chsdbacks Chapter 186 Who is the culprit?!
Chapter 186 Who is the culprit?!
Chapter 186 Who is the culprit?!
If you want to find the culprit behind that terrifying sound, then this is the best place to gather information.
Of course it is...:
"Police station?!"
As Melo looked at the building marked "Tabletop City Police Department," he couldn't help but feel a surge of tension—although the Sky Star Team had not yet carved out their own territory in various parts of Padia, the students who had become biker gang members had a natural fear of the police profession.
Ze Shu didn't say anything and walked straight into the police station.
Meloco had no choice but to suppress his discomfort and follow closely behind.
At this moment, the police station in Tsukita City was in complete chaos. As soon as you entered, you could see many police officers running around anxiously, presumably because of the terrifying singing.
"At a time like this, when the police station is overwhelmed with work, can Miss Officer Jenny still find the time to answer our questions and provide us with information?" Melo couldn't help but worry.
However, all she saw was Ze Shu glancing at the map inside the police station before opening the door to the "Office of Officer Jenny".
Through the open door, Meloco could still see Miss Officer Jenny's frantic expression on her desk, and the heavy dark circles under her eyes, indicating that Miss Officer Jenny hadn't slept soundly for several days.
As a family of police officers, Ms. Jenny's family has branches throughout various regions, and every member works tirelessly and diligently to contribute to the cause of law enforcement. Therefore, although the situations in different police stations vary, each Ms. Jenny holds a respectable position and plays a significant role within the police force.
Ze Shu's visit to Officer Jenny during such a busy time at the police station is... well, this is a waste of police resources!
That's what Melo thinks.
After all, their purpose in coming was to obtain intelligence and clues, not to provide intelligence to the police station.
Miss Officer Jenny is being kind by not kicking them out!
But then, Melo saw Ze Shu pull out some kind of badge that she couldn't understand. Miss Officer Jenny's originally anxious expression was shocked for a moment, and then her face suddenly turned joyful as if the words "My savior has arrived" were written all over her face. She straightened up to greet Ze Shu.
Melo didn't understand the reason behind it; he was simply deeply shocked.
Without needing formalities, Officer Jenny rubbed her temples and sighed as she addressed Special Investigator Ze Shu: "This incident initially occurred three days ago in the South Second District, west of Tabletop City."
"The terrifying song, as rumored, quietly emerged and echoed throughout the olive farm on the outskirts of Grovetown, causing Pokémon such as Leymus and Leymus living in that area to faint in terror. Now they have all gathered at the Grovetown Pokémon Center."
Ze Shu asked, "Are there any victims who have awakened?"
Officer Jenny: "Yes!"
But she added, "We tried to contact one of the few awakened Rylai's, but as soon as we mentioned the song that caused their coma, it looked terrified, its whole body trembling and curled up in the blankets of its sickbed, unable to utter a single useful message. The other awakened Pokémon were the same."
"Even using the 'Dream-Inducing Membrane Man' or the 'Great Universe Monster' to soothe and hypnotize them is ineffective. The fear of that song seems to have seeped into their minds, making them unwilling to recall the events of that time."
Meloko, who had been listening silently from behind, widened her eyes and exclaimed in a low voice, "Is it that serious?!"
Her concern for Tan Xiaoshi made her clench her fists.
Officer Jenny: "Fortunately, the Pokémon that were revived were not seriously affected in their daily lives. To put it bluntly, apart from their extreme reluctance and fear of the song they remembered, the Pokémon that were revived did not suffer from any major aftereffects."
Just as Meloco was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Officer Jenny's words made her anxious again.
"However, not many of the victimized Pokémon have been awakened; most are still unconscious."
Ze Shumei: "Have you found out what's going on with this singing?"
Officer Jenny sighed upon hearing this: "No, not at all."
"After this incident, it is said that King Xinli immediately launched an investigation. The victims gradually spread from the South Second District in the west of Zhuotai City to the South Third District in the east of Zhuotai City, but we have still not been able to catch the culprit."
