Containment Team

Shao Yuan astonishingly took the laptop from the back seat.

The screen showed densely packed hacking tools already open, with various programs running.

The entire system was different as well. It was an extremely simple and ugly operating system, one Shao Yuan had never seen before.

"Did you design all these programs and this system? As expected of a cleaner. I'm looking forward to seeing your work more and more," Shao Yuan said.

After all, Bai Ge had become extremely mysterious in his eyes. He had formed some guesses, such as that Bai Ge was a national agent, or even a hacker, assassin, or something similar.

Shao Yuan knew what Bai Ge had done in the past. On the surface, he had been a private detective, but in reality, he had been a cleaner.

Later, Bai Ge had displayed his hacking skills, disguise abilities, and almost supernatural ability to investigate evidence. This made Shao Yuan even more certain that Bai Ge was a super-cleaner.

"How far have your hacking skills actually reached?"

As he spoke, Shao Yuan followed Bai Ge's instructions and entered a dark-web page.

Bai Ge said, "My hacking skills are roughly at the world's top level. As for my intrusion skills, no one can match me."

With Universal Unlock, Bai Ge's claim that he was unbeatable at intrusion was, for now, quite reasonable.

"Really? You're the world's number-one hacker?" Shao Yuan asked excitedly.

Then Bai Ge immediately added, "Not in the way you're thinking... My hacking skills are still within the realm of humanity. You'll soon learn how powerful Non-human technology is..."

"Non-human?" Shao Yuan asked doubtfully.

He clicked into the Foundation's list of contained objects, and a warning immediately popped up.

"Unauthorized access from the actual IP detected. Network Guard is taking immediate action."

Remembering Bai Ge's warning, Shao Yuan immediately threw the laptop out.

In that regard, he was quite obedient. He followed Bai Ge's instructions without hesitation.

"Bang!"

The laptop exploded in midair.

The blast was not very powerful, but anyone nearby would still have been injured.

Shao Yuan stared dumbfoundedly as the shattered remains of the laptop fell into the roadside weeds. Only after a while did he turn back to Bai Ge.

"Why did it explode? Can a computer explosion really be that powerful?"

Normally, a computer might burn out, break down, or suffer a short circuit in some of its components.

But to call it an explosion—to blow an entire computer into wreckage—was truly terrifying.

Bai Ge said, "This is what I wanted you to know: Non-human power, or rather, supernatural power."

"Supernatural?" Shao Yuan was startled. He recalled the page Bai Ge had shown him. He had caught sight of several names in passing, but did not understand what they meant.

Bai Ge explained, "You saw it just now. No matter how powerful a hacker's skills are, they couldn't remotely make a computer explode, much less blow it up beyond repair."

"But Foundation-003, Network Guard, did exactly that. I installed the strongest defensive system possible on my computer and activated numerous tools to defend against network attacks. None of it worked. The moment I logged into the Foundation's dark web, Network Guard immediately detected that my IP was unauthorized, then directly blew up my computer and destroyed all the data inside!"

Shao Yuan said, "Although it exploded, if we can find the hard drive, perhaps it could still be repaired?"

Bai Ge shook his head. "The hard drive can be repaired, but the data is gone. I tried it. After the repair, all the data inside had disappeared. The entire process was irreversible. It was a supernatural attack."

There was one more thing he had not mentioned. Bai Ge had tried storing the computer in his inner world at that instant.

But he still had not been able to save it. It exploded anyway.

After investigating, he discovered that the so-called "Network Guard" was not some extraordinarily powerful technology, but a property.

Any computer that needed to be dealt with had its data transformed into some kind of explosive. The computer was then blown apart.

Yes, a data bomb—a stream of data capable of blowing up physical matter...

This was one of Network Guard's abilities. It did not engage in any offensive or defensive battle with people, nor did it use Trojan horses, viruses, or hacker games...

When that invisible and intangible stream of data entered a computer, the computer was as if a bomb had been planted inside it. It exploded immediately.

Bai Ge could find a way to isolate that stream of data, but it was itself the data of the Foundation's webpage.

In other words, if Bai Ge went to such lengths to isolate the data, it would be equivalent to leaving the Foundation's webpage.

Shao Yuan blinked, still unable to fully accept the supernatural premise.

"Supernatural attack? What exactly is going on?"

Bai Ge said, "Anything humans cannot understand can be called super-reality. Anything that violates certain objective laws can be called supernatural."

"The several objects recorded by the Foundation are super-real and supernatural entities. They may be an item, a person, a phenomenon, a scene, an area, or even a concept. That is precisely why they can seriously affect society. They cannot be spread at will, and need to be contained and controlled. That is why they are collectively called contained objects."

"Don't try to completely understand a contained object, because it may simply be a setting—something that should not exist in reality, but nevertheless does..."

"As far as I know, the largest containment organization is the Foundation. In other words, the dark web you just hacked into. Of course, that dark web is merely one of their online portals. Their purpose is to effectively control every contained object, whether by sealing, imprisoning, destroying, or properly guiding and utilizing it, so as to prevent it from harming humanity or affecting society..."

After listening, Shao Yuan said, "Isn't that a good thing? As you said, someone has to contain and control those things. Otherwise, wouldn't the world fall into chaos?"

Bai Ge smiled. "That's how it sounds... But do you know the first major thing the Foundation did after it was established?"

"What was it?" Shao Yuan shook his head. Of course he did not know.

"Extincting kangaroos!"

