Volume 9: Molten Mine Chapter 462: Lack of Clues
"What else do you know?" Aya Breya stared at Ke Lan. She knew that Ke Lan's words were just to fool her, but she had no way to deal with it. After all, her superiors did not approve their request to interrogate Ke Lan and others.
And now, this guy has even become his superior...
This is probably the feeling of "helplessness".
"I've already told you." Ke Lan shrugged. "It's your turn to answer my question. What is the last mission of the 776 Special Forces Team?"
"I don't know either." Aya's answer was also quite straightforward. "Haven't you obtained the highest authority in the Security Bureau's archives? Since you didn't find these things, it means that they were just like the restart of the 'Aguna Kotor' project. They were not archived at all... or they were completely deleted ."
"How much do you know about the attack on the Security Bureau headquarters by the Seed of Erosion?" Ke Lan asked another question. "The only description in the file is the number of casualties and loss statistics. These data are dry and difficult to imagine. I want to know more details."
"I hadn't joined the Security Bureau at that time. How much do you think I could know?" Aya asked back.
"I think it's impossible that no one in the Security Bureau has mentioned this kind of thing. Although it may be a shame for you, there will always be some curious guys who want to find out the truth... Even if it's an exaggerated legend, tell us about it." Ke Lan urged.
"There is no legend." Aya shook her head slightly. "Although there is no gag order within the Security Bureau, few people are willing to mention the incident... All the staff involved in the attack have either chosen to retire or transferred from front-line positions. Now in the entire Security Bureau, except for a very small number of senior executives, there is no one who has personally experienced the incident." Aya explained.
"What a pity." Ke Lan stood up, carefully folded the small note written in Spanish into a square the size of a fingernail, and carefully stuffed it into the sealed bag inside the equipment used to store important items.
"Do we need to continue the autopsy?" Ivan, who was squatting next to the corpse, raised his head and looked at Ke Lan.
"Well, continue the autopsy." Ke Lan said, "At least we have to find out how Alfonso died."
…
While the autopsy work was proceeding in an orderly manner, Layton's drone discovered some new clues.
Alfonso's equipment and clothes were scattered less than twenty meters away from the body. After making sure there was no danger around, Layton picked up all these things.
There were no obvious signs of damage on Alfonso's protective suit and external equipment, but the lining was torn to shreds. At the same time, Ivan also found fiber fragments from these clothes inside his fingernails.
This shows that it is very likely that he tore the clothes himself.
"This guy...does he have a mental illness like exhibitionism?" The Hound said with a pout.
"Not necessarily. He could be crazy." Ke Lan looked through Alfonso's equipment and said without looking up, "There are many hunters who have gone insane due to unknown influences in the ruins."
"Could he have peeled off his skin himself? Where did he hide the knife?" The hound's eyes moved to the abdomen of the corpse. "Could it be...could it be that he swallowed it himself?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ivan used a large scalpel to cut open Alfonso's abdomen, as if to verify this possibility.
The stomach was empty and there was no suspicious residue in the esophagus and intestines.
"I think even if he is crazy, he can't complete such a delicate operation as skinning." Ke Lan picked up a piece of fabric and said, "Look, this piece of clothing was obviously torn apart by brute force, and skinning requires precise force and angle. If you are not careful, you will hurt the muscle tissue... But Ivan also said that the skinning technique is perfect. This is not a job that can be completed by a crazy person."
"It's impossible for humans to skin themselves," Ivan muttered. "There are some blind spots that can't be reached without professional tools, but I do have a guess."
"What guess?"
"It's also possible that his skin wasn't peeled off, but was 'burned' by some highly corrosive substance. As long as the dosage is properly controlled, the skin can be completely eliminated without damaging the muscle tissue at all." Ivan said, "I once treated a relic hunter who accidentally touched a similar liquid in the ruins. As a result, the skin on the back of his entire hand disappeared, but the bones, muscles and soft tissues under the skin were intact."
"Will this method leave any traces? Blood, pus, or some kind of residue?" Ke Lan looked at the pile of things uncertainly. "There is no blood on his clothes, and the ground between the clothes and the body is also clean. The only blood is on the handle and receiver of the gun. This is very strange."
"It's very strange, but it's not impossible. As far as I know, with the current level of human technology, there are several ways to perfectly replicate this scene, not to mention the Alpha civilization and the more advanced Third Civilization." Ivan said, "The cause of death from the autopsy was severe blood loss, but I couldn't find any severely damaged blood vessels. It's as if the blood in his body evaporated out of thin air. This is what puzzles me."
"In other words, this guy first encountered a monster, then blew up the barrel of his gun, and then, in despair, he went completely crazy, tore off his clothes, and then the monster sucked his blood dry, peeled off his skin, and left his body here?" The Hound tried to reconstruct what happened to Alfonso, but no matter how he thought about it, he felt as if there was a problem in a certain link.
Or in other words, there are problems in every link.
Like the three researchers, no valuable clues were found in Alfonso's personal belongings, whether paper information carriers like diaries or digital information carriers like memory cards or videotapes. The only things with the most text printed on them were his ID card and work badge.
"This shouldn't be the case. For an exploration mission like this that may not return, they should carry as many recording devices as possible. I think it's not excessive to arm them to the teeth with all kinds of cameras. But their personal belongings are too simple, aren't they? Even the patrol team stationed at the base carries more than these, right?" Ke Lan said a little depressed.
"Could it have fallen on the vehicle?" one of Aya's agents suddenly asked.
"The mini camera commonly used by relic hunters and the memory card that can store 24 hours of video footage weigh no more than 100 grams together. It's about the same size as your antique lighter. You can just hang it on the shoulder strap. It's not a burden at all... Many times when I came back from a mission, I only remembered that I had a camera hanging on my shoulder when I was taking a shower... How could such a small thing fall on the vehicle?"
