Plague Doctor-Chapter 522: Hard Bone

The armoured medical car tumbled its way forward on the mountain road. The whir of the saw echoed inside the cabin. Gu Jun grabbed a high-efficiency electric saw from the corner. The sharp teeth glinted dangerously as he walked back to the table. Seeing this, the Zoogs and experts broke out in cold sweat. Xiao Huiwen's face turned from red to black. But they were not there and did not have access to Gu Jun's unique talent so what could they say?

But it was truly a shame. Such a perfectly preserved limb and it was going to be destroyed soon… But then their eyes colored with new confusion as they saw Gu Jun headed not towards the thigh but the feet. The saw aimed at the hoof. 

Hoof, refers to the keratinized protection layer at the end of the toes for animals like horses, cows, sheeps. The hoof for the Black Billy Goat was similar. It was large and tough. The creature had 3 toes and one hoof was the size of the human arm. 

"There is something strange about the Black Billy Goat's bones." Gu Jun told the rest. "But the strangest bone is around its hoof."

"The regenerative organ is inside the Black Billy Goat's bones!" Gu Jun had a feeling that this statement was not complete. It could be a problem with transmission. After all, his connection with the City of Dusk was not that strong, or at least not strong enough to send a lot of complete information. Snippets of information could find their way into his brain through the dimensions. So he would have to parse and analyze them on his own. 

Keratin and bone are two different things, they have their own distinct growth process. But the hoof on the Black Billy Goat might not necessarily be keratin. Thinking back to the x-ray, Gu Jun remembered seeing a strange shadow around the hoof…

"Now that you mention it." Even though Wu Siyu did not understand autopsy, she had talent that could not be ignored. "Hmm, if you were to make a stew out of this hoof, you'll get a stomachache because of the worms." Actually without any synesthesia, people knew consuming this thing would lead to stomach problems. But worms? What kind of worms?

"Well, we'll see in a few minutes." Gu Jun gripped the saw. "Move away, guys and be ready for abnormal reactions."

Uncle Dan and the rest immediately walked back just in case they were hit by shrapnel from the saw. The most afraid was definitely the Zoogs, this was a murder!

Lucky knew Gu Jun the best so he quickly patted his body to order his people to follow him. They shouldn't hide at the corner anymore, it was useless. Instead, they all hid behind Wu Siyu. They hugged her legs like koalas, this was the safest place inside the cabin. Just as they draped themselves over Wu Siyu, Gu Jun moved the saw between the creature's toes. 

The sharp teeth sawed away the black surface layer of the hoof. Gu Jun instantly felt a halt in his arm muscle. The saw appeared to have knocked into stones. Both the teeth and the chain had stopped. The sound of it being stuck was shrill. There was no bone chip but there were sparks. 

"This is so tough…" Gu Jun groaned as he held onto the saw. He could feel the veins on the back of his arms bulging like they were going to pop. Even though the rest were warned, they were still surprised by this. 

"There's no way this can be cooked…" Wu Siyu scratched her brain, "No wonder it'll cause stomachache." 

"Uncle Dan has seen many stiff things in my life." Uncle Dan shook his head. "But this is one tough cookie!" 

The bone strength influenced tensile strength, while bone mass affected weights, clearly, this hoof possessed both. 

"This does not look like normal calcified bones." Wang Ruoxiang frowned. A normal calcium-based bone would not be able to resist against a bone saw or else they wouldn't be able to perform any amputation surgery. Before this, they already noted how unscathed the hooves and feet were. The Black Billy Goat was hit several times but its hooves were undamaged. This also went to show the strangeness about its feet.

"If it's not based on calcium, can it still be called bones?" Xiao Huiwen mumbled to himself. "What other matter can it be made of?" 

As the wielder, Gu Jun was more familiar with how sturdy the bone was. He tried to inch it further but the saw refused to budge… And the completion rate of the autopsy quest had not increased, not even by 0.001 percent. 

'Matter? What kind of biological matter can be so tough? If it is not a normal matter…' 

Some thoughts crossed his mind like lightning cutting through darks. Dark matter? In the myriad worlds, there would be myriad matters. Dark matter might exist. The Black Billy Goat might not be made out of hundred percent known matters. 

The shadow inside the x-ray might not be something inside the bone, it might be the bone itself, formed from a matter different from usual matter. It was that matter that lent the hoof such tensile strength and indestructibility. 

The whirring of the saw stopped. Gu Jun took a deep breath and shared his thoughts with the rest. He leaned close to the black hoof. He saw clearly that there was no cut on the hoof. Despite his earlier effort, the hoof was unaffected. 

"This bone will get stuck in your teeth." Wu Siyu said and the Zoogs behind her instantly felt the danger.

Uncle Dan and Wang Ruoxiang joined Gu Jun. They grabbed the microscope. Their naked eyes did not lie. Even under the microscope, the veins on the hoof had not changed. It was like the sawing did not happen earlier.

"This is the work of abnormal energy…" Xiao Huiwen was silent. They were all stumped. 

Suddenly, there was another pop. An area near the thigh and calf about the size of a palm had shrunken. They were transmuting into the dark green liquid. The stench inside the closed cabin intensified. And they became even more desperate.

They did not have much time left. Gu Jun's heart was burning but he forced himself to calm down. If the system followed the old system's mechanism, then the quest could be completed. That meant that there was a solution to solve this conundrum.

Gu Jun looked around to scan everything inside the cabin, including the shivering Zoogs. In the end, his eyes fell on the Carlot Scalpel that he used earlier. With an inspiration, he grabbed the scalpel and turned back to the hoof. 

That confused both experts like Xiao Huiwen as well as other people in the cabin. If the hoof did not yield to the electric saw, what could a scalpel do to it?