded corner of the entire hospital.

Pokémon rescued at the hospital but left unclaimed will be temporarily housed here. The hospital will also post notices on bulletin boards and online, hoping someone will come forward to adopt these Pokémon. Pokémon that remain unclaimed for an extended period will be sent to the Pokémon Research Institute, where professional Pokémon professors will release these abandoned animals back into the wild based on ecological considerations.

At this moment, three people are sitting idly in the adoption waiting area: an office worker looking at his phone, an elderly woman in a dress with gray hair, and a bald old man with a stubble beard.

None of the three looked like thugs; they seemed to be ordinary citizens sitting in this area waiting for their families... Could the murderer really be among these people?

Seeing this, despite their doubts, the officers quickly reported the situation to their superiors. A response came immediately from the walkie-talkie, and the speaker was none other than the young man who had given them the orders before.

The voice on the walkie-talkie sounded somewhat exasperated.

"Damn it, I didn't expect the real culprit to be a woman... Listen, keep a close watch on that woman in the Western dress. Once Cool Leopard's treatment is over, if she comes forward to offer adoption, then she must be the real murderer. Once she reaches a convenient place to arrest her, take action immediately!"

The call paused for a few seconds, and it seemed the walkie-talkie was handed back to Officer Jenny, after which the officers heard her voice.

Do as he says.

.

Cool Leopard's treatment went very smoothly. The damage it suffered did not exceed what would occur in a normal battle, so it quickly recovered under the doctor's care.

The police officer waiting at the door explained the Pokémon's situation to the doctor—its owner had been killed in an intense battle, and the Leopard was now without a trainer.

"I see. Then let's leave them at the adoption center for now," the doctor said matter-of-factly.

And so, the newly recovered leopard was led by the doctor and walked with a cat-like gait to the adoption area of ​​the Pokémon Center.

As the officers secretly monitoring her expected, the woman in the dress immediately stood up from her seat.

"Oh! What a beautiful Pokémon! Can I meet its owner? What? It's already passed away? What a poor thing! Can I adopt it?"

The woman's trembling voice was overflowing with excessive sympathy, and the doctor, of course, had no reason to refuse. He had brought the elf here to make it easier for kind-hearted people to adopt it. Now, a living, breathing kind-hearted person was shouting and gesturing around the cool leopard. Although he was a little strange, he still handed the cool leopard over to the woman and turned to complete the adoption procedures.

However, the purple feline Pokémon showed hostility, its fur bristling as it arched its body, growled, and charged towards the woman like a madman.

Then, the leopard and the woman sidestepped each other, and the leopard's claws struck the plainclothes police officer who was hiding behind the woman.

Caught off guard, the officer fell to the ground with an abdominal injury. Only then did he realize that the Leopard had an extremely keen sense of smell and must have remembered his scent on the way to the hospital. Now, having changed his clothes and not appearing as a police officer, he was seen as a completely suspicious person by the Leopard…

But why would the victim, Cool Leopard,...?

The attack by the leopard threw the hospital into chaos. The panicked crowd made it difficult for the police to move, and the woman in the dress disappeared with the leopard at that moment.

"The cheetah suddenly attacked! It escaped with the suspect!" the officer shouted anxiously into the walkie-talkie.

.

Outside the hospital.

Officer Jenny dismounted from the Thunder Zebra with a grim expression, then lifted the nearly unconscious detective off the horse and tossed him onto the grass beside her like trash.

Unexpectedly, the electric zebra repeatedly lost control along the way, completely oblivious to the fact that it was releasing wave after wave of static electricity at Officer Jenny and Hugo riding on its back. The electric zebra just looked at them innocently, as if it were all an accident.

The senior police officer from the Public Security Bureau, his anger seething, forcefully pressed down his short, green hair, which was standing on end from the electric shock, and slammed his instructions into his walkie-talkie.

"Don't panic, proceed with the encirclement and capture operation as planned. Reinforcements have arrived!"

After a nightmarish journey, it's time to get down to business.

Chapter 009 A Net of Heaven and Earth, Waiting for the Rabbit to Run into the Tree Stump

The immediate priority is to determine the suspect's current location.

Officer Jenny didn't hesitate to give the command: "Thunder Zebra, use 'Plasma Bath'."

The magnificent black and white zebra snorted, and pale blue arcs of electricity emanated from its fur.

As a senior officer in the Public Security Division of the Feiyun City Police Department, Officer Jenny specially trained her electric zebra to perform a unique skill to search for criminals in crowds, in order to deal with the crowded situations that are common in Feiyun City.

