pertwk Chapter 27 The Whispers of the Old Ghosts
Chapter 27 The Whispers of the Old Ghosts
After visiting the sick, Bilan did not rush to leave the hospital, but instead found a bench in the lobby to sit down.
As she expected, a little while later, the child's mother also hurriedly came out of the ward, rushing straight to the exit.
Azure clearly understood that the mother was following in her footsteps and had something to say.
The girl stood up from the bench and called out to the other person directly.
Shouldn't we, like the protagonist in a detective story, restate Hugo's reasoning to the parties involved? This action option flashed through Azure's mind in an instant.
However, when she saw the woman's haggard face and swollen eyes, the girl immediately abandoned the absurd idea and simply waited quietly for the other woman to speak.
"Have you ever heard of aerial combat?" Surprisingly, the woman's first question was this completely unrelated one.
Azure tilted its head and answered honestly, "I heard it's a popular battle style in the Kalos region. Trainers in the competition need to wear glider suits and fly in the air to direct the battle. Only Flying-type Pokémon or Pokémon with the Levitation ability can participate."
"Actually, United also has this kind of aerial combat tournament. Warrior Eagle and I used to be such a team that soared through the air in the competition."
The woman gazed intently into the ward of the Warrior Eagle: "We once soared and twirled through the ever-changing air currents, seizing the enemy's momentary respite to unleash 'Divine Bird Strike,' turning our crippled opponents into black dots amidst the cheering crowd; we overcame elemental disadvantages, using the reflection of sunlight to turn the tide of battle; we defeated incredibly powerful foes, overcame countless trials, and even ultimately lifted the championship trophy of the United Sky Battle Tournament—the pinnacle of our professional trainer careers..."
"And after that I retired. No more competitions, marriage, children, a proper job, endless daily routine... I almost forgot what flying felt like. The last time I was cleaning the house, I found my old glider suit, but I couldn't fit into it anymore—that's me now."
Despite always uttering long, impassioned sentences, the woman's narration was not aggressive; she simply recounted her past, her glory and ordinariness, in a quiet manner.
Azure deeply empathized with the sense of bewilderment that comes after reaching the pinnacle, as it reminded her of the scene after that Quartz Conference.
Wanting to take a step forward, one can only see the vast gap between a genius among mortals and a true legend in combat; wanting to take a step back, one doesn't know where to go.
Everyone has their own highlight moments in life. If life is a book, then this highlight moment should be the last chapter of the book. As long as a few words of epilogue such as "the protagonist eventually lived a happy and fulfilling life" are added afterward, the story can be perfectly concluded, leaving the reader with supreme satisfaction and lingering charm.
However, in reality, this final, hastily mentioned chapter will eventually become the entirety of our lives. Those once thrilling and captivating memories will become like dusty bronze medals and outgrown gliders, leaving us only bewildered and lost.
The mother's confession pulled Azure back to reality—
“I once thought I had long forgotten, buried, and hidden these past events, but I haven’t. Those days of soaring through the air have always lingered in my mind, never stopping… It was these past events, these memories, these ghostly things that gave me that crazy idea…”
The woman in front of her choked up. Bilan stepped forward, took the woman's hand, and encouraged her to continue.
“Our family lives in an apartment building next to that narrow alley. Like most affordable housing here, it’s very tall, but the design is disappointing. There are many shortcomings in the architectural details. I’ve always felt that the windowsill facing the living room is too low, and the window is too big. Because of this, my immature son often sneaks up there to play. We live on the 35th floor. If an accident happens at that height, it’s no laughing matter.”
The girl listened quietly, and she found that the details of the story were exactly the same as the detective's reasoning. The child did indeed live next door in the narrow alley, and his floor was indeed above the thirtieth floor... but the woman's description was more vivid and lifelike.
It was only then that she truly realized that the three of them had been discussing a thought game at the dinner table at Yuqi Residence last night, but rather a real-world event.
“I first received a complaint from my downstairs neighbor a month ago. She said that her windows would sometimes be hit by small stones, making a thumping sound. I immediately realized that it was my child doing this on the windowsill, and those small stones were pebbles from the flower pots on the windowsill. Since then, I have forbidden my child from climbing on the windowsill and have also turned off the deadbolt button on the windows.”
"Did it come in handy?" Azure asked.
The mother shook her head: "The deadbolt is on the inside of the window. As long as you know how, you can open it. The child still always climbs onto the windowsill when I'm not paying attention—but I didn't notice until the downstairs neighbor came to my door."
"Has something fallen down again?"
“The flowerpot, the whole flowerpot,” the woman replied.
“I got a real dressing down from my neighbor, but I was more terrified than angry, you know? That was the 35th floor! Behind that thin pane of glass was a hundred meters above the ground, and he was sitting on that low windowsill, constantly reaching his hand out, and sometimes clumsily knocking over flowerpots… Good heavens, he didn’t even have a parachute!”
"That is indeed very dangerous. But children shouldn't use parachutes, right?"
“They sell toddler sizes online, I’ve looked it up,” the woman added.
"Then, that devilish thought popped into my head. When I came up with that plan, I felt like my past self was whispering in my ear. I had commanded the Warrior Eagle to climb back up from the turbulent air currents countless times. I felt that a height of 100 meters would be enough for the Warrior Eagle to escape safely, so I did that... God, how could I do such a stupid thing!"
Azure decided to play dumb; in fact, she had no choice but to play dumb in this context. The question, which she already knew the answer to, naturally slipped out: "What did you do?"
"I put the Brave Eagle's Poké Ball back where the flowerpot used to be. I told Brave Eagle to fall from the window with the Poké Ball, pretending to be injured to scare my son. I thought that if I put on this show, my son wouldn't run to the windowsill every day anymore. Who knew it would end up like this..."
The woman before him, her voice trembling with tears, gripped Bi Lan's hand tightly, repeatedly murmuring, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
It's unclear whether these apologies are directed at Azure, the little boy, or the Warrior Eagle.
The situation perfectly matched the detective's reasoning, but Azure's state of mind was completely different from yesterday.
"Madam." The girl solemnly cupped the woman's face and saw a woman with her makeup ruined by tears, revealing the most vulnerable and delicate side of womanhood.
Without hesitation, she continued, "I am actually a trainee detective. After listening to your description, I fully understand this incident. In my opinion, although a tragedy has indeed occurred, the damage is not entirely irreparable."
The woman looked at Bilan with a puzzled expression.
“I now know why your son always climbs onto the windowsill. And if you follow my advice, I believe this series of unfortunate events surrounding the window will never happen again.”
Azure looked at the woman in front of her with confidence, her eyes full of self-assurance and pride. Unfortunately, her heart was not as arrogant as she appeared.
If baseless reasoning is an unreliable castle in the air, then she will next unleash a torrent of lies.