Paranormal incident investigation notes

This time the case faced huge difficulties from the beginning, which made everyone in the second operation team feel that they had no way to start.

The feeling of knowing clearly that there is something weird in this star map, but just not being able to find it, is very unpleasant.

As a last resort, the investigation process was temporarily stalled. He Wei and Zhang Dingshan once again tried to find clues through conventional means, such as looking for more methods that may cause psychological suggestion and hypnotic effects, or looking for anomalies in the CSK-9602 galaxy.

Although animal experiments have basically denied the possibility of psychological suggestion, there is still a very small probability after all - maybe there is really a method that can have psychological effects on different species at the same time?

There is no other investigation plan at the moment, so we can only try this first.

Lu Ming once again began to think for a long time. He was carefully sorting out everything about this case, sorting out the entire incident, and thinking carefully about where there might be blind spots that he had neglected and forgotten.

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

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

Connected to CSK-9602 is the Mercury telescope. This is a tool for the human world to observe this galaxy.

After the Mercury telescope, there are the words "Star Map". After these two words, there is "eyes".

Eyes are the organs through which animals, including humans, perceive star charts.

After the eyes, there is the word brain.

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

Autopsy tests on those animals that went berserk found no abnormalities in their brains. But this cannot be 100% certain that there is really no abnormality. The reason is simple. The brain is too complex, and there are still too many unknowns for humans. Maybe the factors that lead to madness are hidden outside the known realm of mankind?

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, many elements were not passed smoothly. In other words, the only thing passed 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 transmission process.

Then it can be determined that the madness of humans or animals must be related to information under the existing scientific framework, that is, after excluding elements that cannot be described by the scientific framework and belong to the so-called Cthulhu worldview.

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

The key factors that lead to the madness of organisms are hidden outside the known realm of mankind.

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

So, how are they delivered? How does some image information lead to that key factor appearing in the brain of an organism?

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

As he slowly thought about it, a conjecture gradually appeared in Lu Ming's mind.

This speculation is a bit shocking, and even seems a bit ridiculous. But at this moment, combining the existing clues and the real environment, this is almost the only possibility - at least the only possibility that Lu Ming can think of.

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

"Help me find an expert on subviral factors and a laboratory of sufficient level, and then transport some animals that have gone completely crazy and let them search their brain tissue to see if they find anything. Yes. Okay, and we’ll take some cerebrospinal fluid from Zhou Tianyang’s team members and Luo Yang and Li Hu, and send them over for examination.”

"Subviral factor?"

Lu Qingliang frowned: "You can find it if you look for it. But why are you looking for them? Lu Ming, do you have any new ideas?"

Lu Ming nodded. He Wei and Zhang Dingshan also focused their attention.

"This is some information about subviral factors. Take a look at it first."

Lu Ming took out a piece of information and handed it to the other three people. The three of them took a look and roughly understood what the so-called subviral factors were.

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

The famous prion, which can cause diseases such as mad cow disease, scrapie, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and kuru disease that broke out among primitive cannibal tribes, is one of the subviral factors. The latest research has found that Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, etc. are also caused by mechanisms similar to subviral factors.

It is hard to say whether subviral factors represented by prions can actually be regarded as living things. To be more specific, it might be more accurate to think of them as objects somewhere between living and non-living things.

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

They cannot even reproduce themselves. But another ability they possess is to achieve an effect similar to self-replication, and they have the ability to infect between different organisms.

The only currently generally accepted hypothesis for proteins is that prions can transform proteins that normally have an alpha helix-based structure into the same abnormal configuration, and are capable of producing protein aggregation due to their hydrophobic nature. ability. As a result, amyloid plaques accumulate outside nerve cells in the brain, leading to various diseases.

Prions are more stable than ordinary proteins and cannot be disinfected and infective by ordinary physical or chemical methods. Boiling water at 130 degrees Celsius for four to five hours in a pressure cooker cannot denature the protein.

"Prions? Lu Ming, you are saying that it may be because some subviral particles similar to prions appeared in the bodies of those 'crazy' people or animals, which caused their madness? But their brain tissue is obviously It’s normal.”

He Wei was a little confused.

Lu Ming said: "It's not necessarily a prion. I'm just making an analogy to illustrate the possibility. Perhaps that pathogenic factor is more primitive, smaller, and harder to detect than prions? And, they Maybe it acts on a more subtle and basic structural level of the brain, and those brain tissues only look normal on the surface, but are actually completely infected?"

At this stage, this possibility cannot be ruled out. But it just cannot be ruled out.

"Okay." He Wei still seemed a little reluctant to accept this hypothesis: "So, what is its transmission route? After looking at the high-definition star map of the CSK-9602 galaxy, this will appear in my head, Hmm, subviral factors?”

"Why not?"