"Plasma Bath" is a skill that spreads out charged particles, causing normal-type moves to become electric-type moves in Zephyr's next attack.

This skill was originally only available to high-level Thunder Zebras, but the Officer Jenny family, being a family of police officers, bred zebras that inherited this skill from birth.

"Then, use a 'piercing sound'!"

The policewoman swung her arm forward with a confident and stylish air.

At the same time, the Thunder Zebra, bred from the Zebra, raised its hooves, held its head high, almost stood upright, and opened its mouth wide as if it were neighing loudly, but no one present could hear a sound.

"Remember that cool leopard we saw when we first arrived at the crime scene? Find it!"

The original effect of "Screech" was to lower the defense of the enemy Pokémon. After the move was converted to the Electric type, the originally sharp tone completely entered the ultrasonic range. The current spreads into the surrounding area along with the sound waves, and transmits spatial information within a radius of 100 meters to Zephyr, thereby gaining knowledge of the area.

By using electromagnetic signals to simulate radar effects, it can detect complex situations in three-dimensional space, with a search range even wider than the "ultrasonic waves" of the Ultrasonic Bat!

Right now, a bright yellow flash spread out with the roar of the Thunder Zebra, disappearing in the air like a wisp of mist. The black and white Thunder Pokémon stood quietly beside Officer Jenny, its eyes closed, fully absorbing the information coming from all directions.

Suddenly, the lightning zebra opened its eyes and let out a long neigh. Officer Jenny immediately understood, leaped onto the horse, and let her partner carry her in a certain direction.

With a few strides, the horse and rider had made their way through the crowded streets and arrived at a narrow, little-known street behind the hospital.

it's here!

Officer Jenny caught a glimpse of a purple, sickle-shaped tail flashing past the street corner—it was the Cool Panther!

"Back street of the hospital, at the end of the alley heading east, the suspect is fleeing!" Officer Jenny said into the walkie-talkie while leaning over to hug her horse's back. "Electric Zebra, use 'Lightning Bolt' to accelerate!"

Not far away, the officers who had split up with Officer Jenny had already assembled. The officers who remained at the hospital, the subordinates who rushed to the hospital following Officer Jenny's instructions, and the police along the route who had been mobilized—all these police forces were put into the operation to capture the murderer.

The police have laid a tight net, and the suspect has nowhere to escape.

Unless she wasn't online to begin with.

.

"Oh dear, this is quite a big fuss."

Under the already dark sky, in front of the hospital's main entrance, on a bench next to a vending machine, Detective Hugo leisurely leaned back and handed a can of soda he had just bought from the vending machine to a woman sitting at the other end of the bench.

The woman wore sunglasses, had long, bright red hair, carried a trendy tote bag, and wore high heels. Her clothing was revealing and slightly ahead of its time, displaying an excessive rebelliousness. Upon closer inspection, she also had a dense array of earrings. Judging from her appearance alone, she could be described as a thoroughly delinquent teenager.

"Ma'am, are you waiting for someone? You're sweating profusely, it seems you're facing a serious situation. Would you like some juice?"

This seemingly unapproachable female gang leader refused the detective's offer and instead gave him a sidelong glance.

Hugo didn't mind at all. On the contrary, he seemed a little relieved as he opened the pull tab of the can and started drinking. His bold drinking style made the girl next to him feel a little regretful—was it really that good?

"Ha—finally resurrected." The detective put down the empty can with satisfaction.

"That's why I say Pokémon are just unreliable creatures. They run around the streets like madmen, and any move they make can kill someone. You even need a license to buy a gun. You can just go to any hospital and adopt an unclaimed Pokémon. After that, whether you use that kid to kill or commit arson depends entirely on the adopter's mood. Do you think that's reasonable?"

The detective chatted casually and familiarly, reminiscing about his nightmarish and thrilling experience on horseback while giving the delinquent young woman beside him a meaningful look.

Sure enough, the woman next to him trembled almost imperceptibly at the mention of "adoption".

Seeing this, Hugo smiled even more, his eyes narrowing with amusement, and he persisted in his nagging.

"Speaking of which, miss, do you know that when a woman wants to conceal her identity, she is most likely to use two methods?"

Damn it, who is this man who's so clingy, like a jellyfish, and so noisy, like a chattering bird?!

"A more common strategy is to change into an outfit that is completely incompatible with one's own temperament, cover oneself up from head to toe, add a little bit of bad makeup and a wig, and a beautiful 20-year-old girl can look like a decrepit old lady."

