blogombal Chapter 338 Poison-Covered Land – The Labyrinth
Chapter 338 Poison-Covered Land – The Labyrinth
Chapter 340 Poison-Covered Land – The Labyrinth
Hugo wasn't the kind of eccentric detective who liked to hide important clues until the very last second before the truth was revealed. Given the opportunity, he preferred to explain things clearly beforehand rather than give a long speech of reasoning at the end of the case.
Therefore, when he entrusted Douzi with the duties of the champion, he had naturally already explained to her their current situation.
However, whether the detective clearly explained his situation was one thing, and whether Douzi, who accepted the commission, understood it was another matter entirely. "I understand. To put it bluntly, you want me to stay in the league and help you subdue those troublemakers who want to be champions, right? Hahaha, no problem, as long as the commission fee is in place, everything is fine. Anyway, it's usually those guys who make it to the finals of the competitions, so having them come to challenge me saves me the travel expenses to and from various places."
Looking at the high-ponytail girl who was oblivious to the lengthy backstory and was now patting her chest and making grand pronouncements, the detective, who had just returned from Fukiyo City and was wearing his familiar white coat again, seemed to have a headache. "It's certainly a good thing that you're so optimistic. I really hope that overreacting assistant can learn a thing or two from this attitude. However, considering the recent changes in the United States Alliance, you'd better be careful."
"Be careful? Does that mean you have to be careful not to get defeated by other challengers?"
"No, that's actually easier to gloss over. After all, challengers know that a proxy's strength can't fully represent the champion. Your side is just a buffer. Even if you're defeated, the league can use the lengthy administrative process to postpone the opponent's official championship challenge until after the Higaki Tournament—by which time I should have already stepped down."
"Hmph, if I get defeated, I'll show you there are four other trainers as strong as me under Champion Demon!"
"There were already four, weren't there? Or rather, this is the additional one. Anyway, the threat I'm referring to isn't in terms of combat."
"So, is there some conspirator among the high-ranking figures of the alliance who wants to destroy the world? Or has the entire alliance been corrupted and degraded by an evil organization?"
"It's not that serious. After all, Mr. Alder and the Four Heavenly Kings of Unova are not to be underestimated. However, at this time of social unrest, the weak links in those organizations are bound to start to sway."
Then, the detective told Douzi about how, while he was still in the hospital, Ghetsis, the nominal second-in-command of Team Plasma, came to his door. "You see, even a worthless fake champion like me got approached by Team Plasma. This shows that there must be even more officials within the Pokémon League who receive similar invitations."
"Speaking of which, Hugo. Have you thought about how to respond to the Plasma Group's membership invitation a month from now? You're not actually planning to join that organization, are you?"
"Well, if I go and join Team Plasma under the guise of being the League Champion, and then use various schemes from within them, I might actually be able to straighten that twisted organization back to the right path—after all, that King trusts me quite a bit."
The detective in the white coat closed his eyes as if deep in thought, as if he were truly weighing the pros and cons.
"But ultimately, the risk is too great. I'm not like that guy Yueju; I don't like gambling with my life. Besides, that organization isn't really to my liking. Even if it's just a matter of enduring it for now, I don't want to act like a puppet under that Quixote."
"Well—but while that's your opinion, what the other officials in the alliance think is another matter entirely."
However, Hugo disagreed with the girl's view: "From the champion's perspective, I'm not too worried about the defection of those officials who are truly in key positions. After all, they are quite shrewd and understand that they only have value to be bought by the opposing organization when they are firmly in their positions. Therefore, these people will absolutely not easily jump out before the alliance truly shows signs of collapse. The real problem lies with the new wave of those who lack power but are eager to show their enthusiasm in front of the opposing organization."
"Aren't you worried about betrayal from high-ranking officials, but rather afraid of trouble from minor figures?"
"After all, only minor characters need to cause trouble. They have neither power nor status. If they want to gain respect in the hostile organization that is trying to buy them off, they can only desperately demonstrate their ability and determination as a pledge of loyalty when they defect."
The detective raised a finger: "Especially now, with the Unova League champion having just stepped down and the new successor nowhere to be found, and Blueberry, one of the Elite Four, recently jumping around between different factions. If those restless villains want to find an opportunity to cause trouble and undermine the League's prestige, there is no better time than now. And the League headquarters is undoubtedly the best place for them to operate."
