Serendipitous Trait

Bai Ge needed to confirm one thing: was the anomalous characteristic implanted in his body, or was it, like the Haunted Sword, implanted in some inanimate object?

This point was crucial, as it would determine whether Bai Ge could actually utilize the "Shadow Person" as a containment.

If the characteristic's target was a human, then let the country deal with that headache.

Bai Ge was currently running critically low on electrical energy and couldn't afford to "handle" such a living person.

But if the characteristic's target was an item, then it would be much simpler. He could force the object to revert, take it, and be done with it.

"Implanting a characteristic into my phone that directly reverts the target to human? That's completely out of the blue. The energy consumption would be astronomical."

"Hmm... I need to significantly reduce the consumption."

"Got it... Bell, help me fill in the details."

His consciousness sank into his brain hole. Within the material universe, Bai Ge's phone floated.

The so-called material universe was one he had created specifically to house physical matter.

It contained vast amounts of air, soil, rocks, as well as iron, wood, glass, plastic, rubber, and other materials.

In essence, it was a warehouse.

If some powerful being from a brain hole universe managed to break into this universe, it would essentially become a treasure trove.

Even a single grain of sand within it would be a supreme treasure!

Any handful of physical matter he grabbed would be far more potent than divine artifacts from brain hole worlds.

Of course, to an Earthling, they were just ordinary materials.

If it weren't for the fact that he needed to "grab" the matter to send it in, he would have gladly moved an entire mountain inside.

The judgment for grabbing was determined by Bai Ge's own mobility.

If an item was too heavy for Bai Ge himself to move, there was no point in expecting his brain hole to pull it in.

"One manifestation, regardless of how many characteristics it contains, will only produce one containment... Got it!"

"The first characteristic: my phone's smart assistant will answer one of my questions with absolute objective correctness. This isn't forcing a correct answer, but rather randomly generating the name of an object that happens to answer my question."

"Second: grant this phone a characteristic of coincidental random dialing..."

"When I press the dial button, it will randomly dial a number, and the owner of that number will coincidentally be the person I want to contact."

"This isn't some unrealistic characteristic; it's merely a coincidence orchestrated by fate."

Bai Ge wanted to test if coincidence was "realistic" enough.

After all, there was no loss if it failed.

By randomly dialing a number, if he repeated it enough times, eventually, he would hit the number he wanted.

This was the principle of brute force.

Bai Ge's characteristic, however, was designed to make that "coincidental" success happen on the very first try.

This was possible in reality and wouldn't consume too much energy.

The first characteristic worked similarly: randomly generate the name of an object. Bai Ge would ask what item allowed someone to transform into an undead shadow person.

The answer itself didn't matter, as long as it wasn't "human," it would indicate that the transformation was dependent on an external object.

Both of these characteristics were, in a sense, coincidences.

"It succeeded on the first try!"

"But the consumption was still quite high! However, turning possibility into certainty is acceptable."

When he took out his phone, Bai Ge felt almost all the electrical energy within him being depleted. He had charged it at home before leaving that day, and he had over a thousand units of reserve.

"Is it because of absoluteness?"

Come to think of it, making a possible coincidence absolutely happen on the first try did involve using absoluteness.

And most of the consumption should have been on the first question, as he had specifically set it to be "objectively correct."

In comparison, randomly dialing a number was much "cheaper."

"This time it's not a temporary characteristic, but a one-time characteristic."

"This phone has been granted one chance for coincidence and one question opportunity, with no time limit. I can use these opportunities anytime I wish; as long as I don't use them, the opportunities will remain."

"If the answer to the first question isn't to my satisfaction, I'll save the second characteristic for later."

Bai Ge smiled. This success made his mind even more active, and he came up with several more ideas.

Besides methods to reduce consumption by shortening existence time, there were also these count-based characteristics.

"Smart assistant, tell me, what is it that caused him to become like this?"

The question itself wasn't important, as the assistant had no actual intelligence and didn't need to understand the vague query. Bai Ge himself made the judgment, and the assistant would provide an answer as if it had "malfunctioned," an answer that "happened" to be objectively correct.

"Bow tie," the assistant replied.

"I see..."

Bai Ge smiled and looked at the Shadow Person from the side.

"Beep, beep, beep..."

He didn't save the second ability for later and immediately used the opportunity.

He pressed the dial button, and the phone automatically dialed a number.

Bai Ge's mind raced, thinking of the Shadow Person. As long as they had a phone, this call would go through!

Whether the Shadow Person had a phone was obvious; they were just a normal person the day before yesterday!

