Pokémon Detective Case Files.

"You're the detective mentioned in the business card?" Drummer Cook's expression was unusually rich beneath his bald head. He raised an eyebrow. "Do you often solve mysterious cases and assist the police in catching criminals? Like those famous detectives in comics, can you see through the truth with just a glare?"

"I've seen some cases, but it's not to the point where people die everywhere. Right now, we're just conducting routine background checks."

Hugo, glancing at the fact that he had seen through the truth, humbly said, "I am here mainly to learn about the causes and consequences of the explosion."

"The exploded Liyong Power Plant... I remember it's quite far from here, isn't it?" the drummer asked, puzzled. "Why are you investigating our dojo?"

"that……"

A somewhat weak male voice rang out; it was Martin, the shy electronic keyboard player.

"This morning when I left home, I thought I heard a huge sound similar to a power plant explosion... but I was rushing to rehearsal and didn't see any flames or smoke, so I didn't go up to check. Is there any possibility that there might be some clues over there...?"

"What!" The guitarist and drummer looked at their companion together.

The Liyong City bombing was a major, earth-shattering event in the area, known to everyone. Now, another suspected incident has emerged, and their companion is an indirect witness, causing both of them to be deeply shaken.

However, Hugo remained unfazed and took out a notebook from his suit pocket: "Just in case, let me confirm if your home is located in the northern suburbs of Liyong City?"

The slender young man nodded: "Yes... but how did you know?"

"Don't worry about it, it's just a guess. All you saw was a loud noise, no fire or smoke?"

"Well, not entirely. It seemed like a pink cloud rose in the sky at the time, but it quickly dissipated. I'm not sure if it was just a momentary illusion or the morning glow."

Hugo slammed his notebook shut.

“I understand, Mr. Martin. You don’t need to worry about what happened this morning at all. It has nothing to do with the truth about the explosion. Just think of it as a powerful trainer practicing moves in that area, which caused a lot of noise.”

The three musicians looked at the detective suspiciously, but Hugo offered no further explanation. What else could he do? Tell them that the culprit behind today's explosion was that Miss Azure, who was fighting with their leader outside?

“I heard from Mr. Telt that a former employee of the power plant had joined the poison gas band, which is why I came here to investigate.”

Hugo's eyes were fixed on the guitarist: "I want to know something about what happened before the rise of the Liyong Power Plant. What kind of company was it? What kind of people were the employees and the boss? What were their relationships? How were the Pokémon treated in the factory? I'm here for the answers to these questions."

Martin and Cook noticed Hugo's gaze and simultaneously looked at Rue beside them. As their eyes met, the guitarist sighed and finally spoke—

"Since you were also tricked into drinking a glass of wine by Telt, I'll tell you. Let me make it clear beforehand, I only know what the factory used to be like. I have absolutely no idea what it's like now, or why the explosion happened."

Hugo nodded, and the guitarist began his narration—

Chapter 134 is titled "The Wound of History"

Humans can only observe the world through their eyes. No matter how we turn, we can only ever see a small part of life.

Life, however, is complex and multifaceted, woven together by countless people and countless experiences.

Therefore, if we don't personally participate in the times, there will always be some things that exist silently in the darkness that we don't know about.

It's only when you inadvertently glance at the truth hidden beneath the glamorous surface that you discover the wounds called "history" there, bleeding and waiting to heal.

You might not believe it, but before the rise of the Liyong Power Plant, the city's energy sector was terrifying.

Pokémon can help humans explore mineral veins, find oil fields, and open tunnels. Some Pokémon, like Mantle Rock and Krookodile, are even born to live underground.

In this way, the exact locations of resources such as oil, coal, and natural gas do not need to be searched extensively. Simply capture one or two Pokémon living underground, and they will become the trainer's most loyal guides.

Therefore, with the development of Liyong City thirty years ago, people immediately discovered this fossil treasure deep underground. In an instant, privately-run energy companies sprang up all over the city like mushrooms after rain.

This period was later known as the golden age of the energy industry in Liyong City.

—Of course, I wasn't a firsthand witness to that time. I only worked at the Liyong Power Plant for three years, and these details were told to me by my senior colleagues as a topic of conversation.

The reason they called the years of the city's founding a golden age is because darkness soon followed.

After the rise of numerous private energy companies, the market demand for energy began to exceed supply, and the companies fell into a vicious cycle of competition and infighting. This infighting was directed at external customers and competitors, frantically increasing production capacity and driving down unit prices; and at internal employees, competing to be the worst, cutting basic wages, deducting benefits, and demanding overtime in order to pursue profits.

