Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 163 The Incredibly Relaxed "Publicity" Work

Chapter 164 The Incredibly Relaxed "Publicity" Work

Although he was one of the revered Seven Sages of the Plasma Group, Smura wasn't a living god. He certainly couldn't just chant some spell at the elves in the factory and have them all self-destruct. —(••÷[ ➅9ѕ𝔥𝕦x.𝐂όϻ ]÷••)—

Even if there were similar methods, N, who can hear the Pokémon's thoughts, would immediately discover it, and then all the action plans would be meaningless.

Nevertheless, this old fox knew how to subtly change the environment around his target, how to quietly amplify the emotions of those involved in the event, and how to use interests and prejudices to escalate conflicts to an irreconcilable degree—through "propaganda," he made the final outcome of the event conform to his wishes.

Stripped of the Seven Sages' magnificent robes, lies become Smura's most powerful weapon.

With the support of his followers backing him up, Smura can vouch for his different identities by simply preparing a few different outfits. Like Ditto and Zoroark, he can change his identity and move freely in Tatewake City.

No one would have guessed that an old man who was panting while walking would be a conspirator with an imposter identity. Smura thus brazenly moved between the coffee shop, the Liyong Power Plant, and the police station. His identity was always unremarkable, but he was able to get close to his target in the shortest amount of time.

Even before N finalized the itinerary, Smura had already sneaked into Rikyu City multiple times, where he bumped into the frustrated Arno at a coffee shop. He lied and claimed to be an editor at a publishing house, offering to help her publish the Pokémon Release Guide—and in fact, he did keep his promise; printing several batches of books with Team Plasma's resources was no easy feat.

During their subtle conversation, Smura attempted to reignite the engineer's resentment towards the factory manager, but without success. ✋♣ ❻9𝓢ʰυˣ.¢Ⓞ𝔪 🐠👣

This former extreme elf protector fell into despair after the accident. Although he remained active on social media, he no longer had the will to oppose William in the real power plant.

But by then, Smura had already achieved his goal.

Just before N arrived in Liyong City, Smura changed into an exceptionally formal suit and deliberately chatted with strangers in front of a meadow near the factory where wild Pokémon gathered, pretending to reveal his identity as a "League official." He then entered the factory under the pretense of "visiting a friend."

The so-called friend, of course, refers to Arno, who recently went to the bio-power generation area to repair the equipment. Taking this opportunity, Smura got up close to the group of Magnemite and Voltorb.

To his surprise, the factory did not strictly restrict the Pokémon's freedom outside of work hours. He easily found an opportunity to spend time alone with these Pokémon. In fact, their treatment was far from bad. These exploited Pokémon did not even feel that their daily self-destruction was a chore.

However, Smurf's talent in "propaganda" also came into play when facing Pokémon—according to Arno's past leaks at Order meetings, the biggest hidden danger of spontaneous electricity is that it can blur the Pokémon's numbness to the power of moves.

Starting from this point, Smura skillfully implanted the suggestion that "demonstrations and uprisings can improve treatment" into the minds of these elves. Seeing the spherical elves nodding thoughtfully, the sage couldn't help but feel a pang of pity.

The power plant explosion was inevitable. As long as William continued to profit in this way, those naive elves would eventually self-destruct. While they were working in the factory, they were somewhat cared for, but decades later, when they grew old and became unable to withstand the power, and were released back into the wild, their instinctive self-destructive reaction would kill them as well. ✋♣ ❻9𝓢ʰυˣ.¢Ⓞ𝔪 🐠👣

I simply brought the inevitable tragedy forward a little.

Smurf isn't afraid that these Pokémon will reveal their actions to N through their thoughts, because as long as their actions are carried out, these Pokémon won't have the chance to convey their thoughts.

"We should have stopped then. There was no need to take such a big risk to frame the Alliance. We really shouldn't have taken Quixes's advice..."

The old man, who fled in panic before the little Chimchar, was filled with regret.

Everything was going smoothly. When the explosion went off, Smura was even discussing the book publication with Arno in the café where they first met, unintentionally creating an alibi for the woman.

He still remembers the female engineer's expression changing several times in an instant after the news was released—first, she was shocked and expressionless, then she opened her mouth wide in relief, and finally she looked heartbroken with tears in her eyes.

Smura wanted to get more inside information from Arno, but after Arno received a phone call, he fell silent. After fidgeting for a while, he hurriedly got up to leave and never showed his face again.

Following the explosion, through reports from the trio of ninjas secretly following N, the old man learned that N had made contact with the case as planned. Those who had been following N had cleverly moved the Pokémon colony N was about to visit, thus creating a disappearance and pointing suspicion towards the Liyong Power Plant itself—Smura remained noncommittal about this, because regardless of the truth they fabricated, the core issue would always be the irreconcilable conflict between humans and Pokémon. The tragic deaths of dozens of Pokémon should serve as a wake-up call for the inherently kind-hearted young king.

The only variable is that N is always accompanied by a young girl, but the black-haired girl doesn't seem very smart and doesn't appear to be the type of person who can see through the scheme, so there's no need to worry about her.

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!

If Smura were to slip away at this moment, even if someone turned Liyong City upside down, no one would notice his existence.

The real mishap occurred in the subsequent actions—N, as expected, followed the Order's wishes and began to doubt the League, but the Seven Sages seemed to have underestimated their king's determination and ability to act. He actually planned to gather wild Pokémon to attack the city!

Just as Smura was debating whether to stand idly by, Quidditch called, ordering him to make sure that this march, personally led by N, was a catastrophe worthy of being remembered in the history of the United States.

"If we make a big fuss, the information loopholes left behind might be exposed, right?" Smura subconsciously questioned. He didn't doubt his own "propaganda" abilities, but if the plan were changed in this way, the cleanup work would undoubtedly become very troublesome.

Given the current rampant activities of the Plasma Group, a mere raid on a police station wouldn't attract much attention, as the Order's spies within the Alliance could even help cover it up.

However, if the march expands to the scale demanded by Quetzalcoatl, the Li Yong Police Station may simply give up resistance and allow or even assist N in investigating the truth of the bombing. If the only conclusion found is a flimsy suicide, the march will turn into a complete farce—which will damage the reputation of the King and even the entire Order!

Quixote's response was—

"In this world, truth and lies are actually ambiguous. You only need to provide more than one possibility, and the majority of the people will choose their own version of the truth based on their preferences. Smura, as the head of ideological promotion among us Seven Sages, surely you don't understand such a simple principle?"

The cryptic language hints at a simple fact: a trick used by all clever criminals—perjury.

Perhaps because the operation to orchestrate the factory explosion went too smoothly, after realizing his old friend's scheme, Smura agreed to the plan without much hesitation.

Just like all the actions planned by this old man, these seemingly impossible large-scale actions were actually surprisingly easy to carry out—an unprecedented march only required two things: scale and name, and therefore only two things to do.

The Dark Trinity, who had been waiting around N, began to act separately in order to escalate the situation. They gathered Pokémon that were hostile to humans scattered throughout the city and stockpiled them, preparing to release them all when N led the industrial zone's Pokémon into the city. This task could not be left to ordinary followers, because if they did, N might be able to learn the mastermind behind the event through telepathy. Only the three ninjas could do it without leaving a trace.

He himself would need to put on a police uniform, pretend to be a retired police officer from out of town, casually pass by the evidence office in the Li Yong Police Station, and slip a forged investigation report into it.

Stealing a piece of evidence from the police station is incredibly difficult, but stuffing a new one in is as easy as pie.

—That's what Smurf originally thought before meeting Chimchar and Piplup.