125: Chapter 125: The First Soul Came from Earth

"Holy crap!!!"

"So the anti-intuitive power comes from Earth's own manipulation?"

"Damn, it really was right under our noses the whole time!"

"This is terrifying to think about. Maya, didn't you say earlier that Earth was waiting for a civilization that looks up at the stars? Why is it slowly killing us now?"

"I've got goosebumps, from head to toe!"

"..."

Inside the Principal's office.

It was dead silent here; one could hear a pin drop.

Principal Fu, Old Wang, Xiao Wang, and the other teachers were among the first to start watching the live stream.

Previously, Jiang Zhe had said that Earth was waiting for a civilization—a civilization that looks up at the starry sky—to become its guardian, with Earth acting as humanity's protector: a process of mutual attraction.

No one expected that now...

How could the answer be so terrifying?

Young Teacher Wang took a sharp breath, his eyes trembling. "He said before that humans were arranged into the modern era by Earth, and that fossil fuels were a gift Earth prepared for us..."

"If those anti-intuitions aren't bugs in the human brain, but rather something deliberately guiding a portion of humanity toward a slow death..."

"Then are we guardians, or have we turned from guardians into a virus?"

At this point, no one in the office spoke anymore, all deeply immersed in shock.

...

Inside a lounge at Huaqing University.

Li Mo listened to this conclusion in stunned silence, goosebumps suddenly covering his entire body.

Beside him, Professor Guan was full of shock. He didn't refute Jiang Zhe's words. "Then what does our research and our existence even count for in Earth's eyes? Is it our own spontaneous research, or a massive experimental observation by Earth?"

Li Mo looked at the professor with a solemn gaze. "Perhaps all the progress we pride ourselves on is actually within the control of that level—it can make anyone have a burst of inspiration that turns into technology, thereby advancing science and technology. If it wants someone to start a war, it only needs to pull a few strings, and overwhelming [karma] will be manifested by Earth, causing a disaster to occur."

"As Jiang Zhe said before, a war is too easy for Earth to facilitate; it doesn't even need to be complex—it can make major powers fight tooth and nail for resources in small countries, thereby maintaining chaos within the human race, clearing out some parasites, and improving the ecological environment!"

Hearing this, Professor Guan's expression was very strange. He hated this feeling of being controlled and lacking freedom.

As for the other graduate students, they looked at each other, all seeing the horror on one another's faces.

...

Inside Qingfeng Temple in Kyoto.

Zheng Ming was stunned at first, then recovered from the shock:

"This is impossible. It's too far-fetched. How could Earth produce a devil's whisper to an individual?"

"Its magnetic field? Or gravity? How could it precisely let someone foresee what will happen in the future, or make someone have an impulse to die?"

"There's simply no reasonable mechanism for this, unless Earth's level of consciousness and way of operating completely exceed the framework of human cognition; but if that's the case, it becomes an unfalsifiable metaphysics rather than a debatable pseudo-proposition!"

Celestial Master Zhang and Wang Chongyang glanced at each other, both seeing the shock on the other's face. Celestial Master Zhang wanted to use the Heavenly Dao to explain it, but felt that it seemed quite hollow at this moment!

Dr. Zhou Ming frowned deeply, racking his brains, but he couldn't think of anything to defend his materialistic values!

...

Inside the faculty residential compound of Kyoto University of History.

Hearing Jiang Zhe's remarks, Professor Liu Guangyi suddenly stood up from the sofa. "I know, I really know about this!"

"It's Earth's macro-ecological regulation and magnetic field!"

His eyes lit up as if he had grasped a clue. "Earth has a global magnetic field. Although its intensity isn't great, it envelops every living creature on Earth at all times. The human nervous system is, to put it simply, a transmitter of electrical and chemical signals—thinking and consciousness are essentially complex bioelectrical activities between neurons."

He looked clearly at Old Wang, Professor Qian, and Professor Chen Runzhi.

"If Earth, this giant living organism, truly possesses some kind of macro-consciousness field or information field that we cannot understand; and if this field happens to be able to produce weak interference with the most complex human brain on Earth!"

