bookbashuk Chapter 193 The Detective Assistant Who Stayed Behind
Chapter 193 The Detective Assistant Who Stayed Behind
Chapter 203 The Detective Assistant Who Stayed Behind
Just before Detective Hugo, dressed in all black and carrying his three beginner Pokémon, was about to head out, Azure asked a question that she now finds somewhat foolish—
"Hugo, why did you bring all your Pokémon today? Aren't you going to leave one of them behind to watch the house?"
The girl felt so ashamed when she recalled the look Hugo had given her back then that she wanted to learn the "digging" technique...
The detective is on personal business and therefore does not need his colleagues to accompany him.
In this situation, the task of staying at the agency falls to the assistant who happily receives her monthly salary from the detective—namely, Azure herself.
It should be so, it goes without saying, it's natural... This is such basic reasoning that Azure fell into deep self-doubt.
And so, on the second day after the detective went out, the assistant became the acting detective for Hugo Detective Agency.
Although it's unknown how the grass turtles usually guard the house, Azure, who stays at the office, has the authority to decide whether to accept a case. If there's a particularly urgent case, she can also temporarily leave the office to conduct external investigations.
In addition, the agency's email address, which was originally kept by the detective, was now handed over to Azure—in other words, the password was simply given to her.
It was a mixed cipher consisting of twenty letters, numbers, and symbols. At first glance, it looked like gibberish text due to a programming error. However, according to Hugo's explanation, this line of symbols had no inherent meaning. It was simply the product of encrypting the number “” using the National Pokémon Pokédex as a codebook.
"The privacy of clients is the conscience of a private investigator, and it is never too much to protect it. Therefore, email passwords must not be kept, nor can they be recorded in any way within the firm."
I remember Victor Hugo giving me those instructions back then.
"If you accidentally forget the password, just use your knowledge of ciphers and logical reasoning to decipher it again. Cracking codes is also one of the essential courses for detectives. Now that you know the principle, it is very simple to deduce the rules of symbol encryption."
"I'll never forget!"
Azure replied with such certainty, only to enter the wrong password the next morning.
The "Incorrect password" message kept popping up...
Bilan felt she hadn't memorized it wrong, and she had tried changing the capitalization, but she still couldn't log in to her email.
It took more than an hour to crack the code; if Pogaman, who was taken away by the detective, had been doing it, it should have only taken less than ten minutes.
Azure repeatedly compared the deciphered code with the password in her memory, and finally realized what it meant—
This was a good-natured joke left by Hugo, or perhaps a test.
The detective's cipher itself had a few digits of error; the true cipher could only be deciphered by following the deciphered encryption rules. If the detective didn't have the ability to crack the cipher, they wouldn't have entrusted their client with such important private information.
Another possibility is that Hugo himself forgot his email password, but this possibility is extremely small.
However, the chaos of taking over the firm ended there.
After overcoming numerous difficulties, Bilan finally opened the official email address of Hugo Detective Agency. Although it was filled with all sorts of consultation documents, they were no different from the cases Bilan usually handled.
While crimes may indeed occur frequently in the world, very few actually end up in the hands of private detective agencies.
The Hugo Detective Agency first gained fame in the detective industry due to the Aqua Team smuggling case. However, increased fame didn't necessarily translate into a flood of interesting and difficult cases. When people encountered real cases, they would only go to the police first. Only when it came to minor matters involving privacy or things the police couldn't handle would residents possibly remember the detective agency they had seen on the street.
After eliminating inquiries that were clearly outside her scope of business, Azure's inbox was left with only a few requests that required detailed investigation: a lost elderly person, a partner spirit that had disappeared without a trace, a background check on an unmarried person, and a spouse's recent suspicious activities.
Each task is very easy; even if I don't go myself, I can complete the mission by sending Eevee and Ditto... But don't rush, it's not time to go out and investigate yet.
Bilan reminded herself of this and decided to start with the highest priority case: missing elderly people.
Wasting time on pointless commutes is pointless, so the girl contacted her client before the formal investigation began.
Sitting in her usual office chair, Bilan opened a street view map of Feiyun City online while dialing her client's number.
The other party answered the phone immediately, seemingly very anxiously searching for their lost relative.
"Hello, this is the Hugo Detective Agency you've contacted..." Azure said.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries and self-introductions, she inquired in detail about the missing elderly man's daily habits at home, his recent behavior, and the places he had searched for after he left. At the same time, recalling her experience in finding missing persons in Feiyun City, she tried to deduce several routes that the elderly man might have taken.
"Hmm... Based on the clues you've provided so far, I have three preliminary theories."
Azure slid the mouse, dragging the 3D image on the map, and marked her thought process with red lines.
"First, your search of the apartment was not thorough enough. Judging from the building structure outside, there should be a passageway connecting to the next building at the back of your unit. The old man may not have left the building at all and may still be trapped on the next floor. If possible, please send out a Flying-type Pokémon to scan the windows."
There was an immediate commotion on the other end of the microphone, with the faint sound of Pokémon flapping their wings. Azure waited for the chaos to subside before continuing to explain his reasoning.
"Secondly, I noticed that there is a children's park near your residence. In Feiyun City, there are usually street performers in such parks. The elderly may have followed the crowds into the park. Please send someone to investigate this place."
The client gratefully agreed repeatedly, but before the other party could finish speaking, Azure continued—
"Finally, there's another possibility. You mentioned you moved once, from the city center to the outskirts. I suspect the elderly person might want to return to their old address, which is why they left home. In this case, given their age, the most likely mode of transportation they would choose is public bus. Since the bus stop near your old home has been discontinued, the elderly person likely got off at the stop after their original address. Please search that area. You can also contact the Feiyun City Transportation Bureau; their staff can help you post missing person notices with bus drivers..."
Suddenly, another commotion broke out on the other end of the receiver. It seemed that the Flying-type Pokémon that had left the house had flown back—wasn't that a bit too fast? Did it check every single window properly?
"Oh, Miss Detective, thank you so much! We've found the old man! He seems to be sleeping on an empty floor in the building next door. Although he's been missing for two days, he seems to be in good spirits. I really don't know how he got in there... I'm going to take care of him now. Can I contact you later? Thank you so much!"
The phone call ended abruptly, and all was quiet outside.
Compared to cases solved by detectives, this kind of detective consultation doesn't even qualify as a commission. Even if the relatives didn't come to the detective, the hungry and cold old man wouldn't stay in that place forever; he'd probably be spotted by passersby soon enough while wandering around the building…
Bilan put down the receiver and stared blankly at the street view map on the screen in front of her, which was covered with red markings.
Although the case was successfully resolved... I didn't feel the immense sense of accomplishment that I would feel as a detective solving a case.
But for some reason, a warm feeling welled up inside me, making my whole body feel light and airy.