Starting with dissecting ghost stories

The burning pain lasted only a brief moment, like an illusion.

Shen Xing used his right hand, which was wearing a rubber glove, to pinch his left index finger directly, as if squeezing out poisonous blood, ready to expel the thing that had burrowed into his finger at any time.

But he quickly stopped.

There was no indication of any foreign object penetrating the index finger in the field of vision.

If that muscle had really squeezed through the finger, the soft tissue inside the palm should have deformed, and a lot of blood should have gushed from the wound.

But the hand still maintained its original shape, with pale skin and long, slender fingers. Except for an inconspicuous scratch on the tip of the index finger, everything was normal.

Shen Xing realized something, quickly took half a step back, picked up the DV camera with his right hand, and pointed the lens at his left hand.

To the naked eye, the left hand looked unremarkable; the small wound on the index finger had stopped bleeding and even showed signs of healing.

But on the DV camera screen, the left arm with its sleeve rolled up presents a different picture—the screen flickers with subtle black and white noise.

This situation is exactly the same as the paintings he "raised" in the infirmary today.

Shen Xing put the DV camera back on the stand, stood behind the lens, and held his left arm in front of him in a slightly stiff posture, using the camera as a temporary eye.

The freed right hand reaches out to the left, touching the area with the densest noise in the image—roughly the flexor digitorum superficialis muscle, almost identical to the location where the muscles of the corpse are lifted in "Dr. Tulp's Anatomy Lesson".

The walls of the school clinic feature distorted still-life paintings.

The flesh and blood in the painting are brought to life.

The activated flesh and blood were absorbed by humans who were also abnormal.

Does this mean that I have deviated from the realm of humanity?

The thought lingered in Shen Xing's mind for only a moment, without triggering any further emotions.

At least for now, I don't feel any pain in my arm, and my mind is still clear. Apart from the sharp pain and burning sensation when the muscle penetrates, my body has no rejection reaction.

Shen Xing pressed his right index and middle fingers on the noisiest part of his arm and applied pressure with his fingertips.

There are no lumps, no foreign body sensation, the skin feels soft and elastic, and the skin temperature is normal.

Since palpation was ineffective, a more direct examination was necessary.

He turned around and pulled a black marker from the toolbox.

Back in front of the DV camera, I turned to the side, my gaze shifting back and forth between the screen and my arm.

On the screen, the black and white noise looked like living mold, clinging to the inside of the forearm.

Shen Xing held the pen, the tip touching his soft skin. He steadied his hand and, comparing the edges of the noise on the screen, sketched the outline on his arm.

An irregular, elongated area was outlined with black ink.

Its position extends from the medial epicondyle of the humerus to the wrist, a perfect anatomical position for the flexor digitorum superficialis. It does not inherit the anatomical error in Professor Tulp's drawing, and it does not grow to the lateral epicondyle.

After marking the area, he didn't rush to start.

He rummaged through the pile of clutter and found a measuring tape, an electronic scale, and a ruler for measuring. He casually opened a black-covered notebook and spread it out next to the workbench.

Take off your shoes and step on the scale.

Shen Xing glanced down at the reading and picked up his pen to record it.

The nib of the fountain pen scratched across the paper, making a soft, rustling sound that was particularly clear in the empty warehouse.

[Date: 2004, 20:20]

Age: 28

[Weight: 72.5kg (0.3kg weight gain from this morning, within the normal range of intake fluctuation)]

Stand against the wall and take measurements.

Height: 177cm (unchanged)

Wrap a soft measuring tape around the biceps brachii muscle of the left upper arm and the thickest part of the forearm.

Left upper arm circumference: 29.5cm. Left forearm circumference: 26.8cm.

Every piece of data was neatly recorded in a notebook, but Shen Xing avoided including any information involving specific individuals.

The data from the right arm served as a control group, with the difference between the left and right arms within 0.5 cm, which is consistent with the muscle differences in the dominant hand of normal people.

The thing that "drilled in" didn't increase the volume, or it fused so perfectly that it seemed to alter the muscle density.

After collecting the basic data, Shen Xing walked to the stainless steel workbench and began to take out his tools one by one. Soon, the scalpel, iodine solution, and sterile gauze were neatly arranged.

He adjusted the DV angle so that the lens covered the control panel, his left arm, and the laptop next to him.

Shen Xing picked up a cotton swab, dipped it in iodine, and applied it to the center of the black coil.

The cool, brown liquid spread, giving my skin a slightly cool sensation.

Shen Xing put down the cotton swabs and picked up the scalpel.

His right hand was extremely steady. He pressed the tip of the knife against his skin, exerted force, and the epidermis broke, separating the dermis.

There was no gushing blood; he avoided the main superficial veins. Bright red blood seeped out along the incision, meandering across the pale skin.

My gaze fell upon the DV screen.

The moment the blade sliced ​​through the skin, the previously relatively still noise on the screen surged violently.

A burning sensation, just experienced, flowed into the incision, then transformed into an indescribable tingling and itching.

The wound is moving.

To be precise, it was the "flesh" beneath the wound that was moving.

Under the lens of a DV camera, black and white noise frantically gathers towards the cut, like a clump of maggots wriggling in the wound.

To the naked eye, this scene is even more obvious.

The tissue that had been turned outward on both sides of the wound began to wriggle towards the center. There were no sutures or hemostats, and the bright red granulation tissue was frantically intertwining at a speed that defied the common sense of biology.

That's truly "visible to the naked eye"!

Shen Xing could feel as if countless tiny hands were pulling inside his arm, forcibly binding the broken muscle fibers together and reconnecting the damaged capillaries.

The burning sensation intensified, accompanied by a tingling, numbing sensation like ants gnawing at your skin.

Less than a minute.

The burning sensation receded like the tide, leaving only a faint aftertaste.

Shen Xing put down the scalpel, picked up gauze to wipe away the bloodstains, and after wiping away the blood, the cut disappeared.

His skin was smooth and even, without even a scar. Only the black marker marks were stained with blood, proving that the stab was not a hallucination.

Shen Xing raised his left arm and examined it repeatedly under the light.

...Perfectly intact, unbelievable.

This regenerative ability is enough to revolutionize modern medicine.

But he frowned slightly and turned his gaze to the tip of his index finger.

The initial minor scratches from the picture frame are still there; although they have scabbed over, they haven't healed instantly.

The same body, the same circulatory system, yet a deep incision on the arm heals instantly, while a superficial abrasion on the fingertip follows the normal physiological rate.

Is it because that "thing" only exists in the flexor digitorum superficialis area of ​​the forearm?

Or is there a triggering condition for this repair mechanism? Does it only repair damage that threatens its own survival, or only repair the territory it "hosts"?

The mystery has been solved again...

But this mystery aroused Shen Xing's emotions and desire to explore, just like when he first touched the corpse.

He even regretted not approaching the cut with the utmost professionalism and care from the beginning, and why he hadn't used a ruler to record all the necessary data, including yesterday's picture frame...

If yesterday, and even until just now, before the muscle burrowed into his left hand, Shen Xing had only been trying it out with a tentative attitude, then now...

Shen Xing was getting ready to get serious.