"Oh dear, that sounds so scary—if something were to happen, wouldn't I be unable to fully trust anyone in the Elf League?"
"The reality isn't that bad. Team Plasma has been facing financial difficulties, so they can't afford to engage in large-scale bribery right now. After all, the United Federation is an organization that has stood on this land for hundreds of years, and its true strength is far beyond what Team Plasma, which has only been established for a little over ten years, can match."
"Ultimately, the bottom line of the executives under the alliance is not that fragile. Just as you may not completely agree with N's philosophy, each of them will also have independent thinking based on their own values. As I said before, this is only the case for a very small number of people."
Hugo paused here, as if considering whether to reveal some crucial information to the girl.
Ultimately, he made a decision—or rather, he prepared to discard a piece.
"If you ever find yourself in a situation where you have no one to trust and are completely isolated and helpless in the Alliance headquarters, aside from the Alliance President who is even more senior than Mr. Adek, and the four Alliance Kings who are highly regarded by him, I can introduce you to a guy whose identity you can't doubt at all," the detective said.
"Who is it? Who is that person?"
"That guy's name is Akromar, the one Team Plasma sent to monitor me. I think I mentioned him earlier."
"A surveillance agent?"
"Yes, it's more reassuring to have a clearly defined enemy than an ambiguous ally."
The detective frankly told me, "I learned about his basic situation from Blueberry. He seems to be a scholar who has collaborated with Team Plasma in the past and has only recently officially joined the organization. Quixote and the others probably wanted to test Acromar's abilities in areas other than research, so they assigned him to me during this month-long observation period."
"Judging from your unfamiliar tone, haven't you met this monitor yet?"
"We've met in person, I suppose. We've communicated remotely via video calls a few times," Hugo said.
"That guy is a smart man. He knows that his task is limited to monitoring my daily affairs as the self-proclaimed champion. So he simply moved to the vicinity of the United States headquarters and did not ask me anything about my return to Flying Cloud City under an assumed name. Instead, he took the initiative to help me deal with troublesome issues such as the handover of the championship."
"It's a win-win situation—as long as I leave all the daily tasks to Akromar, he can naturally keep a perfect eye on those tasks."
"Won't there be any problems doing this?"
Hugo shook his head: "The League Champion is not the League President. It's a title that carries far more honor than power. With the Champion himself expressing his unwillingness to appear in public, it's honestly quite difficult to use this identity to cause trouble. However, there are indeed some important matters that absolutely cannot be entrusted to this Team Plasma member, which is precisely why I entrusted you to act as the Champion's representative."
"You mean the matter of auditing the Gym Leader? That certainly can't be outsourced to others. But I'm not just asking about the League's side. Won't Team Plasma be unhappy with this perfunctory surveillance?"
The detective shrugged and said self-deprecatingly.
"In the end, what Team Plasma needs to monitor is my potential as a champion puppet, isn't it? They should be happy that I've let things run wild to this extent."
"Moreover, there are already some spies within the Alliance who have been bribed by Team Plasma. Having him, a genuine Team Plasma member, act in my place makes many things much easier—for example, my request to conceal my true identity. Under normal circumstances, such a request would definitely not be approved, but this proposal was accomplished so easily and without any waves through Akromar's hands."
"I see. When everyone's goals align, even the villains of Team Plasma can be considered allies."
"If there is a conflict of interest, even if they are not allies who have been bought off by the opposing organization, they may still appear as villains."
At the end of the conversation, Hugo offered this meaningful reminder.
The detective's words echoed clearly in Touko's mind. Yet, at this moment, the girl wished that the conversation had never happened, so that at least she wouldn't be stammering and at a loss for words because she knew Akroma's true identity.
"I don't really know this Mr. Akromma."
When treating an enemy as an ally, one thing to be careful about is that when that guy brings about his own destruction, don't let him drag you down with him!
"Really?" Security Supervisor Gade looked at the girl with suspicion. "Akromar specifically requested a visit from you, didn't he? And you approved it. In fact, Miss Touko, you went to the meeting room today precisely to meet him, didn't you?"
