socalfunplaces Chapter 76 Chimchar's Pre-Battle Preparations
Chapter 76 Chimchar's Pre-Battle Preparations
Over the following weekend, the entire staff of Yuqi Mansion went out to help the little fire monkey improve its gaming skills.
Azure accompanied the little monkey through match after match, and now the assistant's skill level is comparable to Hugo's.
Eevee, Piplup, and Turtwig, the three little guys weren't really of much use, so they sat next to the monkey, cheering it on enthusiastically. Every time Chimchar achieved a new best score, this little group of Pokémon would erupt in thunderous cheers.
Hugo even tried to invite Officer Jenny, who was taking a break from her busy schedule, to come over and let this expert in horse racing personally guide the little fire monkeys on their playing techniques.
In response, elite police officers, who were overwhelmed with cases of telephone fraud, offered this explanation:
"You didn't invite me to something this fun?!"
When she arrived at the Feathered Residence, she even forcibly brought along her unlucky deputy, Sera...
.
"It's a pleasure to meet you again, Detective Hugo. Your performance in the locked-room mystery was absolutely brilliant. You solved almost the entire case, yet you gave all the credit to my superior, which also made me a hero. I really don't know how to thank you enough..."
Miss Sera bowed deeply to the detective with a shy expression, it was unclear whether she was genuinely praising his achievements or feeling ashamed of having such a boss.
Meanwhile, her superior, Officer Jenny, had already tossed her police hat aside, leaped onto the sofa in front of the LCD screen, and expertly grabbed the controller to start a game with the little fire monkey.
Hugo waved his hand, both amused and exasperated, and said in a very humble tone, "Don't worry about it. It was my request to Officer Jenny to keep my identity hidden. I recently had a falling out with Team Plasma, and if I were to show my face and attract the attention of other forces, my situation would be quite dangerous. So I should be thanking you."
"Don't listen to that detective in the white coat's nonsense. He ripped me off for this case. I didn't even have a scratch, yet he demanded such a high medical fee!" Officer Jenny shouted angrily as the game loaded.
"I have a question. Why are you two wearing police uniforms when you come to Yuxi Residence today?"
Bilan, who volunteered to serve tea to the two guests, looked at the two policemen in beige uniforms with some confusion.
The bespectacled deputy officer's cheeks flushed even more, and he lowered his head in silence, while Officer Jenny continued playing her game nonchalantly, pretending not to hear.
Hugo curled his lip and mercilessly exposed, "They probably deserted the team during patrol, and probably used the excuse of discovering some special clues to sneak out and do nothing."
"But aren't you also pursuing dark web organizations? In other words, we're working diligently too! Yes, we're doing our utmost for the security of Feiyun City!"
In the game, Officer Jenny, riding Mareep, releases "electromagnetic waves" to try to interfere with the little Chimchar next to her, while spouting righteous nonsense.
Why is it Mare the sheep again? Did Hugo learn his game style from Officer Jenny? Don't they think the sheep's art style is weird...?
Azure watched the match on the screen, lost in thought as she sipped her tea. Suddenly, the girl's brow furrowed slightly—she felt her tea wasn't as good as Piplup's or Turtwig's, even though she used roughly the same amount of tea leaves. What was the difference…?
Hugo glanced at his assistant, noticing her troubled expression, and then, as if he could read her mind, began to explain—
"There's a hidden stat in this game called 'Heavenly Grace,' which determines the drift speed and instantaneous acceleration during a drift, and also has a huge impact on the mount's traction—it's extremely important. Mareep excels in this stat, and its small collision radius makes it relatively easy to avoid skill effects, so many players with a deep understanding of the game like to use it. However, Mareep's stats in other areas are a bit lacking; it doesn't have many proactive attack skills, which could be considered a weakness."
The detective took his teacup, took a sip, and with a knowing look on his face, continued leisurely—
"In addition, the water should be poured in when the tea leaves are boiling and bubbling. This way, the aroma of the tea leaves can be fully released and more of the water-soluble substances can be dissolved. If the water has been boiling for too long, all the air dissolved in the water will be expelled, and tea brewed with such repeatedly boiled water will not taste as fresh as tea brewed with freshly boiled water."