Who in society wouldn't have a phone?

The call connected, but no one answered. Clearly, the Shadow Person hadn't brought their phone.

However, Bai Ge hadn't expected anyone to answer; he only wanted the number.

"Got the number, isn't it simple to check your identity?"

Bai Ge was a professional in this regard; it wasn't difficult at all. He didn't need to use any connections or hack into anything.

The method was simple. Bai Ge picked up his phone, opened Alipay, and transferred one yuan to this number.

As long as the number was linked to Alipay, the recipient's name would be displayed.

Using a similar method, Bai Ge found the Shadow Person's WeChat, which even showed where they were from.

"Tsk tsk... the profile picture and album are all real people..."

While Bai Ge was fiddling with his phone, the botanic garden researchers had finished their experiment.

Following instructions from above, they prepared to lock the Shadow Person in a nearly sealed container, lined with thick steel plates, and send it to the capital overnight, much like the Haunted Sword.

The Shadow Person remained silent, clearly still holding out, relying on the fact that no one could do anything to them, wanting to play it by ear.

At this point, it was no longer appropriate for outsiders to stay. It was already past midnight, and the researchers asked Luo Wendi and Bai Ge to leave.

In fact, if it weren't for Bai Ge being a great help, he shouldn't have been allowed to observe the experiment.

"Bai Ge, we should go," Luo Wendi said.

Bai Ge shook his head and suddenly said, "Wait a moment, I actually know his identity."

"What?"

Everyone looked at Bai Ge, and even the Shadow Person glared at him.

The Shadow Person's pearly white teeth flashed as they smiled, "Heh heh, a little trickery is enough for me, I admit defeat! But I'm already like this, my own mother wouldn't recognize me! What do you know!"

Anyone who has watched Detective Conan knows the purpose of the "Shadow Person" character setting, which is to conceal identity.

Completely black, with dazzling white teeth, not a single hair on their head, and their clothes not visible, as if naked.

With such an appearance, even their own mother wouldn't recognize them!

Everyone was puzzled. How could Bai Ge know?

However, Bai Ge said, "Liang Wei, are you really not going to change back and confess honestly? Do you want me to confess for you?"

"..." The Shadow Person looked at Bai Ge in shock. Even with their best efforts to disguise themselves, they couldn't maintain their composure at this moment!

"What Liang Wei? Are you talking to me?" the Shadow Person said softly.

Bai Ge calmly replied, "You don't need to pretend anymore. You have a mole on the left side of your nose bridge, you're twenty-nine this year, not exactly young anymore, so why dye your hair brown?"

The Shadow Person was dumbfounded. Beneath their bizarre disguise, their identity was their biggest secret.

Facing Bai Ge's detailed account, they finally broke down.

"How could you possibly know?"

Bai Ge had spoken too clearly, and the Shadow Person no longer had any reason to hide.

The reason for hiding their identity was to have a chance to escape in the future and avoid pursuit.

Now that their name and appearance had been revealed, and they had been caught, why continue pretending?

Everyone was astonished by the Shadow Person's admission.

"You got it right?"

Facing everyone's surprised gazes, Bai Ge calmly said, "Of course, I know him."

"Impossible! I don't know you!" the Shadow Person stated firmly.

Bai Ge smiled and said, "Allow me to introduce myself... I am Bai Ge, a private investigator. I have a photographic memory; I remember everything I see and hear."

"I happened to see you on the road once and heard someone call you Liang Wei. It's normal that you don't recognize me; we were just strangers passing by each other."

The Shadow Person, Liang Wei, was utterly taken aback.

Then he angrily said, "Impossible! So what if you recognize me? I've turned into this..."

Bai Ge smiled and said, "But your voice hasn't changed. Your tone, your habits, the rhythm and pitch of your speech – these are all your unique characteristics!"

Actually, Bai Ge didn't know what Liang Wei's voice sounded like, but that didn't stop him from bragging.

Even if the voice had changed, he could still forcefully talk about rhythm and pitch; no one could expose him.

"This works too? You didn't recognize me before!" Liang Wei was utterly astonished. Only he knew his voice hadn't changed.

But in the vast sea of people, how could one identify a passerby based on voice alone?

Everyone looked at Bai Ge in disbelief, Luo Wendi's eyes practically shining.

Bai Ge said, "Yes, even for me, this is quite difficult. I remember too many faces and voices. Just from our conversation, recalling your identity would take me a long time."

"But I finally managed to recall it just now, matching your voice with the memories in my mind. I wasn't entirely sure, but since you've admitted it, it means I remembered correctly..."