"I was just curious why he came to me; I don't really know him."
Having already denied that he had spoken out, Douzi had no choice but to bite the bullet and answer.
In fact, before today, she had never actually seen Akromma in person. All her information about him came from Hugo's conversation with her before he left—but how was she supposed to explain things like "Akromma is actually a monitor from the Plasma Group" to the people in front of her?
"Speaking of which, when we were discussing the title succession with Hugo, the on-site representative they sent was also named Akromma, wasn't he? Could he be the injured person who was attacked?"
The reinforcements appeared out of nowhere—the security chief's superior, Ms. Gloria, the vice president of the alliance, looked at the investigation materials that Gade had given her and suddenly narrowed her eyes as if she had a sudden realization.
"Is that so?" Gade, whose rank was insufficient to attend the meeting, pulled out his phone and showed the vice president a photo of Akromma unconscious from poisoning. "Is this the person in the photo?"
"It is indeed him, there's no mistake, after all, that hairstyle is quite eye-catching." The vice president nodded with certainty.
"Ah, that's right, it's that Akromah." Douzi unleashed all the acting skills he had accumulated since entering the film industry, exclaiming with sudden realization—"I thought this name looked really familiar! So it's the person Hugo told me about before! I'm so sorry, I've never seen Akromah in person before, and I even forgot his name. Isn't he the assistant Hugo hired to help him with his daily affairs? Hahaha, look at my memory."
"Sigh." A sigh drifted from beside the girl. "Touko, you're still as careless as ever."
A childhood friend, in a lecturing tone, timely offered his sharp retort. This, ironically, completely filled in the awkward and forced parts of Douzi's words, allowing Haosui to gloss over this part.
"The champion's personal assistant? Then what brings him to Miss Douzi's place?"
Knowing Akroma's true identity, Gade was not satisfied and continued to press Douzi for answers.
Please forgive my relentless pursuit, but we suspect that Akromma's reason for proposing this meeting may be related to the poisoning attack he suffered.
The girl shook her head helplessly. "I don't know either. Mr. Gade, who has seen the meeting application record, should know that the reason on it only says 'Something to discuss.'"
"Did Mr. Akroma have any documents related to the meeting among his personal belongings?"
Blackie's calm voice came from beside him, "And what about the Pokémon they were carrying? Could they know anything about the meeting?"
"Unfortunately, the security department and the police have already investigated. Akroma had nothing on him except a pen, and the pen was nothing special; it was a cheap one that you could buy anywhere on the street."
"I remember Mr. Akromma left some writing on a piece of paper before he fainted, right? What did it say?"
Douzi recalled the scene when he saw the crime scene and asked sharply.
"They're just math equations," Gade replied.
The middle-aged man then used his phone to display a photo of an evidence item to everyone. "Although the paper was stained with coffee, fortunately, coffee is not ink, and the color is much lighter than the writing, so it will not affect readability."
Douzi and Heilian huddled in front of the screen and saw a piece of paper covered in coffee stains with densely packed formulas and several unintelligible diagrams, which looked like drafts left over from solving plane geometry problems.
"I can't understand a single word."
Douzi honestly replied, "Besides, I don't think Mr. Akromma intends to show this to me during our meeting—after all, I can't understand a single word. Could he have just written it for fun?"
"Judging from the illegible handwriting, it certainly doesn't seem like something meant to be shown to someone. However, although Mr. Akromma fainted in the meeting room, the calculations on the paper were complete, indicating that he did these calculations under conditions of having ample time."
Hei Lian pressed his index finger against his chin and analyzed very seriously—
"Unfortunately, there are no units of measurement on this paper, so it's impossible to determine what he's calculating. From my understanding, it seems to be measuring the speed of something, or perhaps the power of a Pokémon move?"
"By the way, speaking of Pokémon, what clues could the Pokémon that guy who almost died while waiting for someone have?"
Douzi almost let something slip, but he quickly covered it up.
"There are no leads," said the security chief at the United Alliance headquarters.
"Mr. Akroma was only carrying a taciturn Daewoo. It seemed unable to communicate and was indifferent to the trainer's plight. Even when we brought in another Psychic-type Pokémon to communicate with it, it didn't reveal any useful information at all."