RNP Chapter 90 Ghostly Figures on the Coast
Chapter 90 Ghostly Figures on the Coast
With the combined efforts of the three people and a group of Pokémon, the enormous mountain of creamy fruit was finally divided up.
To be honest, the desserts that Douzi routinely chooses are really delicious, and considering the portion size, they might even be surprisingly good value for money.
Azure even noticed that the detective in the white coat secretly glanced at the menu on the table. Presumably, the detective wanted to remember the name of the restaurant so that he could come back to visit it in the future.
It's unbelievable that he has the leisure to do this while handling cases...
Recalling the matter at hand, Bilan couldn't help but glance at the old man sitting beside the detective, wiping his mouth with a napkin. After a frantic search, she finally remembered his identity.
"I remember now, you're the doorman at that luxury apartment building!"
"Yes, this is the old man Naoki, the administrator we met back then. His long-haired dog only recently evolved, but it had been raised as a Hayok for many years before that. I believe its sense of smell should have been honed to perfection."
The detective put the well-fed Chimchar and Piplup into his ball, and then introduced the helpers he had brought to Azure.
The old man named Naoki was neither upright nor dull-witted. His face was gloomy, and he looked both stubborn and cunning, like a human-shaped cunning tengu. Perhaps this gloomy appearance also influenced Azure's initial misjudgment of him as a criminal suspect.
The long-haired dog lying by the aisle looked gentle and honest, its serious and upright face bearing no resemblance to its owner.
"I have to go back to patrol the apartment building later, so I only have two hours to go out freely. Although I am very grateful for your hospitality, this meal has already taken half an hour."
Despite having enjoyed a free and delicious meal, the old man showed no courtesy and glared at the detective with hostility.
Hugo calmly replied, "This is not a complicated task, Mr. Naoki. You just need to take the long-haired dog to the place we specify, it won't take long."
Azure was still somewhat puzzled: "Hugo, why do we have to use a long-haired dog?"
"Canine Pokémon have a sense of smell that is about 1200 times stronger than that of humans, and police dogs and trained canine Pokémon have an even richer sense of smell. Unlike humans, dogs have a special area in their brains dedicated to processing scent signals. Therefore, as long as a long-haired dog can remember the information on the evidence, it can lead us to find more clues."
The detective took out the almost-doll super stone from the evidence bag and carefully placed it on the tip of the long-haired dog's nose.
However, as the detective approached, the large dog suddenly jumped backward and sneezed more than a dozen times, making its long, beard-like hair on its head messy.
"How about I do it?"
Seeing that the detective's constitution had caused trouble again, Azure took the initiative to get up from her seat, took the Mega Stone from the detective's hand, and continued to help Longhair confirm the olfactory records on the Mega Stone.
Undeterred by being sidelined due to his perceived incompetence, the detective shooed away Eevee, who was perched on the table, and began examining the sewer blueprints that Azure had flipped through. After only a few turns, the detective's eyebrows twitched—
"Fortunately, there are only two branches in the underground waterway along the route, so we only need to go back and forth once. But it's really strange that the end point is that coastal wasteland."
"How to say?"
The old gatekeeper casually asked Hugo a question. Judging from his apparent knowledge of the case, the detective must have explained the details to old man Naoki on the way here.
“Feiyun City is the largest maritime import and export center in the United States, and the number of cargo ships waiting outside the city is always at full capacity. Therefore, on the outer ring of the city, there is a harbor that looks like a huge ring, densely packed with ships, like a fully booked parking lot,” Hugo explained patiently.
"However, not every harbor is suitable for ships to dock. The place we are going to this time is a muddy coast, and it faces the direction of the ocean current. The current is treacherous and it is extremely easy to run aground, so ships can hardly dock. That unusable coast has become wasteland."
"This has nothing to do with the case, does it?" Azure, having completed her task, sat back down at the table and said to the detective with dissatisfaction.
