Chapter 78: Chapter Seventy-Seven: A New Subject (End of Volume)

"No, still not right."

The desk was moved to the window of the professor's room; two tiny, crystal-clear fragments were taken from the shelf by Kraft, each wrapped in silk cloth and placed inside small wooden boxes filled with cotton.

Two similar but slightly "fatter" pieces were pulled out and secured on a stand; nimble fingers adjusted their positions at a speed so slow it was nearly imperceptible.

The only thing disrupting this harmonious scene was that the fingertips of two fingers were wrapped in thin cloth strips.

Two thin crystals clamped a flattened, translucent drop of red liquid; behind the double lenses, his eyes fixed on it—this process had lasted half the afternoon.

Lu Xiusi lay listlessly on his chair, staring at the ceiling, one finger also wrapped in a cloth band. Since morning, when these custom-made little items arrived, Kraft had been acting strangely for half the afternoon.

As for why it wasn't the whole morning, it was simply because he'd skipped a month and a half of classes and felt too embarrassed to miss another day.

Even so, most students could tell he wasn't focused on the lesson; he kept muttering made-up words like "small room" and "microscopic," and announced just before class ended that they would soon have a brand-new subject to study.

This news left all the students, including Lu Xiusi, with an indescribable look of shock. Even his most ardent admirers later admitted it was hard to call this good news.

As the student closest to Kraft, Lu Xiusi was promised many favors and sent out to probe for information.

Then, upon entering, he was immediately bled for a drop of blood by Kraft, who held a needle to his third finger.

"What exactly is wrong?" Lu Xiusi roughly guessed the new topic had something to do with this expensive device, but he couldn't make out anything from the side, "Aren't you going to rest for a few days? After all, the Salt Tide District matter just ended."

After finishing the last few completely black maps, the Salt Tide District incident finally subsided; after a month and a half of recovery, the locals largely returned to their normal sleep patterns.

Of the two newly dug wells, only one yielded water drinkable enough—yet that was sufficient.

This long and arduous tour made Lu Xiusi memorize the routes of the Salt Tide District, and he also picked up a number of Kraft's little techniques—from physical exams to joint realignments, all scattered but numerous.

"I suddenly feel time is quite urgent; I may not have many chances left to complete what remains undone." Kraft leaned over the lenses, his fingers adjusting with barely perceptible movements, like a gypsum statue bathed in sunlight.

"Why does that sound so strange?" Lu Xiusi straightened his aching neck, pulled his chair beside Kraft, and watched him continue fine-tuning.

"Hmm, this phrasing is indeed slightly off." Kraft whispered, as if speaking louder might jolt the adjusting lenses. He pushed the nearby lens a minuscule distance toward the blood drop—without coarse or fine focus screws, manual adjustment was truly taxing.

The device in his hands resembled a crude iron stand more than any optical instrument; its range of motion was excessive, and the copper lens tube was beyond description—thread-based distance adjustment offered poor range and precision, fortunately he had requested several different sizes when custom-ordering.

"Lu Xiusi, have you ever felt our profession carries a certain degree of danger?"

Lu Xiusi didn't understand this view; doctors in the academy were far more prestigious than the wild clinics or barbershops outside—it was a relatively safe and respectable job, "Not too bad? It's fairly safe, isn't it? At least in the academy, if someone suddenly falls ill, there's still someone to treat them."

"Suppose—just suppose—that what we encountered was truly an epidemic. Even with a beak mask, you might still catch it. What then?"

That "suppose" was too terrifying; for a young man who hadn't yet earned the right to practice independently outside the academy, he had neither experience nor theoretical grounding to answer.

Still, in front of acquaintances, especially a lecturer, he couldn't show weakness—he gritted his teeth and replied, "Same thing."

"If the chance of dying isn't high," Lu Xiusi added after a moment's thought, sensing his answer sounded dishonest and appending a qualifier.

He was the kind who cared deeply, acknowledged the supreme value of life, and was willing to help everyone within his means. But when his own life was at stake, his current values made his hesitation understandable.

After all, no one bore moral or legal responsibility for an epidemic; most people regarded epidemics as divine punishment, something humans couldn't actively eliminate, only wait for the gods' wrath to subside.

