bdsm-fiction Chapter 407 Resolving the Airport Bombing Incident
Chapter 407 Resolving the Airport Bombing Incident
Chapter 409 Resolution - Airport Bombing Incident
Morikawa's dagger aimed at the detective ultimately failed to reach its target, because a hidden knot of grass had silently emerged from under the hospital bed five meters away, precisely and firmly restraining the driver's wrist the instant he drew his weapon.
"You've finally given yourself away, Mr. Morikawa."
Hugo cautiously retreated, avoiding the golden dagger that the assassin had grabbed.
Realizing what was happening, Garchomp let out a deafening roar, its massive body instantly blocking the Detective's path, its scales slightly raised in fury.
"This dagger." Hugo's gray eyes narrowed slightly.
"Did 'White Night' hide it inside while bandaging me? Trying to kill me with it, Quixote certainly knows his dark humor. But a failed scheme is like a faded tattoo; if it ultimately fails, such mockery only makes him look more pathetic."
Morikawa Shigehiro's body was frozen in a forward-leaning position. He struggled to free his arms from the "grass knot" of the grass turtle, but after realizing it was futile, he finally gave up with a wry smile and shook his head: "I should have made my move sooner."
"It's no use coming earlier, since I've been on guard against you for a long time."
Hugo, standing some distance away, pointed with the tip of his shoe at Morikawa's injured knee. "Unlike the bandage on your left hand, the fracture in your leg is real. If I hadn't been caught completely off guard, I wouldn't have been unable to defeat someone who was just blown five meters away by a bomb this morning."
"I'm only letting the grass turtles do it to save you face. I don't want to mistreat patients in the hospital unless it's absolutely necessary."
"No wonder you were controlling my elbow when you helped me up earlier."
Morikawa sighed, glanced at the Garchomp behind the detective who had suppressed its rage, and then dejectedly released his grip.
With a crisp metallic clang, the golden dagger fell to the ground, its ironic reflection gleaming in the dimly lit hospital room.
"I still don't understand, where exactly did I slip up?"
"You misunderstood. You didn't reveal any flaws, and I didn't become wary of you because you revealed any flaws."
Hugo unceremoniously kicked Quixote's ornate dagger to the corner of the room, watching as the Grass Turtle used more grass knots to completely bind Morikawa.
"In the airport bombing, there has not yet been any conclusive evidence to rule you out as the perpetrator—that is enough to warrant suspicion of you."
"You've been a suspect to us from the very beginning," Hugo said coldly.
"While the victim's identity and family background can certainly lessen your suspicion, solving cases is never a simple matter of addition and subtraction. We need to find a killer who is familiar with the alliance's schedule, understands the car's structure, knows the driver's family situation, and can precisely trigger the mechanisms—" Hugo looked directly into Morikawa's eyes. "Mr. Morikawa, aren't you the most suitable candidate?"
"Are you going to presume the culprit based on this? By using the process of elimination to raise suspicion?" Morikawa asked unwillingly, struggling to free the knot of grass from his mouth.
"The so-called investigation must begin with doubt and end with finding evidence to dispel that doubt," the skeptical detective said. "This is my personal way of doing things, and I'm not doing this to send anyone to court, but simply to protect myself. If I weren't so careful, I'm afraid I would have lost my life soon after becoming a detective."
"By the way, speaking of which, what Pokémon did you use to detonate the engine while you were lying in ambush underground at the airport? At this point, you shouldn't have any reason to keep quiet, right?" Hugo asked. "You don't seem like a professional assassin like 'White Night.' Was the detonation device a trick Team Plasma taught you?"
"It's a pufferfish." Morikawa unexpectedly confessed, shrugging his shoulders which were bound by vines.
"Since you tried to protect me until the very end, I'll tell you everything. Ever since I accepted the mission, someone put the Poké Ball containing that Pokémon along with the operation plan in my mailbox. I was just doing what they told me. After the explosion, that eel disappeared without a trace."
This makes sense. Eels, which evolved from small fish, are born with the ability to transmit radio waves remotely via "charging beams," and their "floating" characteristic makes it easier for them to silently leave the scene after an explosion.
