Chapter 1021 An Information Black Hole

Four days passed quickly. The missing person notice issued through the Hailan Federation's official news channels sank like a stone in the sea, receiving not a single response. Either the target wasn't seen, or people saw it and didn't come forward, and there were no other reports.

Han Xiao couldn't do anything but have his subordinates continue their carpet search. He also used 【Bold Explorer】 on the target's image provided by Isora, but saw meaningless images – a large number of twisted lines passing through the universe. He had no idea what these clues were.

After completing another round of searching, one spaceship after another returned to the Longtan dock. Many members of the Black Star Army walked out of the hatch, listless.

After searching for several days, and repeatedly finding no one, continuously repeating a job that already had a "result", anyone would feel irritable and depressed. The army soldiers were no exception.

Harrison followed the crowd, when he suddenly caught sight of Jenny. His heart skipped a beat. After hesitating for a moment, he walked over and plucked up the courage to strike up a conversation:

"Jenny, I'm Harrison. We meet again."

Jenny was receiving a group of corporate investors. Hearing someone call her, she turned her head, nodded casually, and said indifferently, "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

A few days ago, Han Xiao and Ames gathered important cadres and held a small banquet. Han Xiao introduced Harrison to her, but Jenny wasn't impressed. She remembered him as a talkative, curious, rash young man.

"I... can I talk to you?" Harrison stammered.

"Now?" Jenny frowned and waved her hand, displeased. "I'm busy right now. Can't you see I have guests here?"

With that, she withdrew her gaze, stopped paying attention to Harrison, and walked away with the investors, her attitude distant and cold.

Harrison opened his mouth, but didn't dare to continue disturbing her. He had no choice but to follow the main force, preparing to go to the Dragon Throne Palace to report on the mission to Han Xiao.

However, just as he was about to leave the dock, Harrison suddenly saw a person lying on the ground not far away. The person was ragged, face down, so he couldn't see their appearance. But the pedestrians coming and going all didn't notice them, turning a blind eye.

"That's strange. Is that person sleeping on the ground? Why isn't anyone helping them?"

Harrison was curious.

The Black Star Army soldier next to him heard this, followed his line of sight, and immediately looked puzzled. "Where is anyone lying down?"

"Right there, so obvious... Can't you see?" Harrison was stunned.

The surrounding army soldiers stopped, stared for a few seconds, then turned their heads and stared at Harrison with strange eyes.

"Buddy, go see an eye doctor."

Harrison was stunned. His vigorous curiosity burst into flames. He shook off the crowd and strode to the person lying down. After hesitating for a moment, he reached out and pushed the person's body.

"Wake up."

The person seemed to have fainted and didn't respond.

Unable to resist his curiosity, Harrison reached out and turned the person over.

The moment he saw the person's face, Harrison's eyes widened and a look of shock appeared.

...

"You're saying... this is the person we're looking for?"

Half an hour later, Han Xiao rushed back to the base from the Dragon Throne Palace and arrived at a secret interrogation room, looking at the opposite side of the table with a strange expression.

"That's right. I found him at the dock. He seems to have fallen into a coma and hasn't woken up." Harrison stood aside, pointing to the chair across the table.

Han Xiao looked at the empty chair, his expression complex, and emphasized, "You're not kidding me, are you? There's no one here."

Harrison scratched his head, puzzled. "I don't understand either. It seems that other than me, no one else can see him. But I can guarantee he's exactly the same as the target we're looking for."

"Where did you find him?" Han Xiao asked suspiciously.

"You might not believe it if I told you..." Harrison shrank his neck. "I picked him up."

"..."

Han Xiao was speechless.

What else could he say?

If Harrison hadn't stumbled upon him, even if this guy came right in front of him, he probably wouldn't have seen him.

No wonder you're in the explorer business. This is talent. You can find good things wherever you go!

Han Xiao was skeptical. He thought for a while, then sent a message to Isora to come over, then signaled Harrison to describe the person's appearance.

Harrison took a step forward and looked down at a ball of air (at least in Han Xiao's eyes), and said, "He's very haggard. He's so thin that he's just skin and bones. His clothes are tattered, and he's covered in dust. It looks like he hasn't taken care of himself in days..."

Han Xiao had Philip sketch the person's current appearance based on Harrison's description. It was much thinner than the portrait provided by Isora. Without a comparison, it was almost impossible to recognize them as the same person.

After a while, Isora rushed over. 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 was depressed.

Why is it that only I can't see him? What kind of screening mechanism is this?

If he wasn't clear about Harrison's personality, he would almost think these two guys were colluding to play a prank on him.

Thinking this, Han Xiao reached out and swept the air in front of him, unable to feel any sensation of touching a physical object.

"Army Commander, your hand passed through his body..." Harrison was explaining, when he suddenly exclaimed, "Wait, he's suddenly twitching. It's like you electrocuted him."

"Quick, wake him up."

