pdf-ebookys Chapter 104 The End of the Smuggling Case
Chapter 104 The End of the Smuggling Case
"And so, in the end, Azure and I captured the evil organization executives who murdered Mr. Samuel, freed the wild Wailord that they had persecuted, and returned to Flying Cloud City from the sea, ending this passionate and adventurous voyage."
In the reception room of the Yuxi Residence, Detective Hugo, whose hair had returned to black, sat facing his client, Ms. Rena.
Hugo placed the box containing the Mega Evolution Stone of the Nearly Doll on the table and handed it to the Berry Breeder along with the investigation report.
"No, the ending of the case is completely vague."
Rena protested, "What did you do with those Team Aqua members in the end? Was Wailord's injury healed? It should have been several days' journey back to Touken City from the sea, right? How did you spend that time? And most importantly, what exactly did Team Plasma use to exchange for the advanced cruiser? Don't just gloss over it!"
Hugo scratched his newly dyed black hair in annoyance: "Why is everyone like Azure, always digging into things? Don't you think it's boring to recount such trivial matters like a diary?"
Upon hearing her name called from outside the meeting room, Azure, while munching on an apple to replenish her vitamins, walked over and said, "Just give a brief explanation, it's not like it's a secret. Why does your tendency to explain always seem to go silent at a time like this?"
"Only interesting things are worth explaining. I am, after all, a detective, and I have no interest in the petty squabbles of the world."
The detective crossed his arms and turned his face away, his resistance resolute. His assistant, Azure, had no choice but to sit down next to Hugo and then add details about what happened after the case was closed.
"To prevent things from changing over time, we contacted Interpol at sea. I had some dealings with them when I was in Kanto, so the communication went very smoothly. The day after we returned, Interpol's helicopter arrived and took away four Team Aqua officers, led by Drew, along with their Pokémon that were very determined to resist. They were supposed to be imprisoned in a large prison in the Johto region. The rest of the Pokémon that were forced to join Team Aqua were released at sea in a suitable place to live."
"Oh, I see. Since the Pokémon have all been released, Wailord's injuries should have healed by now, right?" Rena asked with concern.
"Yes, but the process was rather complicated." Azure's expression was somewhat embarrassed.
"The medicine on our ship was completely insufficient to treat the wound in the whale's mouth. In the end, it was Milotic, whom Hugo borrowed to help, who used the 'Life Drop' move to completely heal the wound left by the nail."
"Is that Cynthia's Milotic? I even met her at the entrance of the Featherwood Mansion before! She's such a kind-hearted champion, willing to lend her Pokémon to those in need."
The gardener visibly became excited—
"Speaking of which, did you guys watch Miss Cynthia's title defense match a couple of days ago? The scene where she sent out Rotom with the Ghost attribute to dodge 'Big Bang' was so cool! That opponent with the red afro turned green right then and there, and our support group members almost died laughing when they saw that..."
Azure nodded: "We watched the battle on our phones on the ship. The fact that the Elite Four didn't use a Water-type substitute and that Cynthia Champion really surprised everyone. Fortunately, Rotom's participation disrupted all of their plans, and Garchomp and Glaceon also performed exceptionally well."
"Opportunism doesn't make you a hero," Hugo joked with a hint of self-deprecation.
Rena glared at the detective, but remembering how he had boasted about the champion's autograph and claimed he intended to sell it, she swallowed her anger. She then turned to Azure and asked, "So, was the Wailord also released back into the wild in the end?"
“No,” the assistant shook her head. “After the wounds were healed, we originally wanted to release the roaring whale king directly, but the child was like a lost child in the ocean, and then it followed the Victini for a long time on its own.”
"That whale king has been separated from its pod for a long time. It's worried that it won't be able to integrate into the other whale king groups. Simply put, it's suffering from social anxiety," Hugo added, probably finding it an interesting point worth explaining.
Azure continued its narration—
"Then something magical happened. One night on the way back, Captain Doug suddenly went off to chat with Wailord. When he returned at dawn, he had already captured the Wailord. However, Pokémon of Wailord's size don't like the cramped space of a Poké Ball, so Doug released it into the waters near Castelia City. From then on, every week, the old man would take Wailord for a 'walk' in his whaling boat."
