Cthulhu Panel: One organ mutates every day

In the corner to the side of the entrance, a blurry figure was moving.

The instant the figure appeared at the edge of his field of vision, Wayne pressed his left hand against the revolver at his waist and his right hand directly gripped the crowbar behind his side.

Just as he was about to pull out the crowbar and swing it, the flashlight beam shone completely on him.

Wein then realized that it was not a human figure, but a life-sized humanoid stone sculpture. The sculpture's body was rough, but its face was lifelike, although it was not painted.

"I'll still get startled if someone suddenly appears in my face."

Lillian turned around to be on guard, and seeing that nothing had happened, she continued to check the house, muttering, "Wayne, you have to find something to supplement our nighttime operation. Don't let this be a wasted trip."

Matthew shone the flashlight directly onto the ceiling.

Because the interior of the stone house was not very large, the whole house was brightened up by Matthew's light.

The cramped room contained only a set of old wooden tables and chairs, an iron-framed bed, and storage relied entirely on holes in the walls and wooden boxes.

The rough wooden table was cluttered with a jumble of things: scraps, stone for carving, and broken old bowls.

The food residue in the bowl looked rotten, but the stench was almost completely masked by a pungent smell.

While Wayne was examining the stone sculpture and touching it, his old points did not increase.

This indicates that the stone carving is an ordinary stone carving.

However, the material of this stone sculpture is the same as that of the stone sculptures in Bob's house, and it can even be said that the style and patterns are similar.

The only difference is that the stone sculpture in Bob's house is headless, while the one in Benjamin's house is a complete headed statue.

Strange, I clearly saw a figure moving when I entered, but it turned out to be a statue.

Does this statue move?

Or is that "dynamic" feeling just an illusion created by the changing light and shadow as the flashlight beam sweeps across the scene?

[Perception Lv.1 - Observation of the Microscopic] Progress 27.3%

Wayne glanced at the watch on his wrist; the reality deviation was 0%. He then shook his head, stopped thinking about it, turned around and walked into the house. He went to Matthew's side and reported the situation of the stone carving.

Matthew, leaning on his black umbrella, nodded slightly and pointed to the empty space against the wall on the other side.

There were several large, circular markings in the open space over there, imprinted on the muddy ground for a long time, clearly the outlines of stone carving bases.

It appears that several stone sculptures have been moved.

Bob had seven statues in his house at the time, and one of the largest statues turned into a monster. The base of that statue was about this size. Could it have been placed in this spot before?

Unfortunately, no obvious "face symbols" were found inside the house.

Where did the other stone sculptures that were placed here go?

The trail seems to have gone cold.

Wayne followed Matthew's gaze to the cluttered items on the wooden table, but couldn't make heads or tails of them, so he asked:

"Team leader, what exactly is that smell in the air? This strange smell is a bit like spices."

Matthew pointed to the crumbs on the table:

"These are some clove shavings and camphor wood chips, and some frankincense. I used to work in criminal investigation. These spices are often mixed together to mask the smell of corpses. Look at the ground."

Wayne looked down and shone his flashlight on the ground, finding it covered with traces of clove and camphor wood shavings. Judging from the shape and freshness of the shavings, they had probably been scattered about a week ago or even earlier.

"Do living people put this kind of spice in their homes? If people live here, they'll get pickled up by it."

This is very problematic.

Meanwhile, Lillian wandered around the house on her own, rummaging through some storage boxes, but found nothing of value before meeting up with Wayne and Matthew.

She tilted her head and listened attentively to their conversation.

Matthew pondered for a moment, then asked, "Wayne, what are your thoughts on these spices?"

This is a simple problem.

Wayne stated logically:

"Generally speaking, spices serve two purposes: to mask one's own odor or to mask the odor of other things. Given that this is a spice for masking stench, is Benjamin using it to mask his own odor or to mask the odor of other items in the room?"

Matthew continued, "Which possibility do you lean towards?"

Wayne sorted through the existing information and began to speculate:

"Be bold. Considering he's a crazy old man, if he's trying to cover up the stench in the house, would he really keep a corpse there? But he's powerless and the risk of keeping a corpse there is too high. What if he's trying to cover up the stench of his own body? I think that's possible, but the reason... is rather far-fetched."

"Tell me about it." Matthew seemed to have guessed what Wayne was thinking.

"The only unusual information the intelligence department gave us before was that the Blood Gang's higher-ups claimed that Benjamin had died ten years ago, while the Hofhouse Tavern said that Benjamin had only died last week, and that Bob had given him his funeral."

The two groups of people gave different testimonies. Regardless of which side is correct, what can be confirmed first is that Benjamin himself had a problem. Therefore, I believe that Benjamin used those spices on himself, which means that Benjamin had a putrid smell, or even...”

Matthew glanced at Wayne and said calmly, "Do you think Benjamin is dead or alive right now?"

"I want to see him alive or dead," Wei En said decisively.

Just then, Ethan walked in from outside and reported that nothing unusual had been found nearby. After learning about the current leads and progress, he looked at Wayne and exclaimed in surprise:

"The person is gone, where are you going to look? You don't want to..."

Wayne and Matthew exchanged a glance and said in unison:

"Digging up graves."

Ethan shrugged, not at all surprised by this choice: "Okay, team leader, you decide on the arrangements."

Matthew instructed:

"Benjamin was buried in the South Cemetery, but we don't know exactly which grave. Ethan, go find someone in the Blood Gang who was involved in Benjamin's burial. Lillian, there's a portable telegraph device in the car; go and communicate with the intelligence and logistics departments, and have them prepare to meet you outside the South Cemetery. I'll go find some grave-digging tools nearby. Return here within twenty minutes."

Ethan: "Okay, I can find the Blood Gang leader's place nearby. It won't take much time to get there and back."

Lillian: "No problem, there are people on duty in the logistics and intelligence departments."

"Then what should I do?" Wayne asked.

"You stay on site and see if you can observe any more clues. If the contamination is triggered, Lillian is in the car and will come over quickly," Matthew said.

"Okay." Wayne wanted to stay here a little longer and rummage around, since his old points hadn't increased yet.

Matthew, Ethan, and Lillian all walked out of the stone house.

Only Wayne remained at the scene.

Wayne swept the room with his flashlight but didn't find anything strange inside.

Moreover, Lillian had already searched the entire house.

After a moment's thought, he decided to touch it anyway, just in case he got lucky and found an item that could increase his old points.

And so, Wayne began a thorough, exploratory search using his hands.

Hopefully, nothing unexpected will happen.

However, Lillian was sending telegrams from the car, so there shouldn't be any danger.

Soon, Wayne unearthed a set of old carving tools: chisels, stone hammers, axes, and carving needles. The entire set reeked of a faint stench of decay.

He reached out and touched them one by one.

When the chisel was touched, a faint breath seeped out from it.

Wei En was overjoyed as the twisted threads gathered before his eyes.

[Old Points: 0.01, 0.03, 0.05...]

[Old Points: 0.2]

Growth has ceased.