Employees who are "absentee kings" will be fired the day after being late for work. At that time, in Ritsuki City, there were also "hyperactive monkeys" from all over Unova competing to enter this industry - because Ritsuki City was the fastest-growing city in the Unova region at that time.

When I joined Liyong Power Plant, it was at the end of this era, and the market environment was gradually improving—or perhaps worsening.

As major fossil companies meticulously cultivated this small area, the energy reserves of Liyong City began to waver, and people gradually realized the crisis that such unsustainable mining would cause—in short, for various reasons, energy prices began to rise.

Just as energy prices were rising and businesses were reaping the biggest benefits, official institutions, represented by the alliance, also took action to address the future energy crisis, introducing policies to restrict production capacity.

That environmental protection bill, which is now common knowledge in Yongshi's energy industry, was also discussed and introduced intensively during that period.

However, the policy, which should have yielded immediate results, was like Magikarp's "Leap" move, achieving no effect whatsoever.

Whenever ambitious alliance officials come to power and try to take a bite out of the bloated energy pie, they find that no matter what policies they adopt, they will have the opposite effect.

No sooner had the alliance's proposal to limit production been announced than fuel prices began to soar the next day, making gas stations even more of a rip-off than luxury boutiques.

The environmental protection law was called an evil law by people at the time. Almost all energy companies went on strike to express their disgust and opposition to it. Many workers were encouraged to take to the streets to stand up for the capitalists who were exploiting them, which was really ironic.

Yes, detective, you're right.

A major reason why these laws failed is that the energy industry here has undergone long-term competition, resulting in a few monopolistic companies with enough power to swallow up the rest of their competitors. These few remaining monopolistic giants have then formed an industry alliance.

This is the ultimate evolutionary form of private enterprises—they have unified power and discourse, forming a force that rivals the Pokémon League, which is far superior to the Champion League. Even if the League officials sent from above want to take action, they can only be hindered at every turn.

However, just as the Dark Ages were gradually evolving into an era of monopolies, the emergence of a power plant changed everything.

Do you remember that despicable movement against the environmental laws mentioned above? At the time, in a city where everyone was silent, only one newly established energy company stood up against the movement—that was the Li Yong City Power Plant founded by Mr. William.

The factory manager believes that the alliance's insight into the future of Liyong City is entirely correct. However, the current awkward situation of policy incompatibility has another fundamental reason—the irreplaceable nature of fossil fuels.

Why can the long-established monopoly alliance control the economy and the hearts of the people in Liyong City? It's because they possess the most effective way to make money in the area, ensuring they profit without fail until the city's energy resources are depleted in a hundred years!

Like black oil being pushed into a tank by a hydraulic pump, even the most clear-headed person has no choice but to move their feet in the direction of the flow of wealth.

If the energy monopoly alliance is allowed to continue its dominance, Liyong City's fossil fuel reserves may be able to sustain it for another ten or even several decades, but they will definitely not last for the predicted century, because humanity's dependence on energy is increasing day by day.

And what about afterwards? What will happen to cities after energy is depleted? By continuously drawing lifeblood from the earth and emitting exhaust fumes into the sky, what kind of mess will we leave for future generations?

The Liyong Power Plant was built to change the current landscape of Liyong City. Plant Manager William decided to fundamentally change the declining energy industry—in the way you see today, by utilizing new energy sources.

Wind power, hydropower, solar power, electricity generated by Pokémon, and heat generated by using moves—these are the new energy sources that herald the future. Once the problems of collection and storage are solved, these will be perfect renewable, low-pollution, and low-cost energy sources!

Factory manager William announced to us at the time: "Why insist on extracting resources from the bones of ancient creatures? There are still endless energy resources in nature waiting for humankind to explore! Our cause may not be illustrious for a time, but it will exist forever!"

I only worked at the Rikyu Power Plant for three years, joining the factory to take care of the Pokémon for the plant manager. But I witnessed firsthand how the plant went from its difficult early stages to becoming Rikyu City's largest energy company before the explosion... and of course, its demise.

We developed technology, increased output, solved engineering problems, outwitted and fought against monopolies, and cooperated closely with alliance officials... step by step, we reduced the cost of electricity and wrested the power to set energy prices from fossil fuel companies.

During this period, Factory Manager William also paid special attention to the treatment of the employees. He was honest, fair in rewarding and punishing, and his salary and benefits were so generous that they were beyond reproach.

