This time, the eucalyptus faced great difficulties from the beginning, which made several members of the second team of the operation feel that they had no idea what to do.

The feeling that I know that this star map is weird, but I can't find it where it is weird, is very unpleasant.

As a last resort, the investigative process came to a standstill. He Wei and Zhang Dingshan tried to find clues through conventional means, such as finding more ways to cause psychological suggestion and hypnotic effects, or looking for anomalies in the CSK-9602 galaxy.

While animal testing has largely dismissed the possibility of psychological suggestion, there is a very small probability – is it possible that there is a way to have a psychological effect on different species at the same time?

At this moment, there is no other investigative plan, so I can only try this first.

Lu Ming once again began to think for a long time. He was carefully combing through everything about this eucalyptus, combing through the whole process of the matter, and thinking carefully about where there might be blind spots that he had forgotten by his own negligence.

He grabbed a piece of paper, picked up a pen with his other hand, and subconsciously wrote and drew on it.

The first thing that appears is the CSK-9602 line of characters. This represents the origin of all events.

Connected to CSK-9602 is the Mercury telescope. This is the human world's tool for observing the galaxy.

After the Mercury telescope, there is the word "star map". After these two words, there is "eye".

The eye is the organ that animals, including humans, perceive star maps.

After the eyes, there are the two words brain.

Lu Ming can be sure that if the so-called "spiritual pollution" and other mysterious explanations are excluded, then the madness of both humans and animals must be related to the brain.

Dissecting tests on the deranged animals have revealed no abnormalities in their brains. However, this does not give 100% certainty that there is no anomaly. The reason is simple, the brain is too complex, and there are still too many unknowns for humans. Maybe this is what leads to madness and is hidden outside the known realm of humanity?

In this way, a chain is formed.

CSK-9602 - Mercury Telescope - Star Map - Eyes - Brain.

From the beginning to the end.

Lu Ming noticed that in this link, there were many elements that were not passed on smoothly. Or, in other words, the only thing that passes from beginning to end is only one element.

That's the message.

Information about the CSK-9602 galaxy.

In this chain, all elements except information are lost in the process of transmission.

It can then be determined that the madness of man or animal must be related to information within the existing scientific framework, that is, after excluding elements that cannot be described by the scientific framework and that belong to the so-called Cthulhu worldview.

After determining this premise, Lu Ming combined the existing clues and determined another premise.

A key factor in the madness of living organisms, hidden from the known realm of man.

Moreover, the information from the CSK-9602 galaxy is directly related to this factor.

So, how are they delivered? How does some of the image information lead to the emergence of such key factors in the brain of living organisms? ….

If those factors do exist, what are they? How does it work in the brain?

Thinking like this, a speculation gradually appeared in Lu Ming's mind.

This speculation is somewhat shocking, even absurd. But at this moment, combined with the existing clues and the real environment, this is almost the only possibility—at least the only possibility that Lu Ming can come up with.

In the next regular meeting, Lu Ming made a request to Lu Qingliang.

"Help me find an expert in subviral agents, and a lab of sufficient level, and then bring some animals that have gone completely berserk and have them look in their brain tissue to see if they find any. By the way, from Zhou Tianyang's team

The members, as well as Luo Yang and Li Hu, had a little brain crest fluid drawn from their bodies and were also sent over for examination."

"Subvirral factor?"

Lu Qingliang frowned: "You can find it. But what do you do with them? Lu Ming, do you have any new ideas?"

Lu Ming nodded. He Wei and Zhang Dingshan's attention was also concentrated.

"Here's some information about subviral agents, you guys take a look at it first."

Lu Ming took out a document and handed it to the other three. The three of them looked at it and roughly knew what the so-called subviral factor was.

The so-called subviral factors are some protein structures that are smaller than viruses, and even do not have DNA and RNA structures, and do not have the ability to replicate themselves.

Prions, which can cause mad cow disease, scrapie, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and Kuru disease, which broke out among primitive cannibal tribes, are one of the subviral factors. Recent studies have found that Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral screst, etc., are also caused by similar mechanisms to subviral factors.

In fact, it is difficult to say whether the subviral factors represented by prions can be regarded as living organisms. To be more explicit, it might be more accurate to think that they are an object somewhere between living and non-living.

Their essence is actually a misfolding of the proteins of living organisms. That is to say, proteins that were originally good and had a certain function in the organism were folded incorrectly due to the influence of some factors, so prions were born.

They can't even replicate themselves. But they have another ability that is similar to self-replication, and has the ability to spread between different organisms.

The only commonly accepted hypothesis of proteins is that prions can transform proteins with a normal alpha-helix structure into the same abnormal configuration as them, and due to their hydrophobic nature, they have the ability to produce protein aggregation. As a result, amyloid plaques accumulate outside the nerve cells in the brain, leading to various diseases.

