Luther left Tropius behind to continue receiving treatment and walked over to Cynthia and the others.
"Number Zero isn't dead."
His words caused Cynthia's pupils to contract sharply. The Elite Four stared at Luther in utter disbelief. After all, Dr. Zishan had supposedly died in the line of duty, his body reduced to ashes.
And yet, he wasn't dead?
Cynthia immediately realized what Luther meant. She urgently asked, "Who is Number Zero?"
---
About thirty kilometers outside Sun Heart City stood a luxurious mansion. Inside the study on the second floor, a thin, wiry old man, impeccably dressed in a tailored suit, finished watching the surveillance footage from around the hotel.
He slowly rose to his feet and gazed out the window without a word. On the video call before him, one of his trusted subordinates was asking for instructions regarding the next phase of the plan.
The old man remained silent for a long time. Finally, he spoke. "Do nothing for now. Leave things as they are."
The order was delivered, and the video call ended. Leader Zero held his wine glass and let out a deep sigh. Sitting alone in the darkness, he gave a bitter laugh before emptying the glass in a single swallow.
There was no next plan anymore.
The failure of today's decapitation strike meant the Pokémon League would now be on full alert. An opportunity like this would never come again.
Twenty years of planning, all for this single day, and it had ended in failure. Everyone he had sent out had been an elite member of the Hodgepodge Organization, his most trusted people. Yet they had failed.
That could only mean one thing: his information had leaked. He didn't know where the breach had occurred, but it no longer mattered. He had no chance left to recover.
---
Leader Zero heard the roars of several Pokémon outside, followed by the sound of them descending through the air.
Smiling faintly, he rose to his feet. With the composure of a host welcoming guests, he walked to the second-floor railing and looked down toward the entrance hall.
Protected by their Pokémon, Luther, Cynthia, Flint, Aaron, Lucian, and Bertha entered the mansion. Standing beneath the warm glow of the crystal chandelier, all of them looked up at the calm, composed man on the second floor.
"So late at night, and all of the Sinnoh League's distinguished guests have come together," Leader Zero said, slowly descending the staircase. "It seems something important has happened."
---
During the journey here, neither Cynthia nor the Elite Four had been able to believe what Luther had told them. They preferred to think that Evergreen had simply tried to drag someone else down with him before dying, that he had lashed out blindly.
But then, Luther carefully recounted every detail, connecting one incident after another, one piece of evidence after another.
Finally, he plugged in the USB drive Evergreen had entrusted to him. The contents left everyone horrified. Even as they stepped through the mansion's front door, a trace of doubt still lingered.
But the instant they saw the man's expression, his bearing, and his calm demeanor, their final doubts vanished.
For more than twenty years, people had searched for the founder of the Hodgepodge Organization, the mastermind hiding in the shadows of Kalos, Sinnoh, Hoenn, and beyond. And the answer was someone every one of them knew.
To the International Police, he was a man of immense prestige. To the Pokémon Leagues across the regions, he had been an outstanding diplomat; it was his eloquence that had helped bring the International Police into existence.
To Luther, he had once offered sincere advice:
"Stay away from Oleander. She's poisonous."
Although that warning had become almost ironic after Oleander gradually changed, at the time it had simply been an old man's heartfelt concern for a younger generation.
Before his death, Evergreen had told Luther only one sentence.
"Whoever proposed tonight's gathering of the Sinnoh League's senior leadership... is Number Zero."
The organizer. The host. One of the International Police's Nine Inspectors.
'Sister.'
---
Sister pulled over a chair and sat halfway down the staircase. Looking at Luther and the others, he wore a contemptuous smile.
Holding a hand to her forehead and suppressing her anger, Cynthia said, "When Luther told me you were Leader Zero, I honestly thought he was joking. You're one of the Nine Inspectors of the International Police. Even after the International Police became independent of your direct control, you still retained enormous prestige, status, influence, connections... You have everything anyone could possibly want. The only person crazy enough to willingly associate with the scum lurking in the sewers would have to be completely insane."
Sister calmly interrupted her.
"I am Hodgepodge Organization's Leader Zero. I founded the Hodgepodge Organization with my own hands. It has existed for twenty years. It infiltrated Hoenn, Kalos, Sinnoh, and even parts of the Unova Region."
His decisive confession shattered the last remaining hope everyone still held.
---
"Luther's parents... I arranged their deaths. I financed the research into the Amplification Device. I ordered the destruction of the underground laboratory. That is your answer. Are you satisfied now?"
"WHY?!" Bertha roared in fury. "Was it all for those damned Amplification Devices?"
Her voice trembled with rage.
"Were you really that desperate for power? So desperate that you'd stop at nothing? So desperate that you ignored the suffering of countless Pokémon, hurting them all just to obtain that power?"
It was the first time Luther had ever seen Bertha wearing such a terrifying expression. Every previous encounter with her had been the same: calm, gentle, and always smiling kindly.
Bertha had voiced the question that everyone wanted answered. Why would someone of Sister's stature, someone who already stood at the pinnacle of authority, commit crimes so monstrous that they outraged both humanity and Pokémon alike?
Over the years, how many Pokémon had died in Hodgepodge Organization experiments? No one could even calculate the number.
All of it just for the Amplification Devices?
Just to oppose the Pokémon League?
Sister was one of the International Police's Nine Inspectors; how could someone like him possibly not understand the true military strength of the Pokémon League?
Since the League's founding, it wasn't that no organizations had challenged its authority, rather, none had ever succeeded.
---
Sister slowly rose from his chair, his cold gaze sweeping across everyone present.
"You want to know why?"
"Then I'll tell you. I want to change the Pokémon League. I want to usher in a new future. I want greater authority. I want the power necessary to realize my ambitions. I want humanity to move forward by making full use of Pokémon's abilities, instead of standing still. The Pokémon League blocked my path, so it needed to disappear. And not just the Sinnoh League, I want every autonomous regional Pokémon League to change."
His low voice sent chills through everyone present. This was his naked ambition, and tonight's attack had already proven that he intended to put those ambitions into action.
---
Cynthia laughed in anger. "You actually think those ridiculous Amplification Devices could overthrow the Pokémon League?"
Sister smiled as well. "I was never like Dr. Zishan. The moment he obtained the Type-3 Amplifier, that fool believed he could challenge all of you. He never understood how powerful the Pokémon League truly is. He never understood how powerful 'you people' are. But I do. A Type-3 Amplifier?"
Sister let out a contemptuous laugh. "Even a Type-30 Amplification Device could still fail against trainers like you. Using brute force against the Pokémon League is the stupidest possible strategy."
"As for the correct path... I won't tell you." He waved his hand dismissively. "I'll leave that opportunity to those who come after me, so that you'll never be prepared."
Knowing that he had already lost everything, Sister mocked everyone present with the madness of a man who had nothing left to lose.
---
Luther silently watched him, then sighed. Holding up the bottle of medicine in his hand, he stepped forward.
"The Amplification Devices can't overthrow the Pokémon League through force... but they 'can' divide the people 'within' the League. They can create internal conflict. The Amplification Devices are a weapon of ideology, aren't they?"
Sister's laughter stopped instantly. Slowly, he turned to look at Luther as the young man stepped to the front of the group.
Luther gazed up at him from the foot of the staircase, his eyes containing nothing but indifference and contempt.
"You're not nearly as noble as you pretend to be. Leading humanity forward, guiding progress, those are all just excuses. Let me expose who you really are."
Blood vessels appeared in Sister's eyes as he glared at Luther.
Luther spoke the final sentence calmly.
"So tell me... is 'eternal life' really that irresistible to you?"
'(End of Chapter)'
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