Krafft's Notes on Anomalies

The experimental design was not standardized enough, and the direct result was a sloppy dinner and overtime work after dinner.

However, choosing to use only one crystal for the experiment is also a precaution against potential unknown risks. It is purely a helpless move under limited understanding.

Kraft may be annoyed by the wasted time, but he does not want to see any unexpected changes in several samples together. At least an afternoon of experimentation showed there were elements in the attempt that would make it a safe, slow melt.

Under the candlelight, he started trying again. This time a lens was put on the table for observation.

"We'll use three portions this time." The professor pinched out three black salt particles of similar size and placed them in a glass dish. After thinking about it, he added one more. "No, let's add a comparison."

In order to try his luck, he guessed that the later operation caused the change, so he simply started with the liquid and added drops of acid and alkali solvents respectively, as well as drops of fresh blood taken from the rabbit ears.

In order to reduce subjective influence and visual bias, Kraft and Kupp each moved a chair, sat at the table and stared at the hourglass. They observed each time it was inverted, and each obtained the results independently and then compared them with each other.

Then there is the extremely boring waiting process.

The cycle of resetting the hourglass is about five to ten minutes, which is neither long nor short. It will interrupt any serious business or entertainment that requires the entire time.

The need to repeatedly pay attention to time makes it difficult to completely relax mentally. You can only briefly let your mind wander, take a walk nearby, or pass the time by chatting.

But Kraft was not a very talkative person, and Kupp also lacked the ability to create topics, and the atmosphere quickly fell silent.

The sense of emptiness at night without people is amplified, and the sense of existence of the space outside the light is weakened. Those corridors and halls seem to have lost their popularity and moved away from them. The isolated laboratory has become a sealed container drifting in the void.

The rabbit was still eating, even earning himself some radish and lettuce leaves, and the rustling sound of chewing became the monotonous background sound of the experiment.

"It's so quiet." Coop carefully took the convex lens from Kraft's hand, holding it tightly for fear of letting go, and for fear of damaging it and reducing its strength.

He knows the origin of this thing. Unlike those glass products whose prices have indeed dropped after technological improvements, the lenses are made from a single piece of high-clarity crystal and need to be protected from wear and tear as much as possible. They are expensive enough to allow people to restrain their instinctive hand shaking.

Correspondingly, the observation effect is also very good. Black crystals the size of grains of salt are enlarged, and their edges are clearly visible in the eye.

"Nothing has changed for the time being."

"I think so." Kraft swallowed the hatchet back into his stomach to prevent it from spreading between the two of them. It's best to have something to talk about. The biggest enemy of staying up late is always boredom.

"Speaking of which, do you remember what happened in the salt tide area?

"certainly."

"Someone added this liquefied substance to the well water, and it was just enough to cover the bottom of the bottle, causing the entire area where the well water was taken to be affected."

"Is this it?" Coop moved his chair back. It was difficult to connect the black particles with that experience. After all, these things are really inconspicuous from a distance. "But now it is... black sand?"

"So I wanted to know how it melted and how it remained stable and liquid."

"Uh, what next?" Based on the volume in their hands, if they were all dissolved, Kupp felt that the dose would be several times that of what Kraft described.

Just like when you feel the urge to jump when standing on the edge of a cliff, your mind can't help but imagine the scene of these amounts of water being thrown into the well, which is enough to send the entire Wendeng Port into a deep sleep.

He looked at the box with the black granule vial locked and felt a kind of fear coming from his heart. It contained enough stuff to destroy a city.

The little sleepiness that had just appeared was instantly dispelled.

"Oh, don't worry. After all, it hasn't melted yet. Even if it melts, it won't stay the same." Kraft flipped the hourglass over, took out the lens for inspection, and handed it to Kupp, who became more energetic.

So far, it seems that the refreshing effect is remarkable. At least the other party will not be able to fall asleep next to this thing in the first half of the night.

But it didn't take that long. After turning the hourglass over twenty times, Kraft observed signs of change for the first time with the help of a crystal magnifying glass.

A kind of passivation that is difficult to detect with the naked eye occurs on the edges and corners of the rabbit blood-soaked particles. He made a note and handed the lens to Coop calmly.

"There seems to be some change?" An uncertain and nervous voice came out of Hu Cong's mouth, and the unanimous judgment of the two confirmed that the change had occurred.

You were so lucky that you got it so casually? Many possibilities flashed through Kraft's mind, only to be denied one by one. If it were as simple as blood, it would have liquefied and dispersed within the pagan's body.

Surprised, he took back the lens and looked at the one soaked in acid.

Different appearance, same smooth and blunt edges, but the sample in the acidic reagent also showed signs of melting.

"It makes no sense at all..." Kraft turned to the one in the lye solution. The three experimental subjects were all undergoing transformation at the same time, reaching a level that could be observed.

For a while, I really couldn't think of anything special in common among the three.

Some kind of bad premonition made him look at the last unprocessed crystal as a control, and found that it was the same as the same kind immersed in the droplets, with dull edges and a slightly moist ice-like texture.

This trend is normally difficult to notice and is only subtly noticeable with careful observation and contrast.

"The control group is also melting?" Their state highlights that they are going their own way. No matter what the physical and chemical conditions are given, they just stabilize or melt on their own, which is completely unreasonable.

The melting trend of the control group prompted a problem. The experiment was fundamentally failed in design, and the key variables were not controlled at all.

From another perspective, the experiment was also successful. It directly eliminated most of the guesses and confirmed that there was a certain factor that had a consistent and continuous impact after the experiment started.

It's definitely not reagents or blood.

"Something is interfering with the experiment." Kraft sniffed and concluded that it seemed that he could smell some clues of abnormal signals in the air, but there was only the old smell that had not been used for a long time.

He thought of candlelight and a certain component in the air, something that shouldn't be common and easy to come into contact with. If it were that simple, I should have bottled finished black liquor in my hands by now instead of a pinch of black salt.

Perhaps it was due to the location. What things were left in the burned-out dome laboratory that would be affected by constant radiation?

Kraft left the table and came to the box that was isolated to one side. He opened it and observed the samples inside.

These samples still remain in the solid state of salt crystals, tapping the bottle walls with their stubborn edges.

"Is it possible that this source of interference can be limited to the experimental tabletop and come here specifically to oppose me?"

Two new patients came in in the middle of the night. The night shift happened to coincide with the department director's ward rounds, which didn't end until nearly noon. (ω`) I went to attend a lecture in the afternoon, but I didn't post until now.