Chapter 16: The Universal Unlock Command

At midnight, Bai Ge arrived at a substation in the suburbs of Xiangfan City.

Unless there was maintenance work, substations were usually unmanned.

His curiosity had ultimately won out; he wanted to experience high-voltage electricity for himself…

Admittedly, he now had ten million yuan and could find a way to build a factory, apply for, and establish a dedicated factory transformer. But that progress was too slow; he didn’t want to wait half a year or more.

“High-voltage transmission carries immense energy. Even if I siphon some off, it shouldn’t cause any problems…”

He walked up to the large iron gate of the substation. This time, instead of climbing the wall or something similar, he decided to test his ability.

Previous experiments had confirmed the newest application of his power.

As the Setting Weaver, when a fantasy setting conceived in his Brain Hole could be acknowledged by Reality at the cost of Reality Energy, he possessed, in a sense, limitless potential.

“Universal Unlock Command!”

Bai Ge attempted to make Reality acknowledge a purely fantastical setting from his Brain Hole.

The setting was this: for any lock, when he clicked his finger on it and uttered “Universal Unlock,” no matter the lock, it would open.

It sounded a bit like “Open Sesame.” Though utterly fantastical, that was the setting. Once acknowledged, no matter how incongruous, it should work.

However, in reality, it did not.

Not even making this ability last for just a few seconds was acknowledged, leaving Bai Ge incredibly disappointed.

“Why not? Is it because I have too little energy? But needing only a few seconds shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Bai Ge pondered and suddenly had an epiphany.

He modified the setting. The functionality remained the same, but he added a characteristic exclusive to himself.

He incorporated his own body into the Brain Hole, implanting this trait onto himself, making it an exclusive Anomaly Trait of “Earthling Bai Ge.”

When he returned to Reality, almost all his electrical energy vanished instantly, but it was finally acknowledged.

He reached out his finger, clicked it on the lock, and silently recited “Universal Unlock.”

Instantly, the lock opened strangely, opening automatically. It looked somewhat magical.

But open it did. Bai Ge had just said a phrase. No key needed, forcibly unlocking it…

Such an illogical setting, though it only lasted a few seconds…

“Reality acknowledged it…”

“Only by adding it to myself works? No, no… I understand now!”

“The setting I edited before was universal, too broad. If implemented, not just me, but every living thing in the world that could speak Chinese could use that command.”

“This would be equivalent to creating a Natural Law applicable across the Universe. The cost required would be immense, astronomical—far beyond my capacity to achieve right now.”

The concept of an objective law was truly immense. Forcing an inexplicable Natural Law into Reality using a measly hundred kilowatt-hours was ludicrous.

If the “settings” Bai Ge imposed on Reality were considered Anomalous Traits, then a spatiotemporally universal Anomalous Trait was naturally far harder to realize than one limited to an individual or object.

If “Reality” were a living being, then an individual anomaly would be like introducing a virus, or even something smaller. Reality could adapt to it, ignore it, let it exist.

But an Anomalous Trait on a broad, conceptual scale would affect the whole.

To achieve that would require unimaginably vast amounts of Reality Energy.

“So that’s how it is… Settings have different scopes: small for the individual, immense for the entire Universe, even transdimensional concepts… I must focus on adding Anomalous Traits only to myself, or perhaps to specific objects, rather than… imposing them on all of Reality. Maybe it’s possible… but that’s not something I should consider now.”

Bai Ge was exhilarated. He couldn’t wait to absorb more Energy.

Of course, the phenomenon of mysterious energy escape occurred once again.

An energy sufficient to annihilate worlds had vanished without a trace.

Every time he imposed an Anomalous Trait on Reality, this phenomenon occurred.

Once with Danmu, three times with energy storage, once with the unlock command.

Five intense energy discharges had now flowed into Reality in total. Combined, it was more than enough to destroy the Solar System.

“Since nothing happened, ignore it.”

…

Bai Ge walked into the pitch-black interior of the substation, deftly avoiding all cameras.

Such professional habits were almost instinctual to him.

“Not good. If I need to store energy, this camera is unavoidable…”

Bai Ge pulled out a sheet of paper, dampened it, stood in the camera’s blind spot, jumped up, and smeared it over the lens.

“Check again…”

He cautiously reviewed the energy storage trait he had applied to himself. Just to be safe, he re-emphasized his “safe energy storage” Anomaly Trait.

No matter how high the voltage, his body could withstand and contain it.

Naturally, he couldn’t achieve infinite capacity, so he limited the setting to China’s total electrical grid output.

As long as it didn’t exceed that total, his body could handle it.

“Heh!”

Bai Ge climbed onto the main transformer, which was operational and in the high-voltage danger zone.

Entering this area made his hair stand on end!

He directly clung to the high-voltage transmission lines. Using a knife, he cut into the insulation. Hooking his legs onto the iron frame, a tremendous surge of current instantly flooded into his body.

“Ugh…”

Bai Ge groaned in ecstasy. Dazzling electric light flashed against the night sky.

Flames erupted—his clothes had ignited.

His sneakers blew apart instantly under the high voltage, their soles charred and ripped open revealing large holes.

“Yikes!”

Bai Ge could store energy, but fire still frightened him. It sounded odd, but it was a fact.

He hurriedly tore off the burning clothes and shoes. Now completely naked, he hung from the lines, relishing the symphony of crackling electricity.

High-voltage electricity was utterly different from household current.

These were 220 kV transmission lines—a thousand times the voltage of household electricity.

Bai Ge felt like he was soaking in a hot spring; every cell in his body hummed with joyful excitement.

The sheer vitality coursing through his body made him almost lose track of time.

While he was thoroughly enjoying his electric bath, he had no idea that his massive energy absorption had directly cut off the power supply to the entire street block fed by this line.

Bai Ge had no clue just how vast an amount of Energy he was siphoning.

At night, one long street within Xiangfan City progressively blacked out.

Amidst the bustling night market, that stretch of darkness was glaringly conspicuous.

Modern systems have automatic monitoring. A short-circuit here immediately triggered an alarm at the main control station, sending terrified duty personnel scrambling.

They didn’t need to go onsite to know exactly which transmission segment had failed—from point A to point B.

While Bai Ge was immersed in his power surge, emergency repair vehicles were already rushing to the scene.

Within just an hour, the area outside the suburban substation was brightly lit and buzzing with voices.

“Insulation failure?”

“Don’t approach! Cut the power first.”

A whole crew stood nearby, not daring to get too close. They had to wait for the power to be cut off before they could approach.

This delay meant they didn’t spot Bai Ge immediately.

Bai Ge, however, noticed their arrival beforehand.

“Sigh, so fast…”

Though he had expected this, Bai Ge was still reluctant.

The sensation was pure bliss. In a mere hour, he had absorbed tens of thousands of times—perhaps even more—energy than he ever could at home.

“Must leave… I have money now. I can solve things legitimately, no need to steal electricity. I won’t do this again, I’ll just have to endure a few months…”

Bai Ge hurriedly ‘detached’ himself from the lines. Naked, clutching a bundle of charred, tattered clothes, he ran.

No climbing walls now. Laden with so much power, he could just slip away invisibly.

He instantly edited a trait, making it last only one minute.

“Passive optical invisibility. One minute is enough.”

Overlaid onto his Earthling body as a passive state, this trait made him, the Human, naturally optically invisible.

He had stored immense Energy.

The trick consumed only a tiny fraction of his stored power. Bai Ge casually and effortlessly walked out of the scene.