Chapter 190: Poison-type Pokémon

Arriving at the location where the Berries were stored, Luo Mu pondered in his heart.

Pecha Berries taste slightly sweeter; not only are they juicy, but their flesh texture is also on the softer side, making them unsuitable for baking.

In contrast, Oran Berries have a crisp and sweet texture with not too much juice, so they won't ruin the overall mouthfeel of the pie.

Having made his decision, Luo Mu set down the vegetable basket he carried with him and reached out toward the crate piled with Oran Berries, intending to pick up one that emitted a sweet fragrance.

Just then, a line of large red characters appeared mutually before his retinas.

【Hint: The item the Host is about to touch contains toxins; please immediately cease this dangerous behavior.】

Luo Mu's movements froze, and his heart skipped a beat.

Could he be seeing things? Was the system hinting that there were toxins in the Berries?

Luo Mu frowned slightly; if this were true, the problem would be enormous.

"How about it, Luxray?"

Luo Mu looked at the Luxray, which was carefully sniffing every crate of crops, his voice somewhat heavy.

"Meow-ao."

The Luxray shook its head, its right paw pointing toward several crates of crops isolated not far away.

The crops it detected with that same excessive fragrance were only those few crates of Berries; presumably, the perpetrator who poisoned them had a limited reserve of venom, barely enough to contaminate just those few crates.

"Is that so."

Calmness suppressed Luo Mu's raging anger.

He truly hadn't expected a poisoning incident to actually occur on his farm; it was almost exactly like the incident at the neighboring Jones Farm, except one involved smearing venom directly onto crops while they were still growing, while the other involved smearing venom directly onto crops that had already been harvested.

Setting aside for now who the poisoner was, the mere act of such a person ruining the crops painstakingly planted by the Pokémon on the farm was enough to make Luo Mu's anger soar to the heavens at this moment.

The Serperior was also furious; logically, the Comfey, Bai Bai Pengpeng, and the Eelektross were all its subordinates.

Yet the crops painstakingly grown by its own subordinates had been ruined overnight; merely thinking about this caused the Serperior's tail to lash the ground heavily like a long whip.

If its legs hadn't degenerated after evolving, the Serperior would be stomping its feet in anger right now.

"Ssi-luo." (Wasting food is shameful.)

The ghostly flames burning above Cangyan Cangyan Rengui's eyes fluctuated slightly due to its emotional changes; having once been abandoned, Cangyan Cangyan Rengui had experienced a long period of going hungry one meal and eating full the next.

Perhaps because it often went hungry in the past, Cangyan Cangyan Rengui gradually developed an interest in cooking.

To it, ruining food was equivalent to trampling upon its cherished creed; such a villain absolutely could not be let off so easily!

Cangyan Cangyan Rengui resolved that once it found clues to that villain's whereabouts, it would strike out with its heavy sword and properly educate the offender on the importance of food.

"Bai Pengpeng... Flowering Huanhuan... Aoli..."

Several cries suppressing sadness entered Luo Mu's ears, and he looked toward the source of the sounds.

He saw the Comfey, Eelektross, and Bai Bai Pengpeng hanging their heads low, their spirits seemingly very depressed, as if they could not accept that the crops they had worked so hard to grow were treated this way.

The Mudsdale, Hakuryu, and Politoed that had rushed over upon hearing the news were the same; the daily plowing, soil cultivation, sunlight exposure, and rain-calling irrigation were all done by them.

The crops bloomed and bore fruit through everyone's joint efforts, so having them ruined for no reason must have left them very bewildered.

Luo Mu took a deep breath and spoke to the Pokémon: "In any case, let's notify Miss Miss Junsha of Pingdie Town first; she might have suitable clues there."

Luo Mu wanted to try finding the perpetrator himself; of course, if the situation remained unclear, he would not hesitate to utilize the system, a power that did not belong to him.

Miss Miss Junsha, who had rushed non-stop to Luo Mu's farm with an inspection report, said with a serious expression:

"Indeed, every indicator of the venom smeared on the Berries matches the indicators of the venom that caused several people to be poisoned at the Jones Farm. Both share the same color as the object they were smeared upon, emit a sweet and fragrant scent, can paralyze the victim's entire body rendering them unable to move, yet do not cause excessive harm to the body; the characteristics match perfectly."

"I believe both cases were committed by the same Poison-type Pokémon, but we still have no way of knowing what species it is or why it would do such a thing."

Luo Mu nodded slightly, not surprised: "Is that so? I understand."

He could understand; if solving cases were this smooth, nearly every region in this world wouldn't have an Evil Organization.

However, several points mentioned by Miss Miss Junsha concerned Luo Mu greatly.

The smeared venom had the same color as the crops; did this mean that unknown Poison-type Pokémon possessed the ability to change the color of its venom?

If so, the scope of suspects seemed to be narrowing.

Miss Miss Junsha was very grateful for Luo Mu's generosity and support, which allowed her to investigate the case with ample time.

But Miss Miss Junsha was also extremely troubled; in recent years, poisoning incidents in Pingdie Town were not unheard of, but those were merely poisonings resulting from battles, poisonings caused by misunderstandings, and accidental poisonings.

This was the first time she had encountered an incident where the target was clearly food poisoning; for some reason, her superiors had issued a strict order to solve this case as quickly as possible, putting immense pressure on her.

The toxins of Poison-type Pokémon are influenced by their growth environment, the food they consume, and various other factors; although it's not to the point where every Poison-type Pokémon's toxin is unique, the types of toxins are bizarre and varied with different effects, making it very difficult to quickly pinpoint the corresponding Poison-type Pokémon based solely on the toxin.

Testing and analysis often take a very long time, but solving a case demands racing against the clock; every delay reduces the possibility of solving the case and makes it harder to find the hidden culprit.

Although she had received Luo Mu's report, Miss Miss Junsha could only ask him to return and wait for news.

After all, the perpetrator was extremely cunning; even a professionally trained Growlithe could not detect any clues from the offender using its keen sense of smell.

Miss Miss Junsha tried to connect the complex clues in her mind, but she was always just a little short, which left her feeling very frustrated.

At this moment, Luo Mu's hesitant voice rang out: "Is there a possibility... that it could be a Grafaiai?"

Miss Miss Junsha's pupils constricted; she nodded and then shook her head: "We also considered this possibility; these Pokémon can change the color of their venom through the food they consume, which indeed matches the clues."

"But in reality, Grafaiai are mostly distributed in places like the Potatin Trail and Imprint Forest; the ecology near Pingdie Town is not an environment they favor, which is also the reason we did not include this species of Pokémon in our scope of consideration from the very beginning."

"But this is still a direction; we will try to explore along this line, after all, we cannot rule out the possibility that under the influence of other factors, a single Grafaiai has come to the vicinity of Pingdie Town."

(End of Chapter)