Han Xiao withdrew his hand, frowned, and pulled up the surveillance footage in the room, finding that various types of detection devices couldn't see the person's existence. Taking pictures didn't work either.

This situation was clearly not invisibility. It seemed that only a specific group of people could see and touch this person.

What do Isora and Harrison have in common? If he had to say, it seemed that both of them were pretty lucky... Could it be that you need a high luck stat to be able to see this guy?!

Then I'd better go wash up and go to bed.

Just as he was imagining, Harrison suddenly shouted, "He's awake!"

Han Xiao cheered up and said to a ball of air, forcing himself to stay calm, "Tell me, what's your background?"

The air suddenly became quiet. Han Xiao waited for three seconds without receiving a reply. Instead, he saw Harrison and Isora listening attentively.

"Did he speak? It seems I can't hear him either." Han Xiao said helplessly, "Tell me what he said."

"He said his name is Lodi Anke, and he's from Hailan Star..."

Harrison scratched his head and repeated.

Hearing the other party introduce himself, Han Xiao immediately connected to the Hailan Star Federation's population database and precisely searched for the archives with this name, but he still found nothing. There was still no such person.

"This doesn't make sense. Since he's a resident of Hailan Star, it's impossible that there's no record of him. Either he was cleared by abnormal power, or some kind of power is affecting my ability to find his identity. Could it be that those who can't see him can't find any information about him in any form? But I can hear Harrison's retelling..."

Han Xiao searched the database in his mind, and suddenly his heart moved. He thought of a special form of existence.

This situation was like the characteristics of a high-dimensional information state!

The research on information states in the explored universe is limited. The theoretical theories have always been very mysterious, believing that any individual is an aggregate carrying information. Height, weight, smell, volume, and other elements constitute the conditions for the individual to be observed.

And the "high-dimensional information state" is a specific thing, like stripping the individual's physical existence, leaving only the "concept" of this information as the basis of existence. Just like the classification of material life and energy life, it becomes a new form of existence... Whether it really exists is only related to the observer.

For specific observers, they can perceive this group of information, which is a tangible reality. For normal people who cannot observe, they cannot obtain any information about the high-dimensional information state through any channels, as if this person does not exist, like a ghost wandering in the world, and the two parties cannot interact with any information... This principle has various names, such as "information closure", "information autism", "unobservable body", and so on.

At the same time, "information closure" is not limited to the perceptual ability of the life form itself. It also works on technology and magic methods, and situations such as not being able to find files that should exist, surveillance videos not being able to capture the target, and the target disappearing from previously taken group photos occur.

Because, including virtual technology, these detection devices and techniques are also carriers of information, tools used to obtain and store information, and are essentially no different from the organs used by life forms to perceive the outside world. "Information closure" affects both life forms and these tools... This is also why the existence of information states is prefixed with "high-dimensional".

However, after specific observers obtain information, it is equivalent to filtering it once and turning it into the observer's own information, so they can describe the existence of high-dimensional information states to others. This is the only channel for information transmission, but even if others know it, they still cannot perceive the high-dimensional information state itself.

"It seems that he's not a complete high-dimensional information state, otherwise he wouldn't be able to... or need to eat."

Han Xiao pondered:

"His situation is like he only transformed halfway, causing the information he carries to be alienated, erasing his 'existence' in the conventional sense. But he didn't completely enter the high-dimensional information state, and maintained a certain physical existence, so he can still interact with some matter... This behavior is more like a related ability awakening and temporarily going out of control."

Why would a normal person suddenly undergo information state mutation?

There must be some kind of inducement. Perhaps this is the reason Isora foresaw him!

"Let him tell me everything that happened."

Han Xiao came back to his senses, knocked on the table, and said in a deep voice.

Currently, he can only rely on Harrison and Isora as transit channels to relay Lodi's situation. Han Xiao quickly figured out the whole story and explained the person's experience using information state theory.

This person's name is Lodi Anke. He had been living on Hailan Star. Some time ago, he underwent a mutation, possessed some high-dimensional information state characteristics, and tried to transmit information in various ways, but all failed. He had no choice but to transform into an old otaku and live for a few months.

A few days ago, he saw the Black Star Army's missing person notice. So, he excitedly sent countless messages to the army's email address, but all of them didn't receive a reply. He could only board a spaceship and stow away to Longtan, intending to find Han Xiao.

Once a life form passed through his semi-high-dimensional information state body, he would unilaterally read part of the life form's information, producing hallucinations similar to precognition, eventually leading to coma. And if he wanted to do something to others with his current body, it would be equivalent to tampering with the other's "state of existence" from the information level, disturbing and twisting reality with the information state. This required a huge amount of energy, which he couldn't afford, so he would faint midway every time. This was a self-preservation mechanism.

So, he carefully avoided all passers-by along the way. But when he arrived at the Longtan dock, without contacting anyone, he suddenly produced a precognitive image and fainted... This was how he appeared on Longtan and was accidentally seen by Harrison.

