Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 340 The Poison Chamber – Bloodstains

Chapter 342 The Poison Chamber – Bloodstains

When Hugo received the urgent message from the champion's agent, it was already the afternoon after his meeting with Karuni.

The Carlos champion's schedule remained as busy as ever. After attending a charity gala in Flying Cloud City, she immediately boarded a train to Raven City to attend the opening ceremony of an international fashion week.

That morning, Hugo and Azure had just brought Mia, who was troubled by dreams, to Dr. Shin's Dream Lab. That reliable assistant was still there, helping with dream testing. The two Dream Egrets in the lab were very affectionate towards her, probably because Azure had previously accepted a pet-finding commission and brought them back to the lab from the vast city.

By the way, Miss Mia dreamed about the Oya Mushroom she had released back into the wild again last night, but the details and scenes were all blurry. Hopefully, Dr. Shin's dream connection device will work smoothly this time and help her recover more memories.

Frankly, Hugo was more inclined to believe the psychoanalytic view of dreams, viewing them merely as a projection of a being's own desires, like a disordered mirror. Though seemingly bizarre at first glance, they become clear and meaningful after analysis and interpretation.

People cannot glean more information from dreams than they already know. However, this world is full of strange and supernatural phenomena; the lists of ghost, psychic, and dark-type moves all contain skills capable of interfering with dreams. And it's not just Pokémon; even Gadlia, with a little effort, can use her psychic powers to create the effect of dreaming in someone else's mind—this suggests that Mia's dreams were very likely influenced by some supernatural factor, which explains the abnormality that led her to her death.

As for Hugo when he received the call, he was in the rented house where the "Plague Scholar" Servić had been murdered.

For this detective, the greatest advantage of becoming the league champion was that he could freely enter and exit various crime scenes without police escort, simply by using the league's high-level privileges.

Although this privilege comes with various restrictions, such as not being able to enter the scene alone before the police conduct a formal investigation, and having records kept in the alliance's database after each use of the privilege. After all, even in form, the alliance must prevent the possibility of high-privilege holders becoming the criminals themselves or their accomplices. But even with all these restrictions, being able to go to the crime scene of a recent murder alone as if taking a stroll, being seen off by unfamiliar police officers like a leader on an inspection tour, and tearing off the yellow seal on the door of the crime scene without any psychological burden and striding into the room, is truly a rare and exhilarating moment for Hugo since he started his detective career.

Perhaps infected by this good mood, the detective seemed to grasp a spark of inspiration as he observed the thoroughly searched house and the crime scene traces marked on the ground by the police with white lines, showing the shape of the collapsed building.

"Speaking of which, when Officer Jenny and the others found the body, the deceased was lying face up, right? Miss Joy, because of the blood flowing from the mouth and nose, and the unusual pupils and complexion, immediately determined that the deceased had died from some kind of poison, and further deduced that the scattered furniture around was due to the deceased's muscle spasms before death—"

Hugo looked around at his surroundings once more—

The furniture in this one-bedroom apartment was actually not much. In the living room where the body was found, apart from the desk in front of the deceased, the only items that could be considered furniture were a few low cabinets in the corner of the room, a table and chairs used as a dining table, a sofa, and two wooden decorations that looked like standing hat racks.

However, at this moment, all the cabinets were overturned, and the dining table, chairs, and sofa were all displaced from their original positions, with the latter also being overturned.

Keep in mind that the cabinet by the door is more than ten steps away from the desk, and the sofa and dining table are not objects that can be easily moved with a touch. If these were all knocked over by Servili's uncoordinated limb twitching before he died, wouldn't such large movements and relocations be too heavy and cumbersome for a poisoned person on the verge of death?

The most puzzling thing was the two standing hat racks that were still standing tall in the living room at this moment.

These two wooden shelves were clearly located on either side of the overturned sofa, along the route from the cabinet to the kitchen. However, until the police arrived at the crime scene, these two shelves, which should have topped over at the slightest touch, remained firmly and upright in their original positions.

