sonovelo Chapter 158 The Solution – Epitaph for the Noble
Chapter 158 The Solution – Epitaph for the Noble
Chapter 159 The Solution – Epitaph for the Noble
"Where am I?"
N struggled to lift his eyelids and found himself in a dark, narrow space.
Being unconscious is not a pleasant experience, especially when he finds himself waking up in a side-lying position, sitting in a very uncomfortable way on a hard leather chair.
"N, you're awake."
A relaxed voice came from beside him. The green-haired youth looked up, and the first thing he saw was Zoroark's distorted face—
The phantom spirit that had been by her side before its evolution was being held tightly in the arms of a girl with a high ponytail wearing a baseball cap and being vigorously rubbed. Its fluffy black fox face and dark red mane were constantly changing into various shapes in the girl's hands, like dough.
There's no need to probe its thoughts; just by seeing Zoroark's resentful eyes, N could already sense the Dark-type Pokémon's anger that it dared not express.
Meanwhile, the king of the Plasma Group was already aware of his predicament. Looking past the figure of Douzi sitting beside him, he could see the scenery rushing past the window—he was inside a car.
"Where are we going?" N asked, glancing at the front of the car.
The detective's assistant, who seemed to be named Azure, was sitting in the passenger seat, talking to the driver, and it looked like she was giving directions.
"Factory Manager William's house. Didn't you want to uncover the truth behind the explosion? The exciting case-solving episode is about to begin!"
Not long ago, he had been confronting his friend, but now he looked excited and triumphantly announced the solving of the case, a statement usually reserved for the second half of a mystery drama. At the same time, he continued to playfully play with Zoroark's face.
Does it really feel that comfortable?
In the complete chaos of not knowing the situation, the first thing that came to N's mind was this question.
.
"We've arrived."
Upon arriving at a certain location, Azure reminded the two people in the back seat in a clear voice, then turned to the driver—
"Yes, it's this street corner. We can stop here. The road ahead is packed with media reporters and their vehicles, so we plan to walk there."
The taxi driver reluctantly stopped the meter after slowly pulling the car to the side of the road, and Bilan paid the fare with her smartphone.
"Remember to get the detective to reimburse the bill afterwards..." The chestnut-haired girl silently reminded herself as she got out of the taxi.
Not far ahead was the detached apartment building where Factory Manager William lived. At this moment, it was surrounded by a barrage of cameras.
"Why are there still so many reporters today? The bombing happened a long time ago."
Douzi pouted, looking at the crowd gathered in front of the apartment, and complained unhappily.
Azure explained with an expression that seemed perfectly natural—
"The collapse of the Li Yong Power Plant is a major event that can shake the social ecology of the entire city. The aftermath is naturally a complex and multifaceted matter. How to compensate the shareholders for their investment in the power plant, which insurance company should share the plant's losses, the subsequent arrangements for the laid-off employees... all sorts of issues need to be addressed one by one, and each of them is a major event that is worthy of making the local news."
"I see! Reporters staking out this spot can not only get firsthand information about the factory's aftermath, but also have the chance to capture photos of William meeting with guests!"
Douzi, as expected, grasped the point immediately and understood the reporters' intentions amidst the crowd. ♤💚 ➅➈丂𝐡𝓤ˣ.ᑕ𝕆ⓜ 🍟🎅
"How are we supposed to get through the crowd to see the factory manager? That area is surrounded by reporters, so the factory manager shouldn't have any reason to open the door for us..."
N couldn't help but interrupt the two girls' conversation, asking what he considered a crucial question, which resulted in Bilan and Douzi exchanging bewildered glances.
Douzi shook his head with an expression like he was looking at a disappointing child, then counted on his fingers and said to the green-haired youth—
"Think about it. We have a Ditto that can freely transform into a human, a Gengar that can walk through walls as a spirit, and a Zoroark that can create illusions. How do you think we're supposed to get into that house without anyone noticing?"
.
Ten minutes later.
A commotion suddenly broke out among the reporters. It turned out that Mr. William, who had been out, had returned home with three guests in suits.
"When did Factory Manager William go out again?"
Many reporters who were waiting had this question, but they quickly put this feeling of unease behind them.
These reporters aren't like police officers arresting criminals, constantly monitoring the situation without blinking. It's not surprising that they might miss something or make a mistake. Right now, it's more important to listen carefully to what the four people are saying.
Unfortunately, William and his group had no intention of talking at the door. A weekly magazine reporter mustered up the courage to go forward for an interview, but was glared at by the former factory manager with a cold look.
"Can you tell who the other three people are?" a young journalist asked his more experienced colleague. "They seem to be unfamiliar faces I've never seen before in the area?"
"Those three people looked too ordinary. From a distance, I vaguely recognized them, as if I'd seen them before, but upon closer inspection, they didn't quite look like them." The veteran reporter, when asked, frowned. "However, judging from their uniforms, they seemed to be employees of some insurance company, and perhaps they even had their legal counsel with them. They're probably about to start discussing bankruptcy liquidation..."
