pdf-ebookys Chapter 225 A Face-to-Face Meeting at 3 Meters Per Hour
Chapter 225 A Face-to-Face Meeting at 3 Meters Per Hour
"Wow! Hugo! That strange constitution you mentioned is actually true!"
Alice slid down the dragon's tail back to the ground like she was on a slide, her face full of surprise.
"Ever since you arrived, we've not only been constantly attacked by wild Flying Pokémon during our flight, but Salamence's condition has also become extremely unstable. How did you manage to do that?"
Despite uttering complaints, the girl was jumping around excitedly. Stretching her body, stiffened from the terrifying flight, she chatted with the detective she was traveling with, like a child who had just finished riding a roller coaster at an amusement park.
Hugo shrugged expressionlessly, unwilling to answer a question he himself didn't know the exact answer to.
Under the indignant gaze of the Salamence, he jumped off its back and went straight to the point, warning Alice—
"Landing directly in the middle of the road is too hasty. Even if you want to fight the enemy directly, you should let me hide somewhere far away first, otherwise it may affect the performance of the Salamence and the others."
"Don't worry, it's just a range of more than five meters. As long as you remember that, it won't get in the way, right?"
The purple-haired girl shook her head dismissively.
"But what about those prisoners? Will they really leave Fukiyo City via the road you mentioned?"
"If they were just shrunken Poké Balls, three hundred could be packed into a sack. But those Poké Balls were forcibly taken from their trainers, so they can't all be in such a convenient form. The total volume of three hundred Poké Balls would be terrifying. In addition, Team Plasma would have to use special devices to lock those Poké Balls, at least using wire mesh bags or something to restrain the Pokémon, otherwise accidents could easily happen during transportation."
Hugo observed his surroundings while explaining the situation to the thugs involved in the operation.
"Carrying such heavy illegal goods would make it impossible to pass through security smoothly, so leaving the city by airport or rail can be basically ruled out. The only remaining long-distance transportation method is by road – the north of Fuki City is the rugged Ross Mountains, and this is the most remote and secluded road among the highways connecting to Fanba City in the south."
"Hmm, that sounds plausible."
Alice pressed her fingers to her cheek: "But in the end, those are all baseless guesses, right? It's entirely possible that the culprit moved the Poké Ball in other ways, risked going through security, or simply left on foot through the Electric Cave."
"Of course, this is a possibility, and I would rather welcome the enemy choosing to act this way. Because those methods are inefficient and risky. If we are dealing with such simple-minded criminals, we don't even need to lift a finger. The police in Fukiyoshi City alone can catch them in half a day. The reason we are standing here is to guard against the worst-case scenario."
"Wow, that sounds kind of cool." Alice's eyes sparkled.
"Although I already know what you're doing standing in the middle of the road, I still want to remind you."
Gazing into the hazy distance, Hugo squinted.
"The worst is about to happen, at a terrifying speed of about 300 kilometers per hour."
The detective's words were still echoing in the air of the dense forest when a gray van appeared at the edge of their line of sight.
The enemy is speeding away.
It felt like my foot was glued to the accelerator.
Their reckless and insane speeding perfectly exemplifies what "violation of traffic rules and speeding" truly means.
The gray van, with its unexpectedly high speed that belies its unassuming appearance, sped along the uneven woodland road with an aura no less impressive than that of a high-end sports car, its rumbling and trembling echoing all the way.
In just a few seconds, the distance between the other party and the detectives had been reduced by more than half.
The car's steel body rapidly grew larger in the field of vision, making it impossible to even think of instinctively dodging it.
In a daze, Hugo could even see the expressionless white-haired ninja behind the windshield.
The Dark Triangle.
It turned out to be those guys—the detective wasn't exactly panicked, but his heart sank; the difficulty of solving the case had increased again.
Defeated opponents are far more troublesome than ordinary opponents.
It seems that the ninjas realized a fact the moment they discovered themselves—if they couldn't completely eliminate this detective blocking their way, their mission would inevitably fail sooner or later. So, they might as well strike first.
Ninjas, when killing, usually rely on adapting to the circumstances. Now that they are sitting in a cargo van, it goes without saying what method they would use to kill two people blocking the middle of the road.
Even if Hugo and his companions left the road to avoid the danger and hid in the dense forest on either side, those reckless drivers could still turn and chase them without regard for the consequences, crushing their prey before their speed was completely neutralized by the bushes.
However, by using a car, which is meant to be a means of transportation, as a weapon, have they completely disregarded how they plan to transport the goods afterwards?
Hugo was more worried about the enemy before him than about his own safety.
Or perhaps, given the abilities of that ninja trio, even without their car, they could still use their Pokémon to carry all the Poké Balls and travel at high speed to the next city? Although we couldn't see it during their last encounter, since they are ninjas, perhaps they possess some extraordinary physical talent…
The roar of the car engine nearby interrupted the detective's thoughts, so he glanced at Alice beside him.
"Alright, I'm all ready!"
Facing the oncoming vehicle, the purple-haired girl took a step forward, her flat shoes making loud footsteps on the road.
In this world, although Pokémon's defensive capabilities are much more robust than those of humans, there are still limits to this robustness.
Take the bank robbery that once happened in Feiyun City as an example. Although Lucario, sent by the champion of Cynthia, blocked the speeding truck with a punch without even using any moves, this was also due to the use of fighting skills.
Forces are reciprocal. If Lucario hadn't thrown a punch and had instead passively taken the hit from the truck, even the Sinnoh Champion's star player would have been sent flying by the truck's impact.
So, what methods will Alice use to stop the speeding van in front of her?
Faced with the imminent crisis, the girl raised her index finger, and the Salamence behind her flapped its wings to shield its master and the detective—but Alice's command was not given to it.
"Dragon-headed groundhog, 'Straight Drill'!"
Five meters in front of the purple-haired girl and the black-clad detective, just as the ninja-controlled vehicle was about to enter the range of Hugo's aura of doom, the earth trembled.
Unlike the vibration of wheels rolling over the ground at high speed, this time the frequency was higher, the intensity was greater, and the resulting whistling sound was sharper and more piercing.
The white-haired ninja inside the van suddenly looked flustered.
A deafening roar.
The next instant, the front of the car, which was speeding along at high speed, was lifted up completely.
And that teeth-grinding tremor still hasn't stopped.
A huge, oval-shaped creature with sharp angles suddenly appeared from somewhere underground.
The front half of the vehicle, spinning like the eye of a storm, continued to plunge deep into the middle of the van, and in one fell swoop lifted the vehicle into the air before slowly slowing down.
The speeding vehicle, having lost its friction with the ground, was punished. It was pinned in mid-air by a javelin from underground, losing almost all of its kinetic energy, and its four wheels could only spin helplessly in the air.
Beneath it lay the creature from the earth, its rotation now stopped. Its limbs were fully extended, revealing a dark brown body with red markings. Only the sharp, saw-like horns on its head remained, propping up the half-wrecked car, like a knight flaunting the head of an enemy.
It was Iris's other Pokémon in her hand—Excadrill.
Hugo and Alice heard a clattering sound like hail falling from the damaged van. The debris continued to fly forward due to inertia, only to be stopped by the blood-red wings of the Wyvern.
"The mission was successfully completed, right?" The girl wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and asked the detective.
"On the contrary, we are the ones who are surrounded."