Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 320 The Cause of Poisoning – The Elusive and Mysterious Motivation

Chapter 322 The Cause of Poisoning – The Elusive and Mysterious Motivation

Reporter Mary rushed down the stairs, carrying a thick stack of freshly printed materials.

"The tortoise dragged us along to investigate medical news in the Unova region over the past decade, focusing on academic disputes related to toxic and harmful substances. We picked out these that might be relevant to the case!"

"You guys are really quick. Can you guarantee the accuracy of the information? These days, there's a ton of fake news and misinformation circulating online."

Ms. Jenny took the materials from the reporter, looked at the text information which was obviously taken from different media, and asked with a doubtful expression.

"At least this intelligence can be guaranteed to have a reliable source."

Azure snatched half of the file from the officer's hand and, while frantically flipping through it, said, "Don't worry, every single file in the Feather Residence's archives has been carefully verified. Some were personally compiled by Hugo, while the vast majority of the rest were done by that Grasshopper Turtle who often stays at the office. Perhaps it's that little guy's interest, but it has already sorted out the incident files for the Unova region over the past ten years, and it's said that the index is so clear that even the League's official data center can't compare."

"Yes. The speed at which Mr. Grass Turtle waves his 'Grass Knot' and simultaneously reviews both electronic and paper documents is truly astonishing. He even has the capacity to help us search case files."

The reporter from Hoenn nodded repeatedly, full of admiration for this beginner Pokémon from the Sinnoh region.

"So what specific information is included in the data?"

Sera asked Mary.

"Although the poisoning incident is indeed related to the medical field, there are all sorts of news in the world, and the murderer may not have left any trace. The possibility that the clues in the case are directly related to these documents should be extremely small."

Azure and Officer Jenny quickly skimmed through their respective sections, then exchanged documents and continued reading. Azure took a moment to answer, "It's not guaranteed, but reviewing this information is very necessary. Miss Sera, what kind of personality do you think the poisoner we're facing is likely to have?"

"Let me think—" Sera started counting on her fingers.

"Lawless, lacking in ethical and moral values, harboring malice towards trainers or Pokémon, and perhaps even arrogant, enjoying scheming and plotting, and at least possessing medical knowledge above average."

"Strictly speaking, the last point isn't really a personality trait. But it's passable, since doctors are always facing patients and must maintain a confident image at all times. Over time, this inevitably leads to a sense of superior authority."

Azure perused the medical malpractice case file in her hand, which contained many cases committed by unscrupulous doctors and unethical pharmacists.

He said casually, feeling a pang of sympathy.

"That's just a stereotype," Mary, who is very sensitive to words, couldn't help but correct her.

"Dai and I interviewed medical professionals in the Hoenn region before. Most doctors were already exhausted just dealing with the constant stream of patients and their families. They probably felt more numb than any authority that comes with their profession. Besides, aren't the friendly Nurse Joys at Pokémon Centers a perfect counterexample to that so-called lofty sense of authority?"

"I understand, I understand. My words were inappropriate."

Azure raised her hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Returning to the topic of the heinous poisoner, regardless of whether the perpetrator poisoned all the discarded medical supplies around Feiyun City, since this person committed such a large-scale crime through such an extreme method as poisoning, their sense of self must have been extremely strong."

The detective flicked the file in her hand. "Just as doctors who see patients often leave a cold impression due to the heavy pressure they face, criminals who ultimately exhibit such heinous behavior must have past experiences containing conflicts stemming from this distorted personality."

"Wherever you go, you leave a trace"—this seems to be a line your director likes to recite.

Officer Jenny finally finished reading the documents in her hand and joined the conversation.

"How's it going? Has the information we found been helpful to the investigation?"

Mary asked the detective expectantly, "Dai and Grass Turtle are still upstairs organizing information from even earlier times. They might release a new document later. If we want to know about even earlier news, we might have to go to the library or the official archives under the Alliance. After all, computers weren't widely available back then, and the trend of paperless offices hadn't taken off yet."

