Pokémon Detective Case Files.

Hugo's voice gradually turned cold, so much so that Officer Jenny and Miss Goethe both shivered.

He just said—

"Don't forget, Pokémon aren't human."

Chapter 151 The Solution—The Humanist's Dilemma

"Empathy or indifference, that is the question."

"If your phone breaks, just get a new one. If your clothes are old, just buy a new set. If your car breaks down and becomes unusable, you have no choice but to scrap it. Replacing items with old ones is so common that it's not even common sense."

"But relatively speaking, no one would consider humans to be replaceable. If a friend falls into trouble, you can abandon him and find a new friend; if a patient or a victim has no hope of survival, you can only watch them die indifferently; although partners and children are very precious, rationally speaking, if they are lost, it is not irretrievable, you can find another or have another child..."

"Such values ​​seem perverse and distorted to us normal people because the value of an individual human being is immeasurable and irreplaceable. Anyone who challenges this moral principle will be severely criticized by society."

"If the only object of empathy in this world is humanity itself, then William, the plant manager of Liyong Power Plant, would undoubtedly be a model of high moral character. But unfortunately, there is another kind of amazing creature in the world, whose biological structure is completely different from that of humans, yet which also possesses a soul that is the same as that of humans."

Elf, or Pokémon.

A monster pet that can be put into a pocket.

Hugo turned to look at Miss Goth standing behind him, then turned to Officer Jenny and sighed meaningfully, "But they are different after all."

Pokémon are ultimately "them", not "them".

"Although most of us regard Pokémon as beings equal to humans, cherish their feelings, and believe that they have irreplaceable individual value just like humans, if we look at it with a critical eye, how many people can honestly say that they have never treated humans and Pokémon differently? When it comes to Pokémon, which are in the middle between the other and the same kind, everyone will subconsciously feel confused when they include them in the moral framework—and William Factory Manager went to the other extreme in this confusion."

"Are you saying William lacks empathy for Pokémon?"

Watching the detective talk endlessly about "humanity" and "morality," Officer Jenny finally lost her patience. She forced open her lips and uttered a dry, questioning voice—

"But this is just your conjecture. There is no evidence to suggest that William has such a morbid mentality. There is no record in the past that suggests William is hostile to Pokémon."

"Of course, of course."

Hugo calmly pressed his palm lightly in the air, telling the sheriff to calm down.

“Everyone has different values, and a distorted sense of morality doesn’t necessarily turn a person into a wicked bastard. William may see Pokémon as items that don’t need to be considered morally, but as a normal person, he wouldn’t destroy them for no reason—he just coldly and rationally regards them as tools that can be used.”

The detective tapped the table with his knuckles again, creating a rapid, countdown-like drumbeat. At the same time, he spoke at breakneck speed, confirming one fact after another with Officer Jenny—

“William’s Liyong Power Plant appears to be the company with the best employee benefits in the city, with all employees earning about three times the salary of their counterparts in the same position—is this really the case?”

Officer Jenny possessed the personal information of all employees who had entered and exited the factory on the day of the incident, so it was impossible for her not to know their respective income situations. At this point, she could only nod in agreement: "If company subsidies are included, then that is indeed the case."

Hugo continued, "Given such generous employee benefits, is it true that the Elf's compensation at Li Yong Power Plant is only slightly above average among local energy companies?"

Officer Jenny nodded without hesitation: "It really exists."

"So, ten years ago, during the difficult period of fierce competition in the energy industry in Liyong City, when all companies were ruthlessly exploiting their employees, did the then-weak Liyong Power Plant also have a similar bad reputation?"

The sheriff then shook his head and denied it: "I don't know the situation ten years ago, but that factory has had a reputation for being a conscientious enterprise since its inception, so the treatment of its employees should not have been so bad."

The detective then asked, "Liyong City has only recently begun to improve the living conditions of the Pokémon in the factory. Before that, did this conscientious factory actively advocate for slogans like Pokémon protection?"

