Cthulhu Panel: One organ mutates every day

Wayne pointed to the 1% reality deviation: "It's better to be careful; there's already pollution in this area."

Matthew glanced at the reality deviation meter on his wrist; the pointer indeed pointed to 1%. He nodded, approving of Wayne's keen observation.

Ethan took a few steps over, leaned close to Wayne's ear, and whispered teasingly, "No, why are you so sensitive? It's only a 1% reality deviation and you can't even walk."

"If I weren't perceptive, how could I be your information provider?" Wayne gently nudged Ethan with his shoulder.

Lillian stepped closer, a hint of worry on her face: "Are you feeling unwell? We're not in a hurry, you can rest for a bit."

The intelligence team colleague ahead urged impatiently, "Stop dawdling, can you hurry up? We haven't even reached the scene yet."

Ethan turned his head and glared at him. These intelligence officers didn't have to take the risks like the investigation team, so they naturally wouldn't understand why they had to be vigilant about even the slightest anomaly.

If these intelligence officers were really put to do the work of the investigation department, they would be wiped out in no time.

Lillian stepped forward, her hands clasped awkwardly in front of her, and smiled politely at her colleague from the intelligence department:

"Our team has been investigating since the start of the mission. I know the colleagues in the intelligence department are working very hard, but please don't disturb our work. In unusual events, every clue is crucial. Your indifferent attitude could lead to disaster. If you can't even wait a little while, I don't mind teaching you the most basic respect for unusual events."

As Lillian spoke, she raised her right arm and took two steps forward, assuming a stance ready to throw a punch.

When Wayne heard Lillian's words, he felt a little warm inside. She actually stood up for him, the trainee investigator. But when he heard the latter part of her words, which sounded like she was about to beat someone up, he almost burst out laughing.

Is it really that powerful?

When her colleagues in the intelligence department saw Lillian's appearance, they instinctively took two steps back.

He knew that although Lillian was easy to talk to and had a good reputation, always appearing gentle and reserved, she could be very difficult to deal with when she got serious, a stark contrast to her usual self. Only the combined efforts of the action team could keep her in check.

Wayne suddenly frowned. Looking at Lillian's posture, he felt the air around him tremble slightly with her breathing, as if it were the prelude to a violent storm.

Was this anomaly caused by Lillian?

[Perception Lv.1 - Observation of the Microscopic] Progress 10.2%

Wayne raised his wrist and glanced at the reality deviation meter:

Reality deviation: 2%

"There was only a 1% deviation just now, but now that Lillian has moved, it's 2%. And the reality deviation meter is showing the highest reality deviation in the vicinity, which means that Lillian's characteristic strength has reached 2%. Is this the official investigator who has achieved a symbiotic balance with the pollution and mastered the characteristics?" Wayne thought to himself.

Seeing the situation escalating, Matthew spoke up to ease the tension: "Lillian is right, a reality discrepancy has occurred. This is very likely due to some contamination escaping from the site, which may be related to the evil god summoning ritual. We must take this seriously."

Lillian put away her fist after hearing Matthew speak, and turned back to continue caring for Wayne.

The intelligence department colleagues' faces darkened, but they were at a loss for what to do.

According to the bureau's regulations, if the investigation section doesn't intervene, the intelligence section really can't do anything about it. After all, the investigation section's work is extremely demanding, and other sections really can't force them to do anything.

He couldn't really take on the job himself; doing so would be thankless and dangerous. So he could only wait for these few people.

Wayne then briefly described his discomfort to Matthew, Ethan, and Lillian, mentioning images such as cuts, blood, and strange syllables that seemed to come from broken vocal cords.

"I don't know how you investigated the scene before we had access to information. I'll give you as much information as I can observe," Wayne said.

Matthew patted Wayne on the shoulder and said, "This has exceeded expectations. You truly deserve to be called a messenger. All this information you've provided will be reported back to the station."

Lillian nodded in agreement, saying, "Yes, yes, Wayne, you've done a great job. These kinds of cases are usually incomplete and lacking in details. When we go on missions, we always lack key information, and when we summarize and report, something is always missing."

Ethan chimed in, "The team leader is right, the information position investigators are indeed... useful."

After being surrounded by several people for a while, Wayne felt that the discomfort he had felt earlier had almost disappeared, but when he glanced at the reality deviation, it was still 1%.

"Let's go, I'm fine now," Wayne said.

Afterwards, the group continued walking towards the scene with their grim-faced intelligence colleagues.

On the way, Wayne kept thinking about why he was the only one who felt that discomfort.

Is it because I am the chosen "messenger" and this body was tainted by that pocket watch that my senses are so sharp?

Or is it because he is a time traveler who has read the "Seven Chapters of the Mysterious Monarch's Secret Scripture" and his mind has already been corrupted?

Or perhaps both?

There is no conclusive evidence or clue.

The key point is that the discomfort disappeared after being interrupted by a teammate.

Could it be understood that one is more aware of the discrepancy between the surrounding environment and reality only when one is alone and lost in thought?

After walking about 500 meters, the gravel path by the lake ahead was surrounded by police officers, and a cordon had been set up.

All the police officers present scattered, turning their backs to the scene, maintaining a tight cordon, both to isolate the scene and to prevent them from seeing any contamination they shouldn't see.

It appears that the city police department had already cooperated with colleagues from the Special Affairs Bureau's Intelligence Division to disperse the crowd and cordon off the scene.

Even so, some curious passersby tried to peek inside, whispering among themselves.

Getting any closer would mean facing unknown threats, so the intelligence officers stopped and gestured for Matthew to "please" to proceed.

Matthew walked straight toward the police station official present.

The person in charge, who appeared to be the captain of the police squad, greeted Matthew with small steps. After nodding obsequiously to Matthew for a while, he gradually became serious and explained the basic situation at the scene.

"It seems that Team Leader Matthew frequently deals with the city police department. The Special Affairs Bureau is under the military, so its authority is naturally above that of the city police department," Wayne thought.

After Matthew finished communicating with the police station officials on site, he signaled Wayne and the others to go to the scene.

"Let's look at the scene first; we'll discuss the case details later."

Led by Matthew, they bypassed the police officers surrounding the scene.

Only then did Wayne witness the scene that required "investigation".

It was an open space by the lake.

The first thing that catches the eye is blood, blood so red it's almost black, flowing out and almost completely dried and congealed.

In the center of the scene lay a bloody "corpse" shaped like a "headless giant," which looked quite eerie under the azure skylight.

At first glance, it looks like some kind of huge humanoid creature lying down, with a body at least four or five meters long, just lying there on the ground, without a head.

Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that it is not a headless humanoid creature.

Instead, it was a "model" hastily pieced together from various remains, with limbs and a torso, but no head.

Those severed limbs were all mangled and bloody.

But when Wayne stepped forward, he was able to clearly recognize the origin of these severed limbs based on some details.

They are not human remains.

It's probably four kinds of animals: cows, sheep, horses, and pigs. There might be other animals, but it's not obvious at the moment.

Strangely, not only is this pieced-together "headless giant" headless, but the heads of the cows, sheep, horses, and pigs are also nowhere to be found.

Could it be that there was too much time to piece the head back together?

Or perhaps the person who pieced them together couldn't conveniently carry the head?

Wayne turned to the team leader and asked, "Team leader, what are your thoughts?"