Some even used this as an excuse to ignore or even persecute those struck by divine punishment, claiming they were being punished for sin or tested by the gods.

"Well, that's how I think. What do you think?"

Kraft kept staring at the lenses, offering no comment on Lu Xiusi's reply, leaving him unsure whether Kraft was too absorbed—or dissatisfied.

"I don't know."

"Huh?" Lu Xiusi hadn't expected Kraft's answer to be even less confident than his own; he'd assumed, based on past impressions, the reply would at least be "I'd definitely go," or maybe even "I can fix it."

Kraft showed no embarrassment, stating it plainly, removed the lens, and fixed another tube onto the iron stand.

"I genuinely don't know. Lately, I've realized I'm still afraid of death—sounds like a cliché, and the reasons are complex, but the result is this."

"But the key isn't here. The key is that we might encounter special circumstances—this 'might' will keep amplifying over a long career until it becomes 'certain,' and right now I haven't even mastered this thing."

He rotated the tube again but still couldn't find the view he wanted; the glass slide's polishing was imperfect, and tiny scratches became vast chasms under magnification.

Lu Xiusi understood his meaning but not the full context: "Why suddenly think of this?"

"Let's say recent events have left me mentally tense, made me realize how fragile life is—how close I came to losing it." Speaking of it, Kraft still felt a chill.

When facing something directly, fear isn't usually strongest; focused attention and the will to solve the problem suppress such secondary emotions, and sometimes terror reaches such a peak it breeds blind courage.

Only later, in retrospect, did he realize how many times he'd narrowly escaped death—Death's scythe had grazed his neck, slicing off a corner of his collar. Thinking of it sent cold sweat down his spine, giving him a sense of urgency between life and death.

If someone else had been in his place, they might have vanished one night without a trace—or continued secret experiments entirely unaware.

"True enough." Lu Xiusi didn't know what Kraft had endured; he thought instead of the noonday silence in the Salt Tide District—the feeling of being surrounded by disease had given him a preview of the legendary terror of epidemics.

The two fell silent; Kraft continued fiddling with his device, while Lu Xiusi rose to boil water on the small stove.

He first rinsed the teacups with boiling water, then spooned a measure of barley into each cup and poured in the boiling water. Watching the barley grains sink and float, once most had settled, a pleasant roasted aroma drifted from the tea.

A small jar was pulled out—part of the students' "bribes"; golden, thick liquid swirled inside. Lu Xiusi added three small spoons to each cup, stirred well to sweeten it—the full version of barley tea appeared.

"With honey. Want a cup?"

"Ah, couldn't be better. Lu Xiusi, have you ever considered applying to the Church as an angel?" The familiar warmth was irresistible; Kraft took the cup, blew away the steam, took a small sip—the sweetness and roasted barley aroma mingled, the soul's joy in this world.

Seizing the moment his mood had improved, the one chosen to probe finally remembered his purpose and began to sidestep the topic of the new subject.

"By the way, now that this matter's settled, do you have any long-term plans?" He asked casually, as if by chance—if the new subject was coming, it would surely take up a large chunk of time.

Naturally, new plans would crowd out already tight schedules; if Kraft was willing to talk, he'd surely reveal something.

Even if he didn't talk, Lu Xiusi had roughly guessed the new subject was tied to the device on the desk. Since the device was already in preliminary adjustment, they needn't worry about added burdens for months.

Kraft didn't notice his intent—or if he did, he didn't care. He set down the scalding tea and continued working, replying offhandedly, "I might go for a walk?"

"Go for a walk? Where?" An unexpected development emerged—this question revealed a strange piece of news, baffling.

"Not soon. A bit later—about a month. The route's still being planned, tentatively heading south, taking a coastal ship."

This wasn't a whim—it had been planned for a long time. Southern coastal shipping was a well-established route, passing multiple ports, stopping and starting, staying days in each place to trade.

Many cautious captains took this route, which also conveniently allowed them to collect passenger fares for hitchhikers; once aboard, one could disembark at most southern ports—very cost-effective.

Heading south toward the central Kingdom of North, one reaches the famous estuary of the Tem River; from its calm waters, one sails inland through the kingdom's great waterway, crossing half the nation.

Along the river lie the civilization's greatest achievements, nourished by the kingdom's most fertile lands—this region has been inhabited far longer than the kingdom's founding.

