Bakerlon Main Story: Hypothesis and Reasoning
Overview
- Stage Cost: None
- First Clear Rewards:
Commemorative Etiquette Ticket x350
Guide
- Hover to view spoiler content.
Script
The situation is a mess and you can't help. Return to your room and organize your thoughts.
The night is long, but sleep eludes everyone.
The excitement of riding the Mobius had long since turned to anxiety as everyone sits around the round table.
In the silence, Artem brews everyone a cup of coffee, then sits on the couch.
Artem: This incident...
You: I think...
You and Artem speak up, almost at the same time, and he motions for you to go first.
Artem: You go first.
You: I don't actually know what to say right now. The events that transpired tonight have left me puzzled...
You: And some things have been, well... I guess, beyond my understanding.
The fog in the carriages and the shadows hidden within them...
Mr. Kahn's sudden death, and all the unusual behavior that preceded it.
It's hard to believe that these things are completely unrelated.
You: We have no way to figure out how things are connected, and how Mark Kahn died.
Marius: What's worse, we have no way to contact the outside world.
Marius: Don't you guys think we're really unlucky?
Marius speaks in a lighthearted manner, perhaps trying to lighten the mood.
It does help somewhat to dissipate the anxiety in the room, as you reflect carefully on what happened in the dining carriage.
You: Mr. Kahn's death is indeed bizarre...
You: Did you notice his movements before he died?
You mimic the grasping motions that you saw Mr. Kahn do.
You: Look, didn't it look like... he was trying to grab or choke something?
Marius: Yeah! He was acting as if someone was in front of him that we couldn't see.
Marius: It seems as though he wanted to choke that person...
Luke: Hill...
Luke moves his lips and glances at the night fog outside the window.
Luke: Perhaps he wanted to choke Hill.
You: What?
Luke: You pointed out Mark's strange behavior before he died.
Luke: Aside from his strange behavior, he said some odd things.
Luke: He said something like... "You think I'm scared of you, Hill!?" and "Get lost."
Vyn: Unclear rambling and abnormal movements... Do you believe he was arguing with Hill, a person we could not see?
Luke: Yes, I believe "Hill" had something to do with Mark's death.
Artem: Those words sound more like facts than detective speculation.
Artem: Luke, can you tell us the grounds for your speculation?
Artem looks up, his eyes fixated on Luke's face.
Then the rest of the room looks at him, observing something.
You sense an elephant in the room, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say.
You: ...
Luke: I know what you're asking. I'll come clean.
Taking out his phone, Luke unlocks it with a few clicks and places it on the table.
Luke: Do you remember I said I accepted an international case before we headed for Bakerlon?
Luke: This woman is Sheila Hill, the subject of this investigation.
You: Sheila Hill! That's... Hill?
On the phone is a picture of a woman in a white lab coat standing in front of a solid blue wall.
Luke: According to the client, Sheila Hill went missing a year ago, and her whereabouts are unknown.
Luke: I looked into her background and had very little to show for it.
Marius: Oh? How rare... So there are people that you can't find.
Marius: Unfortunately, I can't connect to the Big Data Lab, or I would've searched for her.
Luke: I suspect that someone deliberately erased all traces of her, as well as her records.
Artem: Indeed, it's hard to figure out where she is solely with that blue wall as a background.
Vyn: However, she is wearing what looks to be a lab coat common in laboratories or medical research institutes.
Marius: Kahn Corporation has at least two laboratories for biological science and scientific research for ores.
Marius: Let's make a wild guess. Say, if the Hill in that photo Luke is holding is the same as the Hill that Mark called out to...
Marius: Then we might be able to investigate the two events together.
Luke: I think so, too. My anonymous client invited me to Bakerlon to investigate her whereabouts and even included a Mobius ticket.
Luke: At first, I thought my client felt more comfortable remaining anonymous and so, suggested meeting me in person on the train, but...
Luke: Now it seems my mysterious client may know something.
