Chapter 36: The Cat Lives!

"Alright, Beifei, don't ask too many questions. You're just a high school senior. You must have activated your Awakening System a few days ago, right? There's so much for you to learn, but now just stay to the side. This matter is very important to me."

Lu Hong adjusted his glasses and walked to the fencing on one side.

"Here's a pair of glasses for you too. If you see that Xu Yang who attacked you that night, you must report it immediately. Simply sliding your fingers along the big, long legs of the glasses can adjust the screen."

Lu Zhiwei stuffed a pair of police glasses into Xiang Beifei's hands.

The lenses flickered with an imperceptible light and while they looked like ordinary prescription glasses to the casual observer, they were actually advanced equipment, similar to cutting-edge AR devices, capable of freely adjusting focus and searching targets automatically.

Xiang Beifei put on the glasses and then directed his gaze into the mall.

With just a touch of his fingers to the legs of the glasses, the screen switched to the mall's surveillance, which was very advanced. Each screen was quite clear and reflected the outlines of every person distinctly.

Even through the surveillance, Xiang Beifei could see everyone's systems.

For the capture of Lai Wuying this time, more than twenty undercover Law Enforcers had been deployed. These well-trained enforcers each disguised themselves as ordinary shoppers, virtually undetectable to the common person.

But Xiang Beifei could spot them at a glance.

Mainly because their systems were too recognizable.

The old man wearing a duckbill cap sitting in front of the elevator on the second floor, playing with a child, was not actually an old man at all, but a young Law Enforcer disguised as one.

[Host: Ma Feiguang]

[R-grade, Undercover System]

[Realm: Late Qi-Controlling]

According to the system information, Ma Feiguang was only twenty-one years old. He used his Undercover System to change his identity, with both the beard and wrinkles being effects of the system.

And the waitress standing at the entrance of a restaurant on the other side, holding a menu and greeting customers, was also a Law Enforcer—

[Host: Cheng Li]

[R-grade, Combat System]

[Realm: Late Qi-Controlling]

Her task list showed a long line of completed missions, including winning the Spring Combat Championship in the Law Enforcement Team and twice achieving runner-up in Liangzhou Police Qi-Controlling Freestyle Fighting.

The other Law Enforcement officers were easily identifiable, with various [R-grade Criminal Investigation Systems], [R-grade Detective Systems], [R-grade Unyielding Justice Systems].

Beifei quickly identified all the Law Enforcers in the crowd, giving him a sense of reassurance.

However, in his opinion, capturing "Lai Wuying" was an act akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

Given the vast crowd with no less than a thousand customers, and with Lai Wuying never leaving behind any valid photographs, there was simply no way to determine who he actually was.

But at that moment, a staid and urgent voice suddenly came from the glasses: "The cat is alive."

"The cat is alive?"

Xiang Beifei was somewhat puzzled.

"The cat is alive!"

However, Lu Hong and Lu Zhiwei looked at each other as though they were facing a great enemy. Lu Hong asked in a low voice, "Where?"

"The third floor." The voice came from the glasses.

"All units, pay attention, the cat is alive! Team one, secure the entrances and exits, teams two and four head to the elevator entrance, team three, be on alert!"

As the Commander of this operation, Lu Hong rapidly issued orders.

"Received."

"You two, don't run around, just stay here and don't make things worse."

Lu Hong had just finished speaking to Lu Zhiwei and Xiang Beifei when he quickly made his way up the emergency staircase.

"Is 'The Cat Lives' your operation code name?" asked Xiang Beifei.

Lu Zhiwei shook her head, "It's not exactly an operation code name. It's Xiao Xue's ability—he constantly mumbles about whether his cat is alive or dead."

"Xiao Xue?"

"That's the prophet I told you about. Xiao Xue actually keeps a cat, although he's male—but to get back to the point, his cat is pretty mysterious."

Lu Zhiwei gently rubbed the stem of her glasses and shifted the view on her glasses to the third-floor surveillance, then quickly searched for people on the third floor.

After a moment, she froze the picture outside a clothing store on the third floor.

Lu Hong was standing there, pretending to look at the clothes on a plastic dummy outside the clothing store. Beside him stood a pale-faced young man holding a shoe box. He occasionally opened the shoe box to take a peek inside, as if he were looking at a new pair of shoes he had just bought.

"He's our prophet who foretold Lai Wuying would be at this mall."

Lu Zhiwei swiftly adjusted the surveillance screen and said to Xiang Beifei, "What are you waiting for? Xiao Xue on the third floor said 'The Cat Lives,' which means Lai Wuying might appear on the third floor. Hurry up and see if you can find the person you saw last night."

Xiang Beifei was more curious about this young man now; he really wanted to know what sort of system a person with the ability to prophesy had awakened.

But before he could get a good look, the young man had already turned and entered the staircase, and a distant sigh came from the glasses: "The cat is dead."

"Everyone, pay attention! Xiao Xue's cat is dead!"

Lu Hong quickly steadied the stem of his glasses and repeated the statement gravely.

The Cat Lives?

The Cat Is Dead?

Xiang Beifei suddenly seemed to understand what this young man's system was.

As the young man walked towards the second floor, Xiang Beifei could clearly see the man's system through his glasses, and he couldn't help but marvel.

[Host: Xue Mo]

[S Grade, Schrodinger's Cat System]

[Realm: Early Stage of Meridian Opening]

Schrodinger's Cat is a very famous experiment in quantum theory.

A cat is placed in a box with a toxic substance, controlled by radioactive decay. Since it's unknown when the radioactive substance will decay, it's also uncertain whether the cat will be poisoned to death. Whether the cat is dead or alive remains undetermined until the box is opened.

In short, if you don't do something, you will never know the specific result, but if you do it, you will find out what the result is.

In other words, there's an uncertainty in anything that could happen.

But your participation will directly intervene in the outcome.

Xue Mo's system relies on checking whether the cat is dead or alive to find the most probable outcome of a particular situation.

This is the principle his system uses to make predictions.

At that moment, Xue Mo's system interface was densely packed with various quantum theory formulas, which were rapidly changing, performing complex calculations with Xue Mo's intervention.

His formulas required two constants, namely 0 and 1.

Each time he arrived at a general area, he would lift the lid of the shoe box to check whether his cat was dead or alive.

If the cat in the shoe box was dead, he would insert 0 into the formula, and if the cat was still alive, he would insert 1. He would then use those strange formulas in combination with the location coordinates and the current time to simulate the most likely event to happen nearby through the system.

"No wonder those old witches who could prophesy in fairy tales always liked keeping a cat—it's because of this reason."

Xiang Beifei couldn't help but mutter.

Fairy tales do not deceive me.