Last Words (continued)

The escort agency member's expression changed instantly. He said solemnly, "I was the person in charge at the time. I remember it clearly. It was indeed this young lady herself who came to collect the stored items. Our Divine Might Escort Agency has very strict rules regarding deposit and withdrawal procedures. There's no way there could be a mistake. Could it be that you're here to cause trouble?"

Hongdou said angrily, "But I didn't receive it at all, and my signature isn't like this either."

After saying that, she picked up a pen and wrote her name on the table. It was completely different from the cursive signature in the notebook. Although it was in regular script, it was full of a free and unrestrained spirit, as if it was about to jump out of the paper and pounce on people's faces.

Even an illiterate person could tell that the two signatures were not from the same person.

The face of the escort boy darkened and he said, "It seems that you came prepared and deliberately set up a trap to defraud, but our Shenwei Escort Agency is not someone to be bullied."

Si Ming picked at his ear and said, "The protagonist was harassed and ridiculed by a clueless brat, which led to a fight. The brat and his gang of thugs were beaten so badly they ran to their superiors for help. The superiors recognized the protagonist, apologized repeatedly, and severely punished the brat—I'm tired of this kind of plot, I have no interest in playing along."

He pointed at Hongdou and said, "This is Hongdou, the world's first great artist to comprehend the Soul of Painting. Even the leader of the Nation of Beauty treats her with great respect. As for me, I am the direct disciple of 'Startling Rainbow Beyond the Heavens,' a Spirit Transformation expert from the Su State, and I know a large number of Spirit Transformation seniors. Last night, the two of us stayed at the Water Mirror Manor, and this morning, the young patriarch of the Si Clan personally saw us off. Now, I'll give you twenty seconds to think about how you should receive the two of us. This decision concerns your future, so please consider it carefully."

The escort boy's face turned red, and he seemed to want to curse, but before he spoke, his IQ was successfully on the line, so he suppressed his angry words, said "Wait a moment," and hurriedly ran back to the back room to ask for instructions from his superiors.

A short while later, a man who looked like a clerk quickly came out, saying, "Gentlemen, please don't worry. Our Divine Might Escort Agency has always treated our customers with honesty and integrity, and we would never embezzle our customers' belongings."

Si Ming didn't fall for the trap in the other party's words, and said, "What I'm worried about is not that you're embezzling from your own staff, but that you're incompetent and unable to see through the fraud ring's fraudulent claims. Today we are the victims, but who can guarantee that there won't be more victims in the future? At that time, it will be your Divine Might Escort Agency that will be unable to explain to the customers."

Whether moral failings or incompetence would harm the escort agency more, the advisor couldn't judge. However, he immediately realized that the young man before him was experienced in the ways of the world and different from his peers; he wasn't so easily fooled. So he chuckled dryly, "Perhaps there's some misunderstanding. Our escort agency has very strict procedures and regulations."

"Even the most rigorous systems have loopholes. We're here today to clear up the misunderstanding. Don't worry, we're more concerned with retrieving our deposited items than holding your escort agency responsible."

The advisor wiped his sweat. These kinds of customers were the most difficult to deal with. In comparison, he preferred customers who could be dealt with by paying money. Before stepping in, he had instructed his men to quickly verify the identities of the two customers. Right now, he could only hope that their identities were fake; otherwise, the escort agency would have to play the victim.

At this moment, Si Ming added, "Just now, we noticed that the handwriting on the signatures was different. We heard that your procedures also include fingerprints. Quickly bring over some red clay so we can compare them."

The advisor thought to himself, what is there to compare? They are definitely different. Since the signature has been forged, there is no reason for a mistake to occur at this stage. Even he knows five or six ways to forge fingerprints.

At this moment, he already regarded Si Ming and the other man as troublemakers, suspecting that they were hired by competitors to deliberately smear the escort agency and damage its reputation.

However, his suspicions were quickly proven wrong, because the fingerprints were identical.

Si Ming stroked his chin and said, "That's strange. Logically speaking, fingerprints are unique and harder to forge than handwriting. How can one obtain fingerprints that are exactly the same as the person's?"

At this moment, the advisor began to believe that the other party had indeed come to retrieve the item; otherwise, there would be no reason for them to leave such a glaring flaw. At the same time, the subordinate he had sent to verify the identity quietly entered his line of sight and made a confirmation gesture.

The advisor immediately changed his approach, analyzing from Si Ming's perspective. "Obtaining someone's fingerprints is troublesome, but not difficult. All you need to do is steal a personal item belonging to the original owner, then take a fingerprint from it, make a fingerprint sleeve, and wear it on your finger. It's a foolproof method; those who don't know it will find it difficult, but those who do will find it easy."

