chsdbacks Page 102
Page 102
Before Daigo could ask any more questions, Lu Xuan stopped in front of a luxury villa.
"Hello, I am the external affairs manager of Galvin Company."
"I already made an appointment with you yesterday, you should remember, right?"
Lu Xuan gently pressed the doorbell of the luxury villa and gave the camera at the door a signature smile.
"Galvin Company?"
Not long after, a woman's voice came from the camera.
"Yes, Mrs. Iwama."
"I came here for Mr. Qiao."
"Because of yesterday's unexpected incident, there are some related matters that I need to consult with you about."
After a brief silence, Mrs. Iwama did not keep the two outside waiting for long before opening the gate of the mansion villa.
"Then come in!"
"Perfect timing, I also want to know what exactly happened to my husband."
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A moment later, in the hall of the Iwama family mansion.
When Mrs. Iwama walked gracefully down the stairs, Daigo's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
It wasn't because Mrs. Iwama's current home attire was too alluring, nor because of her languid demeanor.
It was simply because Daigo had seen this person on TV.
Or more precisely, Daigo had often seen Mrs. Iwama at various programs and award ceremonies.
"This...this...this..."
They were trembling so much that they could barely speak.
If Daigo remembers correctly, this Mrs. Iwama seems to be a world-renowned director.
Caught completely off guard, the ancient capital city stunned for a moment upon encountering such a world-class director.
"It seems this young man doesn't know who he's meeting this time."
With a bright smile on her face, Mrs. Iwama immediately noticed Daigo's restraint and spoke in a slightly teasing tone.
This was both opening up the topic and Mrs. Iwama expressing her doubts.
Why would Lu Xuan bring along someone who looks like a "newbie" to handle this matter?
"He's just a newcomer; he'll have to grow eventually."
Lu Xuan, sitting on the sofa, glanced at Mrs. Iwama's attire without making a sound, and returned the glance with a faint smile.
"More than that, I'm curious about how much inside information you, Madam, actually know?"
Slightly taken aback, Madam Iwama clearly hadn't expected Lu Xuan to be so blunt, so blunt that it seemed as if he didn't care about the incident at all.
"As expected of a professional."
"This kind of spirit is different from that of ordinary people like us."
Without keeping them in suspense any longer, Mrs. Iwama, who had come downstairs, sat directly opposite the two of them and spoke in a slightly melancholic tone.
“Ever since my husband started investigating Katsumi’s case, I knew that day would come sooner or later.”
"Therefore, when I received your notification yesterday, I almost thought that he had met the same fate as Katsumi."
When talking about her husband, Mrs. Iwama made no attempt to hide her worries.
"Shengjian?"
Having keenly grasped a key name, Lu Xuan thoughtfully repeated Mrs. Iwama's words.
"Yes, that is Shengjian."
Nodding affirmatively, Mrs. Iwama continued.
“He was my husband’s colleague a few years ago and was also the direct leader of the ‘Ryugu Incident’.”
"However, after the 'Ryugu Incident,' Katsumi quickly chose to leave the company, and no one knows where he went after that."
"The other colleagues who participated in that salvage operation with Joe also left the company in the following years and disappeared without a trace."
——Monthly Tickets/Recommendation Tickets——
Chapter 163 The Head Buried Deep in the Sea (Bonus Chapter, Please Support!)
As Mrs. Iwama narrated her story little by little.
Iwama Takashi's experiences before and after the entire incident were truthfully presented to Lu Xuan and Daigo.
Ever since learning from Lu Xuan that the "Dragon Palace Incident" might not be as simple as it seemed, Yan Jianqiao has developed deep suspicions about the deaths of his former colleagues.
So he first visited his former colleagues with whom he had a close relationship, trying to get in touch with them again.
As expected, all of Iwama's efforts were in vain.
Fortunately, at the last moment, Iwama found the direct leader who had spearheaded the "Ryugu Incident"—Katsumi.
Although it was said that something was found, what Iwama actually found was only Katsumi's head.
Or more precisely, it was a model head that looked exactly like Katsumi's.
This model head was salvaged from the deep sea, which is also where Katsumi last disappeared.
Everyone told Iwama that the head might just be a simulation model that Katsumi created using the institute's equipment out of some kind of perverse pleasure.
But the moment Iwama saw the model head, he was absolutely certain that it was Katsumi, who had been missing for many years.
Because there is a scar on the forehead of the model's head that has long since healed.
That was during a sea storm when Katsumi hit his head on the mast while trying to save Iwama, who was a new employee at the time.
Even if Shengjian really did create a one-to-one replica of his own head out of some kind of perverse sense of humor.
It's also impossible to perfectly recreate the scar on the forehead, let alone do so.