Upon hearing the word "wig," the woman's gaze involuntarily drifted to the large handbag in her hand, before she hurriedly averted her eyes—the detective chuckled inwardly, thinking what a clumsy criminal she was.

"But the easiest trick to pull off is still a woman disguised as a man," Hugo sighed dramatically.

"Although comics often feature cross-dressing scenes that insult human intelligence, such as 'drawing a woman but insisting she's a man,' in reality, if a woman really decided to disguise herself as a man, it would be very convenient for her to deceive others... By the way, how did you manage to disguise your voice as a man in the emergency call?"

The woman felt extremely uncomfortable when she saw the man beside her grinning wickedly and scanning her from head to toe. She wanted to get up and leave the bench.

As she stood up, the detective's gaze fell on the other side of her bulging jeans pocket, where a corner of her smartphone was sticking out. He shook his head in disappointment.

"Using a voice changer app on your phone, huh? What a cliché tool. So you really are the owner of the Leopard Pokémon. Doesn't your conscience bother you if you kill and burn bodies for Pokémon?"

"So annoying! So annoying! So annoying! Stop looking down on me, just go to hell!"

Hugo clearly underestimated the prisoners' resistance. Faced with the exposure of their identities, the female gang leader neither admitted defeat nor ran away, but decided to strike first.

"Hey, hey, don't do anything reckless! Continuing to commit violence at this point will only worsen your punishment!" Hugo shouted. "Confessing and turning yourself in is the only way out!"

The detective's warnings were to no avail. The delinquent woman's face was now filled with ferocity, and she was holding a sharp dagger in her hand, about to stab Hugo in the abdomen.

A clanging sound rang out, like metal rubbing against metal.

The sensation of piercing, transmitted to the woman's hand, was not the feeling of piercing flesh.

The delinquent girl looked at the daggers she had thrust out with both hands in surprise, but froze on the spot.

It turned out that Hugo had used the soda can in his hand to block the stabbing.

Like turning a doorknob, the detective twisted the can left and right, and the woman holding the dagger suddenly felt her hand slip, and the can and the dagger stuck in it returned to Hugo's hand.

The detective held the dagger up to his eyes, examining it casually, while gripping the can.

"There's still blood on the hilt, ma'am. Haven't you found a suitable place to abandon the murder weapon yet? Or are you planning to take Cool Leopard and run away to another place to live a life on the run?"

The suspect did not answer, and kicked Hugo in the stomach.

The detective chose to lie flat, rolling onto the ground without any regard for his image, awkwardly dodging the attack from the high heels, his white suit jacket covered in a large patch of dust.

Seeing that the detective was difficult to deal with, the leader clicked her tongue in anger and had no choice but to abandon her plan to silence him. She turned and fled in the opposite direction from Hugo, but at the moment she turned, she couldn't help but pause for a moment—

Because she was confronted by Miss Officer Jenny, who was furious because of her failed attempt to apprehend the suspect.

In the dim twilight, Officer Jenny, still savoring the moment, swung the unused handcuffs at her as she slowly walked toward the bench.

Behind the policewoman were groups of officers, and behind the officers was a bound and surrounded by Zebra and other Pokémon of the police force.

"Excuse me, I'm sitting here waiting for someone."

Behind him, the detective, who had somehow ended up sitting cross-legged on the ground, spoke up tactlessly.

"You came to the hospital to retrieve Cool Leopard. Unexpectedly, the police saw through your intentions so early, so you had to separate from Cool Leopard and escape. During the police manhunt, running away rashly would attract a lot of attention, so you had no choice but to go to this bench closest to the exit, observe the surrounding situation, and wait for an opportunity to leave."

The detective seized the opportunity to fulfill his long-cherished wish of explaining the case to the suspect.

“Now that the police have seen and remembered your appearance, and I am here as an irrefutable key witness, whether you choose to turn around and run away or not, going to jail will be a foregone conclusion for you.”

In front of him were police officers eager to fight and the already arrested Cool Leopard; behind him was a detective who toyed with the criminal like a devil. The suspect's legs suddenly went weak, and like Hugo, he collapsed to the ground.

Miss Officer Jenny approached the two people sitting on the ground, completely bewildered.

"Um... Hugo, who is this girl? Is she your friend?"

The detective finally showed a relieved expression, jumped up from the ground, and shouted at Officer Jenny.

"Quick! Tie this woman up! She's the suspect you're looking for! And if you want to become detectives, don't believe a single line from a detective story, especially the parts involving confrontations with criminals!"

Officer Jenny was completely bewildered, and even the slumped-down prisoner was dumbfounded; the true nature of the devilish detective seemed to be somewhat different from what she had seen...