"No, or rather, the officers we sent out may have staked out the culprit's route, but they also heard the singing. Eventually, the culprit fell into a deep sleep and became one of the victims, remaining unconscious from half a day ago until now."
"Initially, the incidents didn't happen very often, but now, three days later, it seems that every three or four hours, there's a song like this."
"Perish Song? Sonic Wave? Sound distortion? Scale noise? We've suspected all sorts of sound-based Pokémon moves, and Perish Song is the closest to our guess, but it's not quite the same either."
"We don't understand... what kind of singing is this? How can it possess such terrifying magic!"
In the end, Miss Officer Jenny broke down, clutching her head, her exhausted face filled with incomprehension and frustration.
But at that moment, the door to Officer Jenny's office, which had been tightly closed, was suddenly pushed open, and a panicked police officer rushed in, shouting, "The singing is happening again! This time it's only been two hours, and it's still in the South Third District!"
"Very few people come to the South Third District, not only because it's a canyon with extreme elevation changes, where one wrong step could send you tumbling down a cliff, but also...::"
"The owner of the treasure?"
"Yes, Master. They are a special kind of Pokémon that originated in the Padia region. I don't know exactly how they came to be, but I do know that Master is not only unusually large in size, but also has become extremely aggressive in personality, making them very dangerous creatures."
"And here in the South Third District."
"Yes, there is a treasure master here. It is known as the Rock Wall Treasure Master, a hairy cliff crab. It lives on the steep cliffs of the South Third District, and it will roll around with its bulging eyes, constantly watching the pedestrians in the South Third District and launching attacks. In the words of the South Third District—if you can see a big, watery eye on a steep cliff, be careful!"
"This is an extremely dangerous Pokémon!"
In the police pickup truck, Officer Jenny, with dark circles under her eyes, drove while saying this, trying her best to stay awake.
Melo could clench his fists in the back row.
Xiao Lan was flipping through documents, while Xi Jiana was casually slumped over.
In the passenger seat, Ze Shu silently gazed at the scenery outside: all around were steep, yellowish-brown cliffs, without a trace of green.
Even the ground was yellowish-brown, and the pickup truck sped across it, kicking up a lot of dust.
As they approached the scene of the crime.
Suddenly.
But then came a sharp "screech" of tires screeching as the vehicle veered to the side, indicating that Officer Jenny had suddenly slammed on the brakes in the pickup truck carrying them.
"Ouch! It hurts... What, what happened?!"
The impact of the sudden braking caused Xijiana in the back seat to "knock headfirst" and slam her head against the roof of the car with a loud "thud." Only then did she clutch her aching forehead and scream.
But no one answered her.
Miss Officer Jenny stared wide-eyed in shock at the road ahead.
There was nothing unusual about the road, but in the middle of the road lay a huge "crab"—no, a huge hairy cliff crab, the extremely dangerous rock wall treasure that Miss Officer Jenny had just mentioned.
The appearance of the treasure master of this rock wall is extremely tragic.
It crashed into the middle of the road in an extremely contorted position, foaming at the mouth. One of its claws had already broken off from its body, and its once-movable eyeballs bulged out and lay on the ground, clearly devoid of any consciousness.
Even when it was unconscious, its crab-like face still showed signs of terror.
"It fell from the extremely high cliff above." Ze Shu picked up the huge crab claw that had broken off from the rock wall treasure, examined it, and then slowly said.
"When a hairy cliff crab stands upside down against a cliff face, its blood flows back to its head—" Xiao Lan leaned over and poked the delicious crab claw that Ze Shu had picked up, which they had recently eaten, and shared some little-known fact she had learned:
"In this situation, the blood volume in the rest of the body would naturally be relatively small. But look at this claw; it's full of blood. Clearly, the hairy crab didn't fall because it was exhausted. It fell uncontrollably due to external factors when it was full of energy!"
Miss Officer Jenny looked behind the hairy crab, pursed her lips, and said, "Look there!"
Following Officer Jenny's gaze, not far from Crabgrass, a group of Pokémon living in the southern third district lay unconscious.
