Chapter 29
NO·4 The Springtime Palpitations of a Girl’s Heart
Very quickly, the steak fragments dissolved within the enveloping mass of the flesh tumor, until they were completely devoured. Even the black pepper sauce that had clung to them was licked perfectly clean by the probing flesh tendrils of the tumor.
Then, the lump of flesh tumor seemed to be reinvigorated, as if injected with fresh vitality. It began frenziedly pounding against the glass jar. More than that, Lucy sharply noticed that its volume had subtly expanded.
Although the rate of growth was extremely minute, it had indeed absorbed all the nutrients from the steak!
This thing really was alive!
Lucy then proceeded to test many other common materials and foods, and discovered that the thing could absorb nearly any organic substance.
Whether it was bread crumbs or medicinal herbs, as long as it was consumable by humans, it accepted everything indiscriminately. But it ignored inorganic substances like glass, metal, or wood altogether.
That was until Lucy sliced off a chunk of tissue from the “Cradle of Enchanted Human Offspring” specimen bottle and tossed it in then, a sudden mutation occurred.
The flesh tumor enveloped it in the same manner, but after intense writhing, it abruptly rejected and spat the fragment back out.
What followed was a long standoff, lasting several minutes, before the tumor once again extended a flesh tendril.
This time, it wasn’t digestion, but a bizarre form of symbiosis.
Under Lucy’s stunned gaze, the previously inert chunk of the Cradle began twitching on its own.
Dense flesh buds sprouted from the dissection site, proliferating like a colony of awakened coral polyps.
Unfortunately, due to the limited nutrients stored within the tumor, the newly grown material only thickened to the width of a fingernail before rapidly carbonizing like something withered. The test subject ultimately turned into charred black residue.
The lump of flesh tumor also reverted to a low-activity state.
Rapid cellular division, transformability, and mobility… Lucy suddenly recalled a familiar medical term from her past life cancer cells.
If this thing was a clump of cancer cells enhanced by Contamination Value, then everything made sense.
But what exactly was the research value and developmental potential of such a thing?
Lucy stroked her chin and stared at the tumor inside the jar, which had returned to a state of stillness. The wounds from the earlier slicing had already regenerated after devouring the steak.
“If a witchcraft model can’t be built…” she tapped the glass lightly with her fingertip, producing a crisp sound, “maybe it could be cultivated into a self-healing flesh construct?”
Lucy flicked the outer wall of the specimen jar with her finger and muttered:
"A bit interesting."
…
Bang bang bang!~
Lucy, who had been meditating, was startled awake by the knocking on the door.
After a brief moment of disorientation, she swiftly gripped the Gear Staff hidden within her sleeve robe.
"Who is it?"
"Blaji."
Creak~
The door opened, and standing outside was none other than the Tier-6 apprentice, Blaji Hall.
"Last night, Hyde Isaac, the peak-level apprentice in charge of the tower’s order, completed his experiment. I immediately reported the matter concerning Orlando to him."
Lucy’s heart lifted with joy. "And the result?"
Blaji hesitated.
"Come with me."
Perplexed, Lucy hastily wrapped herself in her grey robe and followed him upstairs.
Seventh floor of the tower, dormitory for official apprentices.
Several servants dressed like knights were carrying out a black body bag. Blaji reached out and pulled open one end, revealing a ghastly pale face riddled with bite marks.
Strangely, despite the many wounds, there was no trace of blood on the corpse’s face.
Standing beside him, Lucy was struck by a realization and murmured in disbelief:
"This is…"
"Yes, it’s Orlando."
Orlando was dead.
After Blaji reported the matter to the peak-level apprentice Hyde Isaac.
This peak apprentice of Symbiotic Mutation Studies had personally come to investigate this morning. They had hoped to interrogate Orlando and obtain some useful information, but unexpectedly, Orlando was already found dead in his dormitory.
Beside him were a shattered Image-Projection Prism and several bizarre experimental tools.
"Autopsy results show his Contamination Value had surpassed the critical threshold," Blaji detailed the evidence found at the scene one by one.
All clues pointed to Orlando dying due to losing control while illegally cultivating an aberrant lifeform.
