Anti-Physics Sword

It was around seven o'clock that evening, the day the college entrance examinations had ended, while Bai Ge was feeling worried and confused.

At a community police station in Xiangfan City, the officers received an unusual emergency call.

A resident had reported that there was a ghost in his home, possessing his House-Guarding Treasure Sword.

The officers had originally not planned to respond to such a ridiculous call.

But shortly afterward, the family and several neighbors came directly to the police station, speaking with such conviction that the officers had no choice.

They were community police officers, after all, and were familiar with these neighbors, so they followed them over to take a look.

"Officer Zhang, no one in my family dares go inside now. Here, look at this photo."

The man pulled up a photo on his phone. Officer Zhang took a look but found nothing unusual.

"Why are you showing me this? What's wrong with it?"

The photo showed a living room with all sorts of furnishings. There was nothing unnatural about it.

"The sword is missing! Look, there's no sword in the photo!" the man said excitedly.

The officer was speechless. If the sword was missing, then it was missing. What was the problem?

Seeing that the officer showed no reaction, the man and his neighbors all began talking over one another. "There's a House-Guarding Treasure Sword hanging on the living-room wall, but it's not in the photo!"

"We took pictures with our phones too, and it doesn't show up!"

"Neither does mine. Even a professional camera can't capture it!"

The three officers were confused. They exchanged glances and decided to go see the scene for themselves.

According to the neighbors, this was clearly a haunting.

But what era was this? How could a haunting be this absurd? There was a treasure sword hanging on the wall, yet it simply could not be photographed. Wasn't that ridiculous?

The three officers entered the home. The living room was right inside the door, and they could immediately see an exquisitely crafted sword hanging on the wall.

The sword was merely a decorative piece, probably worth a few hundred yuan. It had been hung there for display and had never been sharpened.

"Isn't it right there?" Officer Zhang said, pointing at the sword.

"But it can't be photographed!"

The homeowner hurriedly took out his phone and used the camera to show the officers.

Officer Zhang glanced at it and froze.

It really wasn't there. The camera had captured everything on that wall except the sword.

"How could this happen?"

The three officers were dumbfounded as well. Looking around, they saw that the residents of the entire building had been alerted. Many people who had heard about the incident came over to try taking photos.

Without exception, whether they used phones, cameras, or even instant cameras—

none of them could display the treasure sword.

But the devices were not broken. Everything else came out perfectly clearly. Only the sword was missing.

"This is creepy. It really can't be photographed."

"Is there really a ghost? Is something invisible covering the sword?"

"Something invisible? Stop talking about it. You're freaking me out."

"That's a House-Guarding Treasure Sword... Could it be that this kind of sword can't be placed casually? Otherwise, why would it hide something else...?"

Everyone offered their own theories, but they only dared speak outside the door and did not dare enter.

The hallway was completely blocked, and sweat broke out on the three officers' foreheads.

They took out their own phones and tried taking pictures as well. Unsurprisingly, the sword still did not appear.

It was as if this were a sword that nothing except the naked eye could see!

"I refuse to believe in this nonsense!"

Officer Zhang was a bold man. He had never been superstitious and believed this was merely some kind of scientific phenomenon.

He strode forward and pulled the sword off the wall in one motion!

"Everyone, look! Nothing strange is happening! Where's the ghost?"

After saying that, Zhang swung the sword twice, without drawing it from its scabbard.

Seeing that nothing had happened, everyone finally relaxed.

Still, the fact that cameras could not capture it was undeniably bizarre. The sword's owner no longer dared keep it and immediately offered to hand it over to the police.

Zhang took the sword back to the police station and sent it directly to the municipal bureau.

The matter was too unbelievable, but it was not a rumor. As long as someone filmed it, they could clearly see how bizarre the sword was.

It was truly like seeing a ghost!

By comparison, the incident did not spread very widely online. Although every forum had some discussion about it, the number of replies was actually quite small.

After all, the picture that had been posted showed nothing suspicious.

Only those who had seen the sword with their own eyes knew what was strange about it.

The person who made the post could not produce evidence that the sword should have been in the picture, so many netizens mocked it as "The Emperor's New Clothes, Sword Edition."

The media covering the incident were frustrated as well. They could only use every possible word to describe it, yet could not provide any concrete evidence.

Without being able to see the sword with their own eyes, what could a picture without a sword possibly prove?

Everything capable of reflecting light, apart from the human eye, was unable to detect it. That was precisely what made the incident so strange.

But as long as the sword was not put on display, this strange property could not be spread through videos or photographs. It would simply fade away over time.

And that fading away was exactly what the authorities wanted.

Because the sword's bizarre properties went far beyond that. Some of its less obvious anomalies were enough to make anyone's skin crawl.

"How is this possible? A microscope can't see it... A magnifying glass can't see it either... Infrared imaging doesn't work either..."

"We can't even determine what material it's made of!"

Several veteran researchers scratched their heads while staring at the experimental report.

At first, they had assumed the sword merely could not be detected through imaging. Later, they discovered that even its temperature could not be measured.

