Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 108 The Mystery of the Locked Room

"If that's the case, then the space in front of the display wall becomes a closed, enclosed visual chamber."

Sera said as if she had just realized something.

If you were to simply illustrate the terrain of the crime scene, it would roughly resemble the shape of the Chinese character "拦" (latch).

The dot at the top left of the character "烁" can be seen as the director's office. When the director is at work, he closes the office door and hands over the management of the art museum to the staff.

The horizontal line inside the "latch" represents the wall where Mr. Yates' paintings are hung; it is both the museum's signboard and the first exhibit in the exhibition.

This long wall separates the museum's exhibition area from the exterior; of course, the actual exhibition halls are much larger than this. Visitors enter from the left, tour the exhibition halls, and exit from the right.

On either side of the wall are the ticket counter area where the ticket seller works and the exit area where the security guard works. Due to their positions, both of them are facing the only main entrance of the art museum, which puts Mr. A.J.'s painting on the wall in a blind spot in their view.

Despite this, security guards and ticket sellers could still clearly see the entrance to the art museum, and they couldn't possibly have missed anyone entering or leaving the area.

Both individuals stated that no one had entered or left the museum during the period when the artwork was destroyed.

Furthermore, Hugo, who lives across the street from the museum, also claimed that no one had entered the museum's doors, completely eliminating the possibility of an intruder breaking in from the outside and damaging the "Four Virtues" artwork.

How were the artworks destroyed in this untouched space? Was it the work of Pokémon that infiltrated it, just like last time? What was the culprit's purpose in destroying the artworks?

"It's a locked room, a locked room, Detective Hugo. 💞💣 69รH𝔲ｘ.𝒸𝓞M ♠🐟"

The policewoman waved her finger in front of Hugo's eyes like a cat toy. She remembered the detective's obsessive love for locked-room mysteries during the "Sandstorm Murder Case" and wanted to use the same trick to lure him into investigating.

"A confined space limited by people's perspective—what detective novels call a locked room or surveillance room. How about that? Intriguing, isn't it?"

However, this time the detective didn't take the bait—

"Reality is different from mystery novels, Miss Sera. A truly perfect locked room mystery will never have a case."

Hugo yawned and said listlessly, "Constantly using these terms from novels makes you seem very uninformed."

Seeing Hugo's lazy attitude, alarm bells went off in Sera's mind.

Back at the Feather Residence, who was it that excitedly explained the definition of a locked room to everyone? Which detective in the white coat repeatedly told her and Officer Jenny afterward that they should hand over any future locked room cases to him?

This detective definitely knows something!

"Hugo, you are the best detective in the Union. Officer Jenny often tells us about your glorious deeds. The Alliance's success in thwarting Archie's conspiracy this time is all thanks to your early warning. Lord Hugo, what are your thoughts on this case?"

The policewoman praised the detective to the skies and tried to get Hugo to help with the investigation.

The detective scratched his head sheepishly, but a smile just like the sunflower monster's appeared on his face—

"Oh dear, those cases were all solved by chance. How could an amateur detective like me have any reliable opinions? 🐯🐝 ❻➈𝓼нùⓍ.Ⓒ𝐎𝓜 ☮🍫 Investigating cases is something that should be handled by professionals like the police."

Isn't this something stubborn cops always say?!

Sera suppressed the urge to complain and continued to boast with a forced smile: "You can't say that. How can Mr. Hugo be compared to other detectives? In my opinion, if you were in charge, you could definitely solve this kind of case in the shortest amount of time."

"That's an exaggeration. Although I'm not very knowledgeable, I do understand the saying that there are always people more knowledgeable than you. Look, I've explained everything I know about the situation, and it's about time to head back to Yuqi Residence..."

"No, no, no, this unsolved case that's giving Feiyun Police Station a major headache is waiting for the famous detective to handle it."

"Then go find a famous detective. I've heard there are many such detectives in the Galar and Carlos regions..."

As the conversation continued, the detective, seeing that the interrogation was about to end, simply stopped paying attention to Sera's questions and began to play with his fingers, counting from his left thumb to his right little finger, and then starting again from his right thumb, over and over, as if he could count to an eleventh finger...

Sera was getting a headache: this detective was more slippery than an eel, showing no intention of cooperating with the police investigation, yet he was one of the key witnesses in the case, and even acted as if he knew everything about the case, which made her really furious.

At that moment, Officer Jenny's image, smiling face, and voice flashed into Sierra's mind as she recalled Officer Jenny being on leave—

"Sera, let me tell you, Hugo can be a real jerk sometimes, he only responds to force. In situations like this, all you have to do is send out your Pokémon and threaten him fiercely, and he'll give in..."

In an instant, the deputy suddenly realized—that's right, she had such an important bargaining chip in her hands, how come she hadn't thought of it before!

Hugo was still playing with his hands, this time making a fist and gesturing wildly in the air, as if there was an invisible orchestra in front of him, waiting for him, the leader, to wave his invisible baton.

Suddenly, the detective noticed that Miss Sera, sitting opposite him, seemed hesitant to speak, and stopped what he was doing.

The black-haired, bespectacled police officer, as if struck by a sudden inspiration, stared wide-eyed at the detective, seemingly having solved some age-old mystery.

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Sera began, "Mr. Hugo, my superior has said many bad things about you. Would you like to know?"

.

A few minutes later, Hugo and Sera, who had changed into civilian clothes, walked out of the Flying Cloud Police Station side by side.

The two were in a hurry because the detective had promised the policewoman that he would solve the case by the end of the day.

"Mr. Hugo, have we come to the wrong place?"

Perhaps because she had lost her home-field advantage, Sera became much more reserved when she left the police station. She followed behind the detective, staring in astonishment at the strangely shaped building in front of her.

"No, there's no mistake, this is the root of all the misunderstandings." Hugo didn't stop walking and arrived at the building's entrance in an instant.

Sera stared blankly at the landmark in front of her. It was a simple, rectangular stone slab with four large characters written on it in a sophisticated serif font: Flying Cloud Dojo.

"I'm here to see the curator, Mr. Yati. I have a sketch that I left with him and I want to retrieve it... Yes, just tell the curator that it's the person on the bench this morning, thank you."

After speaking with the receptionist at the entrance, Hugo entered the building without any trouble. The plainclothes policewoman hurriedly followed, and the receptionist did not stop her.

"They're treating her like a mere follower..." Sera thought to herself, clicking her tongue in amazement. When Hugo was handling serious matters, he always exuded an aura that commanded genuine respect.

At this moment, the two had already entered the interior of the Flying Cloud Dojo, where large swaths of orange-yellow light caught the eyes of the detective and the police officer.

"This is a honeycomb maze personally designed by Artie. Only by finding the correct path can we successfully reach the area where the Gym Leader is located. We gave prior notice, so the Gym Leaders along the way will not challenge us."

Hugo strode ahead, looking around with great interest, as if it were his first time here.

Sera even saw Hugo pointing and gesturing under the watchful eyes of the gym trainers—

"The atmosphere is well-created, but the details of the beehives aren't quite right. Take wild three-in-one beehives, for example. Contrary to popular belief, their hives are actually irregular in shape, varying with the environment. Even within the hexagonal wax cells inside, there are subtle angle variations, resulting in differences in size between different three-in-one hives. Sometimes, to connect two hives with unusual angles, pentagonal three-in-one bees will appear in the colony..."

Although he kept finding fault with things, the detective had a relaxed smile on his face, as if he was very...