Chapter 169 The Sky Falls (4) (1st + 2nd) [VIP]

There was still some time before boarding, and this figure suddenly appeared in the waiting hall. Many people saw it, and more and more people were talking about it. It was obvious that the news was gradually spreading and getting bigger.

The airport staff had no choice but to come out and broadcast a rumor-refuting announcement, saying that the person who had just appeared on the ceiling was a projection of an upcoming event, which was originally scheduled to be rehearsed in the evening when there were fewer passengers. Unexpectedly, an employee accidentally touched the switch and changed the direction of the projection, causing the projection that was supposed to fall on the ground to appear in the sky.

Whether the tourists believe it or not, at least an explanation was given.

Bai Jinshu was the only one who saw someone wearing this kind of clothes yesterday. Although this explanation sounds outrageous, for most researchers and students, it is easier to accept that the projection position was opened and closed incorrectly than that it is some kind of supernatural phenomenon.

Besides, the ceiling of the airport hall was really high from the ground, and the figure only appeared for a short time, and stayed on the retina for a short time, so no one could see what he looked like. Blurred memories are naturally beautified by the brain. Once this statement came out, many people accepted it, and the more they recalled, the more they felt that the figure was not like a normal human figure, but was indeed a slightly flat projection.

Not many people saw the strange aftermath of the attack yesterday, and only Bai Jinshu and Lu Changfeng saw the attacker in silver-white clothes. Most people would not connect the projection that inexplicably appeared on the ceiling of the airport with the attack.

"I was saying..." A boy carrying luggage patted his chest and let out a sigh, "The airport security check is stricter than yesterday's, so they shouldn't let anyone from an extremist organization in."

"Why is this rehearsal being projected at this time..." someone complained quietly, "Can't they start it when there's no one around?"

"There's always a time when no one is at the airport," another researcher beside him said casually, "Even at three or four in the morning, there are red-eye flights. It's not realistic to rehearse when no one is around."

Indeed, many people have recovered from the brief panic just now, and only the action of looking upwards can show that the doubts in their hearts have not yet disappeared.

"Ye Dian," Xu Zichen walked to the back while no one was paying attention, and whispered to Bai Jin, "Is he the person you saw yesterday?"

"That should be it," Bai Jinshu raised his head and looked at the direction where the man disappeared and pondered for a moment, "There is something wrong with this person. He disappeared too cleanly."

Ye Dian graduated from the Mage Tower. Although he has been living in modern society after graduation, magic is like a skill that he no longer uses but still retains a certain muscle memory and thinking inertia.

He did not find any signs of teleportation, which meant that this person did not leave by teleportation.

All the energy fluctuations in his body disappeared abruptly. If his disappearance around the corner yesterday could be explained by other means, this time his disappearance in front of everyone could not be explained by science.

It was just like a projection was suddenly turned off and disappeared in an instant.

Including the chaotic energy in his body, after he disappeared, nothing was left.

"Clean?" Xu Zichen expressed confusion about his choice of words.

"For a mage, recognizing a person is not done with the eyes, but with the energy of the person, or the traces of his contact with the world," Bai Jinshu gave an analogy. "It's like the world is a calm surface of water, and all the fallen leaves or other objects that fall on the surface of the water will stir up ripples and waves on the calm surface of the water."

"The contact between people is like the collision between ripples. As long as a person exists in this world, he will continue to create waves on the surrounding water surface." He looked thoughtfully at the place on the ceiling where the person had been. "Then at this time, if this person teleports away, what will happen?"

Xu Zichen thought thoughtfully: "The person... is gone, but the waves are still there, and will they continue to collide with the surrounding objects to produce new waves, until the last afterwave dissipates?"

"Yes, that's right," Bai Jinshu retracted his gaze, "but this person disappeared very cleanly. After he disappeared, the aftermath that should have been on the water surface also disappeared."

Now, Xu Zichen roughly knew what he meant by "clean".

It was the first time he heard this point of view. All people who come into contact with the world will develop a foundation that is invisible to ordinary people. After this person left here, it was as if he had never existed, and the ripples on his body also disappeared here.

On the barrage, most investors are also discussing related topics.

[This description sounds like it doesn't belong to this world.]

【really. 】

[It seems that if there is no magical element, it would be difficult for ordinary cultists to do this. 】

[But didn't Ye Dian say that this person didn't have any signs of teleportation? ]

On the screen, the exploration team members were also lost in thought.

