Chapter 149: Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg

It was only natural that Xia Zhi would think in this direction.

Mainly because "June 21, 2024," this date was simply too subtle, forcing him to overthink it.

Excessively deep, engraved in his bones and heart.

The impression this date left on him was truly unforgettable.

He thought seriously for a moment, then glanced at that woman; this date should be credible, even using the Europe Continent time zone wouldn't affect much, after all it was only a few hours difference... wait, could this plane be that crashed airliner from his memory?

Xia Zhi twitched his eyebrows, his expression becoming strange.

He examined every person, confirming he indeed had no impression of any of them, but if it was that EuroAir crashed airliner...

——Is this the truth that couldn't be found no matter what?

——Because relative to that time point, that crashed airliner had actually already transmigrated at that time?

"……"

"……"

The air froze again with the silence, the oppressive atmosphere like a formless giant hand tightly gripping everyone's hearts, making them a bit breathless.

The majority of people stiffened their bodies, not daring to move a muscle, not even daring to roll their eyes, just dead-fixing themselves in their seats, listening to their own heartbeats pounding, as if afraid that the slightest movement would cause the terrible demon to transfer its attention onto them.

There were also a few people similarly stiffening their bodies, without any large movements, yet still trying hard to make eyes at the black-haired lady who had just been named and questioned, frantically hinting, hoping the latter would take the initiative to do something, after all they had just connected in conversation, naturally making people subconsciously pin their hopes on this lady.

It was just a pity that lady didn't notice their hints at all; her full attention was entirely concentrated on the youth on the opposite side, not daring to have the slightest distraction, so naturally she didn't see the surrounding people's looks and hints.

Although, even if she had seen them, she probably wouldn't have been able to react in time or muster the courage to do anything; this was fundamentally a huge pressure she couldn't bear.

Under such circumstances, the other people couldn't help but be both angry and anxious, yet also had no method at all, only able to hatefully watch with burning anxiety, simultaneously hoping things wouldn't develop in a terrible direction.

——Ten thousand meters in the high altitude...

——The airliner that should have been sealed had its cabin destroyed...

——The entire plane faced the risk of stalling and disintegrating at any moment...

Right now it could still maintain stability, as if not in the least affected, flying at maximum cruising speed in the high altitude; no matter how you looked at it, it could only rely on the power of this existence, unknown whether god or demon. Wanting to not face the most desperate situation, they had to depend on the other party's mood.

Perhaps at this very moment, there were people silently praying to God in their hearts, cursing the demon before their eyes...

However, the people on this flight were mostly smart people, and would not bravely speak their inner thoughts; no matter how much they cursed in their hearts, they wisely knew they currently needed the demon's power.

This was of course the correct choice——

Xia Zhi couldn't be said to have malice toward ants, but also didn't mind throwing a few people off the plane to let them sober up properly.

After a long while, he detached from his contemplation, thoughtfully scanning the entire cabin: "It seems there are still some issues between us that need solving... starting now, a rewarded Q&A session; if that person successfully answers my question, then——that person can live."

He spoke very lightly, his tone flat like going to the market to buy vegetables.

Only in that indisputable tone, there seemed to be faintly revealed threads of cruel bloody aura.

And everyone in the cabin was also obviously not market vendors, unable to bargain with him; after stiffening for a moment, they instantly all shuddered, hair standing on end. Someone subconsciously opened their mouth, but couldn't speak any words; a realization emerged from the depths of their hearts——

This wasn't soliciting their opinions...

But unilaterally issuing a notification to them...

Realizing this, the Mors People couldn't help but grit their teeth tightly, all subconsciously clenching their fists, hearts as if in their throats, every nerve taut, thoughts as if a blank yet also instinctively struggling to operate. At this moment, everyone's attention focused on the youth's mouth.

They were afraid of missing any subsequent key word.

"……"

"……"

Xia Zhi blinked, very satisfied with the effect he achieved simply using carrot and stick.

Wanting to force a single individual into forced confession wasn't very difficult, but doing it to every person would be troublesome. He happened to need to question from multiple different angles and fields to preliminarily confirm the world view's similarities and differences; this was originally impossible for a single interrogation subject to answer completely.

But there was also a way——

No need to achieve the "forced confession" level of high-precision operation; just simply implant a suggestion, making them subconsciously believe his threat was enough.

As long as they weren't fellows actively seeking death, this time their enthusiasm was probably all stimulated; they would surely eagerly answer his subsequent questions, not daring to be perfunctory in the least; if someone's answer had a mistake, they might be immediately picked on... after all they didn't know how many questions there would be, how many chances.

