Chapter 960: Shapeshifter (Ⅰ)

"Mrs. Josephine, Mr. Pinkerton, and Mr. Sheriff, let me state in advance that I have no personal grievances with Master Harry, but..."

Under the expectant eyes of the three, Joan could only bite the bullet and say the doubt that had been circling in his heart for a long time.

"But the Kaufman father and son look alike, which does not prove that they do have a blood father-son relationship."

"Joan, we all know that you are a very serious person, but I hope that you will not think too much about the small probability events on the biological level when it comes to this ethical issue." Mrs. Josephine was gentle and majestic make admonishment.

"Ma'am, I'm really not being pedantic. Mr. Kaufman's suspicion of his son reminds me of a weird detail in the confession of Elder Gumoduo. There may be some connection between the two."

"What weird details?" Pinkerton asked curiously.

"Back when Elder Gumoduo explained that the lover of Kaufman's ex-wife was a handsome young man with greasy hair and pink face when he was alive, he turned into an ugly monster after death. At that time, I vaguely felt that Elder Gumoduo's description of the monster was very strange. Familiar, seems to have seen it somewhere..."

"After thinking about it carefully, I finally remembered what species that monster was."

"You mean the corpse that startled Gumodos?"

Pinkerton opened the transcript and verified who Joan was referring to in the confession given by Elder Gumoduo last night.

"That violet-skinned, skinny corpse with black-striped pupils in emerald-green eyeballs?"

"That's right, that monster."

Joan raised her head, met the gazes of Josephine, Pinkerton, and Gregson, took a deep breath, and made an assertion that would completely change the course of the case.

"Lady Irina's lover, he is probably a 'shape-shifting monster'!"

As soon as Joann's words came out, Josephine and Pinkerton's expressions changed, obviously knowing something about the "shape-shifting monster".

Sergeant Grayson frowned, and asked the young mage inexplicably, "What kind of creature is the 'Transformer'?"

"To be precise, this is a humanoid monster between 'human' and 'weird'."

Joan answered Mr. Sheriff's question in as simple a language as possible.

"'Transformers' don't have their own society and country. Most of them live in human society, imitating human images and even lifestyles. For this kind of creature, life is a long masquerade until death. At that moment, the mask will be taken off and the real face will be revealed."

"'Doppelgangers', as the name suggests, are born with a supernatural ability to change their image, turning into any humanoid creature they have ever seen, for their own profit, or just with a mischievous mind, stealing The identity of others, mixed into the other party's social circle, and lived a life of impersonation."

"Inspecting the evolutionary history of creatures like 'shapeshifters', you will find that they have been moving towards one goal during the long evolution of hundreds of centuries, which is to better disguise themselves and pretend to be others."

"In order to achieve this goal, the doppelgangers have improved their bloodlines generation after generation, strengthened their natural shape-shifting abilities, and developed a supernatural ability to detect other people's mental activities at any time, thereby realizing a comprehensive camouflage from the body to the mind. "

"In addition, what the shapeshifters are most afraid of is being seen through their true colors, especially to guard against being exposed because of their own carelessness. For this reason, they have evolved some amazing characteristics."

"For example, even in sleep, I always maintain a little vigilance, and I will never talk in my sleep, so as to avoid revealing my true identity due to babbling in my dreams."

"It is precisely because of these skills that are dedicated to serving impostors that every doppelganger is a first-class master of disguise. When they replace a person and enter the life circle of the other party, they can be said to be fake, even their closest relatives and friends , and it is difficult to detect the slightest difference."

"As for the real master who was replaced by the shapeshifter... for the sake of confidentiality, he is usually brutally killed by the shapeshifter pretending to be him, destroying his body and destroying all traces."

"Creatures like shapeshifters may not all be evil by nature, but most of them do whatever they want, and they rarely abide by the morals and laws of human society. In addition, they are proficient in disguise and spying on people's hearts. They are very suitable for spies or fraudsters." unlawful conduct."

In the end, Joan made a summary of the dark way of life of the "shapeshifter".

"'Impersonation' and 'fraud' are the two major themes in the life of shapeshifters. They will not end their life wearing masks until the moment of death, when the magic power in their bodies collapses. People suddenly realized that this person who has been living by their side is actually a counterfeit.”

When he finished speaking, the interrogation room fell into a long silence.

I don't know how long it took before Pinkerton stroked his unshaven chin, and made a bold and astonishing inference based on Joan's statement.

"If it's true what brother Joan said, David Kaufman's ex-wife's lover is actually a 'shape-shifter' who makes a living by seducing and defrauding women, then his suspicion of his son is understandable. .”

"Gleason, I don't mean any disrespect to your late cousin, just to discuss the facts, tell me, is there such a possibility... Harry Kaufman is not actually David Kaufman's flesh and blood , but Mrs. Irina lied about the illegitimate child born of adultery with her husband and her lover, in order to give the illegitimate child a legal and decent status, and lied that Harry was born to her and her husband?"

"Ted, I don't deny that there is such a possibility, but I don't see why it is necessary to make such a vicious assumption!" Sergeant Grayson's face was gloomy.

"Of course it is necessary!" Pinkerton's eyes were burning. "Greyson, as an old friend, I have to remind you that now is not the time to act emotionally!"

"If our hypothesis is true, Harry Kaufman is actually a hybrid offspring of Irina and a doppelganger... How should we say this hybrid?"

Mr. Detective naturally looked at Joan, seeking evidence from this young mage who was extremely knowledgeable compared to his age.

"Considering the powerful genetics of the shapeshifter family, such a hybrid may be a shapeshifter or a 'half shapeshifter', but it is absolutely impossible to be just an ordinary human boy."

Joan explained clearly.

"Whether it's a shapeshifter or a shapeshifter, both have the ability to transform and camouflage, but for a shapeshifter, this ability needs more time to develop and perfect."

The dnd5E setting of the doppelganger, and why this humanoid monster can have offspring with humans.

...

Hedonistic Swindlers: Doppelgangers usually act alone or in small groups when attacking. When acting in swarms, individual individuals in the swarm morph into different interrelated characters. When one doppelganger takes the place of a murdered merchant or nobleman, the other doppelgangers assume different identities, such as family members or servants, depending on the situation. Then live together on the victim's wealth.

Changelings: Changelings do not raise their own offspring out of laziness or selfishness. They transform into handsome males to seduce females, and let them bear children for them alone. A doppelganger's children look like normal children of its mother kind, and they don't discover their true nature until puberty, which drives it to seek out and join its kind.