Song Jirou couldn't leave Xi Enze, whom she needed to protect. The remaining six members of the exploration team gathered together on the seats in the waiting room, activated a miracle that blocked out the sound, and started discussing the matter.

"We can now confirm through Song Jirou that the main clues to the rules this time must appear in this expert group," Xu Zichen spoke first. "Just from the clues we have obtained so far in the space, we have obtained three clues in total. The first one is related to this meeting."

That is, a group of experts led by Xi Enze came to Newtown to attend a conference, and the content of this conference was artificial embryo-related research, which was somewhat ethically controversial. The content of this research offended many religious organizations and extremist organizations, so they warned the organizers to stop the meeting and issued death threats to the experts who attended the meeting and the front-line researchers.

There was no objection to this, and everyone nodded in affirmation.

"What is different from this clue is the clue chain of subsequent attacks," Ning Xiao continued. "The ones who were threatened were the experts on the front line of research, but the one who was targeted was Xi Enze, who was only in the third echelon. And the ones who issued the threats were the organizations that were extremely active on the Internet, but the one who actually launched the attack was a third party that never made a sound."

The thread of this clue is: Xi Enze was obviously not on the list of major threats, but he was still targeted and the identity of his attacker was unknown. Only Bai Jinshu saw a man in silver clothing suspected to be the attacker in the hole left after the attack, and lost him while chasing after him.

"That is to say, in this chain of clues, Xi Enze was attacked not necessarily because of the extremist organizations that issued the warning," Lu Changfeng thought thoughtfully, "There may be some clues that we are not aware of that fell on Xi Enze, and he was attacked for other reasons."

"Okay, now it's the third line," Xu Zichen looked at Bai Jinshu, "You tell me?"

"Let me do it," Bai Jinshu clasped his hands together, "The third one is that the person in silver-white clothes I met had very chaotic energy. He appeared at the conference site yesterday afternoon and the airport lobby this afternoon respectively. He disappeared after appearing both times, and both times he disappeared were not teleportation. The traces were very clean, as if he had never appeared in this world."

"Finally, there is the fourth clue that we have no idea about yet. This clue has no connection with anything we have discovered so far, and we have no idea how it will appear," Yin Liantao concluded. "The name of the project: Skyfall."

The first three lines can be combined, but the fourth one is like a branch that suddenly appears in this logical chain and cannot be connected to any clue.

"I have an idea, which may not be correct, but the fact that he suddenly appeared and disappeared, and that he also focused on attacking scientists, reminds me of a movie we watched over there," Fu Yandong scratched his head and said under everyone's gaze, "Could it be possible that this person is from the future?"

"For example, isn't Xi Enze researching that artificial embryo?" He gestured, "Could it be that this artificial embryo project develops in some direction that will lead to the destruction of the world in the future, and then people in the future can't solve it, so they can only research a time machine, go back hundreds of years, kill the people who researched this project, and prevent the incident from happening."

"Uh... it's just an idea." After he gestured and saw no reaction from everyone, he could only touch the tip of his nose awkwardly to make up for it, "After all, this sudden appearance and disappearance, coupled with the targeted attack, gives a strong sense of déjà vu... I just mentioned a possibility. It could be this case, but it's not necessarily the case."

"No," Bai Jinshu suddenly said, "It's possible."

Not just from the idea of ​​the future.

If we just look at it from the perspective of scientific development, whether time machines can exist is enough to cause all scientists to argue until the end of the world.

However, during this exploration, there was also an evil god who could control time and entered here as a member of the exploration team. If he was the one who took action, then it would explain why the man in silver-white clothes disappeared so cleanly.

This is truly the power of God.

It is very likely that Huai Jiamu's time was out of sync with theirs after entering the space.

——He went to the future.

"No, no, no, this is not just an idea," Xu Zichen also straightened up suddenly, "According to this idea, everything makes sense!"

Why did he suddenly appear? Why did he disappear in plain sight of everyone? Why did he insist on attacking Xi Enze alone?

Even the fourth line, which no one had any idea about at the moment, was suddenly explained.

"The sky fell... Could it be that it was caused by the continued development of the artificial embryo project?" Ning Xiaosi continued, "So the sky fell should have happened hundreds of years later, but because the cause of the incident occurred hundreds of years ago, the person who created the rules existed hundreds of years ago, and the people in the future are also trying to change the result by going back to the past, so we appear in this time period?"

