Chapter 158: The Long Gate Has Yuki

What thing?

Alien? Time Traveler? Otherworlder? Esper?

For just an instant, Xia Zhi felt slightly stunned, even suspecting whether he had misheard.

However, traversing spacetime is actually only a moment's brief effort; it's just that he now is far different from that self who last boarded the Hiliri Flight, his Life Level having evolved not just once — this is a comprehensive improvement, with perception and thinking both having undergone a qualitative leap.

Therefore he was able to possess more reaction time in that brief instant.

Including reading the "information" flowing in the Void Point, distinguishing complete intelligence from it, and feeling stunned and confused, etc., etc. — all these, when it comes down to it, are merely things that occurred in the light after stepping into the Transmission Gate, in the split second of traversing spacetime.

The next instant, the dazzling light had already dispersed, as if reconstructing in his eyes, the Boundary Line of a brand new Dimension presented itself —

At one end of the rapidly drifting Cloud Layer, a deep blue Sky was revealed.

It was a deep blue that seemed to penetrate everything.

The air under the Sunlight seemed to thereby exude a few hints of leisurely meaning, as if a world without any worries, pleasant... at least Xia Zhi's first impression was like this.

He scanned the Surroundings, discovering he seemed to be standing under the shade of some greening Tree beside a sidewalk, no one noticing his sudden appearance, and not far away was an obvious slope, above which stood a School.

Just that right now is probably class time, so there aren't many people at the School Gate.

Seems to be a relatively quiet Peaceful world.

And it's also an Earth Background; atmospheric composition, gravity parameters, etc., are all identical, and there's also the fact that despite it still being Daytime with the blazing sun high, he can still clearly Sense the Moon's Gravity.

This shows the Earth-Moon System also has no problem; it's the standard model in his impression.

Overall pretty good...

Because if he really transmigrated to an alien Planet's Environment, that would be more troublesome instead.

But the limited few transmigrations so far seemingly all tend to start on Parallel World "Earths" — is this pure Coincidence, or some rule's Influence in the dark?

Amidst his Thoughts this notion Flashed, and simultaneously he also swiftly Observed the surroundings, his perception form's range slightly Expanding, and a large amount of surrounding Environment intelligence directly surged in.

From the language pedestrians use, to text on billboards, even to traffic light signs and rules...

These can all help him judge what sort of Background Earth he has appeared on.

Merely two seconds later, he basically reached a conclusion.

This world with very similar history, background, and development process should now be in the stage of just entering the Twenty-first Century, roughly around the Sample of 2003.

Call it a modern background, yet it's clearly in a relatively ancient period; even for him, he has to strive to dig up some impressions from his own childhood memories.

But overall, there shouldn't be any generation gap.

The only thing relatively concerning is that this world seems Great Source Exhaustion — there's no Magic Power in the air, which is somewhat Doubtful; on such a Planet, what remarkable Existence could be born? And that one who previously sent a Void Invitation to "Aliens, Time Travelers, Otherworlders, Espers" — what high hand was that?

Emmmm... can't be that arbitrary either; perhaps this is merely an appearance, hard to say.

What if this world's powerful existences cannot be conjectured by common sense, and don't need Magic Power either?

This is also possible.

"..."

"..."

Xia Zhi pondered slightly, deciding to still be Cautious and observe more. Simultaneously he also looked around again, but ultimately still didn't see the White-haired Girl's figure.

Ciri did not appear.

Should not be a Transmission landing point deviation separating the two... but rather she fundamentally couldn't come over at all.

For such a situation, his Expression appeared very calm, not even raising an Eyebrow. After all, this situation he had actually already anticipated before; now it's merely confirmation, nothing worth making a fuss over.

Looking at it now, at the moment of transmigrating to his own world —

That Witcher young lady was already completely captured by that Hopeless Universe —

As if under a Force Field beyond imagination where even light cannot escape a black hole's horizon, that swallow traversing spacetime also became part of the Ouroboros in an instant of Eternity.

Whether it was her opening a Transmission Gate to flee initially, or this time opening a Transmission Gate to leave after Negotiation with him, the results seem no different.

She couldn't truly escape either time; she would always appear again in reset Time.

As if she had already become one of the preset NPCs.

"..."

"..."

Xia Zhi frowned, alone under the tree shade quietly pondering for a while, finally sighing and giving up thinking. As of now, although he has approached the truth, he obviously still doesn't possess the ability to understand or analyze the truth, remaining unable to find a way in.

Even thinking carefully, Ciri couldn't escape... then what about himself?

Did he really escape?

His Expression subtly changed, because delving deeper, even he himself cannot confirm; perhaps he never truly escaped, never truly broke out of that Cycle... from that airliner's transmigration, to later the entire Earth crashing into the Sea of Nothingness, it might indeed be related to him.

So what situation counts as this?

Even if he left that World —

The World still rushes toward him?

