Krafft's Notes on Anomalies

Yvonne blinked her dry eyes to relieve the discomfort caused by the red light in the darkness. At first she thought it was a lantern covered with glass, but the light source was small and constant, like an eye set on the floor, casting a red gaze with an incomprehensible meaning to something buried deep inside.

With her back against the door, she didn't lock it in a hurry, but held the bolt with her hand behind her. If the people in the room really didn't have the ability to control those mushroom zombies as she thought, opening the door if necessary would be a very effective threat maneuver, and no one would want to be facing them in an enclosed space.

But for now, that may not be necessary.

Red light streamed across every surface in the room, including the faces of the people lying on the ground. His cheeks seemed to have not been cleaned for a long time, and were covered with a thin layer of scales, which spread out from the mouth and nose, forming ring spots slightly higher than the surface of the skin. They are new bacterial spots, densely packed into a film covering the skin.

The raised hand failed to reach the target and did not drop weakly. The raised fingers, wrists and elbows were struggling with some invisible force, and the movement stopped midway. Verrucous mushrooms gather between the fingers, merge with the aponeurosis, and continue to form pus-like bulges under the skin.

Different from those people outside who have lost their lives, or become the soil for the growth of another life, the slightly pulled folds of clothes show that the chest is still rising and falling, maintaining a weak breath. His eyes were glazed over, and he couldn't tell whether he was still conscious. If it weren't for the luminous pendant, this look would be closer to that of a victim.

The professor didn't look like he could stand up and pose a threat. Yvonne locked the door, held the dagger under her skirt, and tentatively approached with small steps until she could reach the pendant by bending down. Brimmer did not make any reaction. She retracted her hand and pinched the pendant through her sleeve.

It feels no different from a piece of stone. It has not been polished, but it has relatively rounded edges, as if it was removed from somewhere.

Yvonne lifted it up gently and slowly, and then with a sudden tug, she took off this object with unknown purpose but that looked very special from Brimer's neck. As if he felt something, he let out a low, difficult sound in his throat. He tried his best to open his eyelids, but nothing could be seen through the pupils covered with white mycelium.

His breathing has reached the point where it is difficult to maintain minimal movement, and his lips show the familiar dark color. He cannot even express a complete cry for help, but he still clearly has a sense of autonomy.

If there's anything that Yvonne still fears, it's this - losing the ability to move, experiencing a long period of suffocation like a gradual tightening of the neck, and being able to clearly feel this process, so that death seems really real What a relief.

It's hard to say which is more painful, the inability to do anything about what happened, or the despair of a prolonged death.

Realizing that there was someone next to him, he trembled, trying to make some move to call for help. Yvonne tried to hold him down, but found that all the muscles he touched were tense at the same time, and the body was arched and opisthotonized. This made it impossible for the limbs to make any movements other than twitching, which was also the reason why the hand was frozen in the air.

But the convulsions caused some noise, which intensified with the desire to survive. Even if he still has some consciousness, I'm afraid it's not much. He only has a simple obsession with calling for help from the unknown visitor. He can't understand that given the current situation the two of them are in, making a sound will only attract the wandering body of the bacteria. .

She tried to press her knees against the shaking body under the black robe, pressing her whole body weight on it, but with the body of a little girl, it was completely impossible to control the twitching of an adult man, and she almost fell down.

[He must be controlled immediately]

In a short period of time, he must control someone whose size and strength far exceed his own. In this case, there is only one way. Yvonne knew exactly what she should do. She had made psychological preparations before coming, but it was mostly an unexpected counterattack. The reality was simpler and more difficult than imagined.

The thin blade, polished and oiled just two days ago, slid smoothly from its sheath. The craftsman didn't quite understand why he had to sharpen a lady's knife, but his good military thinking led him to do it, and he did it well.

The non-slip wrapping on the handle is very practical. The wetness of the palm does not affect the grip of the hand. Every inch of the dagger's movement comes from the will of its owner. According to the hearsay method of use, it has reached the most deadly position she knows. Protected neck. Those struggling with a mushroom infestation did not feel this elongated coolness.

Time was running out, and she didn't have much time to take another look at this face that she had known for less than a day and became increasingly unfamiliar to her.

The face far away from the light source is very dark. Like those servants who have a close relationship, it becomes blurred in the field of vision and in the mind. It becomes a uniform and featureless template and gradually goes away, as far away as those seen on the cliff. Points of light, some unrelated...

【Ember Point】

The blade was inserted from the center without any hindrance, and not much liquid spilled out. Under the special light, the color was the same as other things, but it was particularly deep.

The hand holding the handle pressed down, and the blade first entered the cavity. After passing through, it was blocked by some hard object. It only penetrated halfway before it encountered great resistance. The trembling did not stop, but intensified.

The dagger paused for a moment, then changed its direction and cut to one side. After reaching a certain angle, something sprayed out. The pulsing feeling was unreal through the metal and wood, but it quickly disappeared. It worked, and those troublesome tremors subsided and calmed down.

After half-kneeling and listening for a while, Yvonne remembered what she was still holding in her hand, pulled it out, wiped both sides of it on the nearest cloth and stuffed it back into its sheath. Footsteps lingered outside the door and passed by without stopping.

She wasn't sure she knew what she had done. Logically speaking, there should be some sympathy, fear, or something else that was enough to overwhelm her emotions.

But in fact, apart from the instinctive disgust when it comes into contact with warm liquid, there is no other feeling. Even the "should have a reaction" comes from hearing and lacking real feelings, and she understands the process and results of everything.

In terms of reason, this meets the needs of one's own safety; in terms of emotion, there is no need to feel sympathy or sadness for this. She felt that this was probably abnormal, and she felt that there was nothing unreasonable about it. After all, they were just strangers with no or even negative relationships, and they experienced a familiar death.

Objectively speaking, it helped him avoid a lot of pain. Should it be regarded as repaying evil with kindness? Although this is what the church preaches, Mr. Craft does not advocate the practice.

She fiddled with the pendant for a while, but couldn't find any connection between it and the mushrooms. She turned to search Brimmer's belongings, trying to find the target she needed, the trick to contact that extraordinary thing.

In the hidden inner pocket of the robe, a delicate vial was turned out. The capacity was small enough to hold a mouthful, and it stored a liquid that was almost inaudible when shaken. It was not like a wine bottle that the crew would carry.

Yvonne removed the stopper and looked through the narrow mouth of the bottle. She had never expected to see anything in such light, and it was indeed pitch black inside, but some unexplained feeling arose, telling her that it was exactly the color of the liquid.

A liquid that has never been seen before, like a person covered in carapace or a fungus-parasitic person, exists very rationally, and the mouth of the bottle is a window through which to glimpse that world.

His hand unconsciously raised it in front of him, and a voice from the bottom of his heart murmured, hoping to touch it.

【This is that kind of thing】

She forgot about the other things and drank them all in one gulp.