Pokémon Detective: Cynthia Forces Me to Adopt a Pokémon

Chapter 185 Resolution - Blueberry's Gamble

Chapter 195 The Solution - Blueberry's Gamble

"In the roulette game popular in the United States, the roulette wheel does not have white and blue colors, but rather red and black."

"Hmm... there seem to be scenes of roulette in old movies, and thinking back, they are indeed all red and black. But what's wrong with that?"

Faced with Douzi's confusion, the detective calmly began to explain.

“For a gambler like Lanju, gambling is a serious matter, and he would never arbitrarily change the color of his professional gambling equipment just because he feels like it. In other words, there must be a more important consideration behind the color change.”

“What deeper meaning could there be in changing red and black to blue and white?” Douzi pondered, then she remembered N’s answer during the video call—

"Could it be related to the nature of color mentioned earlier?"

A crisp snap of the fingers.

"That's right, the essence of color is light. Light is reflected by the surfaces of objects of different materials, forming reflected light of different wavelengths. These colors are finally captured and confirmed by the human eye, becoming the colors we know."

The detective leaned back comfortably into the sofa cushions and said.

"The reason why a regular Poké Ball is red and white is because its upper part can absorb all light except red. Therefore, only red light is reflected into people's eyes, forming the color red. The lower part can reflect all light, and the various colors mix together to become white light, which is why we can see what is called white."

"I understand, I understand. White is formed by the convergence of seven colors of light, and I know the principle behind the formation of rainbows."

Douzi impatiently continued to press for answers—

"But what does this have to do with the King of Blueberries changing the betting table to blue and white?"

"Of course, this is to achieve some kind of lawless smokescreen."

As he spoke, Hugo raised the marker in his hand; the cap of the marker had already been removed.

"The reason for changing all the colors is to make the disappearance of a certain color in the betting pool appear natural."

The axe-like slanted nib swallows the reflected light, displaying a color that is the complete opposite of white.

"black?"

The girl's confusion remained as she stared at the black pen nib.

“Now that you understand the principles of color production, explaining the trick will be much simpler.” The detective capped the pen and twirled the marker with apparent delight.

"Since the color of an object is determined by the reflected light, the color of the reflecting object will change imperceptibly simply by gradually changing the color of the light source. Furthermore, by using materials with special refractive indices as the beaker and coordinating with lighting, it is not difficult to achieve color transitions between different color zones. However, the surface of a black material absorbs all colors of light, and no matter how the light source changes, black remains black—therefore, the blueberry beaker must be changed from red and black to blue and white to avoid the appearance of black."

The spinning marker suddenly stopped, its black tip pointing towards the nose of the bucket.

The detective drew a conclusion—

"In this way, you can create the colors you want in a secluded room where the light sways with the music."

"You mean...?"

Douzi's mouth opened wide into a big "O" shape, his surprise evident.

"Based on the information provided by N, this is the only conclusion we can draw," Hugo said bluntly.

"Mr. Lanju left a mechanism on the gambling equipment to facilitate his cheating. This is essentially a high-tech technique similar to light projection. The roulette wheel is actually made of two special reflective materials that can switch between blue and white under special colored light. The lights that sway with the rhythm of the music during the game are just a cover. The purpose is to get everyone present used to the changes in light so that they will ignore the change in light source at the last moment when the game is decided."

This is blatant and lawless cheating. Are all gamblers this terrifying?

Douzi silently vowed that he would never spend a single penny in a casino in his life.

"But wouldn't that mean Mr. Blueberry would be the one who suffers losses in the betting? Why would he deliberately lose the betting?"

The detective seemed to recall something amusing, and his smile deepened.

"To explain the reason for this, we must start with the initial bet. Do you remember why Vio the Sage of Team Plasma wagered on Double Dragon Poker with Blueberry?"

Like squeezing out the last bit of toothpaste, Douzi's memories came back fragmented—

"N's account seems to mention that the total cash flow on the Royal Union exceeded Vio's expectations, so he had to compete against Yueju in a bet worth hundreds of billions of dollars."

"Isn't this ridiculous?" The detective spread his hands. "Why would a sum of cash that even financiers couldn't have predicted appear on this gambling ship that's only been open for three months? Douzi, do you even know what 10 billion yuan means?"

“Hmm…more than five hundred Feather Residences? That does sound rather impressive,” the girl said matter-of-factly.

“This house is being sold to you at a rock-bottom price; its actual value is much higher than the purchase price… Let’s not talk about that now.” Hugo believed that the number of houses could not vividly measure the value of money, so he proactively changed the conversion method.

"Let me put it this way: think about it, the real estate tycoon who sold you Yuxi Mansion is a very wealthy capitalist, right?"

