For example, you could try your luck at an underground casino, or gamble on stones in Yunnan. With the ability to see through things, making money would definitely not be difficult anymore.
However, it now seems that things are far from as simple as he thought. He had just expended so much of his soul power, and although he had managed to see through a little of the internal structure of the safe, he was far from being able to penetrate it completely. He couldn't even see what was inside the safe! It seems that, not to mention how much it costs to use soul power to see through things, the effect of seeing through things might not even be very useful!
This result left Yang Hongtao quite disappointed. Then, unwilling to give up, he gritted his teeth and prepared to risk losing more of his soul power to try again.
Looking back now, he realized that when he first channeled his soul power into the safe, things went smoothly. It was only later, when he was trying to study the secrets of the electronic lock and kept his soul power in one place for too long, that the unexpected happened. Perhaps if he had carefully controlled his soul power this time and prevented it from staying in one place for too long, this kind of accident wouldn't have occurred.
Thinking of this, Yang Hongtao squatted down and turned his body slightly. Then he focused his mind again and controlled his soul power to shoot out through his brow. This time, he planned to let the soul power enter from the side of the safe, avoiding the side that had formed the vortex before, so as not to repeat the same mistake.
However, to Yang Hongtao's utter surprise, the moment his soul power touched the surface of the safe, it felt as if he had encountered an invisible barrier, and the condensed soul power was immediately bounced back.
This phenomenon was not unfamiliar to Yang Hongtao. He had encountered similar situations many times before when he existed as a ghost in the execution ground in the suburbs. Generally speaking, when he released his soul power, it could penetrate most substances. However, when he was facing a creature that also had a soul, his soul power would be immediately repelled as soon as it touched the other's skin, and it would not be able to penetrate the other's body at all, even if he was facing a weak ant.
Could it be that there is a living creature inside this safe?
Yang Hongtao's first thought was this, but he quickly realized something was wrong. Even if there really was a small animal inside the safe, it should have been bounced off when his soul power penetrated the safe and directly touched the animal inside, right? But now his soul power was bounced off as soon as it touched the surface of the safe. Could it be... could it be that the safe itself is a being with a soul?
This reasoning was obviously absurd and laughable, but Yang Hongtao's soul had been trapped inside a tiny bullet for three whole years, so encountering a safe containing another soul wasn't entirely incomprehensible, was it? Yang Hongtao was simply puzzled: if there really was a soul inside the safe, then why had his initial burst of soul power successfully penetrated it? Could it all be... the result of the soul power he had just lost?
This thought suddenly struck Yang Hongtao. He immediately gathered a wisp of his soul power and slowly extended it towards the surface of the safe. This time, however, he didn't attempt to penetrate the safe itself, but instead gently placed it against the outside, carefully sensing the mysterious power within…
Sure enough, this time, because Yang Hongtao did not actively let his soul power seep into the safe, it was not repelled. He then clearly sensed through the connection of his soul power that there was indeed a weak soul hidden in that small safe!
This is……
Yang Hongtao quickly realized that the so-called soul inside the safe had a kind of intimate connection with him, as if they were connected by blood and flesh. The weak soul clearly had a kind of dependent feeling towards him, like a child's longing for its parents.
Yang Hongtao stared in disbelief for a long time, then pinched his thigh hard before finally confirming that he wasn't daydreaming. Inside the safe before him, a weak yet relatively independent soul had indeed formed. Moreover, he was 100% certain that the soul inside the safe was formed from the soul power he had unintentionally lost inside before.
He never imagined that a small portion of pure soul energy separated from his own soul, after being injected into a non-living entity, could quickly form a separate soul entity! He could even tell from the reactions of that weak soul entity that this newborn soul not only possessed strong independence but also had a smattering of simple thought. Otherwise, Yang Hongtao would never have been able to clearly sense the emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness expressed by this soul entity through the contact of soul power! Without thought, how could there be any emotions?
Perhaps because this newly formed soul was split from Yang Hongtao's soul, although it has now grown into an independent existence, it still has a strange connection with Yang Hongtao himself. Soon, Yang Hongtao discovered that even when he withdrew his outward soul power, he could still faintly sense the existence of the weak soul inside the safe.