"I don't think we need to investigate such old documents."

Azure put down the half-stack of documents in her hand and smiled at everyone in the office, saying, "After all, the information we have is already full of countless valuable clues."

Officer Jenny nodded in agreement, "Hmph, you're quite perceptive, Azure Detective. It seems you've also discovered that group complaint from nine years ago."

"This is all thanks to the grass turtle and the two reporters. I can't believe they could even find such a trivial news story. It's truly amazing. Miss Officer Jenny, you hadn't even told them the ingredients of the poison before, had you?"

Azure picked out a printed sheet from the document and pointed to the news excerpt on it.

Nine years ago, a new facility built by Mistral Chemicals in Snowflake City was the subject of complaints from local residents. The facility was intended to use pressurized quenching technology to provide a new raw material for the Unova branch of an insecticide spray company. The matter was quickly resolved due to Mistral's concessions, and the facility was relocated to a more remote and sparsely populated area. However, this incident did cause a minor disturbance at the time—the latter part about the disturbance was probably added by Kame-chan when she searched the local community forums and archived them.

Officer Jenny shrugged: "The dispute didn't escalate further, and the factory was eventually built smoothly, which means that the chemical raw material was not a problem at the time. However, the fact that the facility ultimately failed to be located in Snowflake City suggests that the potential risks of that toxin were likely already noticed by people at the time, but we cannot rule out the possibility that the whole dispute was purely fabricated based on rumors."

"But regardless, since the murderer boasted of his cleverness in using insecticide spray as a new type of toxic substance, he must have thoroughly investigated the history of insecticide spray as a harmful substance. In the process of investigation, he couldn't possibly have overlooked this news. It's even possible that the cause and effect relationship was reversed, and the murderer simply drew inspiration directly from that conflict nine years ago."

That's how they devised the whole scheme.

The detective astutely pointed out, "If it's the former, the culprit has likely also consulted other papers and reports on insecticide sprays, some of which may contain confidential information that can only be accessed through official channels. We can use this clue to trace the culprit's movements."

"But if it's the latter..."

The green-haired detective put his white gloves back on the sofa, straightened his cap, and said meaningfully, "If the criminal got his criminal inspiration directly from this incident—"

Azure responded tacitly, "We must find out. From nine years ago until today, what exactly caused the perpetrator to delay this massive poisoning case, which involves a huge amount of self-assertion, for so long?"

Imprisonment? Hospitalization? Or perhaps he emigrated overseas and recently returned to United States—these are all possible reasons.

The acting director of the detective agency picked up the remaining files on the table again. "The other disputes we've compiled are also very valuable for the case. For example, this toxic compound that was lost four years ago and then recovered has a few micrograms missing from its contents. Could the killer have used the same method, skipping the step of buying insecticide spray and stealing the toxic substance directly from the manufacturing plant?"

"There's also this case from nine years ago, where a Poison-type Pokémon was assigned to massively harm wild Pokémon. The perpetrator is still at large. Although this perpetrator's methods are very different from those of the poisoning case, through this example, I realized that our previous thinking might have been limited, which was to assume that the perpetrator committed the large-scale poisoning case alone."

"You mean, the poisoner also used Pokémon as an accomplice?"

Officer Jenny pondered the possibility that the prisoner might have used this method of poisoning.

Generally speaking, apart from those Pokémon that have been trained by evil organizations for a long time, very few Pokémon will actively cooperate with their trainers to carry out such a horrific and inhumane scheme.

However, there are always exceptions. A very small number of Pokémon are inherently malicious and find pleasure in harming humans and other Pokémon. Trainers might also be able to use certain methods to force or trick their Pokémon into performing such actions.

"That's what I meant," Azure replied.

"Even if the perpetrator did not use the venom secreted by a Poison-type Pokémon as the source of the poison, the perpetrator may have still given orders to his Pokémon to search for discarded medicines and poison them. In this way, as long as the perpetrator has enough Pokémon under his command, even if the perpetrator is only one person, it would be enough to poison all the medicines in the entire Flying Cloud City."