"Don't try to read minds!" Azure said angrily, having had two of her thoughts read at the same time.
Hugo nodded absentmindedly. For some reason, whenever the detective squinted and looked half-dead, he exuded an aura of "I know I was wrong, but I'll do it again next time."
On the other side, Chimchar successfully defeated Officer Jenny, whose gaming skills were even better than Detective's, in a three-round game, and looked completely relaxed and at ease, indicating that his special training was very successful.
Officer Jenny, amazed, patted the back of the little fire monkey's head: "This level is impressive! Hugo, how did you teach him?"
The detective, sitting on the sofa in the distance, shrugged: "I only taught it the basics; it figured out the rest on its own."
The assistant seemed to have figured out something profound, and suddenly slammed her hand down, offering a very constructive perspective—
"Could it be like weight training, where as long as a Pokémon can withstand Hugo's bad luck and train successfully, its talent will explode after leaving Hugo?"
"No," the detective denied without hesitation, shaking his head. Why were these women always so optimistic and naive?
"I used to have this idea too, but experiments have proven that this argument is not valid. It's just a simple bad luck aura, without any auxiliary function, and it has always been like this from the past to the present."
"Then how do you explain this child's learning ability? He's only been playing this game for less than two days, right?" Azure asked, still somewhat skeptical.
"Talent, perhaps? It learned to pick locks pretty quickly, didn't it? But Azure, you still haven't mastered the pin-picking technique, have you?"
"Hey, don't discuss this kind of topic in front of the police. Theoretically, we're still on duty."
Officer Jenny lazily warned as she watched the replay of the game, then turned the topic back to the game: "It's too perfect, there's not a single flaw in the play. Is there really any room for improvement in this kid?"
Hugo sighed: "Leaving aside the situation of the little Chimchar, its opponent definitely has no room for improvement..."
The detective then told Officer Jenny that they were going to face a hacker opponent who would definitely be using cheat codes.
Officer Jenny was initially startled, but quickly recovered: "But even with cheat codes, the other side can't directly tamper with the game data, right? They can't fly to the finish line at the very beginning of the game, right? Otherwise, what's the point of the competition?"
“Exactly so.” Hugo snapped his fingers.
"Cheat devices in video games mainly fall into two categories. One is external game modification software, generally referred to by players as 'hacks.' It directly modifies in-game data, altering the game's original settings and rules in a way that disrupts the balance. For example, it could keep a mount constantly accelerating or make a character instantly reach the finish line. But the old man probably used the other type—"
"What is the other type?" The policewoman was a little puzzled. She didn't realize that even game cheats came in so many varieties.
"Another type is called 'game script,' which is similar to extreme positioning and seamless attacks. It uses programs to achieve reaction speeds and precision that are impossible for human operators. This type of script is very useful in games with fixed maps, such as horse racing games."
Do you think the other side would use game scripts to battle against Chimchar?
Hugo nodded: "To be able to cheat in an online competition without being detected by the organizers, he must have used the latter method. Therefore, in this competition, he would at most pre-set the manipulation program and, with the help of the cheat software, perform perfect operations frame by frame so that the mount in the game would race along the predetermined optimal route."
"Can't we use moves from the game to interfere and make the opponent's programming fail and become uncontrollable?" Officer Jenny had a flash of inspiration and offered a constructive suggestion.
“I’m afraid that’s difficult.” The detective shrugged. “In this situation, the hacker would switch to manual operation, deal with the crisis, and then hand over command back to the program. As soon as his hand touches the joystick, command will transfer to the human side, and it will automatically return when he releases it. This transition is almost instantaneous.”
"The worst part is that you chose the longest track in the game!"
Officer Jenny clutched her head, lamenting helplessly as she had spent the most time playing among everyone present: "In the Tour of Carlos, there are countless curves waiting for Chimchar to make mistakes, while the opponent is a machine that can never make a mistake. It's simply an invincible opponent."
“Sir,” Sera suddenly interjected, “I remember when you were introducing this game to me, you mentioned that there’s another way to win this horse racing game, didn’t you?”
Upon hearing this, Detective Hugo's eyes suddenly lit up, and he looked thoughtful.