"That makes sense. This idea is the closest to the current situation," Xu Zichen affirmed. "But in this case... the names of the foundations are basically named after the places where the spatial rules exist. In other words, the name [Skyfall] can only mean that the area where this rule applies is the area where the skyfall occurs, that is, the entire area of ​​this world."

"That is to say, if the sky falls in a few hundred years," Yin Liantao was silent for a moment, and then said the answer that emerged in everyone's mind, "then the time we exist now is actually separated from the timeline where the rules actually apply by several hundred years."

How can we find the survival rules of the world hundreds of years later when the rules have not yet been established?

*

The space that was directly rated as B+ during the foundation's assessment was indeed quite tricky.

1. The night passed and everyone had nothing to think about.

Not only the exploration team members are worried, but also the investors on the barrage:

[Hiss... This is the first time I've seen a space with time dislocation like this. ]

[The one in front is also my first time. 】

[This is the first time I have seen something that is directly placed in the time period when the rules are generated.]

[As expected, investors can see everything after doing this for a long time. ]

[But then again, what should we do about this? ]

[…Good question.]

On the screen, the exploration team members have only discussed two directions so far.

"Or we can start with Xi Enze himself," Ning Xiao hadn't slept all night, and the dark circles under his eyes were frighteningly thick. "Since we appeared hundreds of years ago, it means that we must have been able to collect relevant information hundreds of years ago. Maybe through Xi Enze's own research, we can deduce the development hundreds of years later and deduce the content of the rules."

"The exploration time is only 20 days. The Foundation's entry time is determined based on the rule operation cycle determined by the energy test, so the rules will definitely be generated within these 20 days," Fu Yandong took over his words, "Xi Enze's next move will be the key to the emergence of the rules."

"Or we can start with the person who has been trying to attack Xi Enze," Xu Zichen took out a bottle of ice water from the room and pressed it against his face to refresh himself. "If our speculation yesterday was wrong, then if we catch him, we can at least find out who he is. If it's not wrong, then this person must know the situation in the future world. If we catch him, we may be able to find some clues to the rules from his narration, and maybe we can use their method to travel through the future or something..."

The latter sounded like he was venting his anger after not getting enough sleep.

Xi Enze, a man in his seventies, is more energetic than these young people. During his three-day and two-night international flight and conference schedule, he was attacked and injured. Just one day after returning to China, he went back to the university where he is a professor to teach in high spirits.

Except for Song Jirou, there was no need for the exploration team members who were not actually guards to follow. However, after yesterday's reasoning, it was almost certain that Xi Enze was the key observation target of this rule.

Whether he wanted to infer the rules of the world a hundred years later from his research, or to get the situation of the future world from the future population who were watching him for assassination, Xienze's survival was the first necessity.

In order to prevent the students from panicking, only Song Jirou and Fu Yandong followed Xi Enze into the classroom and disguised themselves as students and sat in the first and last rows. The rest of the exploration team members were outside the classroom, always on guard against another attack.

"Hey, what a coincidence." Just when a group of people were doing nothing, Ren Zhiling passed by with her bag and saw a few exploration team members sitting in the cafeteria between classes in the teaching building. She greeted them and said, "You are here... Is Professor Xi giving a lecture in there?"

"Yes, yes, what a coincidence," Yin Liantao waved his hand, "Why are you here?"

"Ah... I graduated from this school, and I came back to give a speech," Ren Zhiling smiled shyly, "The summit abroad was suspended because of the attack, but I took a leave of absence from the institute for more than a week. My former teacher knew that I was staying at home, so he asked me to come back and give a speech to my juniors."

The few of them were not very familiar with each other, just nodding acquaintances. After a few greetings, Ren Zhiling turned and left.

She is young and promising, and currently works in a top research institute in the country. Her social circle is not compatible with the professions of the members of this exploration team, so it is very polite for her to say hello and chat with them after meeting them.

Everyone quickly shifted their focus back to their previous focus.

In fact, judging from Xienze’s research direction alone, it is hard to believe that his research will cause the world to fall apart in a few hundred years.

"Just from common sense, how could a PhD in biology make the sky fall hundreds of years later?" Ning Xiao was puzzled.

"Just talking about the content of yesterday's meeting," Xu Zichen propped up his chin, also at a loss, "If you want to say that he created human embryos, which led to the proliferation of artificial humans in the future world, waged war against humans, or occupied a large number of normal human resources. Human survival was threatened, so he developed a time machine to kill the father of artificial humans, I believe it."

