Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 290 A Head Grown for Decapitation

Chapter 292 A Head Grown for Decapitation

"Yes, I've already reported the situation here to my superiors. Thanks to Miss Zhu Lan being here, they've tentatively approved of my current approach."

The bright yellow light contrasted with the night outside the window, dispelling some of the eerie atmosphere brought by the bloody case.

In the middle of the main hall of the Forest Mansion, Officer Jenny from the Alliance's special department faced the round table, giving orders as she explained the current situation, her hand still resting on the head on the chair, its authenticity unknown.

"However, the patience of my superiors is not limitless. In the Western-style mansion where Akari is rumored to have lived in the past..."

The discovery of a decapitated head, suspected to belong to a member of Team Galactic, is far too sensitive, whether true or false. They demand we present convincing investigative findings by midnight tonight. Otherwise, regardless of the head's authenticity, a group of fully armed police officers from Baidai City will undoubtedly arrive early tomorrow morning and cordon off the Forest Mansion.

It was past 7 p.m., and the minute hand of the clock had completed a semicircle. Midnight was less than five hours away.

A question quietly surfaced in the minds of everyone, including Officer Jenny: In such a short time, could the matter really be resolved smoothly?

"Ha, what a bolt from the blue."

Amidst the silent crowd, the owner of Meidan Pavilion shook his feet with utter impatience, the hard toes of his shoes tapping the ground at a leisurely pace, making a clattering sound.

"Such a boring thing happened at this rare gathering."

That's life. Bad things always outnumber good things, and both like to surprise you.

Mr. Hayden, sitting next to Meidan, looked much more composed. He spoke while supporting his cane on his right elbow and elegantly raising his left hand to attract everyone's attention.

Then, he turned to Officer Jenny, his gaze deep, as if he were carefully assessing his opponent's bottom line, just like when speaking at a board meeting. "However, considering our position here, regardless of whether Ms. Officer Jenny or your team finds any results in the end, Ah Ying and I intend to leave before nightfall. After all, I came here only to meet an old friend and do not wish to be dragged into a storm that could damage the company's reputation."

Faced with the two elderly people, one tough and the other soft, each displaying their uncooperative attitudes, Officer Jenny did not directly confront their offensive. Instead, she smiled and said, "It seems that you two, like me, already figured out the authenticity of this dead man's head. You didn't even participate in the verification process. You truly are experts in the field of biology and big bosses in the medical industry, aren't you? It took me quite a while to confirm this myself."

"I've studied biology my whole life, I'm not going to be fooled by a cyborg head," Professor Medan said coldly, without denying it.

"An android?!" Zina, the maid standing behind the owner, was taken aback.

"Of course, did you really think a grown man would die in this mansion?"

The old man laughed loudly—

"Only a naive young girl who's never seen the world would be fooled by such a childish trick, right? Hair, skin, muscles, teeth, lips, nose tip, blood—any film company could easily find a makeup team that could recreate these things quite accurately, not to mention the puppeteers and model makers who make a living by creating such props. In this day and age, a lifelike android head is nothing more than a slightly expensive toy."

I really don't understand how simply faking some foul-smelling blood on the neck could cause such a commotion among everyone present.

"But that head, it really looks—just like the real thing," Vinnie muttered.

"The eyes," Mei Dan said firmly. "The eyes are the most honest thing—of course, I don't believe in the existence of some mystical thing like the spirit in the eyes; I'm referring to their biological structure."

The old man pointed two fingers at his sharp eyes. "Within these spheres, each a little over twenty millimeters in diameter and length, lies a highly intelligent, high-definition camera. Dense connective tissue forms its shape, flexible tendons allow it to rotate freely, blood flowing through delicate vessels provides energy, and a gel-like vitreous body skillfully guides the light, projecting the world before our eyes methodically onto the network woven by the optic nerve. No mechanical structure can replicate such an intricate structure, and even if a similar shape could be created, its function could not be reproduced—let alone simulate the morphological changes of the human eye after death."

"I see!"

Officer Jenny raised an eyebrow, stopped pressing down on the head, and clenched her fist, excitedly agreeing as if suddenly realizing something. "As the saying goes, the eyes are the windows to the soul, so it's certainly fitting to use them to distinguish truth from falsehood. This reminds me of the forensic knowledge my relatives were discussing at the gathering—after death, the pupils of the human eye dilate and become fixed. After a while, the transparent cornea, without blood supply, will become cloudy and turn white due to edema and necrosis. But on this head, we can't see any such traces."

