The creation of the original microscope was a landmark advancement in Todd's research into his heteromorphic abilities.
Previously, Todd's X-ray vision could only be used to observe the internal condition of mutants with the naked eye, such as the parasites in Little Jerry's adrenal glands. For smaller microorganisms, he could only see the shadows of unknown organisms clustered together.
With an optical microscope, although the magnification is less than 400 times and the chromatic aberration and temperature difference of the lens are not satisfactory, at least we can see the new source of supernatural abilities besides parasites—the bacteria themselves, including the eubacteria of Hudgens and Edgar and the archaea in the Todd neural network system.
However, the more discoveries are made, the more questions arise.
Todd's biggest concern was what harm the bacteria would cause to the infected person.
Upon close inspection of Huggins's hand, the skin and tissues of this man's hand have become toxic and discolored due to a foreign bacterium called "decomposing bacteria." The internal bones and muscles have suffered varying degrees of damage, and this putrefaction has begun to spread from the hand to the arm. If left untreated, at this rate, within the next five years, half of the man's body will experience organ failure and tissue necrosis.
Then, using X-ray vision, they examined Edgar's leg nerves. The alien bacteria, called Rapid, while granting the boy superhuman speed and agility, had caused varying degrees of nerve atrophy in the extremities of his lower body. The boy himself admitted that he often lost sensation in his legs while sleeping at night. If this continued, and the bacteria invaded his central nervous system, paralysis or even worse awaited him.
To be on the safe side, Todd also conducted separate identification tests on the bacteria extracted from the two individuals' bodies in the laboratory, based on the staining identification method developed by Danish bacteriologist Hans Gram in 1884.
First, the bacteria were stained with the basic dye crystal violet, and then destained with alcohol. The results showed that the purple color of the weakened bacteria in Huggins's bacteria remained intact, indicating they were Gram-positive (g+); while the purple color of the rapidly growing bacteria in Edgar's bacteria was removed, leaving a pale red color, indicating they were Gram-negative (g-). The former primarily produces exotoxins that cause disease, while the latter primarily causes disease through endotoxins.
Seeing this result, the monk apprentices finally understood the real reason for the reduction of foreign blood vessels in the throat and mouth.
Being hunted by the church was only a secondary reason; the main reason for the gradual decrease in the alien species was that the pathogen slowly killed the infected!
With this discovery, Todd walked out of the laboratory with a heavy heart. Karin, dressed in a monk's robe, followed behind him. She saw that his face was ashen and he was silent. Unusually, she did not bother him with questions.
The monks found a trio of strange creatures at the foot of the monastery mountain, who were supervising the craftsmen refining silver.
Edgar was dressed in a bright new outfit. He started paying children from nearby villages to do the farm work at the monastery, and one of the children looked much fatter than before due to avoiding labor and overeating.
Haskins, on the other hand, hadn't changed much. He was still wearing that tattered leather jacket, his boots were still patched and mended, and even the flask still held that cheap, unpalatable ale. Where on earth had this guy spent all that money?
Todd decided against telling them about his discovery for the time being, and instead turned his attention to little Jerry, who had a silly grin on his face.
Back when he was exorcising demons, he discovered that external stimuli could cause adrenal parasites to secrete fluids. At that time, he already had a vague idea, but a series of events that followed made him forget about it.
With the idea of helping one at a time, he gathered the three around him and explained his plan to deal with the tall young man's violent superpowers.
Actually, the solution is very simple; it boils down to just one word.
scare.
They tried every means to stimulate Jerry's nerves, forcing him to adapt to and thus control the activity of the adrenal parasites in his body.
After sharing his findings from the previous exorcism with them, Todd, realizing he couldn't offer any further assistance, left the task to the three of them. He then returned to the lab to continue working on suppressing the bacteria within Hudgens and Edgar.
It was past ten o'clock at night, and at Todd's repeated insistence, Karin went home to rest. He himself, after a simple dinner, continued his experiments by the dim light of an oil lamp.
I've lost count of how many times I've tried.
Under the microscope, the foreign bacteria slowly devoured the body's normal cells, releasing toxins once again. Todd gripped his hair tightly, letting out an angry growl.
The antibacterial experiment failed again.
Todd tried every possible method he could think of: natural antibiotics, organic acids, low temperatures, active filters, but the foreign bacteria in Hudgens and Edgar's bodies still stubbornly survived.
Looking at the four glass petri dishes in front of him, each containing a type of bacteria: weakening bacteria, rapid-acting bacteria, transparent bacteria, and Sutherland archaea, Todd buried his face in his hands, overwhelmed by an unprecedented sense of self-reproach and defeat.
This was different from the projects and research in the biochemistry labs of his previous life. What he was doing now was trying to save two lives, the lives of two of his friends. Todd's knowledge was nearly a thousand years ahead of the world, and microbiology was his academic specialty, yet he was helpless in the face of these bacteria he had never seen before. This was both painful and shameful.
He stood up dejectedly, wanting to leave this place of despair. The long hours of fatigue combined with sitting for so long caused blood to rush to his brain as soon as he stood up, his vision went black, he staggered, and his hands swung forward.
Clang.
The four petri dishes in front of me were overturned, and the culture medium was flowing everywhere down the stone table.
Todd, who quickly bent down to clean up the mess, discovered in despair that the bacterial samples in the other three petri dishes had all been mixed into the petri dish of Sutherland archaea.
"Ah! Holy crap, this is basically a total waste!" (in Chinese)
He picked up the petri dish containing four types of bacteria, sighed, looked at the wooden bucket in the corner, thinking that he would go to Huggins and Edgar to collect samples again tomorrow, but he didn't move his feet.
Looking again at the glass dish in his hand, a strange thought arose in Todd's mind.
otherwise?
Let's take a look under a microscope. What's going on inside?
Do it as soon as you think of it.
After extracting the petri dish sample and placing it on the observation table, Todd felt his heart stop for a moment when he looked into the eyepiece.
"How is this possible?"
The engulfing stopped, and the toxins disappeared. The Sutherland archaea acted like miniature safes, firmly locking the other three types of bacteria within their cell walls and halting their evil deeds.
In later history, no one could have imagined that what was actually an experimental accident had illuminated the path forward in the long, dark night of redeeming the alien species.
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