Four days passed quickly, but the missing person notice released through the official news of the Aquamarine Federation seemed to sink without a trace, receiving no response whatsoever. Either the target was not seen, or the person saw it but did not come forward, and there were no other reports of the case.
Han Xiao had no choice but to have his men continue the thorough search. He also used [Bold Explorer] on the target image provided by Iso, but what he saw was an incomprehensible image—numerous distorted lines traversing the universe, and he didn't know what clues these were.
Another round of searching was completed, and the spaceships returned to Dragon Calm Wharf one after another. Many members of the Black Star Army walked out of the hatches dejectedly.
After searching for several days, they still couldn't find anyone. Repeating the same task that already had a "result" would make anyone feel frustrated and depressed, and the Legion soldiers were no exception.
Harrison was walking in the crowd when he suddenly caught sight of Jenny out of the corner of his eye. His heart skipped a beat. After hesitating for a moment, he stepped forward, mustered his courage, and struck up a conversation.
"Jenny, it's Harrison. Nice to meet you again."
Jenny was receiving a group of investors when she heard someone call her name. She turned around, glanced at them, nodded casually, and said indifferently, "Oh, it's you. What's up?"
A few days ago Han Xiao and Ames gathered their key subordinates for a small banquet. Han Xiao introduced Harrison to her, but Jenny didn't have a good impression of Harrison. She remembered him as a talkative, curious boy and a rash young man.
"I... can I talk to you?" Harrison stammered.
"Now?" Jenny frowned slightly, waved her hand, and said with displeasure, "I'm very busy right now. Can't you see I have customers here?"
Having said that, she looked away, no longer paying attention to Harrison, and walked away with the investors, her attitude distant and cold.
Harrison opened his mouth, but dared not go up and disturb them any further. He could only dejectedly follow the main group, preparing to go to the Dragon Emperor Palace to report the mission to Han Xiao.
However, just as Harrison was about to leave the dock, he suddenly saw a person lying face down on the ground not far away. The person was dressed in rags and his face was down so that his features could not be seen. Passersby were walking by and did not notice him at all.
"That's strange. Is that person asleep on the ground? Why isn't anyone doing anything about it?"
Harrison was curious.
Upon hearing this, the Black Star Army soldier next to him followed his gaze and immediately looked puzzled, "Where is someone lying down?"
"It's right there, so conspicuous... Can't you see it??" Harrison was taken aback.
The surrounding legionary soldiers stopped and looked over, staring for a few seconds before turning back to stare at Harrison with strange looks in unison.
"Dude, go see an eye doctor."
Harrison was stunned, his intense curiosity burning brightly. He pushed past the others, strode over to the person lying down, hesitated for a moment, and then reached out to push the person's body.
"Wake up."
The person seemed to have fainted and showed no reaction.
Harrison, unable to resist his curiosity, reached out and turned the man over.
The moment Harrison saw the man's face, his eyes widened in shock.
You're saying... this is the person we've been looking for?
Half an hour later, Han Xiao rushed back to the base from the Dragon Emperor Palace and arrived at a secret interrogation room. He stared at the person across the table with a strange expression.
"Yes, I found him at the dock. He seemed to be unconscious and hadn't woken up." Harrison stood to the side, pointing to the chair across the table.
Han Xiao stared at the empty chair, his expression complex, and said in a more serious tone:
"Are you kidding me? There's nobody here."
Harrison scratched his head, puzzled. "I don't understand either. It's like nobody else can see him except me, but I can assure you, he's exactly the same person we're looking for."
"Where did you find him?" Han Xiao asked, puzzled.
"You might not believe it..." Harrison shrank back, "I found it."
"..."
Han Xiao was speechless.
What else can I say?
If Harrison hadn't happened to run into him, he probably wouldn't have even seen this guy standing right in front of him.
No wonder you're in the explorer's industry; that's talent—you can find great things anywhere!
Han Xiao was skeptical. After thinking for a moment, he sent a message to Iso, asking him to come over. Then he gestured for Harrison to describe the man's appearance.
Harrison stepped forward, looked down at the air (at least that's how Han Xiao saw it), and said, "He looks haggard, so thin he's just skin and bones, his clothes are tattered, and he's covered in dust, as if he hasn't taken care of himself for days..."
Han Xiao asked Phillip to sketch out the man's current appearance based on Harrison's description. He was much thinner than the portrait provided by Iso. Without comparison, it would be almost impossible to recognize that the two were the same person.
A while later, Iso rushed over, and as soon as he entered the room, he looked at the empty seat and chuckled, "You guys are pretty efficient; you found him so quickly."
Seeing this, Han Xiao felt frustrated.
Why can't I see it? What kind of filtering mechanism is this?
If he hadn't known Harrison's character well, he would have almost thought the two of them were conspiring to play a trick on him.
Thinking about it, Han Xiao reached out and swept his hand across the air in front of him, but couldn't feel anything touching the solid object.
"Commander, your hand went through his body..." Harrison was explaining when he suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Wait, he suddenly started convulsing, as if you had electrocuted him."
"Wake him up right now!"