Officer Jenny hesitated: "This is not within the scope of the investigation, I'm not sure."

"Regarding this issue, we might refer to the posts made by Arnaud's engineers on social media."

Seeing that Officer Jenny was unable to answer, the detective took the initiative to provide evidence—

"Reading that ten-year chronicle from beginning to end was not easy. However, there are a few short articles in it related to the working environment, which record the changes in the treatment of Pokémon in the Liyong Power Plant at different points in time. Although the narrator's words are extreme and he likes to be sarcastic, it can still be seen that no matter what stage of development the Liyong Power Plant was in, the living conditions of the Pokémon were not fundamentally different from those of the unscrupulous factories at the same time."

Officer Jenny's pupils contracted. As one piece of seemingly ordinary evidence after another surfaced, a harsh reality quietly unfolded before her eyes.

Hugo began slowly, his knuckles tapping on the table like the approaching footsteps of death, sending chills down one's spine—

"Now please answer one more question for me. It's a very simple question: How many elves does William himself keep? Officer Jenny, you can't possibly not know, can you?"

The number of Pokémon owned by citizens needs to be reported to the League regularly, which is information that the police department can easily access.

"...421."

After a moment of silence, Officer Jenny announced a number.

"So, how many Pokémon are used to assist in production at the Liyong Power Plant? Compiling these figures should be an essential step in the on-site investigation, right?"

"Four hundred and twenty-one."

Officer Jenny sighed and gave the exact same number as the previous question.

"This is the total number of all Pokémon working at the Liyong Power Plant, including the seventy-one Electric-type Pokémon that died in the explosion of the power generation system," she added.

421-421=0.

This means that William doesn't have a single handheld sprite on him.

This is abnormal, especially for a big entrepreneur like Factory Director William; it's particularly unusual.

Some people don't catch Pokémon because they believe they are not capable enough; out of excessive pity, they choose a lifestyle that doesn't burden their Pokémon. Others, however, choose to isolate themselves from Pokémon simply out of indifference.

Hugo stared into Officer Jenny's eyes and said, "Now what kind of person do you think William is? Is it so strange that such a gentleman would choose to let the elves use spontaneous electricity to save his power plant that is benefiting society?"

The tapping on the table stopped, and the world returned to silence.

Officer Jenny took a deep breath; she regretted pressing the detective for details about the case.

However, the detective's decryption didn't stop just as the sound of tapping on the table ceased—

"In interpreting William's personality, many previously abrupt contradictions are also explained. Why did the Pokémon's protest occur at the Rikyu Power Plant, where Pokémon are treated well, instead of in other factories with worse conditions? This is because the employees at the Rikyu Power Plant are paid three times more than those at the same level. In the eyes of the Pokémon, whose treatment remains the same, the gap between them and humans is even more pronounced, naturally leading to greater dissatisfaction."

"Why would the spirits of the power generation system target William, the leader of the entire factory, for intimidation, rather than figures like production managers who have more contact with them? And how did they come up with such a remarkable idea as violently resisting capitalist oppression?"

"That's all thanks to Miss Arnaud's nonsense," Hugo smiled, shaking his head as if answering his own question.

"She, who is at odds with the factory manager, now works in the electrical machinery maintenance department, and the equipment in the bio-power generation zone, which needs to withstand the power of the electrical system's 'big bang,' is the most crucial power collection device in the entire factory, one that cannot be taken lightly."

"It was because of this transfer that Arno regained the opportunity to communicate face-to-face with Electric-type Pokémon. It's not hard to imagine what kind of complaints she would have about those naive self-destructing Pokémon when she was working, given her deep involvement in the Pokémon liberation movement."

