chsdbacks Chapter 432 The Passion
Chapter 432 The Passion
Chapter 434 The Passion
The mysterious document box left at the Snowflake City Alliance office was left by Soma, the former priest of the Dragon Spiral Tower.
Two years ago, this nearly ninety-year-old man was commissioned by Holt, an official of the Inspectorate, to investigate relevant documents on the distribution of the ruins of the ancient United Kingdom.
Azure learned the name of the original owner of this file box when she was preparing to leave Snowflake City.
Prior to this, Hugo urgently dispatched handwriting experts from the Alliance Police Department, who sifted through more than ten similar signatures from the records left at the Snowflake City office over the past two years. After further verification by the detectives, they finally identified the name as "Soma".
The old man's life trajectory is truly poignant—since the attack eight years ago, with the theft of the White Dragon Stone, he officially resigned as the priest of the Dragon Spiral Tower, becoming the last guardian of this ancient tower. As for his originally chosen successor, he has now changed his identity and is now serving under the Alliance Demons as a researcher managing cultural heritage.
It was through this clue that Hugo found Soma's current residence.
As for the specific details of the old man's interactions with Holt, it was through Azure's own investigation that she learned that Soma's current nursing home was located in the suburbs of Snowflake City near Route 8—which happened to be close to the planned route out of the city.
At that time, there was still at least half a day before the Alliance Intelligence Department agents infiltrated Team Plasma's church to create chaos. So, after informing the Hatchling Gym Leader, Azure decided to seize this opportunity and, with her full-strength squad capable of handling any unexpected situation, go to visit the former priest of the Dragon Spiral Tower.
Holt
At the bedside, the elderly Soma murmured softly, his eyes surprisingly clear amidst the deep wrinkles of his skin. A yellowish-brown soothing serpent lay coiled asleep in the corner of the rest room; its discoloration was not a rare anomaly, but rather the mark of time.
Although both were elderly, the old man with the look of reminiscence on his face was in a completely different state of health than Naoki and Doug whom Bilan had met in Feiyun City. He was so thin that he was almost nothing but skin and bones, and although his voice was coherent, it revealed an undeniable weakness.
"You must be talking about that young official from the league—the last time I saw him, my legs were still able to move around."
However—after dragging this old, frail body around collecting documents for him, my legs have become like this. I wonder if those things ever came in handy.
The old man laboriously raised his hand and patted his legs under the thin blanket, seemingly still clearly remembering Holt's request from two years ago: "Did you fall ill after that?"
Azure instinctively suspected that this was related to Team Plasma's conspiracy, but Soma shook his head and laughed self-deprecatingly, "I guess I deserve it. When I was a priest, I fasted for years to maintain appearances, and now I can't change my eating habits. I feel nauseous if I eat too much or too well. The doctor said I'm malnourished and my bones are all brittle."
"So that's how it is." Bilan looked at the old man's sunken cheeks and felt a little ashamed.
However, on the other hand, it was precisely because Soma was old and frail that he moved into a nursing home shortly after taking on the commission, thus avoiding the same fate as Holt.
"About that document, here's what happened," Azure hesitated for a moment before truthfully explaining the loss of the file box. With Holt now out of contact and the documents completely obsolete, the old man before her was perhaps the most knowledgeable person about the situation besides Team Plasma itself.
"...In short, by investigating Holt's itinerary before his disappearance, we speculate that the batch of documents that were processed may be related to the underground setup of the Alliance headquarters, but we currently have no way of knowing what exactly they contain."
As the old man read through Azure's narration, his withered face gradually grew serious. He coughed a few times and asked in a low, hoarse voice, "So, you suspect someone is plotting something beneath the Alliance?"
It was more than just a conspiracy; the champion even felt that it wouldn't be surprising if the entire alliance were blown up one day, and that's why they evacuated their personnel in advance. The girl didn't reveal this confidential information, but just nodded seriously: "We are worried that Team Plasma is planning some major operation."
"The Plasma Cluster—it certainly seems to be a very serious matter." As a former priest whose sacred artifacts had been stolen, Soma knew the danger of this organization better than anyone else. On the other side, the Monarch Serpent seemed to be awakened by the conversation, lazily opening its eye membranes.
"Actually, the documents Holt commissioned me to collect are more evidence than data." The old man didn't keep me in suspense, directly revealing the information he knew. "As you know, this old fellow used to be a priest who guarded the Dragon Spiral Tower. But being a priest, in this era, there was neither a religion to serve nor believers in the strict sense. Apart from managing the Dragon Stones sacrificed on the tower, I was more like the person in charge of the surrounding folk activities—however, it was precisely because I was responsible for organizing such activities since ancient times that the inherited sacrificial texts contained a lot of information related to the ancient kingdom of the United States. What Holt asked me about was the part of this knowledge related to the ruins of the ancient kingdom."