"And since the elves disposed of the discarded medicines along different routes, the routes would naturally intersect and overlap at forks and intersections, which further explains why the medicines that had been poisoned multiple times would appear in those locations."

"I see. So you haven't given up on that theory of widespread poisoning?"

The female detective looked shaken. She felt that the theory of the temporary detective in front of her was becoming more and more real, like a whale king slowly emerging from the water.

Meanwhile, the reporter became increasingly excited. "It seems your reasoning is progressing very quickly! Although I don't quite understand what the 'mass poisoning' theory is, does this mean we can gradually narrow down the scope of our investigation into the killer's identity?"

"Final confirmation is still needed," Police Deputy Sera replied on behalf of her superior.

"The police are currently analyzing the chemical composition of the remaining wound medicine. If, as Miss Azure speculates, it does contain trace amounts of insecticide spray toxins, then the crucial time for pinpointing the perpetrator's poisoning can be quickly narrowed down to a very small area—and the clues you just provided can help the police further narrow down the suspects. Success or failure hinges on this."

"If only we were that lucky. I still can't believe that a criminal would give up such a convenient way of randomly poisoning people and instead go to the trouble of filling all the discarded medicines near Feiyun City with poison."

Officer Jenny pressed her temples, trying to suppress her nervousness as she spoke.

While waiting for feedback from her colleagues at the police station, she really had nothing else to do, so she could only continue discussing the case with the detective.

"My irresponsible director once taught me a piece of advice."

Azure spoke softly, her tone as if she had everything under control, "In a case, the most important thing is never the method, but the perpetrator's motive. A criminal may use all sorts of methods to achieve their goals, but they will never easily waver in their criminal motive because of any one of them. Miss Officer Jenny, randomly poisoning someone may be easy, but it brings no real benefit to anyone."

"Could someone be trying to short the insecticide spray company's stock to make a profit?" Mary suddenly asked, with a whimsical thought.

"And another thing, is it possible that the criminals are trying to lure all the police officers in Feiyun City to the outskirts of the city, using that opportunity to launch some kind of major operation in the city center?"

"The police had already investigated the first possibility when the incident first occurred. However, looking at the stock exchanges inside and outside United States, whether it was the insecticide spray company or other related companies, no suspicious individuals were found to be engaging in large-scale short selling or long selling."

In response to the question from the Hoenn reporter, Sera immediately replied, "As for the latter possibility of a diversionary tactic, our Feiyun Police Station just encountered a similar case last year."

Therefore, a sufficient number of elite troops had already been stationed in the city. However, as of now, no suspicious signs have been detected.

"That criminal who did nothing but poison seems to really just be a poisoner who enjoys harming others—"

Officer Jenny whispered.

Just then, Miss Sera's phone suddenly vibrated. "It's a call from the police station," the deputy instinctively reported to his superior.

"Answer it quickly!!!"

Everyone except Sierra said the same thing.

Sera didn't have time to turn on speakerphone and hurriedly started negotiating with the police station, "Um...okay. Yes, we're all here...Oh, I see, I'll report it immediately. Okay, thank you for your hard work."

After a brief communication, the deputy detective put down his phone and turned to the three pairs of eyes staring at her.

"A small amount of insecticide spray toxin was found in the wound medicines that were previously deemed non-toxic. All three wound medicines tested showed this."

Sera announced briefly.

The Azure Detective's theory has prevailed.

Mary curiously observed Officer Jenny's reaction, wanting to see what kind of expression this detective, who had previously denied the Azure Theory, would show when she realized that her deduction was wrong.

The latter's reaction was, "Everyone, come with me to the police station! There are more people there to help with the investigation! Ha! That damn poisoner, I've finally caught you red-handed!"

Miss Officer Jenny, like a bouncing pig with springs under her, leaped three feet high. While calling out to the detective who was still stunned, she took the lead and rushed towards the gate of the Feather Residence.