Si Ming nodded and asked, "But was it necessary for her to do this? You know, she couldn't even be bothered to imitate her signature."

The clerk paused for a moment, then quickly summoned the servant from before and asked, "Are you sure the person who asked you to complete the procedures looks the same as this lady?"

The "lady" he referred to was not the modern colloquial term for "lady," but rather "Li'er Nüshi" from the Book of Songs. The annotation explains "Nüshi" as "a woman who possesses the conduct of a scholar," a metaphor for a woman with masculine qualities and talents. It was a respectful term for a knowledgeable and cultured woman, but could also be crudely interpreted as a female scholar-official, or as a "female PhD" or "female professor."

Ordinary women wouldn't deserve such a title, but Hongdou, as a master of traditional Chinese painting, certainly deserves it.

The servant nodded vigorously. "I vouch for it with my own eyes, it's definitely this lady who came to collect it."

Finally, he added, "Others might mistake her, but this lady is so strikingly beautiful that even if I mistake someone else, I won't mistake her."

Whether it's her appearance or her figure, Hongdou easily leaves a deep impression, which Si Ming didn't doubt. He further confirmed, "Your face is the same, but what about your figure?"

The servant glanced at it subconsciously, his face flushed, and said, "It's the same."

The advisor quickly dismissed him, then frowned and said, "This is strange. The other party went to great lengths to disguise their appearance and fingerprints, yet they were so careless about the easiest thing to imitate—the handwriting. It doesn't make sense! You know, making an identical face mask takes a lot of effort and time. Since the imposter went to such great lengths, why didn't they spend some time imitating the handwriting?"

Based on his common sense, he simply couldn't think of an answer to explain this contradiction.

As a modern person, Si Ming was bombarded with all sorts of bizarre ideas and did not have the fixed mindset of the Sea Continent people. He immediately guessed, "Perhaps for the imposter, disguising appearance and figure is very simple, just like eating and drinking. In comparison, imitating handwriting seems troublesome, so he is too lazy to do it."

"That's unlikely. Martial arts masters do have strong control over their physical bodies, able to modify certain aspects of their appearance and control their height to some extent, but they can't grow flesh out of thin air."

A martial artist's ability to change their physique is not like the unscientific "Transformation Spell" in magic; it still needs to abide by the law of conservation of mass. If you want to fake the two balls on Hongdou's chest, you have to take flesh from other parts of your body.

Is there a martial art in this world that can freely change a person's appearance and physique?

"I've never heard of such a martial art..."

The advisor didn't dare to be too certain, after all, the world is vast and full of wonders, and there might be similar extraordinary skills and techniques. So he added, "Even if such martial arts exist, it doesn't explain why they would have the same fingerprints."

Si Ming also found this difficult to explain; even clones have fingerprints that are different from their mothers.

However, the so-called inexplicable aspect is in the realm of martial arts. When he shifts his thinking to the realms of fantasy and science fiction, a whole host of workable methods emerge.

But even if he voiced this speculation, others would find it hard to accept, so he chose to keep it to himself and instead asked, "Whether it's a signature or a fingerprint, it's ultimately a means of post-mortem accountability, and it can't prevent someone from fraudulently claiming it. Don't you have any other methods to verify identity?"

The advisor hurriedly replied, "Of course, we usually have double verification procedures. We require the depositor to leave a code and information related to the person claiming the items, such as a photo, fingerprints, and signature. In that case, we only determined that she was the True Person because she gave us the code and looked exactly like the photo, so we let her take all the deposited items. Who would have thought that a mistake would still occur?"

The servant suddenly said, "Actually, it's not all; she left something else inside."

All three eyes turned to him at once, startling him.

The advisor shouted, "Why didn't you say something so important sooner?"

"You didn't ask," the servant knew he couldn't argue with the powerful, so he wisely swallowed his words.

Hongdou said, "I want to see what was left behind."

"Of course, no problem," the advisor readily agreed, then added cautiously, "But according to the rules, you still need to use the code. It's not that I don't trust you, but without rules, there can be no order. If word gets out, and everyone knows that our Divine Might Escort Agency disregards the law, our reputation will be completely ruined."

It's really just a matter of distrust. Just because the signatures are different doesn't mean the previous one is a fake. What if the one in front of you is the counterfeit?

Si Ming sensed the other person's true intentions but understood, so he didn't criticize her. He asked Hongdou, "Do you have any clue about the code?"

"I know, if it's a code my parents set up, it will definitely be this sentence."

Si Ming initially thought it was a numerical code like a birthday, but to his surprise, Hongdou said, "I'm sorry for giving birth to you."