Pokémon Detective: Cynthia Forces Me to Adopt a Pokémon

Chapter 324 Poisonous Tragedy – A Trap of Self-Destruction

N possesses the ability to hear the thoughts of Pokémon. This is neither a false claim by Team Plasma nor a far-fetched assertion by their ardent followers; he truly can understand the languages ​​Pokémon use.

However, in reality, learning the language of Pokémon is merely a byproduct of N's ability. Rather than describing his ability as "listening," it's more akin to a semi-forced, long-distance telepathic communication with Pokémon.

If a person can directly sense every thought or feeling that others are trying to express, then he can easily learn the spoken language they use—for N, this is as easy to grasp as an elementary function.

In the state of sensor connection, even if the Pokémon do not actually speak, as long as their brains are still unconsciously functioning, N can subtly sense the true thoughts of the Pokémon on the other side through his own thoughts, as if looking at flowers through a fog.

It is through this connection that he is able to communicate with all the Pokémon in the world—even those that cannot make sounds in the conventional sense, like friends.

It was precisely through this special ability, which he had honed since birth, that he was able to establish a connection with the ancient Pokémons through the thick rock layers when he was fighting against the two girls in the wilderness of Liyong City, igniting the anger of those two ancient creatures slumbering underground.

However, during this operation to capture Voodoo, the Plasma King's usually invincible special ability was completely rendered useless.

It wasn't that the king's skills were lacking, causing his abilities to malfunction; nor was it because of some special magnetic field interference in the vicinity that rendered his listening ability ineffective; nor was it because he had once again been tormented by fate, suddenly losing this innate talent and curse… but rather for a simpler, and more cruel reason—

All the Pokémon who witnessed the crime died from poisoning.

Heart stopped beating, breathing ceased, brain died... and the voice was lost—like being trapped in a dark, sunless Poké Ball.

From the tourmaline cave where the Plasma Cluster first discovered the poisoner's trail, to Voodoo's second hideout—the frozen warehouse in Fanba City—to the white forest at the foot of Mount Reversible, isolated from the outside world, and finally to the giant cave in Kagome Town...

Throughout the pursuit of the poisoner, N encountered not a single wild Pokémon that had ever witnessed Voodoo's presence. In other words—every single Pokémon that had encountered the poisoner was killed without exception…

They turned into the countless corpses he witnessed along the way.

A shrew, having entered Voodoo's restricted area, stepped into a "Poison Spike" trap and perished in the mountains with a bewildered expression; a budding deer, passing by the escape route of a poisoner, was attacked by a Poison-type Pokémon, its neck being gnawed by "Poison Fang," and it died in agony amidst terror; a greypigeon flying through the sky was struck by an upward "Poison Needle," losing its ability to move and falling to its death; a wild centipede, attracted by the scent of blood and venom to the crime scene, was also attacked by a "Poison" move, ultimately struggling to its death while afflicted with an abnormal status...

The human seemed to be possessed by some kind of obsession, relentlessly slaughtering every Pokémon he encountered along the way.

Common sense dictates that such a simple act of killing should be entirely devoid of any benefit.

Wild spirits abandoned in the wilderness cannot turn into money and flow into the criminal's wallet, nor will they become experience points to make the murderer stronger, as in video games.

The venom collected by Team Plasma from the corpses showed that although the venom used by the poison-type Poison Pokémon under the command of the drug lord had been specially formulated and enhanced to a level that amazed even the scientists within Team Plasma, its toxicity remained unchanged throughout the crimes committed.

This indicates that Voodoo, who committed numerous atrocities in the Hoenn region, had already completed his venom research before arriving in Unova. The killer's motives were completely different from those in the Hoenn period; it was definitely not a killing for the so-called "toxicity testing."

Even from the fugitive's perspective, wild Pokémon don't have a social relationship with humans, and their deaths in remote areas wouldn't even attract the attention of the Unova League police—in other words, even if the Pokémon that witnessed Voodoo were allowed to scatter and escape, these Pokémon wouldn't pose any threat to the escaped poisoner. Besides, those Pokémon didn't even know Voodoo…

However, despite this, Voodoo continued to kill mercilessly along his escape route, just as in reality.

