[{"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-276":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},2283754,4467,"Chapter 276","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-276",276,"\u003Cp>“Be quiet!” Greene sternly halted the monk who was about to burst into tears and thank the Heavenly Father. The return to daylight had only eased his mind for an instant, before he became twice as alert.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Due to his profession, he frequently traveled across Dunling, exchanging information with local preachers who were highly sensitive to the flow of news, giving him exposure to far more churches than an ordinary person.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This one, however, clearly was not an ordinary church. It used the same stained-glass mosaic technique as the Cathedral of the Mother, creating vast stained-glass windows, yet its interior space was small—or rather, extremely limited.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This meant it was unsuitable for large gatherings, yet held high importance, commonly found in private estates for conducting secret rituals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Through the dusty glass, the statue standing on the ground outside the church bore an eerily familiar pose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That statue—isn’t it…?” Kraft was still uncertain whether his thoughts were correct; after all, no one could guarantee that such similar statues didn’t exist elsewhere in the vast city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They crept quietly to the window, wiped a small patch of dust from the glass, and peered outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Across the river, large shimmering waves of gold and crimson, like overlapping scales, glinted faintly; a massive, gloomy structure loomed in the distance, its heavy shadow cast across the water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now they could finally confirm their location. They had entered through the cemetery in the New District, passed beneath half the city underground, and emerged here—at the Knight’s Island Church in the heart of the Tem River, directly opposite the Cathedral of the Mother in the Old District.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The place that sealed the oldest and darkest secrets lay no farther than half a river’s width from the earthly dwelling of the Heavenly Father.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a hundred years, as the bell-ringer of the church struck the bronze bell each day, perhaps the chaotic things deep below lay still, listening to the sounds that traveled through the water and the bedrock, their rusted iron shells resonating in harmony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This doesn’t seem good.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After marveling at the strangeness of fate, Kraft’s first thoughts turned to more practical concerns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were now inside the Knight’s Island Church—the royal mausoleum—having overturned the coffin of some royal relative and uncovered secrets no one would ever wish to be revealed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, eliminate the option of simply walking out the door—this was no different from suicide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even a professor insensitive to such matters could understand: almost no one was trustworthy now. The Church’s high leadership had shifted from ambiguous to dangerously clear—certainly, the current Archbishop knew at least part of the truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even members of their own team were untrustworthy; one could not predict what unstable minds might do.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if one or two were gone, the chance of accidents would drop sharply. Kraft had reason to suspect that when Greene had brushed the hilt of his sword beneath his robe in the crypt, he had considered more extreme, yet more thorough, solutions—but various considerations had led him to abandon the idea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since a permanent solution was impossible, they could only hope everyone kept the secret.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, on the condition that they could leave secretly, as if they had never come.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though not a military stronghold, as a site for major royal ceremonies and a burial ground, it certainly could not be left unguarded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Avoiding a few sentries was possible, but they still had to cross a river nearly fifty meters wide; slipping ashore silently would be as difficult as sneaking across an empty church square.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Professor Kraft, can you and your student swim?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yifeng nodded firmly; she had grown up in a port city, and compared to the Tem River’s waters, the frigid, ice-choked seas of Comfort Harbor were tame as creamy soup.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft hesitated slightly. His swimming ability was limited to “not sinking,” mostly learned from the small river near his hometown and the deep end of a pool—he could manage dozens of meters if well-prepared, but carrying gear was another matter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We’ve sometimes watched from the church’s upper windows and seen few guards. Avoiding them won’t be hard,” Greene said, shedding his cumbersome outer robe and sorting through his pack for items to discard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But after that, we must swim across—though not now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Get ready,” he announced without further question, as if it were obvious. “We’ll push the coffin back first, then enter the water after dark.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“At night? Swim?” Kraft immediately objected. He glanced around and realized he seemed to be the only one who questioned swimming in unfamiliar waters after dark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What? Am I the only one?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Greene only then realized that the professor’s silence was not agreement, but genuine difficulty. “I recall you said your hometown is near the sea.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you really think anyone would choose to practice swimming in the waters of Wendeng Harbor, where ice shards float for half the year?” Kraft tried to make them understand: proximity to water did not automatically grant swimming skill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The north’s cold does not select for genes that tolerate winter swimming—it eliminates those that enjoy it from the gene pool.