Lu Ming asked back: "We all know that people feel light through their eyes and generate corresponding memories in their heads. Memory is stored in the form of brain synapses, and the connection strength and electrochemical properties of synapses are essentially proteins. Modification. That is, it is feasible to change the structure of the brain through light. Since it is possible, why can't this change 'happenly' lead to certain changes in the protein, so as to generate a subviral factor similar to a prion? "

He Wei was speechless. Although Lu Ming's conjecture was slightly absurd, he had to admit that this possibility did exist.

Zhang Dingshan knocked on the table lightly: "In this case, according to your guess, the whole thing happened like this: the CSK-9602 galaxy happened to have a certain specific appearance, and this appearance was photographed by the Mercury telescope. Photo. This photo has the ability to stimulate the brain of an organism and cause the brain to produce subviral factors, which can lead to madness in the organism, right?"

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

Lu Qingliang murmured: "Then what is this? A...pathogen that can be spread through light?"

This is indeed incredible. However, there are many incredible things in this world.

In some inactivated vaccines, there is a very small chance that fragments of broken viral DNA may happen to be combined into a complete DNA sequence due to shaking during transportation, and thus have the ability to replicate themselves and cause infection, he said. It's not an exaggeration to say that it's resurrection. What's so incomprehensible about a pathogenic body that's born by inducing protein misfolding in the brain through light?

"Thus, it can also explain why low-resolution star maps cannot cause organisms to go crazy, but high-resolution star maps can cause the phenomenon of madness. Also, the longer you look at the star map, the deeper the degree of madness will be. This can also be explained by the fact that all organisms who have seen the star map have shown a strong desire to continue viewing it."

Low-resolution star maps don't contain enough information to induce misfolding of proteins in the brain.

The longer you look, you can compare it to the degree of radiation exposure. Obviously, the longer the exposure to radiation, the greater the impact on the body. Put here, the longer you look at it, the more protein misfolding occurs in your brain.

It's easy to explain why all the organisms involved in the experiment felt a strong desire to continue watching. It's nothing more than the subtle structure of the brain being changed.

At this moment, Zhang Dingshan, He Wei, and Lu Qingliang discovered that Lu Ming's slightly absurd conjecture was completely consistent with the existing clues. At least logically speaking, this conjecture is perfectly consistent and does not contain any contradictions.

"Now, as long as we find the pathogenic body that may exist in the brains of crazy creatures, all of this can be explained."

Lu Ming emphasized his tone: "An explanation within the existing scientific framework. Not an explanation based on the Cthulhu worldview."

Lu Ming admitted that the Cthulhu worldview does have a unique appeal. If he treats it as a literary and artistic work, he is also very interested in trying it and getting in touch with it. But he has always resented attempts to explain the real world in terms of the Cthulhu worldview.

At this moment, after noticing the perfection of this set of conjectures, Zhang Dingshan and others could not help but have a certain degree of confidence in it.

"Okay, just do it."

"I'll go to the contact person and the lab."

Lu Qingliang said and went offline directly.

Just an hour later, he already had the results.

An expert team from a biological laboratory located in the capital city expressed great interest after hearing that new unknown subviral factors may have been discovered. After a brief negotiation, the expert team undertook the inspection task of this batch of specimens.

In addition to this laboratory, Lu Qingliang also contacted another laboratory that also had extremely high scientific research capabilities, and obtained the other party's cooperation through the endorsement of the Planetary Security Bureau. As a result, two batches of specimens were taken from the bodies of completely insane animals - each batch of specimens were up to 100 parts, and were taken from different body parts of seven different animals, including pigs, cows, sheep, monkeys, chickens, ducks and geese, and were taken on a special plane to collect them as quickly as possible. Sent to the laboratory as quickly as possible.

The inspection begins. After waiting for three days, the analysis reports of all specimens were finally delivered to the hands of several members of the second operation team.

Lu Ming had very high expectations for his conjecture. The same goes for the other three.

After all, if our suspicion can be confirmed, then the truth of this case will be revealed, and the second operation team will be able to close the case directly.

There are no dangers, no twists and turns, and it doesn't even take too long. The case can be concluded easily. Who wouldn't want it?

What's more, Lu Ming's conjecture seemed so perfect, so reasonable, and so like the truth.

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

In this situation full of expectations, after opening the emails from the two laboratories, several people immediately felt as if a basin of cold water had been poured down their heads, and the little expectation in their hearts was instantly extinguished.

"...According to the above research methods, we have not detected the presence of any unknown subviral factors in the specimens."

There are no subviral agents. There are no prions. There are no unknown pathogens that could cause animals to go berserk.

Lu Ming couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Is such a logically perfect conjecture just a conjecture?

If it is a laboratory conclusion, it may be wrong. However, the current report was produced independently by two laboratories. This basically eliminates the possibility of errors.

Of course, this report cannot completely deny the possibility that "there is a certain pathogenic body, and the pathogenic body is stimulated by external light". After all, there is also a pathogenic body that is smaller than subviral factors and has a more special structure. There may be something that is even harder to detect, but the probability of this conjecture being true has been greatly reduced.