"What? They were the ones who drove kangaroos to extinction? Bastards!" Shao Yuan suddenly became furious and slapped the car door.

Seeing him so agitated, Bai Ge asked in confusion, "I only just found out that you love kangaroos so much."

"No, I've never dissected one! Kangaroos went extinct, and that animal disappeared from Earth. I'll never be able to learn about its physiology now!" Shao Yuan shouted angrily.

"..." Bai Ge was speechless.

Shao Yuan continued, "After learning that kangaroos had gone extinct, I was sad for a long time! An animal I had never studied was just gone forever. I'll never have the chance to dissect one. Can you understand how regretful that feels?"

Bai Ge smiled. "I understand, but isn't your focus a little strange?"

Bai Ge then continued, "The Foundation extincted the kangaroos to intimidate every country. After contained objects appeared, people naturally discovered and acquired them. Some were obtained by national governments, while others were obtained by individuals. The Foundation was the largest unofficial containment organization, and its establishment was naturally not recognized by any nation."

"The Foundation's decision was to display power so overwhelming that no country would dare act recklessly—a final deterrent surpassing nuclear weapons..."

"That deterrent came from a contained object: Foundation-001, Extinction Mandate."

Shao Yuan swallowed and said, "I thought you were only taking me to do some infiltration, theft, destruction, and investigation work. I could even accept assassination... But this... Extinction Mandate? Could it wipe out humanity?"

"I don't know!"

Bai Ge did not speculate any further. Instead, he said seriously, "No one outside the Foundation knows the exact anomalous properties of Extinction Mandate."

"But that very unknown is enough to make every country compromise."

"Sometimes, the unknown is even more frightening. If we knew the exact situation regarding Extinction Mandate, we might be able to prepare specifically for it, find a way to restrain it, and deal with it."

"But we don't know. Therefore, until more information is obtained, no national institution, private organization, or individual aware of this deterrent will dare pressure the Foundation—at least, not excessively."

Shao Yuan nodded. "I understand now. Bai Ge, you're one of the people who were deterred, right? Do you belong to a country, or are you acting alone? Do you have a... contained object?"

Although Shao Yuan still understood only part of it, he had at least figured out the situation.

Outside ordinary society, there was another circle involving contained objects. Its primary structure consisted of the Foundation and various national institutions.

Of course, there were also individuals who had obtained contained objects.

By this point, how could Shao Yuan fail to realize that Bai Ge possessed one?

Bai Ge smiled. "That's right. I do have a contained object. It's this bow tie. It has some supernatural properties, which I'll demonstrate gradually in the future. To prevent my enemies from finding out, I can't tell you for now."

Since he had decided to bring Shao Yuan onto the path of containment, there was no need to hide the existence of contained objects anymore.

However, the existence of his inner world had to remain concealed.

Bai Ge could not let anyone know that he could define properties himself, or that all the contained objects had appeared indirectly because of him.

This secret was far too significant. He had decided to keep it hidden forever, attributing everything to contained objects. Even if someone discovered his strength in the future, they would only think it was comparable to that of other people who had obtained contained objects, not that he was special.

Not just Shao Yuan—even his younger sister could not be told.

It was not a matter of trust. It was just that contained objects... Who knew what bizarre properties they might have?

Some things could not truly be kept secret simply because Shao Yuan did not tell anyone.

What if someone read his memories? What if he were controlled? What if he secretly spoke to Bai Ge one day and mentioned the inner world, only for someone to overhear him?

Therefore, Bai Ge had even decided not to reveal the bow tie's specific properties. He would let Shao Yuan gradually figure them out later.

"I understand. If you can't say, then don't say. Your hacking skills must have been granted to you by a contained object, right?" Shao Yuan said sympathetically.

"No. My skills weren't. Although I know a lot of things, I taught myself. Come on, if my skills were an anomalous property, I'd already be the god of hackers!" Bai Ge said with a laugh.

He directly stated that he had taught himself. After all, he still had to continue learning in the future, so attributing this to a contained object would be pointless. It was better to portray himself as an academic prodigy.

During the rest of the journey, Bai Ge had Shao Yuan enter the Foundation's public website. Anyone could find that website through a search engine. It was merely an online story chain, edited by numerous netizens giving free rein to their imaginations.

Although it had nothing to do with the real Foundation, its contents could greatly help Shao Yuan understand the various concepts related to contained objects.

Along the way, Shao Yuan read a great deal. Of course, he also knew that it was purely for reference.

When they were nearly in Yicheng, Shao Yuan asked, "We came to Yicheng for containment, right? Did you discover a contained object here?"

Bai Ge nodded. "Yes. It might be an individual, or it might be someone who possesses a contained object."

"How do you know?" Shao Yuan asked.

Bai Ge took out his phone and opened an electronic map. A red dot immediately appeared in Yicheng.

"This phone can mark the locations of supernatural entities on a map. The red dot in Yicheng moves around during the day, but remains stationary for a fairly long time at night. This pattern of appearing by day and hiding by night clearly indicates a human."

"Of course, it could also be an animal."

Shao Yuan looked at the phone. "This phone is a contained object too?"

Bai Ge smiled. "Yes. It was my first contained object. I obtained this bow tie through it..."

He deliberately reversed the order to explain why he possessed multiple contained objects.

Shao Yuan smiled. "I understand. You used this... contained object that can find other contained objects to obtain even more contained objects."

"I completely understand your intentions now. We're actually a containment organization... No, we should be a containment team!"