However, this feeling was too faint; if he hadn't concentrated and carefully sensed it, he wouldn't have been able to perceive it at all. Moreover, this newborn soul clearly trusted Yang Hongtao completely and was completely unguarded, just like a newborn child, which almost made Yang Hongtao feel as if he had gained another son.
Yang Hongtao quickly began to consider what benefits this unexpected change would bring him... To be able to give a non-living entity thought and a soul was clearly a magical and amazing special ability. If used properly, it would definitely be a heaven-defying skill! Of course... this was on the premise that the independent soul that had split off from his soul could truly be used by him. If he did not have the ability to command it, then he would hardly gain any benefit from it, and would only be creating a terrifying monster that would harm himself and others.
Thinking of this, Yang Hongtao immediately sent a request through the thread of shared origin between his soul and the newly generated soul in the safe.
Although Yang Hongtao felt that this newborn soul was like his own child, he didn't dare to act arrogantly and issue orders to it. After all, even a real son might sometimes rebel against his father, let alone a strange soul he was facing!
The result did not disappoint Yang Hongtao, and he also proved one point through this experiment: when a non-living entity has an independent soul, it is no longer a cold, dead thing, and at least has some degree of control over itself.
For example, right now, after Yang Hongtao made the request to open the tightly closed metal door, he saw the LCD screen on the safe suddenly light up automatically, flashing a string of random symbols, and then emitting a soft "beep" sound. The metal door on the safe immediately opened silently and automatically!
Volume 1: The Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 10: The Pistol
"yeah!"
Yang Hongtao was overjoyed to discover that he could actually control, or rather, command the soul inside the safe to do as he asked.
He was previously quite clueless about how to use this power of the soul; at most, he could only think of using the ability of the soul to penetrate objects to see through them.
But now it seems, what does the ability to see through things matter? His ability to give a soul to a non-living being is truly amazing!
As for what benefits this ability would bring him, he hasn't had time to think about it in detail yet, but in short, it would definitely be very practical. At the very least... if he's short of money, he could just go to any bank, inject a soul into the ATM, and then... he could get as much money as he wanted! He could probably withdraw all the cash in one go without even needing a bank card!
Wow... With this in mind, it'll be hard for Yang Hongtao not to become successful!
Of course, he only thought about this in his mind. Unless there was absolutely no other way, it was better not to do it.
After all, banks are very powerful. I heard that when someone was withdrawing money from an ATM, the machine suddenly malfunctioned and dispensed extra money, resulting in that unfortunate person being sentenced to life imprisonment! Yang Hongtao had been executed once before, so of course he didn't want to go down the same path again.
Anyway, there are plenty of things that can be done with this ability, so there's really no need for Yang Hongtao to take this risk!
Yang Hongtao was excited for a long time before he remembered to check the contents of the safe. He squatted down and looked inside. The first thing he saw was a shiny black pistol!
Wow! This is great stuff!
Almost every man likes a gun, and Yang Hongtao was no exception. However, due to his status, he had only seen a real gun once in his more than 20 years of life in his previous life, which was when he was executed by firing squad.
Of course, he wasn't interested in studying the rifles in the hands of those armed police officers at that time.
And now… a brand-new pistol was placed in front of him, instantly making him so excited that his breathing became rapid. He reached out and grabbed the pistol, examining it carefully in his palm, and a feeling of familiarity welled up inside him…
This should be a Glock 9MM G19 pistol. Glock pistols are characterized by their polymer slide, making them lightweight, comfortable to hold, and easy to carry. Furthermore, they lack a manual external safety, allowing them to fire much faster than ordinary firearms in the event of an emergency.
Although Yang Hongtao had only seen a real gun once, among the many remnant souls he had merged with were several vicious bandits, and at least five or six of them were skilled in firearms. Therefore, although it was the first time Yang Hongtao had touched a real gun, judging from his movements, he was definitely a veteran who had been handling guns all his life!
With a "click," Yang Hongtao removed the plastic magazine from the gun and saw that it was indeed filled with bright yellow pistol bullets, which made his excitement level rise a few percentage points again.
He really wanted to fire a couple of shots right away to have some fun, but he figured that if he did, most of the neighborhood would hear it, and that would be a real mess! So, he had no choice but to suppress his impulse.