"But artificial humans causing the sky to fall is just like fish riding bicycles causing the greenhouse effect. It's magical. Even if people in the future fight each other and no one wants to live and both sides use nuclear bombs, the sky won't fall," Yin Liantao couldn't help but continue, "It's nonsense to want to find the rules of the future from this direction."

If Xienze was a chemist, a materials researcher, even an astronomist, it would sound more likely to cause the sky to fall than if he was a biology researcher.

"Maybe he has revived some incredible creature..." Lu Changfeng said weakly.

"What did he restore? A dinosaur?" Bai Jinshu glanced over. His face without any dark circles under his eyes was totally out of tune with the exploration team. "It's already a dinosaur. It's better to say that he restored Gonggong and smashed Mount Buzhou again a few hundred years later. This would explain the collapse of the sky."

"Thank you for providing two meaningless interference factors for our reasoning," Xu Zichen waved his hand, his tone numb, "How long do we have to wait here?"

"Half an hour," Bai Jinshu glanced at his watch, "According to the time of the previous two times, it will take another half an hour for that future man to appear here."

After discussing yesterday that it might be a man from the future who traveled through time, the first two attacks suddenly made sense. When the exploration team members integrated them, they even found that the man from the future wearing silver-white clothes appeared at around five in the afternoon both times.

There is a high probability that there will be some limitations on the time we can go back to the future.

The first of the two attacks occurred at the end of the meeting, and the second was when everyone was heading to the airport to wait for their flight.

Assuming that the first attack on the conference was caused by future humans who confirmed that Xienze would appear at the conference based on the various video materials left by him, then according to the original world line where no one attacked, Xienze should have attended the meeting at that venue for three consecutive days before finally leaving by plane.

The second attack occurred in the airplane terminal, which could only mean that this future man arrived at the originally scheduled meeting site only to find out that the meeting had been terminated due to yesterday's attack. So he made inquiries from various sources and confirmed that Xi Enze would appear at the airport today, and then he arrived at the airport to launch the attack.

But this cannot explain how he avoided airport security and appeared on the ceiling, unless there is some black technology in the future that can make the user invisible.

Otherwise, the development of this space will lead to another very subtle direction.

"There is still half an hour until five o'clock. It depends on whether this person will appear again today." Xu Zichen straightened up slightly. "If this future person went directly to the airport yesterday because the attack the day before caused changes in the future, then the news that we deliberately released yesterday that Shi Enze would continue to teach at the school today would definitely be collected by the time traveler in the future, and he would choose to launch another attack here."

As long as this person appears again, they can catch him and find out what happened to him in the future.

Even if he didn't come from the future, it could eliminate one guess for everyone.

"Xi Enze's classroom is a large lecture hall," Ning Xiao stood by the back door window and took a look. "There is no place to stand on the ceiling. If I were an attacker, the most convenient position would be to squat on the edge of the windowsill."

There are windows on both sides of the large classroom, but one side is close to the corridor and the other side is close to the side of the building.

"It's just right that two of you are in charge of one side," Xu Zichen stood up and stretched his body, "Changfen, you come with me. Ye Dian is a mage. If the other party is injured, he will have a way to deal with it."

The exploration team members, who had been feeling listless just now, stretched their limbs and got ready.

Although we don't know why the attacker suddenly chose to leave yesterday afternoon, it can be seen from his actions that he can return to the future from the past at any time. If we want to catch him and ask him questions, we must rely on some other means.

Time passed minute by minute, and just when the second hand returned to five o'clock, a silver-white figure suddenly appeared in the middle of the corridor.

But compared to before, his outfit today was even stranger. The silver-white mask almost turned into a face mask, covering his entire face, and the box he was holding in his hand yesterday also disappeared.

Seeing the exploration team members, he actually ran over hurriedly.

It looks like... there is no intention to attack?

Ning Xiao was stunned for a moment, and then everyone heard the first words spoken by this man from the future.

"It's too late," he said. "Ren...Ren Zhiling has gone to give a speech, right?"

He grabbed Bai Jinshu's arm and said, "Wrong, this direction is wrong, we can't let her die!"

The author has something to say:

The fact that no shooting was done in the previous chapter was a foreshadowing.

Although I really don't like to explicitly say that a foreshadowing is a foreshadowing, this thing does seem to be a bit like the protagonist's intelligence being reduced, so let me say it.