Prions are more stable than common proteins and cannot be sterilized and removed from infectivity by ordinary physical or chemical methods. Boiling water at 130 degrees Celsius for four or five hours in a pressure cooker will not denature the protein.

"Prions? Lu Ming: You mean, maybe it's because some kind of prion-like subvirion particles appear in the bodies of those 'crazy, people or animals, that causes their madness? But their brain tissue is obviously normal." ….

He Wei was a little puzzled.

Lu Ming said: "It doesn't have to be prions. I'm just making an analogy to illustrate that there is such a possibility. Perhaps, that pathogenic agent is more primitive, smaller, and less easy to detect than prions? And they may act on a more subtle, more basic structural level of the brain, where brain tissue is only superficially normal, but is in fact completely infected?"

At this stage, this possibility cannot really be ruled out. But it just can't be ruled out.

"Okay." He Wei still seems a little uncomfortable with this assumption: "So, what is the transmission route? If you look at the high-definition star map of the CSK-9602 galaxy, you will see this, well, subviral factors in your head?"

"Why not?"

Lu Ming asked rhetorically: "We all know that people feel light through their eyes and generate corresponding memories in their brains, which are stored in the form of cranial nerve synapses, and the connection strength and electrochemical properties of synapses are essentially protein modifications. In other words, it is possible to change the structure of the brain through light. If this is possible, why can't this change be 'coincidentally' lead to some change in the protein to the point of producing a prion-like subviral factor?"

He Wei was speechless. Although Lu Ming's conjecture is a little absurd, he has to admit that there is indeed such a possibility.

Zhang Dingshan tapped the table lightly: "In this case, according to your guess, the whole thing happened to be like this: the CSK-9602 galaxy happened to have a certain appearance, which was photographed by the Mercury telescope. This photograph has the ability to stimulate the brain of an organism to produce subviruses

The power of the factor has led to the madness of living organisms, right?"

Lu Ming nodded: "This is the only explanation."

Lu Qingliang muttered, "Then what is this? A ...... that can be propagated by light Pathogen?"

It's truly incredible. However, there are many incredible things in this world.

In some inactivated vaccines, there may be a very small probability that the fragmented viral DNA fragment will be combined into a complete DNA sequence because of the shaking during transportation, and thus have the ability to replicate itself and cause infection.

"This also explains why low-resolution star maps cannot cause organisms to go crazy, and high-resolution star maps can lead to madness. Also, the longer you look at the chart, the more you become frenzied, and the fact that all the organisms that have seen it show a strong desire to continue watching."

Low-resolution star maps are not informative enough to induce brain protein misfolding.

The longer you look at it, the more you can compare it to the depth of exposure. Obviously, the longer you are exposed to radiation, the greater the impact on your body. The longer you look at it, the more you misfold proteins in your brain.

This is also easy to explain why all the organisms involved in the trial induce a strong desire to continue watching. It's nothing more than a change in the subtle structure of the brain. ….

At this moment, Zhang Dingshan, He Wei, and Lu Qingliang found that Lu Ming's slightly ridiculous conjecture could be completely consistent with the existing clues. At least logically, this conjecture is tightly matched, and there is no contradiction.

"Now, as long as the pathogen that could be found in the brains of mad creatures can all be explained."

Lu Ming accentuated his tone: "Explanation within the existing scientific framework. and not some interpretation of Cthulhu's worldview."

Lu Ming acknowledges that the Cthulhu worldview does have a unique appeal. If he treats it as a literary work, he is also interested in trying and touching it. But he has always resented attempts to interpret the real world in terms of the Cthulhu worldview.

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Reason, then it seems like the truth.

Frankly, apart from this conjecture, several members of the second team did not even believe that there were any other conjectures that could do this.

In this situation full of anticipation, after opening the emails from the two laboratories, several people immediately seemed to be poured down by a basin of cold water, and the little expectation in their hearts was instantly extinguished.

「…… Based on the above research methods, we have not detected the presence of any unknown subviral factors in the specimens."

There are no subviral factors. No prions. There are no unknown pathogens that could cause the animal to go berserk.

Lu Ming couldn't help but smile bitterly.

A conjecture that is so logically perfect...... Is it just a conjecture?

If it's a lab conclusion, then it can be wrong. However, the current report is produced independently by the two laboratories. This basically eliminates the possibility of error.

Of course, this report does not completely negate the possibility that "there is a pathogenic organism and that the pathogen is stimulated by external light", after all, there is also the possibility that the pathogen is smaller than the subviral factor, the structure is more special, and it is not easy to be detected, but the probability of this conjecture being true has been greatly reduced.

Nebulae fall in smoke and rain