Han Xiao withdrew his hand, frowned, and pulled up the surveillance footage in the room. He found that none of the various types of detection devices could detect the person's presence, and taking pictures was also ineffective.
This situation is clearly not invisible; it seems that only a specific group of people can see and interact with this person.
What do Iso and Harrison have in common? If I had to say, they both seem to be pretty lucky... Maybe you need a really high luck stat to even see this guy?!
I think I'd better wash up and go to bed early.
Just as he was imagining things, Harrison suddenly exclaimed, "He's awake!"
Han Xiao's spirits lifted, and he steeled himself to say to the thin air, "Tell me, what is your origin?"
The air fell silent. Han Xiao waited three seconds but received no reply. Instead, he saw Harrison and Iso listening intently to something.
"Did he speak? It seems I can't hear him either." Han Xiao said helplessly, "Tell me what he said?"
He said his name was Lodi Anko, and he was from Planet Aquamarine...
Harrison scratched his head and repeated it.
Upon hearing the other party introduce themselves, Han Xiao immediately connected to the population database of the Planet Aquamarine Federation and searched for records containing that name precisely, but still found nothing; no such person could be found.
"This doesn't make sense. Since he's a resident of Planet Aquamarine, he shouldn't be without a file. Either he was erased by an unusual force, or some force is preventing me from finding his identity. Does that mean that if I can't see him, I can't find any information about him in any form? But I can hear Harrison repeating what he said..."
Han Xiao searched his mental database, when suddenly a thought struck him—a peculiar form of existence.
This situation resembles the characteristics of High-Dimensional Information State!
Research on Information State in the Explored Universe is limited, and theoretical theories have always been very mysterious. It is believed that any individual is an aggregate carrying information, and factors such as height, weight, smell, and volume constitute the conditions under which an individual can be observed.
"High-Dimensional Information State" is a specific thing, like stripping individuals of their physical existence, leaving only the "concepts" of this information as the basis of existence, just like the classification of material life and energy life, becoming a new form of existence... Whether it truly exists depends only on the observer.
For a specific group of observers, they can perceive this information, which is a tangible, real entity. However, for normal people who cannot observe it, they cannot obtain any information about the High-Dimensional Information State from any channel, as if this person does not exist, like a ghost floating in the world, and the two sides cannot exchange any information... This principle has various names, such as "Information Closure", "Information Self-Closure", "Unobservable Entity", etc.
At the same time, "Information Closure" is not limited to the perception ability of living organisms themselves, but also applies to technological and magical means, which can lead to situations such as not being able to find files that should exist, not being able to capture the target in surveillance footage, and the target disappearing from a group photo that was previously taken.
Because these detection devices and techniques, including virtual technology, are also carriers of information, tools used to acquire and store information, they are essentially no different from the organs that living organisms use to perceive the outside world. "Information Closure" applies to both living organisms and these tools... This is why the existence of Information State is prefixed with "high-dimensional".
However, once a specific group of observers acquires information, it is essentially filtered and becomes the observer's own information. Thus, they can describe the existence of High-Dimensional Information State to others. This is the only channel for information transmission. However, even if others know this, they still cannot perceive the High-Dimensional Information State themselves.
"It seems he's not yet in a fully High-Dimensional Information State, otherwise he wouldn't have the ability... nor would he need to eat."
Han Xiao pondered:
"His situation seems to have only undergone a partial transformation, causing the information he carried to become distorted and his 'existence' in the conventional sense to be erased. However, he has not completely entered High-Dimensional Information State, maintaining a certain physical existence and still being able to interact with some matter... This behavior is more like the awakening of related supernatural abilities and a temporary loss of control."
Why would a perfectly healthy person suddenly experience Information State mutation?
There must be some underlying reason; perhaps this is why Iso foresaw him!
"Make him tell me everything that happened."
Han Xiao snapped out of his reverie, tapped the table, and said in a deep voice.
Currently, the only way to relay information about Lodi is through Harrison and Iso. Han Xiao quickly figured out the whole story and explained the man's ordeal using Information State theory.
This person, Lodi Anke, had been living on Planet Aquamarine for some time. Some time ago, he underwent a mutation, acquiring some characteristics of High-Dimensional Information State. He attempted to transmit information in various situations, but all attempts failed. He then turned into an elderly couch potato and lived like a recluse for several months.
A few days ago, he saw the Black Star Army's missing person notice, so he excitedly sent countless messages to the Legion's email address, but he received no reply. He had no choice but to board a spaceship and sneak into Dragon Calm, intending to find Han Xiao.
Once a living being passes through his semi- High-Dimensional Information State body, he will unilaterally read a portion of the living being's information, generating a hallucination similar to precognition, ultimately leading to unconsciousness. If his current body were to do anything to someone else, it would be equivalent to altering that person's "state of existence" at the information level, using Information State Disturbance to distort reality. This requires enormous energy, which he cannot afford, so he faints midway through each attempt—this is a self-protection mechanism.