"And what about your own Pokémon?" Hugo's gaze swept over every corner of the ward. The criminals he had caught were so obedient that they didn't even send out their Pokémon to try to fight back. Such a phenomenon was rare in his past experience of handling cases.
"Since I joined Team Plasma, I've released them all back into the wild—of course, I didn't tell the Alliance. I just told my colleagues that keeping pets was too tiring, so I sent them to the breeding center." Morikawa lowered his eyes.
Hugo wasn't surprised by the answer, but he deliberately raised his voice and said, "However, since you're also a member of Team Plasma, your wife seems to be raising two Pokémon."
"You already knew?" Morikawa's expression changed.
"That's natural. The kidnapping incident on the Road to Champions is different from the bombing case that used a mechanism. In this case, the perpetrator's deliberate actions were more obvious, which also exposed more suspicious points about the killer."
Seeing that Morikawa had fallen silent, the champion continued—
"Is it really possible for a mother to be easily distracted by a kidnapper right outside her own home while she's with her daughter? And since 'White Night' was merely remotely controlling her Pokémon to transport the hostages from the hospital, who recorded and made the kidnapping call? And when? And how did that Pokémon manage to transport Ms. Ryouko and Ms. Sayuri through the rugged and narrow cave?"
Hugo emphasized, "This flawed plan is completely different from the swift and decisive bombing earlier, to the point that it doesn't seem like a trick played by the Sage of Quixote."
"Sigh, because this part of the plan was devised by the three of us." Morikawa sighed again and said, "We didn't intend to keep it from you for too long using this method, but at least they got rid of that Lianwu Tianwang who was by your side."
"I see."
After the general outline of the incident was determined, all the clues finally connected at this moment.
"That mother and daughter weren't kidnapped hostages, were they?"
Hugo said with certainty—
"On the contrary, it was they who subdued Sid Clement, who drove them to the entrance of Victory Road, and then they themselves led the 'White Night' Pokémon deeper into Victory Road. The one that attacked Sid was probably the Electric-type Woolly, and since the cave was dark, the Rolling Bat was needed to lead the way."
"That's about it." Morikawa nodded. "I told Sid that my daughter wanted to catch a rare Pokémon from Victory Road as her starter Pokémon, and that battling fanatic colleague of mine excitedly agreed to take them, even providing his own car. I've invited Sid to a few of the Order's sermons before, but he seems to be more interested in Pokémon battles."
Hugo added thoughtfully, "Your wife released those two Pokémon at the end because she thought splitting them into four groups would create more chaos in the cave, right?"
"That's about it." The Alliance driver who had defected to Team Plasma shook his head with a wry smile. "Looks like nothing can be hidden from you, Detective."
"That's quite a complicated plan," Hugo remarked, shaking his head.
"Using the kidnapping to distract Lian Wu, using hired assassins to deal with the other League guards, and having the Dark Trio restrain Garchomp—all of this is for you to ultimately assassinate me, the League Champion. Is this the mission Team Plasma gave you?"
"To be honest, I didn't know anything about those three black-clad ninjas. But this is an assassination operation, so the more assassins the better. If I didn't have to do anything, and the assassins could easily and efficiently achieve their goal ahead of time, I would be happy to relax. But it seems that you, Mr. Champion, are still a step ahead."
Morikawa looked up at the ceiling, a strange melancholy in his eyes. Amid the assassin's sigh, a cold hand suddenly touched the detective's shoulder.
"!!"
Having just survived three assassination attempts, and with their eyes wide open in fear, Hugo and Garchomp simultaneously turned around in alarm, only to see the nurse's cheerful smile—
"Hey, looks like a lot has happened over here too."
The intelligence agent, known as "Silent Footsteps," was dragging the unconscious "White Night" by one leg, his face covered in blood, as he greeted the detective.
"I haven't even asked you how you saw through my disguise yet!"
The nurse's hands, which should have been used to care for patients and save lives, were now dripping with enemy blood.