I initially thought this was a tactic by the factory manager to poach talent from the energy alliance, but that's not the case at all! Even after the power plant became the largest energy company in Liyong City, completely replacing the energy monopoly organization's niche, the factory manager still didn't cut back on employee benefits even a little bit! He continued to increase salaries and subsidies according to company profits.

Even the suggestion that I leave the power plant to pursue a career in orchestra was made by the plant manager. He told me not to worry, and that if my musical path didn't work out, I could always return to the factory, where there would always be a vacant position for a mentoring consultant…

I assure you with the punk soul within me that the Liyong Power Plant and its creator, Mr. William, are undoubtedly heroes of this city!

A hundred years from now, when your descendants see the still blue skies and thriving economy of Liyong City, they will be incredibly grateful to the upright and visionary power plant manager and deeply saddened by the explosion that occurred a century ago.

[Bonus Chapter] The Road to Victory for King Da Ye (1)

The Sinnoh League is a place of outstanding people and beautiful scenery.

Mixed in are a young Elite Four member who likes to command weak Bug-type Pokémon, a Fire-type Elite Four member who stuffs Ghost-type Pokémon into his team, a Psychic-type Elite Four member who doesn't have any Psychic abilities at all, a Ground-type Elite Four member who sighs and says he wants to retire every day but fights harder than anyone else, and a champion who just won some damn Guardian Badge in Unova.

Two years after the Mt. Coronet incident, there were no longer any traces of evil organizations operating within Sinnoh. The workload of the Elite Four and Champions was greatly reduced, and the most outstanding among them began to become restless.

The most obvious manifestation of this is that the intensity of the championship challenge has significantly increased.

The Championship Challenge is separate from the League Tournament, and unlike the latter which is held every four years, the Championship Challenge is held annually.

The competition format is somewhat similar to that of the famous Quartz Convention, but it is divided into two stages: the qualifying rounds and the championship round.

The former is the battlefield where Elite Four members, Gym Leaders, and holders of the eight badges compete for victory, while the latter is the ultimate challenge that determines the champion title—the sole winner of the qualifying tournament will have the opportunity to compete for the Sinnoh Champion title in the championship tournament.

The rules of the competition have evolved over time. Ten years ago, when Zhu Lan won the championship, the rules were six-on-six doubles. Now, the rules are singles and all-out battles.

That's right, ten years. That terrifying woman won the championship title when she was still a little girl. Since then, she has defeated one challenger after another, upholding the heavy yet glorious title of "Sinnoh Champion".

The reason why doubles was changed to singles is mainly to improve the entertainment value of the match, as doubles matches involve too many details.

In doubles matches, every move is carefully planned, with both sides deducing tactics and probing for a breakthrough. A seemingly insignificant move can become the key to the entire match, or it might be over-analyzed and genuinely meaningless. Sometimes even commentators can't decipher the champion's and challenger's intentions, often resorting to post-match replays to explain the moves frame by frame. This is devastating to the audience's immersion.

People don't want to see a bunch of scheming old foxes plotting against each other; they prefer to see soaring dragon breaths and blazing fire collide, to see iron fists strike the well-trained muscles of elves with a dull thud, and to see ideals and wills transformed into the elves' moves, using unparalleled explosions to declare their existence to one another.

Especially with the development of mass media, the Championship Challenge has gradually become an annual live broadcast event, and more and more ordinary people have begun to pay attention to the Challenge. So the league belatedly realized and changed the rules. Starting last year, the Challenge was changed to a simple and straightforward six-on-six singles match.

Throughout the year-after-year championship challenges, four trainers have been constant presence: Da Ye, Wu Song, A Liu, and Kikuno. They were all champions of the league, and after winning the league championship, they went on to challenge for the Elite Four spot, ultimately achieving victory.

I don't know why, but including Bamboo Orchid, the names of these five top combatants in the alliance are all related to plants.

There's a hidden rule in the league competition. If a trainer defeats four Elite Four members in a row, they will skip the championship challenge and qualify to challenge for the championship title ahead of time. However, this path to the championship is obviously much more difficult than the challenge route, and no one has tried to do so since the rule was introduced.

In the last two years, before the complete annihilation of Team Galactic, led by the Radiant Sun, the Elite Four members were somewhat perfunctory in their attitude towards this tournament.

Bamboo Orchid's unparalleled strength is undeniable. Even if they manage to win a challenge by chance, can they really change the champion when the entire league is in turmoil?

They might even be criticized for taking advantage of the champion's poor performance against the villain to steal the title, which they deemed an unfair victory.

The four superstars maintained a tacit understanding, treating the championship challenge more like an exhibition match—after all, it's a singles game, and as long as they unleash their best moves, no one can tell if it's rigged. Sometimes, a desperate tactic to gain an advantage can backfire and result in a crushing defeat, making it seem like a fixed match.