“That’s true. It’s hard to say whether the owner actually lost the item there. I was probably overreacting,” Hugo apologized. “In that case, let’s start the search as soon as possible?”
"Speaking of which..." Perhaps wanting to slack off a little longer, old man Naoki suddenly picked up where Hugo left off—
"I've also heard about that coastal wasteland. A few years ago, there were rumors in Feiyun City about redeveloping that wasteland, but somehow, the news gradually disappeared. It seems like the Alliance officials and the news media just vanished overnight."
"That's a common occurrence, isn't it? After a project starts, they discover insurmountable engineering difficulties, so the United Alliance quietly cancels the project. After all, it's embarrassing to make it public," Azure speculated.
Hugo nodded: "That's right. There's no need to pry into these things before we've even started the investigation. The engineering problems and the Alliance's shady dealings are too far removed from this lost and found case. Let's get started as soon as possible."
Old man Naoki sighed regretfully, then stood up with his long-haired dog and reluctantly followed the detective and his assistant out of the dessert shop.
Before leaving, Ditto, which hadn't yet reverted to its original form, deliberately waved to the attentive waiter in its beak form, receiving an even more enthusiastic response in return.
……
Half an hour later...
"The twenty-third." Azure counted listlessly, feeling as if she had turned into an emotionless humanoid counting princess.
The long-haired dog sniffed at the entrance of a drain along the way, then continued walking forward without looking back.
"Hey Hugo, we're almost at the coastal wasteland, but that long-haired dog doesn't seem to have found anything. Could it be that the smell of the super-stone's transparent tape is masking other scents, causing the long-haired dog to lose its way?"
"That transparent tape brand uses the foam of the 'Froggy Frog' as glue, and it's colorless and odorless. So it's probably just because it's not this side road, after all, we only have a one-in-five chance." Hugo shrugged indifferently, as if he was quite used to the tricks of the god of probability.
"It's also possible that the long-haired dog vaguely smelled something, but we haven't confirmed it yet. You see, now that we're not leading the way, the long-haired dog can find the sewer entrance on its own."
As they ventured deeper into the exploration route, fewer and fewer pedestrians appeared around them, and the faint outlines of wild Pokémon could be seen in the distance.
Hugo had unconsciously placed his hand on his waist. It was unclear whether he was preparing to use a Poké Ball to send out Piplup and Chimchar for a battle, or whether he was planning to resort to physical means.
Since the detective was going out with Azure, who was in charge of the fight, he unusually didn't bring his cane. He only hung an extra retractable baton on his belt where he kept his Poké Balls, just in case.
Before leaving, Azure had a sudden urge to ask Detective for a weapon, but Hugo sternly refused, saying that Azure's fighting ability was too poor and that his weapon would be easily stolen. He suggested that Azure should focus on commanding his Pokémon with his bare hands, so that his combat power would at least not be negative.
"Hey, detective, I think I see something?" Old Man Naoki's hoarse voice rang out from ahead, and he and the long-haired dog had stopped in their tracks.
The detective and his assistant hurried forward and looked in the direction the gaunt old man was pointing. About a hundred meters away, there really did seem to be a blue thing moving around.
"That looks like a Pokémon. If we go over there rashly, we'll scare it away. Azure, can your Pokédex detect Pokémon from a distance?"
Too far apart, and shrouded in mist, Hugo couldn't identify the type of spirit, so he asked the girl who possessed the cutting-edge technology at Oak's lab.
Azure nodded: "I'll give it a try." With that, she took out her Pokédex.
The girl aimed the Pokédex at a distant blue object, constantly adjusting the lens's focus until the Pokémon's aperture was aligned with the swaying figure—
"Lidlight, the candle Pokémon, is said to have flames burning on its head that are its own life energy. To replenish this energy, it sometimes draws energy from humans or other Pokémon. It appears in dark places, lights lamps to illuminate the surroundings, and even leads people on their own initiative, but in reality, it is luring them to the spirit world."
A mechanical electronic recording was heard coming from the Pokédex.