[{"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-258":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},2283736,4467,"Chapter 258","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-258",258,"\u003Cp>For Kraft, what he most wanted to do right now was to find his student and have a proper talk, but the current situation did not allow him to prioritize this, even though Yin Feng was sitting right next door in the restaurant, enjoying an extra-large consolation breakfast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He needed first to inspect the compromised invaders, receive a detailed report on last night’s events, comfort the shaken Dr. Dai Wei and his patients, and arrange for someone to clean the stains covering every wall and floor upstairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After passing through the initial shock phase, Dai Wei expressed some shame over his reaction last night, feeling he should have acted more firmly, befitting the clinic’s owner—rather than stuffing himself into a closet like a pig willingly walking into an oven, as he put it himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But post-event bravado and stubbornness couldn’t stop his hand from trembling as he held the hot tea. As an ordinary physician far removed from such violent confrontations, his lips were still pale, as if some of the blood in the corridor had been drawn from him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The professor offered brief reassurance, saying Dai Wei’s actions had been entirely correct. In any case, a living person in a closet was better than a dead body found anywhere else.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for the dead... they were temporarily stored in the backyard. The nearby coffin shop should be grateful for their timely business, since the arrival of that one person had caused a noticeable drop in sales.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Come to think of it, would Green reimburse his disciples for these coffin expenses? This odd thought flickered in his mind. After all, the priest didn’t look like a man of great wealth, nor could he violate his vows to exploit his position for personal gain—he wondered whether the Church provided special operational funds for such missions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he lifted the lid, a heavy metallic stench spread out; even the mask offered little relief from the discomfort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>None of the monks were inside this time; their most severely injured member was resting quietly in a private room at the clinic and was no longer in immediate danger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of the three lying here, the relatively intact one had died from a sharp instrument wound; the other two were far less presentable. The one with normal body proportions had lost one side of his jaw and temporal skull, along with his right palm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The clearly taller intruder, with elongated arms, had lost nearly half of his left flank; this effect resulted from secondary trauma—even his altered anatomy couldn’t save him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thanks to the injuries, Kraft didn’t need to open the chest cavity himself to see: his tall stature came from a kind of “elongation,” with extra segments replicated along the body’s longitudinal axis—the thoracic vertebrae and corresponding ribs—mirroring the same pattern as his elongated arms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His transformation was more pronounced, even deeper than that of the man who had cast some magic in the rain last time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the bent forearm, Kraft found a small gray-white foreign object, roughly the size of a thumb joint, embedded shallowly in a spot that didn’t interfere with bone or muscle movement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It looked deliberately placed. Kraft found no trace of the black fluid’s solid form; perhaps the difference lay in this: the previous man’s transformation had been a side effect, while this body’s alterations were the result of deliberate indulgence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I think we’ve figured out who he was,” the monk in charge handed Kraft a hammer, nearly dropping it onto a fragment of skull.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A simple tool made of iron and wood, it was more fitting as a tool than a weapon. The smooth handle bore faint carbonization marks, as if frequently exposed to high heat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sparks flying, right? A blacksmith’s hammer. Finding a recently closed forge won’t be hard—the owner was skilled, supplied many people, possibly even Mo Lisen.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Last winter, the shop owner’s wife passed away. Neighbors assumed he’d just gone to some place less likely to stir up grief, never expecting him to turn up here.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When a person is emotionally vulnerable, they seek support—and evil often strikes where the heart is weak,” the monk remarked with regret. “Perhaps it isn’t entirely his fault.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Perhaps not,” Kraft nodded, pocketing the dull gray-white stone inlay. “Their reach is far broader than we thought.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We had assumed it was merely a heresy spreading mostly among scholars, but two attacks completely changed that view—its membership was clearly more complex, and capable of offering something to attract more followers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What could be worse than a heresy? A heresy that actually possesses the power to produce “miracles.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And it didn’t stop there: even though the city’s surface was under control, the enemy still had an unmonitored network of movement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Several monks stood around the overturned stone slab in the alley, unsure whether to descend—the filthy water had erased all traces, offering no value for reverse tracking, and no clue as to where those people had come from.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the first definitive confirmation that the heretics were using the sewers—and their level of familiarity far surpassed that of any other group, navigating the underground like ants knowing their subterranean palace, more astonishing than a hulking man with a hammer slipping past the perimeter in the dead of night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s a bit absurd,” Kraft muttered. Even above ground, the alleys of Dunling could confuse newcomers; perhaps prolonged time underground had given them some peculiar skill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then again, maybe not. Have you searched nearby? Perhaps they entered from somewhere close by and only traveled a short distance beneath.” Not from some deep-hidden secret gathering place, following the entire sewer system all the way here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We will,” the monks agreed. “We apologize for this incident. You understand this was a protective... observation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were busy tracing the attackers’ origins and had no good explanation for why a group of church members had conveniently appeared near the clinic last night; they quickly dispersed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, the situation remained strange. Kraft hadn’t forgotten the hostile surveillance he’d felt during his return from the graveyard not long ago—it had come from the sewers, and even his sudden, unexpected attack hadn’t caught it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was clear now: Dunling’s underground held a structure as complex as its surface—only now, someone was using it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The heretics showed extraordinary familiarity with this underground system; how they found the hexagonal chamber remained a mystery.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Could there possibly be a map?】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more Kraft thought, the more plausible it seemed—but where could such a map exist? One that depicted such a vast three-dimensional underground structure, and which the heretics could find while he could not?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The answer was probably still buried below, waiting to be uncovered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, the experiment couldn’t proceed without proper conditions, and his remaining tasks were limited to the clinic. Rather than lingering on the surface performing repetitive labor, he might as well take the chance to personally accompany Green into the sewers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The recent weather had been clear, a low-risk period; perhaps he could even bring Yin Feng along, letting the harsh environment and tedious search work dampen the girl’s unrealistic enthusiasm for the mysterious world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, most knight apprentices began their training around the same age—if she truly had an interest, now was the perfect time for initial exposure. Proper guidance was better than private, reckless experimentation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if unsuccessful, a chance as an apprentice could temporarily satisfy her desire to be involved in real matters—and help her realize what lay ahead.\u003C\u002Fp>",1245,"2026-06-20T02:15:56.940Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","fd06d045e6d61f78257e58e2e6b95951a58361be99bceae07effe71634de0362","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-259","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-257",406,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fnotes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-cover.jpg"]