But things are different now.

Red Sun has already committed suicide by jumping into the black hole, Team Galactic has been captured, and the Sinnoh League's greatest dangerous enemy no longer exists. Now is the time to launch an attack on the championship throne.

Even though the title of champion was snatched back by that woman a year later, the honor of having won the championship is real! During this year, being praised to the skies by others as a "champion" and enjoying the resentful face of the former champion, Zhu Lan, is wonderful, isn't it?

.

Of the four Elite Four members, the one who is most enthusiastic about the challenge is none other than the Fire-type Elite Four member, Da Ye.

At that moment, he was sitting cross-legged on the floor of the seaside dojo, discussing tactics and bragging with his friend Denji.

"Denji, once I win the championship in the challenge, I'll make you the Electric-type Elite Four member and take that kid Ayu down. You know what? He's recently started researching tactics using Speaker Cricket as his main unit, and he lost terribly in the previous match against Gossong. With your strength, taking him down from the Elite Four position won't be a problem."

Denji seemed oblivious to his friend's rambling. With an earphone hanging from one ear, he was engrossed in playing with the radio device in front of him. His Raichu was beside him, scratching its back with its tail and lying in the sunlight, looking quite content.

The guild master then fiddled with the wireless device a few more times, initiating a text message to someone somewhere: "Regarding the internet, there's a master in Hoenn who's skilled at building network frameworks... his web address is..."

"Hey, are you even listening to me?!" the Fire Elite Four member complained.

"I haven't listened to it since the part where they won the championship."

The gym leader of the Electric Power Department took off his headphones: "I can't be bothered to listen to some people's daydreams. Champion? You're so delusional. You haven't even beaten Wusong yet, have you?"

"Hehe, I already foresaw that guy's future defeat! After watching his first few matches in this challenge, I found that Wusong is still too rigid in his tactical arrangements."

"Oh? What do you mean?" Da Ye displayed a level of intelligence that was quite novel... It was as if he had seen a little fire monkey speak human language. Dianci was somewhat surprised and asked his old friend seriously.

"I'm a veteran in the competitive world, no need to be so surprised." Da Ye saw through his old friend's act and complained, shaking his red afro, but he still had a frivolous look and his words were not convincing at all.

"Look—Wusong is used to making tactical arrangements at the beginning of the game. That is, while sending out the suction cup puppet to fight the bronze bell, he always likes to do some extra movements to interfere and set up, so as to create an excellent environment for his teammates to enter the game later."

The gym owner nodded: "This is Wusong Tianwang's consistent fighting style, and countless victories have proven the correctness of this style."

“But what if Wusong suddenly faces someone who completely abandons offense at the start in order to complete a faster setup than him?” Daye seemed to suddenly burst into flames as he leaned closer to his friend and said.

"Uh... if the Pokémon are of similar strength, Gosho will miss the opportunity to disrupt the formation because his attacks are not concentrated enough."

Denji hesitated as he spoke, then suddenly realized—

"Are you going to reactivate that Pokémon?"

I don’t know where he learned this bad habit, but Da Ye snapped his fingers crisply in the air.

"That's exactly right!"

.

A day later, in the final of the championship challenge qualifiers, Da Ye Tian Wang used the "shrinking" and "relay baton" tactics of the Wind Ball to complete the strengthening layout in the opening stage.

With the boost from his teammates, Da Ye's second Infernape displayed its might, defeating Wu Song's four powerful warriors in succession.

Finally, Wusong's Alakazam traded blows, taking advantage of the monkey's continuous "Flame Rush" and its impending rampage in the "Fire" state, before using "Destiny Bond" to take down the crazed monkey that had shrunk to the size of a palm.

With Elite Four member gone, Gosho is powerless to turn the tide, while Da Ye still has five Pokémon. The outcome of the next match seems to be already decided...

However, that didn't happen! The next Duckbill Flame Beast that Big Leaf sent out was severely injured the moment it entered the arena!

It is precisely the "foreseeing of the future" of the Alakazam.

"Hahaha, Wusong is really incorrigible, still playing his old tricks here."

Da Ye burst into laughter, his eyes seeming to burn with karmic fire as he looked at Wu Song, who exuded a scholarly air, across from him.

The psychic king, dressed in a burgundy suit, simply watched the arena, adjusting his glasses—

The outcome of the battle was indeed somewhat unexpected, but it would be too naive of Da Ye to think he could win the game with just this little bit of cleverness.