The Melting Beast, the Pig-Eating Monster, the Rock Treasure, and the Bronze Mirror Monster—while not as miserable as the Rock Treasure Master, they also looked like they were about to collapse at any moment.
Officer Jenny was very familiar with this victim's situation:
"It was that singing that caused it!"
"What...what kind of terrifying monster is behind all this! And why is it doing this?!"
From the moment they learned of the singing coming from here to their arrival from Tabletop City, only ten or twenty minutes had passed—and in such a short time, they had managed to leave the renowned Rock Wall Master and so many Pokémon unconscious on the spot. This was truly terrifying for Officer Jenny!
"It shouldn't have gone far, and it's still heading in this direction."
Ze Shu gazed at the distant cliff face of the South Third District.
Higana stared wide-eyed at her, asking curiously, "How did you know? What's so profound about this reasoning? Why can't I see it?"
"There's no profound reasoning involved—" Ze Shu pointed to Xi Jiana's feet, seeing her bewildered expression, "because the culprit's footprints are here!"
In the South Third District, the soft, brown sandy ground makes it common to leave footprints. However, due to the dust and sand that settles up, the footprints may disappear without a trace in a short time.
But at this moment, the footprint was still quite clear—three toes, and rather rounded—making Xiao Lan feel that it was somewhat similar to her chubby dog's footprint.
Therefore, Ze Shu concluded that "it has not gone far."
"Let's follow it..." Ze Shu scratched the ground with the crab claw of the Rock Wall Treasure Master before saying, "It seems we are very lucky. On our first visit to the scene, we have already found a trace of the culprit."
The Padian League built watchtowers in various wilderness areas of Padian to help lost trainers find their way and explore the terrain. In the game, these watchtowers naturally serve the purpose of fast teleportation.
There is naturally such a watchtower in the South Third District as well.
When Zeshu and the others followed the footprints and vaguely saw this watchtower, they also vaguely heard a song—a song that could make a large number of Pokémon faint and not want to remember it even after they woke up—this song was probably coming from that watchtower.
They stopped when they could hear the singing at a slightly muffled volume.
Miss Officer Jenny looked cautious.
Melo clenched his fist.
"This...this...this..." Higana trembled, stopped in her tracks, and her face paled. "It's...it's that terrifying, legendary song!"
Ze Shu retorted, "Didn't you say you weren't afraid?"
Higanbana retorted defiantly, "I...I'm definitely not afraid!"
Zeqi: "Are you sure?"
Higana hesitated for a moment, then, under Ze Shu's encouraging gaze, her face flushed red with anger: "I...I'm sure and certain!"
"I'm not afraid of this singing at all!"
"That's amazing!" Ze Shu exclaimed. "Xijiana, you're so brave!"
Although she didn't understand why Ze Shu was praising her so suddenly, Xi Jiana hummed twice and pouted her nose: "Of course!"
"Since Higanbana is so brave—" Zeshu suddenly patted Higanbana on the shoulder, "then the 'suicide squad' mission to stop this song from continuing is entrusted to the brave Higanbana!"
Higanbana: "?!"
She paused, then understood what Ze Shu meant, and her eyes widened suddenly:
"This singing is enough to make anyone faint—is this some kind of suicide mission?!"
Ze Shu replied matter-of-factly, "That's why it's called the Suicide Squad!"
Higanbana: "W-w-w-no...no no no..."
Ze Shu suddenly realized, "Oh... Xi Jiana chickened out. You're not brave at all. You're just a lying Xi Jiana."
"Who...who...who..." Higana was on the verge of tears, "Who chickened out?!"
Her face contorted with a death-defying lament: "I'll go! I'll go!"
"See that pink figure at the top of that watchtower?" Ze Shu handed Xi Jiana a pair of binoculars and pointed with the Rock Wall Master's crab claw at the distant top of the watchtower, saying, "That guy should be the culprit behind the singing!"
"Your task is to interrupt its singing!"
Higanbana asked nervously, "What... what kind of Pokémon is this?"
Despite having a telescope, it was still too far away for Higana to see clearly; she could only vaguely make out that the target was a pink sphere.