Major landmarks, including Westminster on the gold coins, are mostly distributed along this route—calling it the birthplace of the kingdom isn't an exaggeration.

Alongside its history is higher population density and larger urban scale, which, combined with water transport, fostered more advanced industries, ultimately feeding back into academic progress—various demands pushed new nobles and factions to defy Church pressure and establish comprehensive universities beyond religious content.

The most famous among them was the pearl located within Dunling, the core of the kingdom on this line: Professor Kalman's alma mater, the dream of countless scholars, and also the place he had tried to escape for the first half of his life.

【Dunling University】

"You're going to Dunling?" This was Lu Xiusi's conclusion after running through this line in his mind. For someone like Kraft, with his wealth and way of thinking, not going to Dunling would make no sense at all.

"Mm, it can certainly be arranged, but it's just one of the goals. Mainly, I want to look around."

No, Dunling was certainly the main goal; Kraft had been considering it for a long time. The Black Fluid incident had been snuffed out at Wendeng Port, but at its source, no one knew what was happening; its production and specific components remained a mystery to this day.

"The Black Fluid cannot be used now, but abdominal surgery has been proven feasible. I want to take a tour of the cities over there; it might even provide some inspiration."

Kraft bringing up the matter again made Lu Xiusi grow somber; he thought again of the fact that Professor Kalman had been proven directly related to the Salt Tide Zone incident, and he took two sips of barley tea to mask his emotions.

After a moment, he said, "If you really are going, help me ask him why he did it. I know you have already formed your judgment, but I still want to hear the answer from him personally."

"Alright, I'll remember that." Still drinking the tea someone else had brewed, Kraft accepted this commission. After all, he was definitely going to Dunling; the way he asked might just differ from what Lu Xiusi imagined.

He wanted to understand the full story, including how Mo Lisen refined the "Black Fluid," whether it was truly classified under the "Humoral Theory" simply because it came from the human body, and the source of Kalman's method for contacting deep-sea creatures.

Another silence followed. Kraft took a sip of the sweet, fragrant tea liquid, chewed and swallowed the few large barley grains in his mouth, then slightly adjusted the position of the slide.

"Are you going alone?" Lu Xiusi, thinking it over carefully, felt uneasy; judging by the professor's description, a big city was far more complex than the tiny Wendeng Port.

"Oh, of course not. Didn't I just receive the academy's salary? So, following tradition, I have newly taken on a squire."

This was fresh news; Kraft had never told him about it. Lu Xiusi was greatly curious: "Who?"

"You should still remember; it's that Kup."

Half a month later, Kup came to the academy on his own initiative to find Kraft. The loss of his religious faith and the change in his worldview made him unable to remain content with his current life; he decided to follow the person who had saved his life and to seek something that could be called "meaning" for his confused existence.

He had awakened, breaking free from his original world, yet he did not know what to do.

Kraft had originally found this young man, who had faced deep-sea creatures without developing mental disorders, somewhat interesting; long-term labor at the dock had honed his physical strength, making him a promising talent with both mental and physical potential.

The key was that Kup had no family; he had no ties in Wendeng Port and could leave with Kraft at any time.

"That's about it. Don't worry; I've thought it all through. What problems could there be? Come look at this." He stood up to make room, yielding the territory he had occupied all afternoon to Lu Xiusi.

"Don't touch that rack; I've been adjusting it for a long time. Just look."

Lu Xiusi sat down at the table, withdrew his hand which had been reaching for the eyepiece, and, imitating Kraft, pressed his eye to that small crystal lens; a sea of red filled his entire field of vision.

"Red; that's the color of blood. What else?"

"Look more closely. The quality is too low; distinguishing things is truly difficult. I've been fooled several times myself." Kraft readjusted the reflective silver plate for him, allowing brighter light to pass through the slide.

This time, Lu Xiusi saw it: that thing which appeared as a blurred mass was actually countless densely packed, extremely tiny red dots, existing within the drop of blood just taken from his fingertip.

"What is this?"

"The future." Kraft took a large gulp of warm barley tea, feeling the liquid flow into his dry, empty stomach, which had not been filled by lunch, and revealed the first comfortable smile Lu Xiusi had seen on his face in these two months. "I mean, the new subject you will have to study in the future."