Even realizing he was being hunted by Team Plasma, he stubbornly wasted every second of his escape time killing innocent, harmless wild Pokémon...

Was this a crime committed out of some kind of morbid psychology, such as a compulsive killing disorder? Or was it to pursue some belief or pleasure?

No, N simply couldn't convince himself with such a crude conclusion.

Judging from the modus operandi, this does not seem to be a crime committed based on some kind of paranoid psychology.

On his journey to become the King of Team Plasma, N has faced countless battles with humans who disregard the lives of Pokémon, including vicious trainers who treat life like dirt, poachers who see Pokémon as commodities, mad scientists who conduct experiments that push the boundaries of morality, and mentally unstable patients...

However, the present-day Voodoo is completely different from the battle traces left by those people.

Rather than calling him a madman who enjoys killing, judging from the traces of Pokémon battles, he is more like an assassin who maximizes the destructive power of his Pokémon.

Contrary to the characteristics of most paranoid crimes, Voodoo's massacres in the Unova region seemed to have completely abandoned his personal style, instead focusing on efficiency and cost. Every wound was as precise and deadly as an autopsy, and he would not do anything unnecessary if he could kill with one blow.

The reason why most of the traces left behind are poison-type moves is simply because the poison used by the Voodoo Pokémon has been specially modified, making it more skillful and efficient in attack, which makes trainers more inclined to choose this fighting style.

Voodoo may have indeed fallen into a kind of paranoia, but this poisoner must have maintained a calm mind beyond that paranoia, and his elves were not in a state of frenzy or berserk. Otherwise, they could not have maintained such a swift and decisive killing method throughout these forty-six consecutive poisonings.

So the question comes back to square one—why did Voodoo kill Pokémon in the first place?

N once speculated that it was possible that because of his existence, Voodoo, who knew of N's sensory abilities, deliberately poisoned all the wild Pokémon that had seen him in order to hide his whereabouts.

However, this idea was rejected the moment it came to mind—if the other party wanted to hide their whereabouts, why would they leave all the corpses of wild elves at the crime scene without any concealment?

In fact, it was because the Plasma Group discovered the corpse of an elf, murdered and abandoned by Voodoo, near the Tourmaline Cave that they began tracking down this vicious poisoner.

The reason they knew that the perpetrator was Futo, who had committed numerous bloody crimes in the Hoenn region, was because a road camera on a deserted street captured footage of him on his way. After comparing the information, they found Futo's criminal records in the Hoenn region.

Most chillingly, in the crude footage captured by that nearly abandoned camera, the drug addict's face was clearly visible, his gaze fixed on the lens.

Fudu had actually made eye contact with a surveillance camera!

It's hard to imagine that the serial killer who didn't even spare the birds flying overhead could so carelessly ignore the camera pointed at him—even though he could have easily avoided or destroyed it, he still brazenly left his image on the device.

Machines can be ignored, but life must be destroyed—what kind of action logic leads a drug killer who is being hunted to make such a judgment?

N feels like he is facing an equation with no known conditions. No matter how much he tries to deduce and exhaust the possibilities, his thinking always goes around in circles and returns to the starting point.

He had hoped that the situation would improve after the poisoner was caught—but things didn't go as planned.

Voodoo died, along with his companions.

The Poison/Fire type Saurami, the purple Weezing, the powdery-skinned Dustmoth, the four-winged Crobat, the red-fanged Scyther, and the Galar form of Slowking.

He died in the Giant Cave in the northern part of Kagome Town.

He died from a type of poisoning never seen before.

A new equation appeared before the king's eyes... and far more variables than the equation to be solved.

The only thing that can be confirmed is this:

That was the only fact that the incomplete equation could lead to, but at best it was just a vague concept that could be temporarily called a "conclusion"... It seemed meaningless in the face of the newly appeared corpses.

As if mocking himself, the King of Team Plasma revealed this conclusion to the Fire Elite Four member from Kalos—

“There was a clear lack of survival skills in Voodoo’s actions.”