Officer Jenny muttered to herself, "Factory Manager William is naturally the target of Arno's fierce attacks, which is why Electric-type Pokémon see William as the evil, cunning, and ruthless source of all evil... to the point that during the final negotiations, they used such an extreme method to start the countdown of self-destruction... But Arno shouldn't be so inclined to encourage Pokémon to deliberately self-destruct and destroy the factory. She is different from William; she wouldn't use Pokémon to do such a thing."

"That's exactly right!"

The detective in the white coat jumped to his feet, his fingers snapping crisply—

"There's more to the case than meets the eye. There's a mastermind behind everyone, stirring things up! A cunning old fox is quietly inciting everyone's discontent and darkness! Tsk tsk, the last time I encountered something like this was at the Feiyun City Police Station."

As if in response to the detective's announcement, a series of noises came from outside the door, and the once quiet office became lively.

"They're very punctual. They're a group of people you can really trust."

Hugo sighed and looked behind him.

Another bang.

The door to the sheriff's office was kicked open with what seemed to be the force of a Pokémon move, and a small blue penguin jumped in.

"Poga, Poga Poga Poga!"

Under the detective's satisfied gaze, Pogaman strode confidently into the room.

Chapter 152 The Self-Created Secret Chamber: The Intent of the Mastermind

Pogaman entered the office with an air of superiority, not even glancing at Miss Goth, who was posing aggressively. He then hopped onto Officer Jenny's desk and began gesturing at the detective.

"What's going on?" Officer Jenny frowned, unable to understand the situation.

Suddenly, noisy footsteps sounded outside the door again. Several police officers in beige uniforms hurriedly passed by the office. When they noticed that there were people inside, they were all dumbfounded.

"So Officer Jenny is at the police station. We've been looking for you for a long time."

The lead officer peeked out from the doorway and reported to Officer Jenny inside: "Two foreign Pokémon were causing trouble all over the police station just now, making a mess of the downstairs area... Ah, one of them was this Piplup!"

Pointing to the table, the officer instinctively wanted to grab Bogarman, but then he saw the little penguin standing obediently in front of his superior, seemingly with no intention of escaping further, so he hesitated.

"You can't even catch a beginner Pokémon like this?"

Officer Jenny glanced at the petite Pogaman, her gaze on her subordinates growing increasingly stern.

“This is, after all, inside the police station, with lots of tables and chairs everywhere. Those two little ones are very agile and nimble, making them really hard to catch,” the leading subordinate replied shyly.

She couldn't help but glance at Bogarman, who was standing with his hands on his hips on the table, and then Officer Jenny frowned and asked, "Since such a mess has occurred, why didn't you just come to my office? Even if the office door was closed, you could have knocked or called, couldn't you?"

"But isn't there a sign like this hanging on your office door?"

Another officer asked with equal confusion, pointing to a small plastic sign hanging on the wooden door of the office, on which was written in neat printed letters: “Out of town, please call for emergency.”

"And we couldn't get through to you on the phone either. We thought your phone was malfunctioning, officer," another officer added.

Officer Jenny's face was now extremely pale.

Her phone was perfectly fine in her pocket; there was no way it could be malfunctioning. The only reason she couldn't make calls was because someone was deliberately interfering with the signal in the area.

During this period, there was only one person who could hang a sign outside the door and also block the signal inside the room...

The detective in the white coat who stood in front of her and talked eloquently for over an hour!

What exactly is he trying to do?

.

Hugo was not the kind of detective with an excessive desire for self-expression, so he certainly wouldn't give a long, inexplicable speech for no reason.

Long before the detective stepped into the gates of Liyong Police Station, he had already planned his entire operation—to distract the attention of the police station's senior officers and allow Bogarman and Chimchar to conduct another investigation within the police station.

Within the police station, there were very few high-ranking officers above Officer Jenny. Before knocking on Officer Jenny's office door, Hugo had already checked the other offices on the same floor and confirmed that no one was in the other sheriffs' offices—meaning that at this idle off-duty hour, Officer Jenny was the only high-ranking person left who could command the police station.