"Another insurance company? That's hardly news."
The reporter covered his face in disappointment, then suddenly noticed that the Pokémon carrying the camera behind him looked quite shaken.
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"Huh? Clay doll, what's wrong with you?"
The Pokémon, resembling a rock doll with its body made of stones of varying shapes and sizes, carrying a camera on its shoulder, trotted over to its trainer and pointed out the scene in the viewfinder.
"Why is it foggy? Our visibility was perfectly fine here... Is there something wrong with the camera? Oh no, we didn't capture anything of the two people behind William!"
Just as the reporter was holding his camera in shock, "Factory Manager William" fumbled around at the door for a while, then successfully opened the door and went inside. The three people behind him followed closely behind.
This means that their newspaper lost its last chance to capture the faces of the three guests.
"Forget it, it's not big news anyway."
The veteran reporter comforted the younger colleague, then took a few more photos of the surrounding scenery with the camera. After confirming the lens was working properly, he decisively abandoned the story. ඏ🌷 🐸💀
He sighed slightly, wondering which media outlet would ultimately benefit from this unprofitable but ultimately worthless opportunity to take a snapshot.
What he didn't know was that just moments before, dozens of different cameras had all malfunctioned at the same time.
In the camera lens, the grayish-white smoke, like a persistent ghost, lingered over the three "insurance employees" dressed in suits.
.
The reporters watched with their own thoughts as "Mr. William" entered the room. After closing the door and disappearing from everyone's sight, the man who tried so hard to maintain a serious demeanor instantly transformed into a lump of purplish-red mud.
The three people behind Ditto also subtly changed their forms. The unremarkable image of the suited office worker dissipated like mist, revealing the figures of two girls and a green-haired youth.
"Gengar, well done."
Azure whispered to the shadow of the shoe cabinet, using a Poké Ball to retrieve the ghost in the shadow that had sneaked into the room beforehand and opened the door from the inside.
The three intruders made no attempt to conceal the noise of their arrival, which naturally alerted the people inside.
Soon, the middle-aged man, whose disguise was exactly the same as Ditto's, arrived at the entrance. Upon seeing the unfamiliar faces of Azure and the others, his expression immediately turned serious.
"Who are you? What is your purpose in breaking into my home?"
William, the former factory owner, remained relatively calm upon appearing, refraining from any impulsive actions beyond questioning her. This relieved the assistant.
...Is the equipment all complete?
Recalling Hugo's earlier analogy about evidence and fantasy games, Azure took a deep breath and looked at the person at the center of the explosion incident—William, the plant manager of Liyong Power Plant.
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The middle-aged man before me had a haggard look on his resolute face, and his eyes were bloodshot. Yet he still stood up straight, and his beard and hair were neatly styled. He was a completely different person from the Telt I had met before.
Compared to the great demon king in the game, he is more like the village chief of the beginner village.
Whether it was his willingness to hire Talter, demonstrating his personal charm that earned him the respect of punk guitarists, or his leniency towards the rival engineer Arno, both of these actions indirectly show that William was a good person with ideals, kindness, integrity, and good character.
It was precisely this kind of character that enabled the Liyong Power Plant to completely change the landscape of the city's energy industry in just a few years, but it was also this noble character that made the tragedy of the explosion irreversible...
"We are private investigators investigating the truth behind the explosion, and we're here to confirm some things with you."
Azure spoke in this way, as direct and to the point as a charging bear using "Quick Strike".
"Please leave. I think I have the right to remain silent," the man replied with his eyes closed, as if he had heard the same question countless times before.
N was about to speak, somewhat excited, but was stopped by Touko, who was prepared, and whispered a warning: "Leave this to the professional detectives."
As expected, Azure was not surprised by William's response and immediately replied, "Go ahead and exercise your right to remain silent, but if possible, I hope you can listen to the findings of our investigation that we have now verified."
Perhaps it was because this trio of young men and women was so unusual and audacious that it was hard not to trust them. William didn't kick them out immediately. After shaking his head helplessly, he said nothing more, invited the self-proclaimed detective trio into the living room, and found a seat at the dining table.
"I originally thought that the factory boss's house would be more luxurious... but I didn't expect it to be quite ordinary, even less luxurious than the Yuxi Residence, which has never been renovated since it was bought."
Douzi looked around rudely, and then made his comments even more rudely.
However, her remarks actually relaxed the stiff factory manager somewhat, and William responded proactively, a smile seemingly appearing on his marble-like face—
"This apartment used to be where my wife, daughter, and I lived. We didn't really like those superficial designs, so we simply went to the furniture store and picked out these furnishings ourselves, which made it more comfortable to live in... However, since the explosion, reporters have been surrounding this place every day, so we have had to live separately."
"Speaking of the bombing, Mr. William, we already know the true nature of this bombing from the police."
Seeing that the atmosphere had eased slightly, Bilan interrupted the conversation without saying a word—
"The power plant explosion was caused by the Electric-type Pokémon that were originally in the bio-power zone using 'Explosion' en masse. These Pokémon wanted to improve their working conditions, so they threatened you, the plant manager, with a riot. Either you give in to their demands, or they will use 'Explosion' to destroy the factory."