As for Lucy’s encounter with the filthy Abyssal Tentacle in the morgue, the investigation had also traced it back.
It was indeed orchestrated by Orlando. He had bribed a Tier-2 apprentice in the morgue and arranged for the wolf corpse containing the amber orb to be placed in Morgue No. 66.
"You stumbled upon Orlando’s forbidden experiments, and he feared you would report him. That’s why he tried to have you killed by bribing the Tier-2 apprentice."
Lucy responded in disbelief, "That’s all the investigation found?"
A sense of dissonance continued to linger in her heart it was like bracing to punch only to hit cotton.
"Yes."
Blaji closed the black body bag and, after signaling the servants to leave, continued, "From the scene, that’s indeed what it looks like. And Orlando is already dead. Corpses partially devoured by aberrations suffer soul damage as well. Even Wizard Fernando wouldn’t be able to extract any information from it."
"The apprentice from the morgue has received due punishment. The peak-level apprentice has also conducted a full inspection of all bodies in the morgue. No sign of the amber orb you mentioned was found."
"If you’re still uneasy, I can continue to escort you for a while."
Blaji’s words did not soothe Lucy’s agitation; instead, they made her even more uneasy.
The resolution of the incident was too smooth, like a puppet show where the strings had been cut with uncanny precision.
Yet Orlando was indeed, undeniably, dead.
"That won’t be necessary, senior. You have your own matters to attend to. I’ll stay vigilant from here on."
Blaji nodded at her words, then took a finger-sized transparent crystal from within his robe and handed it over.
"I didn’t contribute much to this incident, so take this as paying back half of what I owe you. This is a communication crystal. If you ever find yourself in danger within the Tower, just crush it, and I’ll come to you immediately."
"Thank you, senior."
After seeing him off, Lucy stood in the empty dormitory corridor for a full half-hour, unmoving, until the servants had completely cleared out Orlando’s room.
Was the matter really going to end just like that starting fierce, ending weak?
…
West Tower
Morgue No. 66
The walls and door that had been damaged by the filthy Abyssal Tentacle a few days prior had now been fully restored, even the blood-red collection bin outside the door had been replaced with a new one.
Lucy unlocked the iron door with her key. Inside, everything remained unchanged right down to the specimen jars containing the enchanted wolf’s skull and femur, which still sat on the shelves.
Returning to this familiar environment finally soothed some of the agitation and suspicion in her heart.
Mainly because several iron trays had already piled up in the pipeline. If she could fully dissect and extract organ specimens from them all, she wouldn’t be lacking Academic Points for a while.
After suiting up, Lucy reached out and opened the crimson iron gate.
Clatter~
Lifting the black cloth atop the iron tray, the corpse of a woman, crumpled like a rag doll, came into view.
She was deeply familiar with this corpse it was Lisa, who had died after being violated by the filthy Abyssal Tentacle.
This apprentice witch, just like Lucy, had undergone mutation after being infiltrated by the Abyssal Tentacle’s secretions.
After her corpse had been collected by the servants, it was unexpectedly sent into the chute again by a corpse-retrieving apprentice.
By some strange turn of fate, it had ended up in Morgue No. 66, Lucy’s designated station.
If Lisa hadn’t knocked on the door that day and distracted the tentacle creature, Lucy most likely would have been the one to die.
Sometimes, “fate” worked in mysterious ways.
Soon, the system locked onto two enchanted organs within Lisa’s body. Lucy picked up her scalpel and slowly began to cut through the skin and flesh.
…
Serial Number: NO·4
Scientific Name: The Springtime Palpitations of a Girl’s Heart
Dissection Time: 9:22 AM, May 25th, Wizard Calendar Year 3040
Organ Source: The brown-haired girl who knocked on the door of Morgue No. 66
Morphological Description: An inverted rosebud-shaped organ, with a dense network of blood vessels on its surface
Aberrant Reaction: None
(Magical Vein Diagram)
Core Magical Vein: Blood vessel-like magical vein within the atrium
Application Potential: Can be used as a modeling basis for enchantment-type witchcraft.
[NO·4: The Springtime Palpitations of a Girl’s Heart]
[Commentary: A rough dissection experiment]
[Academic Points Earned: 2 points]