He paused for a moment, his eyes suddenly widening.

"Then, theoretically, it has been influencing us since our birth, interfering with the neural movements of certain individuals."

"The Earth's magnetic field is definitely not just a decoration to protect the planet. For example, migratory birds use it for navigation, and magnetite crystals have been found in the human brain."

"Once the geomagnetic field is disrupted, cases of heart disease and epilepsy in hospitals increase. This precisely shows that our physiology, and even our neural activity, are affected by this invisible field."

"If Earth really has some kind of consciousness, it might not need to speak; it would only need to slightly adjust the frequency and pattern of the magnetic field. Like a precision jamming device, it could give the brain a false [signal] when we make key decisions, making a person have a thought that doesn't belong to them!"

"And Earth only needs to inject a weak [noise signal] or even a [potential disturbance] into the neural networks of certain individuals at specific times—then, once this signal is received by the human brain, it would be interpreted as [intuition], [impulse], or even clear thoughts and devil's whispers!"

"Hiss~~~" Professor Wang Shouren felt his scalp tingle as he listened. "You mean those voices saying [Choose A], and humanity's large-scale [impulses], might just be the noise or even commands from Earth's consciousness, which it beams directly into our brains?"

"You're wrong; it's not noise or commands!" Professor Liu Guangyi shook his head resolutely, his gaze gradually sharpening. "If Earth is truly alive and has consciousness, then this isn't random noise, but purposeful regulation—just like how it regulates the population of species."

"It is using neural signal fine-tuning that we cannot perceive to guide, influence, change, and filter the behaviors and fates of some human individuals!"

"It can make you lucky, and it can make you unlucky. It can give you a flash of inspiration at a critical moment; it can even turn extreme joy into extreme sadness in an instant. It can even make you suddenly have a strong sad memory while crossing a busy road, making you do something you otherwise never would—dash across!"

This was Old Liu's speculation based on ecology and geophysics, and it was far more hair-raising than any talk of ghosts or gods!

Because it was very scientific, even visible to the naked eye and tangible to the touch!

Professor Chen Runzhi looked stunned, feeling a wave of chill washing over him. "Then, those people who made choices that didn't belong to them..."

Professor Liu Guangyi nodded solemnly and didn't say any more.

At this moment, the room was completely silent; no one spoke, and their eyes were all filled with extreme horror!

...

Meanwhile, in the living room.

Even the lights seemed to dim a bit, as if affected by Jiang Zhe's words.

After a brief moment of shock, Xiao Yu forced herself to calm down, though her body was trembling slightly.

"Earth has been controlling humanity as a whole while simultaneously intervening countless times on an individual level. It's as if... as if everything we do is being observed; only, that thing isn't using eyes, but rather... Earth's own [perception]!"

At the thought that human anti-intuition had always been under Earth's control, Xiao Yu's beautiful eyes gradually widened, and goosebumps suddenly covered her whole body.

Jiang Zhe said calmly:

"From a scientific perspective, Earth does indeed have a complex electromagnetic field and geophysical activities that we don't yet fully understand; it maintains the overall ecological balance."

"When a group over-expands and threatens that balance—it takes hard measures, such as the most obvious ones: temperature regulation, using a heatwave to kill off a group or severely weaken it before the temperature begins to drop; it even uses climate change and geological disasters to regulate."

"Since there is hard regulation, is there [soft] regulation?"

"Does it also need a more delicate, [soft] method of regulation?"

"Yes!!!" Xiao Yu couldn't help but swallow hard.

"Exactly!" Jiang Zhe nodded in agreement. "Xiao Yu, do you understand why now?"

"Why do some people seem favored by the Goddess of Fate, succeeding easily in everything they do? Is it really just good luck? If it is, then tell me: who made their luck good? Could [good luck] possibly come out of nowhere??"

Xiao Yu shook her head vigorously. "It's impossible for it to be for no reason!"

"Yes. And some people, even if they give it their all, if they have bad luck—they always fall short at the last moment or even meet with sudden disaster."

"Who made their luck bad? Could [bad luck] also come out of nowhere?"

