Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 118 The Wharf, Smog, and Crowds of People in Liyong City

Navigating a coastal passenger ship seems more complicated than operating a whaling vessel; at least Captain Doug can no longer leave his post at will, nor does he have the leisure to smoke cigars and admire the sea view.

Hugo and Azure observed for a long time but couldn't find an opportunity to visit the captain's cabin. After discussing it, they decided not to bother the busy Mr. Doug and disembarked when the ship docked in Liyong City.

Life is full of encounters, and there will always be a time for them to meet.

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The "Liyong" in Liyong City actually refers to "steam rising straight into the sky." From this name alone, one can see the city's strong industrial character and its relatively short history.

Indeed, Liyong City is a newly emerging city in western United States that has prospered in recent years, and its most important pillar industry is heavy industry, represented by steel and coal mining.

The local population is also dominated by working families, with almost every household having at least one family member working in a factory.

The Pokémon kept by the residents are also closely related to elements such as fire, electricity, steel, and steam. Electabuzz, Magneton, Magnemite... these Pokémon, which are rare in Unova Center, are everywhere in Lishui City.

Looking out, countless chimneys stand on the skyline of Liyong City, constantly releasing industrial waste gas into the sky, like a double-barreled gas cylinder magnified countless times.

But this steam and black smoke also signify that the steel and electricity produced in this city are flowing continuously through cables and railways to every corner of the Unova region, becoming the skeleton and blood of distant cities and the driving force for their development.

Liyong City is like a fully powered engine. Despite its noise, fog, and mess, it is precisely the existence of this industrial city that supports the United Alliance to keep moving forward, shaking the world with its unprecedented economic growth rate.

"Even so, the air quality here is terrible."

Bilan frowned and wrinkled her nose. From the moment the ship entered the port, she had been very uncomfortable with the smoky and polluted air in Liyong City.

"Liyong City is a coastal city, and it had just rained recently, so it usually doesn't have such serious air pollution. It seems that the air quality here has only recently started to deteriorate."

Hugo handed one of the newly purchased masks to his assistant, saying astutely—

"Look, there was a power plant explosion recently, right? That's why the city's energy structure has been adjusted. To fill the gap left by the Liyong Power Plant, Liyong City had to restart many old-style coal-fired power plants to restore power. In addition, with winter approaching, the demand for electricity has surged due to indoor heating. These two factors combined have naturally led to the current situation."

The detective casually pointed to the headlines of newspapers sold by the roadside, where the words "Reactivation of an Old Power Plant" stood out prominently in the city news section.

"It really is a case of 'a single hair can move the whole body'—is that power plant really that important?"

Bilan's surprised voice came through her mask. She had thought the explosion at the Liyong Power Plant was at a small factory; otherwise, how could the security be so inadequate? 🍭💜 ➅❾𝐒卄Ｕx.Č𝐎𝔪 🐜★

"The factory that exploded was one of the city's leading enterprises, and it was named after the city itself. In terms of both scale and production capacity, it was one of the city's top pillar enterprises."

The detective stood in front of the city map display board by the dock, carefully examining the map while muttering to himself, his mind multitasking as he described the situation at the Qiliyong Power Plant—

"Liyong Power Plant is the most successful plant in the city in recent years, bar none. In the first half of this year, the plant completed its second expansion, becoming the leader in the city's energy industry. As I hinted earlier, unlike traditional thermal power plants, Liyong Power Plant adopts a cleaner power generation solution. It integrates the power of ocean tides, wind turbines, solar panels, and even Pokémon to establish a low-pollution power generation system that is completely different from other plants, and it has been performing exceptionally well before."

New 66 Bookstore →

"Then it exploded." Azure curled her lip, offering a rather result-oriented critique. "So, where should we go first to investigate? The Liyong City Police Department?"

"No, Miss Officer Jenny has already given us a lot of internal information. Even if we went to her door in person to ask for the rest, we wouldn't get any results."

Hugo pointed to a spot on the map.

"This is where we're going."

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"Where am I?!"

In the crowded throng, Bilan felt like a drop of water in the ocean, surrounded by tens of thousands of her kind.

This is clearly just a street that isn't very wide, but it's packed with people!

Even the evening rush hour in Feiyun City isn't this outrageous!

Moreover, the people in front of me were behaving strangely. They were all dressed formally, but each one of them was nervous with their heads down, holding a form, and slowly moving in long lines towards different windows along the street.

The crowd stretched as far as the eye could see, yet even more people kept pushing their way in from behind. The value of the individual seemed so cheap in this time and place.

"Hugo! Detective! Where are you?!"

The girl called out loudly to her employer, but the crowd was overwhelming and the world was vast; the figure in the white coat never appeared...

All she could hear were the sounds of people's clothes rubbing against each other, the overwhelming sound of footsteps, and a jumble of whispers. Azure realized with despair that unless she brought a flying Pokémon with her, there was no way to get out of here.

"Oh right!" Azure slapped her forehead and pulled out the Poké Ball containing Archaeopteryx.

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I never expected that the Flying-type Pokémon I caught in Unova would come in handy so soon!

She struggled to carve a gap in the crowd and released the Pokémon from her Poké Ball: "Archaeopteryx, quick! Use Fly to get me out of here!"

The little guy still stared with those dead fish eyes, not reacting immediately. Then, it hopped around in place, nodded, flapped its wings, and shook its head.

"You mean you can jump very high but can't fly?"

The Archaeopteryx nodded, and the girl wanted to cry but had no tears.

The crowd behind them surged forward again, and the Archaeopteryx, as if on its own, flew—no, hopped—onto the chestnut-haired girl's head. Having completely given up struggling in the face of reality, the girl and her pet drifted along with the flow of the crowd.

Before she knew it, Azure had joined a queue along with the slowly moving crowd.

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A vulture named Na, covered in black feathers and decorated with bones, flew in from afar and slowly landed at the entrance of the street. A black-haired girl wearing a baseball cap was hanging from its talons.

"Long time no see, Hugo! Oh? Isn't Sister Blue with you?"

Miss Touko, as always, was full of energy and greeted the detective with great enthusiasm.

"I got separated at the entrance. A porter who was passing by me stumbled for some reason, and the wooden stick he was holding hit his toe, causing quite a commotion nearby. When I turned around, Azure was gone."

"Sigh, you..." Douzi was already used to this. He peeked into the surging crowd inside the park and asked, "Did Sister Xiaolan go in there?"

Hugo sighed. "They're probably already inside. I've been waiting here for a long time, but no one answers the phone. Maybe it's because there's too much background noise, and they haven't heard the phone ring."

Douzi and her bald eagle Na could only look at each other, gazing at the long queues on the street, and mourn for the tragic experience that Little Blue Sister was going through.

Above the heads of the two people and their pet was a huge banner that read—

"Liyong City Industrial Alliance Joint Job Fair".