[{"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-42":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},2283520,4467,"Chapter 42: Multiple Pathogenic Factors","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-42",42,"\u003Cp>“Thump-thump, thump-thump.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the morning, a loud but unhurried knocking came at the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hello, may I ask if Mr. Brad is at home?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Just a moment, I’m coming.” The young woman, wearing a soot-stained apron, set down the half-cut loaf, wiped her hands on the apron, and walked to the door. “Who are you…?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My lord! What is this?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sight outside terrified her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the dim morning light, two black-robed bird-headed figures stood at her doorstep, holding wooden crates. Their metallic beaks and red lensed eyes reflected a chilling glow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She instinctively tried to shut the door, but a gloved black hand shot out, pressing against the wood. “Please don’t do that, madam. We are doctors. Don’t close the door.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was quite bizarre: at the fragile hour of dawn, two creatures resembling demons from legend arrived at her door, speaking human language, claiming to be physicians come to treat a patient.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Realizing he had been misunderstood, Kraft quickly explained his purpose. “We’re here to see Mr. Brad, the baker. He came to our clinic saying he’d been sleeping too long—we’ve come to check on him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the woman’s expression shift from terror to wary suspicion, Kraft withdrew his hand from the door and pointed to the badge on his collar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m Kraft, a lecturer at Wen Deng Harbor Academy. Don’t mind this ridiculous mask—I don’t like it either.” He forced a polite smile, though the mask concealed his youthful, handsome face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh?” The woman remained wary. This bird-headed man had named her husband and knew his profession, wore an unfamiliar badge—none of this justified letting them in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially since her husband still hadn’t woken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a difficult situation. Kraft scratched his head, knocking against the red lens. He reorganized his words, trying to persuade the woman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Are you Mr. Brad’s wife? The fact that he can’t wake in the morning is interfering with his work—that’s a serious issue. You wouldn’t want your husband to suffer like this, would you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The woman’s expression wavered. Kraft retreated a step. “Our schedule is extremely tight. If we miss today, we won’t be able to return for another half-month. Could you tell Mr. Brad to make an appointment in half a month?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh, I didn’t mean that—please come in. My husband’s still asleep; you’ll have to wait a bit. Waking him up has become harder and harder.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She opened the door and let Kraft and Lu Xiusi enter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thank you, kind and understanding lady. Mr. Brad is truly fortunate.” Kraft offered a polite compliment; the warmth of her demeanor eased her tension slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Progress was going well, yet the entire exchange gave Kraft a strange sense of déjà vu—as if he’d seen this before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carrying that feeling, he and Lu Xiusi stepped into the Brad home, where Mrs. Brad led them to sit at the table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m sorry, my husband hasn’t woken yet. Lately, he’s been rising later and later. You’ll need to wait a while before seeing him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s fine—we might as well check if the house itself is the issue.” Kraft observed the room. Under the faint red filter, everything felt uncomfortable; even the air filtered through the beak masks carried no discernible scent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You rise so early—haven’t you been affected by your husband’s sleep pattern?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why do you say that?” She sliced two thin pieces from the loaf and placed them on a wooden tray. “Sleepiness isn’t contagious. We always woke early—only recently has Brad started sleeping later.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft and Lu Xiusi exchanged a glance and shook their heads. Their initial hypothesis had already been disproven.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If this were an infectious disease, the wife—who had the closest contact with Brad—should have been infected multiple times by now. Yet there were no signs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The environmental cause theory was also undermined. They shared the same living space, diet, clothing, and habits—this made no sense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you know of anyone nearby who’s recently had similar symptoms?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mrs. Brad paused her knife, thinking. “No—at least not on this street. You could ask Brad—he knows more people than I do.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thank you. I hate to be forward, but could we try waking him?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft was curious about “difficulty waking”—what exactly did the patient mean by that?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’d be doing me a huge favor. Waking him every day isn’t easy. His room is over there.” She pointed the knife toward a door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft and Lu Xiusi pushed open the door. A slightly overweight man lay sound asleep in bed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft grasped the fat hand protruding from beneath the blanket and squeezed gently. “Mr. Brad, wake up.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You won’t wake him like that,” Mrs. Brad called from the doorway. “You need to shout, shake him hard—but don’t bruise him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft increased the pressure, gripping Brad’s hand firmly and squeezing hard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The force would have caused noticeable pain in most people, but Brad remained asleep, his chest rising and falling rhythmically, unchanged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft pressed his fingers to Brad’s neck. Without a timer, he could only roughly estimate the carotid pulse at fifty beats per minute—within normal range.