Chapter 190: Combination

The strength, disproportionate to her size, nearly whipped the examiner's face; Kraft reflexively pressed down, using five or six tenths of his power just to balance it.

The pressure now applied to the arm was equivalent to swinging a sword, yet Yin Feng resisted it for several seconds with no sign of exhaustion; even through the clothes and skin layers, the taut contours beneath could be felt.

The muscle groups did not change shape, yet they shed their suppleness, tightening like ropes pulling a full sail, displaying abnormal strength. Her hand quickly loosened and stopped applying force the moment she realized something was wrong, preventing excessive load from causing damage.

"Does it hurt here?" Two fingers pressed into the muscle belly; even after the arm relaxed, the tension remained clearly present in the muscle, solidified into a constant state.

Yin Feng decisively shook her head; she not only felt no pain from a strain but was even somewhat puzzled why the force of today's examination felt softer.

When the examination extended to the whole body, he realized this situation was not limited to the left arm but existed widely throughout her entire body. "Do you feel your body is tense and unable to relax?"

She shook her head again. Her head shook so hard her hair flew up; her flexibility showed no sign of the neck stiffness that had almost been detected during the initial check.

This condition, where muscle strength intensity severely contradicts appearance, was quite familiar. Those shells completely drained of organic components by fungi, leaving only a thin layer of muscle fibers clinging to the bones—barely enough to be called residual structures—could still achieve explosive movement.

The parasitic giant crawling creatures even used human tissue to forcibly support their massive bodies; not crushed by their own weight, they instead achieved the feat of dragging their cumbersome main bodies using tentacles, looking almost like a jelly house that could stand upright.

And the abnormal situation of a frail arm resisting an adult's strength.

Disregarding that he had just used his mental organ on the Duke, Kraft once again plunged into that penetrating perspective, observing the changes within Yin Feng's body.

The airway inflammation that had existed some days ago had already subsided, but the situation did not return to normal; certain extremely fine filaments, which took many days to grow to the minimum observable limit, adhered to the inside of the airways, clinging against the moist walls.

Such obvious foreign bodies caused no discomfort; the mucous membranes turned a blind eye to them, the defensive cough reflex remained silent, allowing the threads to extend deep into the trachea.

The infection lesion expanded while inflammation subsided; the immune system was either powerless to control it or had recognized it as an object not needing control.

As the primary lesion, the changes in the airway were not even the greatest. In those muscles where tension had changed significantly, long filamentous objects wove into the connective tissue, growing and entangling in the same direction as the muscle bundles.

They evenly dyed the original organism, then proliferated laterally until today, finally manifesting a macroscopic form, weaving with muscle fibers into an indistinguishable three-dimensional mixed network, bearing force while completely altering the texture of skeletal muscle.

The increased muscle tension was purely an illusion; this was essentially a mixture of muscle and mycelium, so of course the tactile sensation was completely different.

"Then do you have any other discomfort?"

"I feel it's a bit noisy, but I can't say what that 'sound' is like." Yin Feng pulled her hand out to rub her ears, then loosened it upon realizing Kraft was speaking, frowning as she sensed something. "It's not a distant noise, it's very close; I don't know where it is. It was clearly less after that time my neck hurt."

The mycelial spirit attached to the back of her mental body slightly unfurled; its velvety outer layer swayed without wind. This was the upper floor of the castle, one of the quietest places, with only patrol squads occasionally passing by outside the door.

"Can you hear clearly what the sound is?"

"I'm not sure; it seems like the sound of people talking on the street, but very close and very quiet." She spoke these contradictory descriptions, confusing herself. "Sorry, if it's important, I can try to listen."

"No, do not try to hear what it is saying." He could wait no longer; it had to be dealt with immediately. Mental organs gathered, seizing a small piece of the mycelial spirit.

It trembled and contracted, striving to minimize its exposed volume. Meanwhile, Yin Feng placed her hand by her ear, trying to collect that reappearing sound to no avail, then covered the back of her neck, blocking pain of unknown origin.

"Endure it for a moment; perhaps this will make that sound quiet down." With the experience from the last time, Kraft had grasped some techniques.

He could not hesitate based on the patient's reaction; he had to lock onto the location as quickly, accurately, and ruthlessly as possible, decisively tearing off a piece. The longer the delay, the wider the spread of influence, which would instead cause secondary damage.

Controlling the force applied by his mental senses, this operation became increasingly skillful with repeated attempts, while his doubts about it deepened.

Humans are born using their bodies without obstacle, yet their understanding of their essence comes very late; microscopic understanding only developed in modern times. Mental senses are the same; they are used as naturally as hands and feet, yet one cannot understand how they actually act upon the mycelial spirit.

