Chapter 247: The Interference Source

The experimental design was not standardized enough, and the direct consequence was a hasty dinner followed by overtime work after the meal.

But choosing to use only one crystal for the experiment was also a precaution against potential unknown risks, a helpless move under limited understanding.

Kraft might regret the wasted time, but he was even less willing to see several samples undergo some unexpected change simultaneously. At least the afternoon's experiments proved that there were factors in the attempt that could make it melt safely and slowly.

Under the glow of the candlelight, he resumed the attempt. This time, a lens was placed on the table for observation.

"This time we'll use three samples," the professor said, picking out three black, salt-grain-sized objects of similar size and placing them in a glass dish. After a moment's thought, he added another. "No, add a control group."

Acting on a hunch, he guessed that the change was caused by later operations, so he decided to start directly with the liquid, dripping acid and alkaline solvents onto them respectively, along with a fresh drop of blood taken once again from the rabbit's ear.

To minimize subjective influence and visual bias, Kraft and Kup each brought a chair and sat before the table, staring at the hourglass. Every time it was flipped, they observed, independently drew their conclusions, and then compared results.

Then came the process of waiting, utterly boring.

The cycle for resetting the hourglass was about five to ten minutes, neither long nor short, enough to interrupt any serious matter or entertainment requiring a solid block of time.

The need to repeatedly monitor time made it hard for the mind to fully relax; one could only briefly let thoughts wander nearby or pass the time by chatting.

But Kraft was not a very talkative person to begin with, and Kup lacked the ability to generate topics, so the atmosphere quickly fell silent.

The emptiness of the deserted night was amplified, while the presence of the space beyond the light was weakened. Those corridors and halls seemed to drift away from them after losing human presence, leaving the isolated laboratory as a sealed container drifting in the void.

The rabbit was still eating, having even earned itself some radishes and lettuce leaves; the rustling sound of chewing became the monotonous background noise of the experiment.

"It's so quiet," Kup said, carefully taking the convex lens from Kraft's hand, gripping it tightly for fear of dropping it, yet holding it gently enough to avoid damaging it.

He knew the origin of this object. Unlike those glass products whose prices had indeed dropped after process improvements, this lens was crafted from a single piece of high-purity crystal and required minimal abrasion, making it so expensive that it could curb the instinctive trembling of one's hand.

Correspondingly, the observation effect was excellent. The black crystal, the size of a salt grain, was magnified, its edges clearly presented to the eye.

"Nothing has changed for now."

"I see the same," Kraft said, swallowing a yawn to prevent it from spreading between them. It would be best to talk about something; the greatest enemy of staying up late was always boredom.

"Speaking of which, do you still remember the Salt Tide Zone incident?"

"Of course."

"Someone added this liquefied substance to the well water; just enough to cover the bottom of a bottle caused the entire area where well water was drawn to be affected."

"This is it?" Kup pushed his chair back, finding it hard to connect the black granules with that experience, since these things were very inconspicuous from a distance. "But now it's... black sand?"

"So I want to know how it melts and how to keep it stably in a liquid state."

"Uh, and then?" Judging by the volume in their hands, if all of it melted, Kup felt it would be several times the dosage Kraft had described.

Like the impulse to leap off a cliff when standing at its edge, his mind uncontrollably imagined the scene of this amount being poured into the well water, enough to send the entire Wendeng Port into slumber.

He looked at the box locking the small bottle of black granules, feeling a fear that came from the depths of his heart. Inside lay something capable of destroying a city.

The slight drowsiness that had just arisen was instantly dispelled.

"Oh, don't worry; after all, it hasn't melted yet, and even if it did, it couldn't be maintained." Kraft flipped the hourglass, took out the lens to observe, and then handed it to the now-awake Kup.

So far, the effect of keeping one alert was significant; at least the other party wouldn't be able to fall asleep beside this thing in the first half of the night.

However, it wouldn't take that long. After the hourglass had been flipped more than twenty times, aided by the crystal magnifying glass, Kraft observed the first signs of change.

A dulling, difficult to observe with the naked eye, occurred on the edges of the rabbit-blood-soaked granules. He made a note, then silently handed the lens to Kup.

"Seems like there's some change?" An uncertain, nervous voice squeezed out from the squire's mouth; the two's consistent judgment confirmed that a change had occurred.

Too lucky; did they just guess it randomly? Many possibilities flashed through Kraft's mind, only to be denied one by one. If it were as simple as blood, it should have long since liquefied and scattered within the heretics' bodies.

In surprise, he took back the lens and looked at the one soaking in the acid.

Different shapes, but equally smooth and dulled edges; the sample in the acidic reagent also showed signs of melting.

"It makes absolutely no sense..." Kraft turned to the one in the alkaline solution. All three experimental subjects were undergoing transformation without exception, synchronously reaching a level observable to the eye.

For the moment, he truly could not think of any special commonality among the three.

A certain bad feeling made him look at the last crystal, untreated as a control, and he discovered that, like its counterparts immersed in the droplets, its edges were faintly dulling, presenting a slightly moist, ice-like texture.

This trend is normally hard to notice; only under careful observation and comparison would such a subtle discovery be made.

"The control group is melting too?" Their state was strikingly self-willed; regardless of the physical and chemical conditions given, they simply melted or stabilized on their own, completely unreasonable.

The melting trend of the control group pointed to a problem: the experiment was fundamentally flawed in its design, as the key variable had not been controlled at all.

From another perspective, the experiment was also a success, directly ruling out most hypotheses and confirming that some factor was consistently and continuously causing an effect after the experiment began.

Then it absolutely wasn't something like reagents or blood.

"Something is interfering with the experiment," Kraft sniffed, drawing his conclusion, as if that could sniff out any trace of an abnormal signal in the air, but there was only the stale scent of dust from long disuse.

He thought of the candlelight, some component in the air, but it shouldn't be something common and easily accessible. If it were that simple, he would already have a bottle of finished black liquid in hand, not a pinch of black salt.

Perhaps it was due to the location; something left in the burned-out dome laboratory was emitting a constant radiation that caused influence?

Kraft moved away from the table and approached the box that had been isolated separately, opening it to observe the internal samples.

These samples still maintained their salt-crystal solid state, stubbornly tapping against the bottle walls with their sharp edges.

"Could this interference source be confined to the experimental table, deliberately opposing me?"