Ze Shu laughed, "When you interrupt its 'Song of Destruction,' you'll naturally see it, won't you? Alright, heroine Higana, mount your Salamence and head towards the mission objective with a death-defying spirit!"
Stop emphasizing "ready to die for one's country"!
Higana looked like she was about to cry.
She summoned her Salamence, hesitated before mounting it, and after a moment's hesitation, a "let's go for it!" look finally appeared on her face. She suddenly shouted, "Salamence! Attack that pink dot! Dragon God, swoop down! Let's fight!"
"Roar!!!"
As Salamence soared into the sky, it swooped down towards the pink dot on the watchtower, trailing a meteor-like tail. The closer it got to its target, the more pained Higanbana, riding on Salamence, revealed.
She finally understood why the victims who heard the song were unwilling to recall any details of it when they awoke.
This singing...
Based on her experience of being beaten, Higana could tell that the song was purely a "song of annihilation," without any other techniques or anything special about it. But the problem was:
That sounds awful!
The singing was like a demonic melody, rough yet casual, casual yet hoarse, hoarse yet unkempt—not a single note was in tune! No, not that it was out of tune, but rather that it was in the very key that was most unpleasant and nauseating!
It was the complete opposite of the beautiful singing voice that Little Blue's Jigglypuff occasionally sang, which Higana had heard!
It wasn't a pleasant lullaby, but a mocking song of destruction!
"Ughh ...
"Whoosh?!"
Upon hearing this, the pink figure singing on the watchtower was horrified.
With a loud "thud," the Flying Dragon, shrouded in the Dragon God's Cloak, crashed down onto the top of the watchtower. In an instant, the watchtower's walls shattered and crumbled, and the entire tower was destroyed by its single blow, slowly tilting and falling.
Under these circumstances, the singing of the pink figure at the top of the tower could not be sustained.
It jumped in alarm, its round, pink body inflating like a balloon, and then slowly descended from the sky like a balloon, so as not to fall to the ground when the tower was destroyed.
As it slowly descended from the sky, its cheeks bulged out like a fiery monkey, glaring angrily at Higana, who had burned to death and was unconscious amidst the exploding rocks.
"Ho ho ho ho!!!"
How dare they disturb its beautiful singing! This person must not be let off lightly!
It swung its long, hair-like pink antennae and angrily launched a direct attack on Higana. However, just as its bright golden eyes glared and its mouth opened wide, about to unleash an indiscriminate "sonic blast,"
But then a whooshing sound came from behind it. Before it could turn around to dodge, it was suddenly hit on the back of the head by a black, heavy ball that looked like an iron ball.
Then came a heavy "thump".
It just felt like its mind went completely blank.
"Yes, this is a Raven Pokémon that escaped from our Zone Zero - Roartail."
Beneath the collapsed watchtower, Dr. Orin on the screen looked at the large, unconscious Jigglypuff that Ze Shu was carrying, her face full of apology.
"I should have known it would cause such a big disaster. I never expected you, Ze Shu, to actually catch it. It's a stroke of luck amidst misfortune."
Ze Shu shook his head and said to Melokor beside him, "Now that we've caught that Roaring Tail, I think we should know pretty well why your Tan-chan hasn't woken up yet, because:"
"—Its song of destruction is absolutely awful!"
"It's practically a mental attack, so being unconscious is actually the best protection against hearing its song. Therefore, most Pokémon that are on the verge of death after being detonated by the Extinction Song are unwilling to wake up from their slumber, and even if they do wake up, they are unwilling to recall even the slightest detail of the song."
On the other side of the screen, Orin nodded apologetically and explained, "Yes, that's right."
"Even among those awful-singing Howling Tail packs in Zone Zero, this Howling Tail is the worst singer, and it's also addicted to it."
"So all the other Pokémon in Sector Zero know its reputation. When it sings, other Pokémon will run far away. Therefore, this Roaring Tail has developed the ability to sing to others from the shadows and catch them off guard."
"I never imagined that this one ability it developed would cause such a huge impact after it escaped."