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The beak mask prevented Kraft from shouting directly into Brad’s ear. He shook the man’s body vigorously, but Brad only paused his snoring—still no sign of waking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“He’s really hard to wake,” Lu Xiusi observed as Kraft struggled. He reached for Brad’s other hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I think a man with thick body hair won’t mind losing one.” He pinched a single arm hair and yanked it hard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No!” Kraft tried to stop him—but it was too late.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hss!” The effect was immediate. The pain was sharper than a needle prick. Brad let out a faint inhale in his sleep—signs of stirring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft seized the moment and shook him violently. Under this brutal awakening regimen, Brad finally opened his eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who are you?!” He sat up, scrambling backward until his back hit the wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Calm down. We’re doctors,” Kraft said, spreading his hands to show he meant no harm. “Dr. Li Si said you have trouble waking, so we came to check on you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Waking to find two bird-headed figures in his home sent such a shock through Brad that he was instantly fully awake. He clutched his chest, trying to calm his racing heart, then dressed and sat at the table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thank you—but next time, let my wife wake me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We apologize. This was necessary to truly understand what ‘difficult to wake’ means. Honestly, I think this is abnormal.” Kraft took the wooden tray of bread and placed it before Brad. “Please, eat while we talk.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Would you like some?” Eating breakfast while talking to bird-headed men clearly had no positive effect on appetite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, it doesn’t have that function yet.” He tapped the mask with his knuckles—clack, clack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind the red lenses, his eyes studied Brad closely. After waking, Brad’s mental state was perfectly normal—even better than Kraft’s own recent condition. He didn’t even yawn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Setting aside the fact that it might worsen, this quality of sleep was enviable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Have you been sleeping well lately? Any dreams?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I sleep very well—too well, actually. I can’t wake up.” Brad tore off a piece of bread and shoved it in his mouth. “Dreams? I don’t remember any. I only recall the moment I wake.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He rubbed his arm, still feeling a faint sting. “It’s strange—I sleep so deeply, yet I’ve never dreamed once.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Like the entire sleep period was erased—you have no memory of what happened during it?” Lu Xiusi interjected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes! Exactly!” Brad agreed with the analogy. “It’s different from how I used to sleep.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft wrote this down on paper and glanced at Lu Xiusi. “Completely unaware of what happened during that time”—those were Lu Xiusi’s exact words describing the diluted solution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He needed only a moment of active recall to remember Lu Xiusi’s excited expression, his animated tone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mask hid Lu Xiusi’s face—but his expression was surely no better.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Have you heard of anyone nearby with similar symptoms? Sleeping later and later, hard to wake—either one or both?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No. I know half this street. No one’s mentioned anything like this.” Brad shoved the last bite of bread into his mouth and swallowed. “It’s not really a big deal, is it? After getting used to it, I actually like sleeping longer.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It makes no sense. Absolutely no sense.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft and Lu Xiusi stepped outside, back onto the street.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I still believe it’s connected to Clear. Even if logic doesn’t support it, I’m keeping my view.” Lu Xiusi was frustrated by the contradiction between intuition and reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt this was caused by the Clear solution, yet among all patients, only this one had taken it—and Kraft had at least two cases with no exposure to the solution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I feel the same way, Lu Xiusi.” Kraft stopped walking and touched the metal beak. He had no beard to stroke, so he used the beak as a substitute when thinking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When assumption clashes with reality, the error must lie in the assumption. Either our observation missed something, or our theory is incomplete.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What do you mean?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I think it’s the latter. The assumption is too simple. The risk factors may be multiple. Clear is only one of them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft recalled yesterday’s map and compared it with his own walk along Elm Street. “If my sense of distance isn’t off, and Li Si’s scale is accurate, the dotted line I drew yesterday…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He roughly calculated. “If you walked straight, it’d take five to ten minutes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m returning to my original guess: there’s a factor that affects a certain area—not necessarily infectious, but far broader than the few houses I first suspected.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kraft spread his arms wide, tracing a large circle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Its center isn’t here. The effect here is already weak—it only manifests when combined with another risk factor: Clear.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So to find it…” Lu Xiusi mused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Salt Tide District.” Kraft lifted the wooden crate. “We need to go to Salt Tide District.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1655,"2026-06-20T02:15:55.761Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","33cf73aeeb6b58a56eca797fba26e499a640b50e6cf5608773b8bc478ce46ea3","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-43","notes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-chapter-41",406,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fnotes-on-kraft-anomalous-studies-cover.jpg"]