"No, it's not for no reason!" Xiao Yu emphasized.

"So, Xiao Yu, why has that bewitching voice appeared in everyone's mind?"

He paused for a moment to let Xiao Yu absorb these concepts and think back carefully. "Xiao Yu, now, you should know, right?"

"Who has that voice actually been all along?"

Following her brother's series of words, Xiao Yu felt as if she had been hit by a heavy blow and suddenly stood up from the sofa.

Her face was pale, her pupils shrank, and an overwhelming chill radiated from within; her body couldn't stop trembling.

She looked at her brother in astonishment, then looked down at the ground beneath her feet.

"It's Earth. It's always been Earth; Earth is controlling humanity!"

"Landslides and tsunamis are its hard measures to reduce a population's numbers; and we humans have always lived on the surface, with all of humanity surrounded by its massive electromagnetic field."

"Those voices in our minds that bewitch us toward different fates are its [soft regulation] through the magnetic field, or even some incomprehensible method!"

"Everything humans do, what we think is free will, has actually always been under its observation and influence!"

The conclusion Jiang Zhe led her to made even Xiao Yu's steel-like body turn cold. Previously, she had listened to her brother tell the warm Earth Chronicles—how humanity was arranged by Earth, and how Earth was waiting for a civilization that could look up at the stars, a civilization that could use the toolbox and resources Earth left for them.

How did it come to this...

Has Earth's image suddenly flipped to the opposite extreme?

From the initial waiter, Earth had suddenly become a cold and ruthless executioner who was constantly putting individuals to death?

These contradictory yet subtly truthful thoughts and images collided violently in Xiao Yu's mind, nearly driving her into a frenzy!

Suddenly!

A thought even more terrifying, yet one that seemed to connect all the anomalies, suddenly made Xiao Yu's beautiful eyes widen, as if she had understood everything in an instant!

She covered her cherry-red lips in shock, her voice trembling slightly.

"Brother!"

"Could it be that the first human soul without a physical body came from..."

Her gaze involuntarily drifted to the ground.

Jiang Zhe looked at Xiao Yu calmly, his expression quite indifferent. "Yes."

Xiao Yu's gaze was fixed on the floor beneath her feet, her body shaking uncontrollably.

"The first soul without a physical body came from Earth."

"The first soul without a physical body came from Earth... it is Earth itself, or rather, the first soul is a piece of Earth's consciousness!"

Suddenly, she jerked her head up, her gaze trembling. "Every move we humans make, what we think is free will—is it all actually under the control of this matrix, the Earth?"

"We aren't free. we're being kept for observation, and even having our life and death decided at its whim?"

"As long as Earth implants a thought in us during a moment of danger: [Choose A]—we will immediately be dominated by the consciousness it implanted, then choose A, and the ending is: death!!!"

This subversive realization instantly made Xiao Yu terrified, feeling a deep sense of being bound!

Not just her, even the viewers, after a brief shock, posted terrifying comments.

"Holy crap!!!"

"We aren't free at all. Earth is the real Boss, dominating our every move from behind!"

"What are we to Earth... a piece of consciousness, or lab rats being kept in captivity?"

"Hiss, damn it. No wonder he said it's everywhere. It turns out we've always been within the range of its super-consciousness!"

"It's terrifying to think about. We thought we were living our own lives, but Earth has actually been observing and regulating us?"

"Damn it, my worldview is shattered!"

"My scalp is tingling now, and my whole body is cold!"

"I get it, I completely get it. Those who are lucky or unlucky, even the so-called good or bad fate—it's all been parameters forced upon us by Earth!"

"..."

The viewers, experts, and professors were also plunged into an unprecedented state of shock.

You see, Jiang Zhe's answer had overturned all their previous conjectures—that the first soul might have come from the universe, from alien seeding, or even from mythology.

The only thing they hadn't considered was that the source of the first soul, or rather the first batch of souls...

Had always come from the ground beneath their feet!!!

At this moment, a chill suddenly rose in Principal Fu, Old Wang, Professor Chen Runzhi, Dr. Zhou Ming, and countless others.