"Did you tell him?" Azure asked.
"At first, I knew nothing about this part. After all, those books had already been donated to the Alliance's archives decades ago—I personally oversaw this when I was young."
Soma sighed with a touch of melancholy. "To my shame, I have absolutely no interest in academic research. I've never really looked through most of those dusty old books that were donated. So two years ago, I was planning to send that young official to investigate the archives himself, but Holt told me that those documents might contain the key to exposing the Plasma Cluster's weaknesses."
Two years ago, Soma had already lost his title as the Priestess of the Dragon Spiral Tower. He must have some resentment towards Team Plasma for taking away the Dragon Stone, Azure thought to himself.
As if reading her thoughts, Soma looked directly into her azure eyes: "That's right. Although it's not to the point of risking my old bones to provoke those people, I deeply abhor that illegal organization that claims to be a religion."
The old man unconsciously covered himself with the blanket, his knuckles turning white. The Serperior seemed to sense the trainer's emotions, swaying its slender body as it approached Soma.
"Those people clumsily imitated the sacrificial rituals of the ancient Union, quoted ancient texts, copied clothing and emblems, and established the so-called worship of the ideal king, but completely distorted its true meaning."
He pointed west, towards the Dragon Spiral Tower outside the window. "Although I am not a great religious figure, I have lived a devout life for most of my life. In my view, true faith should be like that tower, connecting heaven and earth, communicating between humans and gods. But they—turn sacred rituals into tools for manipulating people's hearts, distorting the pursuit of ideals into blind personality cults. That is not religion, but blasphemy in the name of religion."
After speaking at length, the old man coughed violently. Serperior quickly supported his swaying body with its body, and a soft, sweet fragrance emanated from the yellow-green vines, calming the trainer's emotions. "So you helped Holt?" Sensing that the old man was a little too agitated, Azure asked cautiously.
"Yes." Soma nodded, stroking the Serpent's head.
"I investigated the documents that I had originally donated to the archives and found content related to the ruins of the ancient kingdom. As the donor, I retrieved those documents through formal procedures. I originally intended to hand them over to Holt personally, but he seemed to be tied up with something at the time and only instructed me to be extra careful, saying that he would receive the documents through the Alliance's secret channels."
Having said this, the former priest let out a long sigh.
The painstakingly collected information ultimately failed to reach the young man. Even the documents packed in the file box were damaged during transport and completely destroyed at the Alliance headquarters.
"What exactly is recorded in there?" Azure's eyes widened, feeling as if she was getting close to the truth buried deep beneath the Alliance.
"It's nothing complicated. The reason we spent so much time and effort compiling the documents was simply to gather enough evidence to prove Team Plasma's conspiracy, in order to help Holt persuade the Alliance to be more vigilant. And now that Team Plasma has decided to completely break off relations, all they have to say is a single sentence."
The old man shook his head and said to the girl, "In ancient texts, there was once an ancient royal city from the same era as the Dragon Spiral Tower. Hundreds of years ago, due to a change in location, it was abandoned and buried by the ancient United Kingdom royal family. The ruins of this castle are located directly beneath the current Alliance headquarters!"
Looking at the afternoon scenery outside the sanatorium, the dazzling sunlight made Bilan squint. The girl gazed at the swaying shadows of the trees in the distance, her mind somewhat dazed.
Upon hearing the information provided by the old man Soma, many previously perplexing questions were immediately answered: Why did Akromar, who had just emerged from a coma, escape from headquarters so easily? Why did Hugo, within the Alliance, repeatedly encounter assassination attempts by Ghettoss? Why was Holt's investigation into underground intelligence leaked? How could Group Plasma's infiltration of the Alliance be so pervasive?
The answer is obvious.
As descendants of ancient royalty, Quigish must have long ago figured out how to enter this royal city ruins and transformed it into Team Plasma's most secret headquarters!
Beneath the imposing Pokémon League headquarters lies the enemy's lair.
Above ground and below ground, alliance and cult—they are like opposites of light and darkness, black and white.
Oh, right! We must get this news to Hugo right away!
Although I don't know if he had already guessed this, sending a message in advance is definitely not a bad thing!
As she stepped out the door, Bilan took out her phone, intending to report the results to the detective.
Just then.
boom.
Five hundred meters away, in the woods in front of the sanatorium, a black finger, as if wearing a glove, retracted into the shadow of the leaves.
"Card!!!"
The next second, the azure Blastoise roared and broke through the Poké Ball on its own, trying to protect the trainer under its hard shell.
However, it was too late.
Bilan felt as if she had been struck hard in the chest. Her phone slipped limply from her fingers and fell onto the concrete ground in front of the sanatorium. Her vision began to blur, and her body fell backward uncontrollably, landing in Piccolo's soft embrace.
In the distance, the leaves rustled in the sunlight, as if nothing had happened.