Reluctantly, Yang Hongtao put the pistol back into the safe before turning his attention to the other items inside.
The safe wasn't very big to begin with, and there weren't many things inside. Besides the gun, there was a thick folder, a beautifully decorated Tibetan knife, and a key.
Yang Hongtao took out the notebook, opened it, and looked inside. He thought it would contain some information, but when he opened it, he found that it was actually a collection of banknotes from all over the world.
US dollars, British pounds, South Korean won, Japanese yen... almost every page had a currency, and he had collected one of each denomination of banknotes. After flipping through the entire collection, Yang Hongtao roughly estimated that even just looking at the face value, the banknotes in this collection were probably worth tens of thousands of yuan.
If you were to calculate its collectible value, it might be even more valuable, but Yang Hongtao has never been into collecting and doesn't know much about it.
As for Zhou Ziwei, Yang Hongtao's impression of him was that he was a womanizer and a gambler. In the past half month, Yang Hongtao had seen him gamble several times, and almost every time he would not leave until he had lost all his money. A gambling addict like him could never save any money.
Therefore, after accepting Zhou Ziwei's identity, Yang Hongtao never dared to expect Zhou Ziwei to leave him much money. Even when he discovered this safe just now, he never imagined that there would be money inside.
Now it seems that Zhou Ziwei, despite his gambling addiction, managed to resist taking out his collection of banknotes and losing them all – a true miracle! Although Yang Hongtao was penniless, after thinking it over, he still didn't touch the money inside.
After all, these were items collected by Zhou Ziwei during his lifetime, and Yang Hongtao decided to keep them as a memento. Finally, inside the safe was an exquisite brass key, with the words "Zhongcheng Bank" engraved on the key ring.
Yang Hongtao knew this should be a key to a bank safe deposit box. This discovery stirred something within him. It seemed that Zhou Ziwei might have left behind some secrets, and the truly important things must be stored in the bank.
It seems I'll have to go to that Zhongcheng Bank again when I have time. I just don't know if Zhou Ziwei's safe deposit box uses fingerprint or password authentication. If it's fingerprint authentication, that's fine, since although Zhou Ziwei is dead, the current person is just impersonating him. But Zhou Ziwei's fingers are definitely real.
Password authentication would be more complicated. However, Yang Hongtao only needed to show Zhou Ziwei's ID card and apply to reset the password, although this would take some time. After looking at the contents of the safe, Yang Hongtao didn't take anything, put the items back exactly as they were, and then closed the safe door. As he pushed the iron door of the safe to close, he once again clearly sensed the presence of the soul hidden inside, but this time he felt that the soul was exuding a trace of sadness and fear.
That soul entity was, after all, a fragment separated from Yang Hongtao's soul, and to him it was as inseparable as the ten fingers from the heart. Therefore, upon sensing the negative emotions generated by this soul entity, Yang Hongtao immediately tensed up. He quickly focused his mind and carefully sensed it, only to discover that the newly formed soul entity was already much weaker than before, and as time went on, the soul energy contained within it was clearly slowly dissipating bit by bit.
If this rate of energy loss continues, it's estimated that in at most ten minutes, this soul will completely disappear due to the depletion of its energy! No wonder this soul is showing signs of sorrow and fear; it probably knows that its days are numbered!
This discovery instantly chilled the heart of the once high-spirited Yang Hongtao. He had thought he had almost become a creator capable of creating life! He was practically a god-like being, but who knew that all of this was just a fleeting moment.
However, if I could create a sentient being by simply injecting a little bit of my soul power into something, then it wouldn't be long before countless monsters appeared in the world!
Although that soul was separated from Yang Hongtao's soul and might temporarily obey his commands, it was still a soul with independent thought. How could Yang Hongtao guarantee it would never betray him? It's like a child. Young children are naturally very dependent on their parents and dare not easily disobey their wishes. But how many of them will still obey their parents completely when they grow up? The same applies to the soul that split off from Yang Hongtao. As long as it doesn't disappear in a short time, its thoughts will mature and become more independent over time. At that point…
If a kitchen knife had its own thoughts, would it still be content to lie on the cutting board every day, waiting for its owner to prepare dinner before being wielded to chop raw meat, onions, and garlic? If a bicycle had its own soul, would it still be willing to be ridden by someone every day? If these kitchen knives, bicycles, and even airplanes and cannons couldn't stand the loneliness and broke free from Yang Hongtao's control to run rampant around the world... wouldn't the world be in complete chaos?
