Kraft looked around with his sword in hand, and there were only three people left in the scene.

The middle-aged man who went to fetch water sat on the ground, and the bucket rolled out several meters away, and the water in it flowed everywhere. As soon as he returned from fetching water, Kraft slammed his sword at the wooden wall behind him, and threw the bucket out in fright.

Lucius shuddered beside him, and the sword grazed past his waist when he stood closest to him, and any closer would have ended up with a plank wall.

He pressed his chest, and the hand carrying the box kept shaking, "So that one is the blade?" ”

He had known that Kraft had a good sword, but because he had always appeared as a scholar and a doctor, it made people think that he was just a representative of the family's martial arts history.

No one ever thought that Craft would one day pull it out.

"I could be...... Have a nightmare? Craft drew his sword and looked around in a daze, but he didn't find any threat, so he put his sword back into its scabbard, "Did anyone approach me just now?" ”

That treacherous malice came and went as fast as it came, dissipating quickly in the sunlight, bursting like a soap bubble, trying to escape from memory.

But consciousness faithfully recorded that feeling: comfortable sinking, sinking and sinking, something creeping closer, wrapping itself in a warm shell as part of a soft dream.

The malicious intent hidden in it, after being exposed by a flaw, made Kraft feel palpitations in retrospect. Like a favorite creamy soup that suddenly ripples, there are irregular black shadows swimming in the soup, which is a disgusting thing that lurks under the epidermis.

Kraft felt that something had indeed happened to him, whether it was a dream or not. This kind of encounter is familiar, and it gives him a very bad premonition.

Looking through the cracks and looking inside the wooden wall, the owner of the house had long since left, and the small, dim space was empty, and it was impossible to hide a person, let alone pass through the wooden wall to create such a feeling.

Kraft walked up to the middle-aged man and bent over to help him up, "I'm so sorry, I assure you it was just an accident. Your job is done, go back with the money. ”

He reached out to pat the dust off his body, but found that the garment was dirtier than the floor, which made him give up the action and pick up the falling bucket.

There was still a little bit of water left in the bucket, and Kraft simply poured it out and watched the waterline slowly drain. There was no turbidity, no floating, clear water splashed a few mud drops on the ground and seeped into the dirt.

I have to say that it was much better than expected, and he thought it would be the kind of water that was full of water that could not see the bottom of the barrel clearly.

Just looking wasn't enough, he needed to take a bucket back and take it to the academy to find a few animals to try. Now that everyone is gone, he can take a look at the well.

Holding on to the edge of the well and looking down, it was pitch black in the depths, and the bottom could not be seen. When faced with such a deep well, there is a fear of falling on your foot, and you can uncontrollably imagine yourself approaching the dark, cold waters in a small space.

Like a gateway to another world below, the opposite of the world where sunlight can shine, behind the long, narrow tunnel without light is the gateway to entry.

The bucket tied with a rope went all the way down, bumping along the wall of the well, touching the surface of the water.

Kraft wrapped the rope around his hand twice and lifted the bucket up. The barrel filled with water was a little heavy, and it pulled the man towards its place as if it had a will, trying to get him close to the other side.

He felt the strange smell reappear, becoming apparent as he approached the wellhead.

Consciousness determines that it is not a signal from the sense of smell, but some kind of synaesthesia, some more specific information that tries to express itself through the path of the sense of smell.

Needless to be reminded, Kraft thought of something he had ever felt this way about.

But...... How is this possible?

He pulled the rope with all his might, pulling the bucket out of the well, and nothing unusual was visible in the clear water. But intuition, or some higher sense, that grows after exposure to something abnormal, insists that there is something in it that should not be there.

Kraft subconsciously rejects this kind of reminder, but the consciousness involuntarily operates, corresponds to new information and known memories.

"Lucius, can you come over for a moment?" He beckoned to Lucius.

The middle-aged man had already left, there were no outsiders around, and there were some things that needed to be reconfirmed.

Lucius approached the bucket, keeping a delicate distance from Kraft and glancing at the well inside, "What's wrong?" Is it really a water problem? ”

He was haunted by the sudden situation just now.

"Not sure, it's just that something else suddenly occurred to me." Kraft didn't pay attention to his little movements, and shook the rope away from the place where he had circled his hand, "I need you to recall something, it may be a little offensive, but I have to ask. ”

"As long as I can recall, there's nothing I can't say. In return, can you lend me your sword when you go back? Feeling the familiar Kraft back, Lucius was relieved a lot, and turned interested in Kraft's sword, what man could resist the temptation of a good-looking and useful weapon?

