Chapter 13 Chapter Thirteen Dirty Nails

Margaret leaned closer to the microscope eyepiece, trying to focus on the magnified image.Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked very tired from lack of sleep.Wearing a thick plastic protective mask and a bulky biohazard suit, she couldn't even rub her eyes.She needs to rest, but now is not the time to go to bed.She blinked hard a few times to clear her vision.How long had they been working around Brubeck's body?It's been 20 hours, and it's still going on, and I don't know when it will end.She bent down and stared at the microscope. "What have we gained?" Although the samples in her hand were convincing, her fatigue and the horrific condition of the victim made her unsure.

"Amos, come and see this." He put down the chemical sample in his hand and walked to the microscope.Like Margaret, he has not rested for more than 20 hours.Despite lack of sleep and wearing bulky protective clothing, he still walked lightly, as if floating from afar.He leaned over the eyepiece, his movements clean. A second later, he asked, "What do you want me to see?" His voice sounded very thin through the communication device of the protective suit. "I was counting on you to spot it at a glance." "Margaret, there's a whole bunch of stuff here," Amos said. "Can you be more specific, where's the skin sample from?"

"Extracted from the surrounding area of ​​the growth. Do you see some moderate skin lesions?" Amos was about to answer when Margaret interrupted him, "Please don't play tricks on me, of course I I know that the whole body is already in pieces." Amos leaned over and continued to observe carefully, and the lifeless morgue was silent. "Well, I see it. There are some scars and lesions in the subcutaneous tissue. It looks like a long groove, maybe a paw print." Margaret nodded, "Looks like I have to test some of the skin samples we took from the victim's nails again."

Amos looked up at her. "You don't think he scratched it himself, do you? The scratch goes all the way down to the muscle, and it looks like it's the result of repeated scratching. Do you know how painful it is?" " "I can guess." Margaret raised her arms high and stretched to the left and right.She was so tired of the lab and not getting enough sleep.She wanted a real bed, not a rollaway cot where she could have a bottle of wine and a good night's sleep.Since it is a dream, why not add Agent Otto, who only wears silk shorts, to the dream. She sighed sadly, Agent Otto would have to wait another day.Now she has other things to worry about, such as what caused this man to tear his body like sharp claws with his nails?

The computer beeped for a long time: The result of the analysis came out.Amos slowly moved over and sat down. "This is weird," he said after a few seconds. "It's the weirdest thing in the world." "Long story short." "The first is the results of the compositional analysis of the neoplasm. What they can do is quite limited, because when they get the sample, it's almost a puddle of mucus. However, they did some analysis and concluded that the tissue of the sample was cancerous." "What do they mean by cancerous? What we saw with our own eyes, it's not a bunch of discrete cells, it's structured."

"I agree, but look at these results - cancerous tissue. Added to this is a lot of cellulase and a tiny amount of cellulose." Margaret thought for a moment.Cellulose is the main component of plant cells, one of the most abundant biological forms in the world.But the key word is plants, animals do not produce cellulose. "The cellulose didn't last very long," Amos said. "A few hours after receiving the sample, the cellulose was broken down into cellulase. They did everything they could to stop it from breaking down and tried freezing the sample." , but it doesn't work at all."

"It's like an enzyme that breaks down meat. It's a mechanism for ... self-destruction." "Suicidal cancer? Seems a little close, Margaret." close.Maybe pretty close.But maybe she'll have to keep looking for an answer, and one that's outside the realm of modern scientific theories.