Chapter 170: Chapter 170: Artificial Human_1
"Chief, you’ve finally returned!"
As Aiden was about to head to his office upon returning to the prison, Veronica, who was standing at the office door, approached him.
"What happened, what’s going on?" Aiden read a touch of anxiety on her face, suggesting that something seemed to have gone awry in the prison.
"An inmate who’d just arrived a few days ago suddenly died," Veronica reported succinctly, "He’s now over at the medical wing. You should take a look!"
Aiden’s expression immediately turned grave.
In the past, brawls every two days and riots every three were common occurrences at Rose Iron Prison, and an inmate’s death was nothing out of the ordinary. But ever since his appointment, the discipline within the prison had improved significantly—not that deaths from non-natural causes had been entirely eradicated, but they had indeed been reduced to a considerable rarity.
Aiden promptly set out for the medical wing, with Veronica closely following behind.
Upon opening the door to the medical ward, he saw not only the block warden, Flandre, and the doctor in charge of the core area, but also the slave Meiruki was present.
He immediately focused his gaze on a bed not far away, on which the inmate lay covered with a white cloth.
He gave a glance, and Veronica stepped forward to temporarily lift the white cloth from the inmate’s face.
Aiden looked closely. The face appeared quite young, skin turned bluish due to congealed blood, and he had a vague impression of the face, but it was not deep. The inmate must have been relatively new, and his file did not indicate any particular need for additional attention.
"What exactly happened, tell me," Aiden said, turning to Flandre.
"Inmate 3624, Bonnie Whales, a necromancer, was arrested for illegal grave-digging and given a six-month sentence. She was transferred here the day before yesterday," Flandre reported briefly, "Around two o’clock in the afternoon, she suddenly collapsed while working in the textile workshop. We brought her here to the medical ward for emergency treatment, but there was no improvement. At three o’clock, her respiration and heartbeat stopped, and resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful."
"Was there anything unusual before that?"
"No, I asked others who were present, and until she collapsed, she didn’t exhibit any symptoms," Flandre confirmed with a shake of her head.
"Did you contact her family?"
"No, we tried to find her contacts at the address she registered, but discovered it was a shoemaking workshop—nobody there knew her. The address was falsified."
Aiden mused over the information in his mind: the contact address outside the prison was fake. In other words, the inmate’s identity could also be fake—previously, Meiruki had fabricated an identity to deliberately get into the prison, and this type of inmate was actually quite common in the autonomous regions. Itinerant alchemists and dark wizards with unconfirmed identities would still be sentenced and sent to prison if caught committing a crime.
Necromancers arrested for illegal grave-digging were not uncommon at both Rose Iron Prison and Thorn Iron Prison. Most necromancers in this world only dabbled in the basics, barely capable of animating corpses or summoning spirits. Someone like Asenna, who could use necromancy like artillery in direct combat, was extremely rare, and liches who knew how to create a Life Box were even rarer.
These so-called "necromancers" were transferred in and out of Rose Iron Prison at an average of two or three a month; nothing out of the ordinary, so such cases did not warrant a report to Aiden, the prison warden.
According to Flandre’s description, it seemed the inmate suffered a sudden fatal illness, with no prior symptoms... it didn’t seem like a contagious disease.
He then turned to the doctor: "Cause of death, any leads?"
"Still... not quite clear." The prison doctor answered wearily, "There are no external injuries or signs of poisoning, the symptoms are very much like multi-organ failure. I suspect she had some chronic hidden ailment, but specifically... we’ll probably know after an autopsy."
Aiden furrowed his brows.
He had seen sudden deaths of inmates before, and nothing seemed particularly amiss on the surface.
But at this moment... it felt somewhat delicate.
Then, Meiruki chimed in, "No, it’s not that simple."
Her words drew everyone’s attention in the room, Veronica, Flandre, and the prison doctor all showed a degree of astonishment on their faces, only Aiden asked seriously, "What do you mean?"
"It’s not just a simple case of multi-organ failure. My experience with dead bodies is fairly substantial, and the rate of decomposition after her death is much faster than that of an ordinary person." Meiruki explained while folding her arms, "This phenomenon feels strangely familiar to me. The way this inmate died... it reminds me of what it looks like when an artificial human’s life comes to an end. I once studied a bit of life alchemy with Lamia. Artificial humans have very short lifespans, just a few days, and they die just as suddenly."
Artificial human—Aiden immediately became alert.
He recalled Melissa’s words from before: "You’ll soon find out that I’m telling the truth."
Mortals using the "propagation" authority of divinity to create offspring through accelerated asexual reproduction, like alchemy-made artificial humans, would have fatal flaws.
The Harvest Mother Cult might have already started infiltrating this prison...
"Impossible. If it was an artificial human created by alchemy, we would have found problems during the physical examination," Flandre stated emphatically.
"I also find it a bit strange. I took some of her blood for tests just now, but didn’t find anything unusual. She seems to be a bit closer to a normal person than the artificial humans I know of..." Meiruki said, giving the body on the bed an interested glance, "To be honest, I’m quite intrigued, Warden. This inmate doesn’t seem to have any family either. Why not... let me handle the body examination?"
"Of course not. If it’s to be done, it must be someone sent by the prosecutor’s office, it’s not our place to intervene." Aiden replied coldly, then turned to Flandre, "Have someone notify the prosecutor’s office and the heresy tribunal. The body should be preserved according to regulations. I’m going to write a report."
"If she really is an artificial human, she definitely won’t last until then. Her body won’t make it through the night before decomposing on its own," Meiruki stated.
"Have someone watch the body and keep a record," Aiden ordered without changing his expression.
If the body showed signs of decomposition tonight, that would certainly confirm the origins of the deceased.
"Warden... do you perhaps have a clue about the origins of this inmate?" Meiruki suddenly sensed something.
Upon hearing this, Veronica looked at Aiden with surprise.
"This is none of your concern." Aiden glanced at Meiruki, signaling her not to pry further.
"Sir..." Veronica hesitated.
"Veronica." Aiden turned to look at her, "Go organize the records of all the inmates who were incarcerated this week and last week. Bring them to my office for me to review."
