dmims Chapter 7 The Misconceptions on the Road to Truth
Chapter 7 The Misconceptions on the Road to Truth
Officer Jenny used a walkie-talkie to contact her subordinates, informing them to come here to take over the follow-up investigation of the trash cans.
At the same time, the detective began to explain his reasoning.
“You have two misconceptions about this case.”
Hugo seemed to be in a good mood, tossing and catching the empty gasoline bottle, which was important evidence in his hand, while chatting with the policewoman... Such dangerous behavior made Officer Jenny's eyelids twitch.
"First of all, the deceased at the sewer outlet was undoubtedly murdered. The fact that the perpetrator had prepared gasoline for incineration beforehand shows that the perpetrator had anticipated the victim's death. As for the gasoline, there was actually a faint smell of gasoline on the body at the scene. Combustion caused by Pokémon moves usually does not have a odor, so the only explanation for this is that the trainer brought the gasoline as fuel himself."
Officer Jenny then recalled the scene of Hugo lying on the ground face to face with the dead body, which was to check for the strange smell on the charred corpse.
"But why do you think the deceased didn't die in a Pokémon battle? The trainer could have died in a battle accident, and the opponent could have bought gasoline to cover up the crime. Other moves by the Pokémon, such as 'Push,' 'Slam,' 'Pursuit,' or 'Double Headbutt,' which are more powerful, could also have been the cause of death for the thug."
"This involves a crucial question, which is also the second cognitive bias you've fallen into—why did the murderer burn the body?"
“At first, we thought it was an accident during the battle that caused the Fried Pig to go berserk…” Officer Jenny recalled, “but this theory has been overturned by new evidence. The burning of the body was actually the work of the trainer who ran away… Could it be that he prepared gasoline to erase the traces he left behind and buy himself more time to escape?”
“This explanation is contradictory,” Hugo said. “If the murderer wanted to hide himself by erasing information from the victim, he wouldn’t have burned the body, because that would have drawn the police’s attention directly to people who own Fire-type Pokémon. That would have been very unwise for a Pokémon trainer.”
The detective pointed in the direction of the crime scene: "The body was burned at the entrance of the sewer. If the murderer really wanted to disrupt the investigation, he could have simply thrown this body, which died from injuries sustained in a Pokémon battle, into the dark sewer. That way, when the body was discovered and retrieved, the police would be faced with a body whose time of death was unknown, and whose cause of death was an attack that any Pokémon could use. In this situation, it would be even more difficult to identify the murderer."
"We are faced with this contradiction—why would the murderer both burn the body to hide himself and simultaneously expose himself by holding a Fire-type Pokémon?" Hugo asked, holding up a gasoline bottle.
"Could this be an oversight by the culprit? He might simply have thought that burning the body would be advantageous to him, without considering these more complex reasons?" Officer Jenny asked casually.
“A good guess. There’s folly and accident in every crime.” The detective praised, then shook his head. “But this kind of folly is unlikely to occur during the preparation stage of a crime.”
Hugo finally put away the gasoline bottle, spread his hands, and began to explain like a criminology lecturer at a police academy:
"In the vast majority of murders, the perpetrator's ultimate goal is only two things—to commit the crime, and to escape punishment. The former is a breakdown of reason; the murderer has lost something that sustains their humanity and, driven by murderous intent, commits a heinous crime. The latter is a return to reason; the murderer hopes to escape punishment and once again don the cloak of civilization to return to daily life."
“If a murderer begins planning to escape punishment while conceiving how to commit the crime, it indicates that he is planning the murder in a relatively rational state. Therefore, in cases of premeditated murder, at least in the preparation stage of the crime, all the actions of the criminal have specific purposes and reasons.”
"So his real purpose?" Officer Jenny awaited the detective's answer.
"Reconstruct the crime scene! The killer completely disrupted all the evidence left at the crime scene in order to mislead the police investigation."
The detective's tone was absolutely certain.
"Think back to the emergency calls you received. Anonymous calls, coincidental witnessing, being able to accurately identify the Pokémon and their identities while watching remotely, calling the police using a public emergency phone that's almost extinct in this era instead of a cell phone... With all these strange factors combined, do you really think this was a simple emergency call?"
Officer Jenny exclaimed in surprise, "You mean, that call to the police was actually made by the murderer himself?"
“That’s obvious,” the detective nodded.
“A well-meaning passerby who had no connection to the case would never have dialed the police in that way. At the scene of the crime, the only person who had the ability to make that call was the murderer.”