If they can keep her occupied, the Li Yong Police Station will be leaderless for a short time. This will allow Bogarman and Chimchar to smoothly carry out their investigation.

That lengthy lecture on reasoning was precisely designed to distract the policewoman.

It even included some elements of pandering to his preferences—the moment Hugo entered, Officer Jenny deduced from the smell of smoke that the detective was an infiltrator from outside the police station.

This keen reasoning ability can sometimes be a weakness; those who rely on logic are naturally more easily swayed by elegant theorems and inferences. Faced with eternally correct reasoning, even a skilled investigator like Officer Jenny couldn't remain unmoved.

The reason why we discussed the issue of later detective novels was because Miss Goethe's lie detection ability gave Hugo new inspiration—since language can be verified or disproven through lie detection, does the evidence discovered in the process of reasoning need to undergo such identification?

Yes, the so-called three principles of later detective work were entirely a theory Hugo improvised on the spot. It was nonsense, rambling, sophistry, deception, and pure jest. It was by no means the "magic key" that guided him to solve numerous bizarre cases!

There's no such thing as a convenient deduction technique in the world. Even Detective Hugo himself was nothing more than a diligent three-necked bee.

.

"Yes, I did it all."

Hugo nonchalantly sat back down in his chair in front of Officer Jenny and the police officers, who were on high alert.

"I deliberately released Piplup and Chimchar who caused chaos at the police station. I placed that small board before knocking on the door. The reason I couldn't receive a signal in this room was because I used this thing to block the signal."

Hugo took out a white device the size of a matchbox, pressed a button somewhere, and casually tossed it onto the table.

As communication was restored, Officer Jenny's phone in her pocket began to vibrate, but there was no longer any need to turn it on to check it.

"By the way, just in case, I deliberately loosened the telephone line connection when I used the landline earlier. You'd better reinstall it afterwards."

Right under Officer Jenny's nose, the detective casually pointed to the telephone receiver he had used earlier; the jack was indeed almost completely loose.

In other words, even if someone had just made a phone call using wired communication that works normally without a signal, the message still wouldn't have reached Officer Jenny.

What a meticulously planned arrangement!

What's even more chilling is that after Hugo entered the office, he was under Miss Goethe's lie detector test the entire time. But this self-proclaimed detective never showed the slightest bit of guilt or cowardice!

"Why did you go to this extent?" Officer Jenny, suppressing her anger, questioned Hugo, "What exactly are you and your Pokémon trying to do?"

Hugo answered with utter calmness, as if the tense atmosphere before him had nothing to do with him.

“Officer Jenny, my previous reasoning was absolutely correct. Based on the clues and doubts that have been sorted out, the purpose of my actions should be very clear.”

Officer Jenny glanced at Gothic behind her, and the Pokémon that could only detect lies nodded tremblingly.

At this point, the sheriff had almost completely lost faith in the lie detector's conclusions, but her years of honed rational thinking kicked in. After a few deep breaths, Officer Jenny found the crux of the problem—

"You believe a mastermind has been spreading extremist ideologies to the Electric-type Pokémon through Arno; you also pointed out that the extremist Team Plasma planned to storm the police station to steal evidence; and now you've personally come to the police station as a detective and caused a scene... Does this mean that if there really is a hidden conspiracy, then your current location is..."

Even Officer Jenny couldn't believe her own sudden flash of inspiration...

The storm that started at the Liyong Power Plant has quietly shifted its center.

Hugo said earnestly, "Your reasoning hits the nail on the head—the Plasma Group is an ambitious organization, and they would not allow their important officers to cause a ruckus at the police station and then leave empty-handed, as this would seriously damage their reputation among their followers."

Bogarman nodded repeatedly in agreement beside the detective in the white coat, muttering "Bogarman, Bogarman."

Hugo continued, as if translating for his Pokémon: "Therefore, they must have planted someone inside the police station—to put false evidence in the evidence storage room, in order to further frame the Pokémon League!"