So he carefully avoided all passersby along the way, but when he arrived at the Dragon Calm Wharf, without contact with anyone, he suddenly had a premonition and fainted... This is how he appeared in Dragon Calm and was happened to be seen by Harrison.
Han Xiao gleaned key information from it and pondered deeply:
"He awakened precognition... perhaps his Information State mutation stems from the sudden appearance of precognitive abilities?"
I think it's possible.
Iso, standing to the side, said in a deep voice, "Precognition can be seen as an ability to perceive, process, and deduce information. In the mouths of those who have precognition, it is also called the thread of fate, the thread of Cause and Effect, and so on. Because precognition requires close entanglement with a large number of threads of fate, it is not impossible for it to cause changes in one's own Information State."
That's outside my area of knowledge...
Han Xiao felt a bit of a headache.
"Old man, your prophecy says that I had a connection with him long ago. Does that mean I resolved the Mutation Disaster and saved his life?"
Based on Lodi's experience, Han Xiao considered this possibility.
"How would I know?" Iso shrugged helplessly. "If prophecies were that accurate, would I have been caught by you before?"
Han Xiao hesitated, fidgeting with his fingers.
He did come up with a way to find out the other party's situation: to extract combat information, but first he needed to successfully make contact with the person.
"It seems that for a normal person to observe a High-Dimensional Information State life form, they must establish a close information entanglement with it... It seems to be able to contact inanimate objects? So it's not a truly unsolvable form of a High-Dimensional Information State... Hmm, I can't see the clothes it's wearing, which proves that the clothes have also been assimilated. Perhaps we can start from this line of thought..."
After thinking for a moment, Han Xiao took out a mechanical armor, applied Mechanical Force connection, and tried to touch Lodi.
However, the experiment failed. Lodi passed through without any hindrance. The mechanical body that had received the Mechanical Force connection was in contact with Han Xiao, so it was impossible for them to touch each other.
He disengaged the Mechanical Force connection and tried to re-establish contact with Lodi, but it still failed.
"Intelligence is also an observer," Iso remarked from the side.
Han Xiao had no choice but to remove the control intelligence from the mecha. After repeated experiments, Lodi was finally able to put on the mecha only when the virtual layer connection, including the underlying operation permissions, was completely severed.
The next moment, the mechanical armor disappeared right before Han Xiao's eyes.
Seeing this, Han Xiao tried to use Mechanical Force, virtual technology and other means to find the existence of the mechanical armor again, but to no avail. The mechanical armor just disappeared into thin air and was also converted into High-Dimensional Information State.
Immediately afterwards, Han Xiao had Lodi remove his armor, which then reappeared on the ground out of thin air.
After testing it using various methods, Han Xiao couldn't help but sigh.
"He's an information Black Hole... I'm at my wit's end."
Iso, hands on his hips, frowned and said, "Is there really no other way?"
"You could call this thing idealistic metaphysics or materialistic technology, but it's too difficult to find a loophole," Han Xiao said helplessly.
Those who cannot observe Lodi cannot exchange any information. Combat is also a form of interaction. Even if you fire a cannon at him, he might remain unscathed.
He will only suffer full damage if attacked by a 'neutral' weapon that is unaffected by any observer.
'If this guy weren't incapable of subjectively influencing other non-observer life forms, he would be a terrifying infiltrator...'
Han Xiao gritted his teeth, looked at Harrison, and said, unwilling to give up:
"Could you ask him if there's anything he wants me to do for him?"
Harrison nodded, listened for a moment, and repeated, "Lord Black Star, he begs you to help him out of this state."
As soon as he finished speaking, Han Xiao suddenly felt a jolt in his heart.
A notification suddenly popped up on the panel.
[You have triggered the quest [Child of Destiny - Sub-Body Transformation]!]
[Mission Brief: Lodi Anko, an ordinary person who works diligently, suddenly developed a peculiar mutation. He hopes you can help him solve this problem...]
[Mission Requirements: Resolve Lodi's mutation and investigate its root cause.]
[Rewards: Random reward x2, Lodi's favorability +80, Character card x2]
Before Han Xiao could even read through the mission details, a thin, haggard middle-aged man suddenly appeared in his line of sight, sitting in a chair and looking at him with a hopeful expression.
It was the victim, Lodi, who appeared without any warning.
"D-It was a success?"
Han Xiao was surprised.
He hadn't expected it to actually work.
The fact that Lodi is visible signifies that the two sides have officially begun exchanging information, and the source is certainly not just the other party's request.
Han Xiao was certain that if the task wasn't triggered on the panel, even if he knew the other party's requirements, he still wouldn't be able to see them.
So, the control panel became a bridge between the two parties, directly helping him complete the information entanglement?!
But that wasn't what surprised Han Xiao the most. What shocked him was the name of the mission.
Child of Destiny!!
Isn't that one of the trump cards of the Germinal Organization in version 1.0? Although I've never seen it, I once obtained its character card.
How did this get involved with the Child of Destiny? Wasn't that guy dead?!
The intersection Iso mentioned was actually this!
Han Xiao's lips twitched, a thousand words welling up in his heart, all converging into one sentence:
"... Awesome!"