All of the above details can only mean that Katsumi died in this sea area many years ago, and his remaining head became the model we see today.
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"It's as if I've been bewitched by some inexplicable force..."
“Since that day, Iwama’s behavior has become strange, and he even brought the model head home.”
Mrs. Iwama's expression became somewhat eerie when she spoke of this experience.
No matter how much she tried to conceal it, a single, unintentional movement revealed Mrs. Iwama's most genuine fear.
"Although 'it' imitates it very well..."
"Not only her appearance, but even her memories are exactly the same as the real Iwama."
“But I’m absolutely certain that ‘it’ is not my husband.”
When she said "it," Mrs. Iwama emphasized her tone.
She lives with a "monster" who looks exactly like her husband but is completely different in essence.
It is easy to imagine the anxiety and fear that Mrs. Iwama has been experiencing during this period.
So when the news of Iwama's hospitalization came yesterday, Mrs. Iwama even felt a sense of relief.
"You believe that what happened to Mr. Iwama is actually a replica of what happened to Katsumi back then?"
He tapped the table thoughtfully.
Lu Xuan felt there was some contradiction in Madam Iwama's words, but he couldn't figure out the key point for a while.
A living person was transformed into a model with only a head remaining.
The things that happened to Katsumi were indeed very strange, but there was no way to prove that the same thing was happening to Iwama.
After all, Lu Xuan knew the Kiriel people quite well.
They might possess or invade the bodies of intelligent life, but there's no need to turn living beings into models.
For the Kiriael, it was a shameful "waste".
Most importantly, Lu Xuan did see some images related to Shengjian in the prophet's memory data.
It seemed to be on a beach, where the prophet was indifferently watching a human being in the distance slowly transform from flesh and blood into an inorganic doll-like figure.
Then, the model sank to the bottom of the sea as it was washed by the waves.
Fish and shrimp in the ocean kept gnawing at the torso of the doll, leaving only the unwilling and fearful head to sink into the trench.
Based on this footage, Lu Xuan was basically able to determine that Sheng Jian's "inorganicification" was not done by the Kiriai.
To be more precise, the Kiriel seem to be trying to determine a certain fact by observing the changes in Shengjian's body.
It's likely that the fate of the missing crew members was similar to that of Katsumi.
"I'm not sure if what happened to Iwama was the same as what happened to Katsumi."
"That's why I'm meeting with you today. I want to know what exactly happened to my husband."
As her inner fear gradually subsided, Mrs. Iwama displayed her qualities as a strong woman.
"Because the reason he started investigating the cause of death of Shengjian and the others only happened after he came into contact with your Galvin Company."
Seeing that Madam Iwama remained as assertive as ever, Lu Xuan, who was deep in thought, suddenly looked up and sneered.
"Hehe, Madam, I think you've misunderstood one thing."
"I've not come here to apologize or atone for my sins."
"The reason your husband is in contact with our company, Galvin, is actually to treat the genetic disease that you and your daughter have."
After a brief pause, Lu Xuan looked at the astonished Mrs. Iwama and continued speaking.
"As for this matter?"
"It was your husband who deliberately withheld some information during his cooperation with us, which led to this tragedy."
"Well, actually, I personally don't want to use the word 'tragedy' to describe this incident."
"In my opinion, Mr. Iwama's current predicament is entirely his own doing."
Lu Xuan was telling the truth on this point; he thoroughly disliked Iwama's personality of getting the benefits and then acting innocent.
Leaving aside the fact that he broke the agreement beforehand, his first thought after causing trouble was to find someone to clean up the mess for him.
If Iwama hadn't approached him, he would have been more or less influenced by the prophetic family's personality...
Lu Xuan was actually quite eager to see how far this incident would escalate.
"Ahem, we at Galvin also deeply sympathize with what happened to Mr. Iwama."
Just then, Daigo, who had been silent until now, spoke up, breaking the tense atmosphere between the two sides.
"However, now is not the time to dwell on the faults of both sides."
"The real issue now is how to minimize this negative impact."
First, he gestured to Lu Xuan with his eyes to stop talking, and then Daigo threw out a crucial question to Mrs. Iwama.
“Madam, according to what you just said, Mr. Iwama brought that model head home.”
"We don't know where that model head is now. Could we take a look at it first?"
——Monthly Tickets/Recommendation Tickets——
Chapter 164 You are dazzling!
Ten minutes later, outside the study on the second floor of the villa.
"Just in case, I'll go in and check first. You and Mrs. Iwama can stay outside."
Standing at the door of the study, Lu Xuan squinted at the study, which was separated from him by only one door, but his expression became much more serious than before.
Dimensions invisible to the naked eye.