"Oh, that perverted old man who likes Salamence, he's certainly very rich if you only look at the money."

"Even such a wealthy man, if asked to immediately raise funds for gambling, could only come up with a maximum of around 100 million yuan in cash. This is because the financial market has its own inherent rules. When you have too much capital, you can't just withdraw all your assets like you would pocket change. Even if you risk everything to sell real estate to raise gambling funds, you'll likely be ripped off by your business rivals along the way, and in the end, you'll only be able to withdraw a fraction of your assets—things that are offered to you on a whim are usually not very valuable."

"That's really cruel." Douzi nodded, seemingly understanding.

“In a typical casino, if they encounter a billionaire who might gamble away all his or her assets, the casino will treat him like a VIP. The casino owner will make him a long-term customer, and even if he or she frequently loses money, the casino won't be too harsh on him. Instead, the casino will slowly and steadily extract money from him. Occasionally, the casino will let him or she win a few rounds to experience the thrill of gambling, allowing the billionaire to withdraw his or her funds from the financial market in a relaxed and market-driven manner. Only in this way can the casino extract the full fortune from the gambler.”

Hugo's expression turned serious—

"However, Yueju's casino has only been open for a quarter of a year, less than three months. And he has already earned tens of billions. Do you know what that means?"

"Does this mean that Blueberry has no chance to make money by overcharging customers in the long run?"

"Yes. If casinos only relied on profiting from gamblers' losses, it would be a chilling situation to see the Royal Union achieve its current success..."

Money doesn't appear out of thin air.

The detective used words to depict a terrifying scene—

"Ninety days, hundreds of billions of yuan. This means that hundreds of billionaires must have entered the casino at a rate of more than one per day, and then all of them must have left the Royal Union with nothing. Their property and lives were plundered, and decades of accumulated pride were wiped out overnight—such tragedies happened hundreds of times in ninety days."

Hugo looked at the girl with the high ponytail in front of him—

Do you think such a scenario could become a reality?

Douzi actually imagined a billionaire kneeling and crying by the dock, then shook his head vigorously: "That's impossible, and such a scary casino wouldn't have any customers."

"But if not a sufficient number of gamblers are exploited, where does the money for the blueberries come from?" Hugo then asked.

"Could these be counterfeit bills that were secretly manufactured?"

"If it were counterfeit money, Vio should have noticed it when he raised the stakes in the betting game."

The girl then came up with another highly probable guess: "Could it be that the United States secretly provided funds to Yueju?"

The detective shook his head: "Not counting us, only the Four Heavenly Kings and Adebayo Champion should know that Blueberry is an undercover agent. Although these people are quite wealthy, they still can't come up with 10 billion yuan in cash."

"Then who else would support Yueju's casino?" The girl decisively gave up thinking and looked at Hugo expectantly, waiting for an answer.

Surely it couldn't be a miracle that just appeared out of thin air in a casino, could it?

Hugo chuckled softly, looking with pleasure out the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Feather Residence.

There, skyscrapers stand side by side in Feiyun City, their glass windows forming a pixelated matrix, with countless financial professionals bustling about within these panes.

"Who else could raise tens of billions in cash in a short time, have a good reason to support Yueju, and benefit from the whole incident?

Under a clear blue sky, a commercial metropolis known worldwide for its gambling culture gazes upon the casino economy, which has amassed wealth through commercial operations.

There is no more unbreakable fraud alliance in the world.

Without keeping anyone in suspense, the detective readily revealed the answer—

"The bet between Blueberry and Vio comes from commercial organizations that can profit immensely when Team Plasma is in trouble. In this fraud, the former acts as bait to lure Team Plasma in, while the latter wields the scythe of commerce to reap Team Plasma's wealth on the real battlefield, which is called reality. This is Blueberry's true gamble!"

A flock of gray doves flew across the distant sky, blocking out the bright sunlight.

The detective's expression turned serious and melancholy.

"However, a real gamble always comes with risks. Unlike the small-scale gambles on the Royal United Ship, there are no foolproof ways to cheat in the business arena, and that is the real perilous leap."

"They also froze a large amount of their own assets..." Douzi murmured.

"That's right. The successful execution of the plan means that the business alliance that launched the attack, like their opponent Group Plasma, had also entrusted hundreds of billions of dollars to Lantana. Despite being at an equal disadvantage, the former relied entirely on the information gap and the first-mover advantage to completely intimidate Group Plasma, who thought they were on the verge of collapse, forcing the latter to continuously cede territory and sue for peace, unable to mount an effective counterattack..."

