r18novel Chapter 51 The Farce That Will Eventually End
Chapter 51 The Farce That Will Eventually End
"I'm so sorry everyone, please forget about that terrible prank. I just had a close call with death, and I might have gotten a little too excited, so I just impulsively put on a show."
Covered in blood and with his hair disheveled, Hugo touched his nose, which had narrowly escaped disaster, and bowed deeply to everyone with utmost sincerity. Then he turned to his assistant and complained—
"But I must also say that that was a completely harmless punch. Azure, you should at least get some close-quarters combat training. You're not qualified to be a private detective if you can't hit anyone at close range."
"If you keep talking like that, I'm going to send Eevee to bite you." Azure rubbed her hands together, neither humble nor arrogant, and rolled her eyes at the detective, while the little Eevee on her shoulder also bared its teeth.
I hadn't noticed before, but I didn't realize how sharp Ibuki's fangs were. Hugo, feeling threatened, couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.
Suddenly, the museum owner, looking embarrassed, quickly walked up to the detective and whispered, "Mr. Hugo, the curtains you just burned were actually artifacts from the last century, probably worth about ten million yuan..."
The detective was instantly dumbfounded, his mouth agape, unsure of what to say. He turned around abruptly as if he were about to snap his neck to look at the tattered curtain that had been burned to ashes by the little fire monkey. The look of terror on his face was even more exaggerated than that of the prisoners.
Aloe then patted Hugo on the shoulder and laughed heartily: "That's a lie! It's just an ordinary curtain, just a little revenge, revenge."
Hugo looked at the woman in the apron in front of him with lingering fear, and immediately understood that although she seemed nonchalant, she was probably angry at him for damaging the museum's public facilities.
Now is not the time to haggle over every little thing. The detective decisively made a concession, rubbing his hands together and speaking in a negotiating tone: "The compensation for the curtains can be deducted from this case fee... of course, at the normal price of curtains."
The older sister patted the detective's shoulder hard again, and Hugo tried to break free but was held firmly by her.
“I understand, I understand,” Hugo said, grinning. “The compensation can be increased by 50%, consider it compensation for emotional distress. Now, can we talk about recovering the lost collection?”
The heavy pressure on his shoulders finally disappeared, and Hugo breathed a sigh of relief.
"Serves you right." Azure, who had witnessed everything, made a face. Didn't she know that her salary also came from the commission fee?
.
Meanwhile, in the darkness, far away from the assembled detective group.
"Tsk, these guys are all useless and only cause trouble. They all got caught by the other side."
The leader of the Dark Triangle lurked at the museum entrance, his gaze piercing through the darkness towards the only bright spot inside.
Even though these minions were originally intended as smokescreens to distract the enemy, it was a disgrace to Team Plasma to have them all wiped out so quickly—especially after that final hysterical screaming concert. It seems this group of members is beyond saving.
"Putting all that aside, where exactly is the real Dark Stone? And where is it hidden so that everyone can see it?"
The leader muttered to himself, just like a tourist visiting a museum, exploring the exhibition route from the ticket booth at the entrance.
However, this visitor was a bit special. Instead of walking on the museum floor, he wore special adhesive gloves and crawled backwards against the ceiling.
He has already checked the entrance to the museum.
The leader had assumed the stone would be hidden near the statue outside the gate, since the gate was a place every visitor had to pass through. He thought that if the dark stone was disguised as part of the statue and placed there, it would only be seen as a replica and no one would covet it.
Unfortunately, the leader's plan fell through immediately. Only after he walked out of the Qibao Museum did he realize that there were no such decorations outside the museum at all.
But that makes sense, no matter how bold the detective is. He couldn't possibly convince the museum to leave the national treasures exposed outdoors like that.
His second idea was that the Dark Stone could be hidden in the lintel and ceiling above the exhibition hall, and the translucent glass resembling a fluorescent lampshade could also become an ingenious display case. If arranged properly and placed among other decorations, the Dark Stone could blend into the overall environment above people's heads, being seen by everyone without attracting their attention.