N said—

“Throughout our pursuit, Voodoo never once attempted to communicate, negotiate, or argue with us. He simply trekked through mountains and rivers, avoiding cities where he could easily blend in with the crowds, and plunging headlong into remote, untouched forests. Not only did he fail to destroy the cameras that could reveal his identity, but he also wasted time killing large numbers of wild elves, leaving their corpses like road signs in place. This almost certainly shows that Voodoo had no intention of shaking off his pursuers and escaping alive.”

"Even though our Plasma Group was chasing us day and night, Voodoo was still one step ahead of us, maintaining a comfortable lead until we reached the Giant's Cave. For a human to do this, they would have to flee without eating, drinking, or sleeping, otherwise it would be impossible to shake off the organized pursuit of an entire group."

“But Vudu persisted in this state for nearly half a month.”

Inside the dimly lit giant's cave, standing among the bustling Team Plasma members, N pointed to the corpse ahead and said—

"The autopsy at the scene also proved this point. The trainer's physical condition was already on the verge of collapse before he died. Even if he had not been poisoned and had not received timely treatment, he would have been at least half dead after leaving the hospital. I think we can get a vague sense of the poisoner's mental state at the time from this information."

"It's as if escaping wasn't the goal, but rather the killing along the way was."

Facing the battered and gruesome body of the drug addict, covered in mud and blood, the news anchor remarked with deep conviction—

"Could he have known all along that he had been poisoned?"

"The test results are not yet available, so it is impossible to determine whether it was suicide or homicide. All we know for now is that the toxin that caused the death of Voodoo and his Pokémon is not the same as the venom found on those Poison-type Pokémon."

N sighed and shook his head, unsure of what expression to make as he faced the corpse of the human who had slaughtered countless Pokémon.

"Even if it was murder, from Team Plasma's perspective, it seems unnecessary for us to seek justice for this worthless guy, right? Sigh, although it's a bit unfair that things ended like this, the man is dead, what else can we do?"

A short, wise man with a mustache advised the king, his magnificent robes signifying his noble status as one of the Seven Sages.

Another white-robed elder beside the sage bowed to N and said—

"Suicide or murder, let's get these bodies out of here as soon as possible. Although this path isn't the main route to the depths of the Giant's Cave, the bodies are already interfering with the other explorers' work—it'll be even more troublesome once the bodies start to decompose. Your Majesty, should I temporarily freeze this person with geometric snowflakes?"

Pachira observed N's reaction with great interest, wanting to see how the young king would interact with his subjects.

"What you said makes a lot of sense."

N spoke in a calm tone, as if he were having a casual chat with his elders.

"However, I feel that the cause of this person's death is not simply poisoning. The matter of his brutal killing of elves cannot be simply dismissed because of the murderer's death; at the very least, the details should be clarified. What do you think?"

"Excuse my bluntness, but Your Majesty seems to be spending far too much time on this case."

The tall, thin old man in the white robe shook his head and said.

"I do not mean to interfere with Your Majesty's schedule, but please note that the cause we are working on is in dire need of rebuilding. While you are bogged down in meaningless trifles, there are thousands of abused Pokémon crying out in despair... Please... consider your actions."

For some reason, the old man's tone as he offered his advice gradually became sluggish, as if he had encountered some kind of invisible pressure.

N didn't seem angry at all; he simply stretched out his hand to stop the yellow-robed sage from arguing with the old man.

Then, the king of the Plasma Group issued a decree—

“Professor Vio, what you said makes a lot of sense. Different tasks should indeed be assigned to more specialized people. As far as I know, Father seems to have recently recruited a collaborator who is currently under evaluation, right? How about hiring this person to solve this case?”

With his usual calm expression, N looked directly into the eyes of the person at the "forefront" and saw the astonishment within them.

Just as the puppeteer of "Fooling the Masses" can grasp the subtle tremors of human nature, how could a king who can listen to the thoughts of all Pokémon be like a puppet, completely unaware of the actions of his subjects?