The sword neither absorbed nor released heat. It simply did not conduct heat at all!

It seriously violated the laws of thermodynamics. Any molecular structure had to possess heat; matter without heat did not exist in the universe.

Of course, they could attribute this to being unable to measure the heat rather than there being none, which was still barely acceptable.

After all, they had spent an entire day studying it and had not managed to measure a single parameter.

"Have you tested the blade? Is it the same as the scabbard?"

"Yes. They both have the 'unmeasurable effect,' and..."

"And what?"

"We just drew the sword and tested the blade's sharpness."

"What about its sharpness? Xiao Wang, speak up!"

The researcher had a strange look on his face. His forehead was covered in sweat, as though he found some unbelievable matter difficult to put into words.

The others grew extremely anxious and hurried to the testing site to see for themselves.

The steel plate used to test its sharpness was gone. Only a thin layer of unidentified gray residue remained on the floor.

"Academician Tang, the test plate was disintegrated..."

"What?"

Academician Tang was shocked. "Analyze this layer of ash, then test it again! Use titanium alloy!"

They hurriedly conducted another test. When the sword struck an alloy test plate, the entire plate instantly deformed, leaving only a twisted lump of alloy on the floor.

At this point, Xiao Wang wiped away his sweat and said, "We've already analyzed it. That layer of ash consists of every element in the steel plate except iron..."

"When the sword's edge strikes something, all the iron atoms contained in that object disappear. The alloy plate turned out like this because its iron atoms disappeared as well."

Academician Tang and the other researchers all froze. The experimental results were far too bizarre and unbelievable.

"All the iron atoms in whatever it strikes disappear? Can this sword absorb the iron from objects? How could that be? This is simply too..."

Academician Tang was still marveling and trying to process the results when Xiao Wang spoke again.

"Academician Tang, I'm sorry, but I need to correct you... I said they disappeared, not that they were absorbed."

"..."

The others fell silent for a moment. Gradually, some of their faces began to turn pale. Academician Tang could barely remain standing.

Xiao Wang hurriedly supported him. Academician Tang said, "Don't talk nonsense... How could matter disappear out of thin air? If the sword's molecular structure had an affinity for iron atoms, that could still be explained..."

"I'm sorry. I don't want to believe it either, but the gravimeter's data has told me, without any room for luck... that the sword's mass has not changed at all. Moreover, the total mass inside the testing chamber has decreased." Xiao Wang spoke blankly.

"Absurd!" Academician Tang shouted. He was completely unwilling to accept such an experimental result.

"Test it again!"

In one of the laboratories, the treasure sword with its "unmeasurable light-and-heat effect" was used again and again to slash steel plates, alloy plates, and even animals.

Without exception, the iron atoms contained in any material it struck disappeared.

The vanished iron atoms were not inside the sword, nor were they in the laboratory. No one knew where they had gone.

The sword worked the same way on animals. When struck, white mice suffered symptoms such as suspended breathing, rolled-up eyes, and purple tongues. After their bodies curled up for several minutes, they died outright.

There was no doubt about the cause of death. Not a single iron atom remained in their bodies.

Faced with the results of repeated experiments, as solid as ironclad evidence, all the researchers present fell silent.

They all knew what this meant.

There were only two possibilities. The vanished iron atoms had been sent somewhere unknown by some unidentified effect.

Or... the sword could make matter disappear out of thin air.

The former was barely acceptable. Perhaps, in time, they could gradually come up with theories to explain it.

But the latter was far too unacceptable, because it meant that the sword could reduce the total amount of matter in the universe.

Regardless of which possibility was true, the physics humanity currently possessed had no room for this sword.

"Who made this sword...?" Academician Tang suddenly murmured.

At that moment, if someone told him aliens were responsible, he would believe them.

At least that would still count as science.

However, Xiao Wang said, "According to the police investigation in Xiangfan, this sword was made by the craftsman at Hundred Weapons Blades and Swords Shop. It's a handmade product. A resident of Xiangfan City, someone surnamed Yang, ordered it online for three hundred and sixty yuan... with free shipping."

"..." Everyone stared at Xiao Wang, speechless.

Xiao Wang said bitterly, "Yang had owned this sword for three years. The local municipal bureau says all the relevant procedures are complete. He bought it as a collectible. The sword was fine at first... until three days ago, when the college entrance examinations ended. Yang picked up his daughter and, while video-calling his wife in the living room, discovered that the sword could no longer be seen through the camera. Yang made video calls from the living room every day, and the sword always appeared in the videos. So the sword suddenly changed on the day the examinations ended..."

Academician Tang and the others were left utterly bewildered after hearing this.

A sudden mutation?

If some organism had suddenly mutated, they could speculate from countless angles.

But a sword... a three-hundred-and-sixty-yuan handmade product with free shipping—what reason could it possibly have to mutate?

There was simply no way to study its cause.

"Has it been reported?"

"Yes. Academician Hu wants to speak with you."

"Fine. Have them bring it here."