"Yes, as long as you don't cut your own hands." This request is completely understandable, a good sword is so cool.

"What I want to ask is, what do you think of Professor Kallman's mental state a few days before he left?"

"Huh? Why do you suddenly ask this? Again, Lucius felt that he didn't fit in with this kind of jumper.

"Let's just say how it is, is there a big difference from usual? Anything can be said. Since he didn't realize why he was asking this question, it was better, and Kraft needed to answer as objectively and unemotionally distracted as possible.

He used as casual a tone as possible to create a more relaxed atmosphere for Lucius to talk, which was conducive to him to recall more and talk more.

Luciusto thought for a moment and said, "It's never been so good, even a little excited. ”

"Do you feel any change in his personality? Especially the kind that doesn't fit his previous image. "When you have doubts, you feel that nothing is normal, and that's how Kraft is in his mind.

"If I have to say, I feel that he is in too much of a hurry, and he always wants to do more experiments as soon as possible."

"And he spends most of his time in the lab?"

"I haven't paid attention to this, let me think about it...... At least the time when the tutor leaves the academy every day doesn't change much, it's all evening. ”

"Anxious to complete more experiments in the academy, but unwilling to stay longer?" Kraft found the contradiction.

This alone would be normal, but in light of what we know so far, a conjecture emerges that has never been thought of.

The implication was so obvious that Lucius could hear it, "Are you saying that the mentor has other things to do outside?" The sample is not in the ......"

The rebuttal stopped suddenly, and he also found that there was a big problem here, and there was indeed a part of the black liquor that he didn't know.

It makes sense why Kraft asked this question now.

Scattered information is strung together by a thread that has a beginning and an end.

"Your suspicions are completely unreasonable, why would the mentor do this?" Lucius immediately denied it, even though the speculation was consistent with what he had originally thought was related to Black Liquor.

Professor Kallman was his mentor for many years, a guide in medicine, and it is not an exaggeration to say that he is half a father. Neither in terms of personal feelings nor in terms of his moral approval, Lucius could not admit to linking the two.

"So you think you can say that, don't you?" Kraft stared at Lucius, looking at each other through two layers of lenses, "Think again, whether it's supporting evidence or not, think again." ”

Kraft himself was frightened by this outrageous speculation.

Although they have only been together for a short time, Professor Kallman has a very positive image in his mind. A good person who is dedicated to academics and wants to develop medicine to cure diseases and save people.

Even though he knew that Kalman had taken some of the samples alone, Kraft didn't think about it at all, and at most felt that there were any technical details he wanted to keep secret.

Coupled with the strict control of black liquor, every use is recorded, which gives him the illusion that he is in control, and prefers to believe that it is a special epidemic that has never been heard of. I didn't expect that the repeated and well-perfected protocols would lose their meaning when they missed the part that the professor had taken away.

The idea of "the professor takes black liquor to poison" is too incredible.

Until now, he was standing in front of the water source, which was almost certainly the culprit, having been attacked a few minutes ago by a real and illusory attack.

A strange aura beyond comprehension was permeating the body, becoming more and more intense and clear as the awareness of its presence.

He could feel it, but this time, it was no longer tied up in a glass bottle.

It floats freely in the vast space, lodges in deep wells, dissolves in every bucket of water that is punched, and fills the boundless space.

The area was so wide that it hung upside down like an invisible lake, and everyone who drank the water from the well was affected by it and fell into it.

Kraft remembered his notes, black liquor was indeed a medium, and the slumber after drinking the dilution should only be an outward manifestation.

The real point is to expose people to another level in the process.

Normal people, on the other hand, are unable to accept and retain information that is different from this world, so when they wake up, they will only show that they have no impression of everything in their sleep.

But for such a small amount of liquid to have a sustained, obvious effect on so many people at the same time, there must be other mechanisms, and there is an effect similar to positive feedback that makes its effect continue to be amplified.

Scope, number of people.

There is a "domain" that is the same as the black stone pillar, which can affect all the people who meet the conditions around it.

Within a certain range, when more people have drunk to a certain extent, the degree of influence will be deepened and the scope will increase, and the increased range can affect more people and wrap more contacts to deepen the impact.

After affecting all contacts in the vicinity, the "domain" is now able to reach out of the salt tide area and reach Bryde's house on nearby Elm Street.

It is like an invisible and textureless lake, and those who are immersed in it are unaware of it, only that they know that their sleep time is constantly increasing.

And the evil thing that disguises itself with softness swims through it like a fish, and no one knows what it wants.