"So even in Feiyun City, I'll have a chance to see this giant whale?" Rena asked.
“Indeed. It’s quite a story,” Miss Azure said with a smile.
"What else did you do during the days you were on your way back, besides watching Miss Zhu Lan's competition?"
"Yes, we've started reinvestigating those backlogged cases in the firm's mailbox and promised to give the fees for those cases to Mr. Naoki as compensation for his absence from work these past few days."
“It’s quite interesting,” Hugo said again. “After uncovering this smuggling case, many strange requests in the mailbox were inexplicably resolved.”
During his investigation, Hugo discovered that the mastermind behind bribing numerous media outlets within United Media Group and orchestrating the landing of the "fake president of United Media Group" was actually a news company called Fengyuan Media.
After asking Elder Tiexuan to investigate, everyone was surprised to find that the person in charge behind Fengyuan Media was actually the director of Fengyuan TV Station, a well-known media mogul in the Fengyuan area!
This is the person who funded the entire scam! This is also the person who continuously funded Team Aqua in the Hoenn region, helping this evil organization establish a global underground smuggling network! The Corsola that led to the "Sandstorm Team Murders" was transported from the Galar region to Unova via this network!
The origins of the dark web have now been uncovered!
The rest was easy. Officer Sera, who was having tea and chatting at the Feiyun City Police Station, received the news and immediately dispatched officers. Sure enough, they found the server of the United Dark Web on several offshore ships under the name of the director of Hoenn TV Station!
Having found irrefutable evidence, the United Alliance immediately took action, blocking all media outlets and magazines affiliated with Hoenn TV overnight, and formally issuing a warning to the Hoenn Alliance.
When the news reached Hoenn, the media mogul's reputation was instantly ruined. No amount of public opinion could withstand the League's top-down rectification efforts, and the atmosphere in the media circles of both places was cleansed up.
Regrettably, just as police cars cordoned off the Hoenn TV station building, a Team Aqua force forcefully broke through the police cordon and rescued the station's director. At this point, the news mogul's position within Team Aqua was officially revealed—he was none other than the elusive leader of Team Aqua, Archie himself!
Following this, the Hugo Detective Agency pressed their advantage, resolving the three cases they received on Monday morning in one go:
The commission regarding the United States Alliance's secrets was actually a conspiracy theory deliberately spread online by Hoenn Media to smear the United States Alliance while the fake president was on a trip abroad. The aim was to keep the Alliance's intelligence agencies busy and unable to thoroughly investigate the authenticity of President Zvoich.
A whistleblower, an ordinary employee at Hoenn TV, was hired to investigate a large out-of-town company suspected of smuggling. He was an avid collector of juicy gossip and stumbled upon Hugo Detective Agency, a secret hidden away by United Press International. He wanted Hugo to investigate the company's internal irregularities, but fearing internet censorship, he wrote the commission in an overly ambiguous way. When Hugo called and told him, "Your station manager is the mastermind behind the Water Fleet's rampages," the young man was genuinely terrified.
The case involved a request for a detective to persuade a cheating husband to change his mind—this wasn't solved by Hugo, but by that old bastard Naoki, who specifically called the cheating husband for his own compensation. One can only say that a dying man's words are wise; Naoki, half-buried in the grave, spoke with a unique persuasive power unique to those who have been through it all. After listening to the old man's words, the husband suddenly understood and decided to adopt a gentler strategy, continuing to feign compliance with his wife for a while longer.
"You detectives really have it tough..." Rena stuck out her tongue. The amount of information the detective was explaining was so overwhelming that she was already dizzy.
"I'd rather have it tough every day." Azure looked nostalgic as she recalled the happy times on the whaling ship when good news kept pouring in.
This time, they thwarted a sinister global conspiracy and exposed the true face of the evil organization's boss. In terms of scale, it's comparable to Red's destruction of Team Rocket halfway through.
"By the way, what exactly was that shipment you found? Where did it end up?" Rena suddenly remembered that she had another question on her mind and asked casually.
“Neither we nor the police can figure out the purpose of those purple metal armors, and since we’ve done a great job this time, the Flying Cloud Police Station has let us handle the goods ourselves,” Hugo said with a shrug. “They’re currently piled up in the storage room of the Feather Residence. Do you want to take a look?”