Or thinking in reverse, action is mutual; why do mental senses suppress the native consciousness born deep within, rather than the mycelial spirit swarm devouring the mental senses it contacts?

He did not figure this out, nor did he know where to start investigating. While thinking, the mycelial spirit had already been torn apart by irresistible force, adding new wounds, and fell silent.

"Can you still hear the sound?"

Yin Feng removed her hand from the back of her neck, looking around in confusion. "It seems... it's gone?"

Her spirit was not good; she was in a state of surging sleepiness. With the pain and the sound by her ear gone, the environment was even more suitable for sleep, and her upper and lower eyelids kept knocking together.

Connecting the two instances of pain, she realized this was not an accidental symptom but related to Kraft. "Was that treatment?"

But she could not understand how this was done; without contact or any movement, those sounds were like negative, noisy insects stuck to clothes being ripped off and silenced, returning silence to her ears.

Was that also a type of unreasonable thing? Yin Feng struggled to overcome her sleepiness, looking at Kraft, hoping for more information.

"Yes, you are sick, Yin Feng." And not lightly; the situation was so severe it could not be told. This was different from the Duke's condition; this damn fungus, for some reason, had evaded the immune system, spread throughout the body, and its root was stuck to the mental body, impossible to peel off.

The upcoming treatment would be walking a tightrope; the mycelial spirit must be suppressed frequently to halt further development. If it developed further, he did not know what would happen, nor did he want to know.

"Is it very serious?"

"It is hard to say for now." Kraft leaned against the back of the chair by the bed, deliberated for a moment, then said, "The current symptoms are not obvious; although they manifest throughout the body, no one can see exactly what is happening inside, right? So misdiagnosis cannot be ruled out; we currently have treatment methods."

He habitually used an evasive phrasing, thinking he would inform the guardian later, but then realized it made no sense at all. Facing Yin Feng's questioning gaze, he somewhat hoped this would make her vaguely understand, yet somewhat hoped she would not understand.

However, the girl had obviously seen doctors make this kind of attitude. Perhaps there was no need to consider the wording; one could judge solely by the reaction.

"Thank you, Mr. Kraft." She pulled the blanket up to her chest, returning a faint, smile-like expression of comfort, which then vanished without a trace.

Turning her body, she moved to a position closer to the window; half her face bathed in warm light, with clear light and shadow on both sides of her nose bridge. Several months of improved diet and exercise had effectively supplemented the lacking nutrients; her face shape finally became a bit rounder, her skin gradually glossy and ruddy, approaching the appearance of a child in Kraft's memory.

Due to long-term coexistence, this change in appearance was not noticeable upon casual thought, only making her contours seem softer, appearing healthy and cute. But if one compared it to her appearance from several months ago, one might mistake them for two completely different people.

It was just those eyes; when meeting her gaze, one saw no panic or fear, only tranquility, just like when they first met.

A clarity and purity of tranquility, like extremely clear water, reflecting and containing everything within, yet so bright and clean as to be almost empty and void of anything, thus naturally craving something to fill this void.

"I do not feel regret."

"..."

"Sleep; do not wander around. Treatment again in three days." Kraft remained silent for a long time, straightened up, pulled the curtain halfway, and quietly closed the door to leave.

Yin Feng definitely had something she had not made clear. He had known this all along; now he was even more certain.

Since she did not say it, it was likely not an external factor, but something she had done under her own subjective will, and it was related to this incident.

"Ugh, I hate guessing riddles with people the most." The worst situation he could think of was that hiding behavior indirectly caused the death of some unlucky person; the problem was this was not suitable for direct psychological intervention, and even if known, it would do no good for intervening in the illness.

In this light, Kup was indeed a very good partner. His abilities were average and he had no great ambitions, yes, but at least his basic values were formed; he was straightforward and easy to understand, could communicate timely when there was trouble, and was very stable.

"I really don't understand what children are thinking." Walking a distance, Kraft turned to Kup. "What do you think she is thinking?"

"I don't know." Kup replied. This was not a mandatory question; it was merely a casual inquiry, and he did not feel he could provide an answer to Kraft on this matter.

"But I think you don't need to worry too much; she is different from ordinary children."

"That is exactly why I am worried."

The mental body was affected, a large number of foreign objects appeared inside the body combining with normal tissue, the immune system did nothing, and there was a strong trend of uncontrolled growth; no matter how one looked at it, this was not a good omen.

【Wait, who is this talking about?】

Kraft suddenly stopped; Kup failed to react in time, slammed into his back, and nearly sent both of them tumbling down the steep staircase.

"Sorry, what's wrong?"

"Thinking of something." Kraft's gaze fixed on his raised left arm, as if suddenly finding extraordinary interest in the stitching of the sleeve cuff. Pain from overexertion pounded against his skull, his temple aching.