Krafft's Notes on Anomalies

Liston checked several other books on the table. None of them were related to pharmacology. They were all older and more obscure monographs on the structure of the human body.

After the publication of "Human Anatomy", these older works that lacked evidence gradually withdrew from various academies and can only be seen in the collections of the older generation. And it is limited to collections. As a witness of the times, it is rarely used as a reference for discussion.

The oldest one among them is probably as old as Liston's grandparents. The paper is browned and brittle, and the pages are almost broken when turning. You need to gently lift the page, push it evenly with the palm of your hand, and turn to the next page.

Among these books, this one is the closest to the real situation. The content is rigorous and orderly. This section alone is similar to "The Structure of the Human Body", only lacking some final practical proof. Strangely, Liston had never heard of such an excellent book.

On the title page, you can see that it is in the collection of Dunling University, and maybe it is an original copy. Even if it has lost its practical value, it still has landmark significance. Is it too careless to have such a precious collection of books spread out on the table?

You must know that after the material ages, the weight of the book itself is enough to crush the spine when it is spread out, causing it to deform and crack, causing the cover paper to shift. Renovation will destroy the original shape. If not, it will fall apart sooner or later.

Closing it with heartache, Liston planned to let the spine of the book rest for a while and flip it back to its original position when he left. Although it was purely for self-comfort, at least he didn't just watch an important classic being damaged and do nothing.

As the last page fell, something that looked very familiar flashed across his face, almost making Liston suspect that it was an hallucination produced in the dim light.

He opened the last page in surprise.

It was a smiling cervical vertebrae, drawn in the middle of the paper, unabashedly showing its presence.

"Edward?"

This logo is so distinctive that beginners who have watched "The Structure of the Human Body" will never forget it. The only difference between the two is that there is no Edward signature in the logo on the book.

In that case, it makes sense that Liston had never heard of it. This book was probably Edward's work before he wrote his masterpiece "The Structure of the Human Body". Because it was completely covered and surpassed by the latter, it naturally had no chance of spreading. The rarity may be far beyond one's imagination.

As expected of Dunling University, it dares to send this kind of books overseas. How rich is its library?

After thinking about it for a while, Liston realized that he was distracted again. The shock he received in the professor's room today made him forget his purpose again and completely forget about the business.

Stroking the cover of the book, Liston almost had an urge to take the book away that he didn't want to admit.

No, of course not.

He shook off the distracting thoughts in his mind and returned to the original plan. He was here to find evidence and reasons for the professor's involvement in the clarification incident.

But as of now, the professor is not tinkering with pharmaceuticals at home. Instead, he has inexplicably come up with another method of growing muscles and bones, which is completely contrary to the existing anatomical results.

Not only were the questions not resolved, they were increased. It's a never-before-seen combination that's clearly not owned by humans, and doesn't look like it could be used for a completely new kind of surgery. It highlights an extreme practicality and makes efficient use of the motion system from a mechanical perspective.

It does seem to make some sense, but it is something that does not come from humans and is not used by humans, but it is all human parts. How did you come up with it?

Breaking away from such an idea cannot be achieved by a moment of inspiration. It is either an idea that has been accumulated over many years, or there is a prototype that can be used as a reference and a ready-made research basis to fill in the details.

Liston opened the book and went back to the part where the professor had read, trying to find any clues of reference content in it.

As a professional who has invested in this profession for many years, it is not difficult to find out the clues after reading it carefully.

In the description of the old book, what caused the gap between the content and the real situation was the author's imagination of "effectiveness". Compared with some actual structures that "don't look too smart", the author arranged the position of the muscles and bones to places where it is easier to exert force.

In other words, under the same general outline, according to the original idea of ​​the author Edward, the functionality of the movement system can be stronger.

Under this guiding ideology, some parts of the drawing have morphological deviations from reality that can be directly seen by a discerning person, and are arranged directly according to the "ideal state".

The attitude of being unreasonable, deviating from reality, and only seeking utility is exactly the same as the "new structure" created by the professor. They all use biological tissues as parts to conceive a perfect and easy-to-use "machine".

This is the best adjective he can find. Only those things that are intentionally created will tend to be extremely practical. Natural creatures, no matter how strong and intelligent they are, must have inherent flaws that cannot be changed.

An inhuman thing built from "human parts" would be too whimsical.

However, the ominous reality contained in that sketch always lingers in the mind, making people believe that it may actually exist, or that it is drawn against something that actually exists.