This is too passionate; Xia Zhi feels a bit unable to bear it, but he temporarily has no good Method. For the current situation, he can only try to think positively — for instance... seems he can Utilize Ciri to conduct Spacetime traversal?

Steps and process are all fixed: on that day go to Breakfast Street and wait, approaching noon she'll fixed refresh appear, then Charm Power fully open, instantly skip the befriending process, directly from first meeting become best friends, then can have her use ability to open a Transmission Gate to Other World...

Cough cough, if he doesn't even want to walk the steps, perhaps he can also omit this part of the process.

The earlier links have no change; still need to go to Breakfast Street, wait at the specific time point for Ciri to refresh appear, then directly go scare her...

A startled bird of a girl to begin with, her first reaction would probably be Subconsciously opening a Transmission Gate, fleeing this world...

Seize that Opportunity, similarly can also hitch a ride on the Hiliri Flight...

Strange notions turning in Xia Zhi's mind; he feels this part of Intelligence can be nicely compiled and organized, then produce a "Strategy Guide", because it feels too Subtle. Completely like finding the optimal exploit routine against a game's design.

— Just that Miss Ciri is a bit wronged...

— But already sunk into this Cycle's quagmire, it's also helpless...

Xia Zhi feels he'll at most be decent; wait until later he attains the Dao and becomes immortal, Ascends to Magic God Realm, then he should be able to help her also escape this predicament... at that time, perhaps he can also calculate her performance for her; even if she herself has no Memory or impression, he still has to pay her wages.

He collected his thoughts, surveyed his surroundings, and began to think seriously.

This world seems quite ordinary……

But judging from that Void Invitation, one can tell it is absolutely not ordinary……

By rights, he should go seek out the existence that issued the invitation; however, reason is one thing, practice is another. After all, he doesn't even have a direction — how is he supposed to search? Looking for a needle in a haystack probably isn't a Method, and if he were to act high-profile……

He frowned slightly, pondering what would happen if he just marched straight to Washington, Announced he was preparing to conquer Earth, and told Aliens, Time Travelers, Otherworlders, and Espers to all come stop him——

Would that be a bit too high-profile?

Even if it could successfully Capture that existence's attention……

But he currently cannot confirm this world's power level; jumping out to stir up trouble this eagerly would make it far too easy to become a clown. He doesn't want to be turned inside out by some Brave who knows where they popped out from, and end up a century's laughingstock, nailed to the pillar of shame.

So high-profile is not Feasible; he still has to keep a Low Profile……

Huh?

While he was thinking, he suddenly Raised an Eyebrow; his gaze, originally directed at the school on the slope, also slowly shifted downward, finally locking onto a slender, thin figure.

She had fair skin and an Expressionless face; Short Hair covered her neat features, and a pair of oversized glasses sat on her small, delicate nose bridge, giving the impression of an utterly unremarkable doll…… Just like that, a girl stood Soundlessly before him.

"……"

"……"

Under the Tree shade on the slope outside the Campus, the two stared at each other, deadlocked in a "Stalemate" for a while.

A moment later, that slender girl finally spoke, breaking the Silence: "……Otherworlder?"

"……"

"……"

Xia Zhi Squinted, did not answer, and instead countered: "……Alien?"

"What is the basis for your judgment?" The girl's eyes held no change; she asked Expressionlessly. She did not deny the other party's guess, but implicitly Admitted it.

"Your biological waves are off; on this Star, they are Incongruous……"

Xia Zhi Explained briefly, then immediately countered directly: "What about the basis for your judgment?"

"Because only the Otherworlder position remained, and the information on you is very Strange; the Information Integration Thought Entity is very interested in your Existence." The girl lifted her eyes slightly, as if looking at him, yet also as if Receiving some Signal, speaking in an almost unchanging, monotone Tone.

"Only…… the Otherworlder position remained?"

Xia Zhi keenly Caught the key point; he Raised an Eyebrow and asked: "Can I understand this as…… some kind of development that was pre-set?"

"Yes, just five minutes and seventeen seconds ago, the Observation Target declared a desire to find Aliens, Time Travelers, Otherworlders, and Espers; then the Information Integration Thought Entity Observed the Flow of the surrounding information Environment……"

The Expressionless girl said calmly:

"Then, Strange information Exploded, and you also appeared in this world without any warning."

"……"

"……"

Brief Silence.

The Magician digested this information, nodding as if realizing something.

Then he looked seriously at the girl Opposite, and held out his hand in a friendly manner: "I am Xia Zhi."

The girl lowered her head to glance, then also held out her hand without emotion; her fingers moved Mechanically, shaking once as a matter of routine.

"Nagato Yuki."

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(PS: It's still raining today…… checked the Weather for the past fourteen days, looks like it'll continue, should I go hide somewhere (ˉ﹃ˉ))

(Chapter End)