stonecrandall Chapter 109 The Secret in the Hive
Chapter 109 The Secret in the Hive
The honeycomb maze in the Flying Cloud Dojo is intricate and complex, filled with countless deceptive mechanisms that will leave challengers struggling to navigate through its maze.
Even the trainers inside the gym need a special map to find their way. Newcomers visiting for the first time will need at least a whole day to find the actual path to the gym leader's room.
That is why, even though the Bug type is considered the weakest type by trainers, no League challenger dares to underestimate this Bug-type gym located in the metropolis—it's just too difficult to navigate.
It is precisely for this reason that it is particularly troublesome for innocent visitors to visit the gym. The gym leader will use his mobile phone to contact the gym trainers in the vicinity of the visitor and ask them to bring a map and take the initiative to give directions.
But today's situation is slightly different.
"Mr. Hugo, where are we going? Are you sure we haven't taken the wrong road? Why are the gym trainers looking at us more and more strangely along the way?"
Sera stared blankly at Hugo, who was leading the way. The detective in the white coat strode forward through the maze without hesitation, passing through one hexagonal room after another without a second thought.
Each room, designed in the style of a honeycomb, contains six identical yellow doors, all with the same shape and details, but some of them are locked. Visitors must choose the correct door to exit from different rooms, or they will fall into an endless loop, unknowingly returning to the starting point.
But Hugo seemed completely unbothered by the dilemma of choosing one out of six.
Whenever they came to these identical doors, before Sera could even react, the detective had already pushed one open and continued onward.
Sometimes there are even gym leaders standing in the hive rooms, holding maps and trying to strike up a conversation, but the detective ignores them completely, as if randomly picking a door with his eyes closed, and then pushes it open and goes in.
Sera followed the detective in a daze. She noticed that Hugo only pushed the door once in each room, but never encountered a locked door. Moreover, the trainers they met along the way were all different, so it seemed they were on the right track.
After passing through more than a dozen rooms, the situation changed when they reached one of them—
Upon seeing the gym leader holding a map and waiting in the hexagonal room, Sera couldn't help but exclaim in surprise—
"Mr. Hugo, it seems we've come full circle!"
"Oh?" Hugo finally stopped and turned around, looking quite surprised.
Seras pointed to the bewildered gym leader beside him: "Look, isn't this the same person we first encountered? His standing here means we're back to square one, right?"
The trainer looked at him with a puzzled expression, scratching the back of his head in distress, but he did indeed look exactly like the first person he had seen.
Hugo carefully examined the trainer's face, and was suddenly startled. He then looked the trainer up and down again before realizing what was happening. He found it increasingly amusing and couldn't help but press his forehead and burst into laughter—
"What a wonderful Flying Cloud Dojo! I take back my previous criticism, this place is really interesting! Challengers will definitely be terrified to see such a strange gatekeeper standing here."
Miss Sera had no idea what Hugo was talking about or why he was laughing, but the trainer himself spoke up:
"Most of those challengers just stumbled upon this place by chance, and when they meet me, they're only a little discouraged. Few of them actually discover anything strange about it. This is the first time I've met such surprised guests as you."
"That's quite a waste of such an interesting mechanism." The detective shook his head regretfully, then, seeing the bewildered policewoman, he began to explain—
"Although you have seen people who look very similar to this gym leader, they are not the same person. The style of his shoes and the color of his socks are completely different from the trainers we have met before, which means that this is the first time we have met him."
Hugo spoke and laughed, finding the scene before him extremely interesting.
"So we didn't actually go back? But I really did see someone who looks exactly like this trainer."
Sera asked incredulously, convinced that her memory as a detective couldn't possibly be wrong.
Hugo shook his head: "Looking exactly alike doesn't mean they are the same person."
"That's my elder brother." The trainer was kind enough to answer Sera's question promptly.
“We are identical twins, and as you can see, we look very similar. Perhaps it was to create this mechanism that we were hired by Mr. Artie and joined the Flying Cloud Gym, where we are responsible for testing the strength of trainers who come to challenge us.”
Twins...twins? Identical twins?
Sera stammered out the word that was taboo in detective novels.
"Don't you think it's funny? You've walked so far and hard, and you're finally about to find the end, only to find the characters at the entrance standing right next to you... Just thinking about that scene is hilarious." Hugo laughed gleefully.
"Sir, I noticed you don't have a map with you. Did you just open the right doors and come in like this? Is there some special technique you used?" the younger twin asked.
“Maps are completely unnecessary,” Hugo waved his hand dismissively, then explained—
"This six-choice puzzle isn't difficult to solve. Just observe the marks on the ground. Among the six doors in the room, some doors simply cannot be opened, resulting in a large accumulation of dust under the door seams. Doors that are frequently used wouldn't have this problem..."
"So as long as we keep the clean door under the crack, we can find the right way?"
"That's right. In addition, there are small details such as the footprints left on the ground and the shine on the door that can serve as evidence to distinguish the main gate. This honeycomb maze has a complex structure, and it is difficult to clean it thoroughly, so the traces of use left behind are particularly obvious."
Hugo snapped his fingers crisply, then turned to the trainer, pointed to a door beside him, and asked, "Is this the last mechanism?"
"Yes, but it's slightly different from the previous door."
"Hmm..." Hugo stroked his chin, approached the door, and then raised an arm—
They went straight through the gate!
At the same time, Gym Leader Chosella explained, "This is a jelly-shaped beeswax specially made by Mr. Artie. It can maintain its shape at room temperature, but it can easily deform when it encounters external force. The mechanism made from it is called the 'Jelly Door'. And behind the door is Mr. Artie, whom you are going to meet."
Before he could finish speaking, the detective in the white coat had already slipped inside the jelly door.
The policewoman sighed, covered her black hair with the hood of her hoodie to prevent it from getting stuck with beeswax, and then ducked into the doorway.
.
Upon entering, Sera momentarily thought she had traveled through time, because the detective's words were so strange.
The two were standing in an indoor battle arena. At the end of the arena was a space filled with paints and painting tools. Mr. Yati's tall and thin figure slowly walked out from there.
“That melancholy reader from this morning!” the curator greeted in a loud, operatic tone. “It’s truly regrettable that so many unexpected things happened, but the sketch I promised to give you is now finished. Would you like it…?”
“Mr. Artie, your alibi that you specially created this morning was quite successful. Compared to that, your methods of committing the crime were much clumsy. It seems that whether you are a dojo leader or an art master, you should still focus on your job.”
Upon hearing this, the Bug-type Gym Leader's face instantly turned ashen!