Han Xiao captured key information from it and pondered:

"He awakened precognition... Perhaps his information state mutation came from the suddenly appearing precognitive ability?"

"I think it's possible."

Isora on the side said in a deep voice, "Precognitive ability can be regarded as a kind of ability to perceive, process, and deduce information. In the mouths of us precognizers, there are also names such as destiny line and causal line. Because the precognitive ability needs to be closely entangled with a large number of destiny lines, it is not impossible to cause the mutation of one's own information state."

You've touched my blind spot of knowledge...

Han Xiao was a little egg-aching.

"Old man, your prophecy said that I had an intersection with him long ago. Does it mean that I solved the alien disaster and saved his life?"

Based on Lodi's experience, Han Xiao thought of this possibility.

"How would I know that?" Isora spread his hands helplessly. "If prophecies were so accurate, would I have been caught by you before?"

Han Xiao hesitated and pinched his fingers.

He did think of a way to find out the other party's situation, which was to produce combat information, but first he had to successfully contact him.

"It seems that if a normal person wants to observe a high-dimensional information state life, they must have close information entanglement with the other party... He seems to be able to contact dead objects? So it's not a truly high-dimensional information state form that is almost unsolvable... Hmm, I can't see the clothes he's wearing, which proves that the clothes have been assimilated as well. Maybe I can start from this line of thinking..."

After thinking about it, Han Xiao took out a mechanical battle suit, applied Mechanic Force to connect it, and tried to touch Lodi.

However, the experiment failed. Lodi passed through without any hindrance. A mechanical body that has accepted Mechanic Force connection is equivalent to Han Xiao maintaining contact, so he could not touch the other party.

He disconnected the Mechanic Force connection and allowed Lodi to contact it again, but it still failed.

"Intelligence is also an observer." Isora reminded from the side.

Han Xiao had no choice but to remove the control intelligence in the mecha. After repeated experiments, when the virtual level connection, including the underlying operating permissions, were all cut off, Lodi successfully put on the mecha.

The next moment, the mechanical battle suit disappeared before Han Xiao's eyes.

Seeing this, Han Xiao tried to regain the existence of the mechanical battle suit by means of Mechanic Force and virtual technology, but to no avail. This mechanical battle suit disappeared out of thin air and became a high-dimensional information state as well.

Then, Han Xiao asked Lodi to take off the battle suit again, and the battle suit appeared on the ground out of thin air again.

After testing it with various methods, Han Xiao couldn't help but sigh.

"He's simply an information black hole... I'm almost out of ideas."

Isora put his hands on his hips and frowned, "Is there really no way?"

"This thing, you can say it's metaphysics, or you can say it's materialism. It's too difficult to find loopholes." Han Xiao said helplessly.

People who cannot observe Lodi cannot have any information interaction. Fighting is also a form of interaction. Even if he attacked him with a cannon, the other party might be unharmed.

Only a 'neutral' weapon that is not affected by any observer can attack him, and the other party will suffer complete damage.

'If this guy couldn't subjectively affect other non-observer life forms, he would be a terrifying infiltrator...'

Han Xiao gritted his teeth and looked at Harrison, unwilling to give up:

"Help me ask, is there anything he wants me to help him with?"

Harrison nodded, listened for a while, and repeated, "Your Excellency Black Star, he begs you to help him get rid of this state."

As soon as he finished speaking, Han Xiao's heart suddenly shook.

The interface suddenly popped up a prompt.

[You have triggered the mission 【Son of Destiny - Sub-body Transformation】!]

[Mission Introduction: Lodi Anke, an ordinary person who works hard, underwent a special mutation one day. He hopes you can help him solve this problem...]

[Mission Requirements: Resolve Lodi's mutation and find out the root of the mutation]

[Rewards: Random Reward x2, Lodi Favorability +80, Character Summon Card x2]

Before he could take a closer look at the mission, a thin and haggard middle-aged man suddenly appeared in Han Xiao's sight, sitting in a chair and looking at him with a hopeful expression.

It was the victim Lodi, appearing without warning.

"S-success?"

Han Xiao was surprised in his heart.

He didn't have any hope, but he didn't expect this trick to actually work.

Being able to see Lodi meant that the two sides had officially produced information entanglement, and the source was definitely not just the other party's request.

Han Xiao could be sure that if the interface hadn't triggered the mission, even if he knew the other party's requirements, he still wouldn't be able to see him.

So, the interface became a bridge between the two sides, directly helping him complete the information entanglement?!

But this wasn't what surprised Han Xiao the most. The reason he was shocked was the name of the mission.

Son of Destiny!!

Wasn't that a trump card of the Bud Organization in version 1.0? Although I haven't seen it, I once obtained its character card.

How did this matter get involved with the Son of Destiny? Wasn't that guy dead?!

The intersection that Isora was talking about was actually this!

The corners of Han Xiao's mouth twitched, and thousands of words surged in his stomach, all converging into one sentence:

"...Awesome!"