What kind of terrifying memory was this?

Who would remember strangers passing by them so clearly in everyday life?

Just by voice, to retrieve and match a person from their mind, did their brain contain a computer?

After hearing Bai Ge's explanation, Liang Wei finally fell into complete despair, speechless.

He felt incredibly unlucky. The first time he used his ability to try and make a big splash, he encountered someone like Bai Ge and was immediately caught. He felt inexplicably wronged!

With his mental state collapsing, Liang Wei confessed under the researchers' questioning: "Yes, the Shadow Person is just a state. My name is Liang Wei. I stole the Danmu so that my human self could consume it and gain superpowers."

"Then change back!" Dr. Xiao Wang said.

Liang Wei lowered his head and said, "Don't, just let me be like this. I've already been exposed, what's the point of changing back?"

Everyone exchanged glances, but Bai Ge wasn't surprised.

Clearly, Liang Wei was still trying to hide the existence of the bow tie. Once he changed back, the fact that he transformed because of an item would be exposed.

Bai Ge then said, "If you don't change back to human and clarify the issue, the country won't trust you. In your Shadow Person state, you will inevitably be strictly restrained. Being confined by these alloy plates is already considered good..."

Liang Wei said, "You know my identity anyway, I have no way back. What is there to be wary of? Just let me serve the country like this! I'll do whatever the country says!"

As he spoke, Liang Wei glared at Bai Ge with an incredibly venomous look, hating him to the core.

"Even now, you're still stalling. Do you have some secret about your ability that you haven't revealed?" Bai Ge asked.

Liang Wei's eyes widened, and he remained silent.

Bai Ge continued, "Perhaps, as soon as you change back to human, that secret will be immediately exposed?"

"If that's the case, the scope is quite limited. For example... it's not you yourself who transforms into the Shadow Person, but an external object."

"If that's the case, you'll have no value to the country, and you'll face a formal trial. You mentioned serving the country just now, which clearly exposed your anxiety. You're afraid you won't even have that chance."

Liang Wei desperately wanted to control his emotions, but he was still too inexperienced.

His eyes clearly betrayed his panic. Under Bai Ge's repeated blows, his mental state had long since collapsed, how could he possibly maintain his composure?

Anyone with eyes could see that Liang Wei had no secrets left.

The researchers also felt Bai Ge's reasoning was sound. After all, with the precedent of the Haunted Sword, it made them think that anomalous characteristics weren't necessarily inherent to people.

Even if they weren't sure before, seeing Liang Wei's expression at this moment solidified their belief.

The researchers all looked at Liang Wei. Under everyone's sharp gazes, Liang Wei was about to go mad.

"Wuwuwu... So what if you know? If I don't change back, no one can force me!" Liang Wei roared.

"Hahaha, that's right! I'm not a superpowered individual. The thing that turned me into a Shadow Person is a tie I bought for two hundred yuan!"

"But as long as I stay in this state forever, the tie won't appear! You have no choice but to cooperate with me..."

Bai Ge interrupted, "No, after the secret of the bow tie is revealed, you have no value. Like the Haunted Sword, the tie with the strange effect is the key."

"In this situation, the best option is to research that tie after you die."

Liang Wei laughed heartily, "After I die? Ridiculous! Who can kill me?"

"Yourself," Bai Ge replied.

Liang Wei froze, his pupils constricting.

Bai Ge said, "Even if you truly have immortality, there is one person in this world who can kill you, and that is yourself. Just as I said before, immortality without corresponding power is not a good thing. There are countless ways to drive you mad; I have ten thousand methods to make you commit suicide."

"Bury you underground, and when you feel death is a release, you will naturally change back into a human. Do you think the country will compromise for a monster like you?"

Liang Wei let out a low growl of fear, "You can't do that to me! I'm a citizen! I have human rights!"

Bai Ge said, "You are not human now! Give up. Only by changing back to human do you have so-called human rights. Your crimes are not severe, and you can have a bright future. But if you insist on being stubborn and holding out until the end, death is what awaits you."

Under the heavy blow of his words, Liang Wei found himself with no way out.

Bai Ge had skillfully twisted the concept, turning the issue into: surrender voluntarily, and you can live. Refuse, and you will surely die.

Liang Wei drooped dejectedly and, abruptly, transformed back into a human.

As expected, he had brown hair and a mole to the left of his nose bridge.

He was naked, strangely wearing only a black bow tie. As soon as he changed back, he was easily exposed.

"Contained object!" Bai Ge's eyes blazed as he stared at the bow tie.