For this reason, the leader of the top assassin organization in this plasma cluster is crawling across the museum's ceiling like a silken spider, inspecting every light fixture and every decoration on every floor.
The designers of Qibao Museum seem to be very good at making use of space. As the leader expected, many non-artifact decorative items were placed on the ceiling. The ceiling of the central exhibition hall even has a replica of a huge creation myth mural. If combined with lighting effects, it will create a fantastic feeling of traveling through historical fragments.
But no matter how hard the leaders of the Dark Triangle searched with night vision goggles, they still couldn't find any trace of the Dark Stone.
He then searched the ground again, from the empty display cases that had been looted during the day to places outside the display area such as restrooms and lounges. He searched everywhere again many times, but unfortunately, he found nothing.
—You will pass by the national treasures of the founding of the nation countless times, and witness the true face of the founding stone countless times, yet you will find no trace of it.
The detective's words echoed in the leader's mind once again, and even he couldn't help but question his own previous deductions.
The cold-blooded and ruthless martial arts ninja has, unusually, begun to think—
Could that detective really be lying? But if he was lying, where is the real Dark Stone? Is it hidden outside the museum, or was it simply taken away by the deputy curator? That's impossible. That frail deputy curator doesn't have the strength to protect the Dark Stone. If he wanted to move it, he should at least send out someone like Aloe, who is at the level of a museum owner.
How did they manage to evade the first round of raids? With a search involving that many people, no secret room or passage could be overlooked.
Is it possible that the Dark Stone we already have is the real one? No, that possibility doesn't exist. The stone we got has the words "Imitation of Qibao Museum" engraved on it. The real Dark Stone shouldn't have any words engraved on it, right?
"Have I really seen that founding stone?" As if he were questioning the meaning of life, the leader asked himself again.
At this moment, he was being lowered from the ceiling by a steel cable, then flipped onto the ground. In front of him was a magnificent display case that had been inspected countless times—the very one that originally held the fake Stone of the Founding of the Nation.
The glass of the display case had long been broken, and only the small sign below, which displayed the explanatory text, was still emitting a faint light. The text introduced the origin and history of the Dark Stone and its archaeological discoverers. After the text, a projector was thoughtfully used to project a phantom image of the Founding Stone.
"The Stone of Nation-Building: Legend has it that this is the form of Zekrom, the black dragon that founded the nation, after its physical body was destroyed. It is said to be waiting for the arrival of a hero. It was discovered by Kiku in the tourist desert. In mythology, Zekrom is a legendary Pokémon that used lightning to burn the world to ashes and will assist those who create an ideal world. In the mythology, if humanity loses its sense of justice, it will destroy their kingdom with raging lightning..."
"Wait, what if this isn't a slide projector, but a projection of real objects?"
The intellectual figure in the dark triangle suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
Thinking about it this way, the display case here is indeed particularly sturdy. I originally thought it was just to highlight the main exhibits, but now it seems that it may also have been specially reinforced for protection as a safe.
Visitors who come to see the exhibits will definitely browse the explanatory text first, which, from this perspective, also aligns with the detective's hint.
The leader's eyes grew brighter behind his mask, but there was still a problem—the display case was firmly fixed to the ground, and dismantling or taking it away would make a huge noise, which would attract the attention of the police and detectives, making it impossible for him to search for the Dark Stone again.
But looking around, what part of the entire museum hadn't he already searched? In that case, why not... the leader threw out a Poké Ball.
"Koma-tō soldier, use 'Metal Claw' and dismantle this platform!"
Before its evolution, Bisharp appeared as a Pokémon covered in swords and shaped like a little soldier, its blades slashing towards the tall display case.
As the blade made contact with the explanatory text on the table, alarms suddenly went off all around, and warning lights appeared out of nowhere, flashing red light.
Seeing this, the leader was not alarmed but delighted, and laughed arrogantly, urging the soldiers with the daggers like whipping a spinning top: "Faster, faster, use force to shred this platform into iron filings, start with the explanatory board, and take out the target first!"
.
In the distance, Hugo, who was mixed in with the elite police officers, heard the commotion and yawned lazily: "The farce is finally coming to an end."