Cthulhu Panel: One organ mutates every day

After observing for a moment, Ethan was the first to answer:

"It's obvious that it's either some kind of niche prank, or some kind of evil god summoning ritual or sacrificial ritual. Considering that there's already a 1% reality deviation in the vicinity, it's definitely not a prank. It's most likely related to a cult."

Matthew, summarizing the information he had just received from the police station, added:

"Ethan's judgment is pretty much correct. According to the police, a witness saw a worker set these up here. The police then investigated and found that the worker had committed suicide at home. We'll go to the scene of the worker's death later to investigate his social connections and gather all the relevant clues."

Wayne asked in confusion, "Huh? That's it?"

Ethan analyzed:

"What else? Such a bizarre, procedural suicide is undoubtedly related to a cult. This cobbled-together headless giant is most likely the key element of the ritual. Next, we just need to find similar rituals throughout the city and eradicate them completely. Of course, we are only responsible for collecting information; the suppression will be handled by the Operations Section."

Lillian also turned her attention away from the headless giant and smiled in agreement:

"Yes, it went very smoothly this time, and there were no unexpected changes. The follow-up ideas and directions are very clear. Everyone worked hard."

Is it related to summoning evil gods?

Having finally arrived at the scene, how can the investigation end so easily?

This is a great opportunity to accumulate progress in [Perception].

Wayne pleaded, "Team leader, don't rush off. Give me some time; I want to get closer and take a closer look."

Matthew pondered for a moment, then nodded, thinking that Wayne might be able to discover other information.

"We have collected all the key information from the scene, and there have been no abnormal changes. If you feel it is necessary to continue investigating, I will not stop you, but please be careful."

Wayne stepped forward, squatted down, and began to observe on his own.

Seeing Matthew's lack of reaction, Ethan asked in a low voice, "Team leader, how can a trainee investigator act more like an investigator than a legendary investigator? Are all messengers like this?"

Matthew, leaning on his black umbrella, recalled, "In my understanding, messengers have rather unique physical constitutions and even personalities. Look at that messenger from the Operations Department; even Lillian had a hard time against him. Wayne is also a messenger, so his performance isn't surprising."

Lillian chimed in with a smile, "Yes, yes, every messenger is amazing, but I think our Wayne is even more amazing. Look how hard he works, he's definitely no worse than that messenger from the Operations Department."

Wayne completely ignored his teammates' discussion, focusing his attention on the pile of mangled flesh in front of him.

The closer you get, the stronger the smell of blood becomes.

"This smell of blood... is different from the smell of human blood in the wind before."

Wayne slowly crouched down, looking closely at the "headless giant," wanting to confirm one thing.

The "headless giant" exudes an evil aura; although it is lying flat, it gives people the illusion that it may stand up at any moment.

It might even make one wonder whether it's lying on the ground or standing in mid-air with the ground as a "wall" against its back.

A severed neck...

Exposed and damaged vocal cords...

It might be related to the strange syllables I heard before.

If this "headless giant" were to come to life and its vocal cords were to vibrate, it would most likely produce those strange syllables.

Make bold assumptions and verify carefully.

Wayne bent down and approached the severed neck of the "headless giant".

He moved closer and closer, squinting his eyes.

The small section of severed neck, pieced together from bits of flesh, made his eyes burn.

"The original plan was to piece together a complete head, but we gave up at the last minute."

"Or was the head already pieced together, but then it was taken away?"

wrong.

My eyes are getting hotter and hotter.

Wayne focused his attention on the details of the severed neck.

The pieced-together neck section is smooth and flat, without any flesh or bone fragments, which seems impossible for a human to achieve with tools.

A bold guess popped into his mind.

Perhaps, this "headless giant" originally had its head pieced together, but it was erased by some unknown force.

Only in this way can we explain why the cross-section of its neck is so smooth, so smooth that it doesn't seem man-made.

Was the head sacrificed to some evil god?

[Perception Lv.1 - Observation of the Microscopic] Progress 12.5%

Wayne turned to look at Matthew and the others, and saw that they looked normal and didn't care about the head at all. It seemed that they were experienced and had already noticed the abnormality at the neck cut.

However, since it has been determined that it is related to a cult, this abnormality is not considered abnormal at all.

Are there really no further leads?

Wayne felt that the burning sensation in his eyes had not disappeared, but had become more intense, especially when he looked at the severed neck.

Reality deviation: 1%

There is no further pollution.

He took two steps, enduring the discomfort, to examine the transverse section of his neck more closely from the front.

On the dark red cross-section, only some muscle textures could be seen, with no other clues.

But the intense stinging in his eyes told him that this was where the problem lay.

Suddenly, in his field of vision, the muscle textures that should have conformed to biological characteristics slowly wriggled and twisted, eventually forming a picture, or rather a symbol.

A strange human face.

It has two eyes, a long ear on each of the upper left and right sides, and a long beard on each of the lower left and right sides.

Overall, it resembles a human face with two eyes, two long ears, and two long beards.

[Perception Lv.1 - Observation of the Microscopic] Progress 13.1%

Worried that he wouldn't see the symbol if he looked away, Wayne traced it on the ground with his finger. Once he had almost perfectly copied the human head symbol, he turned and called out:

"Come quick, look! There's a human face symbol here."

"Wow, a face symbol! That's an incredible discovery!" Lillian exclaimed with delight as she ran over, muttering to Matthew and Ethan, "See? Wayne from our group is still the best."

"A face symbol? Team leader, could it be...?" Ethan asked.

Matthew: "Hopefully not. Let's go check."

Before long, the group gathered around the "headless corpse" and, based on Wayne's description, they all clearly saw the "face symbol".

Wayne looked around and noticed that Matthew's expression was a little stiff, as if he had seen this human head symbol before.

"Team leader, is there anything to say?"

Ethan grabbed Wayne's shoulder and whispered, "I'm telling you... you've done a great job this time."

Lillian crouched down next to Wayne, her fresh hair scent filling the air: "Yes, Wayne, you've done a great job. This symbol is related to the incident involving our head of the investigation department."

"The head of the investigation department? The team leader told me he's gone mad," Wayne asked.

"Yes, at the scene where the section chief went mad, there was a huge human face symbol drawn, with two long ears and two long beards, almost exactly the same as this one." Lillian's fingers traced the ground, following the human head symbol that Wayne had drawn.

"But what about that copper coin...?" Wayne asked.

Ethan explained, "That copper coin was the section chief's keepsake. It was the section chief's strongest weapon against the pollution, and that face symbol was the source of the pollution at the time. Unfortunately, even though the section chief escaped death with the copper coin, he eventually went insane."

Lillian recalled the misfortune that befell her section chief and a trace of sadness appeared on her face: "Yes, yes, without that copper coin, the section chief would hardly have survived. Hmm? Team leader, you showed that copper coin to Wayne..."

The atmosphere was somewhat somber.

Wayne and the others all looked at Matthew.

Matthew sighed, his tone heavy: "Let's go to the second crime scene first. If it really involves that face symbol, the situation will become very complicated."