[{"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-361":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},2283839,4467,"Chapter 361: Seizing the Knife","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-361",361,"\u003Cp>The first to notice the incident was Benny, his paternal instinct immediately drawing his gaze to Lu Xiusi, noticing the short knife in the boy’s hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a utility knife meant for cutting ropes, carving wood, and close-quarters self-defense in desperation—it should not have appeared in the plan, especially not while they held the advantage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No, they no longer held the advantage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His concern for his child caused him to hesitate for an instant, but like most knightly families who had not yet lost their martial virtue, the training given to heirs encompassed more than physical strength and technique—it included proper responses in crisis:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Watch out, Lu Xiusi!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shouted the warning, tightening the rope net first; Dominic, like a fly caught in a spiderweb, struggled harder and became more entangled, the mesh and wooden hooks interlocking and binding him deeper into his worsening predicament.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tossed the rope through the air to Field, “Don’t look them in the eyes!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cold, heavy droplets struck the back of his skull, forcing his neck lower, his vision restricted to ground-level crawling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It stirred memories long buried—the first time he had prayed, as a child, silently following the crowd into church, head bowed, eyes fixed only on countless pairs of feet facing the altar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Drops fell from the air; only much later did he learn they were holy water, blessed and representing the Father’s will, in which every child had been bathed at birth to signify their life was bound to the divine and under watchful eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rain intensified, silver threads weaving through his dim vision, dissolving the salt crusted by sweat, stinging his eyes like needlepoints.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He forced himself to glance sideways and saw Benny’s boot blocking Lu Xiusi’s charge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sudden turn of events made him want to speak, but he could not hear his own voice—then came a sharp pain deep in his ear canal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A voice, a colossal voice, swept over them, as if the reflection of the mountain peak had shattered in the sky—but it lasted longer than such a fleeting sound, resonating continuously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Long, rough, like a scaled mountain beast crawling and grinding against thunderclouds, vast and filling every gap from earth to cloud, vibrating through his throat into his lungs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He fought hard not to look up. Yet even without raising his head, he could guess the vortex was spinning violently, wind strength surging without warning, lifting rotting moss and rain alike to slap against his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His soles nearly lifted from the ground, hurtling toward the sky; a faint weightlessness trembled through his tendons, making his palms spasm and go limp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Dominic, struggling beside him, fared worse—the air current flipped him instantly, tumbling him like a straw puppet across the ground in absurd rolls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the wind grew any stronger, he might truly be swept away, carried aloft, vanishing without a trace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>【Vanishing without a trace…】\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Field remembered something—the recurring rumors of disappearances. It gave his hands temporary strength against trembling; he seized the rope again, coiled it twice around his waist, and tied a dead knot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crow’s omen came true—the chaotic winds intensified, and the pull on his waist robbed him of balance; he rolled to the ground alongside Dominic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the other side, Benny faced Lu Xiusi, short knife in hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The boy’s movements were stiff, dazed as if waking from a dream, unsteady in the wind—he seemed to aim for cutting Dominic’s ropes, but after being blocked, turned instead to remove the obstacle by the simplest means.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he did not seem entirely lost to his own mind; he was driven by a set of knowledge forcibly implanted in his skull, acting in ways others could not comprehend, lacking the courage or justification to raise blade against his father.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, those eyes ignited by phantom fire fixed only on his blood kin, silently pleading for understanding of truths he could not voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Benny avoided his gaze, keeping his vision below shoulder level, standing his ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This sudden situation exceeded his understanding; previous cases of madness he’d handled involved farmers and craftsmen—following ancestral experience, things rarely spiraled beyond control.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had never imagined someone afflicted with madness would suddenly shout the name of a stranger, luring them into eye contact.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if the source of madness drew unnervingly near, whispering into the ear knowledge gained through incomprehensible means, revealing in the mad behavior a strange grasp of logic and exploitation of information gaps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Lu Xiusi…” Benny called the boy’s true name, but the wind snatched the words away—he wondered if he’d truly spoken or merely murmured unconsciously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Put down the knife and come to me!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a brief pause, the boy stepped forward again, lowering his knife-hand to waist level—as if relaxing his hostility—but his forward-leaning posture and taut muscles beneath clothing betrayed the imminent surge of force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Benny did not draw his sword; he silently stepped half a pace sideways, waiting for the boy to charge recklessly into close range, eager to thrust the blade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within two breaths, the father’s hesitation vanished, replaced by calm mastery over an inexperienced opponent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if he had practiced it a thousand times—perhaps he had—Benny shifted from stillness to motion, his left hand snapping up to press against the knife-wielding wrist, angling the blade upward and rightward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly, the invasive cognition had not improved his close combat skills; it had even dulled them. Lu Xiusi could not recover from his father’s speed—far faster than usual—and the second hand already seized the back of his wrist from below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Benny sidestepped, letting Lu Xiusi pass by, twisting the knife arm and applying slight downward pressure; the pain forced the boy’s fingers to loosen their grip on the hilt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without pausing, his foot moved in sync—he hooked the boy’s supporting ankle, his shoulder slammed into the sternum, a dull thud echoing as the boy’s breath visibly hitched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Xiusi lost his footing, flying sideways—the short knife was now in Benny’s hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire sequence flowed like water; before Dominic could be restrained, the rope meant for him was now bound around Lu Xiusi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All four were soaked through, rain lashed by wind slapping their faces, droplets blinding Field.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Facing the storm’s center—the invisible but certain vortex—he found courage he did not know he had, making a crude gesture learned from the alleys of Dunling New District, one he had never dared use.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He waited, trembling with dread, for several seconds—no thunder, no lightning, nothing descended from the clouds; it seemed all that had transpired here had no effect on it, the link between madmen and natural disaster merely a delusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had succeeded. Now came the harder task: bringing the man down the mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But a new, unanswered question followed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Will they heal themselves?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then is there any cure?” Field pressed anxiously. “How did you handle them before?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Benny answered with silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Field reflexively wanted to apologize, but any words felt hollow and powerless. He stood dazed in the rain for a moment, realizing the man before him needed neither apology nor promises of compensation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sir Benny, I don’t know if it will help, but I know a very famous physician—he’s said to specialize in problems within the mind. If you’re willing, you may come with me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1216,"2026-06-20T02:15:56.940Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","9dff449ad31b075fc08237de83a08440786cb66e94586d71267d2d5ef6b96e82","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-362","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-360",406,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fnotes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-cover.jpg"]