In the midst of the five-day financial tsunami, they are making rapid progress in a victory that feels like walking a tightrope.

This is the madness of insidious adults, the battle of hypocritical inhabitants in a gray world.

"However, since there is a scam, there is always the risk of it being exposed. If Lan Tachibana suspects that someone in Group Plasma has somehow learned the whole inside story, how will this gambler, who believes in the interdependence of fortune and misfortune, react?"

Avoid mistakes and know when to stop.

Recalling the fighting style that Bulbasaur displayed in the Pokémon League—that almost cowardly steadiness in the Elite Four competition—Tōko understood Bulbasaur's reason for choosing to back down.

"So, does that mean N saw through Lingonberry's high-stakes gambling outside the casino?"

"How could that be? Aren't you giving that guy a bit too much credit?" Hugo said with a wry smile.

"If he had seen through everything, he wouldn't have looked so distressed on the video call. Remember how Blueberry reacted when N placed his bet?"

"I remember he seemed troubled for a moment, wasn't that because N chose white, which had a higher probability of winning... oh no, he should have already decided to back down by then..."

“Exactly so.” The detective snapped his fingers again. “The lingonberry is not troubled by the opponent’s intelligence, but rather by the opponent’s stupidity.”

"Before N boarded the ship, there should have already been some ominous signs in the financial markets. At this time, the apparent leader of Team Plasma personally boarded the Royal United Ship and proposed to Yue Tachibana to settle the matter in the simplest and clearest way, and the condition he proposed was the most basic condition of returning the tickets—this was actually an extremely tough way of seeking peace. Even the treaty that stipulated disbandment if the loser failed, in this context, represented a determination to fight to the death."

The subtext is probably—

I already know about the cheating tactics you used on the gambling ship, and I understand the fatal flaws you and your partner have left in the business battlefield. Now, either end the war gracefully with your proud cheating methods, or wait and see who sinks into an abyss of no return first!

In some unofficial and niche chess games, if two kings are facing each other without any cover, they can use the "flying general" move to checkmate the other.

As the king of the Royal United States, Lantana was caught off guard by the reckless actions of the King of Team Plasma and forced to retreat in resentment.

"Is this the meaning of the action instructed by N's father?"

Just listening to the detective's description, Touko felt as if a dagger was pressed against the back of his neck.

"In such an atmosphere, N's calculations before the game seemed very inexplicable. He had already put himself in a situation where he had no choice but to lose, so why was he still so calculating in gambling? This troubled Yueju greatly."

Hugo shrugged.

"However, just like us, King Lantana quickly realized the reason behind it all—the mastermind behind Team Plasma was someone else, and the 'king' who was being brought to the forefront in front of him was just a pawn."

Blueberries and Quicheze.

Game theory and threats.

Through ambiguous communication, the two prisoners at the bottom of the abyss finally reached a settlement that was acceptable to both of them.

It's truly an adult fairy tale that doesn't make you laugh.

"By the way, I have another question," Douzi suddenly raised his hand and asked, like a student speaking in class.

"Please speak, Douzi."

"After the Plasma Group reclaimed those financial certificates and unfroze the original wealth, wouldn't it be able to overpower the business alliance in commercial competition? Under such circumstances, why could Blueberry so calmly choose to voluntarily lose?"

“Good question.” The detective nodded happily.

"This is of course because Lanju also brought back hundreds of billions of yuan in cash to his partners. The returned wealth, plus the profits within five days, is enough for those capitalists who have united to fight against the Plasma Group for a while."

"But..." the girl asked urgently, "I remember Mr. Lantau left the Royal Union without taking anything with him. How did he return all that cash, enough to fill an entire room?"

"Hey Douzi, you don't actually believe there can be a perfect trust relationship between partners, do you?" Hugo said leisurely. "With their hundreds of millions of dollars in assets tied up in Yueju's ship, how can they possibly be complacent in their battle against Group Plasma?"

"Then what's going on here?"

"This is one of the oldest casino scams. A wealthy man was swindled out of all his money in a crowded illegal casino. He reported the crime to the police, and when the police arrested everyone, they discovered that everyone in the casino except the wealthy man was in cahoots."

"what!"

"While the Royal Union of Blueberry wasn't quite that ruthless, a significant proportion of the bustling passengers were definitely representatives of the business alliance, who simultaneously assumed the triple responsibilities of surveillance, security, and transportation. Just as Mr. Blueberry was leaving the gambling ship empty-handed, these guests were also stuffing bundles of ten thousand dollars into their suitcases and disembarking under the friendly care of the casino staff."

"Phew... I see."

After resolving the last remaining issue, Douzi shared his thoughts—

"Casinos are terrifying."