RNP Chapter 74 The Dark Hand Beyond the Plasma Cluster
Chapter 74 The Dark Hand Beyond the Plasma Cluster
"Hiring hackers to play games?"
Azure looked at the detective with a bewildered expression.
"Remember those people who did phone scams before?" Hugo, already used to seeing people's surprise, readily offered an explanation. "You should know where those people got their Galar Coral, right?"
“It’s hard to forget, they bought it online from an anonymous trading website,” the assistant replied without hesitation. “Didn’t Officer Jenny say that the police’s technical experts had started tracing the server address? Have they already got the results?”
"A complete failure, a last-ditch effort." The detective shook his head, his face full of mockery for the incompetent policeman.
"As soon as news of the arrest of the six people was released, the website addresses they had previously used were immediately invalidated and could not be traced at all. Even if the police changed their tracking direction and tried to find the location of the person who provided the sun coral based on the physical IP, they could only find a deserted area in the open sea."
"Is it another case of slow police response and excessive media coverage?" Bilan asked, taking a bottle of mineral water from the detective's refrigerator and sitting back down on the sofa.
The detective shook his head: "This time, it's not their fault. That illegal website uses the most popular anonymous access technology currently available. User requests are randomly redirected three times among hosts distributed globally before finally reaching the server, in order to conceal which computer the traffic originally came from. This makes tracing the source extremely difficult, thus making all visitors completely indistinguishable and achieving almost perfect online anonymity. With my meager knowledge of the internet, I'm completely outmatched."
The girl was skeptical of the detective's "little bit" of information. She thought she had mastered enough technical terms since joining the agency, but listening to the detective's description of the dark web framework still gave her a headache.
"So, you want to find a hacker to help you track down this online trading organization?" Azure asked, trying to skip the barrage of computer jargon.
“Exactly.” Hugo fed a handful of Pokémon kibble to Chimchar to reward its earlier brilliant performance. “I’m a detective, how can I tolerate someone running a crime consulting business on my turf? And they’re illegally selling Pokémon, even using them to kill people, something even Team Plasma wouldn’t do. All of this shows that they are an organization with no bottom line, driven solely by profit, and a completely different force from the legitimate Team Plasma.”
Azure, who was drinking water, was taken aback and almost choked: "So this dark web organization has nothing to do with Team Plasma? I thought they were the only ones in the Unova region who would commit crimes on this scale..."
"It's not entirely unrelated. The establishment of the Dark Web must have been approved by the Plasma Group. Without the Plasma Group's approval, no one in the world would have had the opportunity to establish such an illegal organization on the land of the Unova region."
Hugo pointed to the table in the distance, which was still covered with evidence of Team Plasma's crimes. Team Plasma's atrocities covered the entire Unova map like a spider web. In the very center of the table was a photo of the religious leader named N.
"Judging from the methods and motives of the crimes, selling Pokémon through the dark web is simply not the style of those fanatical followers of Team Plasma. The organization that established the dark web has a very clear goal: they obviously intend to use it to make money. And Team Plasma..."
The detective scoffed, "They have plenty of money now, so there's no need for them to do this kind of low-paying, unethical work. To me, this seems more like the work of Team Rocket in the Kanto region."
Well, we've gotten ourselves into this mess. Azure was both amused and exasperated.
However, the girl immediately retorted to the detective: "Team Rocket disbanded two years ago, and Interpol is constantly monitoring the criminal underworld in the Kanto region. There is absolutely no sign of them making a comeback."
"Disband..." Hugo remained silent for a long time, as if he were chewing on the word, before asking a thought-provoking question—
"Why not arrest all those involved and put them in jail?"
As if struck by a "high-five surprise attack," Azure was momentarily dazed before stammering out the aftermath of the events she had heard from the Kanto Alliance—
"In the operation targeting the Rockets, the league mainly punished the ringleaders who committed heinous crimes. As the Rockets organization was too widely involved, the league only carried out limited purges and pardoned most of the lower-ranking members. This is also more conducive to social stability."
“Only the leading cadres were punished…” Hugo fell silent again. “But I haven’t heard any news of the arrest of that famous leader, Giovanni. He couldn’t have escaped, could he?”