Only artificial flowers can bloom forever, and only mannequins can have eyes that are always bright.

"So, what was inside the eye sockets of that head was just a pair of glass beads," Mei Dan concluded.

Everyone focused their attention once again on the head in Officer Jenny's hand. They could see that the wide, frozen eyes were still staring in astonishment at the void.

The reason these eyes give off such a strained impression is because of the bloodshot veins surrounding their wide-open eyeballs—a feature that is clearly impossible to see in the head of a dead person who has lost all blood supply. Not to mention the two pupils in the middle of the eyes, which show no signs of dilation whatsoever.

"And Mr. Hayden? How did you figure out that the head was a fake?" Officer Jenny turned to Hayden again. "Did you also guess by observing the changes in the eyes after death?"

"Unlike Meidan, I returned all my biological knowledge to my university professors a long time ago."

The big boss in the pharmaceutical industry shrugged, shook his head self-deprecatingly, and slowly said, without denying that he had seen through the shady dealings long ago.

"In fact, I noticed something unusual when Miss Officer Jenny brought the head into the house."

"That's the first thing you see when you see a head!" Officer Jenny complained helplessly.

Neither Hayden nor Medan went up to the roof, so they didn't see the "Chen Hu" scene inside the attic. Therefore, when Officer Jenny brought the head into the second floor, that was their first encounter with the head.

While Miss Officer Jenny was still investigating the scene in the attic, Miss Venetian and the others had already come downstairs.

"Of course, they also told us what they saw inside. With that mental preparation, we weren't too shocked or stunned when we saw it," Hayden explained.

"So what kind of anomaly did you discover?"

"The first odd thing we noticed was that you seemed to be struggling a bit when you were carrying the severed heads. As the police officer inspecting the property..."

Theoretically, when moving a head, you should support the cheeks with both hands and gently slide it downstairs without damaging the body as much as possible. However, when you lift the head, you move it by supporting the chin with both hands—even though this makes your gloves bloody.

?

"One wrong move and we've leaked the secret." Officer Jenny sighed.

"The next discovery further confirmed my suspicions—after the autopsy, when you placed this thing on the chair through the bath towel, it made a heavy thud. These two things combined indicate that the weight of this head far exceeded what you, Officer Jenny, had anticipated, to the point that you had to use a more convenient and forceful method when moving it."

Hayden raised his cane, pointing it at the severed head. "A head severed from the jaw, without even the nape of the neck, and severely bloodless, couldn't possibly have such weight. The only explanation is that there's something wrong with the material. Beneath the lifelike skin, what's wrapped isn't flesh and bone, but rather denser steel wires, copper wires, and bionic muscles."

"Well, it's not quite steel bars or copper wires, but that's roughly how it is."

Seeing that everyone present was a shrewd and capable person, and unable to make a name for herself with the autopsy results, the policewoman was somewhat disappointed. However, having already gone this far, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue.

"After noticing that the head was not the right weight, I examined the cross-section of the neck and confirmed that the bones supporting the head were not made of calcium like those in a normal human body, but rather of stainless steel that mimics the structure of a skeleton. The remaining blood and muscles looked similar, but they were just superficial. Their pathways and veins were completely different from those in a normal human body. Therefore, I concluded that this was not a real human head, but a very exquisitely crafted dummy head."

Since the head is not a real person, there was no decapitation involved. The body beneath the severed section may never have been manufactured at all.

"Then why is it in this Western-style mansion?" Zhu Lan Champion, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up.

She was still holding the ancient book she had brought out of the curator's room.

"Considering the situation of this Forest Mansion, the reason shouldn't be hard to guess—" Officer Sass said, feeling as if she had grasped a bit of inspiration.

But at that moment, two voices spoke in unison, interrupting the policewoman's thoughts—"Is that even a question?"

Meidan and Hayden, these old classmates, spoke at the same time, their tones even perfectly synchronized.

"Of course, it's because those fanatical theists chased me all the way here."

"Naturally, it's because some organizations and companies that are hostile to my company want to smear me."