Ignoring Officer Jenny's surprised expression, Hugo continued to offer his insights—
“Your previous understanding of the case was entirely based on the lies of the real culprit. Therefore, the identity of the deceased, the Pokémon he owned, and the situation at the scene should all be overturned and you should start reasoning again based on irrefutable evidence.”
“Speaking of irrefutable evidence, we’ve found an unidentified charred corpse, signs of a fight at the scene, an empty gasoline bottle, a Poké Ball containing an unconscious Fried Pig…” The policewoman pondered deeply, “Oh, right, and the Leopard that was taken to the hospital!”
"Don't forget the 911 call made by the murderer himself. Truth can be found within lies too," Hugo reminded him.
“Hmm…” Officer Jenny took out her notebook from her police uniform pocket and began to draw diagrams that looked like gibberish.
The policewoman poked a dark stick figure with her pen and hesitated before saying—
"Judging from the condition of the body, the murderer prepared gasoline in advance and burned the body after the victim died. But this was not to buy time for his own escape, but to disguise the scene as an accidental fight... By the way, Hugo, do you think the murderer might have had a second purpose, such as to hide the victim's true identity? I had already explained the identities of both parties in the emergency call and assumed the victim was a thug, so I hadn't thought about it in that direction yet."
"Very good, you've completely overcome your misconceptions. Having achieved this, Officer Hugo is already competent for the position in the Criminal Investigation Department," Hugo praised sincerely.
"It's such a pity that you're not the police chief, otherwise I would have been transferred to the criminal investigation department, where overtime is the most demanding."
Officer Jenny dismissed the detective's praise and circled a large circle next to the stick figure's label, "The deceased's identity."
"And since you already know everything, stop keeping me in suspense and give me the answers! I didn't invite you here as a detective to give me a lecture."
Hugo scratched his black hair somewhat awkwardly: "My reasoning is still a step behind. Although I can go on and on about detective jargon like methods, motives, and tricks, it won't help much in arresting the criminal. Explaining it now would just be a waste of time. If Miss Officer Jenny could summarize some of the circumstances at the scene, it might give me some inspiration."
The officer's face showed an expression that said, "What kind of useless person did I hire?"
"Then the second clue is the signs of a battle at the scene. Besides the charred areas of the body, there are still several burn marks from flames. We can assume that this was caused by Fried Pig. The claw marks that also appeared must have been caused by Cool Leopard, because we examined Cool Leopard's claws before it was taken away, and there was dirt from the ground inside. Its skin also had flame marks..."
"The on-site inspection has been very thorough; the two elves have undoubtedly fought each other." Hugo nodded.
“The empty gasoline bottle. You’ve already mentioned that. Its existence shows that the murderer had planned to kill and burn the body, so we won’t discuss it again… Then the fourth item is the fried pig in the trash can. Why would the murderer throw the unconscious pig into the trash can? Why would the murderer abandon his accomplice when he was the one with murderous intent?”
With only the fourth clue, Officer Jenny's reasoning had already reached a deadlock.
"The murderer must have had a reason to discard it. Besides, the Poké Ball also served to distract them. You almost missed the gasoline bottle because you were so focused on the Poké Ball, didn't you?" the detective interjected.
Officer Jenny was speechless for a moment, and wrote down the entry "have to be discarded" in her notebook.
"Then there's the unconscious Cool Leopard. According to the killer, this Cool Leopard belonged to some petty thugs. However, all the information on the phone is now unreliable, so we can only assume that the Cool Leopard belongs to either the killer or one of the victims."
“A fairly solid conclusion.” The detective nodded.
"Now, the only clue left is the emergency call. What message does this call, full of lies, contain? Does the real culprit want the police to arrive at the crime scene as soon as possible?"
"Correct!" The detective snapped his fingers. "No wonder he's a future head of the criminal investigation department."
"Don't fantasize about me getting promoted!"
"Your notebook contains all the information needed to solve this case. Now, all we need to do is connect all the clues, and we'll find the truth..."
Hugo paused here, as if he had thought of something.
The clues are complete.
"What's wrong?" Officer Jenny asked, looking up from her notes.
Why was the body burned? Why did the murderer call the police? What does the abandoned elf represent? Suddenly, the detective realizes that the truth is laid bare before him.
Although the killer's actions were chaotic and contradictory, if we follow this explanation...
"I've figured out the place the killer is most likely to be right now!"
The murderer was on the run, so Hugo did not elaborate on his reasoning but simply stated the conclusion.
"He's not hiding! He has to get there! Quick, quick, to the Pokémon Center to treat the Cool Leopard!"