Chapter 363: Endocrine-Related Osteoporosis

After a simple and effective exchange, with Field recounting the full context and the middle-aged man Benny adding the latter details, Kraft finally grasped the general sequence of events.

"You're saying Dominic went mad after reading some nonsense books, then randomly ran off to a mountain he'd never been to or even heard of, searching for something even locals couldn't describe."

According to knowledge brought by the otherworldly soul, an ancient sage had long ago summarized this phenomenon: learning without thinking leads to confusion; thinking without learning invites danger.

Learning too broadly while thinking recklessly easily combines both flaws, dragging one helplessly into peril, leaving death not far behind.

After a moment's hesitation, they both nodded. The description was a bit too brief, but it couldn't be refuted.

"Then, when you tried to forcibly restrain him, the madness infected this… younger brother."

He had intended to call him "child," but the roughness of rural life blurred age distinctions, forcing him to awkwardly choose another term.

Kraft's gaze drifted between the patient and his family; the doctor's instinct told him there was still unspoken information, incomplete and distorting the overall logic of the situation.

Either they didn't realize the importance of those details, or there was a shameful secret, or some absurd, unbelievable reason too ludicrous to be taken seriously.

"My friend, thank you for lending a hand; may the Lord bear witness to this mercy and courage."

He rose from the chairback, leaning slightly forward in a posture between friendly conversation and confession, drawing closer to the middle-aged man.

"Yet the Spirit of the Father has revealed to me that you still harbor unspoken words. Understand that the Lord's light is everywhere, but only enters hearts willingly opened. If you cannot speak honestly, I cannot help."

"Rest assured, lay your burdens before Him—no matter how absurd or profane, I am only the Father's ear and outstretched hand, never a judge of right or wrong."

Standing nearby, Kup rubbed his eyes vigorously; for a fleeting instant, he had hallucinated the man before him as the earnest Brother Lei Mengde.

The truth proved that as long as necessity existed, nothing was truly beyond Kraft's reach. His clumsiness in missionary work was purely a matter of attitude, compounded by others sharing the burden and his own unwillingness to engage.

Of course, he wisely chose silence, playing the role of a nodding machine in perfect cooperation.

Kraft's earnest, sincere persuasion truly moved Benny—or perhaps some nonverbal persuasiveness had its effect—causing him to subtly reveal a few local folk rumors unsuitable for open discussion in a church setting.

These remarks, dismissed as nonsense by any sane person, filled the gaps in the earlier narrative logic.

Even Kup could find suspicious fragments aligning with his past experiences.

"That explains it," Kraft said, gripping the man's calloused hands. "Thank you for your trust—it helps immensely."

"But I still have a question—it might sound strange—but does anyone know what exactly they were thinking or feeling when they went mad?"

"My father once tried communicating with them; he might know something, but little, and he never brought it up, nor did we ever inquire." Benny's cautious avoidance made it easy to overlook the fact that he came from a devout family.

It made sense: the Father's protection was too distant, while the threats passed by word of mouth had taken root here for countless ages, deeply embedded in collective memory.

Seeing Kraft unconcerned, he warned: "I advise you not to delve deeper. Even the most favored servants of the Father need not wade into unknown depths of danger."

"Thank you for your kindness; I understand roughly," Kraft said, almost certain that Dominic's experience mirrored his own that night—both had encountered some elusive, non-corporeal, deeply troubling entity.

It seemed anchored to some existence yet lacked any fixed material basis, even more ethereal than a spirit, with no discernible outline or boundary.

Correspondingly, based on experience, non-physical influences typically remained confined to the mental plane and often resolved once removed from the specific environment.

But Dominic's condition clearly wasn't that simple.

"Let me examine the patient."

Seeing Kraft rise and step again to the patient's bedside, Field exhaled silently, giving Benny a slight nod to reassure him to wait.

Since the doctor, not the priest, remained beside the patient, there might still be hope.

Strangely, Kup—who had been constantly by the patient's side—not only failed to follow closer, but unconsciously stepped back, as if pushed away by something sudden, stumbling two steps before barely regaining his balance.

Before he could ponder further, Kraft's startled exclamation snatched everyone's attention.

The first part examined was neither the skull nor the multiple fractured fingers, but Dominic's lower limbs.

Kraft cradled one leg, lifting and repositioning it repeatedly, with the reverent, almost ecstatic posture of a connoisseur discovering a lost masterpiece.

"Have you found anything?"

"Does Dominic like naming things after himself?" Kraft asked in return.

"Sorry, he never mentioned it—but does it relate to his condition?"

"It's crucial. If he does, we'll call it Dominic's Empty Bone Syndrome; if not, we'll settle for the place name and call it Priyer Syndrome."

As some of the body's longest bones, the lower limbs perfectly reflected the classic bone changes—they were nearly hollowed out.

Thin cortical bone, sparse trabeculae, like the trunk of a tree infested by termites, their internal structure almost entirely dissolved. But this wasn't the end: within the empty marrow cavities, loose yet orderly new trabeculae were forming, gradually replacing the old bone.

"You carried him all this way—didn't you notice his weight felt off?"

Bones in the remodeling phase are unusually light and fragile, explaining the multiple finger fractures.

So the question arises: what minor change in one area could trigger such widespread skeletal transformation?

Scanning the skull with his spiritual senses, Kraft noticed a swelling about the size of a knuckle, located four finger-widths inward from the brow ridge.

This object, originally no larger than a soybean, had swollen several times over, even slightly deforming the sella turcica of the sphenoid bone.

Though insufficient by itself to raise intracranial pressure, its position at the skull base, near the midbrain, blocked the cerebrospinal fluid circulation pathway, causing the ventricles to swell like a pool with a clogged drain.

【Pituitary Tumor】

The primary lesion was indeed small, but tragically located at the endocrine control center.

Even with prior preparation, the actual situation was far worse than anticipated.

Treating this requires surgery through the nasal cavity or maxilla, reaching directly into the sphenoid bone at the skull base. It demands a multidisciplinary team of senior neurosurgeons, ophthalmologists, and ENT specialists; it requires extremely precise endoscopic microsurgical instruments; it demands strict, continuous monitoring and evaluation.

And now, here there is only a novice witch-doctor who just learned how to pry open skulls, and his carpenter's chisel.

Perhaps considering funeral arrangements and eulogies would be more practical than pondering surgical methods.

?? A Difficult Month _: (′□`」∠): _

? The author has finally completed the defense and graduation exams

? (End of Chapter)