Therefore, from this perspective, it is not necessarily a bad thing that the life forms created by Yang Hongtao only have a short lifespan.
Of course, since Yang Hongtao couldn't solve the problem in a short time, he could only console himself in this way!
Volume 1 The Rebirth of a Prodigy Chapter 011 One Question, One Thousand Yuan
After a brief moment of frustration, Yang Hongtao quickly used his soul power to reconnect with the soul entity inside the safe, causing it to open the door again and take out all the items inside.
Yang Hongtao didn't have the electronic key and password for the safe. If he wanted to open it again in the future, he would probably have to give the safe an independent soul, just like he did today.
To allow this safe to form its own soul, Yang Hongtao conservatively estimated that it would require at least ten percent of his soul power to do so. No matter how abundant Yang Hongtao's soul energy was, it couldn't withstand such a waste. Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Yang Hongtao probably wouldn't use this safe again.
Everything else was fine; he could just put it in any cabinet. But the handgun was giving Yang Hongtao a headache. Possessing firearms was illegal, and if someone accidentally saw it, he would be in big trouble.
However, Yang Hongtao had finally acquired this gun, and he was extremely reluctant to throw it away. After hesitating for a moment, feeling uneasy about keeping it anywhere, he simply stuffed it under his pillow. After all, he still had to guard against assassins visiting again, so having a gun for self-defense was only natural.
With this moment of free time, Yang Hongtao suddenly felt an unbearable hunger pang in his stomach again. He hurriedly ran to the kitchen and took a look around, only to find it completely empty. There were only a few cans of beer and some fruit in the refrigerator, but no food to fill his stomach.
Zhou Ziwei and Wang Xuewei, this fake couple, were rarely home. When they did come back, they just treated it like a hotel and slept there. They ate all their meals outside, so naturally, there was no food prepared in the kitchen. With no other choice, Yang Hongtao had to down two cans of beer with some fruit. Although it didn't fill his stomach, it made him feel a little better.
This can't go on! As the saying goes, even a hero can be brought down by a penny. Yang Hongtao doesn't have a single penny left. He has to find a way to get some money to spend right away, otherwise... even if he can fill his stomach with beer today, what about tomorrow?
Just as Yang Hongtao was sitting in the living room on the first floor worrying about his future, he suddenly heard the sound of screeching brakes outside the gate. Then he saw Wang Xuewei return, still carrying a small handbag and a folder, and walk in briskly.
Seeing Yang Hongtao sitting casually on the sofa in his pajamas, Wang Xuewei's face flashed with undisguised disgust. She then threw the folder in her hand in front of Yang Hongtao and said coldly, "Zhou Ziwei, tell me honestly, where did you get those things you wrote on these equations? Who taught you? What... what is your purpose?"
Yang Hongtao was taken aback by Wang Xuewei's question. He looked down at the folder on the coffee table and saw the piece of paper that he had just scribbled all over inside the folder. Only then did he reveal a faint smile.
He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he held up one finger to Wang Xuewei and then said with a smile, "One thousand yuan per question. If you want me to answer you, please pay first. One bill, no credit."
"You!" Wang Xuewei never imagined that Yang Hongtao would be so shameless. A thousand yuan for a question? How could he even think of that? Who does he think he is? A big star from Hong Kong or Taiwan?
Wang Xuewei refused to compromise with Yang Hongtao. She glared at him angrily, grabbed the folder on the coffee table, and turned to leave.
Seeing this, Yang Hongtao helplessly rubbed his nose. He was really desperate for money. In order to avoid starving to death at home, he had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure. His request was really not high. He just needed a thousand or two yuan to tide him over.
For Yang Hongtao, there are plenty of opportunities to make money in this world, but no matter what business he plans to do, he needs to have some capital in his pocket first! Otherwise, even if he tries to make money in a casino, it will be useless if he has no money! However, no matter how poor Yang Hongtao is, he never thought of borrowing money from Wang Xuewei.