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The priest offered an emergency solution: he gathered all the jars they had brought, emptied their grease, tied them together into a floating bundle—so even someone who could only kick their legs could float to shore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They rested inside the church for a while; the sun gradually sank behind the city’s jagged skyline, the river’s shadows expanding, spreading across the entire water surface and rising into the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Faint lights flickered on the island, revealing the sentry positions—few in number, mostly clustered along the island’s edges. Normal people would never consider that intruders might emerge from within the very target they guarded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a professional team, finding a window to enter the water amid sparse, irregular patrols was effortless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In darkness, the team moved smoothly, guided by the building lights, and landed safely on the opposite shore. The first thing Kraft did upon reaching land was to check the samples and black fluid in his belongings, confirming they remained sealed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I need to return to the underground camp as soon as possible. If the personnel on duty don’t see us, they might go back for help,” Greene’s reasoning was clear: the priority was to contain the information within the smallest possible circle, preventing it from rising upward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As for today’s events, we’ll all say we got lost in a side tunnel below, kept going upward, and emerged from a sinkhole in some suburb.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He paused, then dismissed it. “No… that won’t hold up.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The team had lost one member, discarded armor and heavy gear during the river crossing, sinking them into the Tem River’s depths—it looked exactly like the aftermath of a failed ambush.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft suggested: “Say we encountered something, dropped our burdens, and barely escaped through another exit.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But what exactly did we encounter?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No—I mean, just say we encountered ‘something.’ Something indescribable, unstoppable, chasing us through the labyrinthine sewers, terrifying ordinary people into abandoning their gear and fleeing in panic.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Keep the description vague and sketchy—but strangely convincing. “Don’t give too many details. Even if someone who knows part of the truth hears it, their imagination will naturally fill in the gaps of ‘something.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fine.” The priest emptied water from his boots and put them back on. “I’ll find a deep enough sewer entrance in the suburbs to explain it. No one else will bother to search deeply anyway.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then we part ways here.” Kraft nodded in satisfaction; the night wind along the riverbank felt chilly. “There’s plenty to do now. We probably won’t see each other for a while—I’ll notify you when there’s progress.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What do you mean?” Greene asked, puzzled; this sounded like Kraft intended to withdraw temporarily. “We haven’t found those people yet.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The handbook they had obtained clearly stated there was another group of heretics—likely the main group—who had “gone down.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Where are you planning to look for them?” Kraft countered. “And you don’t seriously think they’ll come back?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Based on past experience, consequences of involvement with the deep things generally unfold in stages:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First is accidental contact—realizing something exists beyond common understanding. If one runs fast and far enough, there’s a good chance of escape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If one fails to escape, or actively investigates further, they enter the second stage: gradually approaching the vortex’s center, where the undercurrent grows faster, stronger, until being dragged beneath is inevitable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those who barely survive the second stage often find themselves changed in some way—physically or mentally. These changes are highly deceptive, like receiving divine revelation after a trial, creating the illusion: “I am chosen. I am special.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is the third stage. The byproducts of deep influence are nearly impossible to refuse; they inevitably use it, interpreting it from their own perspective. These actions usually produce heresies endowed with unnatural power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The range of this stage varies wildly—from minor heresies hidden in southern hills or the Vestermin Forest, to ones capable of influencing the entire kingdom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But so far, every recorded case eventually slips into the fourth stage. Those who gather the tide’s gifts walk farther and farther, inevitably vanishing into the sea, realizing their “special gift” was merely a fleeting accident.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This group is already nearly in the fourth stage. They’re probably somewhere without sunlight, keeping company with something unknown—or have become part of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Assume they opened the gates of hell and jumped in themselves. You can’t follow them to find them,” Kraft felt cold now, and he believed Yifeng did too—they should return to a warm fire and change into dry clothes as soon as possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As for the royal tomb and what lies beneath—believe me, leaving it alone is the best course. It’s been down there for centuries; another few hundred years won’t hurt.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For now, Kraft cared more about the fruits of this journey: the living sample in his pack was tapping against its bottle, emitting a tempting, crisp vibration. The power of near-resurrection—he found it deeply intriguing.\u003C\u002Fp>",1667,"2026-06-20T02:15:56.940Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","ad8ed2dd30daae5997281ad3b93746a013b55e1e597726da2a7a264c6ce7ac33","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-277","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-275",406,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fnotes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-cover.jpg"]