[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies":3,"chapter-notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-24":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Notes on Kraft Anomalous Studies",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2283502,4467,"Chapter 24: Chapter Twenty-Two: I Have a Feeling I","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-24",24,"\u003Cp>“This is truly… unexpected.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft read the letter in his hands face-to-face, then casually passed it to Lu Xiusi, who was curious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were sitting in Professor Karlman’s room—the same one where the three of them had shared barley tea and biscuits during Kraft’s first visit. While Kraft examined the letter, Lu Xiusi boiled a pot of water on the small stove and added two new cups of barley tea to the table, but he couldn’t find the professor’s honey jar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After lingering in the castle for a month, Kraft was finally sent back by his grandfather to assume his official duties. He arrived, rested one night at an inn, and planned to visit the academy the next day to inquire about details before deciding on long-term housing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shortly after entering the Medical Academy, he was stopped by an unfamiliar student who claimed to be Lu Xiusi’s friend. Seven days earlier, Lu Xiusi had instructed them to notify him immediately if they saw Lecturer Kraft.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft followed the student through the winding corridors of the Medical Academy, up spiral staircases, through several archways, and finally found Lu Xiusi in the professor’s private room, staring helplessly at a desk covered in papers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Medical Academy’s building was undeniably complex—even though this wasn’t his first visit, the meaningless decorative pillars and excessive obstructions, combined with inconsistent spatial layouts on each floor, made every path feel different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After delivering Kraft, the student took his leave. Lu Xiusi set aside the half-organized papers and pulled a sealed letter with red wax from inside his black robe, his excitement evident as he handed it to the bewildered Kraft.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Professor Karlman has great trust in your talent and passion in this area,” Lu Xiusi said, his eagerness written plainly on his face. “Now that we have two of us, we can continue refining the research on Black Liquid according to the professor’s instructions before he returns.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thank you for Professor Karlman’s trust,” Kraft said, reaching into the bottom of the envelope and feeling a brass key—he wouldn’t need to worry about housing after all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though they had known each other only briefly, Professor Karlman clearly held him in high regard, willing to share such important matters and entrust him with precious samples and experimental results. Kraft was deeply moved; helping out to the best of his ability was entirely reasonable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to the letter’s description, he still couldn’t imagine what this substance—now tentatively called “Black Liquid”—corresponded to in his own knowledge system.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>White Liquid could be considered cerebrospinal fluid; Yellow Liquid clearly matched bile; Red Liquid was unquestionably blood. But what exactly was this Black Liquid? It was utterly baffling. And from the letter’s tone, it seemed they had extracted it from some tissue inside the human body, yet it could be stored long-term while retaining its properties.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even more absurdly—whether due to the container’s resilience or the substance’s astonishing stability—it had been carried all the way from Dunling to Wendeng Harbor by someone simply keeping it in his pocket? The so-called “inhibitory” property only added to Kraft’s confusion; he’d need to see the full experimental records to understand it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So, according to the letter, this substance we’re temporarily calling ‘Black Liquid’ was indeed extracted from the human body.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The idea made Kraft uneasy. What did “extracted from the human body” even mean here? In this context, the term usually referred to obtaining another liquid from medicinal brews, alcohol, or similar fluids—via heating, distillation, or settling. The latter half of *Humorism* used it often, but always for extracting components from herbal decoctions to “regulate bodily humors” when ingested.