Liston continued to scroll down. At the end of the chapter, the place that should have been the conclusion and summary was occupied by an indescribable limb.

Different from Kalman's sketch, this hand-drawn drawing is exquisite and delicate, combining all the previous imaginary "perfect" structures and assembling it into a long and thin limb that is free from the form of a terrestrial animal and can move without restriction.

It seems to be the author's preference to let it survive independently. The gaps between muscles and bones are filled with just the right amount of organs and blood vessels.

In the pale shadow behind it, it twists at an extraordinary angle, exerting the maximum range of motion of the assembled joints and being extremely flexible.

This posture reminds Liston of the arms and legs of aquatic soft-bodied creatures, which curl and relax on the chopping board after being cut off. But this is obviously a reorganization of the structure he is most familiar with, born out of common sense, fabricating "perfect" but deformed limbs.

Or is it what skeletal muscles are supposed to look like, and the human body is a deformity that wastes function?

The unannotated manuscript contains annotations that are completely different from the author's handwriting, and the words are sharper than the pen carved into the paper.

"An illogical madman, a fantasy that is divorced from reality, and an act of blasphemy..."

The writer seems to be using words to vent his emotions in anger, in which the hostility is vaguely visible over a long period of time. He is so angry that he speaks unscrupulously and uses the most violent words to attack the pictures on the page.

A slash of fresh ink cuts out a large section of intense rhetoric. For some reason, Liston saw a sense of casualness and disdain in it. Just like professors usually read articles submitted by students who were incompetent, they deleted all the unidentified content from the finished film.

In a critical tone, Kalman wrote briefly below:

"Mediocrity can never understand what genius sees."

What does this mean?

As he spoke, Professor Kalman seemed to put himself on the same footing as Edward, condescendingly scorning the man who denounced this weird drawing.

What does "genius see" mean? Liston's first reaction was referring to the anatomical structure conjecture that was close to perfect efficiency throughout the chapter.

Soon, he rejected the idea himself. As someone who had participated in the professor's secret anatomy class, Liston knew that Kalman only recognized knowledge that he had seen with his own eyes and practiced with his own hands, that is, the current version of "The Structure of the Human Body". How could he pursue that kind of non-existent "perfection"? structure?

Liston vaguely felt that he had caught something. Chaotic information clues and reasoning were tangled in his mind, and there was a thread among them that led him to a direction he had never imagined.

As if groping in the dark, along the long and winding corridor, a sudden light flashed before my eyes.

Kalman wouldn't like a flimsy theory that isn't provable, unless...

Unless "what you see" is literal.

【blasphemous...】

Under the unshakable ideological rule of the church, clergy claim that human beings are God's most perfect creations, and no matter how much they despise them, they have to accept this view.

After all, no one in the world today can explain why humans are the only ones in the world who possess intelligent thoughts and dexterous limbs. Both are indispensable. It seems that they were born to use this human body to exert wisdom and control the body with wisdom.

People can only recognize a higher ultimate existence that holds the authority to create life.

And these creations have usurped this authority, jokingly using God's proudest creation as building blocks to take it apart and reassemble it to make better works.

If it really exists, where is the god? Where do we place all common sense?

The professor and Edward saw it with their own eyes and drew structures unimaginable to those who had not seen it. Its mere existence will subvert all social consensus based on religion and universal cognition, and it means that the understanding and application of the authority of creation is beyond what humans have learned in their lifetime.

Where did the professor see it? Where did Edward, who wrote his masterpiece in Dunling, face it head-on?

I couldn't tell whether it was fear or ecstasy, but a feeling rushed into my mind. At this moment, Liston felt that he could leave everything behind without hesitation and embark on the path of pursuing this thing, just for this goal that transcended the known things in this world.

Then, the thoughts came together, the clues were connected, and the questions were answered.

It is the answer, the reason that allows Professor Kalman to ignore morality, emotion, and ethics and do terrible things.

How lucky that the person who gave up his spiritual life for his career, the person who devoted his whole life to this, is finding the ultimate answer to his pursuit.

No longer caring about staying hidden, Liston opened the window and let the sunlight shine into the room. He needs to read all the clues as soon as possible to supplement the complete picture of the incident.

However, in the bright bright light, what was previously hidden in the darkness is revealed.

There were round symbols painted on the walls and floors with dull paint one after another, with criss-crossing cracked decorations all over the place.

The iconic horizontal crack that bisects it looms right through the center of each symbol.

I am very busy, extremely busy, and not satisfied with what I have written, but I have no time to improve my literary quality. (`~)