In case they encountered a question they could answer but missed it, who knew if there would still be hope to live.

So every chance to answer was precious, must be fought for.

In order to live, scheming against each other was really too common.

Thinking to here, he slightly lowered his eyes, tone flatly asking his first question: "Alright, what I want to ask is——in the World Cup, how many times has the China team lifted the Hercules Cup in total?"

"……"

"……"

That black-haired lady from just now reflexively wanted to speak, but the words stuck at her mouth, her head a mess.

What World Cup, what Hercules Cup, what were these?

It seemed only the former World Cup had a bit of an impression, but only limited to having heard the name; everything else she knew nothing; how could she answer?

"Six times!"

"It's six times!"

But there were also people who reacted fast, immediately giving the answer, and because they answered almost simultaneously, they glared at each other.

There were also people hurriedly adding from behind: "Right right right! It's six times, six times, respectively 1978, 1982, 1964..."

The atmosphere tensed for a time.

Xia Zhi raised an eyebrow; it actually matched; looks like it's not some parallel universe.

You must know in the previous two world lines he experienced, when understanding world view differences, he noticed this point. Those two worlds' China football level was simply too miserable to watch, even qualifying was strenuous, lose further and they'd lose to Vietnam... simply magic to the point of absurdity, making him feel ridiculous.

That's right, those definitely were Singularities or Lostbelts!

"Very good, this question counts as you answering correctly... sit down!" He nodded slightly, pointing at the person who answered first, watching them sit down with a face full of delight.

"Next, is the second question..."

——————

——————

Half an hour later.

Even the captain and co-pilot in the cockpit, trembling with fear, eventually could not hold back and came out to answer two questions, afraid they would miss out on being pardoned.

Xia Zhi cross-verified through questions from multiple different fields, preliminarily completing his confirmation. After thinking it over seriously, he raised his head again, scanning everyone in the cabin, watching as each person held their breath, nervously and anxiously awaiting the moment their fate would be judged.

"Congratulations, at least you all passed... No matter what happens later, at least for now, I will let you all live."

He said calmly, announcing the results of this initial test—

"Of course, you still need to sleep for a while first."

After speaking, without giving everyone in the cabin time to think or digest properly, he lightly snapped his fingers, drawing everyone's attention to his action in that instant, and cast a hypnotic magecraft.

Making everyone fall into sweet dreams of deep sleep in an instant.

Watching each person's head tilt and fall asleep in their seat or in the aisle, Xia Zhi shook his head, then opened his Personal Warehouse, and began using the prepared materials to make "Magic Coffins" for artificial hibernation on the spot, sealing each person inside, then sending them into the warehouse.

Their bodily functions would come to a near complete standstill, as if trapped in a freeze of time...

In terms of effect, this was a hibernation technique that could be fully applied to interstellar navigation.

It just so happened that before coming out, Xia Zhi had spent two days learning Vivian's Coffin Technique, one of her great magics kept up her sleeve, and it came in handy right now.

After sealing everyone inside, and then parking the entire passenger plane into his Personal Warehouse, he turned back from high altitude.

The strange tremor earlier, the source of the spacetime disturbance, should have been the instant the two worlds conjoined. He wanted to return to the area of the incident to conduct a search, to see if he could find more valuable clues.

Because Xia Zhi had just verified many things, from historical background to era nodes, from international affairs to hotspot news, it seemed all signs indicated that this passenger plane indeed came from the world he transmigrated from; they could be called old countrymen.

This phenomenon was quite interesting—

Logically speaking, before Xia Zhi transmigrated, this plane had already transmigrated...

But after he transmigrated, this plane took so long to transmigrate over...

Which came first, and which came second? And who first made contact with this world? This was very worthwhile to explore, and even upon deeper thought, one could reasonably suspect whether his transmigration to this world was a mere coincidence? Whether he was affected by the plane that transmigrated first?

And was the plane that transmigrated first, in turn, affected by his later transmigration, yet earlier arrival in the Other World?

Just like the question of whether the chicken or the egg came first.

He even suspected whether he and this plane were the only two examples; whether his world on that side had more undiscovered, unconfirmed examples?

Or further thought...

Whether his world had some kind of problem long ago?

Whether even being trapped in repeating time was a remnant wave caused by that problem?

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(PS: Today is my birthday, just finished celebrating with everyone, hope everything goes smoothly afterward... ψ(. _.)>)

(Chapter End)