As for the 1,000 yuan issue… that's a matter of mutual consent. If Wang Xuewei thinks it's worth it, she naturally won't care about such a small amount of money. If Wang Xuewei is really that stingy, then there's nothing Yang Hongtao can do. Anyway, he's only helped solve about a third of those equations, so even if it helps the research on the project Wang Xuewei is in charge of, it's probably limited.
He wouldn't mind helping his... nominal wife with a favor, but she'd have to be willing to accept it first! It seemed Wang Xuewei didn't really trust him, so Yang Hongtao wouldn't do something like offering a warm welcome only to be met with indifference. However, after Wang Xuewei stormed off a few steps, her pace involuntarily slowed until she stopped completely at the door.
After hesitating for a long time, he finally gritted his teeth, turned around and walked back to Yang Hongtao. Without saying a word, he took out a thousand yuan from his bag, threw it on the coffee table, tilted his head without looking at Yang Hongtao, and asked indifferently, "It's just a thousand yuan, right? I'll give it to you... Now you can answer my questions, right? Who taught you to memorize those equations you wrote? Where is that person? I need to see him immediately..."
Yang Hongtao grabbed the thousand yuan without hesitation, but his pajamas didn't have pockets, so he simply stuffed the wad of cash into his shirt before slowly replying, "Strictly speaking, you asked two questions, so you should pay me two thousand yuan. However... given how rather idiotic your questions were, I'm too embarrassed to charge you any more. Consider it a buy-one-get-one-free deal!"
When Wang Xuewei heard Yang Hongtao indirectly insult her as mentally challenged, she turned pale with anger. However, because the matter was of great importance, she did not argue with Yang Hongtao. She simply gritted her teeth and remained silent, waiting for his answer.
"Ahem..." Yang Hongtao coughed lightly, then said in a condescending tone, "I can tell you with certainty that I solved those equations myself, and I... am sitting right in front of you now, as you have already seen."
"Haha... You? You actually said you solved those equations... Ah... Hahaha... That's the funniest joke I've heard all year!"
Wang Xuewei never imagined that after paying a thousand yuan, she would receive such an absurd answer. If this had come from a complete stranger, she might have believed it more. But since it was Yang Hongtao, she absolutely refused to believe it.
After all, she and Zhou Ziwei had lived under the same roof for a year. Even though they didn't interact much, they knew each other quite well. If Zhou Ziwei (Yang Hongtao) was the kind of... authority on applied chemistry that Professor He was talking about, she would rather believe that the Earth was rectangular!
Yang Hongtao knew that Wang Xuewei's prejudice against Zhou Ziwei was too deep, or rather, that she understood him too well, so it was understandable that she couldn't accept this change for the time being.
This is like a child with congenital intellectual disability suddenly claiming to be the world's greatest inventor and presenting a number of inventions.
If someone unfamiliar with the child were to learn of this, they might immediately idolize the child, while the child's parents and neighbors would undoubtedly believe that the child has gone through another bout of illness! Even if the inventions the child presents are truly remarkable, they would only assume that the silly child must have stolen them from others.
Yang Hongtao's situation is similar now. In fact, if his soul hadn't been reborn in Zhou Ziwei's body, Zhou Ziwei would never have transformed into a genius in applied chemistry.
This kind of thing is something that ordinary people simply cannot understand, so it's fine if Wang Xuewei doesn't believe it. Yang Hongtao is too lazy to explain it to her. He just chuckled and said, "Laugh if you think it's funny! Anyway, I've answered my question. Whether you believe it or not is your business. Anyway, I'm not going to give you back this thousand yuan!" As he spoke, he subconsciously squeezed the thousand yuan hidden in his pocket. Having the money made him feel much more at ease. At least he wouldn't go hungry tonight.
Wang Xuewei was utterly speechless at Yang Hongtao's miserly demeanor. "An authoritative chemist with this kind of behavior? Nobody would believe it!" she thought. Wang Xuewei really didn't want to deal with Yang Hongtao anymore. After thinking for a moment, she decided to rush back to the company lab to discuss it with Professor He. If Professor He could really confirm that the solutions to the equations Yang Hongtao had written down were correct, then they could send a sales representative from the company to negotiate with Yang Hongtao in person. In any case, Wang Xuewei was too lazy to waste another word on Yang Hongtao.