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Upon hearing this, N pursed his lips with a heavy expression and clenched his fists, while William, the person involved, remained silent once again.
Azure ignored the reactions of others and continued speaking to herself—
"The final outcome of the event is now well known: negotiations broke down, and the demonstrating spirits ultimately fulfilled their promise with their lives. Meanwhile, the power plant, a symbol of innovation and progress, was destroyed in an explosion."
The girl shook her head regretfully and continued, "But there are two suspicious points. First, if it was just a demonstration, why would the elves choose to self-destruct, a method that would endanger themselves? They clearly had countless ways to completely destroy the power plant. Why would they needlessly sacrifice their lives?"
Under the factory manager's astonished gaze, Bilan raised her second finger—
"Second, why didn't you accept the Pokémons' suggestion to improve their treatment? Although compromising in this area would cause you to lose a lot of profits, even the largest investment is insignificant compared to the complete destruction of the factory. If the factory goes bankrupt, all the profits will vanish in an instant. The severity of the two is so disparate that it doesn't even need to be weighed!"
The chestnut-haired girl grew increasingly agitated: "And frankly, the so-called improved treatment is nothing but an empty promise. Only Pokémon who know nothing about human society would express their opinions in such a clumsy way! You could easily exploit the loopholes in the agreement, pretend to agree to the Pokémon's requests, and then release them back into the wild after the incident—that way, your factory can be preserved, and the Electric-type Pokémon won't have to pay the price with their lives!"
Factory manager William lowered his eyes and remained silent for a long time before finally speaking in a hoarse voice: "Did Officer Jenny only tell you the truth about the explosion? Is there anyone else who knows these things?"
"No way! We conducted our own investigation and discovered the truth!" Douzi blurted out, trying to answer the question.
Bilan secretly clicked her tongue in amazement. This junior clearly knew nothing about the incident before entering, so why was she so brazen...?
"I see... Then it's alright to tell you the truth, but I hope this news can stop with you. At least keep it from one more person, no, just half a month. That's my only request."
The middle-aged man looked earnestly at Douzi, while the girl with the high ponytail didn't know how to answer, so she could only look pitifully at her sister Xiaolan.
"There's no need to use the answer to the question as leverage, Mr. William. I already know that."
Azure raised her voice, answering confidently. It was remarkably similar to the detective's declaration at the police station.
"The reason the Pokémon chose 'Big Bang' as a deterrent is because they don't perceive any danger in a mass self-destruction. Since the expansion of the Liyong Power Plant, your factory has been using the enormous energy generated by the self-destruction of Electric-type Pokémon to produce electricity. Those Pokémon themselves have been self-destructing day after day in special devices, so naturally they don't perceive any danger in a simultaneous explosion."
"The reason you didn't grant these Pokémon's request is due to your upright and noble character—in your view, the options of breaking a promise or using tricks to drive these requesting Pokémon out of the factory are nonexistent—just as you determined the engineer who was your enemy to be innocent in the Arno incident, you wouldn't kick someone when they're down simply because she didn't make a mistake. At the time, you witnessed the incident firsthand, and the deceased employee lost her life due to her own mistake. Since that's the case, there's no need for you to, and absolutely no way, to hold a grudge against others, otherwise it would violate your principles—the right and wrong of the facts are above all else."
The girl pointed at the man: "Your life, your ideals, your reality, are all built on this black-and-white principle. That's why employees of all kinds of personalities will see you as a good person—a colleague, a friend, a mentor, an idol. They attach all sorts of shining labels to you because you are always fair and upright."
"Isn't this kind of personality good? An impartial and good person will naturally get everyone's support, so why would an electric-type spirit self-destruct because of it?" Douzi couldn't help but ask.
"Because most Pokémon are simple-minded creatures—especially those like Magnemite and Voltorb that use 'Explosion' to commit suicide. They can't understand what helplessness or bargaining means. While William was giving the Pokémon a long explanation of why he couldn't fulfill their demands, those Pokémon, who had lived in factories for so long and were isolated from the world, lost patience and began their self-destruct countdown with a completely carefree attitude, without considering the consequences. After all, self-destruction had long been their instinct."
The assistant, who was acting as the detective, sighed regretfully.
"Finally, the reason why the plant manager was unwilling to disclose the truth of the case was quite simple. At a time when Group Plasma was launching the Elf liberation movement, if the practice of making the Elf spontaneously generate electricity were made public, it would immediately be met with condemnation from all sides. As a result, the bankruptcy liquidation of the power plant would be much more difficult, and even the severance pay of the employees would be hard to guarantee; if the production practices of the old factory that were questioned were exposed, those employees who lost their original positions would also be caught in a media storm, making it even more difficult for them to find jobs at other companies—therefore, Plant Manager William had to remain silent no matter what, so that the truth would continue to be buried in the unknown darkness when it should not be revealed."