He was completely unaffected by the convulsions that Servili suffered before his death.

Barring coincidence, it's highly unlikely that the deceased would have deliberately avoided the hat rack while struggling, and it's also unlikely that the intruder who later broke in and stole the documents would have intentionally lifted them from the ground.

Does this mean that the deceased's convulsions before death did not actually travel that far?

Ultimately, the claim that Servić, who died of poisoning, struggled in excruciating pain was merely a preliminary assessment made by toxicologist Joey upon seeing the crime scene.

Indeed, the deceased's facial expression was ferocious and distorted at the moment of death, and the furniture around the room was unusually scattered. A considerable number of people who die from deadly poison do indeed convulse and roll around in a seemingly frantic manner before death. However, Joey, who was responsible for examining the deceased's body, was, after all, just a doctor with relevant knowledge. Even though she was proficient in poisons and medicine and had rich experience in autopsies, she could not so simply connect this information with the crime scene investigation.

Moreover, Miss Joey had just participated in the investigation of the Selvilik poisoning incident and had been completely deceived by the despicable method of poisoning. Furthermore, due to her past experience as a doctor, she was aware of the "plague scholar's" past misdeeds. Upon seeing the corpse, she probably felt a sense of satisfaction or gratification. Therefore, her judgment was influenced by her emotions, and it was understandable that she subconsciously believed that this abhorrent criminal had died in agony.

However, reality has its own logic that must be followed; people do not die for no reason due to cause and effect.

In this room, there is even more direct evidence to support Hugo's suspicions—the blood that flowed from the deceased's mouth and nose.

According to photos of the victim taken by the police before the autopsy, most of the blood from the victim's nose was on the lapel of the clothes he was wearing at the time.

After examining the entire scene, Hugo discovered a small bloodstain on the desk that Servilic had used as a drug mixing table. Judging from its location near the center of the desk, it was undoubtedly blood from his nose that had slid down his clothes.

Thus, a contradiction arises: if the deceased had struggled painfully in the room when the poison took effect, the blood flowing from his mouth and nose must have been everywhere with his violent breathing, right?

However, the detective also checked the other floors in the living room, but there were no traces of blood like those on the table.

Did the deceased really convulse and writhe in the room due to the excruciating pain of poisoning?

Hugo's doubts were not a novel conclusion.

It's understandable that officers had uncovered similar clues during their investigation, but because the chain of evidence was incomplete, overturning Joey's previous diagnosis was pointless before further identifying the type of toxin. For all these reasons...

This incident was not included in the initial case record.

The unusual condition of the furniture was also interpreted by the police as evidence of a later intruder's search—a reasonable guess, but it overlooked a crucial issue.

What was Servić's condition like before he died?

If the intruder who ransacked the crime scene before the police arrived could have turned Servić’s residence upside down so thoroughly, how could they not have searched the victim’s personal clothing?

In other words, the fact that the victim was found lying face up suggests that the intruders who arrived later had tampered with the body.

As for its initial posture at the time of death, judging from the bloodstains on the table and the direction of the bloodstains on its clothes, it was very likely a relatively upright sitting posture.

The deceased died while sitting in the chair in front of the worktable, maintaining a seated posture.

Perhaps Servić did experience some degree of pain before his death, which influenced his expression before dying, but he seemed to still possess enough rationality to prevent himself from falling into meaningless madness.

When did this "plague scholar," who made a living by selling drugs, first discover that he was poisoned?

Was it before or after he carried out the large-scale poisoning?

Did he attempt to save himself? Or, like the police now, was he unable to identify the specific type of toxin?

Hugo reopened his phone, found the victim's photo he had obtained from Officer Jenny, and stared at the pitiful figure with a distorted face. He shook his head. "Perhaps this guy left a suicide note before he died of poisoning."

However, whatever information Servik left behind before his death, it was all swept away by the uninvited guest who found the deceased before the police.

What reason did the other party have for visiting this hidden poisoning suspect?

Before Hugo could even lament his newfound discovery, the smartphone he was holding vibrated, requesting a communication.