The girl was hit where it hurt by the detective's words, and looked like she had suffered a severe emotional blow. She could only answer dejectedly, "Sakaki escaped during the capture operation and has been missing ever since."
"It seems Kanto is bound to cause trouble again sooner or later," the detective predicted astutely, then shook his head, trying to steer the conversation back to the current events—
"The disbandment of Team Rocket naturally led to a large number of people fleeing abroad. After more than two years of fermentation, the criminal ideas and techniques of these people have also spread to all parts of the world. The dark web organizations we are facing now are a clear example. We must nip these organizations in the bud. If we allow them to develop and form an interest group in the United States that is no smaller than Team Plasma, the problem will be impossible to solve."
"Can the hacker you're planning to hire do something like this?" Azure asked with concern.
"Actually, I don't know the other party's capabilities yet. The other party is a network expert introduced by a friend of mine in Sinnoh. It is said that he once built an Internet of Things system for an entire city by himself. I think he should be able to come up with a solution to that dark web."
While talking to his assistant, Hugo had already drafted a politely worded email and sent it to the legendary hacker, inviting him to a friendly one-on-one match using the famous game "Pokémon 8."
Azure was still somewhat worried, and asked with a frown, "Would a computer expert with such extraordinary abilities accept our request?"
"I heard he's a very playful person, especially obsessed with video games, so I wanted to see if this horse racing game could capture his interest. In my opinion, the game itself is pretty good."
"Are you planning a betting contest? A bet where the loser has to do something? Hugo, what if you lose?"
"First of all, based on my observation, the little fire monkey's gaming skills are quite excellent, and I am not worried about losing the game at all."
Hugo patted the back of the little fire monkey's head and declared with great confidence. The little fire monkey, equally confident, puffed out its pale yellow chest, the swirling mark on its chest standing out prominently.
Azure stuck out her tongue: "I have a feeling that this line is an ominous sign."
“Secondly,” Hugo said, making a peace sign and revealing a mysterious smile, “I didn’t mention gambling in the email because I didn’t intend to place any bets.”
"Then how do you get them to agree to help you?" the assistant asked, puzzled.
The detective's smile gradually turned sinister. Azure could tell that her employer had clearly come up with another "brilliant" idea to get something for nothing—
"Regardless of the outcome of the match, I will tell that playful hacker that the game we just played has been fiercely attacked by Team Plasma, a new cult in the Unova region. These extreme Pokémon protectors believe that riding on a Pokémon's back is a terrible act of abuse, and that the Pokémon Horse Racing series implies and promotes this unequal and enslaving relationship between humans and Pokémon. Therefore, Team Plasma is manipulating public opinion and launching a storm of malicious complaints against the game. Now the game's development company is overwhelmed, and this horse racing game will be the last game in the series."
"Is it true?" Azure stared wide-eyed in surprise, while the little fire monkey beside her also looked at the detective in astonishment.
"It's true. If you pay more attention to the recent newspapers, you'll see a lot of heated arguments surrounding this news. Or you can chat with Ms. Officer Jenny; she'll complain about it to you sooner or later."
Hugo spoke casually, then looked into the light brown eyes and asked—
"Isn't this ironic? An organization that advocates for the liberation of Pokémon is secretly cooperating with dark web organizations, tacitly approving and supporting the illegal Pokémon trade, using them as weapons to kill—if you were that master hacker, what would you think?"
“Outrageous,” the assistant said without hesitation. “Having experienced the game, I can guarantee that it’s a truly conscientious and well-made game. Why should we tolerate this baseless complaint that’s been blown out of proportion? Besides, Group Plasma is a hypocrite who does bad things and then turns around and blames others. What right do they have to use political correctness as a means of mutual attack?”
"Very good. If that hacker could have the same sense of justice as you, this matter would already be half successful." Hugo smiled with great satisfaction and deep sympathy.
.
Just then, a strange phone rang; it was Hugo's cell phone.
The detective glanced at the caller ID, his expression immediately turning serious: "It's that hacker. He traced my phone number directly from my email address—"
The negotiations are about to begin.