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Overall, it just felt wrong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I remember the professor saying the Church there strictly controls things—there wouldn’t be much opportunity to do something like this,” Kraft said. The professor had previously complained to him about how anatomy research in Dunling was stalled due to the Church’s overwhelming influence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know,” Lu Xiusi said dismissively—he’d studied all his life in Wendeng Harbor under Professor Karlman, and obtaining a corpse for secret dissection was no issue at all. “The professor’s own mentor—Morrison—was no ordinary man at Dunling University. He must have had connections. And the professor hasn’t returned to Dunling in years; they’ve probably found a way by now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft summoned his formidable memory once more, pondering deeply—but still couldn’t conceive how such a liquid could be extracted from the human body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He strongly suspected it was an instrument issue—perhaps some heavy metal in the glassmaking materials had contaminated the mixture during heating. Then, the utterly reckless Professor Morrison had fed the sample to animals—or, with fearless bravado, tasted it himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That explained it: heavy metals or some other neurotoxin ingested in one gulp would cause central nervous system suppression—symptoms like dizziness and weakness would quickly manifest in both animals and humans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There it was—the strong inhibitory effect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uh, Lu Xiusi, before we see the physical sample, I need to ask—how much is there, and what’s it stored in?” Kraft carefully studied Lu Xiusi’s face, assessing his mental state. Aside from some heightened excitement, he seemed fine for now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Xiusi held up his thumb and forefinger, forming a small circle: “A glass vial this size—brown, with only a bottom’s worth inside. The professor uses a small rod to dip a bit out, dissolving it in water for use.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why don’t I just take you to see it? The sample’s in the academy’s basement. We dissolved a tiny amount in a cup of water—someone who drinks even a sip falls into deep sleep.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You gave it to other people?!” Kraft was stunned. He’d only ever heard of the extreme act of swallowing Helicobacter pylori—this made that look tame.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, only my professor and I took turns testing it. No one else here knows of its existence.” Lu Xiusi’s focus was clearly different from Kraft’s—he excitedly held out his hands, showing several red dots. “It’s incredible. So little, and it induces instant sleep—heart rate and breathing slow down. Even a needle prick can’t wake them. They only awaken after about a day, with no memory of what happened during that time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh?!” This went far beyond Kraft’s imagination. In both his lifetimes, his boldest act had been sniffing a gas his chemistry group had produced in high school.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Personally drinking a mysterious liquid that knocked you out for a full day—taking turns doing it? That was on par with Russian roulette with a blank chamber, even worse. If he’d done this, he could’ve chatted with the River Maid before drinking the soup, and even devils in hell would’ve stared in awe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sit down.” Kraft shoved Lu Xiusi into a chair. “Let me examine you. Don’t ask why.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he poked, prodded, and tapped various parts of Lu Xiusi’s body, he fired rapid-fire questions: “When did you last drink it? How many times? Besides slowed heart rate and breathing, were there any other changes during unconsciousness? Any discomfort upon waking? How’s your mental state lately? Any change in appetite? Sleep quality? Any abnormalities in bowel or bladder function?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, everything’s normal,” Lu Xiusi said, startled by Kraft’s sudden seriousness. “According to *Humorism*, as long as the body’s humors aren’t shifting en masse toward Black Liquid, a small, temporary increase is just a fleeting change. The professor’s fine—how could someone as young as me have problems?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Nonsense!” Kraft ran a full physical exam from head to toe—no obvious abnormalities. But the simple checks didn’t reassure him; they only heightened his vigilance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Extremely small dose, rapid oral onset, unconscious for a full day, unresponsive to pain. Paranoia crept in—he began wondering if Lu Xiusi’s current excitement was merely anticipation for further experiments, or a sign of mild personality alteration or mental aberration.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft stepped back two paces and re-examined Lu Xiusi, scanning him from head to toe—from his brown hair and slightly pale face, to his hands marked with red dots, finally settling on the papers he’d been organizing when they entered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pale yellow sheets covered most of the desk. Most handwriting was messy yet elegant, arranged loosely. Font sizes varied across papers, suggesting they weren’t written at the same time. Some were stacked together; others lay scattered haphazardly, leaving only the barley tea cup to sit lonely at the edge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What are these?”\u003C\u002Fp>",1381,"2026-06-20T02:15:55.761Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","4fceae57b3cbbc49b0a1e7df6078ee91a15438593dcbafd2c865f7db49cbfdab","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-25","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-23",406,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fnotes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-cover.jpg"]