Luke: He deliberately put me on this train to let me find the clues...
You: How can that be...
The woman in the photo smiles tenderly at the camera with crooked eyes.
But it is these delicate eyes that merge with the twisted vision in your memory...
Those eyes—you've seen them before.
In the dark night, in the hazy fog, in the dream that made your blood run cold...
Luke: [Player], something wrong?
You: No, it's nothing...
You struggle to find the words to explain the absurd association in your mind.
However, your quick thinking leads you to a conjecture worth discussing.
You: Based on that assumption, Hill is a real person, possibly from Kahn Corporation...
You: Is it possible that the intoxicated Mark had some kind of hallucination...
You: And was re-enacting what happened in the past, which explains his movements?
Vyn: That is plausible, but his hallucinations might not have been from intoxication.
Vyn: I do not believe he has been normal since his outburst during the day and just now.
Artem: Vyn, what did you discover?
Vyn: Do you remember what he said when he got into an altercation with Emmy this morning?
You try to remember what happened during the day.
You: Mark was furious when Emmy accidentally spilled red wine on his suit...
Mark Khan: Look at my pants! They're all wet with yellow stains... You clumsy idiot!
You: (Yellow? Aren't those red wine stains? I guess Mr. Kahn is so angry that he got his words mixed up.)
You: I remember! His suit was stained with red wine...
You: But he said yellow stains!?
You: I thought it was strange at the time and assumed that he saw it wrong...
Vyn: Yes, I am uncertain whether Mr. Kahn is color blind, but he certainly had problems discerning colors at that moment.
Vyn: Perhaps the alcohol had dulled his consciousness, or maybe it was a cognitive bias from his emotional state at the time.
Vyn: But given his mood at night, I speculate...
You: Dr. Richter, do you think Mark ingested drugs that caused his mental state to destabilize, triggering hallucinations?
Vyn: You can always read other people's minds.
Vyn smiles at you with approval.
Vyn: However, that is pure hypothesis and should not be accepted as fact.
Vyn: I need to find more evidence to support this hypothesis.
Luke: I brought my own detection tool... so I can do a blood analysis if we can examine Mark's body.
Marius: I hate to be the bearer of bad news.
Despite saying that, Marius shakes his head honestly.
Marius: After Mark died, the people from Kahn Corporation took his body away, and there's no way they'll let us examine it.
Marius: It's quite suspicious if you think about it. Why was the family doctor so anxious to hide Mark's body?
Marius: Could he... be hiding something?
Vyn: His reasoning was "waiting for the police to investigate." However, it is abnormal when you think about it...
You: If Mr. Kahn's death was caused by ingesting drugs...
You: Then shouldn't the family doctor the most suspicious?
You: Is it too obvious?
Luke: Indeed, if he was a suspect, he shouldn't have exposed himself so thoroughly...
Luke: But we can't rule him out for that reason.
Luke: After all, he's the only person with medical knowledge who had access to Mark.
Marius: So I guess, after all that discussion, the best way is to examine Mark's body?
Marius: But...
Marius: We don't have any history with them, and this isn't Stellis. How can we investigate? It feels hopeless.
You: This...
Artem ponders for a moment, then suddenly taps his finger on the table.
Artem: William Lewis.
You: !!!
Marius: What? You mean that attorney from Baldr?
Artem: William Lewis was hired by Mark Kahn.
Artem: It is doubtful whether there is any need for legal counsel when the client is dead.
Marius: That's true. The person who takes over for Mr. Kahn at the Kahn Corporation will kick him to the curb.
Marius: By then, Baldr will have come here for nothing.
You: So... Mr. Lewis is probably more anxious than anyone to find out what's going on with Mr. Kahn, right?
Artem: Yes, I believe he could be our opening.
Artem: I'll try to talk to him later.
No one responds to Artem, not because they doubt him, but because they agree with his decision.
Everyone knows, just as well as you do, that when Artem decides to do something, he has already come up with a detailed plan.
